|
Post by creamburmese on Jan 24, 2017 18:29:50 GMT
I know most of you will find this totally hard to understand, but one of my new year's resolutions was to spend more time WORKING at guitar playing and less time having fun. No I'm not certifiably insane (at least no-one has certified me yet) and so far as I know I've not yet succumbed to Alz... Alzh... ? Yes, well whatever. I had this big discussion (we don't use the word FIGHT over here because it could be perceived as pejorative) with my guitar teacher when I demanded we spend less time just messing around learning new tunes, and instead more time working on technique. Nearest I've seen this mild-mannered guitarist (whose most intense criticisms usually take the form of "you might try...." ) break out in outright disagreement. "But this involves 'WORK'" he protested. I've had this sneaking suspicion before that he thinks anyone over the age of -um- 50 is totally incapable of working to improve something that is "just for fun" but this seems to confirm it. He got even more upset when I told him I was quitting orchestra and intending to get better to the tune of at least a couple of grade levels before age/infirmity or disillusionment puts a stop to that. Not that I take exams or have any intention of same, it was just to give him an idea of what my goals were. I figure a lot more of the classical guitar 'repertoire' will be reachable at that level than at my current ability, and there's a lot of contemporary music I would really like to play. As I haven't got a lifetime to get to that stage, I need to work on it now. Accordingly, he gave me some material that in his view I needed to use to master various techniques. I may yet live to rue the day I came up with this crazy idea - I haven't had any lessons since before Christmas due to an extended winter break plus 2 weeks spent in rain-sodden South Wales, but I'm fervently hoping I never get to use the words 'Fernando Sor' in the context of my personal guitar music again. Initially working on these (to me) uninspiring pieces was soul destroying. What's the point in practicing it if you don't want to actually play the pieces after you've learned them? Could my guitar teacher be right yet again? However, one of my most endearing (?) characteristics is that someone telling me I can't do something is likely to have me turning over heaven and earth to prove them wrong. So I persevered, and in the end had to ditch my usual habit of repeating big sections of the music until they "came right" and instead had to break it down into the small strange individual movements that were needed, record them so I could hear what was going on, and then repeat the process until I got the desired result. Actually working at it like this is not that bad - kind of like playing Soduko or solving puzzles. And then I came up with the idea of adding a "fun" piece to learn without worrying about all the minutiae - currently a short Blues piece, which I swear is 5x as pleasurable to learn because of the contrast between that and my "WORK' pieces... I'll post it when I get it into a condition worthy of the 'duck' but I can assure you you're never going to hear a recording of a piece by Sor from me
|
|
|
Post by vikingblues on Jan 24, 2017 19:05:46 GMT
The need to get back to enjoyment was partly the cause of my giving up on lessons, and I would worry about my sanity if I reversed that general move, but I can understand your desire to do so as you have goals which involve considerable improvement. It says a lot for your character and determination that you're prepared to leave the comfort zone. I distinctly recall Fernando Sor studies and I also distinctly recall there were more than a fair few that just seemed geared up to requiring some sort of technical ability or ability to contort the fingers beyond their limits. The musical aspect as far as enjoying the sounds and melody finished a poor second. Good luck to you on this new direction Julie. I think I will drift on in my cosy land where I can spend hours just enjoying how good a chord voice can sound with the change of one note in it - I'm easily pleased and happy about it. Mark
|
|
leitrimnick
C.O.G.
Posts: 152
My main instrument is: Fylde Oberon
|
Post by leitrimnick on Jan 24, 2017 21:11:40 GMT
I written elsewhere about my occasional practice routine which consists of ~45 minutes on non-stop (yes, I mean non-stop) exercises initially using the right hand alone and then both hands. This is work...but I enjoy it ergo it is also fun. Getting through it with no errors is still a goal but I can get to low single figures. This is a game I play against myself which is partly the reason why the work becomes fun. Even so, when it's completed I reward myself and just play, often improvising...noodling with pretension but who cares I've done my work. My point is, don't get too hung up on work/fun definitions. I've been playing since around eight and am now rapidly approaching sixty five, I've worked at the guitar for decades but it's never ceased to be fun...frustrating, annoying at times but still fun. Work away, as they say in the West of Ireland...but have fun doing it.
|
|
|
Post by delb0y on Jan 24, 2017 22:05:37 GMT
I also have a plan to work more at the guitar this year. But luckily I enjoy it, so it doesn't feel like work. In my case it's about stripping some techniques down, slowing them down (playing with a metronome) and hopefully building them back up in a much cleaner and ultimately faster way. I know speed isn't everything, but I'm never going to be a fast player anyway. I just need to get them to a moderate tempo - which feels fast to me :-0 But it's the cleanliness really. Listening to much of my stuff it feels very... inaccurate.
|
|
Riverman
Artist / Performer
Posts: 7,348
|
Post by Riverman on Jan 24, 2017 22:47:07 GMT
I also have a plan to work more at the guitar this year. But luckily I enjoy it, so it doesn't feel like work. In my case it's about stripping some techniques down, slowing them down (playing with a metronome) and hopefully building them back up in a much cleaner and ultimately faster way. I know speed isn't everything, but I'm never going to be a fast player anyway. I just need to get them to a moderate tempo - which feels fast to me :-0 But it's the cleanliness really. Listening to much of my stuff it feels very... inaccurate. I can definitely relate to that, and I agree totally that slowing down is the way to go. It's not hard work exactly, just feels a bit frustrating when you want to play at performance tempo! But I often find that when I speed things up again, there's a sweet spot where stuff actually sounds better when played a bit more slowly than I originally thought. And when you're playing live, going slower gives the music (and you!) space to breathe.
|
|
007
C.O.G.
Posts: 2,601
My main instrument is: 1965 Hagstrom H45E
|
Post by 007 on Jan 25, 2017 10:16:48 GMT
Saw Reme Harris last year very good and very very fast but subsequently had a conversation with my guitar teacher who has played with RH and we agreed that speed is not everything. Witness Rodrigo Y Gabriellas version of STHeaven pacy, and passionate but not fast in the sense that Joe Satriani is fast.
so I think your right guys slow it down then build it up
|
|
|
Post by delb0y on Jan 25, 2017 16:21:15 GMT
The way I see it, if there's a particular run, or change, or pattern that I'm practicing I'll probably need to practice it correctly several hundred times to get it ingrained. Every time I get it wrong I need to play it again right - but that wrong and that right cancel each other out, so I'm not really progressing. But by playing it slow, very slow, I get it right, and I'm making progress. Speed up too soon as I start to make mistakes and reverse that progress i.e. I'm practicing mistakes :-) So slow is good. That's the theory. It's just hard to believe it'll all work out...
|
|
|
Post by creamburmese on Jan 26, 2017 20:25:10 GMT
I totally agree with DelBoy, Riverman, 007 and Nick regarding slow practice and working on technical exercises. The problem is that some of us (ie me) find it very hard to put into practice in favor of blasting through something that is beginning to sound like a tune. Personally I find it like exercising - I'm not likely to stick with it unless I enjoy it (or at least can be done without any major effort, kind of defeating the purpose). So Nick's comment about having fun is very relevant. Funny thing that, sometimes I only need to get into it and start to see some progress and lo and behold an onerous task gets to become fun (or as near fun as sitting in a room on your own puzzling over something can be). I found this with sight reading - I was told to do it every day but I am so bad at it that it can be intensely frustrating, and invariably after a few days or a week or two I'd give up. However I made myself do it every day over the last 6 weeks and I actually kind of like it now. I can't really tell if I'm getting any better, but just experiencing all the material has now become "fun." and I'll sometimes stick with it much longer than the prescribed 15 minutes a day. Same thing with recording myself - I resisted mightily doing it because listening to the results was/is quite humbling, but from just doing it persistently it's become much less of an emotional struggle and more of the tool it's supposed to be. I'm hoping that the latest challenge I'm setting myself (I am going to video my "work" piece every day played all the way through for a month) and see if it has the same salutary effect. I've done very few videos, and none of them look even half way decent so this is yet another task I'm approaching with the "throw a set amount of time at it every day" - and wait and see what happens.
|
|
leitrimnick
C.O.G.
Posts: 152
My main instrument is: Fylde Oberon
|
Post by leitrimnick on Jan 27, 2017 12:31:02 GMT
'...and behold an onerous task gets to become fun (or as near fun as sitting in a room on your own puzzling over something can be). I found this with sight reading'.
Lo, there is an exception to every rule and an hypocrite in all of us. Three attempts to learn to read music, each a failure. Get the book, try to read something like 'Go tell Aunt Rhody', play it by ear, arrange it by ear, throw the book away. Oh well, we all have our weaknesses.
@ creamburmese...don't forget that whatever you try to cram into them, there are still only twenty four hours in any given day.
|
|