Linkage: 6/5/09
Guitar Related Links
Derek Sivers asks us an important question are you future or present focused? Sivers is the founder of CD Baby and several other websites such as Music Thoughts. The article above is about the Marshmallow experiment and give some suggestions for balancing out your personality. Matt Warnock published a great interview with jazz guitarist Sid […]
Read MoreWhat I’m Reading: Piano? Edition
Classical Guitar Tips
I’ve been doing a lot of non fiction reading this summer. This is especially unusual for me. Here are some books on music I’ve been reading. Piano Technique by Walter Gieseking and Karl Leimer, as you might have guessed, is about playing the piano. I was turned onto this book by my teacher. While parts […]
Read MoreThink Smaller
Classical Guitar Practice Tips
Music should be easy. But we get really caught up in practicing, and we get tense. We try harder, and the harder we try the less things work. I have a theory. I think its because we try to solve too many problems at once. We need to think smaller. Can’t play that passage with […]
Read MoreLearn Every Note on the Guitar
Updates & Activities
http://learnthefretboard.com/ I put an short PDF together earlier today about the method I used to learn every note on the fretboard quickly. I use this method with my students, and seems to work well! Check it out, let me know what you think. If you like it, tell your guitar playing friends.
Read MorePractice Techniques: “Thunk” Practice
Guitar Practice Techniques
Ever made that cool muted sound where you lay your left hand fingers across the guitar strings? That’s “thunk” practice. For the Right Hand Try just laying your left hand across the strings, muting, and play any right hand arpeggio pattern. This is a great way to hear and correct any rhythmic unevenness in the […]
Read MoreSequencing the Left Hand
Classical Guitar Technique
Classical guitarists spend a good deal of time playing arpeggio type textures or broken chords, but whenever we see a chord shape- even spread out over a measure- we assume that we must move every finger into that shape immediately. It must be something hardwired into use from the days before we played classical–from all […]
Read MoreMonday Motivation: That’s Fast Edition
Monday Motivation
“You need to invest your hours of discipline with a clear knowledge of your ultimate destination.” -Barry Green, in The Inner Game of Music, page 76 This video from guitarist
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Refined Laziness
Classical Guitar Practice Tips
I’m lazy. Really lazy. In fact, I like to do the least amount of work possible to get a desired result. I don’t like to spend anymore time in a practice room than I have to. Setting a time limit in a practice session helps me refine my laziness. I structure my practice in half […]
Read MorePractice Techniques: Dynamics
Guitar Practice Techniques
This is a right hand practice technique which works extremely well for nailing down a repeating arpeggio pattern. Loud and Soft It feels different when playing loud or quiet. Practicing quietly feels almost like your fingers are floating, and it takes a lot of control to not have certain notes accent; practicing loudly gives the […]
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