Frank Portolese | Chicago Jazz Guitar

This is where I take the questions that people ask me that I think are important, and I share them along with my responses on the website. Some of this is specific to guitar but much of it is not. Let me know if your have questions or you want me to comment on some thought of your own.

Q: How should I deal with flying with my guitar?

A: All bets are off these days-it is a time of transition in the airline industry. But here is my best advice: Plan on carrying your guitar with you onto the plane and putting it into an overhead. Have it in a snug fitting hard-shell case. Loosen the strings about a minor 3rd. NEVER check it through baggage. Go online the night before and see how big a plane you are on. Look up how many closets it has and how big the overheads are. Also, check to see if it is a full flight by looking at seat assignments. If it is not, then stop worrying.

On flight day, go to the gate and get your ticket-the ticket agent does not care about your guitar, so don't try to hide it or be discreet, etc. (Better yet, get a boarding pass online the day before). Go through security-they don't care about your guitar either. The only place you may be confronted is at the gate, but do not assume the worst. Just sit down and wait for boarding to start. I recommend getting seat assignments (early as possible, again online) in the REAR of the plane. This way you get boarded first and you have your choice of all the empty overheads. If you get stopped at the gate it will be because the flight is too full and the overheads will be stuffed. They will want to "gate-check" your instrument, which means they give you a claim check and hand carry your guitar to cargo before the flight. This is not so bad, way safer than checking it in through baggage. After you land the guitar will be hand carried back from cargo and will be waiting for you as soon as you walk off the plane at your arrival gate. Confirm ALL of this with the gate personnel when and if it happens to you. Don't panic. These folks are doing their jobs and they will treat your instrument well enough if you don't jump to conclusions and come on with an attitude.

If you have a Strat or other solid body with a bolt-on neck, consider what my friend Mike DiLiddo did when confronted by ground personnel before a flight from Florida to Chicago. He detached the neck from the body with a screwdriver, which make the dimensions such that he could fit the axe into his carry-on luggage.

It is no help that the current fuel crunch has tightened the airline budgets so severely. They are trying to find ways to generate revenue. If they want you to check it in so they can charge you the $50 or whatever they get per item, INSIST on a gate check. I have flown with a guitar post 9/11 at least 20 times. I had to gate check only once in that time, on a flight to Florida. One other time, in Zurich, Switzerland, they took the guitar from me when I was already on the plane and put it in cargo. The guitar was in a Calton flight case, which are great, and which I strongly recommend. I got mine on ebay. I could go on, but those are the basics.

Q: What is involved in Free Jazz playing?

A: Historically, the players associated with this style are Ornette Coleman, Albert Ayler, Archie Shepp, Cecil Taylor and the like. Trane's stuff of around 1965-66 is to my ear modal but contains many Free aspects. Listen to those guys.

It is useful to think in terms of
1) what is different from conventional Jazz music, and
2) what is not different from conventional Jazz music.
So first the differences: There are different degrees of "free." The Harmony can be free with everything else structured. The Harmony and soloing can be free but the time can be structured. The Time can be free with the form remaining structured. It can be totally free, etc. Each composition can vary in the amount and the kind of freedom.

Now, as for what is not different from conventional Jazz, basically, phrasing is still phrasing, development is still development, swing is still swing, and coherence is still coherence. It should begin, interesting things should happen, and then it should end. The musicians still have to listen to each other and play as one. After that, it's just another form of Jazz like Traditional or Swing or Bebop or Modal. Personally, I seriously doubt that I could be a good Free Jazz player if I wasn't already competent with Bebop, etc. I see it as another part of the tradition. There is good Free playing and there is bad Free playing-just like anything else. It is cool when it's happening and it's a drag when it isn't.

Q: I've been worried about the future lately and wondering if I am going to be able to support myself after college as a professional musician

A: This comes from a really good college player. First, do what it takes to become a great musician. Get access to the correct information and act on it. Think of it as a business that exists within a marketplace. To succeed you must know what the marketplace wants and give it to them. There is a Bebop marketplace, there is a classical orchestra marketplace, etc. Find young players who have broken through to the first or second level and find out how they did it. Hang with them, take a lesson. Do what people are doing NOW, not 30 years ago.

The life is different depending on your specialty. If you do film work you need to read and play all styles on every instrument related to your primary instrument. You will never get a tan because you will never see the sun. If you play Jazz you record, travel the world and do all the festivals and the few clubs that are left, and you will never earn what you are worth. If you teach you complete your education and focus on becoming effective at educating people. Balancing teaching with gigging means learning how and when to say no. Relocate to the place where they do what you are good at. Jazz is centered in New York, most of the pop acts stage out of Los Angeles, film work is in L.A. or London or Orlando (Universal Studios). Wherever you are you are constantly out meeting, hanging with and playing in front of the people who play your instrument and do the work you want to do, preparing for the day you break into the scene by subbing for someone. And, for the rest of your life, you constantly refine your mastery of the fundamentals and gain experience doing whatever there is to do, so that as the times change you can adapt.

Q: Can you help me with "shredding"?

A: Oh, I suppose so. But you're in the wrong website. The choice of instrument matters. Good pickups, very low action, and a guitar neck that is the right size for your hands is often the difference between mediocre and spectacular. You learn all the modes that start with the first finger on the 6th string and are played 3 notes per string. Get good with hammer ons and pulloffs. The hammers should have a little "click" to them and the pulloffs should have a little "snap", but don't overdo it. One basic skill is to pick the first note on every string, play the remaining notes w/ hammers and pulls, and, running mostly scale motion, learn to ascend and descend in progressively longer and more flexible lines. Every note must be clearly articulated and in time. Arpeggios are played with sweep picking, using up and down strokes not alternating but as needed. You have to map them out. Use a metronome. Learn to perfectly play one or two really great solos from existing recordings. Make up licks and remember them. Watch the guys on Youtube alot. OK, now you're on your own.

These are some of the things my guitar has taught me in the last 43 years:

There is no such thing as talent. Talent is a concept embraced by wannabes, critics and doting parents to describe something they don't understand. There is only hard work and the desire to succeed.

You need to be organized and have good study habits.

You need correct information, not hearsay. A good teacher gives you this.

You must study before you can practice. Study is the process of taking something you cannot do and getting it to the point where you can do it slowly but steadily and correctly. Practice is refining, perfecting and gaining confidence in what you have studied.

You must go and listen to live music of all types. The people who end up playing great are always at the concerts.

You cannot get this on your own terms. The music dictates the deal.

The most common problems student musicians have when it comes to reaching their goals are 1)they aren't listening to jazz, and 2)they simply don't do the work.

Listening to music is not a background activity for the musician. When you find music that is important to you close the door, shut off the phone, put on headphones, close your eyes, stop thinking and really listen. Listen over and over again. Listen for the story.

Listen only to music that moved people 100 years ago or music that will move people 100 years from now. Don't waste your time on the flavor of the month.

The nature of mastery is learning the same thing in different ways. Be able to play it, sing it, spell it, read it write it and explain it.

Do not what is convenient but what works. Going to a great teacher or seeking out great music is seldom convenient. The road is littered with the carcasses of those who accepted their own excuses. You must take responsibility for your own success or failure.