Around The Neck

If you ever doubt that you should be practicing scales, then here is a list of reasons to stay with it.

• Right hand finger independence
• Left hand finger independence
• Right and left hand coordination
• Legato playing
• Staccato playing
• Position shifts
• Right hand string crossing
• Left hand string crossing
• Speed and coordination in both hands
• Differing articulations
• Differing timbres
• Crescendo and decrescendo
• Phrasing
• Tremolo

This list should be enough to get you back to playing scales. It is important to work on many aspects of playing away from the music repertoire in order to facilitate ease of movement without having to focus on more than one aspect at a time. In other words, when you are engaged in playing a piece of music, you are concerned about multiple aspects of the list above. On the other hand, you can isolate each of these through the playing of scales.

The movement of the right hand can be summed up in four basic words.

1. Touch
2. Movement
3. Release
4. Reset

Touch is obviously the point at which the finger touches the string. This can seem very easy but to consistently touch the string at the same place every time can be a challenge. The string should simultaneously touch the nail and the padded flesh of the finger at the same time. The pad causes the string to be dampened from the previous release when the finger is Reset.

Movement is the actually work that your finger does prior to the Release of the string. This is the force that is exerted into to string to create the tension for sound. Picture a rubberband before firing at a friend. The rubber stretches and the Release moves the object. The Movement displaces the string in and as it returns to a restful state it creates a sound through vibration.

Release is well represented in the rubber band example. When it is released all the energy stored moves or fires the band at your chosen object. The same happens when the string is released. It moves to its chosen object until it returns to rest.

Reset is when your fingers return to the string to begin the process again. Two schools of thought exist when speaking of resetting the finger. One says you should just relax and the other says you should snap it back or force it back to the starting position. I believe that we do both. In faster passages, we have to have to get the finger back as quickly as possible and must use some force in order to facilitate this. In slower passages, the finger can just relax and return with its natural movement into relaxation.

Many times we guitarists become complacent when practicing scales. We see them as just a means to warm up the hands and increase speed. But beyond that, there is little development. I have many of my students begin to write out their own scales in order to remedy this complacency. By writing out your own fingering and understanding where to find each note on the fretboard, one is able to move into a deeper understanding of the guitar. The example below is one such application:

You will notice that this C major scale fingering goes contrary to many scale forms out there. There is no “cut and dry” pattern to follow with the fingerings. Not only that, you are ascending in the scale while descending on the neck of the guitar. This movement makes the player much more aware of where notes fall in relation to the next (a very useful skill in arranging). You will also notice the first finger being used to slide on the string up or down a half-step. This is a very uncommon trait in the scales most guitarists know.

No matter how you think about scales, the goal is to actually think when playing them. Don’t just play them aimlessly. Have some focus and maybe your scales will give you new revelation in your playing.

This past weekend I was invited to the NAMM show. For those of you who don’t know NAMM stands for National Association of Musical Merchants. Think of it as a GFA convention where all you have is vendors (retailers, manufacturers, and wholesalers). But there is one big difference, it is the music industry at large that is present. In all of the time I spent walking around I noticed how huge the guitar is in the world of music. However, in this world I had stepped the classical guitar was almost non existent. This gave me mixed emotions of grateful separation from the rest of the music world and a pain in my side because the classical guitar was not a part of many people’s thought when it comes to the music world at large. More astonishing is the fact that when looking at guitar education for those not at the university level, there is little focus on the classical guitar. These thoughts are just observations. I had a wonderful time at the convention and met many great people from all walks of the musical life. Though I wish I could have met more from the classical persuasion.

There truly is only one thing that we each have complete control over – the mind. When you sit down to play your instrument in practice or performance the mind is what we must train the most. We cannot change the conditions or circumstances. The room may be hot or cold. There could be fellow guitarists in the room or not. Your day might have been interupted by some unfortunate events. But no matter what, you have control over how you think.

When practising our minds can wander. When performing, our minds can wonder. It is the control of this one thing, albeit a large thing, that one must train and beat into submission. Your success or failure on the guitar and in many things in life is about what you think. If your mind is in the wrong place when you begin practice, then it is better to put the guitar down and come back when your mind will better focus on the issues at hand. If you are in the middle of performance, then you must train your mind (beforehand) to increase in focus to get you through whatever is destracting you. This mind that we have is very powerful and if used or let free to think in the wrong way will create great destruction and chaos in our playing.

In following up on a previous blog on musicianship, I would like to encourage all to sing! Sing all the time. In many lessons, I have students who have an affinity towards the technical aspects of playing. They enjoy and are good at getting the notes down with the correct rhythms at the correct tempo. But, in most cases, these students lack the basic connection to the music through emotion. I am reminded of a documentary about Isaac Stern and his trip to China. He saw hundreds of violinist while visiting different schools. All of them showed such virtuosity in technical execution that he was amazed. However, all of their playing left his ears yearning for true musical expression. You see, each student could play technically perfect but had no emotion and feel in their playing.

What is my answer to this? Sing! Sing! Sing! Pepe Romero once said that his father would not let him begin a piece of music until he could sing the melody. Aaron once told us that Barrueco was of this technical virtuoso class and it wasn’t until he began to sing his melodies that true music began to pour forth. Every chance you get sing. Especially when practising. Sing the melodies and if you can get the hand of it sing the inner parts. Then, try to play the melody and sing the inner parts or vice versa. Your voice is your most immediate connection from your inner person to the outer expression of music. It is your first instrument and should be one you intend to master.

I have many students that have trouble clarifying their practice regimen. I think we are all in a constant modification of our practice and its order. No matter what type of guitar playing you do there are, as far as I can tell, five areas to focus on in any practice regimen.

1. Old Repertoire
2. New Repertoire
3. Technique
4. Sight Reading
5. Performance

Every genre of music can fit into these different areas. A rock player would could consider songs and riffs as old or new repertoire just as easy as a jazz player. A classical player would have new and old pieces. Arpeggios and scales would fall under technique. Sight reading for any musician is just that. Jazz players would focus on melodies and rhythms in sight reading just like a classical player would focus on easier pieces and melodies. A rock player, if they are not caught in the “I’m a rock player and I don’t need to read music” syndrome would approach sight reading like a jazz player.

No matter what, you must do the final area which is performance. We often neglect it at home. But, as all things in playing an instrument and life are based on habit, so is performing. The closer you can get to a real performance the better. Try recording yourself via video and/or audio. This puts extra pressure on you to actually perform knowing you will have to watch or listen to it later. Also, when you have company try to force yourself to play a tune for them. This puts you on the spot and gets you ready for that anxious feeling that comes with performance.

Your focus on these areas will hopefully give you some direction in your practice. Don’t forget to write things down. If something doesn’t work, then you will know what it is and can change it. Otherwise, you are left wondering what you need to fix or correct in your next practice session.

It is a greater feat to become a great musician than just to become a proficient guitarist. Over the years of teaching, I have gradually become more focused on helping people become better musicians than guitarists. My goal is not to stop their development of guitar, but rather excel their development of guitar by strengthening their musicianship.

New students usually have only have the idea of getting the technical movements down to play the guitar. It’s about putting a finger here or using a down stroke rather than an up stroke. These are all important aspects of the technical side of playing. However, once these task have become familiar and easy to figure out by the student it is time to move on to the next level. That level is being able to create music rather than just technically managing it.

I feel the best way to begin this process is to begin to recognize intervals. Everything we hear in music is foundationally built on intervals. Chords, scales, solos, and melodies are all based on an intervalic relation. If you are unfamiliar with what intervals are then you need to study up on them. I would begin by first learning the octave and perfect fifth. Then move on in this order: perfect fourth, major third, major sixth, major seventh, major second, minor third, minor second, minor sixth, augmented fourth, and finally minor seventh. You don’t have to follow this order but I like the way it develops the ear. Also, you must learn to hear and sing them ascending and descending. A good resource is musictheory.net –> trainers –> interval ear trainers. There is much information on the website but most importantly if you go to where the ear trainer is you will be able to practice your intervals and select the ones you need the most work on.