Wrong road...turning back

[Mark SL]

Hey everyone,

I'm Mark,


Been reading this board non-stop for the past few days. Kind of funny how i re-stumbled upon this awesome resource. I purchased the principles of correct guitar practice back in 1999 or 2000, approximately and also visited the old boards I think. All I remember is I was a freshmen in college. But between now and then, and a few moves must have lost it as I searched my studio high and low to no avail.

I have played guitar for 12 years now, or what should have been 12 years. Probably more like 8. Guitar was my life, but then gradually I noticed I was picking it up less and less and less, to now where four years has gone by without touching it up to about a month ago.

I used come home from classes and sit on the edge of my bed, computer and stereo in front of me way too late into the wee hours of the morning until my fingers could not take it anymore. It was all I wanted to do and all I thought about.

In hindsight now, I eventually lost interest because of terrible technical habits. I mean I can play through full songs, can solo a little bit, but I noticed I could not keep up when playing with other guitarists and a drummer (this is because I learned terrible home grown technique for chord changes and just thought if I played them enough gazillion times it would sort itself out...wrong)

I found the principles and just in time for a college talent show, so I worked on them for months. Now realizing what I thought was focused and deep practice was not even much of an improvement on my previous years of "practice". My maturity level and awareness didn't go much beyond partying if you know what I mean. The talent show went horrid, i could not keep up with the talented guitarist I was playing with and basically made a fool of myself and him - who was very technically astute. From here the guitar slowly faded in my life from crushed confidence and a realization that I wasn't as good as I thought I was.

Guitar has been in the same corner collecting dust every since, until about a month ago it, for some reason, started calling me.

I couldn't sleep one night and a replay of an old VH1 storytellers came on and it was Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds episode. I noticed that their chord changes were so so smooth and precise that it looked like they were massaging and softly stroking the guitar neck - and the precicsion of their fingertips fretting looked like typewriters. (At least their left hands ) I set up a camera and videotaped myself playing after 4 years away, and it looked ugly - I realized I had no control over my fingers, no indepedence of movement and I basically looked like I was having seizures on my guitar.

A dawning of sorts, I remembered Jamie and this site and the newsletter, and THE Book. Couldn't find the book but I found this site and remembered some of the exercises...I think. But have been practicing at painstakingly slow speeds. i mean it is torturous, my muscles in my hand ache, my fingers shake uncontrollably at this super super slow speed, they fly everywhere at some points and then stick together at others. Even my basic chord changes are far to slow and awkward to ever keep time - not to mention my right hand strumming. Surprisingly though, when i then play a song for fun after this type of practice, it sounds much better.

So I just ordered the beginners package and am starting a new beginning on the guitar, the right way. I have always been drawn to the acoustic guitar, begging my parents to get me one which they finally did at 16. And it feels really good to pick it up again.

Thanks for reading if you made it though, if not, good to be here and hopefully I can figure out how to get videos up soon and start improving

[Stan]

Cool story.

Congrats on finding the way (back) to THE WAY to learn to play.

[Mark SL]

Lol, lame story, I had a few last night.

proper practice + maturity = meditation

[Mark SL]

is this what the principles teach us? I hope so

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JaPIncGS ... re=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9MncdJ_lOs

[Jamie]

For anyone who knows the principles,and has done my classical/fingerstyle course, this would be child's play. However, they would have a much better right hand position, capable of much more than this.

[Stan]

is this what the principles teach us? I hope so

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JaPIncGS ... re=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9MncdJ_lOs

Ok, maybe this is just the first time me paying attention...

ZERO "Dive-bombing" in those videos. None. At least one finger on the fretboard at all times.

Also - what Jamie said - the songs are nice and mellow, the chords are fairly basic - GP Book + C&R will get you there no problem (assuming you actually FOLLOW THROUGH with the practice). I have not done the Fingerstyle course - so I can't really speak to that, but it may help too.

[Mark SL]

Holy smokes, I guess I have a long way to go – to me this was super smooth and relaxed playing

Stan, what does dive bombing mean, and also is it not a good thing to have a finger on the fretboard at all times? It’s probably answered in the course which should be here tomorrow – I couldn’t wait and got the fast shipping.

[Stan]

Holy smokes, I guess I have a long way to go – to me this was super smooth and relaxed playing

Oh, it is quite smooth and relaxed. But I don't think it's as long a road as you think - you can probably get there in approx. 6 months (more or less, depending on whether or not you practice right, practice often enough and your "natural ability").

Stan, what does dive bombing mean, and also is it not a good thing to have a finger on the fretboard at all times? It’s probably answered in the course which should be here tomorrow – I couldn’t wait and got the fast shipping.

"Dive-bombing" is (as I very recently learned) a sub-optimal technique of changing chords. In essence - if you take all of your fingers off the fingerboard, move the hand and/or fingers in the right position for the next chord and then "drop" them on, hopefully, right strings and right frets... It is not necessarily always BAD - it's just less-efficient and harder to get good at. Especially if you're jumping all over the fingerboard...

I have posted this vid here before - it was done before I even knew about "dive-bombing"... A lot of chord changes in the vid are "dive-bombed" (but not all).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKdoAGdevts

From the guitar technique the supported change is better because it's more controlled, which makes it easier to develop the right muscle memory, allowing you to make your chord changes smoother and with better accuracy.

[Jamie]

Mark, Taylor's playing IS smooth relaxed, and wonderful. My point is that it is not difficult to achieve that. Any of the people in my video gallery who have finished my classical course are doing much more difficult stuff than that, and that course is pretty basic!

Because guitar instruction universally sucks, people think this very basic level of playing is some big deal. It's not. It's about as big a deal as a 3rd grader reading and writing at the 3rd grade level.

At one point in history, if you could read at a 3rd grade level, you were considered an intellectual! That was not because of the inherent difficulty, only the existing educational systems.

[Mark SL]

Stan - that sounds really good, i'm sure you've improved it since then! So you are saying its better form to leave fingers on the strings if they don't need to change for the next chord - got it

Jamie - Makes perfect sense, and is very encouraging. Thanks!!

I'm expecting my beginners package today (i hope), been annoying the lady at the desk asking if any packages have been delivered