I’ve been learning to draw and paint. It’s something I’ve always loved and brings me great joy. The funny thing about it is that I’m not learning to draw so much as I am learning to see. For instance, if you want to draw a convincing face they teach you anatomy. If you want to draw a convincing still life they teach you about value and shading. And it really works.

Now what does this have to do with music? Only this. If you don’t know how to hear as a musician you can’t play like one. For instance when I sit down to play a piece of music that I’ve never seen before, I can hear it in my inner ear. I look at the notes and they produce pitches in my head (and no I’m not hearing voices). This is much like an artist who has a good idea of what they are going to paint even before putting brush to paper. How do I get to this point? Ear Training!

Check out my new game at www.GuitarGames.net it’s called The Melody Game. Start learning to hear and you’ll be surprised what you can play.

Todays lesson is this.

A picture is worth a thousand words. (NB - One justified criticism of the way Tarrega holds the guitar is that his right shoulder is a little to high, a sign of excess tension.)

When it comes to learning guitar there is nothing like a little competition to get things going. And there is no one better to compete with than yourself. Why? Well you are always there to compete with. Try this. Write down the max speed for a song you are working on (Metronome speed that is.) The next day you play the song try to beat your speed. It works great.

I just finished my e-book Learn the Guitar Neck in 10 Easy Lessons! I think it is my best work on the subject to date. The lessons make use of three fretboard landmarks which make learning the note names much easier. Also the way in which music is organized is connected to the way in which the fretboard is set up. I did some serious research into how memory works and the best way to teach large amounts of information, and I think it paid off. Let me know what you think.

Often I get asked the question, “When should I change my strings?” Here are a few indications.

Does the guitar not play in tune?

Try the following: Play the twelfth fret harmonic, and then play the twelfth fret normally. Are the pitches different? If yes, chances are good that you need to change your strings (Either that or your neck is curved).

Do certain strings have nicks or cuts in them? Then change them.

Is your 4th string turning green?

Sounds silly, but I see it all the time! If your strings are changing color, change them!

Is the sound dull or the sustain less? Then change them.

One last tip for classical guitarists, change your bass strings more often than your trebles. This cuts down on expense and the new string tuning blues. The wound bass strings tend to collect dirt faster then the trebles.

One of the problems I see most often among guitar players is playing on the wrong part of the finger. This often leads to other problems such as bumping neighbor strings. The solution is to play on the fingertip about 1/2 cm or so from the fingernail. Also, for some fingers the location is slightly off to the side rather than smack in the middle of the finger. For the first finger on the left hand side the string should come in contact with the finger on the left side of the finger tip (left as you look at your finger, closer to the thumb rather than the middle finger) The second and third fingers tend to be more or less in th middle. And then comes the fourth finger on the left hand (the problem-child). For the fourth finger you should play on the right hand side of the fingertip. This causes the fourth finger to point in back towards the thumb. I drew a picture that probably does a better job of showing this. Click on it to zoom in.

When playing fingerstyle it is important to move the fingers from the knuckles (primarily) rather than the inner joints. Why? Several reasons. It causes the finger to move in towards the hand instead of up and away from the guitar. Moving in towards the hand (a motion similar to that of grabbing a baseball bat) results in better tone. Also the muscles that control the knuckles have greater independence than those that control the inner joints. In other words when you play with your middle finger your index finger is less likely to go with it. So what do the inner joints do? They keep the curvature of the finger consistent. Not rigidly, but more like the shock absorbers on your car allow for a free ride.

Everyone knows how to study, right? Wrong. The truth is most people have never been taught how to study and therefore never learn. People who underachieve often do so not because they are not intelligent, but because they don’t know how to apply their intelligence. Recently I came across a “Study System” that I think applies to music. It’s called sQ3r. Sounds high tech. Actually it has been around since 1946. It works like this:

Survey, Question, Read, Recite, Review.

It can be applied to learning music in a number of ways. Here are two examples.

Say you need to learn theory and you just purchased Complete Idiot’s Guide to Music Theory. (Good Choice) First survey the chapter. Look at all the headings, graphs, etc. Then ask yourself questions concerning what you just saw. For instance what are intervals, why are scales called major, etc. Then read the entire chapter. Afterwards recite the key points and the answers to your earlier questions out loud. The next day come back to it and review.

This can also be applied to learning a piece of music with some slight modifications. First, survey the piece. What is the key? the time signature? Are there any repeated sections (the form)? What looks tough? What is the chord progression? Then question the piece. Why did the composer write it the way they did? Is it a sad piece, does the writing reflect this? Next read through the piece beginning to end. Afterwards play the difficult sections over and over until you have them (the musical equivalent of the recite phase). And when you have the whole thing learned review it from time to time to keep it up. Have fun.

Playing guitar correctly involves using the weight of the left arm not just the strength of the left-hand fingers. This is difficult to achieve. Some feel as if their hand is frozen when they try to do this. For this I would suggest that your arm’s weight needs to be held up between notes, or in other words only use your arm’s weight when a note is making sound. Two suggestions on how to try this.
1) Practice playing with your left hand thumb not touching the guitar neck at all. You will feel the guitar wanting to fly out and your right hand forearm keeping it in place. I wouldn’t suggest doing this all the time, but it is a good way to develop the feel.
2) Play things slowly. Feel your arms weight being used while a note is sounding, and feel it being relieved when the note is complete. I like to picture a faucet being turned on or off. Make it clearly on or off, no drips.

Disorganized about your practice? Try out our GuitarGames.net’s Online Practice Schedule. If you haven’t been making progress in your guitar playing lately the reason is most-likely lack of focus. Get focused and watch your playing soar. I know it doesn’t sound cool, but it works.