• Knowledge of Results
• How Much Time Should I Spend On Foundation Exercises?
• Spanish Romance Help
• Massive Confrontation of Confusion Worldwide!

Knowledge of Results

Jamie,

My problem is that I can't tell whether I am practicing a song properly, or whether it really is too difficult for my level. In other words how do I know what I should be able to do and what I
should be stretching to next?

Jim

Hi Jim,

That is an easy one, but nonetheless your dilemma is quite common. The root of your problem is that you are missing the one most essential ingredient there is when it comes to improving in any motor skill, or in fact, any effort in life: you are not receiving what is called "knowledge of results" or feedback from your efforts. Now, in your case, which is simply wanting to know if you are really adequately meeting the requirements of the music you have chosen to work on, it is quite simple to receive this feedback.

I will give you the steps for doing so. Whether you take the steps is another question, because taking these steps can be very emotionally upsetting, which is why most people tend not to do so. I had to force myself to take them at one time, and now I force all my students to do so. It is the only way.

Here are the steps:

1) Record yourself playing the music in question. If your goal is to master the whole song, you must record the whole song. However, you can modify these steps for individual passages.

2) Play a professional recording of the song immediately afterward. If it is an original song from your favorite band, play that. If it is just a solo from a song, play that.

3) Compare yourself with the recording. Are all the notes there? Is the timing right? Are the tone and feel good? For this step, you must have what I call "the fearless honesty". Most of us don't have it, we have to develop it. The "fearless honesty" is the ability to actually be aware of yourself and what you are doing, without avoiding the parts you don't like, or changing things around to make the picture a little rosier. All truly good musicians and artists have this.

The only way to begin to develop it is when you have begun to feel that you are CAPABLE of changing bad things about your playing. Until you feel that, you won't allow yourself to become aware of the bad things about your playing. That, of course, is why everyone needs to learn what practicing is.

4) If you have gotten this far, this is where your work begins. This is where, through proper practice, you close the gap between what you put on tape, and what the real deal is.

Now, if you have taken these steps, and you sound as good as the original, then the answer to your question is "yes are practicing properly and this music is within your abilities. If there is a wide gap (there usually is), then, you begin to practice. If, after a few weeks, you re-do these steps and there IS an improvement, then, again, the answers are yes, you are on track.

If there is no improvement, the answer is no, you are not practicing properly, and the music may very well be beyond you at this time. But the thing I want you to realize Jim, is that if you don't know how to work on something so that it improves, than essentially, everything that is above your present level of Vertical Growth will remain out of your reach.

Also, the way of thinking you are using by saying "what I should be able to do" is incorrect and unproductive. There is no "should" about it. Whatever you ARE able to do is exactly what you SHOULD be able to do based on what you actually DO when you practice. What you THINK you should be able to do is based on various ideas and beliefs you have gathered along the way, usually by comparing yourself with others, and then making demands upon yourself to measure up. Forget all that, and pay attention to reality, not your beliefs about it.

I suspect from your question that you usually feel that you are not doing the music justice. Hopefully. you are ready to take the approach I have outlined, and come to an accurate and realistic assessment of your playing. As the psychiatrists used to say in the old movies "the very fact that you realize you have a problem is the first step in solving it". Too corny for me to say, but true!

How Much Time Should I Spend On Foundation Exercises?

Jamie,

I received your book and devoured it cover to cover right away. It really gave me some inspiration to have a better approach to my practicing. I would like to ask you a question as I am trying to write my weekly practice routines.

I have been playing a couple of years and I am only growing "horizontally" which is why I ordered your book. I concentrate on playing electric blues so my practice time has been divided into 3 general areas: 1.) blues rhythm and lead. 2.) theory and learning sight reading. 3.) playing general songs I know.

Obviously I want to incorporate your principles into my practice routine. I'm very serious about practicing and I do so for about 2 hours a night.

How much time should I spend daily working on your drills and how can I incorporate them into the material I already know without starting over? Any help would greatly be appreciated. I think your book is really going to be good for me. Thanks.

Darren E

Hi Darren,

Here are my thoughts. First, make sure you read my two essays "Changing Bad Habits", and "Practice Organization".

Second, the fact that you are making a weekly practice schedule is very good. Keep that up. As you go along, you will get better at seeing what works and what doesn't in terms of choosing the material you are working on, and in how much time to allocate.

Third, get rid of the idea that there is something wrong with starting over. I start over every day. I find things that need improvement in my fingers that have been there since I started playing, 32 years ago! I just never recognized that they were flaws, or that it was possible to change them.

Fourth, make sure that the finger action you are supposed to develop from the left hand exercises is actually incorporated into your technique, when, for instance, you are playing major scales. If you never use the 4th finger, and stay exclusively with pentatonic scales, then this does not apply. I will assume, since you are using my book, that you desire a more comprehensive development of the left hand. Check out my demonstration of the walking exercises done at 60 bpm (16th's), and then at 120. Can you do that? If not, get to work!

Other than that, make sure that the total body "relaxation-in-action" that I always advocate is being developed in your playing. Any playing demands that cause a breakdown in playing are happening because of un-located tensions, and these must be located, and worked on using The Basic Practice Approach. Make sure you are doing that. I know many people don't. Don't be one of these people!

"It's great to be able to do two things at a time, it's even greater to be able to do one thing at a time."   Jamie Andreas

Thank you for your emails, my philosopher-guitarist. Much that you write is as applicable to life as it is to the guitar. (I'm an Advil-generation player limited, among other things, by Mother Nature but loving the guitar.) Your essay in response to the "con-fused" player contains such
wisdom that I'm giving it to a friend stuck in the cycle of a recurring problem.

With much gratitude, Mathilda

Jamie - You are truly wise. Thanks for sharing your insights into the mechanics not only for playing guitar, but more importantly, for living a complete, satisfying life. Your principles are ones we ALL can use in ALL aspects of our lives to make them better.

You are an inspiration to us all.

thanks,
-mike

Just read the essay on confusion. I wanted to say thanks to Jamie for Verbal Event Analysis - it's a real gem!! Something new to put into my armory for practicing. I believe I have something tangible here which I can use for life......a real empowering technique. Cheers!!! Just on my second reading of your book, I may need a few more before it sinks in. Keep up the good work, look forward to reading more.

John Stanton.

Again, thanks to everyone who wrote in. When you are in the business of communicating, there is no greater pleasure than to know that the communication was received.

All material copyright © 2003 by Jamie Andreas, GuitarPrinciples.com