I’m increasing frustrated by the folks who think that everyone knowing exactly how each muscle in the hand/forearm works makes better guitarists. It really doesn’t.
Guitar technique is not rocket science.
Guitar technique doesn’t and shouldn’t involve complex diagrams.
For those struggling with simple right hand free strokes and getting a good, full sound try this: hold your hand open. Close it, bringing the thumb to the side of the index. That’s it. That’s exactly what your free stroke should look like.
Without further delay, let me present my list of cues which I use almost every lesson with most students:
Keep the wrists straight (both hands)
Follow through with the right hand fingers (especially important for beginners)
Left hand fingers press on their tips, right behind (towards the headstock) the frets
Guitarists No. 1 job: be as lazy as possible–use as little effort to get the desired results
That’s it. There’s certainly finger points having to do with tone color, but really that’s it. If a beginner can do the whole hand closing thing and snap off four string with p i m a, then they will do right hand arpeggio patterns and alternation with ease later on.
I had a strange shift in my guitar playing these fast few weeks. I was pretty on top of doing some intense practice for the past three months, and that suddenly stoped. Go from an average of 18-25 hours/week with my instrument down to about 10ish now is a pretty dramatic change.
But I have a theory! It’s not that I’m less passionate about my instrument it’s just that I’ve learned two pretty large works this semester (about 20 minutes of music memorized and pretty much ready to perform). My lack of drive to practice is a result of an increase in drive to get out there and play for some real people.
So I decided to give a recital next semester, which is apparently unheard of–masters students here are only supposed to give one recital in the two years it takes, I’ll be doing a couple. I’m also going to perform at a few “mixed bag” student recitals along the way.
Maybe that missing “passion” isn’t about a lack of drive to play the instrument, but that an outlet is needed first before anything else can happen. Sometimes music is a strange process.
I’ve mentioned this before, but I’m not a huge fan of practice schedules. A lot of folks out there think they need absolute structure to their practice time:
I just think stuff like that is…crap. Only question to ask yourself: are you improving? If yes, continue with current practice routine. If no, why? Lack of improvement could be any number of things, but that’s another blog entirely.
I believe that musicians should have a time only schedule. That is, “practice X hours/day.” This leaves a lot up in the air. Some time should certainly allocated to technique. I like to do that right away in the morning, for about a half hour–this is more to prepare my hands for the rest of the day than anything. After that I have a series of small goals to accomplish throughout my practice.
We often have the difficult sections of a given piece marked, or the parts that give us trouble blocked off in our minds. So work on them! Make it a goal for a unit of practice to perfect a small portion and reinsert it back into the context of the piece. I tried writing these goals down in a sort of practice journal, but I work better with the mental list instead. However, a practice journal can be a useful tool.
This allows a lot more flexibility than a strict schedule, and keeps practice interesting. And it works!
I read an article about criticism early last week. As students of music we often have incredible opportunities to perform for and get advice from great musicians. With any luck, your studio teacher is a great musician with a list of impressive accomplishments and experience (this is not always the case). Criticism can come from anyplace. Put a video on youtube and watch how many, “u suck.” comments you receive. Masterclasses and studio classes offer other opportunities to receive criticism. Lessons every week are the first and foremost way to get advice.
How do we take that criticism? The article suggests several things:
Consider the source
Shut Up and listen
Don’t take it personally
Stay calm
Ask Questions
Take ownership of the mistake
Change your perspective
Thank the critic
While this article is not specific to music, it is very applicable. Consider who’s criticism you give weight to. Anyone can give valid advice. Evaluate the advice given, then choose where to go from there. Does it make musical sense? Does this way sound better? Are these people commenting on youtube worth worrying about ? (hint: no) These are questions to ask. Being criticized is a time to shut up, take some notes and stay calm. Understand that it’s you who’s given the performance, take ownership of your choices and ask questions about things the critic suggests.
Should we go to lessons each week terrified that we’ve screwed something up that we’ll be busted on? No. That’s no way to learn an instrument. Embrace getting advice. Make use of it. It’s not anything personal; most times the person advising only wants to encourage your improvement. Take advantage of it.
I thought of something today that I haven’t thought of for a while.
Sometimes just starting something–anything, really–is the hardest part. I’m an avid weight-lifter and fitness participant, and many times this statement holds true there. For instance, some days I am not motivated to go to the gym at all. I love lifting, and I love bettering myself in the gym, but some days it’s not there from the beginning. However, once I’m there, it can be one of my best training sessions of the week.
Similarly, practicing consistently is hard. Especially to put in the kind of time each day to prepare for various performances. Often times, the passion is not there; sometimes the passion is merely hiding behind a mask of laziness or aversion. But as soon as the guitar is the hands, the passion returns, and the practice session takes off.
The real place this “just starting” idea comes into play, though, is on stage. Recitals or performances in general are intimidating and sometimes terrifiying experience. I’ve written about Performance Anxiety before, and will again. One of the best tips I ever received about performing was to start with a piece that’s very comfortable. The first notes are often the hardest: they’re the culimination of nervousness that might have started weeks ago and they are the first sounds that have to played through the adrenaline rush that is performance. After those first few minutes, however, a performer settles in and it begins to feel comfortable. Just starting is the hardest part.
So what do we do about this?! I have a pretty simple solution for myself: I don’t think about it. I just start. I don’t think about how long it’s going to take; I don’t think about how I dread it. I just start the path. Some days I’ll use the, “let’s get this out of the way” trick and look at it as a step to something else. To use an oft quoted phrase:
“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”
…in your bag. These should be pieces that can be played well with minimal practice time and sound good.
I keep a binder of “gig” music that’s all very easy, sounds good and is easy to get under my fingers (45+ minutes of music that can be brought back in a few hours of practicing).
In addition, when asked to play “anything!” you can have a few pieces memorized to whip out whenever. It eliminates that awkward, “Well…I’m working on some things right now…”
A lot of people play guitar. Generally speaking, a lot of people start with rock and pop and keep doing the same thing or move on to more of an “art music” type activity (I include jazz in this category). With the rise of programs that cater to popular/commercial music training, it’s becoming easier for those pop/rock players to get higher degrees in music.
I happened to have “moved on” (ha! I still play metallica. Sometimes. Don’t tell anyone.) to classical guitar. The school where I did my undergrad was very much “art music” oriented. However, the jazz program was very strong there and I managed to do jazz combo, big band, lessons and jazz theory.
Here are some things that those considering being a music major should know:
Music Theory Sucks. Between this and music history, a music major has a tough courseload. To give some perspective, a little over half of my theory class failed at some point along the two year journey–theory I started with about 45 people and by 20th century theory (theory V) there were less than 20 of us.
Practicing is not an option. Most amateur guitarists have no clue how dedicated music majors have to be. Progress has to be made, and that means spending at least a few hours/day locked in a small room with nothing but the instrument and some music.
Expect to take a piano class. That’s right. Piano. Almost all music majors are required to take a group piano class. If an incoming student has had previous piano experience, they may be required to take private piano lessons.
Gen Ed classes get in the way of being a music major. To put it another, less-kind way Gen Ed classes suck. And they take up practice time.
15-18 credit hours/semester is the norm. Sounds fun huh? Essentially this means that the normal music student is a full time student like any other major…but they have 2-6 credit hours of lessons which they are required to practice for. Also, the average music major will participate in one “large” ensemble. For the wind players this means Band or Orchestra. For guitarists, this might mean jazz band or guitar ensemble. These are 1 credit hour courses that might take up 3-4 hours of time during the week.
Changing majors? Coming to a music major a year or two late? Expect to add another year to the time spent on undergrad. That’s right. Most music programs are highly sequenced and require people to take classes in a very specific order. Combined with a massive amount of credit hours required for the average major, it’s a recipe for the five-year plan.
These things are not meant to scare people away. With these in mind, here’s some stuff that can help:
Be sure that music is for you from day one. Music majors don’t have time to question and add years to their degree.
Be strong on the rudiments of music from day one.
This includes, but is not limited to: strong reading ability in all clefs (treble, bass, the C clefs–alto and tenor), thorough knowledge of scales/modes and how they are constructed, FAST at interval recognition on the staff or aurally, basic knowledge of the type of chords (major, minor, augmented, diminished, dominant 7th) and how they are constructed.
Get in the habit now of practicing 3-4 hours/day…or more.
Take a few piano lessons.
Learn the entire guitar fretboard…really well…to the point where it can be visualized mentally. Also learn what various intervals and chords look like on the fretboard.
Practice music reading everyday. This might be sight reading or just figuring out notes on the various clefs.
Ask questions in the comments if you have them!
-CD
Kevin R Gallagher, the 1993 GFA competition winner (among other prizes), has started to post a few video lessons on youtube. Mr. Gallagher also has a great album with Naxos.
“The week should consist of six days only, with a seventh day of rest from practice (although you may play all you want on that day!).”
Obviously, I agree. However, most people strictly schedule every aspect of their practice, I do not. Nor do I like the idea of doing that. “Well, I spend 20 minutes on scales and 10 minutes on etudes and 5 minutes checking my phone to make sure I have missed anything while I was practicing,” sounds dumb to me. I am a fan of goal oriented practice (another post in itself). I’m not a fan of scheduling a day off. Let it happen organically.
By that I mean: if you don’t feel like playing one day, don’t. This is especially true for aspiring professionals or people in school for guitar. We get so focused and burnt out, that it can be detrimental to push ourselves too far. Taking a day off when those feelings begin to set in can be a great refresher.
From a “real life” standpoint, some days just suck. Being extremely busy or having a few other things to do can take up all the practice time available very quickly. Most times these days aren’t planned, they just happen. Well, that’s a great day to take off from playing! It’s one less thing to stress about.
The only thing to be worried about is to keep that to one day a week and be sure to pick up the instrument the other six days. Usually, after a day off, I miss the instrument and I’m more excited to get back to it; the taking more than one day off rarely is a problem.
with Naxos.
mentions the following: