For a whole boatful of reasons, no one I know gets to put in the practice time they'd like. That certainly describes Yours Truly. My excuses are even more lame (no pun intended) over the last month due to being mostly house-bound as I drag around a cast that runs from just below my knee to halfway down my foot. While I've been able to continue teaching, that's pretty much the extent of my physical activity. Lesson prep and transcribing new songs for myself and some for my students at least allows me to not feel that the last month has been a total waste of time. But practice - honest challenging myself to work on things I absolutely SHOULD be practicing, um, no. That didn't happen.
Just in the nick of time and totally by accident a classical guitarist/teacher who sends me various dispatches from his world touched on the value of "ear practice." He highly recommends listening hard to pieces he may or may not know from a music student's perspective. What instruments are present? Do the player or players stretch the rhythm a bit at certain points to accentuate dramatic passages? Or are they strictly on the beat because the piece has always been played that way? Does the song remind you of other songs by the same artist or others and if so, why? He also stresses that those questions and many more can and should be asked about any type of music, not just classical guitar stuff.
I'm frequently asked by students if there is any beneficial way to strengthen their hands and at the same time enhance flexibility without actually playing their guitar. Over the years many devices have come (and gone) on the market to help guitarists do just that. About the best thing I've found is a simple foam rubber-type ball. This type of ball has just enough "give" to make it feel good to squeeze and although I can't scientifically prove using one improves your guitar playing but it seems logical that it must, to some degree. I keep one in my car and one in the room where I watch TV so I can mindlessly squeeze and release it. Many years ago, I knew players who swore by those triangular hand exercisers that are designed for athletes who need to maintain a good grip on things like baseball bats, tennis racquets and golf clubs. I bought one a long time ago but found it too tight and downright painful with frequent use so I abandoned it.
In recent years I've been forcing myself to improve my posture, both when sitting and standing. Good posture is a vital part of playing and singing well. It fosters productive and unincumbered breathing, which helps encourage relaxation. This is something I wish I'd done many decades ago. Like most guitarists, throughout my playing life I've unconsciously hunched over the body and neck of my guitar to see where my fingers are on the fretboad. A much better strategy is to hold the body of the guitar absolutely flat against my belly and chest. Yes, you still will have to look over the neck to some degree but relying on your ear and muscle memory of the various hand and finger angles rather than totally depending on their placement relative to the frets via your eyesight is a hugely valuable skill to master. So these days I make a serious effort to sit up straight, keep my head back and drop my shoulders when sitting in a chair or driving my car. Trying to unlearn hunching over the guitar is not easy but I'm beginning to see some positive results.
The most important component in all music is rhythm. If it's not there it doesn't matter how many fancy licks you can play, without a steady beat that's all they are - random samples of notes without purpose. All popular music (in order to be popular) has lots of repetition in terms of chord sequences, individual chord changes and mostly identical verses in terms of length and chords with a chorus that comes around again and again. There may be a bridge, which is a short section that is different than the verse and chorus. This is no accident. The more the songwriter can make you remember a song in the shortest amount of time, the more likely it is that you'll be able to recognize it and decide if you like it - or not. When a song comes on the radio while you're driving, try to count the beats before a noticeable change comes along. Then, when the next verse begins try to predict when that change will occur again. If you do this a lot, when you dive into a new song you want to learn it's likely you'll find it easier to make your chord changes at places that just sound "right." And they probably are!
Closing my eyes and imagining the guitar neck in my hand with my fingers moving between invisible chords and single note phrases is definitely not a waste of time, even if it looks a bit silly when I'm doing it. Sometimes I hum the melody to the song as I'm doing this, which helps my hands move to their approximate positions (assuming of course that I have the chords of the song memorized).
If you tend to like organization in your life, think about what worked and what didn't the last few times you sat down to play. Write stuff down if you're afraid you might forget. Think about jumping right into a song or an exercise that is a bit challenging rather than just sitting down and noodling through some chords or riffs - the same ones you've been playing for years. Taking an immediate chance with a challenging piece of music is especially valuable if you are like me and I suspect the majority of players who just automatically begin by playing a sequence or even just a few of the same old chords. Yes, I know, that's stress free and don't we all want to sound good, if even for just ourselves? Problem is, doing that every time you sit down to play can easily put your creative urges on the back burner. Not only that, when you do decide to try something more challenging and creative you have trouble abandoning that back burner....because it's safe there! To break the habit of the same old, same old riffs and chords when you begin playing it helps a LOT to have a game plan, which is another thing to think about and construct while you're sitting in a car or at the breakfast table or on a bench in a park somewhere.
What this all comes down to is the simple fact that you CAN be developing habits that will improve your playing even if there isn't a guitar in sight. Sure, there is no absolute guarantee this practice without your guitar thing will yield quick results and it just might produce very little that creates a straight line to better playing. But I can guarantee it's a lot more satisfying than paying attention to politics or trying to justify paying seven dollars for a cup of coffee at Starbucks!
Peace & good music,
Gene
Just in the nick of time and totally by accident a classical guitarist/teacher who sends me various dispatches from his world touched on the value of "ear practice." He highly recommends listening hard to pieces he may or may not know from a music student's perspective. What instruments are present? Do the player or players stretch the rhythm a bit at certain points to accentuate dramatic passages? Or are they strictly on the beat because the piece has always been played that way? Does the song remind you of other songs by the same artist or others and if so, why? He also stresses that those questions and many more can and should be asked about any type of music, not just classical guitar stuff.
I'm frequently asked by students if there is any beneficial way to strengthen their hands and at the same time enhance flexibility without actually playing their guitar. Over the years many devices have come (and gone) on the market to help guitarists do just that. About the best thing I've found is a simple foam rubber-type ball. This type of ball has just enough "give" to make it feel good to squeeze and although I can't scientifically prove using one improves your guitar playing but it seems logical that it must, to some degree. I keep one in my car and one in the room where I watch TV so I can mindlessly squeeze and release it. Many years ago, I knew players who swore by those triangular hand exercisers that are designed for athletes who need to maintain a good grip on things like baseball bats, tennis racquets and golf clubs. I bought one a long time ago but found it too tight and downright painful with frequent use so I abandoned it.
In recent years I've been forcing myself to improve my posture, both when sitting and standing. Good posture is a vital part of playing and singing well. It fosters productive and unincumbered breathing, which helps encourage relaxation. This is something I wish I'd done many decades ago. Like most guitarists, throughout my playing life I've unconsciously hunched over the body and neck of my guitar to see where my fingers are on the fretboad. A much better strategy is to hold the body of the guitar absolutely flat against my belly and chest. Yes, you still will have to look over the neck to some degree but relying on your ear and muscle memory of the various hand and finger angles rather than totally depending on their placement relative to the frets via your eyesight is a hugely valuable skill to master. So these days I make a serious effort to sit up straight, keep my head back and drop my shoulders when sitting in a chair or driving my car. Trying to unlearn hunching over the guitar is not easy but I'm beginning to see some positive results.
The most important component in all music is rhythm. If it's not there it doesn't matter how many fancy licks you can play, without a steady beat that's all they are - random samples of notes without purpose. All popular music (in order to be popular) has lots of repetition in terms of chord sequences, individual chord changes and mostly identical verses in terms of length and chords with a chorus that comes around again and again. There may be a bridge, which is a short section that is different than the verse and chorus. This is no accident. The more the songwriter can make you remember a song in the shortest amount of time, the more likely it is that you'll be able to recognize it and decide if you like it - or not. When a song comes on the radio while you're driving, try to count the beats before a noticeable change comes along. Then, when the next verse begins try to predict when that change will occur again. If you do this a lot, when you dive into a new song you want to learn it's likely you'll find it easier to make your chord changes at places that just sound "right." And they probably are!
Closing my eyes and imagining the guitar neck in my hand with my fingers moving between invisible chords and single note phrases is definitely not a waste of time, even if it looks a bit silly when I'm doing it. Sometimes I hum the melody to the song as I'm doing this, which helps my hands move to their approximate positions (assuming of course that I have the chords of the song memorized).
If you tend to like organization in your life, think about what worked and what didn't the last few times you sat down to play. Write stuff down if you're afraid you might forget. Think about jumping right into a song or an exercise that is a bit challenging rather than just sitting down and noodling through some chords or riffs - the same ones you've been playing for years. Taking an immediate chance with a challenging piece of music is especially valuable if you are like me and I suspect the majority of players who just automatically begin by playing a sequence or even just a few of the same old chords. Yes, I know, that's stress free and don't we all want to sound good, if even for just ourselves? Problem is, doing that every time you sit down to play can easily put your creative urges on the back burner. Not only that, when you do decide to try something more challenging and creative you have trouble abandoning that back burner....because it's safe there! To break the habit of the same old, same old riffs and chords when you begin playing it helps a LOT to have a game plan, which is another thing to think about and construct while you're sitting in a car or at the breakfast table or on a bench in a park somewhere.
What this all comes down to is the simple fact that you CAN be developing habits that will improve your playing even if there isn't a guitar in sight. Sure, there is no absolute guarantee this practice without your guitar thing will yield quick results and it just might produce very little that creates a straight line to better playing. But I can guarantee it's a lot more satisfying than paying attention to politics or trying to justify paying seven dollars for a cup of coffee at Starbucks!
Peace & good music,
Gene
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