Many times it is frustrating to keep hacking away at the guitar without taking a step back and asking what the underlying problems in our playing are restricting us from moving forward. There are countless exercises to asses problems in our hands, especially our left hand. But without an understanding of how and why your hands move is sometimes more imporant than the actual exercise you are working on. It is important to pinpoint the problems rather than run through an exercise trying to constantly improve while making movements that have no benefit in the long run. You can make your hands do anything, even bad movements, and they will remember and execute them just as they have programmed.
In other words, creating a solid, agile fretting hand begins with getting comfortable with the way that the muscles in your hand work:
• The muscles that close your fingers into a fist are called “flexors.”
• The muscles that straighten your fingers are called “extensors.”
• When you use the flexors and extensors at the same time, your muscles work against each other and unnecessary tension is the result.
• The goal is to make sure that in as many cases as possible (there are always exceptions to a rule) only your flexors are used when fretting a note, and only your extensors are used when releasing a note.
The most common problems that cause both the flexors and extensors to be used at the same time are:
• The old rule of holding unused fingers above the frets for your next movement in a very rigid fashion is not always useful. Drop this rule whenever it is causing excess tension and never look back. It will only cause you problems. Looking ahead to what notes you will be playing and adjusting your hand and fingers accordingly is one thing, but holding your fingers in place just to hold them there makes no sense.
• Not releasing with the flexors before using the extensors to lift a finger off the fretboard.
• Watch that thumb and avoid putting it in a position that causes tension in the rest of your hand. Your thumb will more than likely be comfortable “outside” your fretting hand (try this without a guitar and see what I mean). The more you move your thumb towards your pinkie finger, the more tension you will build.
• Not putting your hand in the most comfortable position for whichever finger happens to be fretting a note at the time. This can be over or under rotation at the elbow, tension in the wrist or shoulder, etc.
Now it is time to spend a bit of your practicing by focusing on your muscle movement. There is not need to actually play any music when you attempt to begin this type of practice. The whole point is to understand and begin to “feel” how your muscles were meant to move in order to use that movement to effectively and effortlessly play the guitar (not that it does not take effort but as effortlessly as possible). The more you focus on the movement rather than the actual music the more you will begin to discover that the music is actually in the movement itself. With this knowlege it is only a small step to improving that left hand technique over an extended period of time as you focus on the movement rather than the song itself.
In guitar we are constantly trying to keep up with our chops or other just learn another, harder song. This is good for a while but we must remember to not let this become our focus. We must be consummate learners!
A consummate learner does not just learn a song to learn a song. A consummate learner asks the why and how questions of every piece or technique. What are the chord changes I am playing? Why do the chord changes work? Why do I like this sound? Why does it appeal to me? What does this technique do for the song I am playing? Does this technique actual add to the song or is it just for show? Could the notes be played in different and more effective place on the guitar? Why do I want to play this music? Do I even like this music or is just for show? Or, do I just think that everyone plays this and so should I? What time period does this come from? Does the version I have heard demonstrate a knowledge of the time period practices? What tempo is appropriate and is their room to change it according to how I like it to sound?
That is the mind of a consummate learner of the guitar. It does not matter what style you play or type of instrument you use. You should always be asking these questions and more. The most important question to keep asking is always, “Why?”
When learning most of us usually break material down into smaller pieces without even thinking about it. Take the lick, riff, or section of music you are trying to learn and break it up into smaller, more manageable pieces. Practice each piece until you can do it correctly. When two small pieces are learned consecutively, then attempt to perform one after the other until you turn them into a single larger section. Once you have a larger section, you can then join it to
another larger section. And the process goes on and on . . .
While you’re doing this remember to play and learn each section correctly. It is extremely important that you master each smaller section before you try to make larger sections out of them. Do not confuse this with playing a section fast. However, you do need to be able to perform it accurately and almost without thinking.
For instance, mastering a particular scale would require you to no longer look at where your fingers are positioned. Having to look at your hands would mean that you have to consciously think about where to place your fingers. The ultimate goal is to do it almost without thinkning.
We all know that practice makes permanent. But really what is practicing? I will attempt to put into words a few ideas about practicing over the next few blogs beginning with isolations.
Many times we think that just playing through a piece is practicing. However, that is actually practicing your performance of the piece. Isolations break down the piece into areas that need to be worked on. This includes but is not limited to:
- Sections
- Phrases
- Notes
- Measures
All of which must be played over and over again to gain musical and technical mastery. Each part must be taken out of the context of the piece to be mastered, then it must be re-inserted to build execution in context. Also, an often overlooked part of isolations is the right hand. It must be mastered just as technically and musically as the left. Without such isolation, the pieces will never reach the level at which we want to perform them. Playing a piece straight through repeatedly will never train the hand in the habitual movement that is needed for effortless performance.
We all want to know, how do I play faster? Well, play faster. It really is that simple. Yet none of us really wants to take the time to make playing faster a habit. Let me explain.
Everything we do in life and on the guitar is related to habits. Playing faster is no exception. Let’s say you begin to play a piece and already have good technique and have analyzed and prepared all the fingerings for efficiency. Then you get the piece memorized. There is no way you can play a piece well without some memorization. From there, you begin to use a metronome and try to work things up to tempo. But, it seems to be falling short.
Keep working! Your repetition has just begun to place not just the fingerings into habit but also the speed at which you execute the fingerings into habit. If you can play the piece perfectly at 60 beats per minute (bpm), then you need to move to the next highest bpm and let your fingers learn the habit there. The problem comes when you move to the next bpm without ever “really” habituating the speed of execution at the current level of speed. You have to stay at a place long enough to make it a habit. Then, and only then, can you expect to make the next bpm a habit as well.
We all do it. We hear a great player or friend perform and immediately human nature kicks in and the comparison begins. Looking at what other people have accomplished can be inspiring. They can drive you to play more and practice more. However, 9 times out of 10 this becomes an obstacle to our own development psychologically and physically.
Where does all this come from? Well, isn’t it obvious? It’s competition, especially for the male players out there. There is no denying how competitive we males can be. When we see someone doing something better than us it makes us want to “one up” them. A healthy dose of this is o.k. but it should not be the stick by which we measure our own success. Physical prowess on the instrument does not neccissarily mean we make great music.
There is a need to be proficient. But this only goes to the degree at which we are required in any given circumstance. Therefore, it is important to keep our competitive spirit alive to push the bounderies of our performance and technical ability. However, futile comparison in order to be the fastest are more of a hinderance to musical production than an aid. We must realize that we are only truly competing with ourselves.
We all like to hear from the giants in the guitar world and David Russell is one of the biggest. I thought this exerpt would let you know that most successful people in life know one word – tenacity. The guitar is no exception. Talent can get you to the base camp (if you know a bit about climbing) but tenacity and discipline can get you to the top of the mountain. Here is the excerpt from David Russell:
There is no short cut to becoming a good player. Being constant in your practice is perhaps the main secret. This reminds me of Aesop’s fable about the Tortoise and the Hare. Some talented young players did not reach their potential as guitarists because they were getting by on talent and didn’t put in the daily work. Others have surprised us and reached much farther than we would have expected because they have put in the continued work.So the only short cut is to practice every day, be constant. With tenacity and perseverance you will be able to make beautiful music on the guitar.
There you have it, from the words of one of the most loved guitarist alive today. You gotta do it everyday!!!
And without further delay, here is the final in the first part of song mastery. I hope all of you have enjoyed it. Wait. . .there have been no comments and well who knows if anyone is reading any of this. Anyway, maybe someday there will be someone using the information on the blog and my site.
I have just posted the final parts (1D and 1E) for mastering Au Privave by Charlie Parker on guitar. We are dealing with the first area of the instrument (frets1 through 5).By the time you finish learning each of the chord voicing sets, you will have a very good handle on the variety of sounds available with this particular song. Not to mention the new chords available for your disposal.
Next, we will begin to look at improvisation in the first position before moving to the next area of the guitar. Remember, you should strive for a bpm of about 180. The recordings go faster but this is a good place to start. At that speed, it gets pretty easy to inch your way up.
Au Privave Part 1D and Au Privave Part 1E.
