Philip Toshio Sudo

Philip Toshio Sudo

1960-2002

"Life is a process of learning to live with limits--limited resources, the limited attention spans of listeners, our limited time on Earth. Learn to pack the most into the least." - Phil Sudo, Zen Guitar

Last night I filled out my profile for this blog. It almost felt like an entry within itself. Check it out if you have time. There are some links to some of my music and whatnot.

When I got to the portion of listing the books I liked, a recent read came to my mind. A book called "Zen Guitar" by Philip Toshio Sudo. I enjoyed the hell out of it. They have a copy of it in the Plaza Library here in KC. Also, through the Zen Guitar Dojo there is a link to amazon.com where you can purchase this book used for $1. He has some other books I'll be checking out very soon as well. Titles like "Zen Sex: The way of making love" (Ladies watch out).

Backtracking a little, before I googled zen guitar after it being brought up through creating my profile, I had never been to the ZGD. One thing that I definitely didn't know is that he passed away from stomach cancer in 2002. It's always so sad to be uplifted and inspired by a musician so much to find out you'll never get to see them live.

I went through a similar thing when I was thirteen and after listening to Nirvana for a few months was informed Kurt Cobain had died several years beforehand. I felt like the last person on Earth to know. I think it's so powerful how an artist can feel so alive to me still. Kinda like Heaven is my true hometown and I miss the deceased just as I do my friends and family back in Rolla, MO. Only the journey to see them again is a little more intense than a four hour car ride.

Get yourself a copy of "Zen Guitar". It's a really awesome and fairly quick read. Every chapter starts with a really neat quote from an eclectic-as-hell group of musicians from Stone Gossard to Frank Zappa to Miles Davis. It's really helped me grow as a player mentally and as a teacher. Don't expect it to be an instructional guitar manual. It's mostly philosophical with the performer in mind, but the lessons transcend guitar bigtime.

Also, check out the Zen Guitar Dojo there is more going on there than selling books. Some cool links to forums and a whole artistic ideal that, sadly, Philip never got to see come into fruition completely. I'm going to try to contact someone from the website and maybe host some local KC jams in the spirit of this badass.

Catch y'all later.

Paul

I stole the picture of Philip from the Zen Guitar Dojo's website: http://www.maui.net/~zen_gtr/. Please don't sue me.