Mind over Guitar matters (3)
09/08/08 09:04 Filed in: Guitar
Technique
From the first moment we pick up our instrument, we
simply cannot wait to begin playing it; this is
completely understandable and entirely predictable.
As we do however, we begin to form habits
HOW WE LEARN
From the first moment we pick up our instrument, we simply cannot wait to begin playing it; this is completely understandable and entirely predictable. As we do however, we begin to form habits based in part on emotion, (that wonderful element in music that makes it come alive). These habits can stay with us for a lifetime.
This is not at all surprising; I need only refer back to the moment in which I picked up my first guitar, the day of my 13th birthday. I did everything imaginable and in any way necessary to play my first notes, actually I think it was a D chord that a friend of my sisters had shown me at one time or other. This exciting moment of finally possessing this instrument that had been the object of my dreams for at least 2 years prior to this day was certainly not a time in which I would say to myself “Jake be careful about how you do this…. after all you don’t want to develop any bad habits”. Some how the music that I had heard being played seemed so much more important than the ability to do it right. I wouldn’t have given up that moment for anything.
While this emotional reaction is normal and justified it does set the stage for the way we learn. Quite understandably we look at the fingerboard of the guitar and our eyes promptly assign a difficulty level to the task at hand, trying through visual guidance to put fingers down in any way possible. In all likely hood the first finger we place on the fingerboard will be the index finger of the left hand which after all tends to be our dominant finger on either hand, and we promptly squeeze the finger board with our left hand partially because it is an unknown and partially because we perceive some degree of difficulty in producing clear notes. The right hand certainly doesn’t escape this form of problem solving. I remember very well that when I first made an attempt to hold my right hand in the “correct way” it was based on a visual image of the right hand of Andre Segovia (if it worked for Segovia who was I argue with the master). However, for me to position my hand in the same way created a lot of tension which stayed with me for many years.
For those of of us who follow our passion for our entire lifetimes there needs to be a systematic overhaul of our technique if we have fallen into technique based on visual cues. We need to put our minds to work so that we can control every aspect or our playing at all times.
From the first moment we pick up our instrument, we simply cannot wait to begin playing it; this is completely understandable and entirely predictable. As we do however, we begin to form habits based in part on emotion, (that wonderful element in music that makes it come alive). These habits can stay with us for a lifetime.
This is not at all surprising; I need only refer back to the moment in which I picked up my first guitar, the day of my 13th birthday. I did everything imaginable and in any way necessary to play my first notes, actually I think it was a D chord that a friend of my sisters had shown me at one time or other. This exciting moment of finally possessing this instrument that had been the object of my dreams for at least 2 years prior to this day was certainly not a time in which I would say to myself “Jake be careful about how you do this…. after all you don’t want to develop any bad habits”. Some how the music that I had heard being played seemed so much more important than the ability to do it right. I wouldn’t have given up that moment for anything.
While this emotional reaction is normal and justified it does set the stage for the way we learn. Quite understandably we look at the fingerboard of the guitar and our eyes promptly assign a difficulty level to the task at hand, trying through visual guidance to put fingers down in any way possible. In all likely hood the first finger we place on the fingerboard will be the index finger of the left hand which after all tends to be our dominant finger on either hand, and we promptly squeeze the finger board with our left hand partially because it is an unknown and partially because we perceive some degree of difficulty in producing clear notes. The right hand certainly doesn’t escape this form of problem solving. I remember very well that when I first made an attempt to hold my right hand in the “correct way” it was based on a visual image of the right hand of Andre Segovia (if it worked for Segovia who was I argue with the master). However, for me to position my hand in the same way created a lot of tension which stayed with me for many years.
For those of of us who follow our passion for our entire lifetimes there needs to be a systematic overhaul of our technique if we have fallen into technique based on visual cues. We need to put our minds to work so that we can control every aspect or our playing at all times.
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