Guitar Musings

Can’t Remember?

I’ve heard and read many artists state that some of the best performances that they have given were ones that can’t even remember.  By this, I mean they give into the music/performance and go into a sort of trance, I guess you can say.  I’ve seen this in many guitarists that I admire from Eddie Van Halen to Bruce Cockburn and the result is usually a performance that strikes awe in my heart.  I say to myself, “how can I play like that?”

Let the music take control:

I’ll be honest, this is something that I still struggle with.  Two reasons:
1.  I want to remember my performance so I actively think about it while playing.  This hinders me because then my mind isn’t doing what it’s supposed to do; play the guitar.  The outcome is that I will either have a brain freeze and forget a passage or my playing because sloppy.  Either way, it’s a performance that I would rather forget rather than remember.
2.  I want it to be perfect so I over think and critique myself as I play.  Same result as above.

Play For Yourself:

Why is it that when we practice, we are at our best?  If I had a dollar for every time I said, “why can’t I play this now?  I was nailing it in practice…”  The reason is that when practicing, I’m playing for myself and no one else.  It’s just the three of us: Me, my guitar and the music.  Throw a crowd in there and the nerves kick in and all of a sudden the piece is harder than expected.  Why can’t we play for ourselves when we are in front of people?  For me, it’s that I don’t want to come across rude or narcissistic and I fear that the audience is judging me harshly.  But these notions are all conjecture and speculation that I have put out there with no real proof that it is true. I’m hindering my ability to play to my full potential.

Let the Music/Life Guide You:

A dear friend of mine Robin Easton (blog here), recently wrote a post suggesting that we should trust our hearts and trust life to teach us in life.   This can be applied to our playing as well.  Trust our experience, our training and our hearts when we play. Play for yourself and let your heart and music guide you into a great performance.  Note, that doesn’t mean that every note will be perfect,it might even be a bit sloppy but some of the best performances that I have ever witnessed weren’t technically great but the passion; the emotion was there.  The musician let go and let the music guide him/her into something that I felt privileged to watch.  This I suggest to you sounds scary to even me because this requires an act of faith and to embrace the unknown and dare I say relinquishing control.  But the idea of control is a myth because we can’t control things like if the PA goes out or if a crying baby is in the audience, etc… Giving in and letting go of the control is probably the biggest act of control that you will do.

Like that old cliche’ I’ve heard over the years: “Play like no one is listening.”

*Note: Thank you Robin for inspiring this post!

Been Distracted:

If you have followed Guitar Musings in the past, you have probably stopped reading the blog because there hasn’t been a post in months.  This has been for a number of reasons; some personal and others professional. Anyway, I’m trying to get myself back on track;  with my playing and my writing.  

Surround Yourself:

I have found that, even though I play for many hours, I don’t practice.  I’m just noodling on the guitar but not learning or polishing my craft.  Some of that has to do with me being a bit lazy/uninspired and not knowing what to do.  That is why I signed up for lessons with a local teacher and am completely excited for my first lesson.  I have heard great entrepreneurs say that if you want to keep the energy of your new venture going, surround yourself with other entrepreneurs.   Doing this will keep the energy up and you will be more likely to succeed.  I’m doing the same by surrounding myself with other guitar players.  Just the thought of playing on a regular basis has gotten my creative juices flowing.  I can’t wait.

Are you surrounding yourself with other players to keep you going?  Reading this blog or going to a guitar related forum isn’t the same.  We need to have the contact of other musicians.  Whether it’s a lesson, jamming with friends or just going to a concert, try feeding your guitar soul a bit and the music will begin to flow.

Quick Tip:

Find a place in your home with decent acoustics.  The most popular places are bathrooms but my favorite is a small hallway between my kitchen and dining room.  Once you find a good spot, just play.  It would be a good idea to have your guitar strapped on so you can walk around to find the “sweet spot.”   You will know when you hit that spot because the sound of the guitar suddenly surrounds you.  There, you have a place to provide real time feedback on your playing.  A wonderful practice tool, as well as an experience.  Try this from time to time, not only to critique your playing but to enjoy it as well. 

What I suggest isn’t anything new but can be forgotten, especially when we can plug in to an amp at almost anytime.  Give being truly unplugged a shot and here your instrument’s true sound.

I’ve had many successes and failures in learning a new song on my guitar.  I don’t necessarily have a set procedure when learning a piece.  It depends on how much I like the song and/or how difficult it is.  I do make mistakes in my routine and in trying to address this, I have compiled a list of my top five.  All of these tend to create bad habits that impair my ability to learn and put the whole thing together into a successful performance. 

Top 5 Mistakes:

1. I don’t sight read the whole piece when initially getting to know the song.  This keeps me from getting the full picture and I tend to have trouble putting it all together. I can’t tell you how many songs I learned where all I could perform was the first minute or so.
2. Try to play it at full tempo too soon.  This tends to create mistakes or bad habits like poor fingering or timing issues.  I’m getting better at playing slower tempos and then working my way up but still “fall off the wagon” every once in a while.
3. I don’t give it a rest when needed.  I get so obsessed with the song, I think the more I practice, the faster I learn and the better it will be.  I have found that the opposite can be true. Sometimes stepping away for a day or two gives me a fresh perspective and I tend to play the piece better when coming back.
4. I focus on the “fun” or challenging parts or a piece but neglect the rest. The result is that I might be able to play certain parts well but the rest of the piece is sub par and in turn, the performance suffers.
5. I don’t warm up properly.  I sometimes jump into the song without any warming up which can result in me playing like crap.  This is especially true when the song is technically difficult.

I’ve witnessed and participated in many “Tab Vs. Standard Notation” debates.  I’ve heard the “purists” call tab a “crutch” where you will never learn the piece completely without standard notation.  While the the other side will argue that tab opens a door to a ton of music to those who did not get formal training.   The arguments go on and on and there will never be a right or wrong answer.  All I can give you is my testimonial of sorts.

I’ve been working on a piece that I’ve toyed around with for years but was never really comfortable with it.  I learned the it using tab and a recording that came with the songbook.  At first glance, the piece appears to be easy learn but it has to be played at a fairly high tempo (200bpm) so frustration began to kick in.  No matter how much I practiced it never sounded or felt right.

So what did I do?  I decided to look at the standard notation part of the transcription and noticed something that the tab doesn’t show.  I was not separating the melody with the bass line completely.  In short, my index and middle were playing notes my thumb was supposed to be playing.  The result of this mistake was the melody was getting muddied up with notes that weren’t supposed to be there.  So I made my thumb do it’s job and the song began to fell better; there is now a clear separation between melody and the bass line.  Only problem is that I now have to re-learn a bit a of the song to un-learn some of the bad habits I developed.   A small price to pay to get it right.

What’s better? Tab or standard notation?  For me, it’s both.  I can learn a song much faster using tab but the musicality comes out using the standard notation.  The separation of voices, dynamics subtle nuances that only standard notation can provide.  Tab is ideal with the help of standard notation but if you can read music well, then there is no need for tab, theoretically.  So maybe the edge goes to standard but that takes nothing away from tab because I owe of ton of my repertoire to tab.