Confused

[BarryJ]

I had a webcam lesson with Jamie last Monday. The Walking exercises with metronome did not go well. I kept a brave face but I was disappointed. Then I was away unexpectedly with work for a few days and had no access to my guitar. To compound things Saturday was a very bad day in terms of my personal life. So when I picked up my guitar last night I was tired, emotional and expected to not do at all well. To be honest, after a painful day, I didn't really care if I messed up while practicing.

Then I suprised myself. I started expecting to have to stop after a few notes but I did the walking exercises all the way through in time with the metronome 1-4, 1-3, and 1-2. I hit a few bum notes but my extreme tiredness contributed to my concentration wavering a little.

I can't explain why that happened.

If only I had the webcam switched on

Barry

[Guillaume]

Hi Barry,

I would not worry about that too much since the aim of a guitar lesson is not to "test" you but rather to help you get you from whatever level you're at right now to improved skills.

If you think you did not play really that well during the lesson, put a positive spin on it : now you know where you're at and what challenges arise when you play or practice in front of someone.

Good luck with your playing and never hesitate to take a guitar lesson for fear of missing notes.

Guillaume

[ketreva]

Having an improvement of a skill after a period of non use of the skill is known as latent learning. The theory is your brain organizes the information while it is not being used, and then when the skill is called upon again your brain is more efficient in accessing it. You can use this to your advantage by breaking your practice session into a few chunks, for example, if you practice for 2 hours each day, an hour in the morning and an hour in the evening gives time for latent learning to happen. Of course, you may want to have a long session once or twice a week to build stamina. In my experience 12 sessions of 10 minutes over the course of the day can lead to some surprising gains. (Something I frequently do when I have a young puppy, as the first month never gives me more than 10 minutes to myself at any one time! )

[N E Y]

I had a webcam lesson with Jamie last Monday. The Walking exercises with metronome did not go well. I kept a brave face but I was disappointed. Then I was away unexpectedly with work for a few days and had no access to my guitar. To compound things Saturday was a very bad day in terms of my personal life. So when I picked up my guitar last night I was tired, emotional and expected to not do at all well. To be honest, after a painful day, I didn't really care if I messed up while practicing.

Then I suprised myself. I started expecting to have to stop after a few notes but I did the walking exercises all the way through in time with the metronome 1-4, 1-3, and 1-2. I hit a few bum notes but my extreme tiredness contributed to my concentration wavering a little.

I can't explain why that happened.

If only I had the webcam switched on

Barry

Awesome developments Barry!!!!

Of course part of it is you feeling nervous about performing in front of a world renown authority such as Jamie...But Jamie is actually not out to judge you...but to help you, yet many people initially think she will be like their familiar typically abusive and time wasting teachers. In time you will feel in front of Jamie as you felt at home when you made progress due to your mind being opened. By not caring if you made mistakes...you actually allowed yourself to think about the task at hand!!!..because at that point you cared ONLY about doing what you are supposed to be doing and not about all other psychological concerns.....So you made progress,,,because you ALLOWED yourself to focus on the exercises very intently.which is the whole point!!!, in-spite being tired..But if your mind is elsewhere you don't get anywhere even if you are not tired at all......



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ney_mello
2011 going on 2012? We know it is time to care about cool music seriously again!...and Your guitar is part of the scene!
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001KMH8FM/?ta ... ppv63sgm_b

[aussiepete]

A similar thing happened to me recently Barry. I have just finished playing bass in an amateur theatre production. I was ill during the technical rehearsals, and had no voice and was feeling pretty terrible. But as they say, the show must go on. I was expecting to play not to well, I didn't feel like reading my parts or playing at all really. I had a "whatever" attitude to the day. Because my ego was non-existent that day I was not plagued by playing concerns. To my surprise I ended up playing relaxed and smoothly. The musical director even commented on my great playing! I told him it's because I didn't care about my playing that day ...........the bottom line is that I did not have that niggling voice in my head that day telling me I had to play perfect or else.......I didn't sabotage myself with unrealistic self talk and therefore played great........

[BarryJ]

Thanks for all the very helpful feedback guys. I had been reading the responses all last week but the internet connection I use when on the move for some reason won't allow me to login to the forums so I wasn't able to get on to say thanks. I was however able to read the posts as they were posted.

On a separate note I think Ney said something before about any struggling players out there who think a newer and more expensive guitar or amp is going to make them a better player. Don't spend your money on unnecessary equipment and get some webcam lessons with Jamie instead. You won't regret it for a single moment!

[Hermit]

To be honest, after a painful day, I didn't really care if I messed up while practicing.

Then I suprised myself. I started expecting to have to stop after a few notes but I did the walking exercises all the way through in time with the metronome 1-4, 1-3, and 1-2. I hit a few bum notes but my extreme tiredness contributed to my concentration wavering a little.

I can't explain why that happened.
Barry

Old thread but.....
This is an easy one. You took the pressure off of yourself and just let it happen.

If only I had the webcam switched on

Barry

That would have put the pressure back on in this case even though it shouldn't have.