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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 |
July
15, 2001 Volume 52
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The Three Levels of Practice
Because of the time spent on guitarprinciples, it has been almost
2 years since I have given a concert. I have been feeling the need
for the flesh and blood experience of playing music for people face
to face, and so this Friday I am giving a concert in my local area.
So, I thought I would take this opportunity to talk a little bit
about the subject of concert preparation.
The last chapter in "The Principles" deals with this subject
under the heading "The 3 Levels of Practice". It is very
important to understand these 3 levels, in order to reach the point
where all of our practicing is actually able to bear fruit and deliver
to us and others the end result of our efforts: the creation and
enjoyment of music.
I usually spend a lot of time discussing the first level of practice,
Microscopic Practice, which is the extremely focused practice that
deals mostly with the physical aspects of the playing process. I
do this not only because it is the foundation of everything else,
but also because it is the most neglected level of practice, often
not spoken of at all! But now, in preparation for performing, I
must spend a good amount of time on the other 2 levels of practice,
Assimilating and Shaping.
Assimilating is where we "put the music together". We
take the pieces of the music we have been working on separately
and stitch them together into large sections. As we do so, we begin
to relate to the music emotionally, and form ideas as to how we
wish to convey the music in our playing. Since I have played most
of this music many times, I am spending most of my time now at the
third level of practice: Shaping.
Shaping is closest to actually performing. Here, I am playing the
music, listening, feeling, and thinking as I play, and seeing where
I want to make changes, and where I need to return to Level One
practice, if I find my fingers a little un-cooperative in giving
me what I want. Shaping could be called "practicing playing".
It is here that we try to simulate the experience of actually performing,
where the music must be delivered all in "one piece".
There are many reasons to do this: one is that no matter how well
you do your other practice, you never really know where all the
"trouble spots" will be until you try to put it all together.
I remember my first concert. For some strange reason, I did almost
no Level Three Practice (not that anyone told me I should)! My preparation
consisted of working on the music in "bits and pieces"
and I didn't just sit and play the music as a part of my preparation.
Well, it wasn't my finest hour! Together, I and the audience discovered
where all those "trouble spots" really were!
If we use the analogy of having a part in a play, then, Level One
is the simple reading and memorizing of the lines, getting the articulation
and pronunciation of the words and sentences clear. Assimilation
is the grouping together of lines by scenes, and beginning to speak
the lines with meaning and expression, and the beginning of the
memorization process. Shaping is putting the final touches on everything,
discovering and adding the nuances of expression that will bring
everything to it's fullest artistic expression.
Knowing how and when to move between the 3 levels of practice is
essential to functioning as a musician. It is for this reason that
some type of performing is necessary in our lives, because it gives
us the reason for needing to go through this whole process. Without
it, many players end up in the common state of knowing bits and
pieces of lots of songs, and playing those bits and pieces to varying
levels of perfection (and imperfection!).
For more understanding of these matters, read "The
Importance of Repertoire" .
No Tempo to Slow Tempo Practice
Hi Jamie,
When is the switch point from no-Tempo work, to Tempo work? When
you've gotten all the chords down and can switch between them fairly
well? Or wait until you can switch really smooth and fast?
Also, my body and hand cringe when doing the G7 chord since I have
to make this Frankenstein claw in order not to touch adjacent strings.
I'll bring my hand all the way under the neck, lopsided to keep
only on those 3 strings. Which tenses up my shoulder, wrist, etc.
I can relax my shoulder but that's one heck of a wrist bend, when
trying to perform the heavy-hand. Any tips?
Thanks again for the book - already read it over twice. Gonna start
my third reading tonite :) I keep finding little ideas in there
I didn't pick up before.
Your book should be a mandatory purchase for all beginner guitar
students, IMHO :))
Let's say you have some new music in front of you. You look at it,
and there are some new chords you don't even know. You realize it
is going to take a lot of practice to even get your fingers into
that shape, much less switch into and out of it. At this point,
practicing at a tempo is not in sight yet. Now, after a good amount
of time practicing no tempo moving into that chord, so that you
are not experiencing lock up, and you have done a good amount of
posing to reduce body tension you are ready to try a tempo (usually
you will have it memorized or almost memorized at this point). For
chord forms, your first tempo should be METRONOME ON 60, TAKING
A FULL 8 CLICKS FOR THE CHANGE. Then, go to 80 and 100 at 8 clicks,
follow the Basic Practice Approach from there.
When you first try a tempo, you watch and study the fingers. They
will tell you if you are ready to proceed with a faster tempo, or
if you need more no tempo practice. If you cannot make the move
reasonably smoothly in the 8 clicks, you need more no tempo practice.
At any point where smooth movement is breaking down, you need more
no tempo practice, but you also need to have discovered the nature
of the breakdown. If your 3rd fingers is not landing in the right
spot on time BECAUSE IT IS TENSING in reaction to the movement of
the 2nd finger, and perhaps actually moving AWAY from its destination,
causing you to then have to try to pull the tensed finger into position
(what I call "tug of war"), then, no amount of practice,
no tempo or slow tempo will help until that situation is discovered
and addressed. (I'd read that sentence over a few times if I were
you!)
Your question is a great one, very germane to the practice process.
In fact, I have touched upon it in the opening article on the levels
of practice. You see, in actual practice, you will be going from
slow tempo, to no tempo, to up tempo all the time, sometimes in
quick succession, based on the principles I outlined in the previous
paragraph.
Now, as far as that G7 chord goes, first of all, realize that the
position the hand needs to assume for that "simple" chord
is quite demanding. The most important things are to have the hand
and wrist out away from the neck, not hugging it, AND, the distal
joints (the last joint of the finger). Those distal joints, especially
on the 2nd finger must be VERY flexed, in fact, about a 90 degree
angle for that 2nd finger. Now, it does depend on the type of guitar
neck you are playing on. I have put some pictures of this chord
up for you. I am doing it on a classical, so the neck is wide, and
the distal joint must be very bent. Check
them out.
Lack of bend in the distal joints is common, and is a basic flaw
in "form" for many people. Read my little piece
on it.
Also, some good news. You don't HAVE to do that 2nd finger note
on that chord, I usually don't. It is the "3rd" of the
chord, harmonically speaking, and is already present in the open
2nd string, so playing it actually adds nothing to the chord (you
only need one 3rd). I don' t have time to explain it here, so take
my word for it. Of course, you will need the same finger ability
for other things, so you should still pay attention to what I said,
but if you need the chord for a gig this Saturday, I take the easy
way out it I were you!
It's great you are reading and re-reading my book. That is as it
should be. I absolutely agree, in my not so humble opinion, EVERY
guitar player should read my book. And I say this as much for the
sake of all of you as for myself!
Chord Melody
Hi Jamie,
I have read you talking about chord melody and I have heard other
people talking about it also.
Can you briefly explain what it is and how to use it?
Thanks,
Mike from Orange County "California"
Hi Mike,
Yes, good question. When I was a beginning player, I learned chords,
and after a few months I knew a whole lot of songs that I could
sit and play and sing. And that was great. In fact, the first time
I saw someone up close playing the guitar (a family friend), that
is what they were doing, and I thought it was the greatest thing
I had ever seen and desperately wanted to do it to.
But after about a year, I began to feel very frustrated and restless,
just strumming and singing. I knew there had to be something more
you could do with this instrument, and occasionally I would hear
someone doing something more, but I couldn't figure out exactly
what it was, or how you got to be able to do it.
I was in lessons with my first teacher at the time, and I heard
the student before me doing something much more interesting than
just strumming and singing. He was doing something more like what
the piano does. You could tell what the song was even though no
one was singing because he was playing the notes of the melody as
well as lots of other notes that sounded good with it, and filled
it out.
I very excitedly asked my teacher about it, and he told me it was
"chord melody", and that we would be getting to it when
I hit "Mel Bay #3". He said it was a method of playing
the chords and the melody at the same time. I was totally mystified,
because up to that time, I had done either one or the other. I could
read notes, and I could play melodies. I could strum chords to a
song. But how it was possible to do both at the same time I couldn't
imagine, and I couldn't wait to find the answer to this great mystery.
So, finally I got to Mel Bay #3 and the mystery began to unravel.
I began to understand the true relationship of chords to melody.
I began to understand that a chord is a bunch of notes that sound
good together, and that a melody note is USUALLY contained in the
chord itself. Now, since a chord is a bunch of notes, you can arrange
those notes in different orders on the guitar when you play. You
can make a particular note the "top" note, that is, the
highest sounding one. If I play a C chord, I can make the "g"
note it contains stand on top by placing my 4th finger on the 1st
string, 3rd fret, instead of having it buried in the chord on the
open 3rd string.
(If you are not clear on exactly what "melody" means,
think of it this way: when you strum chords and sing the song, you
are singing the melody. A melody is INDIVIDUAL notes moving in a
recognizable pattern. In fact, without the melody, we usually can't
recognize the song. The chords are a background "wall of sound"
against which the melody is played. Imagine seeing a play on stage.
The set scenery is the chords. When the actors come out, they are
the melody, the actual "what's happening" in the play).
The trick in chord melody is to play the chords of the song, but
always place the melody note required by the song on TOP of the
chord. This way, your ear hears that note as being prominent, which
essentially means that it hears the note as the melody. And here
is the tricky part. In order to do that, you have to know LOTS of
chords, or what are more properly called "chord forms",
different versions, or "voicing" of the same chord. You
have to know the forms that will give you the various chord notes
you need as the top note of the chord. There are a lot and it takes
a lot of study.
However, I really want to make the point that I can't think of an
area of guitar study that has been more satisfying and useful to
me than the study of chord melody. To be able to sit down and simply
look at a "lead sheet" (a bare bones melody and chord
symbol chart of a song) and compose an arrangement on the spot is
a wonderful thing, and that is what you can do if you know chord
melody. If you don't know it, you are relegated to the world of
"strummers" for the rest of your life!
Knowing chord melody is also great when you are accompanying yourself
or someone else singing, because you can put in a nice solo between
verses, even if there are no other players around to fill out the
sound.
I try to move all students into this study and think it should be
in all students' future plans, no matter what style you play, because
your abilities in any style will be advanced by this knowledge.
It is the jazz people that have this down to a science, so go to
those sources. If you would like to grow into this ability at some
point in your playing life, then add it to the list of reasons why
it is a good idea to learn to read music, and acquire, over time,
a knowledge of music theory.
Hi Jamie, I received the Principles book from you a few weeks ago here
in Australia. I'm just writing to say thanks and let you know the
immediate effect it has had.
Along with a few other contributing factors in my life (it's funny
how a number of significant things co-incide) the principles in
your book have helped me turn a corner I've been stuck on for the
last few years.
Nearly everything in the book is a well articulated point that I've
heard before, but I feel like you've put a thread through all of
them and pulled it tight bringing the disparate pearls of wisdom
into a single bag of jewels. As a teacher I feel very responsible for the influence I can
have on the foundation of my students' playing. I have a new stronger
belief in my ability to do this thanks to your shared experiences
and ideas. I don't want to sound too over the top - but I understand the
excitement YOU must get when someone likes me tells you what a difference
you've made. Thanks once again Elliott F
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material copyright © 2003 by Jamie Andreas, GuitarPrinciples.com |
