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The
Principles of Practice
Based on "The Principles of Correct
Practice for Guitar"
by Jamie Andreas
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| IN
THIS ISSUE |
December 17, 2000 Volume
24
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Changing Bad Habits Part One
I want to address an issue that seems to keep coming up for people
who are familiar with my work, and beginning to use my methods.
People are reading my essays, and it seems a new awareness is beginning
to dawn for them, which is good, that's the whole point. But for
many people, it is a very disconcerting experience. I have gotten
letters from people who have read some things I have written, and
become afraid to practice! They are so aware of, and on their guard
against, excess muscle tension, and the devastating effects for
the developing player, they are afraid to touch a string!
They start to feel like that song by Al Yankovich, "Everything
You Know Is Wrong". They realize that even though they may
have been playing for 25 years, there are certain really fundamental
things they have never known, and if they did know them from the
beginning, everything would have gone differently for them in their
growth as guitarists.
Well, that IS the truth. That is the message I am always trying
to get across. I am always trying to convey to people that if you
have tried to learn the guitar and failed, it is not you, it is
the approach to it all that is at fault. If you are stuck at a certain
level of development, it is not you, it is your approach that is
keeping you there. Change the approach, and you will create different
results. I know this is a fact, because I do it every day, for myself,
and for others.
Knowing the fact that the approach you use to learn the guitar is
THE key-determining factor in your success or failure to actually
learn, these three conclusions follow:
1. Playing the guitar well is NOT reserved for just some special
people. It is available and possible for everyone;
2. You are never too old to learn to play the guitar well. 40, 50,
60, 70, 80, you are still young in guitar playing years In fact,
as soon as you touch the guitar in the right spirit, you will begin
to become younger;
3. You can undo bad habits you have learned along the way. You can
begin the process of undoing bad habits right away, when you begin
to acquire the correct understandings, and use the approaches based
on them.
So, even though it is a shock to find out that you have had a bad
or insufficient approach for years, you must get over that shock
right away. In fact, get used to it, it's only the beginning! Get
used to feeling like an idiot, get used to feeling like a beginner.
Staying with that feeling positions you in the best possible way
for being able to see what YOUR obstacles to growth really are.
As soon as you think you are "complete" in some way as
a guitarist, you will be unable to see your own weak spots.
Now that we have the proper attitude in focus, let's talk about
how to go about "managing" the process of changing bad
playing habits. How do we actually conduct ourselves, and our practicing
and playing? As I have said, some people become paralyzed, afraid
to play, afraid of undoing work done in practice sessions by what
they do when they play. And for those who play professionally, it
is of course, absolutely necessary that they continue to play, even
if they are doing "remedial" work on their technique.
People ask, "should I stop playing everything I am used to
playing, until I get rid of all my bad habits"? Well, if you
have a lot more discipline than I have, go ahead and do that! If
you can stand not making music for months, go ahead, but I don't
recommend it.
An extreme example of this would be to entirely stop playing any
of our usual music, where all the bad habits show themselves, and
buckle down to things like the Foundation Exercises in my book,
or the ones I have written about in my essays. You could work on
those for months and months until you felt you had overcome your
bad habits, and then go back to playing music. I'd have to love
self-punishment a whole lot more than I do (which is not at all!)
to take that route. I need fun and enjoyment in my life on a daily
basis, so I can't go with that one!
Take the Middle Path
I prefer to be wise like the Buddha, and take the Middle Path. This
is the one I have chosen, and I will describe it for you.
First, if you are using my book, begin to do all the Foundation
Exercises, because they will start to undo the foundation of ALL
your bad habits. Do them every day for perhaps ten minutes. If you
are not using my book, get all you can from my essays, and apply
those approaches, experiment with them, and elaborate upon them,
and adapt them to new situations.
Second, after coming to an awareness of the existence of a "bad
habit", develop an understanding of HOW it got there. What
WEREN'T you doing that allowed that situation to develop. Of course,
it always reduces down to something you weren't aware of that you
should have been paying attention to, been more INTENSE about during
your practice.
Third, absolutely spend a good amount of time in practicing REVERSING
that habit. Practice in a new way, where you make sure you DO what
you weren't doing before. Analyze the essence of that bad habit,
extract it from it's musical context, and perhaps make up "auxillary
exercises" based on the essence of it. Use all the practice
techniques that I teach to effectively begin this process of reversal.
Fourth, make sure the reversal of the habit is actually beginning
to take place. This means we make sure that our practice is effective.
If it's not, go back to steps One and Two and Three!
Fifth, take up one of your usual pieces of music where that habit
has been showing itself by producing UNWANTED RESULTS, and we begin
to practice IT in the same careful way that you did the exercises
you were using to change the essence of the bad habit.
As weeks and months go by, your old "bad habit" will begin
to weaken, it will change. It will be replaced by the new finger
action you are training into the fingers. The important point to
realize is that the new habit WILL take over, if you are doing the
proper proportion of CORRECT PRACTICE on the bad habit. Merely playing
the music where the bad habit displays itself will not disturb the
changes you are building into the fingers by your powerful, correct
practice. As time goes by, the new habit will begin to show itself
IN your playing, and become stronger and stronger.
For instance, the process may go like this:
I notice I have trouble with a fast scale passage in a piece I am
playing.
I notice a particular note starts disappearing when I reach a certain
speed. The note is being missed.
I notice the finger responsible for playing that note is the third
finger. It is not getting to the note because it is going up in
the air in reaction to the second finger being used right before
it in that particular scale passage. In other words, it is tensing
in reaction to the movement of it's neighboring finger, and I have
not been paying attention to it. I realize this is a bad habit that
pervades my playing, a third finger that tenses up in reaction to
the use of the second finger.
Now I know I have to work on something very fundamental. I have
to work on the behaviour of my third finger, and change the way
it reacts to it's neighbor being used, the second finger. If I can
get down to the matter with that degree of specificity, that degree
of clarity and focus, I am in a position to cause major Vertical
Growth. If I can change the way that finger is behaving in that
situation, I will see many playing problems I am having in other
pieces of music begin to "melt", and eventually disappear.
I must find a way of practicing that movement that DOES NOT ALLOW
the bad action to occur. Principled Players know that means using
Posing, No Tempo Practice, and the Basic Practice Approach, all
done with the proper intense focus.
Here is a simpler scenario for beginning players. Perhaps you suffer
from the common complaint of not being able to change chords smoothly
so you can sing that old favorite of yours without feeling like
a new driver learning to drive a stick shift (go, stall, go, stall,
etc.)
Well, that is very simple. You are simply suffering from shoulder
tension while making the moves (also, tension in the muscles of
the upper back and chest, they all move the arm). Because of this,
you must address the fundamental aspects mentioned before. You cannot
control your fingers, or even train them, because control is being
choked off higher up, in the larger muscles.
Now, the challenge will be to be able to use the practice approaches
that CAN actually change something like that. Users of "The
Principles" know that this means Posing, and No Tempo practice,
and the use of The Basic Practice Approach. Again, unfortunately,
too often I meet readers of my book who are NOT really using these
practice approaches. They bought the tool, but they don't use it!
Those that do, see the results.
Right Wrist Tension
Hi Jamie,
I like your approach to guitar playing. I used to read your
letter quite quickly. But now I really read it carefully. Just because
I realize how important it is.
I am actually dealing with tension in my right wrist and this is
really worrying me. Because if I have, what we call in Frensh, a
"tendinite", I won't be able to practice anymore. I think
in English it is called an inflammation or something.
Could you post an aticle on how to handle with the tensions on the
right wrist because I don't want other guitarists to have to deal
with this problem. Pierre, a Frensh reader.
keep on sending.
Hi Pierre,
Thanks for your words. I am glad you consider the fundamental issure
I write about as fundamentally important! As far as your question,
the answer is this: EVERYTHING I write concerning technique is ultimately
dealing with the dynamics that lead to your painful condition.
There is no one quick little fix-it for not creating physical damage
to the playing mechanism. As I am always saying, as I said to the
attendees at my workshop, especially the long time players with
physical damage YOU ARE PLAYING WITH SUBTEL LEVELS OF TENSION THAT
YOU ARE NOT AWARE OF. I MADE them aware of it at the workshop, and
they must take that awareness home with them, and use it to build
a new structure of technque.
You, Pierre, are playing with some subtle level of tension present
in your muscles, and asking your muscles, tendons and so forth to
perform strenuous and highly co-ordiinated actions WHILE in that
state of subtle stress. Unless you can deepen your awareness of
this situation, and then minimize and eliminate it, you will not
see a change.
I wish there was a quick easy answer, instead of this long, difficult
answer, but, unfortunately, there is not. However, once you begin
on the proper re-constructive path, and start to see the results
and improved playing ability it brings, it is very exciting and
encouraging. The current essay on "Changing Bad Habits",
will help.
That's the best I can tell you, Pierre, Good Luck!
All
material copyright © 2003 by Jamie Andreas, GuitarPrinciples.com |
