​Practicing Guitar as a Spiritual Practice
​
​The Online Guitar Community ​
as a Virtual Sacred Space
​

​​Dear Dr. McDaniel,

I'd like your advice.

I've been reading Thomas Oord's new book on Open and Relational Theology.  In an early chapter he talks about reasons why people are drawn to open and relational theology, and one of them is its connections with art.  Here's what he says:

Artists and the artistically minded find open and relational theology attractive for how it fits their vision of the creative life. Imagining a new form of being or way of thinking fits nicely with a theology that says God acts in fresh ways and inspires novelty in creation. It would make sense that both the Supreme Artist and creaturely artists create in relation to objects and their own sparks of originality.

I don't really think of myself as an artist, but I guess I am artistically minded.  I love music and I'm especially drawn to the guitar.  I never took lessons but I learned basic chords many years ago with friends and learned to play a few simple folk songs. 

I want to pick up where I left off.  It's not just because I like the guitar (which I do) but because I need a "spiritual practice" and I'm wondering if practicing guitar might be a kind of practice I need.  I'm looking for community, too.  I'm looking for some kind of organized guitar lessons that I might undertake along with others that would combine creativity and community, openness and relationality, and that I would understand as an open and relational "spiritual practice" in my own way.  Maybe even a kind of prayer, but with fingers and sounds not words.

Inspired by open and relational theology, I would see such a practice as one way of participating in God's life.  It would be an example of what Thomas Oord calls co-creativity.  As I understand it, Oord sees God as at work in our lives through the offering of fresh possibilities, moment by moment, for responding to the world around us, and helping create a new future.  Maybe learning to play new chords, and learning to play some blues leads, might by a small way that I create a new future for myself, with God's help. But I wouldn't expect the others who take lessons with me to think of things this way.  Some may believe in God in a different way, and some might not believe in God at all. 

When I'm taking lessons with them, I wouldn't bring in theology, but I would, in my small way, be adding a little novelty to creation, consonant with the Supreme Artist.  And I would want to be supportive of others in a way that partakes of divine compassion, divine empathy.  If, as Oord says, God is love, then it seems to me that loving others by helping them, by sharing in their journeys, is a spiritual practice in its own right.  

In short, I would like to take open and relational guitar lessons. It might be nice if I could learn and practice with others, live and in-person, at a local musical gathering.  But I’m also open to practicing on my own, at home, while learning from others, and with them, in a virtual way.  When I say virtual I don’t mean zoom meetings; I always feel a little awkward in such settings. I mean “blogs” or “forums” where you can learn from others, and with them, whether or not you actively participate. 

Yes, I guess that’s what I’m looking for: a virtual guitar community that is open to beginners, intermediate, and advanced learners, that is very supportive, and can help me grow, encouraging others to do the same.  It's almost like I'm looking for a guitar lesson church.  Of course it needs a good teacher, too.  Someone who teaches in an open and relational way, makes people feel comfortable, and is always helping people add their own novelty to the world.

I know that you are a guitarist, so that's why I'm reaching out to you. Any suggestions for where I might look?

Amy
PictureBrian Sherrill of Active Melody
Dear Amy,

It is so good of you to write, and I know exactly what you mean.  For me as for you, practicing guitar is a spiritual practice, a kind of prayer.  And, like you, I want to do it in community with others.

I do have a suggestion.  I suggest that you take a look at the Active Melody online guitar community; get to know the style and spirit of its teacher, Brian Sherril; and consider joining it. Brian Sherril lives in Franklin, Tennessee.  His Youtube site has more than 98,000 subscribers; and its Facebook group has over 17,000 Facebook likes. 

I've never met him and don't know about the personal side of his life.  But he is, to my mind, one of the very best "open and relational" guitar teachers I know.  He is invitational, open-minded, sincere, gentle, enthusiastic, clear, and very talented.  He will meet you where you are: whether you are a beginner, an intermediate player, or an advanced player.  And in an entirely non-judgmental way.  Read about him here.

Of course Active Melody site is much more than Brian Sherrill.  It is a community of people from different parts of the world.  I have learned so much over the past year from the lessons offered by Sherril, and I am especially moved by its sense of community, as illustrated in its forum.  I'll give you two examples below.  You'll see what sacred community looks like.

Dr. McDaniel


​Post from a Physician
during the Pandemic

from the Active Melody Forum
Hi Brian and everyone else!
​
I posted once but it turned out to be on a thread from years ago. I just wanted to say that the last year and a half has been the hardest of my family’s life.

I am a physician, my wife is a nurse, my daughter is a nurse and my son in law is a physician. We all worked in one of the busiest COVID hospitals in the country. And the death and dying early on in the spring of 2020 was more than any of us ever thought we’d see. Three out of the four of us got COVID and my son in law was the sickest but never needed admission. So we felt very blessed.

​But the sadness and melancholy that seemed to overtake us with my patients losing their jobs and businesses, so many sick and on ventilators and such. It was just overwhelming. I’ve often felt like a weak person because it just made me so depressed. My wife was so wonderful to always try to be uplifting and upbeat. She’s an angel.

SO one day last year she said, “You should start to play the guitar again.” (I played rhythm guitar in our church team for years). So I have a few guitars and I picked up my telecaster and began to play through a blues junior amp that my angel bought at guitar center for me so I’d have something to play through. And I happened on youtube across activemelody. Having never played lead of any kind, I figured I’d never learn but was willing to try anything after work each evening to buoy our spirits.

​I found activemelody and Brian teaches in such a way that I began to learn and it sounded okay, but it sounded a little better each week and month. He is simply the best composer/teacher a person could ever hope for and somehow understands what a beginner lead player like me needs. Also working so many chords into the lessons helps because a lot of us already know chords. The guitar and this site has gotten us through the hardest stretch of our careers hopefully that we’ll ever have. I have no idea why I even feel compelled to type this as internet boards are not really my thing. I just think a special teacher should know what they are doing for their students on the other end of the computer.

Thank you, Brian.

Sample of Responses
​

Hi John,
​
I think you typed this note b/c you sense the overwhelming support and healing power of this guitar community!! First, let me thank you and your family for your service over the past year. You were in the trenches, risking your lives for others’ lives. Secondly, welcome to Active Melody. Keep on playing. There is nothing like the wellness and energy that comes from the guitar. You will find this online guitar community is like a family… dive right in and grab a few lessons… We will share your guitar journey together. Bravo!!!
Hi John,

Just want to welcome you to the wonderful Active Melody forum and I’m glad you have found a place of pure joy after the hell you and your family went through. Thank you for staying strong and helping others. I’m also a healthcare worker with direct patient care and things got rough for us too for a while. Having the guitar, music, this guitar community has been a true blessing for me and I know you will enjoy it too 


​Post from a Member
whose Sister Passed Away
​

from the Active Melody Forum

​My Sister just passed away from a hard fought 2 1/2 year battle from liver cancer. Her picture is on the table behind me. This is EP 414 of Brians. I’m partial to slow blues and she was a blues fan. I haven’t submitted in quite a while and am a little rusty. Best to all of the AM family.

Sample of Responses
​

Ohh, John – this is an ABSOLUTELY beautiful tribute to your sister, nothing rusty about it, you played with all your heart, I could feel the sorrow… My sincere deepest condolences to you and your family for such an unthinkable loss 
John, I feel with you and I am very sorry for your loss. Your playing is so soulful with great bends and phrasing!  I love the sound of your guitar. Thanks for sharing with us. Denise from Switzerland

An Online Forum
as Sacred Space
​

A sacred space can be actual or virtual.  It may be a building, a cafe, a train station, or a temple.  Or it may be an online community: an AA chapter that meets online, an online Bible study, or an online guitar community.   It can also be somewhere in between, as in a piece of music with its own auditory boundaries which, when listened to, evokes a sense of the sacred. 

What makes it "sacred" is not that all who participate in it share the same beliefs, but that they partake of qualities of heart and mind that are important enlivening, and beautiful. 

These qualities include a sense of awe and wonder, to be sure; but we miss the sacred if we limit it to awe and wonder.  A feeling of connection and companionship, of gratitude and openness, of imagination and play - these, too, can be sacred.   One of the world's most inclusive interfaith organizations, Spirituality and Practice, offers a "spiritual alphabet" that names thirty seven forms of emotional intelligence and embodied wisdom which, in different contexts, can be sacred.  They are:

​​attention  -  beauty  -  being present  -  compassion   -  connections  -  devotion  -  enthusiasm  -  faith
forgiveness - grace -  gratitude  - hope - hospitality - imagination  - joy -  justice - kindness - listening
love  -  meaning  -  nurturing  -  openness  -  peace - play  -  questing  -  reverence - shadow - silence
​teachers   -  transformation   -  unity  -  vision   -   wonder  -  x, the mystery  -  yearning  -  you  -  zeal

So here's my suggestion.  Online communities, too, can be sacred spaces if they evoke some of the qualities of heart and mind identified by Spirituality and Practice and, along the way, help people become more wise, compassionate and creative.  And online guitar communities, such as Active Melody, are wonderful examples of how online communities can evoke these qualities and help people. 

I suspect that most participants in Active Melody don't think of learning how to improvise and make music on the guitar is sacred work, but I do.  It's one way of participating in God's life and, along the way, growing in capacities for attention, beauty, being present, enthusiasm, gratitude, hope, imagination, joy, listening, love, openness, play, and openness to teachers (Brian Sherril).  It is indeed co-creativity.  And, ever so important, it helps people grow in love and a sense of community.

​- Jay McDaniel, July 9, 2021
Open Horizons