Thanks for coming to my site and this blog. I have spent years thinking about my 10 Minute Method project and the last 5 months executing it.
It goes back to Gibson
In 1968 or so my brother Gray gave me his white SG style 61 Les Paul Jr. Gray played in the Checkmates in Greensboro and was about to go to prep school. It was cool to play guitar and so I, like so many of picked it up and started thumping on it. Well I went out and bought sheet music books of the bands that I liked and learned chords. The books only told part of the story.
The players on the records were doing things differently.
In the 70's I played in numerous bands. There were local gigs at pool parties and church socials and downtown Festivals. I'll never forget Randy , our lead singer, singing "the Pusher Man." All the parents croaked!
I took took off to boarding school. I there hooked up with Bruce Crump, would later be the drummer for Molly Hatchet. He was a phenom at the age of 15. Still more bands coming and going. The problem with me was I was memorizing music and riffs. I really did not understand the basis of what rock/ Blues guitar was built upon.
In college, I played not as much. There was that one band with a guy that owned a bar and thought he was "real frontman." OMG! It's situations like those when you grow to appreciate the good bandmates you have had.
Finally I graduated from NC State. After, a failed 2 year marriage to my college sweet heart ( bad mistake), I took up the guitar again full steam. The 80's were great days for me as a guitar player. I played in several bands with some of the most talented folks I have ever encountered. Bigger gigs and bigger venues....now writing and playing my Music.
Creating my own stuff made me think. I had to create melodies, lyrics and solos that worked. Slowly, I started seeing patterns and hearing familiarities in my music that was a whole lot alike the music that I grew up on. Allmans, Santana, Grand Funk, Led Zepplin and Marshall Tucker to name a few.
That is from where the Jimmy Murray 10 Minute Method grew. The blues and southern rock of the 60-70's. The concept does apply to nearly any style, however. Over the years, I had learned alot from being around great players. I however had to work backwards to define the theory in the style of music that I played. I found out that I was not doing anything unusual, it was just the way I approached it. Dickey Betts plays a major pentatonic scale. But he does not play it in the same positions that most books show you. That what I was seeing.
So what can you get from the JM10MM? I will give you a simple tool box of patterns that easy to memorize and improvise upon. At that point you create the music. You can combine and vary them to suit your mood of playing. Most importantly, they will be your riffs and your voice.
I hope you will try my method. You will never look back. Promise.
Jimmy
