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Post by creamburmese on Jan 24, 2017 17:07:34 GMT
Among the most crucial points made here are those about about the skill of listening, and the corollary of listening to and learning from the playing of others is that we should listen just as carefully to ourselves. I know it's difficult enough just to squeeze the notes out in the beginning, but it's never too early to turn a critical ear on yourself. How's your timing? Are you maybe hitting the strings too hard? Do you like the way you sound and do you think others might too? Musicality may be something we're born with, but the development of musicianship relies on self-criticism and refinement over time. I've found I'm remarkably deaf to my own shortcomings when I'm playing - at least the specifics of it. I've recently started to use my trusty iphone to record myself - another version of 'deliberate practice' - talk about humbling! However it's actually kinda nice when you get over the red button syndrome because it gives you a concrete small somethings to work on and a way of seeing if you have actually improved.
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Post by thejamsinger on Dec 10, 2017 22:39:49 GMT
Try to learn many different styles of music. Don’t give up. Enjoy the journey.
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stringdriventhing
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Post by stringdriventhing on Dec 15, 2017 8:42:18 GMT
When changing chords... you don't need to take every finger off the fretboard all the time. Look for options to keep one or more fingers on the fretboard, thus "rooting" your fretting hand and minimising unnecessary hand movement. You end up being able to change chords much more smoothly and quickly.
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Post by scorpiodog on Dec 15, 2017 11:32:56 GMT
When changing chords... you don't need to take every finger off the fretboard all the time. Look for options to keep one or more fingers on the fretboard, thus "rooting" your fretting hand and minimising unnecessary hand movement. You end up being able to change chords much more smoothly and quickly. This is so true. As an adjunct, learn to play 3 or 4 chords at the same time, and practice the changes between them in all their different combinations using the sage advice stringdriventhing has given above. And treat the chords you have learned as a knowledge bank. So, when you have learned your second "set" of chords so that you can change between them effortlessly, introduce some of the chords from your first "set". Even if they don't sound too good together you will improve your dexterity, and, at some point in the future you may find a context within which they work together.
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Post by fatfingerjohn on Dec 15, 2017 18:32:04 GMT
When changing chords... you don't need to take every finger off the fretboard all the time. Look for options to keep one or more fingers on the fretboard, thus "rooting" your fretting hand and minimising unnecessary hand movement. You end up being able to change chords much more smoothly and quickly. This is so true. As an adjunct, learn to play 3 or 4 chords at the same time, and practice the changes between them in all their different combinations using the sage advice stringdriventhing has given above. And treat the chords you have learned as a knowledge bank. So, when you have learned your second "set" of chords so that you can change between them effortlessly, introduce some of the chords from your first "set". Even if they don't sound too good together you will improve your dexterity, and, at some point in the future you may find a context within which they work together. Adding to these excellent points, I was one of many who no doubt, before youtube etc, simply learnt chord 'shapes' from a book without any knowledge of how they were made up. It was only about 40 years later, with me doing mainly fingerstyle, that I finally got round to understanding that you didn't need to hold the whole chord shape down when playing, as sometimes you only needed 2 or 3 of the notes when moving between them, one of which was often an open string anyway. Thus what was previously quite a challenge to move quickly between playing 'full' 3 or 4 fretted chords quickly after each other suddenly became much easier.
Combining that, in fingerstyle, with not having to put ALL the fingers down at once made chord changes SO much easier. I wish I'd moved in this direction so many years earlier; I might be able to play the bl**dy thing quite well by now! I guess if I could have afforded lessons I might have found this out!
FFJ
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leoroberts
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Post by leoroberts on Dec 15, 2017 22:41:31 GMT
Wait! Say what? You don't? Bugger....
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Post by Deleted on Mar 3, 2018 17:41:12 GMT
Fabulous thread, thank you, I have learned a lot here so far!
1) My main tip is if you want to progress more quickly, having a proper practice routine can really help. It sounds obvious, but I spent ten years just noodling around, not improving very much at all, but when I started taking things more seriously about 18 months ago, following Justin Sandercoe's online courses and routines, and more recently, planning my own practise routines, I saw my improvement really speed up. If there is something in your technique you are not happy with, think of an exercise you can do that will improve it, then incorporate that into your daily routine, just 5 minutes. Guarantee you'll see big improvement within a month or two!
2) Again obvious, but a little practice every day will see you improve more than doing the same amount of time in a single session, once a week.
3) Take a break at least every hour.
4) Rhythm is king. Bad chord fingering will probably go unnoticed if you keep the rhythm, but bad rhythm with perfect chord fingering is completely unlistenable. I see this point has already been made numerous times by previous posters, so am emphasising it again!
5) Always use a metronome or drum machine/loop when practising. Get good at playing in the pocket. Again rhythm is king!
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Post by birdo on Mar 3, 2018 20:24:15 GMT
I m not a great guitarist so take my tips as you will . However I ve been a martial arts teacher for many years and have picked up a few things about teaching and learning that I think cross over quite well.
1 . You can't do it fast if you can't do it slow. 2 . Don't aspire to be as good as someone else aspire to be as good as you can be. 3 . If you want to improve work on you weak points . 4 . Enjoy it. If you lose the desire , step back , have a break . When you come back play your party pieces and remind yourself why you love it. 5 . If in doubt punch it really hard. ( oh hang on maybe that tip doesn't translate as well ) 😃
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Post by oustudent on Apr 30, 2018 12:23:38 GMT
Invest in some slowdown software such as Transcribe and Anytune. Listening to what you are trying to replicate is very important. I wish I had discovered it earlier.
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Post by creamburmese on May 15, 2018 16:39:06 GMT
I recently wrote a couple of blog posts on focusing and using a journal to improve the efficiency of practice - of course I wasn't practicing while I was doing this... but it certainly felt like I was doing something useful!
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walkingdecay
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Post by walkingdecay on May 16, 2018 15:03:52 GMT
I recently wrote a couple of blog posts on focusing and using a journal to improve the efficiency of practice - of course I wasn't practicing while I was doing this... but it certainly felt like I was doing something useful! Some excellent points made there.
Peformance anxiety has been a problem for me, too, at least in a solo context. In my roles as a pro musician I was usually able to "hide" in the band, where mistakes and drop outs were covered by other band members,so it wasn't so debilitating, while deep breathing and the knowledge that the audience couldn't see my grimacing red face helped in situations where I was more of a soloist. In more exposed solo contexts, such as making recordings for this forum, the anxiety has fed back into performances, to the extent that I never did produce a recording I was happy with.
Oddly enough a long stretch of not playing at all helped me. Upon coming back to music I discovered a more relaxed, "Hey, you know this stuff!" approach, and I have since made better recordings because I simply make them for myself and nobody else. They're ragged, eccentric - even a bit crazy - but they're mine.
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007
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Post by 007 on May 16, 2018 15:41:26 GMT
I will reinvigorate this thread cos I like it. So here's another tip that works for me (when I remember anyway) - make sure each time you practice you have a goal in mind (however small). I attempted to put down lots of useful tips I wish I remembered when I'm playing in my still-active blogI think that is very good advice, It is very easy to sit in your practice area and not practice, by that I mean just playing all your regular songs. I found it helped my to be disciplined about my practice so I try (don't always succeed) to break down my practice into 1 Playing my regular stuff that I play out at guitar nights 2 Practicing Scales (usually and the beginning of a session to loosen up. 3 Separate time for learning new songs, styles and chords 4 Separate time for songwriting.(usually 2.30 am when I wake with a lyric going round in my head) yes I know that if you are working with a family that this amount of time can be difficult and I am lucky I am retired. I try to keep a sheet as a progress record which you can get here helps balance what you do www.justinguitar.com/en/PA-000-BlankPaper.phpLastly I always think of playing guitar as being like a gunfighter. There will always be someone faster and better than you. Play to enjoy and entertain not to be the best Enjoy
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Post by creamburmese on May 18, 2018 18:33:26 GMT
I'm into dot-journaling now... yet another attempt to keep tabs on what I"m playing in an organized manner... Personally I think pink squares are much more rewarding than a simple spreadsheet - of course you may prefer blue if you are of the male persuasion....
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Post by vikingblues on Jun 9, 2018 11:31:21 GMT
Not my own thought, but one that I find that I really agree with, and it's something I really need to work on.
Said by Antonio Forcione. "When I started playing fingerstyle, I don't thank I did a good performance until I made silence my friend".
Mark
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Post by ukpacker on Sept 4, 2018 10:24:54 GMT
When I first started playing I received a few free lessons from a kindly jazz guitarist called Curly Clayton, Curly told me not to look at chord diagrams , instead he wrote out the formulae for how the basic chords are constructed from scale tones, major =1 3 5, minor= 1 flat3 5, maj7th = 1 3 5 flat7 etc, then he showed me the pattern of tones and semi tones which creates a major scale and minor scale , then knowing that the string open tones are EADGBE I slowly learn't all the chords i would need for several years by staring at the fret board and working out where to find the chord I wanted .That advice has stood me in good stead because when you know the numerical scale position of every note played ,as you play it, whether in a chord or single line melody one can begin to understand how melody and harmony work. To begin with it seems really slow and ponderous but in the long term I think it's worth coming to grips with music theory right from the start.
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