Guidance For Blues You Can Use

As anyone familiar with The Principles knows, they apply to all styles, and should be used by players of all styles to improve their playing, and to provide the foundation of their practice approach. This is why we have players of all styles using The Principles, and frequenting our site and forums.

One of our forums, is dedicated to the Blues, a style of guitar that surely holds a special place in the galaxy of guitar styles, achieving as it does such subtlety of expression with such relatively simple musical tools and techniques. Yes, it is all about "feel" when it comes to the Blues, and that is why I have such an affection for the style. Tell the truth, or put down your guitar!

In this forum, we use a book of instruction and introduction to many basic blues styles and techniques called "Blues You Can Use" as a core study aid. In addition, players are pursuing their own blues inclinations, and there are many great contributions being made to this forum that we can all learn from.

 I am going to begin giving some "Principled Guidance" for "Blues You Can Use", little tips on how to handle the more challenging moves presented in the various solos and techniques used. Even if you are not using this book, I highly recommend checking these tips out. For instance, in the first installment, I am discussing how to approach switching from a single note run into a chord using a half bar, a difficult move that appears in all styles.

Here is the link to the Guidance 1 For "Blues You Can Use"

and here is a review of the book itself, and how to get it. 

and lastly, our Blues Forum

There are a number of practice habits which have two characteristics: they are bad, and they are used by a majority of students!

One of these is the very counter-productive habit of practicing something for a long time, and avoiding learning to play the music in the correct rhythm, and of course, to a tempo. In my earlier years of teaching, it was amazing to me how long a student would be content to practice something, over and over for weeks and weeks, and still not get to the part where we "put it all together". Instead, they would come in every week with the music in "pieces".

When I would ask "umm, what about the rhythm, you know, beats and that kind of stuff", I would get this reply, "well, I figure I'll learn the notes first, and then put the rhythm in!".

Well, there is some sense to that, but only up to a point. We do have to learn the moves without rhythm, any Principled Player knows that "no tempo practice" is one of the foundation concepts in The Principles, but hey, enough already! The bird has to jump out of the nest at some point! These students had long passed the point where their fingers "knew the notes", the fact is, they were avoiding the very intense and specialized work required to "sew it all together", that is, connect the notes in the smooth movement process necessary to play music.

This, over time, lead me to develop The Principles, which culminate in "The Basic Practice Approach", which does, inevitably and by definition, string the moves together (however, the exact length of notes, which constitutes the final rhythm, must still be practiced after that, but will now be possible).

The fact is, we should very quickly be getting to the point of "putting the rhythm in" to our music. If you find yourself lingering too long, and waiting for the big day when you make the music sound like music, you are on the wrong track! I always say "pay the devil his due, but don't overpay him"!

Thinking that you can "learn the notes first, and put the rhythm in later" is like thinking you can build a brick house by putting all the bricks in place, and then adding the cement! It is a bit too late for that! They kind of go together, and one follows the other in the process.

The fact of the matter is that the student who practices like this is really spending most of their time scrambling around for the notes they can get, and messing up the rest, and doing severe, and difficult to reverse damage to their muscle memory in the process. Correct practice (read, The Principles!), is the remedy for this disease.

We cannot practice, even if we are rehearsing moves "no tempo", without an awareness of the actual rhythm, and a "fitting into place", rhythmically, the notes as we go along.

So, look around your workspace next practice session, and see if there are any piles of bricks needing mortar. If so, get out your Principles, your metronomes, and get to work!

What Should I Practice!......that depends on what level of student you are. Find out Jamie's recommendations for "General Guitar Development: Stage One". These are all the right things every serious student of guitar should be doing to ensure a long and enjoyable relationship to the guitar.

"Sweet Child Of Mine"....find out how to apply The Principles to the tricky left hand finger work required in the intro to this Gun's & Roses classic!

Beatltes Made Easy!.....looking for some great material at the beginner/intermediate level. You can't do better than this!

"Lost In Time".....Everyone always wonders where the time has gone. Have you ever wondered where it comes from??? Discover the powerful state of awareness enjoyed by great players!

Hi,

Occasionally I get a student that struggles terribly with left hand coordination. Even stretching to play a simple root/5th bar chord with 1st and 3rd finger can be a huge challenge to them. Forming a simple chord like D major seems to be a tremendous chore to them.


It really seems to me that this is a genetic thing because sometimes I get a student who immediately can play simple chords and doesn't have anywhere near the same kind of struggle as these other students. I do sometimes wonder if enough practice is being done.

I've come up with some stretching exercises that I think help but I'd like to hear from some of you how you handle a student with a very weak left hand.

Thanks,
Steve

Hi Steve,

I have dealt with this situation many times in my career. Just recently, I had a student who was left handed, a carpenter with very "beaten up hands", and in addition, a steel pin in his wrist! Even without all that, I think he was simply one of those type of students you describe, one with very little natural flexibility in the left hand.

Practice of course is part of the answer, but unless it is the right kind of practice, they will never get anywhere. THE most important element is a continuous, and HUGH, amount of No Tempo and Posing work on all the left hand foundation exercises. There must be a GREAT focus on whole body relaxation during practice. You, as the teacher, must monitor this ferociously.

This type of person will produce incredible tension and tightening throughout the body as they try to stretch those tight fingers. Yes, they will develop slowly, but they will develop. Consider this student as a special "lock" that needs a special "key". Of course, the practice approaches are in essence the same as anyone should use, but the imperative for their effective and meticulous use is greater here. Whereas other students WILL get some playing ability even if they do bad practice, this type of student will get nowhere with bad practice. They will simply tie themselves into a giant pretzel shaped knot!

Just make sure the work done proceeds by the smallest steps, incredibly slow, incredibly fine. Have them only on the higher frets for as long as necessary. The key is to only present a very small challenge at every step of the way. Otherwise, deadly Sympathetic Tension will appear and rule the day. Always watch their breathing, and have them relax their abdomens constantly.

It can take 6 months to get this student to do the first simple chords well enough to change them, and it can take 2 years to really get the hand in flexible shape. Big deal! It will be all the sweeter for both of you when you get there!

Donna is the kind of teacher that makes me proud of the work I do: she has taken it and has so quickly and ably put it to its highest purpose: training young people to develop new powers of will and achievement, and then laying that at the feet of God and community.

I love Donna, and I always have loved people like her when I meet them. I call them "purehearts". It becomes apparent as soon as you meet them that they are entirely composed of "good will" toward their fellow creatures, and there is a goodness in every bone in their body.

I believe Education is God's Presence in the world, and that Presence is so beautifully and effectively demonstrated in Donna's work with her kids. With the help of The Principles, she trains their minds, bodies, and spirit. She began a series of classes at her church, and they are growing like wildfire, and so is her reputation, and confidence.

We at GuitarPrinciples look forward to seeing her continue to bring a new generation of excellent players into the world!

For pictures, and Donna's report of "The Kid's Big Gig", see the link below....