TIME FOR A TEST (Nov-08-03)

[moved from old forum:]

"Ney, to me great guitar technique is simply Making music."

Contemplate: The one who sacrificed his hands at the altar of very poor teachnique was still making beautifull music

"So you have to 1) be in touch with your emotions, 2) you have
to be able to structure or filter the emotions somehow with
your intellect and musical knowledge, and 3) you have to have
a playing apparatus/technique which enables you to do this
with as little interference as possible.

Technique is impossible without knowledge or intellect, which
must be driven by the emotion/personality. The player who
ignores any of these does so at his peril.

Now in the traditional sense of the word, the mechanical
ability to express simple musical ideas, guitar technique
encompasses the ability to play anything needed with no
hesitation, physical or mental strain."

Contemplate: Isnt this the result of great technique?

All my best to you,
NEY MELLO

[moved from old forum:]

I see a lot of replies that suggest somehow we make a concious decision about emoting.
At this time I don't think that is the case. It's more that the emotion of the music you are making flows directly through your body without the mind filtering it. It just comes. Either you have the chops to let it flow or you don't.
Practicing, using the principles, is just learning all the movements and states of the body to enable the music to flow unimpeded from your heart, mind, soul or wherever it comes from out into the air so you can hear it and maybe other people can share it to.
Once you have the techinique the flow is automatic. The technique is learning the movements well enough to turn the musical thought into reality. Then you can add to it during performance without thinking about it at all.

-Robert

[moved from old forum:]

Contemplate: Even if it your current understanding of technique can potentially cost you your ability to play guitar in the near future?


All my best to you,
NEY MELLO

[moved from old forum:]

"complete EXTREMELY DETAILED understanding and assimilation of the motions you need to perform"--ripped from power users forum, by Ney.

This here should have a lot to do with great technique. If you don't have it, how can your play at all?

-Robert

[moved from old forum:]

Contemplate: This is 99% of the answer. 100% is needed. Your rresarch spirit is very valuable. Dont ver lose this precious gift. Now see if you can penetrate my description deeper specially the imlplications of the word "assimilation"...In other words..what happens to you with full assimilation? What is the state of your consciousness and your mind? Great work! but have you really penetrated what you so cleverly uncovered? have fun and congrartulations on your resourcefullness the world needs more people like you. Now it is time to put YOUR mind at work...


All my best to you,
NEY MELLO

[moved from old forum:]

Assimilation to me means to become one with, absorbtion of the object, thought, motion, whatever. It becomes part of the whole, in this case it would become part of me. I assume it enters through the door called, "the bottom of your practice".

Further, I think it means the succession of notes, the correct fingerings, picking, the softness or loudness required, learned through no tempo practice are traveling directly from your mental understanding of the notes or sounds instantly to your fingers.

Jamie says in an essay we must have ear, eye and mind memory of the music we are playing.

The last part of the three brained creature is the spirit, I think.
It seems to me from watching master players with great technique that they transcend the world we are living in. So sometimes the music flows from spirit to mind to body in a flash. I am not sure of the spiritual aspect yet.

Robert

[moved from old forum:]

"Assimilation to me means to become one with, absorbtion of
the object, thought, motion, whatever. It becomes part of the
whole, in this case it would become part of me. I assume it
enters through the door called, 'the bottom of your
practice'."


Yes. You have specified an esential component of great technique;"becomimg one with" you have the others in your other answers.. now all that is left is to coordinate it into a definition you can use so you can accelerate your growth exponentially.

meditate on shalendra's and Sharon's intuitions. They have the key for you and YOU have the key for THEM to meditate on...

All my best to you,
NEY MELLO

[moved from old forum:]

What happens to you with full assimilation? What is the state of your consciousness and your mind?

I have to think about this from another angle than guitar. So, thinking about skills I do posess that were learned in childhood and have beem fully assimilated are tying my shoelaces, brushing my teeth, using a knife, fork and spoon, etc. All those things that give a 1 or 2 year old a lot of trouble.

My mind is not on those actions. My mind is on the taste of the food, my mind is on, I need to hurry to get my shoes on to go to work.
Driving my car to work my mind is on the question of what is great guitar technique . Sometimes my mind is not on anything at all.
Yesterday my mind was on "Message to Love" playing on the CD when driving to work.

So great guitar technique is the detailed understanding and assimilation of the motions such that your mind can be elsewhere, not on the motions themselves. Plus you have no fear or anxiety about doing the motions wrong.

-Robert

[moved from old forum:]

contemplate what motions?

"such that your mind can be
elsewhere, not on the motions themselves."

contemplate: Isnt this part of what is required for performance? great technique makes it possible for your mind to be as you say " elsewere" on the music.. but what is great technique?

All my best to you,
NEY MELLO

[moved from old forum:]

I identify four components or processes ;

VISUALIZATION
INTEGRATION
ASSIMILATION
ACCUMULATION

VISUALIZATION
This is a mental picture, image or understanding of the motions you need to perform an exercise or piece of music. It should be highly detailed using all the knowledge and information you have learned from the principles, the forum or from your physical intelligence. If possible this image should include sound, hear the result of the exercise in your mind. The greater the quality of your visualization, the more accurate the data, the better the outcome will be. You should have this image firmly in place before you pick up your guitar.

INTEGRATION
Here we begin the process of integrating your visualization into your muscle memory. We do this by using intense concentration and deep meditation of the movements during no tempo practice. The goal here is to make your mental conception a physical reality. Ultimately it results in mind and body being as one, what you create mentally is the exact same as what you create with your body.

ASSIMILATION
Successful integration of your visualization becomes part of your experience. It is available for recall and use any time you wish, on demand. The visualization is now a part of you.

ACCUMULATION
Over time your assimilated experiences becomes an internal bank of experience. This is the coolest part. You can combine experiences to make new one. New discoveries can be used to upgrade existing experiences. A new piece of material is no longer pages of music to learn but a series of recognized experiences to relive. Unfamiliar parts can be learned by creating a visualization of what you need to do, integrate the part, assimilate the part and fit it in with your existing experience. This would speed up the learning of new musical material tremendously, in direct proportion to the total of your existing experience.

I think of all this as a circle, never-ending, with your internal bank in the center of the circle.

It may not be a definition of technique but it seems a reasonable method of learning and growth. And is the combination of Shalindera’s, Sharon’s and my answers that I came up with today.

-Robert