Mastering Humility

Learning to be humble from the examples of Eddie Van Halen and Mike Dawes

A couple of weeks ago I had the pleasure of seeing the virtuoso of the percussive guitar, Mike Dawes, playing live in an unassuming little venue in Aldershot.

Mike is arguably the most talented percussive guitar player in the world. The percussive guitar is an ordinary acoustic guitar where the body of the guitar and the strings are struck in a way that mimics drum and percussive sounds. Microphones are placed inside the body of the guitar to isolate the sounds of the guitar body being struck which is mixed with other signals from the strings via standard pickups. The percussive guitarist pays a lot of attention to the orchestration of the piece of music they’re performing, innovatively blending melody, harmony and percussive rhythm into a cohesive performance.

Mike Dawes’ performance is inspirational, his hands effortlessly striking the guitar in all kinds of unconventional ways while the audience, a large proportion of who are guitar players themselves, are avid observers, trying to work out how he’s creating certain sounds and rhythms. Mike clearly embodies the idea of Kodawari which I’ve covered in a previous article, paying great attention to the finest details which the audience may not consciously notice, but which add great depth and variety that is heard by the subconscious.

The thing that struck me about Mike was not just his virtuosity, but also his humility. A master of the fretboard but the informal way he engages the audience sets a scene where the performer and audience are at ease to witness the outer boundaries of human ability honed over countless hours of dedicated practice.

One of the songs Mike performs is Van Halen’s ‘Jump’. Mike has cleverly weaved the sounds of the keyboards, vocals, guitars, drums and bass all into an acoustic guitar performance he composed and recorded within days of Eddie Van Halen’s death in October 2020. Mike humbly mentions that he didn’t want to be ‘one of those guys’ who opportunistically makes content after a celebrity has passed away, but thankfully his girlfriend talked him into recording it to give us this astonishing piece to enjoy:

Isn’t performing on stage or on YouTube somewhat egotistical?

Not necessarily, it depends on your motivation - on stage or in front of the camera you are playing a role, you are carefully and thoughtfully creating an experience, playing with energy, selflessly sharing your gift, and your years of toil, while inspiring the audience. It’s all about the intent. The stage and the camera are merely the modes of communication, whether the message is egotistically driven is a matter for the subjective conscience of the performer.

Mike’s love of the craft, dedication to detail, and humility in the way he brings it all together in performance whilst acknowledging the privilege he has to be able to indulge his passion all shine through in the egolessness with which he shares his work with us.

I’d be really interested in understanding the learning and development that Mike underwent, how he dedicated himself to the necessary practice and master all of the individual elements of his playing and bringing them all together into the stunning arrangements in his performances. He would no doubt have had the same struggles as less accomplished guitar players such as myself, but he found the inspiration to ‘stay on the mat’, in the dojo sense, and to love the plateaus as much as the peaks. I would be curious to know whether he is satisfied with his accomplishments or whether there are many more aspects of the guitar to explore on his own path of mastery.

Inspiration is a sense of awe for the human potential that rouses something inside us to take action, and we need it as fuel if we are to commit to our practice. Where did Mike’s inspiration come from? It’s evident from his tribute to Van Halen and from the introductory message accompanying the video that the work ethic of Eddie Van Halen was a big inspiration.

When I was 14 I heard Eddie Van Halen play for the first time and his playing changed my world. From transcribing his iconic 'Beat It' solo at school to attempting his signature techniques on the acoustic guitar.

I hadn't played guitar for 2 months due to '2020'. Upon hearing the shocking news of Eddie's passing the impulse to pick up the guitar again came pouring out. There was a great video of Ed going around telling a young fan to 'play music, just play music man'. I stayed up until 6am that night just playing.

Mike Dawes

Eddie’s words, “play music, just play music man” lit the fuel already inside of Mike. Simple instructions, given by a master of the guitar from a previous generation will stick in the mind when the practice becomes a slog and progress is elusive.

The AI Engine MidJourney shows that it doesn’t understand the physics of the guitar (note the bent fretboard) but still a good representation of EVH in full flow.

Trawling through several quotes attributed to Eddie Van Halen it is clear that he valued humility, egolessness and a dedication to practice:

“Rock stars come and go. Musicians play until they die.”

“If you want to be a rock star or just be famous, then run down the street naked, you’ll make the news or something. But if you want music to be your livelihood, then play, play, play and play! And eventually you’ll get to where you want to be.”

“Practice. I used to sit on the edge of my bed with a six-pack of Tuborg. My brother would go out to party and get laid, come home at 3am., and I would still be playing with myself.”

“There’s a plaque on our wall that says we’ve sold over 65 million albums, and I don’t feel I’ve accomplished anything. I feel like I’m just getting started.”

“You know, most people, they want to go to Hollywood. They want to be a star. They want to be a rock star. That thought never entered any of our minds, the Van Halen family.”

“I’m not a rock star. Sure I am, to a certain extent because of the situation, but when kids ask me how it feels to be a rock star, I say leave me alone, I’m not a rock star. I’m not in it for the fame, I’m in it because I like to play.”

“To hell with the rules. If it sounds right, then it is.”

“Music is not a competitive thing. I don’t want to deal with someone who’s in competition with me, I want to work together and make music.“

And finally the humility of the ordinary person:

“I’m just a normal schmo like anyone else.”

For Eddie Van Halen it is clear that the inspiration was the music itself. His path of mastery was one of dedicated practice and bold experimentation, not following a rulebook or the path others had followed but humbly creating his own and never craving fame for its own sake. There are many testaments to his humility from those who knew him. Sadly, Eddie was somewhat insecure in life and masked his shy awkwardness with alcohol, drugs and prolific cigarette smoking which led to a chaotic personal life and eventual burnout, with his musicianship suffering as his addictions took hold. Perhaps given his downfall, his path was closer to The Obsessive, rather than The Master according to George Leonard’s mastery archetypes. But who am I to judge anyone else’s life circumstances and coping mechanisms, we’re all winging it, and we all have our dark sides.

Can humility or egolessness be mastered as a skill?

That’s an interesting question. I think it is partly something that comes with age and experience. Perhaps the best teacher is the shame we feel in those moments when we have been very full of ourselves, overconfident and self-assured, only to be caught out when proven wrong. This is why ‘Pride’ is tabled as one of the seven deadly sins, referring to the arrogance and hubristic kind of pride.

With an attuned self-awareness and deliberately catching ourselves when our ego becomes inflated, I’m sure we can all learn and practice humility if we see the value in it as necessary on the path of mastery.

The guitar itself is a great teacher of humility. There are so many different ways to make a sound on the guitar and no note is ever struck perfectly in the ears of the player. Asides from getting the timing and intonation right, there are so many things that will affect the sound produced - whether the string is plucked with a plectrum at one angle or another, or whether it is picked with the fingers or fingernail, or maybe both the plectrum with a little bit of flesh behind it to give a wailing pinch harmonic sound. There are so many other ways to express a single note on a guitar - slides, bends, hammer-ons, pull-offs and tapping as well as all the various ways of creating vibrato. Add in the percussive slaps of Mike Dawes’ style and you have an endless source of mistakes to be made in order to strengthen your humility.

Don’t even try to learn the guitar if you’re not prepared to listen to its instruction and be humbled by it. You can never be a master of the guitar, the guitar is your teacher, your master.