I have a mental block! I haven't played/practiced Heart of Gold in a few weeks. I know it cold, but I'm still using the sheet. Maybe that's the problem. Even knowing it cold, I keep flubbing. I'm not hitting notes and strings; I'm missing chord changes... Grrr... It's making me crazy. I think the more I think about it, the worse it is. :roll:
It is difficult to answer when one does not understand the question.
Guitar is like that. One day you are amazed how well you are playing, can't do anything wrong, the next day you can't do anything right and feel like giving up. It's like anything else, the longer you do it and the more you practice, the more you have good days and the less you have bad days. But EVERYBODY has bad days, or even bad weeks. I always point to Tiger Woods, everybody knows he is the best golfer in the world. But even Tiger hits the ball in the sandtrap or pond sometimes, and occasionally he doesn't even make the cut. So if the best player in the world has bad days, you can bet you will too.
Warning: Tiger kind of loses his cool on this one. :shock:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zw83P2zkfbE&feature=related
Just realize that guitar is like this and will always be like that. When I have a particularly bad day, I just put the guitar back on the stand and go watch TV. :D
As far as remembering the song, look at the songsheet, then look away and play. Force yourself to memorize it. This is one thing I have against using a stand with your music live, you depend on the music and never really learn the music or lyrics. So while I do bring my music, I try to look only when I occasionally forget. Learn in sections, learn the intro, then learn the verses, learn the chorus, then learn the outro. Put 'em all together and you will have it down. :D
If you know something better than Rock and Roll, I'd like to hear it - Jerry Lee Lewis
Guitar is like that. One day you are amazed how well you are playing, can't do anything wrong, the next day you can't do anything right and feel like giving up. ...
Just realize that guitar is like this and will always be like that. When I have a particularly bad day, I just put the guitar back on the stand and go watch TV. :D
Exactly! I'm not going to stress over it, but jeez it was frustrating. It was the same thing that used to happen in my lessons with a teacher. I could do a riff or passage as smooooth as silk at home, but in front of him... total loss! I'd tell him "I really do know the [notes/strings/chord]!" He'd laugh and say that's normal to flub in front of someone. Then I'd go home, and I was perfect.
After getting mildly annoyed with myself with the song (mildly annoyed, nothing... I said the same thing Tiger did!), I put the guitar down. I had been using the electric but switched to the 12-string acoustic. Guess what... I got through the song. I played everything a little better with the 12-string, not having used it in a month or two. Of course I had a few rum and diet Pepsis in me by then, which made me play better... or so I thought. :lol:
As far as remembering the song, look at the songsheet, then look away and play. Force yourself to memorize it. This is one thing I have against using a stand with your music live, you depend on the music and never really learn the music or lyrics. So while I do bring my music, I try to look only when I occasionally forget. Learn in sections, learn the intro, then learn the verses, learn the chorus, then learn the outro. Put 'em all together and you will have it down. :D
I know you are right. When I don't look at the sheet, or at my hands, everything comes together. Unless I am learning something new where I have to look at the sheet, if I use it after I've learned something, it all falls apart. I'm going to pay more attention to how I'm learning something. Sometimes when I have something like the intro down cold, it gets boring to go through the intro perfectly, then struggle with a verse or chorus, etc. Youwork on the parts that need work, not what you have down.
That's a good tip about not relying too heavily on sheets when playing live. I hope some day I can get to the point where I have to keep that in mind. :)
It is difficult to answer when one does not understand the question.
Hi,
I'm not sure how relevant this is but I've found that, as I've progressed, the fundamental way that I remember music has changed. That in itself has made it easier.
Initially it was all about trying to remember chord shapes - literally visualising where each finger was supposed to go, and how it would change to the next shape. After a while I ended up with a repertoire of chords that I could do without having to think about the mechanics of it. So then it became about trying to remember chord progressions - G to Em. to C to D7 and then back to G, and then....um.. what comes next??...
However, slowly but surely, I started to get an inbuilt feel for the sounds and more especially for the intervals between them and how they were made. So now I play the G and don't have to think "Em is next" because I know what the next sound is that I need to make, and my fingers also know where to find it without needing any conscious instructions. I'm finally starting to be able to do what I wanted to do right from the start - just play the next noise that was in my head without all the intervening naming and other instructional stuff - using the the experience that's been hammered in at a subconscious level by hours of practice.
It's something that I didn't think I'd ever be able to do (especially as I didn't start until I was nearly 60) so it's a major delight that it's finally starting to work that way. And it makes it a whole lot easier to remember a song - because just remembering the noises seems to be more intuitive to do than trying to remember strings of names, notes, numbers, positions, etc. and it seems to be retained at a much deeper and more useful level.
That's how it's worked for me anyway. So maybe a little later down the track you'll find that your increased experience is helping you to remember in a more effective way as well as simply play better. Good luck with it all. :)
Cheers,
Chris
(PS the other one is "Amateurs practice until they get it right, but pros practice until they can't get it wrong"... :wink:
Exactly! I'm not going to stress over it, but jeez it was frustrating. It was the same thing that used to happen in my lessons with a teacher. I could do a riff or passage as smooooth as silk at home, but in front of him... total loss! I'd tell him "I really do know the [notes/strings/chord]!" He'd laugh and say that's normal to flub in front of someone. Then I'd go home, and I was perfect.
I know what you mean I seem to play much smoother at home and then get in front of my instructor and I'm adding notes that aren't there or playing too fast. Sometimes I think I should do some pushups or jumpingjacks before lessons to take the edge off. :D
acoustic,
that's pretty typical of students playing soemthihg for their teacher, what seemed easy to do when your home alone becomes an impossible task in front of your teacher.
I've been with my teacher about 2 yrs now and I still am not comfortable playing for him.
"It's all about stickin it to the man!"
It's a long way to the top if you want to rock n roll!
I will say I'm getting better at playing in front of him and I also have a buddy I practice with now and then that helps alot to.
