Love, Magic and the Guitar · A Book by Scott Mateo Davies
INTRODUCTION
Volver al principio. Return to the beginning.
It’s been nearly two years since I started writing my book. After many edits, discussions with family and friends, and a lot of soul-searching, I have decided to revisit my original intentions for writing this book. I believe there were five at the outset and these original intentions have not changed. I want to briefly outline them here.
1. I wanted to write the book that I would like to read written by the artists that I deeply admire. It would include a lot of biographical information, musical insights, helpful advice, perhaps outspoken ideas. It would be written in a chatty and informal manner.
2. I wanted to present a forum of ideas as opposed to an instructional manual. I am not entirely comfortable with doling out advice to others. I am very comfortable with expressing my points of view and discussing strategies and techniques that have worked for me.
3. I love the idea of a soapbox, a bully pulpit, from which to passionately espouse my opinions and observations. No filters.
4. I wanted to write a creative memoir to explain my source material as well as to tribute the mentors, teachers, guides, and gurus of my life.
5. Lastly, I wanted to incorporate my world view into my present-day writings. I did the writing from the three locales where I live and conduct my activities: Madrid, Spain; Antigua, Guatemala; and Minneapolis, Minnesota.
I started writing in the Parque Central in Antigua, Guatemala on September 18, 2018. It was a gorgeous day and I found inspiration from sitting alongside the fountain of water bearers in the park. It seemed an auspicious beginning. My working title was Love, Magick and the Flamenco Guitar. I spelled magick in this way to underscore its definition as an action or effort undertaken because of a personal need to effect change. Later, I decided to use the more inclusive title of simply the guitar, although flamenco is my passion. I have studied and trained in several styles. I am hopeful that all guitarists and perhaps, all kinds of musicians will find items of interest in these pages. 2
And now a few words regarding the format of the book. The first section is called, “The Intrepid Guitar: A Marketplace of Ideas.” I will share musical insights, essays, and some technical exercises not tutorials or classes. There exists an abundance of online classes and tutorials and a lot of them are excellent. I frequently take them myself and I love them. My aim is to fill in some of the gaps left by this mountain of information. I hope this can be useful.
Second, I want to share “The Book of Strategies.” My brain tends to embrace the idea of strategies, game plans, road maps, frameworks, and outlines. For effective practice. For developing and augmenting one’s skill set. For enhanced improvisations. For effective performance preparation. Strategies for aficionados, students, and professionals.
The third section, I am calling, “Tales of Love, Magick and the Guitar.” Many of the tales are written in the third person about an American-born citizen of the world named Matias. He is flawed, introspective a (self-proclaimed) Deep Thinker. Hindu by conversion, vegetarian and he is a guitarist. Any resemblance to any person living or dead is purely non-coincidental.
In the final section of the book, I will share some of the many blog posts I have written since the inception of my website in 2007. These posts are my observations of just about everything. I have included a glossary of Spanish and flamenco terms as well as some charts and graphics.
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