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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 |
August
13, 2001 Volume 55
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Discovering First Principles
I recently finished a wonderful biography of one of the most amazing
geniuses in human history, Benjamin Franklin, one of the Founding
Fathers of the United States of America. His contributions to every
area of human endeavor never slowed down throughout his entire 83
years, and he invented many new areas of study as well. In his time,
he was the most famous man in the world, and treated, especially
in France, where he lived for many years working as an ambassador
during the Revolutionary War. In examining the nature of his genius,
the point was made that no matter what area of study Franklin undertook,
his probing intellect immediately began to grasp the "First
Principles" of the subject. Whether it was electricity, or
the debate over the "official" spelling of English words,
he penetrated to the essential truths that operated within each
particular domain of study, which, once grasped, would direct and
guide all further meditation upon the subject.
The strongest attribute that contributed to Franklin's ability to
do this, (and I believe, anyone's), was not necessarily "intelligence".
It was rather an absolutely open mind that paid attention to EVERYTHING,
that Franklin used to feed his insatiable curiosity about, you
guessed it, EVERYTHING. Because this is so, anyone of us can become
more "Franklin-like" by simply having this same, ever-questioning
openness to our experience. If we have that, and we couple that with
an understanding of what "First Principles" are, we will
have the power we need to learn and grow in any field of study.
I will go further, and say I believe this is the ONLY way to approach
ANYTHING we wish to understand, and anything we wish to master.
I have said a Principle is an "avenue of thought", which,
if we walk down it, will lead us to see the truth of any situation.
Here is an example of a First Principle.
A wise king gathered all the wise men of his kingdom together and
commanded them to tell him a truth of the highest order, one that
could be used to understand and deal correctly with all phenomena
of life. A truth that would be just as true when good fortune occurred,
as when tragedy struck. The wisest man among them said, "When
gold and riches come your way, and all you could desire of earthly
pleasures, say to yourself, 'This too shall pass'. And when tragedy
and misfortune come to you, do the same".
I don't know about you, but when I say that to myself, it immediately
clears my head, no matter what may be happening!
There are many First Principles when it comes to learning the guitar,
and to acquiring any motor skill. Of course, I write about them
all the time, and it is the title of my book. A few examples are
muscle memory, and the well known, "Economy of Motion Principle".
Every principle you absorb and use greatly increases your ability
to develop yourself as a player. But I never assume I have discovered
them all. I am always on the lookout for new ones, and testing and
using the ones I have discovered. I suggest you do the same. I suggest
you be always probing, examining, writing things down, and developing
your discoveries. And if you come up with some new ones, hey, please
let me know!
Echoes of Whispers on the Web!
John Parsons, one of the first purchasers of "The Principles"
wrote to me after I mentioned a thread he had participated in on
a guitar forum, where he was giving testimony to the benefit he
has experienced from using The Principles. I am truly grateful for
his efforts and good will.
Word of mouth is so important to me continuing my work. As you may
notice when you visit my site, or read this newsletter, you are
not getting hit with ads to sell you anything except my book and
CD. I am not really interested in spending my time and energy making
money in any other way than what gives me the most satisfaction,
and that is why I don't look to profit from site traffic in those
ways. I will of course be offering new teaching products, and soon.
And I may even recommend some other products in the future, but
they will only be products I use myself and totally believe in.
In fact, I have one in mind I am reviewing right now, which is an
incredible aid to practice when you really know how to use it and
why it works, and I will be telling you about it soon.
But my point is that for personal satisfaction, and to help pay
the bills at GuitarPrinciples, I value and depend on that word of
mouth spreading of the news of my work, which many of you, in your
enthusiasm for the progress you experience, are doing. So thank
you John and everyone else who let other players know about GuitarPrinciples.com.
You know it's funny too, because the guy that wrote in the forum
about "who is this guy", wrote another post there to apologize,
apparently reading my reaction in this newsletter. I appreciate
that, Paul, and don't worry. I always say whoever gets offended
at anything deserves the feeling they are creating for themselves,
since the only way to be offended by something outwardly is to be
DEfending something inwardly (such as a self image), and I apply
that to myself as well. And as far as being famous goes, I long
ago figured out the trap of that desire, which has nothing to do
with being an artist, except for the freedom to create full time
which success can bring, and that is the only thing I am interested
in.
Not that I don't like people admiring me, I do. It kind of makes
me full warm and fuzzy all over, and it definitely beats having
people hate you, but it isn't what gets me out of bed in the morning,
or influence what I spend my time doing, which is WHY you haven't
heard of me. But I have always said to myself "I'm already
famous, it's just that nobody knows it!" Well lately, thanks
to the efforts of you readers and players out there, more and more
people are finding out. So, THANK YOU! (In fact, a book order came
in the other day asking for my "famous book", so, I guess
I've hit the big time!)
Here is John's letter to me, which makes some good points concerning
the right kind of attitude a student should have, in order to make
maximum progress:
Hi Jamie,
Good to read that my entry on the Fingerstyle Discussion Forum about
you and common sense made you smile! It was meant as a sincere compliment
and I think it is one of the key reasons your book really connects
with guitar players like me. Who can deny the common sense of your
basic messages? Ones like "know the correct things to do, only
practice those things", and "bad practice only makes you
better at playing badly"? Although these are simple messages,
even obvious at face value, they are really powerful learning points.
Take them on board and improve! For me, reading and rereading your
book is a succession of Eureka! moments, and because I get results
from your book, following your advice seems like common sense to
me. So maybe you've just got an uncommon amount of common sense!
I've had your book for over two years now (does this make me one
of your earliest adopters?), and even today I always keep it around
my music stand. In fact I never pick up my guitar without thinking
of you and your teachings, and I can imagine you yelling at me when
I know I should have done better in a practice session . Slightly
scary don't you think, that you can make me feel guilty in this
way?!
Keep up the good work.
Regards
John
Thanks John, your comments really do make me smile, even laugh out
loud! Especially the part about hearing me yell at you! That is
great, because that is exactly the state of mind I try to instill
in my students. Here's why.
I will often have the experience of having a student play for me,
and the playing will have many flaws. I then ask them to show me
how they practiced it. When they show me, I point out the 100 bad
things happening during their practice that they are not paying
attention to (shoulder tense and up, finger tense and up, etc).
I then ask them to do it again, with a much greater focus of attention.
They feel my burning gaze on them, and it makes them practice at
a much higher level of perfection (this is what I call "deepening
the bottom of your practice"). I then tell them to go home
and do the same thing in the same intense way, which of course,
with repetition, will have amazing results.
I tell them, "imagine I am sitting there staring at you the
whole time you are practicing, ready to yell at you as soon as you
start losing your focus." So John, I am really happy to see
that I have actually achieved this with you, even though I have
never met you!
I have often said to a student, " I'm going to make a "rubber
blow up Jamie doll" that you can put in the corner of your
practice room! Maybe I'll have it say things from time to time,
like "relax that shoulder!", or "WHAT!, you call
that no tempo practice". These are things I am constantly saying
all the time anyway, so even if repeated at random, they will most
often be appropriate!
Of course, we would throw in the occasional, "hey, that was
great, way to go, now you're getting it". It just seems, human
nature being what it is, the appropriate proportion of positive
to negative seems to always lean more toward the latter. But, as
I often tell my students, "you are coming here and paying me
in order to have me tell you what is wrong with you, you should
already know what's right with you". If they don't, I'll tell
them that too, but only so we can get on with focusing on what needs
improvement.
So, John, great to hear everything is going so well, and you have
been properly infected with my teaching, to the point that you are
hearing voices in your head! Thanks for letting me know, and I wish
you continued success and progress.
Dealing With Left Arm Strain
Jamie,
I've read through your book and reorganized my practice routine.
I set up a mirror in front of a straight-back chair and am proceeding
as much as possible from 'beginner's mind.
I told you about the strain in my left arm and it is still there
after playing for as little as fifteen minutes. Is it possible that
I simply have not developed the appropriate muscles to the point
I need to? One of the postings on your Site mentions the difference
bettween 'effort' and 'tension.' I think it is a valid distinction
but I wonder which I'm suffering from. I have been concentrating
on the left hand exercises and feel a bit more control over the
fingers as individuals but even in the floating arm exercise the
effort of holding my hand in position contributes to what I fear
is unnecessary tension.
Also, I came across a suggestion from another source regarding the
straining left arm and the theory there was that the guitarist was
gripping the neck too tightly with the left hand. The advise given
was to remove the thumb from the back of the neck and use what was
essentilally a version of your 'heavy arm' to press down the strings.
Wow, I hope I haven't gone on too much. I would 'sorely' appreciate
any thoughts you might have on what I've been going through.
working on becoming a 'guitar player' as well as a 'student',
Sincerely, Randall R
Hi Randall,
Okay, if you are experiencing strain, there are only two possibilities.
One, your position itself, either the sitting and holding position,
or exact hand position itself, is generating extra tension as you
play, in which case the position itself must be adjusted before
we look at how you are doing the exercises, or Two, you are holding
tension which you simply are not aware of, in which case you must
LOCATE it, you must FEEL it and minimize it using the various Tools
in my book. In other words, you must deepen the bottom of your practice.
As far as the thumb off the neck idea, my first reaction was to
cringe at the thought! Usually someone will do that when they really
shouldn't. But perhaps it was suggested as a "practice technique"
to introduce you to different sensations that will help with the
problem. Generally speaking, the thumb involvement with left hand
fretting is absolutely crucial, as is the exact placement of the
thumb, and the direction of its pressure. And all of this changes
with every "finger configuration" that the thumb is opposing.
In your situation, you should experiment with these things while
holding various finger patterns that are giving you trouble.
I would much rather see you work with the "light finger"
exercises, string push downs and so forth, to deal with the problem
of excess force being applied from the hand itself. Taking the thumb
off usually just results in a lot of tension going into the arm
itself, as you "push" with the arm to get the strings
down. Without the thumb behind, you really have no other way of
getting force to the strings.
Straight talk on the Straight Wrist
Hi Jamie
I am confused by the description and pictures of the position of the
wrist of the right hand - fingerstyle. The description says that in
the correct position the fingers should be subparallel to the strings
and the fingers are at near right angles to the strings. This seems
wrong to me, because in order to achieve this position, my right wrist
must be bent; cocked down towards the floor. In this position, my
wrist is under a state of tension, not relaxed or natural. I have been taught that the wrist should be straight, such that
the fingers then pluck the strings at an angle. The wrist is then
in the greatest state of nontension and is naturally positioned.
What are all of your thoughts on this?
Confused
Hi Confused,
This seems to be a very controversial issue, the angle of the right
hand for fingerstyle or classical guitar. It seems that the more
"modern" approach being taught, and exemplified in such
instructional materials as Scott Tenant's Pumping Nylon are recommending,
in fact stating the superiority of, a "straight" wrist,
keeping the hand in line with the forearm. The reasoning is any
turn of the wrist will restrict the free movement of the tendons
that connect muscle to bone, causing excess tension.
To illustrate this, Scott Tenant asks you to make a fist, then turn
your wrist toward the outside (ulnar deviation of the wrist). He
then says something like, "I don't know about you, but that
feels a lot tenser to me, I wouldn't want to play that way".
Now, when I make the fist and turn my wrist, I don't feel any tension
as a result, and I don't when I play either. I don't believe that
John Williams, Julian Bream, Christopher Parkening, Eliot Fisk,
or Pepe Romero are hampered by excess tension in this position either
when they play (watch them, observe their right hands, you will
see the knuckles parallel to the strings, and a slight downturn
of the wrist). Nor was Segovia sidelined during his 90 years of
playing by damaging wrist tension, even though he played with the
wrist turned down in a natural curve, toward the floor.
Scott Tenant further states that since making a fist with anything
but a straight wrist is painful, and since playing the guitar can
be likened to a continuous process of "making fists" as
the fingers alternately flex and extend during playing, we should
conclude that this will create a very damaging situation for us
players. Well, the fact is we are NOT making fists as we play. There
is a world of difference between flexing the fingers all the way
into the hand, as in a fist, and the amount of flexion that actually
takes place in playing, which is only about half way to a fist.
Again, if it were so damaging, how are all these virtuoso players
getting away with it for all these years?
In fact, the wrist, when relaxed with the arm in playing position,
naturally falls this way, and other muscles must come into play
to "straighten it", or have it move up, toward the ceiling
(which is actually radial deviation of the wrist, produced by four
muscles in the forearm, the flexor carpi radialis, the extensor
carpi radialis longus, the extensor carpi radialis brevis, and of
course, last but not least, the abductor pollicis longus!).
So I could just as easily say that I have to cause myself excess
tension to keep a straight wrist!
So, what are we to make of this, especially given the fact that
Scott Tenant is obviously an advanced and excellent player, as evidenced
in the video?
I believe it comes down to this: there is more than one way to skin
a cat! Often, there is more than one way to achieve a result. In
addition, when it comes to something as complex as guitar technique,
the individual variations of anatomy and playing style are going
to have a great influence on the details of exactly how we do things.
Let us get down to the First Principles of the matter. Obviously,
I like to use the word "correct" in relation to practicing
and technique, but what does that really mean? Unfortunately, people
assume it always means ONE thing, or ONE way. This is not true.
In reality, the two conditions that must be fulfilled in order to
say an approach is correct" are these:
- It must get me what I want;
- The use of the approach must not lead to the development of a condition
in which I will not be able to get what I want in the future.
So, for instance, if one desires to play the guitar using only one
finger of the left hand, (as I have seen some beginners do), it is "correct" if it gets them what they want, and if they never
want something in the future that will be prevented by doing it this
way. Since most of what is required in the course of normal guitar
playing WILL be prevented by this approach, we will have to call it
"incorrect".
What conclusions can we draw from all of this? Here is what I come
up with:
1. Straight wrist playing may work fine for those choosing to use
it. Personally, I have only observed Scott Tenant's playing in this
position, so I don't consider my store of data to be extensive enough.
I have tried the position myself, I don't really like it, and am
not really motivated to pursue it. I have never experienced any
of the problems the "straight wrist theory" says I should
have. If I change my mind in the future, I'll let you know.
2. Obviously, the logic of the argument for using a straight wrist
and prohibiting the use of the "natural curve" (it will
cause tension which will be a limiting factor), is flawed, by the
mere fact that so many virtuosos play that way with no trouble.
3. I prefer to theorize in what is called an "empirical"
manner. That is , I will observe something, and theorize "backwards"
from what I observe. This is the opposite of forming a theory first,
and then making predictions about what WILL be observed. So, the
theory of excess tension caused by a slight curve of the wrist and
the tendons within might SOUND logical, but it does not seem to
actually have the effect the theory predicts.
I will add one final thought. In observing myself and other players,
I will notice that I will "alter" my position frequently,
if it is what I need to get a certain sound. I will go "straighter"
with my wrist, which does bring the finger to a different angle
in relation to the string. This is one reason why I tend to steer
clear of "absolutes" in relation to technique. Notice
that the change in position is motivated by the nature of the sound
desired.
Also, it should be understood that in doing what I do, which is
guiding other players and would be players along the path of development,
it often is the case that even though there may be more than one
way to approach something, there is, in general, one particular
way that brings the best results for the greatest number of people.
It is also true that there is often one approach which is best used
in the beginning of development, and may be altered later on. One
of the main reasons I have students assume this position is because
it really helps in getting them to keep the thumb out and away from
the hand while playing, and able to strike the strings with force.
A common flaw in right hand technique is a weak, ineffective thumb
resulting from bad hand positioning.
Keep in mind that we are not talking about a "severe"
turn of the wrist either, beyond the amount of curve that it would
naturally fall into. We don't "force" the hand to curve.
Perhaps you were thinking that is what I meant. If your wrist is
truly in a state of tension, you may be forcing it down. Look at
John Williams play. Look at the curve in his wrist. Do you think
his wrist is in a state of tension? To get the amount of curve in
the wrist I am talking about, just stick your arm out as if you
were to shake someone's hand. Notice how your fingers and hand droop
toward the floor from gravity when you totally relax your hand and
wrist. To keep perfectly straight, you would have to employ the
muscles I mentioned before. If you take the hand in this relaxed
downward droop, bring it in toward the body as if you were holding
a guitar, that is the amount of curve I am talking about. Look at
it in a mirror.
I would suggest that you think about these things, and when it comes
to the absolute details of technique in terms of your own playing,
do not accept what anyone says, including me, as the last word.
Do what I do, find the best guidance you can, think deeply, experiment
intensely, observe, draw conclusions, and accept no one else's gospel,
but write you own instead.
One of the wisest things I had one of my teachers tell me was a
quote from the great flamenco guitarist Sabicas. He said "everyone
must find their own way to play the guitar". In the same way
that we may read the great thoughts of the greatest minds that have
ever lived, and yet still not be relieved of the burden and duty
of coming to our own conclusions about the deepest matters of life,
so it is that even with the best instruction from the best players,
none of us is relieved of the necessity for discovering, with time,
patience and dedication, what is right for us, what is best for
us, and what is our true path to follow.
All
material copyright © 2003 by Jamie Andreas, GuitarPrinciples.com |
