Nice excercise,
uummm, but what's P&M?
I just spent a week in Kansas helping a friend with a rebuild project, but nothing in that kept me from taking a couple of guitars with me. My friend's son is an excellent guitarist, a natural musician for whom playing well just seems to come easy, but it's not that way for me.
I did find an activity that emphasized to me how much I have learned, though, and I'd like to share it.
I mention in my posts that playing guitar for me involves very little watching of the left hand. Most of the time I play in the dark, with my eyes closed, visualizing whatever "movie" might just pop into my head at that particular time, relative to that particular song, but on this trip my friend and I got to spend some time alone for a change and he wanted to talk. No surprise that I wanted to play the guitar, which usually is a recipe for disaster, but this time it worked. I did what I encourage others to try, let the hands go to automatic, and paid attention to the conversation. I mean full attention, with eye contact, reciprocal conversation, humor, sarcasm, disagreement, the whole gamut of activity involved in a vigorous conversation. The only thing different was that I was playing all the while, fingerstyle, and listening out of one ear to how it went. Surprisingly, it went incredibly well. My timing was on, I made very few mistakes, I even varied the volume at the places I usually do when I dedicate full attention to playing the piece.
I mention all this to bring up the essential question we all face--how do we know when we have learned a song, learned it well enough that it is automatic, learned it well enough we won't have to reacquaint ourselves with the chord progression the next time we want to play it. I'd suggest that you try this technique--I think that question will be answered by this exercise.
I'm not married, so I don't have a wife to try this with, but having had 3 wives in the past, I might mention that it might not be the best idea to try it out on them. If you are unsuccessful, they will P&M b/c you obviously arent' paying your full attention to them, if you are successful they'll still P&M b/c you obviously aren't paying attention to them or you wouldn't be able to get the song right.
.......sigh.
There's no win-win in that situation, is there?
Find a friend, one good enough that you can disagree with him, call him out of his position, and have a vigorous argument, while you are playing one of your pieces--you'll know if you've learned it or not very quickly.
It worked for me, here's hoping it will work for you.
Dugly
Nice excercise,
uummm, but what's P&M?
I pick a moon dog.
I'm thinking it might be 'piss and moan'... just a guess.
I may be wrong, I'm often told that. :
Gearlist:
Electric: Ibanez 'AS103', Fender Dlx Nash Pwr Tele, Fender Squier '62 JV Strat, Squier '51, Squier 60's Classic Vibe Strat, Epi Elite LP Studio, Hagstrom Swede Acoustic: Larrivee LV-03RE, A&L AMI, Yamaha FG340-T Bass: Yamaha BB 450 Amps: Roland JC-120, JC-50, Peavey Classic 30, Fender Super Champ XD Pedals: Marshall Guv'nor Plus, Danelectro Cool Cat Drive, Transparent Overdrive, Digitech Digiverb, Bad Monkey, Ibanez TS-9, Boss AC-2, CE-5, CS-2, DD-3, DF-2, DS-1, FV-100, GE-7, OC-2, PSM-5, SD-1, TU-2, DVM~BYOC 'Lush Puppy' Chorus
Yeah, that's probably it.Originally Posted by Algonquin
My wife doesn't like it when I continue noodling while I talk to her even when
she's interrupting me two minutes into practise.
She would hate it if I played when we were deeply involved in a converstation.
I love her all the same.
I pick a moon dog.
Correct, oh wise one!!Originally Posted by Algonquin
Dugly
Funny thing is, we still do itOriginally Posted by tot_Ou_tard
My daughter gets real p'd at me when I play over her talking - she turned 16 today - she can be the wife x10 when she's upset.
Mark
* Loud is good, good is better!
Sounds like some great practice techniques Dug.
I too have experimented with trying to play while engaging in something else that takes up my primary focus. For me it is to play while I am watching tv. Now I don't mean just having the tv on while I practice in my living room. What I've tried to do is actually focus my concentration on what is happening on the tv, and using my guitar to "score" the program/movie I am watching. The results are wide ranging, but that's the thing with experimentation, if I try something a dozen times and get one result that I like, it was well worth it.
I actually stole the idea from the concept of Bill Frisell's "Soundtracks to the Films of Buster Keaton" album. Frisell wrote new scores for old films for his own enjoyment. I figured this was a good way to do some "interpretation" with my instrument. It's a great way to help develop thematic elements to your playing [ie. "suspense," or "shock" or "romance"]. Some of these elements I have carried over into my non "faux-scoring" play.
Now I have to try Dug's playing-in-the-dark method. It sounds like a great technique to develop "mindless" playing [and I mean mindless in a good way, as in not thinking, just doing.]
Thanks for the input Dug!
"I happen to have perfect situational awareness, Lana. Which cannot be taught, by the way. Like a poet's ... mind for ... to make the perfect words." - Sterling Archer
In the Metal Method series of lessons Doug Marks suggests playing while watching T.V. for this very reason. I do it occasionally.
Axen: Jackson DK2M, Fender Deluxe Nashville Telecaster, Reverend Warhawk 390, Taylor 914ce, ESP LTD Surveyor-414
Amphen: Jet City JCA22H and JCA12S cab, Carvin X-60 combo, Acoustic B20
Effecten: "Thesis 96" Overdrive/Boost (aka DVM OD2), Hardwire DL-8 Digital Delay/Looper, DigiTech Polara Reverb, DigiTech EX-7 Expression Factory and CF-7 Chorus Factory, Danelectro CF-1 Cool Cat Fuzz
"I wish Imagine Dragons would be stuck in an Arcade Fire for an entire Vampire Weekend."--Brian Posehn
Sounds like a good practice idea Dudly
Might have to give it a try.
GG
Guitars: Washburn D10S, Washburn J28SDL, Washburn D56SW, Washburn F52SW, Washburn WI67PRO, Squire Standard Strat, Squire Tele Custom II, Squire '51, Agile AL-3100, Switch Wild IV Signature, Squire Classic Vibe 50's Tele
Amps: Vox AD30VT, Epiphone VJ Combo, Crate Palomino V8, Vox DA5
Pedals: Digitech Bad Monkey, Boss Blues Driver, Danelectro: PB&J Delay, Tuna Melt Tremolo, Chicken Salad Vibrato
the way i learned how to do it was pretending to listen to my grandfathers vietnam stories it helps if you just smile and nod