Book Review-Guitar Zero by Gary Marcus

This book is an unexpected pleasure. Unexpected because I had known about Gary Marcus through his professional standing as a cognitive psychologist. I had read his recent article in Nautilus magazine on artificial intelligence.

I was looking around in his list of authored books to find some cognition related material to dive into, but then this title: Guitar Zero shows up on that list. I felt compelled to reading this book after reading about the premise, because it stood out from  his much more serious writings. I had endured years of  violin lessons as all good Asian boys will do, I enjoyed the experience, but I was a miserable player, owning short stubby fingers preordained my fate as a terrible fiddler. The music theory and appreciation comes in handy for the rest of my life, but I had always had a desire to play the guitar, some teenage hormonal dreams never die.

This book was curious to me because: what is a serious cognitive scientist doing writing a book like this? I read some of the teasers about the book and I was intrigued because he seemed to be as hopeless at playing an instrument as I was. But he had the gumption, and a year of sabbatical to devote to this project.  

I was also interested in seeing how he, a cognitive scientist, can parlay his knowledge in the cognitive sciences to analyze what he is doing and to improve his playing.

The book was amazing.

It doesn't hurt that the author is has a good, self-deprecating sense of humor and he made copious fun of his own inabilities to “get” rhythm. The sidebars, if you could call them that, are fascinating because in addition to entertaining us with his struggles learning how to play, he regaled us with solid knowledge regarding cognition, how we humans learn how to play instruments and how our brains work in the cognitive context. It helps that what he said lined up with what I had been reading and learning, a big motivational boost for me. The reassurance that I was going down the correct track was very welcomed.

He delves into the literature about learning, and most fortuitously, he is a fine writer, so he is excellent at explaining the main ideas as well as diving into the granularities. He complements his cognition explanations with examples of his struggles in learning to play the guitar. He not only explains what he is experiencing, but he also discusses why he was having problems and how he can ameliorate the difficulties. He always couples the  difficulties that a guitar presents to your average human with the latest cognitive theories.

Yet another bonus with the author is that he is a major fanboy. He talks about musicians that are around my vintage. I think he's a little younger than me, so the musicians he was using as examples are people that I know, and I also like. It all fits in together neatly in a cohesive package.

One thing that he had that was somewhat unique, outside of devoting a full year to this experiment, was that he was able to hire a top-notch guitar teacher to work with him; something that the average person might not be able to afford.

One of the more interesting experiences that he had is that he was able to attend the School of Rock with his teacher’s recommendation and access.

This interlude at a retreat where he ends up being the oldest person in his rock and roll band —he's playing with a bunch of kids and they're just kicking his butt musically. He knew where he stood, and he persevered through the experience enjoying his time there. Most importantly, it seems that he also improved significantly. We, the readers, are fortunate to be present, through his very well written narrative, at this experience.  

In the end, he had a fun playing experience and he did what most middle-aged guys dream of doing: learn to play guitar and getting a chance to perform with a group of great musicians. As of the end of the book, we learn that he still plays, and his rock band of kids had a successful performance.

This is a serious book, as well as a fun book of nice stories about music and how to learn to play music. There is a significant list of endnotes and list of references that he uses to show us all the serious cognitive science papers that is referenced as the basis for his discussions.

In the end, it is the rock and roll experience that I was really drawn to, and I really enjoyed. reading about the applied cognitive concepts that he discussed.

The most significant thing for me though, is his  good fortune of having access to some of my favorite musicians because he is working on the book. He also introduced me to many musicians that I had never heard of, I need to thank him for that, as I'm checking those musicians out.

The fact that he was able to get Tom Morello and my all-time favorite jazz guitarist: Pat Metheny to sit down and answer his questions just blew my mind and made me green with envy.

This book is great fun. I recommend this to anybody who has had any experience trying to learn how to play any musical instruments or trying to learn to play any sport, because you would appreciate the difficulties that he writes about, as well as his patience and stubbornness.