About the Author: Nuno Marinho

Who is Nuno Marinho, after all? Nuno is a guitarist, composer, Portuguese Gypsy Jazz promoter, researcher, journalist, pedagogue, NBA-Chess-Cosmos lover… and Peaceful Warrior.

My new mantra is: I just want you to be happy 🙂

I can only hope the effort I’ve invested in world-class content may bring you joy and fulfillment. Thank you for your support, appreciation and respect.

1 – What have inspired you to start playing music? Tell us about your influences and what was going on around you at the time.

I started listening to my older sister’s cassettes. Back then, Guns N’ Roses, Nirvana, and Metallica really made an impact on me, especially Slash’s ability to make the guitar sing so strongly.

It was the 90’s, the world was a different place, an era of social mutation, people were affirming their rights, their feelings, their wants and needs. We were heading towards the Technological Era. Music books were rare so we needed to search and share them, and the closest we could get to a guitar was by looking at them in the only local store in town.

Looking back at my teens, the Rock and Roll lifestyle and what it represented – the Sex, Drugs and Rock & Roll thing – mixed with Mr. Miyagi’s Karate Masterful teachings and the possibility of time travelling in a DeLorean at 88 miles per hour, completely sparkled my imagination.

I started playing with my left hand broken. I was at a friend’s house, and I still had the casket on my arm. I had the opportunity to pick it up, and a few months later, when I turned 14 years old, my mom bought me a Classical Guitar.

Right away, I felt this was going to be a lifetime experience.

www.nunomarinho.bandcamp.com

2 – What motivated you to keep practicing?

My practice days only started in 2006 when I moved from Coimbra to Lisbon. I was 25 years old and a graduate lawyer with a very promising criminal career ahead of me.

My main motivation was to be a better musician, to understand music, to study harmony, and to meet people and form bands. I always tended to write songs. It came naturally to me. Also, teaching was something I really liked so it all made sense.

I felt there could be so many possibilities to play music that I just needed to understand them all. That’s my biggest motivation: to accomplish musical mastery.

3 – What were the biggest challenges you have faced in progressing in your practice, performance, and musical career?

Prejudice, misunderstandings, impairments, apathy, and incompetence in the music business were (still are) very hard for me to handle. I used to think I didn’t quit my stable life as an attorney for “this”.

It’s hard to feel the pressure to catch up on the lost years. It can wear you down, and in the end, you’re not building healthy and respectful relationships with the musicians and pub owners.

Growing apart from a harmful community takes its toll. But we’re always learning, and Peace eventually settles in.

4 – Do you remember your practice process when you started playing? How much did it change through the years?

Looking back, it is pretty clear to me that the biggest missing part of my musical progress was the lack of a practice process. How to study? What is the process? How to accomplish goals? How to develop and grow skills?

This has made me dedicate my life to pursuing the best methods and practices to develop creative musical habits. The process has grown hugely, and it is a constant working process based on measurements, experience, and lots of practice.

5 – Tell us about your routines. How does a regular day in your life look? 

Since I teach a lot (guitar, music for kids, music for grown-ups, English class, Pilates, and Yoga class) and perform in the afternoon or in the evening, my days hardly look the same. I’m able to keep some level of consistency, which I find very important to keep me on track. Unconsciously and intriguingly, the clock keeps me sharp. Check this out:

09:09h – Wake up, read the news, have breakfast, and personal hygiene (which always includes meditation after brushing my teeth).

10:10h – Start practicing (two “Pomodoros”, 25minutes each with a 5-minute break)

11:11h – Take a break, resume my daily mental exercises (chess puzzles included), and take care of any appointments for the day (rehearsals, classes, repertoires, etc)

12:12h – Keep practicing (two more “Pomodoros”, 25minutes each with a 5-minute break)

13:13h – Lunch break

14:14h – Back to practice mode (back to my Pomodor Technique 😉 )

15:15 – Short breathing break and time to prepare for leaving home

16:16h – Look at the clock and say to myself: “I got to go to school, my students are waiting… 5 more minutes… Ten minutes later I’m still with the guitar in my hand 🙂

17:17h – Prepare to end the kids’ class and start preparing my individual students’ classes.

18:18h – Go to the gig.

19:19h – Intermission and resume the gig.

20:20h – Go home, have dinner with my wife, and catch up.

21:21h – Time to shift the brain to neutral a little bit.

22:22h – Listening to music… Mindfully (paying attention to detail)

23:23h – NBA time

24:24h – The 25^th hour 😉 

6 – How do you balance work and rest? How long are your working sessions and pauses? 

I’ve been devoting these last years on the Maximizing Performance Process and particularly over the most productive strategies to be on the edge of one’s abilities.

Thus, I schedule a 4-hour mindful practice, usually divided in 4 hours (25 minutes + 5-minute break each hour = 8 Pomodoros), every day, except weekends. Now I find break time extremely important in order to rejuvenate the creative flow. 

7 – What do you value the most in the music/musicians you love to listen to? What key ingredients do you love to hear when listening to a new album, musician, or student?

Through the years, I’ve come to realize that what knocks me out of my feet is the element of surprise. The spontaneity, the novelty, and the passion of interpretation can really capture my attention even when I’m distracted doing something else while music is playing in the background.

Also, structure is very important to me. A sense of direction, as opposed to random ideas glued together. The music has to tell a story, has to have some drama, some intensity, some unexpected twists of faith. If it’s unpredictable, beautiful, heartfelt, and passionate, it will definitely catch my ears.

8 – Do you meditate?

I don’t know if I ever meditate or if I never stopped meditating. Any kind of practice or activity that pulls you towards a more focused, clear, or mindful state is meditation.

Recently, I’ve been investigating the subject, and I consider it to be as fundamental as personal hygiene. This is, certainly, something I’d wanted to have started sooner.

9 – What would you consider to be the most important advice, quote, or reference someone ever gave to you?

I love quotes 🙂 I keep several journals of quotes from the masters and some of my own, also. An original one I particularly like is this:

“If you don’t follow a Master, become one.”

You know that a torch will light up quickly with the help of a flaming one. Nowadays, the Internet gives you free access to whatever you think of, but it is still hard to personally connect with a real Master. And if that’s a meaningful thing to you – to excel, to create opportunities, and to strengthen your talents, then there is no other way than to build your own level of Mastery. 

http://www.NunoMarinho.com

10 – What would you like to be acknowledged for? What’s the most important aspect of your life’s journey that you’d like people to remember?

Relentless strive for mastery, righteousness, and a warrior’s strength in his convictions. No human is flawless, but you have your whole life to overcome your limitations.

If people remember me as a good-humoured, helpful, friendly, caregiver, relentless, hard-working, focused, driven, and kind human being, then I know my life was serviceable or inspiring.

11 – What would be the record, the musician, or the song that you would always refer to in a conversation about Django?

I would offer him my albums. I think he would appreciate my ballads for the heartfelt character that he always put into his songs.

Regarding musicians, I had to show him Biréli Lagrène for his excellence, Robin Nolan for the impact that his work had on me over the years, and Pat Metheny for being one of the greatest musicians ever.

To pick a song is usually a hard task, but I would definitely choose “The Truth Will Always Be” by Pat Metheny. The title says it all!

12 – What would you say to Django if you had the chance to meet him?  You are my Master and I’m your disciple. Please teach me 🙂

FOLLOW NUNO AT:

Website Book Store: https://www.nunomarinho.com/store

Video Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@NunoMarinho

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/NunoMarinho

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