In order to allow your musical feeling to emerge and give life to the notes you play, you must have the technique required to produce those notes in the first place. “Technique” is the conduit through which musical feeling flows.

People are often surprised when they learn that I have continued to practice and improve pieces of music that I have played for decades, including pieces I have often performed or recorded. “Don’t you know it by now?” they say!

Apparently, they are not aware of the dictum I have laid down in “The Principles of Correct Practice For Guitar” for students to follow if they wish to continue to improve and expand their abilities on guitar, and realize their highest potential as guitarists. It is this: always tell yourself “I don’t know how to play the guitar.” After forty years of playing, I tell myself everyday “I don’t know how to play the guitar.”

Why do I tell myself this? Do I just like to remind myself what a slow learner I am?

No, not really, although I know I have had to work a lot harder to get what others found easy. I tell myself “I don’t know how to play the guitar” so that my mind will constantly be open to new ideas and new intuitions about ways to improve my playing. I tell myself this so that I will not become complacent and stale in my ways of thinking and doing things. I tell myself this so that I will never fall into the common rut of operating from assumptions that have never been reexamined, and have actually outlived their usefulness. Because I tell myself this (and thus keep “Beginners Mind”), I now play light years better than I did at any time in my past.

This is why I counsel my students to think in this way – so that they can be the guitar player they are really capable of being.

What Is “Getting Better” And Do I Have To?

Now, someone may say, “well, do I have to keep getting better? Can’t I just stop getting better and enjoy myself? Anyway, what does “getting better mean?” Those are fair questions.

First of all, of course it is okay if you say “I don’t want to get any better, I am happy where I am and I just want to play my guitar.” That is fine. It is not fine for me, but it may be fine for you. I enjoy getting better and better on guitar, and I have discovered the interesting fact that the better I get at playing guitar, the more I enjoy playing guitar! And since I like to have as much fun as possible in my life, I keep working at getting better on guitar. If you don’t want to get better on guitar, I probably won’t run into you, since my job is to make people better and those are the people that come to Guitar Principles. If you are not looking to get better you probably won’t be reading this anyway, you’ll be busy playing your guitar, at whatever level you play it! How much you are actually enjoying it, though, is another question.

As far as what “getting better” means, it means two things:

1. Becoming able to do things that you could not do before
2. Being able to do things you can already do, but learning to do them much more easily

Both of these possibilities are very exciting for the guitar player who knows how to make “getting better” happen, and both lead to increased joy in playing guitar, and increased musical quality and power for the music we make.

Learning To Do What You Can Not Do

When someone begins to learn guitar, they, by definition, fall into the category of needing to learn to do things they cannot do, because they cannot yet do anything! So they are not ready to sit on their laurels and enjoy the fruit of their accomplishments. They need to set out on an effective path of learning to do what they cannot do. Some do actually learn the necessary new skills and continue on playing guitar, and many don’t, and stop trying.

Many of those that do get up and running as guitar players reach a particular point of ability and stay there. There are things they can do, and there are things they cannot do. This is fine if they do not want to do the things they cannot do. It is a problem if they want to do new things, but find they cannot learn to do them. Then, they go through a cycle that begins with struggle, leads to frustration, and finally resignation. But the frustration is always burning underneath, they feel a resentment that they cannot do what they see other, “better” players doing.

Anyone familiar with “The Principles” knows that the entire goal of my teaching work is to enable any guitar player to learn to do what they cannot yet do, and have not been able to learn to do. We have that one covered. We have saved thousands of guitar players who could not even get to first base with guitar from the horrible fate of continuing to live without being able to play the guitar. Because of “The Principles,” no one need any longer suffer silently with the torture of unrequited guitar love!

So, let us turn our attention to the other aspect of “getting better,” which is learning to do the things we can do already, but learning to do them more easily. Why is that important?

Learning To Do Things More Easily

I once saw a video of the legendary classical guitarist John Williams talking about practicing guitar. He remarked that guitar players needed to learn to enjoy practice and to understand what it is. He said “Practicing is sitting with your guitar and saying, ‘Now how can I find an easier way to do this?’” This statement contains a great truth, but unfortunately, for many players that truth will be useless, because they simply do not know how to make anything easier. Like most great truths spoken by great players you have to actually be in the same place they are in before you can see the truth of what they say.

Knowing how to make things easier is what all of my teaching work is about. I show you step by step how to do everything in the best possible way, and in a way that does not prevent continued development. “Skill” is the ability to reconcile opposing dynamics. When we can do something easily, it is because we have found a way to balance the opposing forces that must be applied to the guitar strings in a way that does not create excessive and uncontrolled muscle tension. When we struggle to play, we are suffering from this muscle tension during playing that is resulting from movements that do not apply force to the strings in precisely the correct way. This is always true.

When we are struggling to play, and our body is constantly tensed while trying to make the movements that will make the notes (and there are many, many players in this state even though they are only dimly aware of it) everything that makes music so wonderful begins to degrade. Our rhythm and smoothness in playing, our tone, even the notes themselves begin to be only a pale reflection of what they could and should be. It is no fun for either player or listener.

Now that we have looked at the “what” of playing easily, let’s look at the “why.”

The reason we should always strive to find easier ways of doing things on guitar is quite simple: the easier something is to do, the more our musical feeling can be poured into the music we make. The more developed, ergonomic, and optimized our technique is, the wider the pipeline though which musical feeling can be poured. We must still supply the musical feeling, but it is amazing how much easier it is to feel the music once the physical body is relaxed, comfortable and actually feeling pleasure in its movements to play, and the mind is concomitantly composed, quiet, and able to simply be aware, listen to and enjoy the music even as it creates it in each moment.

The easier something is to do, the more our musical feeling can be poured into the music we make.

Understanding this vital relationship between musicality and technique is extremely important. People often argue about which one is more “important,” musicality or technique. That is an absurd question, like asking which is more important, the chicken or the egg! One gives rise to the other, and each is the “reason” for the existence of the other. Technique is needed so that we can make the music, and without the music we would never need technique. In fact, they are two sides of the same coin, and I don’t think we would ask “which is more “important,” heads or tails? Unless maybe we bet on heads!

The desire to express our musical feeling demands the need for technique with which to do that. The more refined our technique, the more refined our musical feeling is allowed to be. The size of the pipe through which our musical feeling can flow depends on the ease with which we perform the movement process called “playing the guitar.” I call this pipeline our “musical margin.” As we learn to continually surrender ourselves to the music, and increasingly intensify our emotional involvement with the dimension of “sound with meaning” that we call music I believe that we, as players, should be in continual search of widening our musical margin. There should always be as much room and freedom for the flow of musical feeling as possible, but when we struggle to play, the flow of feeling is strangled.

There is a direct relationship between technique and feeling in making music, the more there is of one, the more there can be of the other. We must keep in mind, however, that not all music is equal in its demands for technique. Some things are simply easier to do than other things, and some styles are more demanding of technique than others. People’s attitudes about technique are often fashioned by the particular style they play. The basic rule of thumb is to acquire the technique you need to give life, not death, to the music you wish to play.

One other important benefit of learning to do things more easily is that it increases our consistency during playing. Everyone who performs or records has had the experience of having things go really well in the practice room and fall apart on the stage or in front of the mic! We usually blame “chance” or any number of indeterminate factors for our playing breakdowns. The fact is that these breakdowns have a technical basis. Sure, on a good day when no one is watching we might make the notes three times out of five. But when the pressure is on, the power of every technical weakness is magnified a hundred times. As we learn to do things in better and better ways, using less effort and causing less tension, it is amazing how solid our playing becomes!

Hearing The Music

Another interesting fact is that the easier it is for us to make the music, the more we are able to actually hear the music as we make it. And the more we hear the music we make, the more we feel the music we make. As I have improved my playing over forty years, I have seen the notes themselves sink deeper and deeper into my bones. Every note is more alive, more vibrant, and carries more meaning to my inner ear. For the listener, who is on the other end of the notes I play, their experience with the music I make is primarily dependent on the experience I am having with the music I make.

This intensification of the musical experience is the primary reason for continuing to widen our musical margin. For those who desire to do so, it is an endless and ever deepening process. When you do it for a long time, you become known as someone who is “great” on guitar. All great players have a wide musical margin. All struggling players have a narrow musical margin. All “non-starters” on guitar have no musical margin, they have no ability to feel the music – because they cannot make music to begin with.

This is the situation of a player who wrote to me recently, wanting to know how to “feel” the music more………..

Hi Jamie

I want to know how I can play the guitar with more expression. My problem is that I can read and play the notes in the song but for some reason I can’t give the music the expression and passion needed to make a good performance. how can I overcome this brick wall ? My profesor tells me that I have the passion inside but I need to let it out. For some reason it hasn’t happened yet. I am very frustrated, I hope you can help me.

Thank you Jamie!!

Ed

I have never met this person, but I have met hundreds of students over the years who say the same things when they first come to me. In all these hundreds of cases I have seen one thing, and one thing only: there is no musical feeling because the person is struggling to play and does not know how to make the music without struggling. Many times, the person was studying with a teacher, often at the university level, and the teacher could do nothing to improve the situation either. I have no doubt this is the case here as well.

For those who wish to widen their musical margin, no matter where you are right now, Guitar Principles is the way to the deeper experience of making music you are seeking.

Copyright 2011 Jamie Andreas. All rights reserved. Used by permission.

Get solid results from your guitar practice….learn how to practice correctly!

Visit www.guitarprinciples.com

The Musical Margin: Why Technique Equals Musicality was written by Jamie Andreas for Guitar Noise. A good guitar player you will be if you visit the above site. © 2012 Guitar Noise

The first two levels are where we use specific procedures for teaching the fingers how to make the movements required to produce the notes we need. All technical problems are worked out in these two levels, and the music is “input” into the mind and body, at least as far as the mechanical process of playing the music goes.

However, the goal of all our practice is to go beyond the mechanical aspect of playing, and to put our mastery of the physical aspect of playing our music at the service of the ultimate goal: making music, real music. That is the purpose of the third level of practice, Shaping.

Imagine you are in a play, and they hand you your lines. You have to read them, and memorize them, and practice saying them. Perhaps you are unfamiliar with some of the words, you would have to learn the pronunciation, and practice saying the word correctly (Microscopic Practice). Perhaps you had a problem remembering all the lines, and saying them at the right time. You would have to work that out as well (Assimilating). Finally, it would be rehearsal time. You would be expected to have your lines down, and as the opening night came nearer, the director would expect you to be pumping blood into that part, and delivering a real flesh and blood character to the audience. He or she would be trying to help you and guide you to an ultimate vision of that character’s essence. The greater the actor and director, the more powerful that final vision and product will be. That final process is Shaping.

This is what we need to do with our music, to the best of our artistic skills, at any point in our development. Interestingly enough, many guitar students avoid this aspect of practice. They actually avoid putting everything together, and doing what guitar players are meant to do: “play” the guitar. This avoidance also prevents them from developing themselves into something that every guitar player should be, something that is actually more important than becoming a guitarist – becoming a musician.

Why do guitar students avoid this?

Many guitar students are afraid of putting everything together! They are always “trying” to learn a song, solo, or piece of music.  They do not know how to do the first  two levels of practice, and because of this they make many mistakes during
playing, and breakdown all over the place. If they were to try to put all the music together and play it from beginning to end, they would get so frustrated and depressed at their inability to get through the music that they would feel like they might as well stop fooling themselves, do the world a favor, and give up the guitar!

Every guitar student must learn the first two levels of practice before they are even capable of the third level. We must be able to actually teach our fingers to do what they have to do to make each note we need, and we need to be able to string all those movements together into one continuous flow, so that our music can be given birth.

But like everything other living entity, after being born, our music must be developed. It must “grow,” it must “mature,” and ultimately have a life of its own that nonetheless reflects where it came from. All those who are already musicians know this, and do this. And so must every guitar student  if they wish to become guitar players and musicians.

How do we develop the music we play after we have given it birth, or the possibility of existing? How do we turn the results of the mechanical process of learning new finger movements into the wonderful emotional phenomenon we call “music?”

Like so many other things in life, there is only one way to do it, and that is to do it!

We must sit down, or stand up with our guitar, and play the music as if we were on stage performing it, or as if we were recording it. We must play the whole thing through, and on top of that, enjoy the music we are making as we do it. We must develop a relationship to the music itself, as if it were a living being we are getting to know. We must let it soak into us and speak to us. We must discover its meaning, for us, and we must let the music tell us how it wishes to be played. I call this process “going for the music.”

You may be thinking, “Well, isn’t that obvious? Do you really have to tell guitar players that they need to play the guitar? You don’t have to tell tennis players they need to play tennis do you?” If you are thinking that, and you are a guitar teacher, I guarantee you have many students who are not doing this. To them, it is not obvious, they need to be told to do it, in fact, they often need to be forced to do it.

I require all may students to do this, perhaps not with everything we work on, but I want to see a “body of work” developing over time, a group of pieces that they can play well, from beginning to end, in other words, a repertoire. To help them do this, to learn the hard work of “refining” a piece to performance level, I have made the “Guitar Principles Guitar Improvement Workshop” open to everyone, my personal students as well as all interested parties.

Getting Started

It can be overwhelming to begin this new, improved relationship to music and the guitar if you are one of the many guitar players who has never really taken command of a group of songs, solos, or pieces, and put them together, refined
them, and brought them to “performance level.” Here is how to get started:

1) Pick 3 songs or pieces that you love, and feel are reasonable for you to expect to handle in a technical way.

2) Start with the first one, and begin to practice it with the intention of playing the whole thing from beginning to end.

3) Divide your song or piece into sections. Learn the first section. For a song, you might learn just the intro first, then add
the first verse, then the pre-chorus, then chorus. Divide it into sections that make sense to you.

4) Focus on that first section. Do the necessary technical work at the Level 1 & 2 practice. If you use “The
Principles,” you will know exactly how to do this. Use “The Basic Practice Approach” to bring the music to a slow but steady tempo.  Usually, half of the performance speed is a good first goal.

5) Video yourself playing it. It will probably have various problems and breakdowns. Do not get upset! Instead, make the
decision to find out what is wrong, by educating yourself about how to practice.

Go to my “Guitar Improvement Workshop”. Post the link to your video. You will then be told the nature of your problems and also exactly what you need to do to solve those problems and improve your playing.

You can be a good guitar player, and reach your guitar playing goals. But you have to do what all the rest of us who have become guitar players had to do. You have to “make it real” by going for the music, and when you find that you can’t quite get what you are going for, you have to learn how to remove whatever obstacle stands between you and your vision of the music.

For the ever-evolving guitarist/musician, technical understanding, technical work, and the achievement of greater musical intensity in our playing go hand in hand in each day’s practice.

Copyright 2011 Jamie Andreas. All rights reserved.
Used by permission.

Jamie Andreas is a world renown, highly respected guitar teacher and author. Visit her website, guitarprinciples.com, for a free copy of “The Power of 10,” a PDF download of ten essays that are essential reading for every student of the guitar as well as all guitarists.

Going for the Music: From Guitar Student to Guitar Player was written by Jamie Andreas for Guitar Noise. A good guitar player you will be if you visit the above site. © 2012 Guitar Noise

And very likely, the person asking this question is feeling some degree of doubt about their ability to teach, doubt about either their guitar knowledge, or their teaching skills.

Well, the first thing to be clear about is that neither of these doubtful things need be, or should be, the object of our first concern. You will never know what your teaching skills are until you begin to teach. And as far as guitar knowledge goes, the only requirement for teaching someone anything is this: you must know at least one thing the person you are teaching doesn’t! Teach them that, and then do your best to keep at least one step ahead of them so you can keep on teaching them! If you know more than one thing the other person doesn’t, you are already ahead of the game!

There is only one thing that will determine whether you can successfully teach the guitar, and that is your deeply felt enthusiasm for causing another person to be able to play the guitar. That is it. If you have that, you will do everything else right as you go along, or quickly find out how to do so. If you do not have a deeply felt enthusiasm for causing another person to be able to play the guitar, then it doesn’t matter what else you have, you won’t be able to teach.

So please, if you are asking yourself this question “can I teach the guitar”, find the answer to this one first “how does it feel to teach someone?” “How do I feel when someone really “gets it”, and learns to play?” “How do I feel when someone doesn’t?”

And of course the all important question: what do you do when someone doesn’t get it?

If you find the right answers to those questions, you will find the answers to all the rest.

To tell you the truth, I wish that everyone who studies my methods would begin to teach, the sooner the better ( I will only request a 24 hour waiting period after beginning to play!) And why is this? It is because teaching is simply an extension of our own learning process. It is because teaching is the most powerful way of learning. Being a teacher is the other side of being a student.

Teaching should be a natural process. It is a natural process of sharing the passion of your own process of learning with another person. The desire to share what you are learning with someone else is as natural as the desire to tell someone a good joke you just heard. The sharing intensifies the experiencing of what is shared. And so it is in teaching. There is simply no better way to learn something than to teach it.

While it is not true that every player needs to be, or can be, a teacher, it is true that every teacher needs to be, and should be, a player. And it doesn’t matter what level of player, you can teach guitar no matter what level of player you are.

You can be a new player, and be a great teacher. You can be a longtime player and be a lousy teacher. A new player can also, in essence, be a great player, no matter how little “knowledge” they have of playing, and a longtime player can, in essence, be a lousy player, no matter how much knowledge they have. That is because the essence of being a player is the joy of the person playing. Being a guitar player is not simply the ability to “produce” music on the guitar, any more than the ability to run around and swing on monkeybars is the essence of a child at play in the playground. It is the feeling with which the activity is engaged that make it play, not the activity itself.

I was a great player the first time I picked up a guitar, because the joy I found in playing was overwhelming. Even though I was picking out, by ear, a single note melody to one of my favorite Johnny Cash songs, it was an experience I will never forget; hearing those sounds I loved coming through my fingers. It is essentially the same feeling I have now when I play a Bach fugue.

Likewise, I was a great teacher as soon as I started teaching, because the emotional experience of enabling another person to play the guitar moved me in my deepest places. This does not mean that there was not world of things to learn about playing and teaching. I would build those structures as time went by. It simply means I had the proper ground to build them upon.

If someone with this joy of playing also has a great enthusiasm for sharing that joy with others, they are perfectly disposed to become great teachers. Their enthusiasm for sharing that joy, and spreading the joy of playing music by planting it in other people, will lead them to pull out of themselves resources they already possess, and then, lead them to develop, and seek out more.

A player who can access their inner joy through playing does not worry about being a great player, they do not doubt themselves; they are too busy playing. And a teacher who feels a deep enthusiasm for enabling others to play does not worry about teaching, or doubt themselves as teachers. This does not mean they are not on the lookout for weaknesses and ways to improve. It simply means that dealing with weaknesses and ways to improve is part of the joyful process.

And so, the question is not can you teach the guitar, of course you can! The question is will you teach the guitar. Will you feel the joyful process when you sit down with another human being and you are both holding guitars? It will have very much to do with the joy you feel when you sit by yourself with a guitar in your lap.

Teachers of the guitar have never had it better, and I say that for two reasons: 1) the technologies for playing, recording, and studying music are breathtaking (especially to those of us who remember the days of slowing down vinyl and using “drum drop” backgrounds), and 2) The Principles makes the actual technical process of teaching the guitar a systematic, scientific, and flawless process for anyone who uses them in teaching. If you use The Principles in teaching, you will have the means to be as effective in teaching as it is possible to be.

It is because so many players using The Principles have seen their power to create results that they have become interested in checking out the possibility of teaching. As they begin to see the immediate improvement in their playing, and the continuation of that improvement, they realize “this business of learning the guitar, if rightly understood, and rightly performed, can be done successfully by anyone”. And they are right, it can, especially anyone who uses The Principles.

In the few short years that The Principles have been around, we have been excited and honored to see a number of people decide to take up teaching, using The Principles and its methods (as well as “The Path”), as the foundation of their approach. They are adapting my methods, and creating new ones, and finding themselves with many reasons to be supremely confident in their ability to really “do it”, really make other people able to play.

Of course, they are also finding that teaching is nothing but an extension of their own passion and process of learning, because that is what true teaching is. There is no such thing as a good teacher who is not a good student. Any good teacher sees teaching as a part of their own growth as students of their subject, and I know that this is true of the teachers we presently have.

And the best teachers see it as something much more as well. The best teachers see the process of teaching as what it really “wants to be” in its highest spiritual sense: a relationship based on love, love and the highest good will; love of music, love of guitar, and mutual love and appreciation for each other on the part of the student and the teacher.

To be able to give another person something so precious as artistic fulfillment in the form of playing the guitar, especially if it is felt to be so precious by that person, and perhaps has eluded them for years, is tremendously fulfilling. Once you feel that, you will know whether you are a teacher or not!

Some teachers spend their whole career teaching one style, or staying at one level of teaching, and there is nothing wrong with that, as long as you are always honest about what you do, and never try to serve your purposes instead of the students. If you know that the purposes of a student would be better served by another teacher, you must direct them to that teacher.

Some teachers teach only strumming and singing, often in continuing education type settings, and that is a wonderful way for new players to discover the guitar. Many people who are thinking of teaching can start this way, rather than thinking they need to become masters of the guitar before they ever show someone their first chord!

And so, if you are asking yourself “Can I teach the guitar?”, think it over in terms of what I have said here. After that, if you feel you would like to make a beginning, do so.

Find an interested person, (it could be a family member, neighbor, etc.), and begin teaching them on an informal basis, for no money. You will discover what you need to know about yourself as a teacher of guitar. When you have proven to yourself that you have the ability to get results with students, begin to charge for your work.

Study The Principles and the approaches on our site. Teach to the end of your knowledge and understanding, and then work to go beyond.

Copyright ©2011 Jamie Andreas. All Rights Reserved.

Can I Teach Guitar? was written by Jamie Andreas for Guitar Noise. A good guitar player you will be if you visit the above site. © 2012 Guitar Noise

I think we would all agree that this farmer, who has lost his patience so completely, is also quite ignorant. He is ignorant of the laws that govern the growing of corn, and does not understand the time frame involved, or the level of consistent care that his fields and crops require in order to grow a successful crop of corn.

We would also agree that this ridiculous example probably does not really ever occur, no farmer is that dumb! But, when it comes to guitar players, I can tell you, it happens all the time!

I have often read comments by guitar players about the value of having “patience” in relation to practicing guitar. Usually, the statement is made in the context of an overall lament that they themselves are sorely lacking in this acknowledged virtue, and, while hoping someday to enjoy its benefits, nonetheless recommend that you yourself do not delay in practicing its lofty tenets.

Most people feel somewhat guilty as they admit they lack patience. They assume that the lack of patience is evidence of some type of character flaw or moral failing, and that he who can bear the ups and downs of life (and guitar practice) with patience is certainly a superior type of person.

Such ruminations are childish, and unenlightened. More importantly, they will not get you any closer to “having patience” yourself, and that is the purpose of me putting my fingers to the keyboard to write this essay – to bring you closer to that necessary but little understood state of having patience. No matter what endeavor of life you find yourself in, when you have patience, you have power.

You Can’t Get Patience, It Just Happens

I am going to show you that there really is no such thing as “having patience.” Patience is something that is there when other things are there. Patience is there when knowledge and understanding are there. If knowledge and understanding is not there, if ignorance is there, as in the case of the farmer above, then patience will not be there either. I say this because I am sick and tired of hearing guitar students say “I get frustrated when I practice. I have no patience.” No, it is not patience they lack, it is knowledge and understanding.

The farmer who wants to grow a crop of corn needs to understand the cause and effect relationship of all the elements involved in doing that. He needs to understand about preparing the soil, watering the seeds, and how, over time, these seeds will germinate and grow into corn. He needs to understand that his job is merely to cooperate intelligently with a set of natural forces that have their own power, work their own magic, and do it on their own timetable for the most part. Of course, there are things he can do to optimize the conditions in which these forces are working so that they are more powerful and produce better and perhaps even somewhat faster results. This is all part of being a good farmer.

It is the same for guitar players. When we sit down to practice, which is the process of building skill on the guitar, we are, whether we know it or not, working with, or against, a set of natural forces, as natural as the ones that grow corn. If we understand these forces, if we know how to work with them, we will always see our skills growing day by day, as a result of the efforts we make. This will happen as surely as the good farmer watching his corn grow over time.

No part of the process will surprise or dismay us. We will not expect things to happen that are impossible to happen, and we will not prevent things from happening by doing the wrong things. We will not have hissy fits because we are not seeing results, because when we know how to practice correctly, we will always see results. We really will not need any patience, because there will be nothing to become impatient about.

Saint Jamie

There is an old saying used to describe particularly obnoxious people. We say “he would try the patience of a saint.” We usually think of saints as extremely patient people – they never “lose it,” no matter how frustrating things get.

Well, when I practice, there are times when I do nothing but fail, over and over, hundreds, even thousands of times. Often, I am trying to do something, and I just can’t do it. I may think I have it down solid, and I go to record it, and it falls apart! Do I start yelling? Do I start crying?

No, I don’t. And believe me, I’m no saint! Except maybe when it comes to guitar. Maybe with guitar I am a saint because I never lose it. Instead, when I have a problem, I study it. Whatever it is, whatever has happened, whatever I have just messed up that I thought I had solid, I study it, objectively, like a scientist.

I try with all my powers to understand the cause and effect relationship of how I am practicing this music, and how I am attempting to do it (including fingering, positioning, etc) and I begin to experiment with new approaches based on my investigations. I do this because I know there is a cause and effect relationship between my efforts and my results. If it’s not working, then there is something I am not seeing yet, and instead of “losing my patience” I simply focus my attention more strongly, I look more closely to see what I am obviously missing.

And I can tell you, I never fail. It may take me weeks, months, or years, but I always get what I want.

My attitude, which looks to others like “patience” is simply a result of my knowledge of the process in which I am engaged, that’s all. And so, we can define “patience” in this way:

Patience is a state of relaxed, alert, and expectant composure that derives from engaging in a goal directed activity of which we have complete knowledge and understanding of the cause and effect dynamics of that process.

That’s it. That is what patience is. To put it in simple language, “patience” is what you get when you are smart, and “impatience” is what you get when you are ignorant!

Patience is characterized by a continuation of effort toward a goal, based on our understanding of what necessary efforts must be made, and impatience is surrender, the ceasing of our efforts because we simply don’t know what to do.

For this reason, I say to all sincere seekers of guitar playing ability: learn the science of correct practice. Empower yourself with the knowledge and understanding of the laws that control how the fingers learn to make the movements called “playing the guitar.”

If you do, you may very well have people tell you they see a halo around your head when you are practicing guitar. After awhile, you will certainly have people tell you that you play like an angel!

Copyright 2010 Jamie Andreas, Guitar Principles.

Patience and Guitar Practice was written by Jamie Andreas for Guitar Noise. A good guitar player you will be if you visit the above site. © 2012 Guitar Noise

The jazz player needs a vast and extensive range of tools, because the music they play is based on sophisticated scales, and those scales are used to generate extremely complex chord structures. There are hundreds if not thousands of chord forms to learn, and a great number of scale forms all over the neck, in every key.

From a musical standpoint, Jazz soloing is about as complex as it gets for improvised styles. A very large number of scales, in all keys, and all positions, must be learned and absorbed into the mind and the fingers. A high level of refined technique, in the left hand and in the pick hand is required to play the scales and all the licks that come from them.

For the jazz player, scales, chords, and arpeggios are all one thing, and all of these tools in their seemingly endless forms are firmly in the head and hands (and heart!) of a great jazz player.

All of this knowledge of the harmonic potential of the fingerboard also gives you the tools for arranging music on and for the guitar, including playing chord melody style. Many players earnestly wish they could do something other than just strum chords, or just play single notes leads. This type of study is the path for them.

Although there is going to be repetition of patterns as we go about learning all this musical material, there is still a tremendous amount of material to study. Many great players have filled large volumes with the material they practice, and have published it for other players to study (i.e. Ted Greene, “Chord Chemistr). You can fill a room with such material, and have a lifetime of study ahead of you, which is very fortunate for you if you love this kind of thing. You will become an awesome player with a very large knowledge base, and never have to worry about having nothing to do!

Of course, we learn to use all these tools as we acquire them, step by step, and song by song. There are a large number of “standards”, songs and pieces that every jazz player knows, and can play and improvise on. All of these must be learned, although there is a “core” of material that you are going to find yourself playing in the majority of professional situations you find yourself in.

A subset of the jazz player is the “pop player”, and many jazz lovers will make a part of their living by playing in bands where pop music and standards are required. The setting will often be club dates, weddings, and social events.

Five years of study, averaging around 2 or more hours a day (hopefully more!) are required to get up and running as a player in the jazz/pop genre. Then, it takes about ten years of 3+ hours a day to fully acquire the use of these tools, and a lifetime of continuing study and refinement if you want to be among the greats. A high degree of refined technique in both hands must be developed as well.

So, you have to decide – do you want to be a brain surgeon, or a jazz guitarist? Probably becoming a brain surgeon will be a bit less of a commitment!

The Bottom Line on Jazz Guitar Playing:

Time Required: 3-5+  years of 3 – 6+ hours a day

Tools: extensive  knowledge of scales and associated modes and arpeggios, advanced ability in special techniques associated with the style. Advanced picking technique.

Recommended Resource:

Our free fingerboard harmony course

Scales and Modes by Arnie Berle

GuitarPrinciples “The 6 Six Essential Major Scales With Modes & Arpeggios”

The Classical Player

People often consider the classical guitar as the most difficult and challenging style to learn and master. I am not sure if that is true, but it is certainly a contender!

The term “classical guitar” is simply the name given to the first and original style of guitar, which began about 200 years ago, when the guitar took its present form as the six string instrument we know today. It had grown out of a long tradition of plucked instruments going back to ancient times, and, whether as the lyre or the lute, always extremely popular in the cultures where it appeared.

Because of its long tradition in so many forms in so many cultures, a very wide range of music from many centuries is played on the “classical guitar”. Renaissance, Baroque, Classical, Romantic/Spanish and Modern are the main genres of music played on what is known as the “Classical Guitar”. So, one of the distinguishing features of playing the classical guitar is the fact that our repertoire spans many centuries, rather than the relatively limited time frame encompassed by the repertoire of other styles of guitar.

However, you do not have to love or desire to play classical (or “serious” music as it is sometimes called) in order to desire or benefit from classical training. The study of any style adds something precious to the depth of our artistry, and many people study classical guitar simply for the advanced use of the right hand fingers it gives you, as well as the intimate knowledge of the fingerboard’s musical potential, an asset in any style. Howard Morgen, who I studied with to learn jazz and fingerboard harmony, is such a player, having studied classical guitar so as to apply the right hand abilities to his 7 string Jazz guitar and the jazz standard repertoire.

The classical guitar has always pushed the limits of what is possible on the guitar in a musical way, and the technique required to play its repertoire is precise and unforgiving. You can get away with imperfect or homegrown technique in many styles, but not with the classical guitar.

Because the physical technique required to play the repertoire is extremely precise, getting that technique requires either an intuitive knowledge of how to do correct practice to develop technique, or exposure to an effective pedagogical system that will teach you how to do that.

The highest levels of ability in both hands are required by an advanced player, and even for the beginner and intermediate student a firm foundation is essential, or playing will be a struggle and progress will be impossible. A correct approach to practice and an absolutely relaxed and comfortable technique must be developed from the beginning, and this is very, very often not the case, especially with the adult student.

In my own experience, I never found a teacher who could do much more than give me music to play, and perhaps tell me which fingers to use. There is more information available today, but the real information for how to develop to the highest levels of ability is lacking in every method I know of – most methods are merely collections of pieces and exercises that would sound great if you knew the secrets of mastering them.

That is why I created the “GuitarPrinciples Classical/Fingerstyle Foundation Course”. It contains concepts and methods not found anywhere else, and they have been proven to work for the average student, of any age. You can see students from this course here.

A moderate practice schedule of 30min, 5 times a week can get you on the path of playing classical guitar. You will be playing nice sounding pieces within a few months, and, if you follow my methods, you will continue to develop nicely for as long as play and practice.

To play the classical guitar at a high level, meaning, being able to play the more complex repertoire well, requires 3 to 6 hours a day for about 10 years. However, anyone can enjoy playing the classical guitar as a richly rewarding hobby that they CAN be good at (just like tennis or golf), playing the pieces they have developed with a professional polish IF they learn the methods professionals use.

The Bottom Line On Classical  Guitar Playing:

Time Required: Adult Student – 30 min/day, 1 to 2 years to acquire solid foundation and playing ability through beginning level, ready and able to make further progress.

Tools: note reading, a solid foundation of technique in both hands, a firm understanding of how to practice effectively, a developing ability to play in a completely relaxed way.

Professional Level: 3 to 6 hours a day for 10 years.

Recommended Resource:

The priniciples

The classical course

How to master a scale

The Learning Curve of Various Styles of Guitar (Part 4: Jazz and Classical) was written by Jamie Andreas for Guitar Noise. A good guitar player you will be if you visit the above site. © 2012 Guitar Noise

Some players eschew single note lead playing and prefer to specialize in providing the rhythm for the band (a la Johnny Ramone). In this case, the style of music will dictate the demands of competency. Again, those demands will fall into two categories: technical and musical.

If one is playing blues based rock, then you need mastery of basic chords and the patterns and rhythms to which they are applied. Each pattern requires study, but these common patterns can be learned by anyone willing to put in the time and who has an idea of how to practice effectively. Traditionally, note reading is not required, and even if you are reading, you will need to see and, more importantly, hear other people do it, and copy them. Six months to a year of one to two hours a day will equip you for this type of playing.

If you play hard rock, you will need to master “power chords”, which are stripped down versions of traditional chords. There are two types of power chords – open and moveable. “Open Power Chords” are played at the first fret, and use open strings. “Moveable Power Chords” have no open strings and move around the neck, changing the letter name of the chord at each fret. Once you learn the basic forms, you will find yourself pretty much doing the same moves over and over for each song you play.

Again, if we practice badly, the same problems that will prevent progress as a “strummer & singer” will prevent progress here. Our fingers/hands/arms will be full of tension, and we will not be able to change chords smoothly.

The Bottom Line On Rock Rhythm Playing:

Time Required: 6 months to a year of 1-2 hours of practice a day.

Tools: first position power chords, movable power chords, common patterns, which are taken from bits of common chord forms around the neck

Recommended Resource: “The Principles Of Correct Practice For Guitar”

Troy Stetina’s  “Rock Rhythm Method”

David Hodge’s “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Playing Rock Guitar”

The Rock Lead Player

The rock lead player must learn the five Pentatonic Scale positions, and know how to use them around the neck in all the common rock keys. They must also know the standard licks from each scale, and master the subtleties of getting a professional and musical sound.

Essential techniques of bending, vibrato, and string muting must be mastered, along with moderate to advanced pick technique. Since this is an improvised style of music, actually using the tools in an improvising setting must be practiced. It is not enough to simply master the tools themselves outside the context of making music with them.

NOTE: All of these tools are given in the “GuitarPrinicples Rock & Blues Foundation Course”, along with the practice methods you need in order to actually get them into your fingers. You can see the results students are getting with this course in our Video Gallery.

So, the student must play along with jam tracks, using the scales, licks, and techniques of the style. Learning other people’s solos is a great way to build taste and vocabulary, and paradoxically, to develop your own style, as you intuitively pick and choose the elements you are in artistic harmony with. Finally, playing with other people and joining/forming a band will take you where you want to go.

The Bottom Line On Rock Lead Playing:

Time Required: 2 years of 1 -2 hours a day

Tools: first the five Minor Pentatonic Scales plus the characteristic licks from each style, proper bending and vibrato technique, proper muting technique, competent alternate picking technique

Recommended Resource: The GuitarPrinciples Rock & Blues Foundation Course….this course gives you all the tools mentioned above in a level of detail not found anywhere else.

The Metal Guitarist

Being a metal guitarist is kind of like getting your masters degree, you need the fundamental training of a rock guitarist, and then you need a few more years of advanced training on top of that.

All of the above for the rock guitarist applies, and then the player must acquire a number of more specialized and sophisticated techniques including speed picking, sweep picking, and two hand tapping technique. Great players in this style employ a sophisticated exploitation of the fingerboards harmonic potential, requiring an extensive knowledge of scales and arpeggios (similar to the jazz player). Although you may be able to mimic other players rather quickly, in order to really know what you are doing will require an ongoing study of 5 to 10 years, and beyond.

The Bottom Line On Metal Guitar Playing:

Time Required: 3-5 years of 2-3 hours a day

Tools: extensive knowledge of scales and associated modes and arpeggios, advanced ability in special techniques associated with the style. Advanced picking technique.

Recommended Resource: The GuitarPrinciples Rock & Blues Foundation Course, followed by

Troy Stetina’s Metal Lead Vol 1 & 2,

Troy Stetina’s “Speed Mechanics”

Ney Mellos unique and powerful “Maximum Speed Picking”.

GuitarPrinciples “The 6 Six Essential Major Scales with Modes & Arpeggios”

The Learning Curve of Various Styles of Guitar (Part 3) Rock was written by Jamie Andreas for Guitar Noise. A good guitar player you will be if you visit the above site. © 2012 Guitar Noise

I have to say that the first time I knew I needed to play the guitar was when a family friend showed up at our house with her guitar. I watched her move her fingers around the neck (chords) and make the sound with her other hand (strum) and it was the most magical thing I had ever seen. I knew I had to learn how to do that. I started teaching myself from a book, and practicing two to three hours a day. I learned it rather quickly.

This ability to strum and sings is what I call “first base” in guitar. Anyone can get to first base, but not everyone can get there by themselves. Many folks do need the guidance of a teacher to learn to strum, sing, and most importantly, change chords smoothly.

However, many students, even though they take lessons, fail to learn how to strum and sing, and changing chords smoothly without losing the beat. This is because of incompetent teachers… teachers that simply do not know how to deal with someone who seems to be completely unable to move their fingers into the necessary shapes of each chord and move them in time with the beat. The problems always has to do with excessive tension generated in the large muscles of the shoulder and upper body from improper attempts to utilize undeveloped finger and hand muscles. “Correct Practice” is the key to eliminating this tension.

Another overlooked problem for beginners is this: it is exceedingly difficult to sing a rhythmically complex melody over chords that are being played to a steady, basic beat. Teachers take this skill for granted and do not appreciate its complexity, and do not break it down in the proper way for students. I do this very thing in my book, “The Path Level One: Chords & Rhythm”.

I want everyone to know that they can learn to strum and sing easily if they practice correctly. The methods I have created in “The Principles” and “The Path” work for everyone who uses them; no exceptions. There is no longer any reason for anyone to not learn to strum and sing well. The only reason for failure now is simply not knowing about, or not properly using these methods.

When we understand how to practice, becoming a “strummer & singer” can be accomplished in about 3 – 6 months with about 20 min to a half hour a day practice time.

If you are having trouble getting to first base with guitar, I strongly suggest you watch these free videos. They will explain to you why you are having trouble getting somewhere with guitar, and what to do about it.

Free Videos to watch:

• Intro to The Principles of Correct Practice for Guitar
• Your First Perfect Lesson
• The Secret of Changing Chords

The Bottom Line on Strumming & Singing:

Time Required: 3 – 6 months with about 20 minutes-30 minutes a day of Correct Practice.

Tools Required: the basic first position chords, basic strum patterns

Recommended Resources:

• “The Principles of Correct Practice for Guitar” book
• “The Principles of Correct Practice for Guitar” DVD
• “The Guitar Principles Path Level One: Chords & Rhythm” book
• “How to Play the House of the Rising Sun” (online course)
• “Chord Confusion” Free Article
• “Basic Chords” Free Article
• “Practicing Chord Changes” Free Article

Advanced Strumming & Singing:

After learning the basic chords that are played in the first position on the guitar, many players are happy to just keep learning more songs that use those chords. However, sooner or later they will run into songs that require more complex chords, and many of those will be some type of bar chord played up the neck.

Learning these bar chords presents a new technical challenge that stops the progress of many players. Again, ineffective teaching and practice methods are to blame. The correct and best way of learning bar chords is given in my essay “Easy Bar Chords”, which for many who have read it, has enabled them to do bar chords for the first time in their lives.

If we practice bar chords correctly, we can handle them easily with another 6 to 9 months of reasonably consistent practice, spending 20 min to a half hour a day. After that period of vertical growth, we have the possibility of continuous horizontal growth afterwards, learning more songs and using the same chords and strum patterns. Other techniques such as bass runs and hammers and pulls will make our playing even more attractive.

Whether we stick with the basic chords, or continue on to learn the more complex chord shapes, once we learn them, we’ve got them. Like riding a bike, once you can do them, you do not lose your ability to handle chords as time goes on even if you do not play for awhile.

Oh, one more thing – there are two ways to go about learning the advanced aspects of strumming and singing. You can do it alongside learning to read music, or you can work from tabs. Obviously, working from tabs is quicker, and learning to read will give you more musical understanding as time goes by.

I recommend you do both if you have the time. If not, go with tabs. Just make sure your technique is good as you learn these new and more complex movements. Your left hand should be trained with the Left Hand Foundation from “The Principles” (see video). Once you can do the movements taught here, all bass runs and other types of scale work will become easy.

The Bottom Line on Advanced Strumming & Singing:

Time Required: A year or so beyond the initial start up time to reach “First Base Strumming & Singing”

Tools Required: the basic movable (barre chords) basic strum patterns, bass runs.

Recommended Resources:

• “Easy Bar Chords” Free Article
• “The Principles of Correct Practice for Guitar” book (the Left hand Foundation Exercises)
• “The Principles of Correct Practice for Guitar” DVD (the Left hand Foundation Exercises)
• “Hammers & Pulls According to “The Principles” ebook
• Mel Bay Note by Note: According to “The Principles” online course (teaches note reading also)
• “How to Play the House of the Rising Sun” (online course)

Fingerpicking

If we wish to expand our abilities to include fingerpicking as well as strumming our chords, that is much more demanding. Players who have acquired too much tension in the arms and hands from bad practice will find it nearly impossible to control their fingers as they try to learn fingerpicking.

The right hand exercises in “The Principles of Correct Practice for Guitar” will give you real control and independence in each finger, which will open the door to real power and speed with the right hand fingers. From there, the “Guitar Principles Classical/Fingerstyle Course” will give you a wonderful foundation in all the basic right hand techniques and patterns you will need. Then, you can easily learn whatever you wish, and will be able to effectively use all the other resources for fingerstyle/classical guitar on the market.

If we know how to practice correctly, wonderful fingerpicking ability can be gained in 6 months to a year with about 45 minutes to an hour a day.

The Bottom Line on FingerPicking:

Time Required: 6 months to a year, 45min -1hr a day

Tools Required: ability to control each finger independently of the others, keeping hand and arm tension to a minimum. Learning a number of standard picking patterns and runs to use between chords.

Recommended Resources:

• “The Principles of Correct Practice for Guitar” book (FingerStyle Foundation Exercises)
• “The Principles of Correct Practice for Guitar” DVD (FingerStyle Foundation Exercises)
• “The Guitar Principles Classical/Fingerstyle Course” (online course in 6 parts)
• “How to Play the House of the Rising Sun” (online course)

The Learning Curve of Various Styles of Guitar (Part 2): Strumming & Singing was written by Jamie Andreas for Guitar Noise. A good guitar player you will be if you visit the above site. © 2012 Guitar Noise

There are things that are the same about learning every style, and there are things that are different. For instance, all styles of guitar are played with the fingers! If you do not know how train the more than twenty-five muscles that move the fingers so that they gain strength, stretch, and coordination, you will have serious problems learning any style of guitar.

On the other hand, the things you need to know to be a hard rock player are vastly different than the things you must know to play the classical guitar. There are different skill sets for each style, and they dictate how much effort, and how much time it takes to learn and master each style of guitar.

I recently received a question from Jim, one of my readers about this topic of the skills involved in different guitar styles and it’s a question that deserves a thorough answer. Because there is so much confusion and simple lack of understanding about this subject, which is so important to many aspiring guitar players, I have written this guide to learning the various styles of guitar.

Here is Jim’s question…

Hi Jamie

When it comes to practice time, you have said a student should practice a minimum of twenty minutes, four times a week for a strum and sing player, and that three hours a day for a serious musician is necessary. You also said the necessary amount of practice time depends to some degree on the style of music the guitarist wants to play.

Can you share your thoughts on the relative degree of difficulty to play effectively (if not master) the different styles.  I would assume classical would be the most difficult but how do the others rank in difficulty — country, Jazz, blues, etc.  It would be fascinating to hear your thoughts.

Jim

The Background Facts of Learning Any Style

We need to realize that there are three parts to becoming a good guitar player in any style. They are:

• Learning how to practice effectively so that a full development of the muscles needed to play occurs over time. This will result in easy, relaxed, real control of the fingers no matter what they are playing. It also results in the ability to continuously improve throughout one’s life.
• Acquiring the tools you need for the style…Every style uses a particular set of scales, licks, chords, and special techniques
• Acquiring the practical, musical experience unique to that style, with which we learn how to use the tools to create music.

We must spend the right amount of time doing the right kind of thing and in the right kind of situations in order to master the tools of any style. And, of course, the final determining factor in how long it takes us to achieve real proficiency in a style is… you guessed it!… the quality of our practice!

If we do not know the proper approaches to teaching our fingers new skills, and guiding them along the necessary path from being ordinary human fingers to super-human guitar player fingers, well, all bets are off! In that case, we simply will not be able to learn and make progress in any style, and that is because all styles of guitar have one thing in common: they are played by having the fingers make coordinated movements which require varying degrees of stretch and strength on the strings of the guitar.

If we do not abide by the laws (and there are definite laws) of how muscles learn new movements, we will fail in any style of guitar. If we know them, we will succeed in any style. And so, in the foregoing discussion, we will make the further assumption that the player wishing to learn these styles does know how to practice correctly and effectively.

So, to sum up so far, the three requirements of success in any style are:

• Learn to practice correctly
• Learn the tools of the style
• Learn the musical aspects of the style

Since my book The Principles of Correct Practice for Guitar covers everything you need to know to become firmly established in correct, powerful guitar practice, we will go straight to the second requirement of learning any style of music on guitar…

Acquiring the Tools

The more complex the style, the more complex are the tools needed to create music in that style. What makes a style complex?

First and foremost, it is the scale, or scales which are used to create the music. A scale is the set of notes used to create the music we are playing. It is to a musician what a palette of colors is to a painter. If I am painting with a palette of only four colors, the limits of what I can do with those four colors will be defined by those possible choices, although if I am artistic, I will still create some amazing and compelling productions. However, if I add one or two more colors, my horizons will expand greatly.

And so it is with scales. Some scales are simpler; they have only five notes (the Pentatonic Scales used in blues/rock). Pop, jazz, and classical music use seven notes scales (the Diatonic  Major and Minor Scales). Since chords are simply combinations of scale tones, these scales generate far more complex chords to learn. In addition, other notes are added to the basic major or minor scales, creating even more complex scales and arpeggios. Add to that all the inversions of each chord and arpeggio and you have a whole lot to learn if you are learning a style that actually uses all these tools. There is a lot more to the story, of course, but I am just trying to give you the general idea.

So, the time and effort spent acquiring the tools that you need to be a player of any style is proportionate to the number and complexity of the musical elements of that style. The other qualifying factors are going to be the number of specialized techniques employed by the style, and the sophistication of the musical aspects required to render the style appropriately.

Learning the Musical Aspects of a Style

When we pursue a style of guitar, we are entering into the particular artistic aesthetic associated with that style. For instance, if you want to play folk music on the guitar, you’d better be able to get into the headspace of the culture that gave birth to folk music. You’d better get your folky type attitude on when you are about to lay into We Shall Overcome on a folk guitar. It would be best not to put on your headbanging Metallica or Queensryche vibe, unless you want to scare the kumbaya out of your audience!

This is usually not a problem, because we tend to intuitively follow the musical style that reflects the qualities we possess, but it is good to keep these things in mind. I spent years studying jazz with some great and accomplished players. I wanted to learn the tools, and I’m very glad I did.

But, I tried to learn the musical aspects too. I tried to learn to improvise well and speak the language of jazz. Even though I admired those who could, I realized after awhile that I would never be very good at that, I just did not have that feeling inside of me, or even the desire to find it and nurture it with the necessary intensity. I remained a “dabbler” in that style.

I happen to believe we are born for different styles of guitar, although we can certainly mix and match to form our own flavor. I was born with classical sensibilities, and will be kind of a fish out of water in the serious pursuit of other styles.

No matter what style we pursue, we must cultivate the musical aesthetic of that style. If you wish to play folk, hang out with folkies and go to sing-a-longs. If you wish to rock, make sure to join a band, play lots of gigs, and most importantly, follow the advice of Jack Black in the movie School of Rock – get your attitude on and be ready to fight against “the man” for the rest of your life!

If you wish to be a classical player, spend lots of time being stuffy and serious (just kidding!) and if you want to play Jazz, well, be cool, jewel!

There is one other aspect of playing any style that helps determine how difficult that style is to master. This aspect is subtle, and rarely, if ever, mentioned…

Discrete Movements vs Repeated Patterns

One of the factors determining how difficult it is to master a style is the number of discrete movements used in the playing of the music of that style. What does this mean?

Some styles of music rely heavily on a rather limited set of movements that are repeated over and over, and perhaps modified slightly to create a large number of variations on that riff. A perfect example of this is blues. There are a rather small number of movements that are repeated constantly, changed slightly, and combined in endless ways to produce the actual licks a player will use.

This means that once that limited number of discrete movements is mastered, the keys to the style are yours; all you have to do at that point is increase your vocabulary of licks. However, if you have never really mastered those essential moves, you will have trouble with everything you play (unfortunately, this is the case with many players).

Some styles need a larger set of discrete movements to produce the music. Those styles will require more effort, in a technical direction, to learn. Classical guitar probably tops the list in terms of this consideration. I have played this style for almost forty years, and I am constantly saying to myself when I practice “hmmm, I don’t believe my fingers have ever done this before”. Because of the seemingly infinite number of musical situations in which I find myself as I play the classical repertoire, I am always needing to teach a new skill to my fingers rather than simply applying an old one.

We must keep in mind that there is still much work to do to become a master of a style that uses a more limited number of discrete movements, and a large number of repeated movement patterns. However, it is a different kind of work; it is the work of constantly expanding our knowledge base and vocabulary within the style, and also increasing our fluency in using our expanded vocabulary. For those in love with a particular style, this is usually not a problem, because listening to and playing the music they love is not something they find difficult to do!

Now that we understand the three requirements for success in any style of guitar – correct practice, the tools, and the musical aspects – and the importance of “discrete movement density” within a style, we are in a position to examine the requirements of the particular styles of guitar we find around us.

And we will do that in Part Two, stay tuned…!

The Learning Curve of Various Styles of Guitar (Part 1) was written by Jamie Andreas for Guitar Noise. A good guitar player you will be if you visit the above site. © 2012 Guitar Noise

Hi Jamie,

I have a question about picking and building up to higher speeds.

I read somewhere that the late, great Shawn Lane once said, “Generally speaking, when practicing fast licks, it is supposed to be better to practice at a slow tempo and build up to speed. But my idea is ‘play as fast as you can even if you make mistakes.’ In the beginning, you may lack precision but you can get over that. First gain speed and gradually get clearer. It’s a better way – at least I think so.”

This runs counter to what you and most other instructors teach. Obviously it worked for Shawn so it can’t be completely flawed, but is there anything of value in this statement for normal humans?

In a similar vein, Michael Angelo recommends picking as fast as you can first, then using that motion as your basic template for picking technique and practicing slow from there on, the idea being that the first picking-hand position you go with is the most natural and comfortable for you (I’m assuming this isn’t directed at complete beginners). Where do you stand on that idea?

Thanks for any comments and keep up the good work,

Bill

Hi Bill,

Those are very interesting questions, and even though the contentions made are almost diametrically opposed to what I and many other teachers would advise, I think they deserve examination, and I even believe there is value to be discovered. In any case, as you say, when a great player says something, I always listen closely. They may not understand completely all the implications or related factors of what they are saying, but there is most likely something valid in their perceptions.

First of all, yes, I think we can safely assume that these procedures worked for these people, at least some of the time, and at least at some period in their development. However, we have no way of knowing if they could solve all their problems this way, and if they at times needed to employ other methods. We have no way of knowing if there were things they wanted to do and never were able to do, because these methods were not sufficient. And, we have no way of knowing if these methods only became effective after a certain period of technical development had taken place.

I think we should keep these uncertainties in mind when examining this issue.

And as long as we are talking about things that we can and cannot be certain of, I will tell you this without a doubt: for the vast majority of people attempting to learn guitar, these methods will bring exactly what they do bring for the thousands of guitar students I have met in my life: these methods of practice and problem solving will bring almost insurmountably disastrous results! I am talking about technique that is so flawed, so limited, and so ingrained into the players muscle memory that most people, without the benefit of the remedial techniques GuitarPrinciples offers, will simply never overcome them.

So, what is going on here?

I really think that when Shawn Lane says “in learning a new lick, just keep playing it over and over. The mistakes will gradually get worked out and it will get cleaner,” he is talking about learning a lick that is already well within the level of your ability. It is on the same plane as your horizontal growth at the present time. It does not contain movements that are beyond you at the moment, things you cannot do comfortably or smoothly at any speed.

There are many things I can play perfectly at sight, having never seen the music before. That is because (aside from knowing the neck well), there is nothing there I have not seen a million times before, and nothing there I cannot execute with almost no conscious thought. Then, there are things I can play pretty well, perhaps not up to tempo, and perhaps with some mistakes. I will have to work on them a bit, because they are simply more complex, and perhaps contain movements I am not so familiar with, or are completely new. Perhaps I need actual physical development of some muscle or nerve connection to play it well.

Then, there are really difficult things I have never played before (remember, I play mostly classical). The best players have to take months to perhaps a year to do the kind of analysis and practice necessary for extremely difficult music (and bring it to “performance level”). It is very important to keep in mind that many styles, especially improvised styles, use a relatively small number of discretely different movement patterns. If you are a rock or blues player, most likely, you are doing essentially the same movements, perhaps in different contexts and with different inflections, throughout your whole playing life. Even new licks are not too different than the ones you know. Of course, every player is going to fall somewhere on this spectrum in terms of variability of movement patterns, and that will influence the practice methods you find effective.

Auto Correct

I actually have a name for this idea of “doing something over and over until it starts coming out right.” I call it “auto-correct.” I use it myself, and I use it with students. However, it is important to know how to use it, when to use it, and especially, when not to use it.

I may have a student sitting in front of me, playing something we have worked on awhile. He or she may mess up a passage, and I will say “okay, take that part again.” But, I will add these extremely important words “increase your attention and intention before and during this next attempt.” In other words, some mistakes will occur simply because we are not paying enough attention to what we are doing, or, even more likely, are not thinking ahead to our next series of movements, including hearing the music in our heads as we play. So, my first line of attack with mistakes where music has already been practiced is “auto-correct.” It very well may happen that by simply going over the passage a few times with strong mental focus (and it is always a big help to play it mentally before each new attempt), it starts to improve. But, if the mistake does not yield to this approach, it is a good indication that something else is going on, that the problem is not in the mind, so to speak, but in the fingers.

It could be bad fingering, unclear fingering, erratic fingering, physical tension in any part of the body; a million different things. At that point, a diagnostic process of analysis must be conducted, and there is only one way to do it. If you doggedly stick with “auto-correct,” the methods you have asked me about, you are going to be a seriously frustrated guitarist, because when the problem is of this nature, it does not fix itself!

Another point to appreciate is this: in my book “The Deeper I Go,” I define intelligence as “responsive awareness.” I also make the point that there are many domains of intelligence, and physical intelligence is one of them. Some people’s bodies are more naturally “responsively aware” than others. For these people, auto-correct is going to work at an earlier date in their development, and more strongly. However, all of us can teach our bodies to be responsively aware, to be “intelligent,” that is what proper training is all about. The more sophisticated our technique becomes through training, the more “auto-correct” will work for us, and in increasingly complex situations.

But, much more important than all of this is to know what to do when auto-correct is not solving our problem, which is 99% of the time! What must be done is, essentially, the Basic Practice Approach (the fundamental practice methodology taught in The Principles). I will say to the student having trouble with something, “play the passage for me no tempo; show me the bottom of your practice.” That will tell me all I need to know. I will see the discomfort the student is truly experiencing (without knowing it), and I will see what they are doing to create or exacerbate that discomfort. I see what is wrong, why it is wrong, and what to do about it, and then we get to work.

Expanding Upon A Basic “Template”

Now let’s talk about this other idea of learning a skill by simply having a go at it as fast as you can, observing the action, and assuming that the details of that action are the best possible ones for you to use, and so should be developed.

Well, my first reaction is “try it, see how it works.” I imagine it may be a good idea, and bring good and maybe the best results for some very few people, but again, all of my decades of teaching experience have shown me otherwise. In fact, my basic attitude is, all things being equal, the untrained fingers are incredibly stupid, and can almost always be depended upon to do things in the worst way possible. In fact, it would usually be better to watch what your fingers do, and then train them to do just the opposite!

Now, please remember I am not laying down hard and fast “this is the way it is for everybody all the time” type of rules, because there are none. There are so many variables involved in this whole subject that no rules could ever hold true always. My philosophy is to listen to everybody, think about everything, try everything you have a mind to, and then assess and analyze results. We just really need to be careful in this whole endeavor. I would not be surprised that someone who based their picking technique on the first available action template that presented itself would never know whether they were, by doing so, making many other skills inaccessible to themselves down the road. We frequently hear of long time players who wish they could change this or that about their technique, having discovered superior approaches later in life.

So, those are my thoughts concerning the provocative statements made by these great players. If I were to summarize my reaction to the substance of your questions concerning the statements of these players of great natural talent who, as great players often will, have temporarily taken on the role of teachers, I would say this: it is a perfect illustration of why so often great players are lousy teachers, unless they are teaching already great players!

Copyright © 2005-2010 Jamie Andreas. All rights reserved.

Response from internationally recognized guitarist and music educator, Troy Stetina:

Jamie,

Wonderful insights. When I read these things you write, I always find myself thinking, “yeah, very true.” You always seem to be articulating things that I am aware of, but had not refined into such clearly stated truths. So it’s always very cool to see you hitting the nail on the head.

This was a particularly interesting one… Right on target here with how many great players practice methods work, but only under certain circumstances. When people ask me about my own practice now, I must always qualify my answer, saying that when I was developing technique my practice was quite different. What I do these days for “practice” is only a matter of “dusting off” skills already previously developed. That is a completely different animal from “inputting” the unconscious routines in the first place.

Thanks for all your efforts and insights,

Troy Stetina

Auto Correct In Guitar Practice was written by Jamie Andreas for Guitar Noise. A good guitar player you will be if you visit the above site. © 2012 Guitar Noise

I believe we all know that the usual reaction to this situation is a negative one; frustration perhaps mixed with anger, and a little despair thrown in for good measure! When we can’t get something to sound the way we hear someone else play it, even after lots of practice and lots of time, it is a very frustrating, annoying situation. At the very least, we want to hear ourselves making that wonderful music we admire and, more than that, we want to feel like we are getting somewhere as guitarists for the effort we put in, that we have the ability to make continuous progress.

So, when we keep giving ourselves negative feedback, in the form of repeated failed attempts to be able to do something, it starts to take the wind out of our sails, and we begin to lose confidence in ourselves. Diminished desire for practicing usually follows rather quickly.

So, what do we do about this unavoidable situation?

The answer lies in understanding the point I made in my essay “The Inner Master”. We must understand what “Mastery” is, and why it is possible to be, in essence, a Master right from the beginning of our relationship to music and the guitar. And that is because Mastery is an inner attitude and disposition. It is the inner position in which there is no obstruction from the outside to the inside, and no obstruction from the inside to the outside.

Sure, even “Masters” hit plateaus, but they have learned not to react in ways that will prevent eventual transcendence of the limitations of that level of ability. They have learned that all negative reactions will prevent moving beyond the plateau. The only possible exception to this is the person who has learned the wonderful art of turning his anger into an ally, using frustration as a fuel for determination. But even in this case, the anger is handled with mastery, and not allowed to become an obstacle (but that is a topic for another essay!).

The Master has realized the wisdom expressed so eloquently in the New Testament, “resist not evil”. The meaning of this is simply this: the way to overcome that which we do not like is not to resist and resent it, because that only strengthens it, and weakens us. It is to “remain in place” inwardly, to study it, to understand it, and then to act. Then, we achieve power, which is the ability to create change.

And so, knowing this, what does the Master do when they find themselves on a plateau? Why, they build a château on the plateau, and take up residence there! They say, “Hmmm, something is going on here that I don’t understand, so I am going to stay here and study the landscape. I will focus my attention so strongly on what I can see that I will begin to see more.” The Master knows the reason for being stuck is because there is something sitting there, at that level, that needs to be known. So the Master sits, and studies, and if there is one thing a Master has, it’s patience!

For someone who has not discovered the inner position of Mastery, the reaction to being “stuck on a plateau” is quite different. For such a person, there are obstructions from the inside to the outside, and the outside to the inside, and the obstructions arise quickly– anger, resentment, and feelings of inadequacy appear and intensify. If these feelings were examined, the road to Mastery would begin to become visible. If these feelings were examined, we would find that it is not really the natural frustration of not getting what we want that is the biggest problem, but rather, it is the fact that we are, underneath that, feeling inferior and inadequate.

Like children watching their parents divorce, we conclude immediately “there must be something wrong with me; that is why this bad thing is happening”. In both these cases, this conclusion may appear to be justified, given our level of understanding, but it is not the truth. The Master may feel these feelings too, but unlike the novice, the Master does not run from these feelings, they simply become part of the scenery to be surveyed.

The novice feels such emotional pain from these feelings that they are helpless to do anything but try to avoid them. The novice shuts his eyes, and covers his feelings. In fact, the novice wishes to leave the plateau more out of a desire to avoid feelings of inferiority than by the desire to really enjoy a higher level of ability.

Unlike the novice, the Master does not identity with these feelings; they may arise, but the Master does not give these feelings the power to define who he or she is, or can become.

Just because I feel like I am inferior, or unable, is no reason to assume I actually am; that would be a very dangerous belief to adopt on such dubious evidence. And so, the Master sets aside these feelings, and sits, and studies. The Master becomes so involved in the process of communing with the conditions of the plateau that the desire to leave it becomes secondary to the interest and adventure of learning all of what is there. And so, problems become more interesting than frustrating.

Because of this, over time the depth of understanding of the Master increases, and the rising to a new level of ability appears automatically.

To be a Master from the beginning, to have the power to transcend your plateaus, is not about knowing how to go somewhere else. It is a matter of knowing how to look and see where you are right now. Insight into where we are now involves two things: understanding how we got here, and more importantly, knowing what is keeping us here. Often, the two answers are the same. In any case, it is the second answer that is most useful to us. Therein lies our power.

As I said, negative emotional reactions, the habit they become, and sometimes even the need for them, painful though they be, prevent us from leaving our plateaus. But there is a little more to the story. Underneath every reactive feeling there is a belief. If you want true insight into yourself you must uncover the unconscious beliefs that underlie your feelings. And I will tell you this most truly: if the above described feelings are a chronic obstruction to you during practice, then you have the most toxic belief a guitar player can have: you really believe you will never be able to do it, you believe you just don’t have it, and worse, you can’t get it. Your frustration draws its power from your deep down belief that you are innately inadequate. And so all your negative feelings actually resolve down to despair, and despair is living death.

The opposite of despair is hope. And guess what! There is good news: help and hope are here! They are here for those who really want it and are willing to act like they do. That hope is a complete conversion of your practice according to The Principles. Anyone who does this realizes that their belief in their innate inadequacy was simply wrong. They simply were not going about things in the right way, and no one ever told them.

Mastery is not about where you are, but how you look at where you are. The Principles will give you the framework within which you can look at where you are with understanding, not despair. What most people think of as “Mastery” is simply the accumulated power and abilities from much time spent in the position of Mastery. They look at the result of mastery, and think it is the thing itself.

All of what you see in The Principles is the result of my time spent, often many years, on my own plateaus. Or, it is from the study of the plateaus upon which my students have found themselves. Essentially, I have done the work for you, or at least all of the work except the work only you can do for yourself. I have figured out every detail of why people have trouble learning guitar and why they get stuck at some level of ability beyond which they cannot move. I have never seen a plateau from which I or my students could not eventually rise, but only if we sit upon the plateau as a Master.

Sitting upon the plateau as a Master, with dedication, understanding, and patience, we do not allow frustration and despair to obstruct the flow from the inside to the outside. Everything is seen, known, and understood, and we are led to relate in the best and most appropriate way to the level of awareness called “the plateau”. The “plateau” becomes the teacher, and instructs the Master/Student in the wisdom that is necessary to rise higher.

And so it goes, and so it goes.

Copyright © 2004 Jamie Andreas. All rights reserved.
www.guitarprinciples.com

Guitar Plateaus – What To Do When You’re Stuck was written by Jamie Andreas for Guitar Noise. A good guitar player you will be if you visit the above site. © 2012 Guitar Noise

Here are the good ways:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E03KVay2Gq0

If you are serious about your playing, and would like to learn to play better than you do now, instead of just learning “more stuff” and playing it the same way, I urge you to visit www.guitarprinciples.com, where you will find the knowledge and training that will enable you to achieve your highest potential as a guitarist.

You can still find David’s original text for this lesson here: While My Guitar Gently Weeps – A Finger Style / Chord Melody Arrangement

Or, if you prefer, there is a “condensed tablature version” that David created for the Guitar Noise blog here: Download gif (Right-click and “Save as”)

As always, please feel free to come by the Guitar Principles website (Guitar Principles) and drop me a line if you have any questions or comments.

Don’t miss Part 1 (Performance Notes) and Part 2 (Performance Notes for the Verses) of this lesson!

“While My Guitar Gently Weeps” – Performance Notes for the Bridge was written by Jamie Andreas for Guitar Noise. A good guitar player you will be if you visit the above site. © 2012 Guitar Noise

This means applying force to the strings in such a way that unnecessary tension is minimized and eliminated, and necessary tension is balanced when applied, and released when its job is done. That is what I am doing when you see me play. The video for this lesson can be found here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAjCxfTH1fc

You can still find David’s original text for this lesson here: While My Guitar Gently Weeps – A Finger Style / Chord Melody Arrangement

Or, if you prefer, there is a “condensed tablature version” that David created for the Guitar Noise blog here: Download gif (Right-click and “Save as”)

If you are serious about your playing, and would like to learn to play better than you do now, instead of just learning “more stuff” and playing it the same way, I urge you to visit www.guitarprinciples.com, where you will find the knowledge and training that will enable you to achieve your highest potential as a guitarist. Please feel free to come by the Guitar Principles website (Guitar Principles) and drop me a line if you have any questions or comments.

Don’t miss the other two parts of this series: Part 1 – Performance Notes and Part 3 – Performance Notes for the Bridge.

“While My Guitar Gently Weeps” – Performance Notes for the Verses was written by Jamie Andreas for Guitar Noise. A good guitar player you will be if you visit the above site. © 2012 Guitar Noise

Beyond the fingering, much of what I will explain to you would not otherwise be obvious, or even visible to you. This is because much of what developed players are doing when they play, all those things that “make it look easy”, are, in fact, invisible. You would never know what I or some other player is really doing just by watching. Much of the time, the player doesn’t really know themselves!

Well, you’re going to know now!

At Guitar Principles, we are dedicated to your excellence as a guitar player, and my system of learning and playing guitar is for those of you who are likewise dedicated to your excellence. You are going to see, in this lesson, the application of many aspects of my methods, and it will help you greatly to play this piece and everything else you play.

For those players who would like to go deeper, from the application of these methods of guitar mastery, to the actual foundation of them, you are always welcome to visit Guitar Principles, where you will find the knowledge and training that will enable you to master all the wonderful music, like this arrangement by David Hodge, that you find on www.guitarnoise.com!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P76DWglLsPE

You can find the tablature here: Download gif (Right-click and “Save as”)

Don’t miss the next two parts of this lesson: Part 2 – Performance Notes for the Verses and Part 3 – Performance Notes for the Bridge.

“While My Guitar Gently Weeps” – Performance Notes was written by Jamie Andreas for Guitar Noise. A good guitar player you will be if you visit the above site. © 2012 Guitar Noise

One of the most destructive mindsets we can have is a hurried and worried attitude about our daily work, our daily practice. We are conditioned in our schooling, and later in our life in the working world, to a fearful attitude which tells us we need to perform to a certain standard, or else! We need to get those high marks, or else we fail our class. We need to finish that project, finish that report, or else the ax will fall!

This is why we have the word “deadline”. It means “if you do not finish this required work on time, you’re dead!”

Some people become so used to this feeling that they begin to believe they “work best under pressure”. They need to feel they have a gun pointed at their head, so they believe, to even get any work done!

Well, I want to tell you that if you wish to develop as an artist, you must get very far away from this belief system. You must discover a whole new way of motivating yourself to perform that does not depend on the fear of some terrible thing happening to you. You must find a way to give yourself completely to your daily work, your daily practice, that is motivated only by the pleasure you are getting from every moment of every day’s practice.

I have often had a student tell me that the reason why they did so poorly on the 4 different things I gave them to practice was because they were worried about ” getting everything done perfectly in time for the lesson”, so they rushed through the material, hurried and worried. Of course, rushing through the material meant they missed just about everything that was important, like the fingering, and whether or not they were actually able to play to a steady beat, or even whether or not they were playing the correct notes! And as far as being aware of all body tensions, forget it!

So, I have to break the news to them that their entire week of practice was worthless, and must be done over. I also have to explain that the very attempt to “get it perfect” is what lead them to “get it very imperfect”.

Understand this: there is no such thing as perfect. “Perfect” by itself, is not a goal that your mind can grab hold of and set itself to accomplish. The word “perfect” must be used in connection with a given, knowable, and obtainable goal in order to do us any good. Otherwise, “perfect” is a big fat scary word that can only be used to intimidate and rattle you so much that you will probably accomplish very little.

We must learn to think in terms of goalines, not deadlines, when we practice. Week by week, you or your teacher must set out the proper “next goal” for you to accomplish with any given piece of music you are working on. For instance, if I am working on a scale with a student, I will say something like “next week, I want to hear this scale at 60 to the quarter note, with your fingers working exactly the way I have shown you. I want you to work it up every day using the Basic Practice Approach, to that speed throughout the course of the week. Don’t worry about any faster speeds, just get it as perfect as you can at that speed”.

If it is a song, or a solo that needs to go at 120 bpm, I might set out the goals this way:

1st week: get the notes and the fingers right. Start to walk through the notes no tempo, and discover the most challenging parts, and start to analyze why they are difficult, and what you are going to do about it.

2nd week: test yourself by playing small sections of the music at 60bpms, taking 4 clicks for each note. Make sure all the movements can be done smoothly at this speed. If they can’t, there is no chance of being able to do it any faster. Then, start to work those sections up in speed using the Basic Practice Approach.

3rd week: begin to play to the actual rhythm of the music, giving all the notes their true rhythmic value, not all equal time as before. Discover where the problems are now. Start to work on them, and find what tempo you can play everything at with no mistakes, section by section.

4th week: here, I will begin to assign specific tempo goals for different sections, as I see the student is ready to accomplish those goals.

All along the way, I am giving out other goals as appropriate. “Your pick is going too far out from the string on your up-pick on that scale. Fix it this week with correct practice.” The next week, when that student walks in, I look at the notebook to see what goals I have given, and I’d better see at least some movement toward that goal. (The worst thing a student can do is not look at their notebook, not look at the goals I have set forth.)

This constant process of setting the next appropriate goal, and setting it out clearly along with making sure the means to accomplish it are understood, is what brings constant progress in our study of the guitar. The lack of doing so is why there is so little progress for so many people.

People often go for a very inappropriate goal. If they are working on a fast solo or piece, they try to play it almost right away just like the guy on the record, who probably spent ten years practicing it before recording it! By reaching for this very advanced goal right away, we usually guarantee failure and frustration. Progress as a guitarist, as Segovia said, is a step by step process, and no step can be missed. If I am standing on the ground looking at a staircase going up, and I try to jump up to the 10th step instead of walking up the first nine, what do you think will happen? I will fall flat on my face or fanny, and may be too black and blue to make another attempt.

And yet, that is what many people do when practicing guitar. They do it because of two reasons, the same two reasons responsible for most of what is wrong with the world: ego and ignorance. Don’t be this way. As far as ego, remember this: be humble, don’t stumble. Don’t try to play that solo at 120bpm right away. Spend a month getting it perfect at 60. That way, the path to getting it at 80 is simple. Then 100 and 120 will follow, and be solid, not shaky.

As far as ignorance, I often tell students “the only reason you are practicing badly is because you actually think, deep inside, that you WILL learn this music successfully doing it your way, and skipping so many steps. You are wrong, you won’t. And your faulty playing, when put to the test, is the proof. When you become wise enough (and honest enough) to see the truth of this, you will practice correctly.”

When attempting to set the next best goal for yourself in any situation, ask yourself this question: “if I apply everything I know, up to this moment, about guitar and how to practice, and I apply it to this music I am working on, AND I give it my very best effort, what level of improvement can I reasonably expect?” Ask yourself this question, and pick short term goals, ones that can be obtained in a week to a month.

If you are practicing your lesson material during the week and you start to feel pressured to “get it right” in time for the lesson, don’t start hurrying through things and getting sloppy just to cover everything. Adjust your goals. Forget that scale for this week, and just work on those chord changes. Re-focus your goals and re-focus your efforts. That way, at least you will accomplish something instead of nothing. Better to juggle 3 balls in the air successfully than to drop 5!

Remember, the achievement of each goal IS the way to reach your final goal, just as taking each step up the stairs is the way to the top. Have fun, and don’t make yourself crazy. Even if you do progress correctly, as you should, people move at different speeds. I tend to work hard and move fast, but I like to sit on the steps every once in a while, and just play my guitar while I look around!

Copyright Jamie Andreas, Guitar Principles.

Goalines Not Deadlines was written by Jamie Andreas for Guitar Noise. A good guitar player you will be if you visit the above site. © 2012 Guitar Noise

You know how to plan your work, and you know how to work your plan. You know which steps to take, and you know how to take them. For whatever amount of time you have decided to sit down and work, you know you will accomplish something, and what’s more, you have the wonderful certainty that what you do accomplish will be there the next day, or whenever you pick up the work again.

The work is enjoyable and you look forward to it. And, like a chef who gets to eat the meal after creating it, or a carpenter who gets to sit in the room he has built, you get (earn) the pleasure of sitting (or standing) with your instrument and playing the music, and having it be something special and something enjoyable for you and anyone else who may be around.

How different this is then what most guitar students experience! How different this is from what many of you reading this actually go through in your attempts to learn to play. I know, because I was there, in the pit of despair, and because I have spent all my adult life pulling people out of that pit. And it’s pretty crowded down there!

Down there, it’s more like this: every day you pick up your guitar and get in the ring with that new piece, or song, or something your teacher gave you in the lesson. You try to put on your best attitude, and you grab that piece with both your guitar playing hands, and you wrestle! You give it all you got, it’s like wrestlemania, but that big bad dude won’t budge, he won’t go down. Or, you get him down, but he won’t stay down. You think you got him, but as soon as you turn your back, he’s up and he’s on your back! A lot of you will find yourselves losing your enthusiasm for getting back in the ring.

Before I knew how to do correct practice, I used to feel like a kid who was building a sand castle. Every day I’d go back to build it higher, but it had gotten washed away overnight. Or I felt like a person who kept putting money in the bank, and the bank kept going bankrupt and I lost everything I put in. When I learned how to practice, I felt like I was building something day by day, and nobody and nothing was messing with it overnight. The structure was there waiting for me the next day, and I could invest more time and effort into it, feeling secure that it would in fact be there the next day.

This was a really good thing for me, because I am not a person who deals well with frustration. I get mad real easy, so I’m sure that everyone else in my world is also a lot better off thanks to the fact that I learned how to practice.

Once you understand the mechanics of correct practice, including the mental, emotional and physical aspects of the process, the most powerful tool you can use when you sit down to practice is what I call the Glue Of Repetition, and this glue is applied with another tool, one that every student I have ever taught is required to get, and learn how to use properly: a metronome.

People who understand correct practice know that repetition by itself can just as easily harm you as help you. Because of muscle memory, you can practice mistakes over and over and learn them just as well as the notes you are supposed to be playing. But we will assume that you realize this already, and are well on your way to being able to practice correctly. So let me make some points that will bring you even closer.

Before you can apply the glue of repetition, there is something you must achieve first with the music you are playing. And achieving this often takes fully half of the entire time and energy needed to master the music. And that thing you must achieve is this: one correct playing of the notes being practiced.

I have often sat with someone working on one measure of music for twenty minutes while they made attempt after attempt to get just one correct run-through of a complex lick from a rock solo, or a passage from a classical piece. They made attempt after attempt, and also mistake after mistake! This is what happens for most people, even me. Depending on the complexity of the music, it can take quite an effort to nail the notes square on the head as they should be, as they must be. And realize that this means every note, every pick stroke, every finger, all of this correct, as well as the proper form and relaxation being maintained. If all of this is not exact, the results will be flawed. And when you try to build on those flawed results, you will get more flawed results.

During the process of achieving that one correct run through, every mistake must be pounced on. Our awareness, our attention must be so powerful that we are aware of everything we do and everything we don’t do, but should. And then we must fortify our Intention so that the next run through comes out differently, either getting us what we want, or bringing us closer to it until we get it, that one correct playing of the notes. After this magnificent achievement, it is time to apply the glue of repetition.

Usually, that first correct playing of the music will, and should be done, no tempo. Then, there should be many repetitions done also no tempo. This is the beginning of applying the glue of repetition. To make the glue set and become strong, we take out our metronomes.

The Basic Practice Approach, which we find at the end of The Principles, (and ties everything together into an actual program of action when practicing) tells us to begin by stripping away the rhythm from the notes. This means making all notes into equal time values. This is done so that all the movements associated with making those notes can be done consciously, and examined and experienced consciously. Having to observe the actual time values of the music, where some moves must be faster to create shorter notes, is often the thing that prevents us from becoming as aware as we need to be of certain movements, especially the ones we are having trouble with.

In addition, the metronome, by being used so that four clicks at 60 represents one note (our starting point in going from no tempo to slow tempo when using the Basic Practice Approach) forces us to play much slower than most people ever would bother to do. Doing so leads to incredible discoveries by whoever does bother to.

From there, the glue of repetition is applied until it sets into the muscle memory, and we can ask our body and mind to perform the movements at a slightly higher speed. Again, the metronome allows us to do so by a much smaller increment of speed than we would otherwise use if left to ourselves. By putting the metronome on 80 and taking 4 clicks per note, the increased demand on our playing mechanism is very slight, and usually easily handled. From there, it is a matter of simply working it up, maintaining full awareness and “quality control” as we go along.

When we reach a speed that taxes us, that makes us feel like we are just about making it hang together, that is called our “working speed”. That is the speed to stay at for awhile, and apply the glue of repetition until the music is strong enough to bear the greater strain of a faster speed. It may take minutes, days, or months, depending on the demands of the music, and our level of development.

This “working speed” is our limit (our temporary limit). One very important thing to realize is that this limit, once achieved, must be worked up to everyday.

Another important (and pleasant) thing to realize is that the speed we work for hours or years to attain with a particular piece or technique after awhile becomes very easy for us. When it does, I call this my “falling out of bed” speed, the speed at which I can play something even if I have just fallen out of bed! (yes, I sleep with my guitar). There are a number of things I worked for years to bring to a very high professional level, that I honestly didn’t know if I ever would reach, that I can now play immediately (or give me a few seconds at the most), after falling out of bed. For those of you who don’t sleep with your guitar, this means that you will be able to play it at that speed even before being warmed up.

When the music begins to be “in our fingers”, when muscle memory, and the other forms of memory discussed in On Memorizing, ear and eye memory, are strong, it is time to let the plane leave the ground. It is time to begin to use the metronome as most people do, and set it to the basic beat of the music, and observe the rhythm, although still at a very slow speed, one that requires our fastest movement to be equivalent to a speed we already reached when using the Basic Practice Approach. It is also time to begin playing from memory, and developing the fullest emotional relationship to the music (as we would if we had memorized our lines for a play, and were ready for a dress rehearsal to bring the character fully to life.)

Everything I have said is a description of what is commonly referred to as “woodshedding”, meaning going out to the woodshed for hours at a time to practice. However, what we are talking about is a very intelligent type of woodshedding, one where the woodshed is well stocked with a copy of “The Principles” and a metronome!

Copyright Jamie Andreas, Guitar Principles.

The Glue of Repetition was written by Jamie Andreas for Guitar Noise. A good guitar player you will be if you visit the above site. © 2012 Guitar Noise

This was not your local music store selling merchandise and also offering lessons in order to enjoy a second revenue stream and the benefits of increased traffic. This was a music school run by conservatory trained musicians; conductors, violinists, pianists, etc.. Like the average person, perhaps even they knowingly or unknowingly subscribe to the belief that someone is capable of teaching effectively and creating real results, simply because they are able to DO something, simply because they have a natural talent for it.

My father had many natural talents. One of them, which he did enjoy showing off every once in a while, was wiggling his ears. God knows how he did it, but he could do “something” inside his mind, and access the right muscles, and make those little babies dance! Now, I seriously doubt he would have been able to teach me how to do it (although, to the best of my recollection, I never asked!).

Whatever the case may be, I myself proved quite satisfactorily that it is possible to be able to do something, and not at all be able to CAUSE someone else to be able to do it. Many people find something that, for some reason, they find very easy to develop skill with, and they may very well develop that skill, at a very, very fast rate. Some people are just going to take to that basketball, or that guitar, in a big way. They may also start to spend a whole lot of time doing that particular thing, and because of doing this, they may approach the professional level.

But I have this stinging memory of sitting in a lesson with a girl around my age, in one of my early “lessons”. I was teaching her classical guitar. She already played guitar, so she wasn’t a total beginner, but she was new to classical guitar. So, I naturally started giving her the same material that I had begun my classical study with, the Carcassi and Sor collection of studies quite common for classical students. I really didn’t have much trouble with them, so I naturally thought this was a good approach.

Well I have a memory of watching this poor girl really struggling, really being unable to meet the demands of this music. In fact, from my experience now, I see that I was probably witnessing the beginning stages of the kind of handicapping playing problems that can even result in serious physical injury. She just couldn’t put it together. Nowadays, I do anywhere from 2 to 5 years of preparation with a student before putting them into those pieces. There are bars, half bars, and other difficult left hand positions that must be held WHILE you are doing complex and fast right hand patterns. If you are spending an hour or more a day practicing this stuff, AND holding unknown and unfelt tensions in your body, you WILL hurt yourself. I hear the stories all the time; people forced to stop playing because of serious injury to muscles and joints, sometimes for years.

As I sat there, I remember a series of feelings. First, helplessness. Then, confusion, I didn’t know what to do, other than show her how I could play it (I’m sure that made her feel good!) Finally, I felt hopelessness. I started not enjoying teaching. I felt like I didn’t know what I was doing. I felt this way because I was right, I didn’t know what I was doing!

Well, I did know one thing I was doing. I was torturing people and taking money for it! I didn’t consciously realize it, but I must have felt intuitively what I was really doing to this poor student. I was requiring her to deal with music that I had absolutely not prepared her for.

I quit teaching for about two years. When I started again, privately, not at that school anymore, I tried to actually THINK about what I was doing, and how I was teaching people. I began to develop practice methods, teach them to my students, and be very focused on getting results. Even so, it was a long and gradual process of learning ALL the ins and outs of what playing the guitar is about, and why so many people have such a wide variety of difficulties with its many aspects. Over time, I guess all of this became my book, “The Principles of Correct Practice For Guitar”.

I realize now that I wasn’t just witnessing that girl’s ruination as a guitarist, I was allowing it, in fact, I was causing it! I was causing it because I was in the position of responsibility for whatever results occurred (assuming she was doing what I told her to do), and I didn’t know HOW to create good results. I don’t think we could expect that it was her job to figure out how to “get it”, or “put it together”. No, I was getting paid for that. This girl was not only NOT getting what she paid for, guitar playing ability, she was getting some possible medical conditions instead, not to mention a very probably a lifetime of saying to herself “gee, I really wanted to play the guitar when I was younger, especially classical guitar, but I just didn’t have the talent”.

Of course, the only person deficient in talent was me, as a teacher!

As the years went by, the only excuse I could give myself as some bit of solace was that maybe I was pretty terrible, but as guitar teachers go, I was “par for the course”. At that time, my teaching was the usual hit-or-miss approach. It was “sure, come on, take lessons with me. Maybe you’ll actually learn to play, and maybe not. One thing is for sure though, I WILL get paid. If you don’t learn to play, well, I guess you just don’t have what it takes”. I know that many of you players and students out there know this is a common scenario, I get your letters. There are a whole lot of guitar students sitting in lesson rooms around the world, feeling like they are not getting anywhere, or at least not anywhere past where they already are. And the other person in the room (as in “teacher”) is not able to do anything about it, except say “well, keep practicing”, and “oh by the way, do you have the check?, oh yeah and “see you next week”.

What Is Student Abuse?

I once read a very interesting definition of child abuse. It was ” to demand from a child behavior that is beyond their abilities, and developmentally inappropriate”. You don’t punish your two year old for not having the good sense of a five year old! You don’t expect a 7 year old to be able to exercise the kind of judgment that requires the experience of an adult, or even a 17 year old. IF you do so, you are harming them. That’s why they call it abuse.

No, it is a parents DUTY to KNOW what is developmentally appropriate. If they don’t know, they are supposed to find out! Don’t take the job if you don’t take the training!

Well, personally, I don’t see a difference. I don’t see a difference between parenting and ANY teaching situation. Any student is a child when they come to their teacher, no matter what the age of the student, or the age of the teacher. The “child” in the student is the entity that, hopefully, will develop into the accomplished practitioner of whatever is being learned. Perhaps they will become a parent themselves, and teach other people. And that is why, when I see so much evidence of absolutely ignorant teaching, so much “attitude” on the part of teachers themselves about even getting a clue about what they are doing, I can only call it “Student Abuse”.

I would like to illustrate some of the atrocities that I have seen. And I do so not simply for the sake of pointing the finger of blame, although I have no problem with doing that when it is simply the truth. But I do so for two reasons. First, like all victims of an abusive syndrome, the victim of the abuse rarely recognizes that they are being abused. No, quite the opposite. Like all good obedient abuse victims, they believe that whatever nasty things are happening to them is THEIR fault. And the person administering the abuse is always very happy to support that viewpoint. In fact, they will usually suggest and support it if the victim doesn’t think of it first. That’s where the “I guess I just don’t have the talent” part comes in. When no progress is made by the student, the unspoken assumption is that the student lacks ability to learn, not that the teacher lacks ability to teach.

My second motivation comes from the fact that I happen to know a truth that is supremely important: it is possible for any normally functioning person to play the guitar well enough to fulfill the goals of the average aspiring student. Further, it is possible for any normally functioning person to achieve the professional level of playing if they put the same amount of time and focus into it as one would for any highly sophisticated skill or profession, AND if the student receives competent instruction every step of the way.

However, guitar students should know that the people they go to for instruction, the “guitar teacher”, is often particularly opposed to using “methods” or “systems” in teaching. For a number of years, I taught guitar in a local music shop, along with many other teachers. I was developing many teaching “systems” for different styles and levels of students, and investigating many books on teaching guitar. I was the only guitar teacher who used “method books” in the store. When I would talk about the different books to other teachers, they would have disdain for the idea of using books in teaching! I think they felt it was an encroachment upon their divine status as possessors and purveyors of the magic power of playing the guitar, which I guess they would impart to the chosen few by a tap on the head or something. I thought they were stupid and lazy, and I still think so.

Guitar students must wake up to a number of truths concerning the goals they have, and the means by which they seek to achieve those goals. They must understand that this prideful attitude on the part of many so called guitar teachers stands like a guardian at the gates of guitaristic ability. They must understand that a professional guitarist, or those attempting to be one, often feel like part of their ability to actually survive and thrive in this very practical world, depends on ensuring that they themselves are viewed and venerated by the common person as possessed of a special, magical power, and so they often try to keep a certain distance and respect between those who can cause the magic to flow out of that wooden box (themselves) and those who will gather in groups and listen to them (everyone else in the world, audiences).

The psychology behind all this is buried very deeply inside all of us. We use the word “star” to denote famous people. We have “movie stars”, and “rock stars”. Well, what is a star? It is an extremely distant, luminous and awe-inspiring object, which we may gaze upon in awe and wonder, but know we can never touch. There are two kinds of people in the world, those who want to be “stars”, and those who want to worship them. I advise you to be neither. It is the very desire to worship a star that keeps a person from attaining the same position. Yes, talented people who have developed their talent are wonderful, but not when they put themselves in the position of “teachers” and still act like stars, subtly re-enforcing the inevitable distance between themselves and their students, as if their students were nothing but more audience members!

This explains the haughty attitude often met with in guitar player/teachers. I remember how I felt when I watched a video of Segovia teaching a master class. He had this poor woman, quite an advanced player, playing the Bach Chaconne. For about an hour, he tortured this player with facial expressions, gesticulations, and other direct and indirect methods of reducing someone to a state of utter despair. He mocked her for not being able to make a particular stretch for a chord, one that I doubt most people could make. He told her even his wife could do it! I can’t do it! Moreover, upon careful listening of a John Williams recording,of the Chaconne, one can hear him shift to a position where that chord is much easier (avoiding the stretch that Segovia’s wife can do), so John Williams doesn’t do it either. At the end of the “lesson”, after he has taken her apart, and neglected to put her back together, Segovia gives her a sheepish kind of grin, as if to say, “okay, you can get up now and leave, now that we both, as well as the audience, understand that you don’t quite “have it”.

After such a condemnation without anything constructive, I would have, especially in my fragile younger years, felt like killing myself . It was as if he needed to clearly re-enforce his own untouchable status as an artist. This is why John Williams has said of Segovia in interviews “he was a lousy model as a teacher”.

The fact that so many guitar teachers, as well as guitar students, are completely unconscious of this pervasive and pernicious attitude was underscored for me recently upon viewing a video made by the author of one of the most popular books on the market today for classical guitarists. As I was watching this video, the author tells a little story of how he was teaching someone “Recuredos de la Alhambra” ( a venerated piece for classical guitar that often eludes those passionately desiring to play it well for years or a lifetime). He talks about how this woman was completely unprepared and unable to actually attempt this piece. This of course means that expecting her to be able to deal with the piece would be setting her up for failure, and doing her great harm physically and mentally as well, what we have defined as “abuse” above.

But, he blithely divulges to the audience that he was “teaching” her Recuerdos anyway because “he needed the money”! I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. It was hard to believe that this was how this person related to teaching the guitar, but it was even more incredible that he didn’t feel embarrassed about letting everyone know what he was capable of doing to them, and “for the money” no less! How is this different than someone going to a doctor because they have some dread disease, and the doctors says to himself “well, I know I can’t really do anything about their disease, but I need the money, so I’ll treat them for about a year”. Meanwhile, the patient gets worse.

I have met and taught many people who have endured this kind of abuse. I have met people who had to stop playing for years because of inflammed joints, tendonitis, and all the other maladies that will descend upon someone who is allowed to grapple with the technical demands of music they are not ready for. We can perhaps forgive the student. They don’t have the experience to know any better. But, the person who is supposed to be the “professional”, the one taking the money; he or she should certainly not allow this. He or she should know better, and act better.

None of us are perfect, and we are not supposed to be, or required to be. We are, however, supposed to be working toward perfection. That is a constant in the school of life, and it is a characteristic of every great artist. What we are supposed to be, and required to be, is honest. Honesty, the love of the truth, is the fuel that propels us toward our next level of growth. This is true in the practice room, and in the teaching studio. Honesty on the part of the teacher and student, and between the teacher and student, is the pre-condition for getting past every barrier to growth that arises. It would be great if this honesty is practiced equally by student and teacher, but it must be practiced by the teacher. The teacher must truthfully acknowledge the reality of whatever is or is not happening with the student, and find out what to do about it, or stop taking money for doing nothing.

More and more, I hear from students who are beginning to wake up. They are beginning to become aware of what is really going on with them as they interact with the profession that they must turn to in order to fulfill their dreams of becoming guitarists. I hear from people who are beginning to demand more from their teachers, and who are firing teachers who are found lacking. I say good; that is as it should be. How dare anyone treat so lightly and carelessly the sincere and often desperate desires of those willing to pay their money and their time to become guitarists. Let those teachers be put on notice, and held accountable for results.

I could go on and on with all the various manifestations of this “abuse syndrome” that I have seen, and the harm it has done. Sometimes it is done out of malicious intent, and sometimes out of plain old laziness and mediocrity. I hope that students will begin to learn what they SHOULD be getting from their teachers, and that teachers will realize the true seriousness of the job they do. Teaching music is in many cases providing nothing less than emotional salvation for many of the people of this world who are desperately driven to create music themselves, not to mention the other billions of people who need the spiritual nourishment that musicians provide with the music they create. To do anything that frustrates or prevents the fulfillment of that desire for musical development on the part of the sincere student is just plain sinful.

Education is God’s Presence in this world. If there is one truly spiritual activity that we perform in relation to our fellow beings it is enabling their growth by sharing our knowledge, and sharing it with love. When it is done as it should be done, the world becomes more of the Heaven we are always praying for and are truly responsible for creating. When it is not, we get more of the Hell we allow, and so deserve.

Often, it is not until our later years that we fully realize, and fully despair of, the inadequacy of the guidance we received when we were young. Will Durant, in his monumental “History of Civilization” tells us about one of the most famous letters in history, a letter from the Mogul Emporer Aurangzab (1658-1707), who was reflecting on how badly he was educated by his appointed teacher. The teacher was coming to him after many years to ask for a recommendation to another court. Aurangzab refused, and listed in great detail all the ways in which his teacher failed to prepare him properly for life, and instead of serving the needs of his student, merely served his own vanity and pompous position. He said:

“if you had instructed me as you should have done, nothing would be more just; for a child well educated is obliged as much to his teacher as his father”. I still remember how you amused me with your airy questions of things that afford no satisfaction to the mind, and are of no use in humane society. All I retained of it was a multitude of dark words, proper to bewilder, perplex and tire out the best wits, and only invented the better to cover the vanity and ignorance of men like yourself that would make us believe that they know all, and that under those obscure and ambiguous words are hid great mysteries which they alone are capable of understanding.”

So, there is nothing new under the sun. But, I am hoping that in the little corner of life called “playing the guitar” where I have chosen to reside, there will dawn a new, and brighter day.

Copyright Jamie Andreas, Guitar Principles.

Student Abuse was written by Jamie Andreas for Guitar Noise. A good guitar player you will be if you visit the above site. © 2012 Guitar Noise

I know that I am sometimes perceived as a serious dude, talking about Principles and other not-so-fun topics, but when you know what Fun is, then you will see why even serious, or thought inducing, weighty matters can be Fun. I want to talk about this subject because it is vital to making progress as a guitarist. In fact, you cannot MAKE any progress as a guitarist, unless you know how to have Fun. We “play” the guitar. You cannot “play” if you don’t know how to have fun. It’s true that “practice” sometimes seems like “work”, but you will see that work is not the opposite of play, or the opposite of fun. Work can, and should, be Fun.

Now, Fun is a funny thing. For some people, going out dancing and drinking all night is fun. For others, that would be torture, but sitting quietly and reading a book on philosophy is Fun. For some people, jamming on the electric guitar for hours is fun, for others, sitting with a metronome for an hour of disciplined practice is Fun (and yes, the same person may find each of these things to be Fun at different times). For some people, having to solve difficult problems requiring great thought is Fun, and for another, it is nothing but a headache. So, what is going on here?

The fact is that anything can be Fun for some person or the other. However, the particular things that we find to be Fun say everything about who we are as people, and what our level of personal development is. However, there is one common denominator that is always present when a person says “this is fun”. That common denominator is “creative enjoyment”. Fun is creative enjoyment. Einstein working out the theory of relativity, or Michael Jordan shooting a basket; both are having Fun. Both are “creatively enjoying”. As long as this quality is present, ANYTHING can be fun. Without this quality, NOTHING is fun.

What is “creative enjoyment”? Well, “creative” is almost self-explanatory. It is basically bringing something new into the world. It could be a dinner, an idea, a blanket, a building, whatever. Whatever is being created, it involves bringing something “out” of yourself, and giving it some kind of form on the outside.

The universal human urge to be creative stems from the one characteristic that always accompanies a creative act: a pleasurable energy sensation in the inner being. The person who knows how to have Fun is the person who knows how to be good to themselves, how to give themselves pleasure, how to make themselves happy.

Everyone is inherently creative. All children are naturally creative. However, creativity carries with it a certain “natural aggressiveness”, and “natural assertiveness. To be creative is to affirm and assert oneself, to use one’s power. Many children have this natural assertiveness conditioned out of them as they mature, and so they cannot find their creative powers when they have become adults. They also cannot find their ability to have Fun. In fact, I have met many adults who actually believe that adults are not supposed to have Fun! When I am teaching such a person, I have to try to re-connect them with their lost ability to have Fun. Sometimes I can, and sometimes I can’t. Some people will not allow it; giving themselves pleasure, and having Fun, makes them feel guilty.

And enjoyment? That is a very interesting word. “En-Joy”. According to the dictionary, “en” means “to put into”. Now, this is a very key understanding. People usually think that things are enjoyable in and of themselves, as if “joy” positively radiates from various things, and we merely have to bask in the “joy” that shines out of them like sunlight. A new car, a million dollars: wow, what happiness, what joy! And yet, we often read of millionaires with lots of money and fleets of cars, who kill themselves after falling deeply into despair and misery for one reason or another. So, obviously, there is no “joy” emanating out of any of these exalted “things”.

When we en-joy something, it is because of what we are putting INTO it, not what we are getting OUT of it. “It” has nothing to give us, until we give “it”, us! What we put into it is the Joy that is already inside of us! Well, obviously, you must already HAVE this Joy inside of you before you can put it into something. That Joy is the native Joy of simply being alive, simply existing, along with everything else. We would all do well to check up on our personal “Joy Quotient”. If it is low, or missing entirely, we should find out where it went. We won’t find it gone to anywhere outside of us, only buried, perhaps smothered, deep within.

Someone who has nothing they enjoy, simply is empty inside. The reasons why this happens would require other essays, but understand that an artist MUST have an inner fullness that is brought out, and combined with “the world” in a creative way, and VOILA, art appears. Music is written and played and sung, because someone has the capacity for “creative enjoyment”, for FUN.

As we go from child to adult, the particular things we find to be Fun will change, and be added to. However, the intensity of that Fun, and the ability to have it, should never diminish. Unfortunately, it almost always does. There is no sadder sight to my eyes than the disconsolate child, moping and moaning “I’m bored, there’s nothing to do”. This poor child is already old, the spark has left, the inner fullness has turned to emptiness, and that emptiness is projected outward, so that the world, full of so much beauty and amazement, looks empty.

No, the opposite of Fun is not work, it is boredom, which is “apathy for existence”.

It can truly be said that the passage from childhood to adulthood, when properly traversed, is characterized by the ability to transform Fun into Work. The only difference between Fun and Work is that Fun is the creative enjoyment of an activity which has no goal other than the activity itself, and Work is activity that has a predetermined goal (Intention). That is why Work can be Fun, because Work is simply Fun with an added dimension. Work, like Fun, can be a form of creative enjoyment; it simply has a goal also. This is the difference between practicing and playing. Practicing is Work (Fun + Intention, or the goal to learn and improve), Playing is just plain Fun (we play because we want to play, it feels good). Fun has no structure imposed upon it from outside, Work has an imposed structure, that is why it is more “adult”.

The properly developed adult should feel both a need for Fun and a need for Work. For myself, I am switching between the two all the time. Even sitting practicing, I may do some technical exercise for 15 minutes, with intense focus and concentration, and then, I will feel the great urge to just PLAY something and have Fun. Which I do. Sometimes, I just feel the need to play for half an hour. Sometimes, I feel the need to Work for an hour. One feeds into, and leads into, the other.

There are two types of students: one needs to learn how to Work, and the other needs to learn how to have Fun. The first is more common. Most people have never learned true Work. Most people’s relationship to Work began as that most distasteful intrusion upon our personal time and energy, when, as children we encountered that thing called “homework”. Yes, homework, another word for “the demand to focus our inner resources upon something to which we have no connection, and no desire for connection, but we do so under threat of some type of punishment from all the Big People”. Wow, what a wonderful way to discover how to “en-joy” life! What a wonderful way to get a good attitude about Work!

So, many people I meet need to be trained to put out the level of energy and focus required to learn the guitar as it should be learned. They simply have never encountered something which made this demand on ALL their physical, mental, and emotional resources. You can fake your homework. You can’t fake your guitar practice, and you sure can’t fake your guitar playing!

However, I will occasionally get the type of student who is happy to practice exercises with the metronome all day, focusing on those fingers for hours all day, every day. However, they never pick up the guitar to just play and have Fun! How sad, how tragic! That is not how we get to be guitar players or musicians. Musicians specialize in having Fun. We are Fun Masters. I have to tell these people ” I am ordering you, as part of your practice, to just pick up the guitar, play it, and have Fun! Remember, have Fun, that’s an order!”

Often, beginners on guitar delay having Fun, putting it off until some time in the distant future when they deserve it. This is not good. Fun, and music making should come into the picture as soon as possible. Anyone just learning to play should have two goals in mind: one, making sure the technical foundation being laid is correct, and strong so that continuous growth is possible, and two, making some MUSIC as soon as possible, something, anything that that turns you on, that gets your emotional juices flowing, whether it is Bach or Rock.

Yes, anything worth doing should be worth having Fun while doing it. The United States Marines live by a Principle, their motto, “Semper Fi”, which means “always faithful”. Here at Guitar Principles, I have told everyone involved in the day to day workings of things (and “not-workings, such as computers, printers, etc.!) to keep our Motto in mind. It is the Principle we operate on here, our first Principle of Business, Work, and Life: Semper Fun!

Copyright Jamie Andreas, Guitar Principles.

The Fundamentals of Fun was written by Jamie Andreas for Guitar Noise. A good guitar player you will be if you visit the above site. © 2012 Guitar Noise

No, it is not true that good players experience a “complete relaxation” when they play, at least not in the sense that many people think of when they use the word “relaxation”. People tend to think of a very passive state, as we might think of in going to sleep, or being hypnotized. Often, this elusive state of “relaxation” is described as such a thing, which is very misleading to those trying to grasp it. It makes them wary of any sensation of “effort” in their playing, and this wariness makes them reject certain approaches and inner sensations that are quite appropriate, and would, if pursued, lead to further development of ability.

First of all, understand this: relaxation is not a state, it is not a condition that you experience. Relaxation is an activity, relaxation is something you do. The failure to perform the action of relaxation does result in a state or condition which we might call “discomfort” or chronic tension. The state that result from performing the action of relaxation may be called “poise”, balance, or “comfort in action”.

Relaxation is something we are either good at, or not so good at. Relaxation, like so many abilities, such as thinking, is something some people never do, and also, again, like thinking, it is something many people believe they are doing when they are NOT doing it.

Look at the word: re-lax. The prefix “re” means to “do again”, as in repeat and repetition. What are we supposed to be “doing again”? “Laxing”, that’s what. Lax means “loose”. The word “relax” is pre-supposing we were loose to begin with, and then, we made some kind of effort, which, when it comes to motor activities, means a contraction of muscle tissue, and then we “re-loosed”, or relaxed, and returned that muscle to it’s original condition of “laxness”, or looseness.

Well, the fact is, many people are NOT loose to begin with. Many people are chronically tense, playing guitar or not. Many people are chronically tense in all the muscles of the playing mechanism during playing, and for these people, there is no possibility of “re-laxing”, since there is no looseness to return to.

Now, you ask “how can I develop this ability if it is not covered in your book”? Well, everything about my book is designed to develop this ability. Everything in my book is designed to DEVELOP this state of looseness, and then train you to return to it after making an effort. (And also to train you to make the smallest effort possible!)

Look at it this way: a person who is chronically tense is like a person who has no “awareness” of their actual condition. They have no communication with their own body. They have no “wiring” between their mind and their body. That is why so often people think they are relaxed when they are not, they think they are loose when they are not. They don’t know what loose is, they have never felt it. Someone with their muscles obviously in knots, perhaps their shoulder up to their earlobe, will happily and sincerely report “Hey, I’m relaxed”! In reality, they are not feeling anything, and they assume this state of numbness is “being relaxed”. They might as well be under general anesthesia!

The way this wiring is created is through the power of the mind, through attention to the body while practicing. Real attention, not “thinking about” the body, but BEING the body, “thinking AS the body”. The second principle of correct practice states “practicing is the infusion of conscious awareness into the body through the mechanism of attention”. Everything about my book shows you how to do this, IF you actually DO what I tell you.

It is important to understand that this “looseness” of the body, and this awareness of the body is a natural thing; every child has it. However, it can be degraded, and it can be lost. Just as it can be developed through attention to the body, it is lost through in-attention to the body, and this in-attention to the body is what most people learn as children, and begin to practice with great fervor. It happens because attention begins to go elsewhere then to our “beingness” in our bodies. It goes into our “beingness” in our minds. As the years go by, we identify not with our bodies, but with the mental and emotional operations going on between our ears, that we call “ourselves”. And a lot of these mental and emotional operations are pretty screwed up! A lot of them are full of tension, negativity and conflict, and the quality of all this energy manifests in the physical body, and that is why there are so many up-tight, constricted people walking around.

So, when someone picks up a guitar and asks their body to start learning and doing all these new things, all of this history comes into play. Of course, we are all going to find ourselves somewhere along the spectrum here, and we will each have our own particulars to deal with, but I have laid out in general what we all go through, and what we all must deal with.

Copyright Jamie Andreas, Guitar Principles.

Relaxation was written by Jamie Andreas for Guitar Noise. A good guitar player you will be if you visit the above site. © 2012 Guitar Noise

The reason this message is so important, is because a widespread understanding of it would lead to a radical change in the experience and development of the aspiring guitarist, and because it would lead to a radical change in the experience of how so many of us are “taught”. And if by some reason you disagree with me at the end of the discussion, and that is certainly your right, you won’t be able to invalidate my conviction that my own experience and development as a guitarist and musician would have benefited immensely from having these things understood and practiced by the many people who served as my teachers. And I want to make clear that some of these were understood and practiced by some of my teachers, and I was eternally grateful when they were, and damaged when they weren’t.

Empowerment

First, let’s talk about the True Goal of the Teacher. It is empowerment. Empowerment of the student. The True Teachers utmost desire is to aid, guide, and do whatever it takes to bring the student to their place of happiness and fulfillment as a musician and guitarist. The student may not have a clear idea of what this place is, and certainly not where it is. The teacher may not know either, but he knows more than the student, and he must help the student feel their way if necessary. The True Teacher knows that if this person is destined to be a musician, (which is another way of saying if they really want it bad enough), then their place of happiness and fulfillment does exist, and can be found. And the true teacher resolves to do whatever it takes to make that come about.

For the guitar student, empowerment means the Confidence and Certainty that you have the Understanding and Knowledge you need to fulfill any desires you may have now, or will have later, concerning playing the guitar. For me, it meant knowing that I can do anything I want on the guitar, and if I can’t, I find out how, and by Correct Practicing, learn to do whatever it was I wanted.

As I began to have this feeling of confidence and empowerment, it was a wonderful thing. And for so long, I didn’t have this feeling. And needing to play the Classical Guitar, it was particularly necessary to feel equal to the challenges. Classical guitar is one of the more difficult styles, you know.

The urgent need, the necessity to have the student become “powerful”, and “get it”, every step of the way, is the hallmark of the True Teacher. The need to see results, progress, happiness and fulfillment on the part of the student, makes this kind of teacher try one way, then another, then another, no matter how long it takes or how creative or unorthodox he or she must become.

Teaching the Way You Were Taught

I contend most teachers begin by teaching the way they were taught. They begin using some approach that perhaps worked for them. Often it only worked partially, and there are still a lot of gaps in the teachers own Understanding and Knowledge. (The True Teacher is also the Good Student, always learning and expanding, and being open). But guess what! Once you start teaching lots of people, that one approach is NOT going to work for a lot of your students.

When I was 17, I had been playing for three or four years, and studied Classical Guitar for only one year, but the place where I took lessons thought I was good enough to start teaching there. It was a little Community Music School that had a lot of fine teachers, and I was extremely grateful that I had found a “real” classical guitarist there, who corrected so many of the harmful things I had done trying to teach myself classical. (I had no choice, since it was very difficult to even find a classical teacher back then). He equipped me, that is empowered me as best he could, but we both knew when he had reached his limits, and when I would have only continued to make, what I called in my first essay, Horizontal Growth, not a true raising of my level as a guitarist and musician, or Vertical Growth.

So in this condition, I started to teach there. Believe me, in that little fish pond, everybody thought I was a pretty big fish. The average person thought I played pretty well, impressive in fact, because the average person is impressed if you can play anything that sounds “classical”. Thank God I knew better!

When I started teaching, forget it! I couldn’t get results from most people. Later on I would understand why. I would understand that I had a fair amount of what is called “natural talent”, and I also practiced all the time. So I learned real fast. I quickly learned how to make a decent showing with some rather complicated pieces in the classical repertoire, but many of my students were struggling with the simplest things, and I couldn’t get them to “get it”, to play at least somewhat like I could. I was also, in my ignorance often giving students pieces that were far beyond them, that would do them harm to try to play, because they would be acquiring many bad habits in trying to cope with the technical demands of these pieces. I would also see later on that this was and is a common occurrence.

It was so frustrating, I felt like a thief taking their money, so I quit my teaching gig. ( I don’t recommend this. I’d often wished later I didn’t, but I tend to be impulsive sometimes). When I went back to teaching a few years later, it was with a renewed sense of commitment to always searching for the answer for every student I encountered, to always figure out what it was this person wanted, and what they needed to get it. It is because of this constant orientation that I developed “The Principles of Correct Practice for Guitar”, those fundamentals of playing and practicing that are always true, no matter what style or what level of player you are. These are the things good players are doing, whether they know it or not. And most of these things are things they are doing when they practice, not when they play.

But I digress. I just thought it would be helpful to describe myself in the position of being The Bad Teacher, really The Ignorant Teacher. If I would have let it continue I would have become “The Lazy Teacher”. I have met some of those. They could also be called the “Hey I don’t care THAT much, after all, I can play, if you can’t it must be your fault, and anyway I’m getting paid either way, Teacher”.

I was once talking to a fellow teacher, and he said “God forbid I should be judged by my students”. I thought, “God forbid anyone who really wants to play and is willing to work should ever be your student”. I mean, how else SHOULD a teacher be judged? By how well THEY play? No, that’s how we should judge them as players. Teaching is a whole different thing.

Understand this. You can be a great player and a lousy teacher. Often, great players are lousy teachers. Segovia is an example. Just listen to John Williams or many other of his “students” describe his teaching. It was how Chopin taught. ” Do it like this, like I do”. If your were supremely talented, you could come up with something acceptable. If not, you got the boot! Guess which one happened most often. Great players often don’t know why they’re great. Always try to find one that does, or is interested in finding out, and communicating it to you. And then notice whether they ARE communicating it you. Are you making Vertical or Horizontal Growth?

I have a rule in teaching

If the student is not learning, it’s my fault. Assuming the student has desire, and is doing what I am telling them, if they are not making real progress, then I’m not telling them the right thing to do. Or I’m not telling them anything to do! So I need to pay attention, and keep trying new things, or put it in a different order, or whatever, until something WORKS for them. My last essay was on Aggressive Practicing, you could call this Aggressive Teaching. I guess that is why I’m writing this now, because if you are not being taught this way, you are being short changed in your training to DO Aggressive Practicing, and you should know this.

Also understand, no teacher is perfect. Being a True Teacher is not a state you attain, it is a PROCESS you engage in. A Good Student tries to help the teacher be true by always letting them know when they don’t “get” something. Always keep asking questions when you don’t understand something, unless your teacher wisely lets you know you cannot have full understanding of something, but you can have enough to use it, and allow your understanding to grow. It is often this way. But you must never feel like you are totally CONFUSED, that is, feel CLUELESS. You must feel like you have some kind of handle on something. Keep asking questions till you do.

Beware of teachers who get irritated when you don’t get something. That is a warning sign. You are making them feel inadequate. And they want to put the blame on you! (Unless you are not paying attention and trying your hardest, in which case, you should be blamed). They don’t want to examine their approach. Have you ever seen the situation where someone is trying to talk to someone else, and then discovers that that person doesn’t understand English, or whatever language they are speaking? The first thing they do, and it’s kind of natural, is start talking louder, even shouting at them. As if that would make them understand! How many times did I have a teacher who wasn’t paying enough attention to notice I had no idea what they were talking about! I used to have a voice teacher shout at me all the time “Space, give me space”. I was clueless. My head is on backwards when it comes to singing. I need it broken down to the molecular level. I think I made him mad. I’m sure it worked with lots of people. Not me.

The True Teacher is always concerned with what the student is hearing, not what they, the teacher, are saying. Often, for whatever reason, even though the student is listening, he or she isn’t “hearing” anything.

Let me close by saying this. True Teaching is Love. For guitarists, it is intense love of the guitar and intense desire to share that love with someone who desires it also. And what is Love? It’s simple, to love means to “be with”. That’s all. The True Teacher loves the student, and loves the desire in the student that is the same as his own desire. The True Teacher is always trying to be inside, or “with” the student, knowing what they are thinking, feeling, and how they are experiencing this process of “learning the guitar”.

I have to Teach, it’s the only way I can learn!

And for teachers, here is the most important and wonderful fact. When you engage the process of True Teaching, and are truly “with” the student, your own insight and growth will be accelerated! You will come to an awareness and understanding of your own areas of confusion, and you will be shown the light by your honest attempts to show it to someone else. And again, I have found this to be true as a teacher of guitar, and as a parent, which is another name for “Teacher”.

In the movie The Crow, (starring the son of the great Master Bruce Lee) the main character says something I have always remembered. He is talking to a drug addict mother who is abusing her child. He says “Mother is the name of God on the lips of children”. He is trying to make her see her real responsibility and position. To the child, the Parent IS God. The parent can, and will create a wonderful empowered being, or a partially or completely crippled person. I know this from personal experience as both a parent and a child.

I am also a student and a teacher. When it comes to music, “Teacher is the name of God on the lips of the student”. The teacher has the power, especially in the beginning. The True Teachers job is to strive to transfer and share that power with the student. The True Teachers fondest desire should be that the deserving student takes everything, uses it, and surpasses the Teacher. Let us all be the best we can be.

For more information, and to get answers to your questions, visit my site.

Copyright Jamie Andreas, Guitar Principles.

The True Teacher was written by Jamie Andreas for Guitar Noise. A good guitar player you will be if you visit the above site. © 2012 Guitar Noise

The cornerstone of his philosophy was embodied in one word. This word was hanging on every wall in the IBM office, and, along with boxes of punchcards, this word was in my house all the time, because it was the title of the official IBM magazine that came to our house.

The word is THINK. Thomas Watson realized that “most of the trouble people get into begins with the phrase “I didn’t think before I acted”. It is a major step forward in our growth when we realize this truth. The next major step is when we become aware of how little thinking we actually do, especially at the times we need it most, which is when we have “problems”, a word which Principled Players immediately translate into “challenges”.

I got a real insight into this one time when I couldn’t find my wallet, (an almost daily occurrence, because I’m usually “thinking” about something else!). I caught myself mindlessly roaming around the room, looking in all the same places I had already looked, over and over as if it were going to magically materialize! It gave me the feeling of “doing something”, and allowed me to avoid the hard work of sitting down and thinking where I might have left it. But it didn’t give me my wallet! In the same way, guitar players will mindlessly repeat the same ineffective actions over and over again, as if the notes are going to somehow magically appear! We will do anything but put that guitar down a second and really think about what we are doing, and why it isn’t working, and what we can do about it.

I have experienced, literally, struggling with some passage of music for years, and one day solving it because I put the guitar down, started thinking about everything I was doing (fingerings, arm./hand/finger positions, etc), and began to “think of”, or “create”, new possibilities to experiment with. And because of doing that “thinking process”, I would often “solve” those problems on the spot, or get pointed in the right direction.

If we are really honest and insightful, we may realize that, in fact, we NEVER think! We just mindlessly adopt the ideas and attitudes of what is around us, and we never actually examine, inspect, juggle, calculate these ideas and attitudes with our minds, or, just as important, “feel” these ideas and attitudes with our emotions (intuition), If we are equally honest, observant and insightful about ourselves as guitar players, we will likewise see that when confronted with problems, with things we are having trouble doing on the guitar, we don’t actually THINK. Instead we mindlessly DO what we have already been doing, even though it is producing no result. We keep doing the same fingering or picking, we keep approaching it with the same hand position. We don’t stop, re-examine, observe, draw conclusions, plan a new approach, and then observe and draw conclusions again.

To be a guitar player who considers continual growth to be the cornerstone of their day to day activities, practicing and playing, is to be a person who is going to be constantly confronted by one thing: PROBLEMS! Practicing is nothing but the confrontation of problems, one after another. If you are one of the gazillions of players who are NOT experiencing improvement in your playing, then please realize that you do not know how to solve problems. Don’t be depressed! Be like me. I love finding out what a jerk I am, because then I can start getting better!

For more insight into how “thinking” dramatically improves the rate of our growth as guitarists, read these essays: Aggressive Guitar Practice, Practice Organization.

When it comes to my growth as a player, I have always been more interested in how a great player practices, than in how they play. When I watch them play, I am seeing the result of their practice. But I want to know how they GOT that result. So I want to know how they PRACTICE.

And when I want to understand how they practice, I look for one thing: how do they THINK about what they are doing? How do they think about this thing called “playing the guitar”? Whenever I discover something about how a great player THINKS, I immediately start experimenting with thinking that way, and understanding where that way of thinking is coming from. I recommend it to all of you.

I can remember various times when I would hear or read a comment from a great player, and that comment would give me great insight into how that person THINKS, the ATTITUDES that he or she uses to look at the world through. I would then follow that thought process, I would adopt that “view point”, and look at things in the same way. That would lead to new discoveries. I would “see” things they had seen, because I was using the same thought process, looking out from the same “point of view”.

Some examples: I read of Pepe Romero advising a student who was having trouble with shifts to “focus mentally on the muscles that make the shift”. Now, this said worlds about how a great player, known for his great technique, thinks about the technical aspect of playing the guitar. I immediately began to study anatomy, and think along the same lines. The results were incredible.

I read of Carlos Santana talking about how when he plays, it’s only good if it makes him cry. This said so much about the state of emotional intensity and involvement that a great player experiences internally while playing. It means there is no room for mediocrity in the emotional content of our music, and our relationship. It means that WE must be moved by our own playing, or composing, or no one else will!

Julian Bream has talked about getting the correct “flow” and “feeling” into his arpeggios. This told me that this great player works very much from a kinesthetic sense of the connection between how his body feels while playing, and the sound that he hears. It also said that he achieves his musical goal while playing by an intense focus on the desired outcome.

So, I recommend to you that you become very interested in how great players THINK (and feel) about what they do. What and how a great player thinks about what they do determines what they do. And what they do, day by day, determines what they become. That is true for all of us. For non-players, simply enjoying a great players playing is enough. But for us players, we need to dig deeper than that.

Many, and I may even say most, guitar students do not really, truly, and constantly THINK when they practice. They are more like a fighter in the ring who keeps swinging blindly, with his head down, so he doesn’t even see what is going on around him. He’s blindly hoping he will be effective and successful, but most of the time, he’s in for a bruising! How do we get to be “thinking guitar students”?

Thinking is a “turning of the wheels” mentally. However, you must make sure the wheels have some “grist” to churn while they are turning! In other words, a large part of the thinking process is the taking in of new information, so that it can be processed, combined and re-configured with existing knowledge, and thereby lead to new insights and discoveries. There are two ways of taking in new information: the people we meet, and the books we read. Make sure you make full use of these resources as they are available to you. Not all of us get to hang around great players, but all of us have access to books written by and about great musicians, and great people in general. You should ALWAYS be taking in new information, processing it, and using it. Understand that READING and THINKING are intimately connected. The person who wants to grow to their full potential READS, and also makes sure they find and recognize who and what is most worth reading!

In my teaching, I have one central overarching goal: teach the student how to teach themselves, and that means teaching them how to think. That is why my book deals with the “Principles” of practice. A “principle” is an “avenue of thought”. When we have a problem to solve, we need to look at that problem from the viewpoint of the appropriate Principle, and let our thinking process be guided by that principle, and see where it leads. This is walking down the “avenue of thought”.

One of the Principles of Practice says “if a mistake is being made in playing, it is always because the finger needed to play the note is not relaxed and ready in the right position BEFORE it is required to move to the note”. This is an “avenue of thought” I often walk down when I have a problem. By contemplating this principle, I am led to discover the answer to my problem, or at least a part of the answer.

The “answer” to our problem is contained within the problem itself. Thinking is the process by which we truly define, and then penetrate the problem, and bring it into focus, so that the answer, which often appears as a new direction to move in, begins to materialize. The Principles we use to guide our actions will determine where we travel, and how well and how far.

Copyright Jamie Andreas, Guitar Principles.

Thinking: What a concept! was written by Jamie Andreas for Guitar Noise. A good guitar player you will be if you visit the above site. © 2012 Guitar Noise