• Critical Mass
• Who To Follow
• From the Forum
• Finger Overlap and Wimpy Picking
• "Am I Just Unable to Play the Guitar?"

In my essay "It's A Jungle Out There" (available in The Newsletter Archives) in which I critique the sorry state of guitar pedagogy, I quote extensively from an important research paper done on the subject of acquiring expert levels of performance (the technical name for becoming great at something), which first appeared in "American Psychologist" in 1994. It is called "Expert Performance: Its Structure and Acquisition" (by Ericcson and Charness). It is a fascinating read, and gives the scientific underpinning for the claims I am always making, "it ain't about talent, its about desire, competent instruction, and WORK!"

Here is an excerpt from this study that is of central importance to guitar players seeking excellence:

On Acquisition of Expert Performance

"A relatively uncontroversial assertion is that attaining an expert level of performance in a domain requires mastery of all of the relevant knowledge and prerequisite skills. Our analysis has shown that the central mechanisms mediating the SUPERIOR PERFORMANCE OF EXPERTS, are ACQUIRED; THEREFORE, ACQUISITION OF RELEVANT KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS MAY BE THE MAJOR LIMITING FACTOR IN ATTAINING EXPERT PERFORMANCE.

"The report goes on to talk about how expert performers will generally arrange their lives so that they can practice at least 4 hours a day, and will arrange an afternoon nap so that evening hours can be utilized for more practice. This is exactly what I did when I was young. I took a nap after school, (and later after my part time job), and spent the rest of the time practicing the guitar and studying music.

No, I didn't keep up my grades in other subjects, and just got by as well as I could. I felt I had started guitar and music late (age 14) for my goals. I had no musical training as a child, and felt a great pressure to prepare myself to be able to do music for a living. So, I would never allow anything to stand in the way of my practice, and made many sacrifices because of it, but I was determined that it would be guitar first, and everything else about life second. That is how people act when they REALLY want something. If I had had the advantage of the kind of training that I can now provide for people, I would have made incredibly better progress in half the time, but you do what you have to do! (Would that have made me do my homework? Probably not!)"

I would like to make one correction to what I wrote in this essay. If I had had me as a teacher back then, I would have made incredibly better progress in at least 1/10 of the time!

The main point I want to make here is this: there is no such thing as becoming an "expert" at anything, without first achieving "Critical Mass". In physics, "critical mass" is when enough energy has been created, under the necessary conditions, to make the process self-perpetuation, and allow something to come into being which cannot come into being unless that highly intensified state of energy IS created. Once that energy is built up enough, there is a tremendous EXPLOSION! If you wait around for that explosion, but have not created the conditions for the intensification of energy, well, you will be waiting a very long time!

I knew I had to arrange my life so that I would reach critical mass in my musical development. I could not just amble along like the normal teenager, hang out with friends or watch a lot of TV. I had to intensify my life in order to achieve my goals, there were no two ways about it. In order to achieve this state I always tried to find the best teachers available. In addition, I knew I must create the conditions of "critical mass" in my life by putting a significant amount of highly focused work in EVERY DAY, for many hours every day. I knew it just wasn't going to happen any other way. Now, I thank God I saw the truth of that, and acted on it.

The reason I am highlighting these points is because some people are writing to me and, after telling me they wish to be professionals, they wish to be "all they can be" on the guitar, they then ask me if I think they can achieve their goals by perhaps just working with my book or DVD's.

Now, while I know for a fact that every guitar player will be helped immeasurably by studying The Principles, and I also know for a fact that the process of growth for anyone studying The Principles will be further intensified by studying the DVD , I also know for a fact that there is only one way to acquire the, shall we say, "whole enchilada", meaning the bringing out of your fullest potential, guaranteed, no two ways about it. And that way is the same way it has always been, intense, and prolonged, study with a master player who is also a master teacher.

Some people are hopping on a plane and coming to see me for a few hours of intense consultation. I am showing them exactly what their present obstacles are, and what to do to remove them. I am hoping they retain and use every drop of information and practice procedures I give them. How completely this occurs depends on the student, their ability to focus, and retain the awareness of their "unawareness" that I have revealed to them.

Some, like Jim C., who flies once a month from Chicago to New York for a lesson, are dead serious about reaching a professional level of ability. He decided to guarantee his success by coming to see me on a regular basis, once a month. He has made tremendous progress, progress we both know would not have occurred any other way. However, recently, he was beginning to wait longer between lessons, not coming in regularly once a month as he had been.

This was okay with me, I always leave it up to the student to set the level of intensity at which they study and apply themselves, in terms of frequency of lessons (not in terms of intensity and focus during practice or playing, there has to be a dedication to 100% in that area!). I don't expect all students to practice hours a day. Some people just want to gain a modest level of playing ability with the guitar, and be able to sit and strum and sing some of their favorite songs. I think that's great, not everybody has to be a virtuoso! As long as I see movement toward greater skill happening, I am satisfied as a teacher. But, there is one thing that I really don't want to see.

I don't want a student thinking they are going after something, and really not, in the reality of their actions, be going after it. In plain English, I don't want to see anyone fooling themselves. When it comes to actually playing, and when it comes to the relationship with the guitar the student is seeking to develop fully, I require all students to do two things: know what they want, and know whether they are getting it. You are NOT going to become a great guitarist or musician on a half hour of practice a day. If you are in the beginning stages of development, you are NOT going to achieve expert levels of performance by taking occasional lessons. (You can, of course, over time, become a very good player on the amateur level on a half hour of CORRECT practice.)

Jim asked me what I thought of the wisdom of his stretching lessons out. He wrote to me:

My conservative self is telling me that I should wait on coming out for my next lesson until I can perform my scales, songs, and chords at 60 (as I stated above). I don't feel a need to press forward until I have some of these basics down a bit better. However, I can never tell how long this will be. It could be a week, a month, or 3 months -- I just can never yet gauge how long something is going to take me. I do, however, see the development coming, and it is exciting as hell!

Knowing Jim's goals with the guitar, I was beginning to sense a wrong understanding on his part. While a student does need enough time to practice and give themselves to various new concepts and practice material, the fastest and wisest way to make progress is not to demand "completion" of new skills before seeing the teacher again, or taking on new material. In any case, it is my job to assess when new material should be worked on. Building a guitar player is like building a house. It is extremely complex, and composed of many parts. I am always working in about 20 areas with a student, whether they know it or not. Attitude, depth of understanding of critical concepts, physical development, coordination, what to pay attention to while practicing, HOW to generate the kind of mental intensity necessary to have powerful practice sessions (the "bottom of your practice"), musical understanding, even what I would call the right kind of personality or "emotional looseness" required to be a musician; I work with all these things everytime I see someone. Things move forward on many fronts at once, toward the goal of being a real guitarist and musician.

So, I had to correct Jim's way of thinking about the learning process with guitar. he can certainly come whenever he wants, but, like I said, I want everyone to be clear on what they really want, and what they are really getting (doing). So I wrote:

Hi Jim,

Well, that is your call. Basically, the more I see you, the faster you'll move. You never know what I am going to catch that will enable you to INCREASE the quality of your practice, thereby increasing the rate at which you move forward. Think of your last lesson. You could have stayed practicing at home as you were saying "let me get this stuff perfect before seeing Jamie", and missed the opportunity to have that breakthrough that occurred.

Jim, I have a number of people contacting me about moving here, living here for a time to study with me. They say they are dead set on the goal of full development and being a professional musician. One asked if he thought that was really necessary, or would coming for a few lessons do it, or maybe just watching my DVD! Well, what can I say? It all depends on how fast you want to get there!

So, it is your call. Just ask yourself if there has ever been a time when you left a lesson saying "I didn't really need to come out, I didn't learn much"!

Hope this all helps Jim, and in any case, I wish you the best progress till I see you again!

Best,
Jamie

This prompted Jim to examine himself, his feelings, and his motivations. It led to a great discovery on his part. He realized that he was not so much seeking the perfection of the material before seeing me, but was trying to make sure he would gain my approval on how amazingly he had mastered material! As soon as Jim became aware of his motivations, he wrote:

Hi Jamie,

I am sure glad that you're the teacher, and I'm the student. I seem to be missing the big picture again, and here I thought that I was smart. Ever since I received your email, I've been pondering why I'm missing the big picture in terms of lessons because I always get so much out of each face-to-face with you.

I think it comes down to embarrassment. I don't ever think that I've progressed enough in your eyes to come out even though I need the lesson. I'm projecting that you would not want to see me again if I haven't "accomplished" something since our last lesson, and it seems to me that real accomplishment can be seen in 3 - 6 month increments, not monthly. However, I certainly need your help to keep me practicing correctly and increasing the rate at which I move forward. I also need to nix the whole embarrassment thing from my psyche. So, instead of me deciding how often I should come it, I'll ask you, the teacher, how often do you think I should come it to get the maximum benefit of your teaching and the best rate of movement towards becoming a musician?

Thanks again for your insights.

Peace,
Jim

After seeing this clearly, Jim was able to drop it immediately. He decided to start coming in for a lesson every three weeks. I saw him yesterday, and we had a great lesson. He is now going to move forward at a greatly accelerated rate.

It is so important to understand that playing a musical instrument, and especially the guitar (truly one of the hardest instruments to master), is unbelievably complex. I transfer so much knowledge to each student in the course of a lesson, with such a ferocious focus of attention, that it is quite exhausting, especially after a two hour lesson like Jim's. Many skills and understanding take repeated exposure, repeated correction of the students efforts. That is just the way it is. Everytime Jim sees me he knows that his practice has just been intensified by a factor of ten.

It is as if the student were in a swing, being pushed by the teacher. When the teacher stops pushing (the lesson is over, the student begins to work on their own steam), sure the motion continues, the better the student, the more powerful the motion they generate on their own. But, even with the best of students, the motion will slow down. The longer I don't see someone, the slower their progress forward becomes. When they see me, it is like getting a powerful push forward again. That is the right understanding.

A student's progress is also like a car going down a highway. In lessons, the student is constantly placed on parts of the road they have never been before, leading to places they have never seen. So, inevitably, what happens is that at some point, they will veer off the road. The car will hit a ditch in the side of the road and spin its wheels endlessly. That is the student practicing on thier own. Every student, in the forward quest for improvement, hits these ditches, and unless they see a competnet teacher, they stay in that ditch, practicing and going nowhere. When they next see me, I remove them from the ditch, explain why they went into the ditch, how to not get into the ditch again, and how to get out if they do. Then I point the front of the car forward again on the road we are traveling.

This is why, in the old days, you lived with your teacher. In many art forms, you "apprenticed" yourself to a master, and absorbed on a daily basis what they had to offer. Then, you became a master.

That, of course, is the teaching/learning process in its most intense form. Modern times does not quite allow for the same type of setup to so easily occur, but, the mechanics of the process are nevertheless the same. I have always been aware of this in teaching, and that is why I have tried to make certain that students, in the course of the week when I was not there to supervise their practice, went off track as little as possible, by understanding what correct practice is, and having all instructions clearly written down and/or on tape.

It is my desire, through the work of GuitarPrinciples, to serve the needs of all people who want to play the guitar, whether as an enjoyable and fulfilling hobby, or as a player at the professional level. I will continue to create, and GuitarPrinciples will continue to make available, instructional resources for guitar of the most powerful and revolutionary nature; resources that will enable any student to create remarkable growth toward their goals, depending on how much of themselves they wish to devote to the guitar.

I will also continue to make a certain amount of my time available to personally instruct those who demonstrate the desire to achieve their full development as guitarists and musicians. As you probably know, If you are one of those who wish to "go all the way", and achieve critical mass in your d I am not concerned with age or background; I do not qualify people according to where they have been, but rather according to where they are going.evelopment, you may consider the possibility of personal instruction with me, as many people are already doing.

Principled players know that "force=volume" when it comes to playing. We also know that increased force equals increased sympathetic tension generated in the body. Continuing our mathematical train of logic, increased sympathetic tension = more discomfort and loss of control. And that equals UNHAPPY GUITAR PLAYERS!

Yes, the hallmark of an improperly developed player is the inability to play with volume, especially at fast speeds. As the speed goes up, the ability to bring force to the string is lessened, until there is no force being brought to the string! In contrast, the sign of a properly developed player is speed AND volume.

This syndrome is one of the most common things I fix for people. Lately, I have been playing a clip from Ney's CD "Meditations" to demonstrate the opposite of "wimpy picking", as an inspiration to do the kind of correct practice that leads to this ability. Ney has allowed me to post a clip for everyone to hear, so HERE IT IS!

If you haven't read the Technical Tip on this subject, here IT is...."May The Force Be With You!"

Thank you for your assistance,
John-

Hi John,

When the teacher told you to quit trying to learn the guitar, he was really saying he wanted to quit teaching you. He wanted to quit teaching you because he knew he COULDN'T teach you. But, of course, he didn't want to admit that, so he would rather get you to believe that the problem was coming from you, it was YOU who just couldn't learn. And he was right, you CAN'T learn from him!

So, you ask is it possible that you just cannot learn to play the guitar? Well, anything is possible, but I haven't yet run across anyone in my 31 years of teaching that I have thought that about. I admit that in my early years I, like your teacher, simply didn't know what to do with certain people, but I used those people as "test cases", and gradually learned how to teach the most "unteachable" people. That is where The Principles came from.

So, if you are actually unable to learn the guitar, I would like to meet you! That would be a new experience for me, and then I could study you further, perhaps put your picture in The GuitarPrinciples Museum, as the first person I have discovered who actually couldn't learn to play the guitar! But, I really doubt that would be the case. If I taught you, you would learn, it is as simple as that. If you cannot see me in person, then hopefully you will get the help you need from all the wonderful resources at GuitarPrinciples. Between my books, my site, and the incredible people on our forum, you have the best chance ever available to people in your situation.

And as far as trouble changing chords, get started with The Path as soon as possible. It deals specifically with the root causes of those troubles. Get started with The Principles, and the Foundation Exercises, and then start on The Path.

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