Randy Jackson lives in Morgantown, WV. He's been playing guitar off and on for more than forty years, and studying it for the last fifteen. The studying started when he began taking jazz-blues lessons from an excellent Columbus, Ohio guitar teacher named Buzz Chewning.
Buzz started out the first session by asking him to play a C major scale. No problema! Then he asked him to play it somewhere else on the neck, which he did with a slight hesitation and a bit more delay. Then he asked him to play an A major scale anywhere, then starting at another position, and then another. It took longer to locate the A roots, and when he continued on to other scales, quickly began feeling handicapped, embarrassed actually, by having to think for so long about where the notes were.
Buzz started out the first session by asking him to play a C major scale. No problema! Then he asked him to play it somewhere else on the neck, which he did with a slight hesitation and a bit more delay. Then he asked him to play an A major scale anywhere, then starting at another position, and then another. It took longer to locate the A roots, and when he continued on to other scales, quickly began feeling handicapped, embarrassed actually, by having to think for so long about where the notes were.
If finding notes was such a struggle, how could I expect to play along with other musicians, much less think about improvising? The foundation for the Counting Sheep exercise in the book came from sessions with Buzz.
Since those lessons with Buzz, Randy explored every trick, gimmick, and so-called shortcut method he could find in an attempt to really master the fretboard. Some worked a little, some were way too boring to maintain interest, some didn't seem to work at all. Over the years, he put more and more of the good ideas in his kit, which eventually became FretBoard ABCs.
Since those lessons with Buzz, Randy explored every trick, gimmick, and so-called shortcut method he could find in an attempt to really master the fretboard. Some worked a little, some were way too boring to maintain interest, some didn't seem to work at all. Over the years, he put more and more of the good ideas in his kit, which eventually became FretBoard ABCs.
For his day job, Randy is Professor of Geography in the WVU Geology and Geography department, and Director of the WVU Regional Research Institute. Click here for his work website.