Aggressive Practicing

By Jamey Andreas

I have a student, who shall remain nameless but not blameless, who has often illustrated very nicely how
NOT to go about learning the guitar. She will come in for her lesson, and in a helpless little voice, ask me
something like "Oh Jamey, I need your help with this, I don't understand what to do here. How do I play
this chord. It's so HAAARD!

I will then do a couple of things. First, I calm her down, and have her collect herself, and focus. Then, I ask
her to take a hard look at the "problem". I have her take a really good look at that chord that is so "haaard".
We look at each note, one by one. We look at each finger written next to each note. I ask her questions, like
where each note is. I don't TELL her anything. I only ask her questions, which she answers. Within a few
minutes, she has figured it all out, and solved the problem.

There is much to learn here about the right and wrong way to go about practicing, and much to understand
about why some people progress so slowly. It has nothing to do with musical ability, it has everything to do
with HOW WE THINK, WHETHER WE THINK, AND WHAT WE ARE FEELING EMOTIONALLY
ABOUT OURSELVES WHEN WE PRACTICE. I will explain.

In the case of the student mentioned above, each time we would solve a problem in this manner, I would
point out to her that I had not done anything for her that she couldn't have done for herself. I simply acted
as an outside agent to help her focus on the problem. Then I asked her the proper questions in the proper
order, step by step, until the problem was solved. She on the other hand, while practicing at home, for no
GOOD reason, had not done this. Instead, when confronted with something she didn't immediately
understand, she panicked, got more confused, didn't really even look at the problem, and concluded it was
unsolvable, impenetrable, or HAAARD!

In essence, as I would tell her, she had sent up the white flag and surrendered. If she had just tried a little
bit, she would have made progress, and eventually solved the problem. Most of the time, the answer is
staring us in the face. Unfortunately, we are not staring back.

One deeper note here, as I touch on a theme I will write about later. In order to really make progress with
this student, it was necessary to not just describe WHAT she was doing wrong in her approach. But also to
explain WHY. Because I have taught her for many years, I know her personality, and I know that this
behavior is part of her overall psychological pattern. She likes to pretend she is helpless, so that she can be
rescued. She likes to be the damsel in distress, and make me the Knight on the White horse. It's fun once in
a while, but I would rather be her Guitar Teacher, and have her be the Good Student. The rule here is,
student or teacher, you must be aware of yourself on the most intimate levels to be the best you can be.
Know what you are doing, and why you are doing it. (By the way, she is much more powerful in her
practicing now).

Passive Practicing

The above description of how not to practice, I call "Passive Practicing". Wimpy, in fact. It is the opposite
of Aggressive Practicing. This is an extreme case, I admit, but not uncommon in some form with many
students. The worst part is that when a student does this, they lose a whole week of progress. (Let me add
here that I have constantly found myself doing the same thing. No one is immune from this. As you get
more advanced, you just do the same "avoidance" behavior in a more subtle, harder to recognize form. The
trick is to always be open minded enough to catch your own blind spots. Every time I have solved a
problem in my playing, it is because I am now paying attention to something I didn't bother to pay attention
to before.)

As I have told the above mentioned student, and many others, you must be very Aggressive when you
practice. Whenever there is a problem or something you don't understand, you must attack it like a pit bull,
and not let go until you have solved it. You must take it apart, and put it back together again, over and over.
If, after making your best effort, and finally you conclude that there is something you don't understand, and
you must have outside help, then fine. At that point, get the help you need from your teacher or whoever.
But don't give up at the first sign of trouble.

When it comes to solving problems in practicing, I think of it as a war. (This is only one way of thinking of
it, but often necessary to get the job done.) I think of the problem as the enemy, and I am Attila the Hun.
Choose the fantasy that works for you!

There is another common situation where passivity in practicing slows down a students progress
tremendously. It is a passivity of mind and thought processes. To make the fastest progress possible, a
student should be thinking all the time while practicing. Every time something new is learned, or a new
understanding is achieved, everything should be reviewed in terms of the new understanding. If you just
learned that too much tension being allowed in the pick hand was the source of a particular problem in
playing, the aggressive student will immediately start looking for all places in his playing where that same
condition is causing a problem. The passive student won't. The aggressive student will raise the entire level
of his playing by doing this. By always working this way, the aggressive student becomes the best they can
be.

The same applies to musical knowledge. I couldn't believe it, when a student didn't know what a half step
is, after completing Mel Bay Book #I, and after having had it explained and written down in his notebook.
He had never bothered to look back and review, or even think about it after learning it. This kind of laziness
will get you nowhere.

The Aggressive student will hold on to everything he learns. He will think about it and use it. He will ask
questions, and never be satisfied until he understands. If he learns a concept, such as key signatures, he will
look at the key signature every time he plays a new piece. (Of course, as his teacher, if I had not caught it,
that would be my fault. I would then have been the The Lazy Teacher, who is not constantly checking and
testing the student).
The attitudes and working habits of the Aggressive Student can be learned by anyone. If you are not used to
working with this intensity, it will take some time and a lot of your effort to change. If you want to be the
best you can be, you have no choice.

If you fully appreciate and understand what has been said so far, you will understand the 4th Principle of
Correct Practice.

Principle of Correct Practice #4:

"Practicing is the process of solving problems. Your
ability to solve problems will be equal to the strength
of your desire, awareness, and understanding."

The Secret of Speed:Finding the Incredible Lightness

By Jamey Andreas

In my essay "Discover Your Discomfort", I urged you to become aware of the sensations of discomfort you
experience while practicing and playing. The reason is very simple. Until you do, you will not be able to be
aware of the sensations (that is, your mental awareness of the physical feelings in your body) a good player
has, the sensations that you must have to play well. I call this sensation, or feeling in the body, "The
Incredible Lightness". I call it this, because once you experience it, and allow it to grow by Correct
Practicing, well, it's Incredible. This feeling of lightness is what makes fast, accurate playing possible.
Unfortunately, because of ignorance of how to practice correctly, far too many players create for
themselves "The Incredible Tightness".

I will quote myself to bring this point home:

"The relative state of tension or relaxation in the muscles is one of the hardest things to be aware of." I once
saw a person play with so much tension in her right shoulder that it was up to her earlobe! Always trying to
be helpful, I pointed this out to her when she finished. As she let her shoulder down a few inches to it's
normal position, she told me I was wrong, she wasn't tense, but very relaxed!

The reason she felt this way is because we very quickly become used to whatever we experience, and
consider it normal. We never question whatever tensions we experience in learning new skills on the guitar,
and in fact consider it part of the doing of it. And it often is, but it doesn't have to continue to be that
strenuous. We can learn to do the movements with less effort.

However, when we first try something, it is often not possible to do it without a lot of excess tension. The
mistake is, we assume that the tension is inevitable, and never realize we can get to a point where we can
get the result we want without all the huffing, puffing and straining. Often, more stretch or muscle
development is required, which will come with a correct approach.

Of course, as we continue to try the new skill, and assume the effort we feel must be that way, it becomes
ingrained into our approach, and gets worse. So we have a vicious circle, that leads to frustration and bad
playing.

So extra tension in the muscles, which every advanced player knows is the number one cause of playing
difficulty, becomes a blind spot for us. Usually we are only aware of the result of the tension, which is that
mistake we just made. Often it happens we are not even aware of that, because we start to filter out those
unpleasant reminders of our troubles. ? As you will see shortly, the correct approach to dealing with
"mistakes" caused by tension, is to repeat the movement extremely slowly, with a great focus on keeping all
muscles relaxed. With each repetition, the muscles learn the relaxed way of moving to produce the result
you want.

"So you see, it is lack of understanding of how the body/mind functions, and lack of honest attention while
practicing, that gets us in to trouble.

You must start to observe your own "Tightness", and replace it with "Lightness", then you will see your
level as a player change upward, what I call Vertical Growth. Since many players have no idea what this
lightness feels like, here is a very simple way to connect with it. You must then begin to cultivate this
feeling in actual playing. Believe me, it feels good! In fact, when you see a good player "making it look
easy", it's because it is easy, when you have the "Incredible Lightness".

Let's discover "The Light Finger"

The first step in finding "The Incredible Lightness" is to discover The Light Finger. The Light Finger is the
completely relaxed finger, brought to the string, and touching the string, with only the weight of the finger.
It does not press the string down until told to do so. To discover the sensation of the Light Finger, do this:

Raise your arms in front of you, without the guitar, and take hold of the index finger of your left hand with
the thumb and index finger of your right hand. Completely relax the left index, and wiggle it around with
your right hand. This is the Light Finger.

Touch the palm of your right hand with your left index. Raise the left index two inches from the palm. Now
let it drop by it's own weight back to your palm, touching it very lightly, with no pressure. This is how the
finger feels when it first touches the string.

Now hold the guitar, paying attention to the being comfortable and relaxed throughout the body, and slowly
raise your relaxed left arm up to the neck, bringing the hand up so that the index finger is lined up with the
ninth fret. Have your fingers in a relaxed curl over the 6th string. Allow your Light, relaxed middle finger
to fall to the 6th string, behind the 10th fret, so that it touches the string, but applies no pressure. Look at
the string under your finger, and see the distance between the string and the fingerboard. Make sure the
string does not get move at all down toward the fret.
Raise your finger an inch, and then bring it back to touch the string again in the same way. Do this over and
over, touching the string with the Light Finger, bringing it away, and touching it again. This is called Finger
Flapping. Do this a few times with each finger every day. Make sure you keep the inactive fingers as
relaxed as possible while touching the string with the active finger. This will get you used to the feeling,
and over time, very sensitive to the feeling of complete relaxation.

This light feeling is how your fingers will be when they first touch the string to play a note, and it is the
feeling they will return to when they release from a note. It enables them to be prepared for their next job.
Many people never have this light feeling, and play with tense fingers all the time, and their playing suffers
greatly because of it. This exercise is what I call a Foundation Exercise, one that should be done regularly,
no matter how long you have been playing. It will continually act to increase your awareness of the correct
and necessary sensations you must have in order to play well. Learning how to bring this feeling in to all
playing situations is often a tricky matter, and there is much else to know, but we have to start somewhere!

Here is why. Speed, or the ability to execute movements rapidly and accurately, is simply the result of
continuous correct practice that promotes "The Incredible Lightness". If you are creating "The Incredible
Tightness" when you practice, you will suffer because of it. Think of walking and running. Does a little kid
have to practice running? No, it just happens after balance is mastered, and the ability to place one foot in
front of the other, and have all the body parts work together to keep the movement going. After the two
year old gets that down, don't worry, he'll be running!

In closing, let me say that all the preceding is founded upon the first two Principles of Correct Practice. I
will state them pretty formally, and they apply to all instruments.

Principle of Correct Practice #1: Your aware, thinking mind is your primary practice tool.

Principle of Correct Practice #2: Control of the fingers is developed by infusing conscious awareness into
the muscles through the mechanism of attention while practicing.

Remember, as in all things in life, you get out of it what you put in to it (and believe me, it makes me feel
pretty old to hear myself saying that, but it's the truth.) So read this over and over, and do the exercise, and
apply these understandings to your practice.

Good Luck!

What Should I Practice?

By Jamey Andreas

Here is a very common question I received recently:

What specifically should I practice, chords, scales or songs?

I am feeling overwhelmed with lessons, books, methods, skills, & principles of practice.

This is a common feeling that troubles many beginning guitar students, and can rear its head from time to
time with advanced players as well. It is a paralyzing, immobilizing feeling, and so it very dangerous for
our progress, and must be dealt with. If you are feeling this, it is a warning sign that you are NOT
proceeding properly with your efforts to learn to play the guitar.

Getting down to the specifics of things is always the tough part. One of the things that makes it so difficult
is the fact that when it really comes down to it, the only person who can GET down to those specifics, stick
with them, review and revise them on a regular basis, and set goals and make sure they’re accomplished is
YOU! Some people have just never really developed the skill to take that feeling of being overwhelmed,
and getting past it by stopping, thinking, observing, analyzing, and coming up with a plan.

I always think of it like walking into your room, when it’s really messy, with things thrown all over the
place, and it’s time to clean up. The very sight of it drains your energy, and makes you want to collapse in a
heap. At least, that is the first reaction that comes up. But, the only way to get the job done and straighten
out that room is to stop, focus, start somewhere, and only focus on what you are doing, one step at a time.
As soon as you focus like this, you will begin to feel energized.

Of course, you need some idea of the over-all picture, some idea of the end result to be achieved, and how
to get there, before focusing really helps. If you didn’t know where everything was supposed to be placed
when you went to clean your room, your focusing wouldn’t help much. In that case, you would have to
DECIDE first where everything goes, and then put it there. The "deciding" part is the hard part for students,
because they don’t know enough about the whole process of becoming a musician to make those decisions,
as expressed by the writer of the question above. They don’t know what to practice first, what skills to
master first, what goals to achieve first. So it is easy to get overwhelmed by all the materials out there. It is
a lot easier to BUY books, than it is to USE them and LEARN from them.

Of course, laying out the proper course is supposed to be the job of the teacher, but many of you don’t have
teachers, and many teachers don’t DO their job anyway! But in any case, the best attitude for you to have is
SELF-RELIANCE. Even a teacher doing their job cannot relieve you of your own responsibility to be
aware, in control, and organized. The first thing to realize is that creating and maintaining YOUR day to
day working method is YOUR responsibility. It takes effort. It takes writing things down, keeping
schedules and routines. It takes trial and error. It takes regular review of results, and renewed effort based
on those reviews and assessments.

In all my years of lessons, I never once had a teacher make any attempt to organize my practicing; I had to
learn to do it myself. Not that I think this is a good thing, but I do think it is what happens for most guitar
students, so I tell you what I tell you because you need to be aware of the ongoing effort you must make.
Early on, I realized that without notebooks, schedules, goals and so forth, I would be swimming in a sea of
confusion. Sure, in the beginning, you feel helpless, like you don’t know where to start and WHAT to even
organize. But realize this: any plan is better than no plan, because you can revise and improve your plan
once you begin it, but you can’t improve one you never begin.

I found as soon as I had SOMETHING written down, I felt calmer and more in control.

I remember complaining to my father once about all the "crap" I was learning in school that I wasn’t
interested in. He said a great thing to me. He said, "the important thing is that you are learning how to
learn". He was right, and that is one of the greatest skills a person can have. One of the first people to buy
my book was a retired educator. When he later contacted me for some lessons, I found that he had taken my
book apart, chapter by chapter, exercise by exercise, and made notes on everything, and re-organized things
in different ways to help him make certain connections. THAT is an example of someone who knows how
to learn.

Now, having said all that, and made my point about the necessary quality of self-reliance you must cultivate
as a student, let me add another important point. Part of your approach to forming an effective working
procedure is to go for outside help, to ask questions of people in a position to help you, as the writer of the
above question has done. Notice that the educator I mentioned above, after giving it his best shot, came to
me for help. That is wise. I have harped on the points made above because I have found that most people
DO NOT GIVE IT THEIR BEST SHOT, they don’t use the materials in front of them, but stay stuck
wallowing in feelings of helplessness.

Okay, Answer the Question!

Okay, I’ll stop sermonizing, and tell you something you can use! Yes, you must have certain goals to work
toward as you begin learning guitar. While the specifics of those goals will change depending on what type
of player you want to be (rock, classical, folk, blues) I will lay out for you some general achievements that I
guide all my students toward, things I want them to be able to do, as soon as possible.
First, I want all students to know how to practice correctly. Without knowing that, there isn’t much point in
me giving them things to practice! That of course, is why I wrote my book, and I begin each student’s
training with the Foundation Exercises contained in it.

Second, it is essential that, right from the beginning, the student is beginning to cultivate, through proper
practice, the awareness of sensations that lead to good and great playing instead of habits of tension that
make playing difficult or impossible. These necessary physical sensations include The Light Finger, The
Firm Finger, Heavy and Floating Arm, and in general, a growing awareness of the body and active playing
muscles.

(Because of points One and Two, I advised the person asking the opening question to first of all concentrate
on the exercises in my book as the first priority of his practice (since I knew he had just got my book). For
those who don’ t have "The Principles", do the exercises in my essays "Discover Your Discomfort", and
"The Secret of Speed", where you can begin to discover the correct physical sensations for playing.)

Third, once students have begun to train their fingers properly, it is time to teach those trained fingers some
of the basics of playing the guitar. I want all my students to know first position chords, beginning with G,
C, and D. We work on getting those chords, changing those chords smoothly, and most importantly,
applying them to a song. I do this as soon as possible, probably the second or third lesson.

It is most important to make music as soon as possible! I start this by the second or third lesson. I will keep
a student on a simple song for 3 months if I have to, until they can play it through smoothly. This is
building Vertical Growth, which is the first kind of growth that must be achieved. After that first song is
mastered (something simple, like "This Land Is Your Land"), we do some Horizontal Growth, that is, more
songs at the same level, building a repertoire.

Being able to strum through chord changes smoothly is priority number one. It’s the quickest route to
making music for a guitar player, and is usually what people most want to do. However, for some people,
being able to play a simple melody might be more rewarding, but it is technically more difficult in the
beginning, (doing so with good form, that is).

I look for songs the student is emotionally connected to. I don’t care what it is, as long as they like it, and it
is within reach of their ability. For instance, if it is a rock, electric student, I will use something like "Born
To Be Wild", which has the basic open power chords. With this type of student, I will want them to master
these chords before the traditional folk chords, because open power chords are what is needed to get them
playing songs they are emotionally connected to. I will give them the larger, folk chord forms later.

So, the first few goals are:

Ability to Practice Correctly,
Beginning to Build the Correct Foundation (and the discovery of the proper physical sensations) with the
Foundation Exercises,
Applying the developing abilities to music with simple chord changes and songs, until a few songs are well
on the way to being mastered, and the student is not developing habits of tension in their playing.
Here is a very important understanding. Learning a complex skill like playing the guitar is not an entirely
linear process. It is not a matter of "do this, accomplish that completely, then do that, and finish it, then
that" and so forth. Learning the guitar is more a collection of simultaneous processes, occurring and
maturing together to produce an end result. It’ like cooking. You start lots of dishes, each one at the right
time so everything comes out right and ready at the end. You watch the potatoes, the chicken, the broccoli,
and the rice. You give everything the proper attention, making sure nothing get burned. You don’t wait till
the potatoes are done before you start the chicken. (Man, I’m getting hungry).
Okay, I’m back; I had to have a snack.

So my point is that at any given time, the actual details of our practice material is carefully arranged to
produce that final result we desire. The exact details will be tailored to each person, and must be constantly
reviewed and revised. It takes great energy and intelligence. Read all you can about learning the guitar, ask
questions, and USE everything you learn to chart your own course.
After the things mentioned above, scale Playing will come next, but only after the fingers have been trained
in the micro-details of proper movement.

Many players suffer from the fact that scales were practiced and learned while the hands and fingers were
still full of tension and not developed properly. So their scales are in horrible shape, and always a struggle
to play. This is because scales are composed of extremely complex physical movements, which must be
minutely studied in their micro details before being assembled into the movements required for playing
scales. Scales on guitar, for instance, are much more difficult than on most other instruments simply
because every note is the result of the precise co-ordination of both hands, and the sound is not produced by
just one finger, as in piano.

For rock electric students who want to play blues/rock, the pentatonic scales are the first priority. We spend
many months working on form, and speed. At the same time, we begin developing the basic rock licks, and
learning how to bend strings. I give them a special set of solos I wrote that use those licks. Again the
principle in teaching is to present new material, and then re-enforce by application. And do not leave the
material until you gone a long way toward mastering it, at least being able to play it without error at a slow
tempo. For the rock guitarist, or improvising guitarist in general, continuos study of the solos of great
players is essential, as well as constant playing with other players and taped backgrounds, where licks and
scales you have learned are used.

And for you beginner students, take this as a great caution: do not accumulate a bunch of songs that are
never put together, and never played to a smooth beat! That is the sign of someone who doesn’t know how
to practice. That is easy to do. Many such players have their collection of "One hundred bits and pieces of
My Favorite Songs"! Do not jump from one thing to another, you will play them all badly! Do not let your
teacher push you through either. Make them produce results with you, or find another teacher.

Now, if you cannot take all of this material and begin to create a useful practice routine, well, it’s your own
fault!

Your growth as a guitarist: vertical or horizontal?

By Jamey Andreas

As the years go by in the life of a player, there are two kinds of growth we can experience. Both are
necessary for our development as musicians and guitarists. I call them Vertical Growth, and Horizontal
Growth.

Here is a common scenario. A person comes in for lessons after already playing for awhile. Maybe they
have played for a year, maybe a few years, maybe many years. I say, "play something for me, something
you are comfortable with". Now a few different things may happen. They may play nicely, strumming and
singing, maybe even throw in a few runs. So I see that for the level they are at, they play well. I then try to
find out what they are here for. "What do you want to do, that you find you can't do."

They may say "Well, I play lots of things, but I play them all the same way. I want to learn how to do chord
melody solos, more interesting chords and strums, and also improve my fingerpicking so I can try some
classical.". In other words, they want to move to a higher level as a player. They want to make VERTICAL
GROWTH.

They don't want to continue to learn new songs and play them the same way. That would be
HORIZONTAL GROWTH. Everyone can always make Horizontal Growth, even on their own. You just
learn more material, but you don't actually play any differently, musically or technically.

Vertical progress as a player is the tough one. It requires what is usually considered "work", although I have
always found it enjoyable, although challenging.
Here is another even more common scenario. Someone comes in for lessons after playing for awhile, and
when I ask them to play, they make a couple of excuses, and then they play really badly! Then I ask them to
play something else, and they play that really badly! This is the person unable to create Vertical Growth.
The reason they cannot raise their level as a player, is because THEY DON'T KNOW HOW TO
PRACTICE TO SOLVE PROBLEMS AND ACHIEVE RESULTS! Also, because of this, there is no solid
foundation of technique for Vertical Growth to be built upon. So there is only Horizontal Growth, more
things played the same way, in this case, badly.

Do you know how many young players I've seen who play only the beginning of a hundred songs, and play
them badly? Lots.

Or how many people playing classical who go from piece to piece, struggling with and mutilating pieces as
they go? Lots. It is sad, and unnecessary.

If you love the guitar, and are dedicated to your own development as a player, if you are dying to play the
way the guitarists you admire play, you must know how to create Vertical Growth. This is done through an
understanding of HOW TO PRACTICE. I am of course talking about REAL PRACTICE, not repetitive
"run throughs" that only re-enforce the muscle tensions causing the problems you already have.

From my experience as a player and as a teacher, it is extremely difficult to create Vertical Growth, once
bad, or insufficient practice has locked in tension and bad habits. The good news is, it is not impossible. In
fact, the word difficult is not the best word. I use it only because we have such a tendency to under estimate
the intensity of concentration it takes to undo past damage. A better word is challenging. And if you want to
keep getting better and better as a guitarist, you'd better learn to love challenges! As Mark Twain said "Life
is one damn thing after another", and that is what playing and practicing are. One damn problem to deal
with after another. But as we learn to actually deal with and solve those problems, what a sweet reward we
earn.

In fact, it is not the problems we face in our playing that are really the obstacle to our growth. It is the
growing feeling of frustration and helplessness we experience as time continues to go by, and we see no
fundamental improvement. We start to feel helpless. We may not admit this feeling to ourselves, we only
notice that, for some reason, we are beginning to lose our motivation to practice.

When we learn how to really practice, we start to feel powerful. Problems and challenges don't frighten us,
they excite us. Because we know that we can look forward to those problems getting smaller and smaller,
weaker and weaker, as we continue to apply the Principles of Correct Practice.

It is important to realize that the quality of our Vertical Growth determines the quality of our Horizontal
Growth. Any ability we have gained as players has been our Vertical Growth. If our Vertical Growth has
been shaky, with weaknesses built in, (which was true of myself, and I think, most players), that shakiness
will be in everything we play, so our Horizontal Growth doesn't do us much good, it just keeps us busy,
feeling like we are making progress because we are learning a new song or piece. This is why so many
teachers turn the page and assign new material to a student, even though the student can't play the material
from this week. The teacher doesn't really know how to create Vertical Growth, and so is trying to keep a
feeling of movement going. Most students, if they are paying attention, will catch on to this.

If Vertical Growth is strong, than all new material learned will be strong, and will help you grow as a
musician, as you absorb new music, and are able to play it well. This is the kind of Horizontal Growth we
want.

If you want to learn how to have this Vertical Growth as a regular experience for you, I invite you to visit
www.GuitarPrinciples.com and learn more about "The Principles of Correct Practice for Guitar". It is the
approach I have found to work for myself, for my students, and anyone else who actually understands it,
and uses it.
 Changing Chords :Having a little trouble with those "easy" chords?
By Jamey Andreas

Many people begin to play the guitar by learning a few chord changes to their favorite song. In fact, I
learned this way. There are many things to be aware of while doing this. There are things to know and do
that can make it easier, and guarantee you will have success. There are also many things that can go wrong,
and guarantee trouble.

You should first understand that often the term "simple chords" is very misleading. Most "simple chords"
for guitar require quite complex movements of the fingers, in order for them to get into the final "form" of
the chord. In the following essay, I am going to analyze one of the most common chord changes, and one of
the most misunderstood in terms of it's actual difficulty. I am referring to the chords G and C.

Let's look at this chord change from the viewpoint of the ideas outlined in " The Principles of Correct
Practice For Guitar". And I am also going to use a real life example of a student of mine named Kathy. You
will see many things in her story that will be true for you also, and the principles will apply to all chord
changes, not just G and C.

Kathy's Situation

When Kathy came for lessons with me, she had already been trying to learn the guitar for about 2 years,
with a few different teachers, and with no success. She could struggle her way into a few chords, but
watching her try to change them fast enough to do a song was an exercise in agony, for me and for her. Her
case is a good example of how bad things can get when there is no understanding of the mechanics of
playing and practicing, right from the beginning.

First of all, I needed to make her aware of how tensed up her left shoulder was as soon as she began to raise
her left hand to the neck. This made her whole arm tense, right down to the fingers. As she tried to get in to
the first chord, the fingers tensed up even more, and started leaning and pressing against one another,
instead of having the proper space between them.

This tension of the fingers immediately began to cause a reaction in the rest of the arm, tensing up the large
muscles of the arm and shoulder. All of this created a great feeling of discomfort, that Kathy had assumed is
"just the way it feels to do a G chord."

How To Avoid "Lockup"

This is a situation that happens all the time to beginners, and even to advanced players to varying degrees. I
call this buildup of tension as the arm is raised and the fingers about to move lockup. That is, the fingers,
hand and arm "lockup" with tension, and usually the unfortunate player continues to try to get them in
position by working through the tension, trying to make the fingers perform while they are "locked up".

The thing to do is stop, go back into the position you were coming from, and begin to move very slowly,
examining the fingers closely as soon as they release the first chord, and focus on staying relaxed from the
shoulder down to the fingers, and staying that way as the fingers move to their new positions.

Now, you have to look at the whole situation the hand is in. For Kathy, her thumb was wrapped around the
neck in such a way that there was no space between her hand and the guitar, so her fingers had a difficult
time, not being free and relaxed, or having the room to move. By the time she got in to the G chord, she
was holding on to it for dear life! Not exactly in a position to easily change to the C chord, which is even
harder.

Then, as she began to pry her fingers off the G chord and go for the C, she did what many people do, she
led with the strong finger, the first finger, that is, and smashed it down on it's note, on the second string,
first fret. Now, she was holding on to that for dear life, with the whole arm, from finger tip to shoulder,
knotted up with tension.
Next came the attempt to get fingers 2 and 3 into position, which was very difficult for her to do, and me to
watch, as those poor, stressed out fingers did their best to do her will. By the time she got them in to
position, somewhat, they weren't standing straight enough to allow the adjacent strings to ring clearly, one
of the difficulties of the C chord.

So the net result of all this effort was the inability to change chords smoothly, and the inability to get the
notes of the C chord out clearly once she got there.

My Solution for Kathy

Here are the steps I used to undo the knots of tension that Kathy had unknowingly created and allowed, that
were preventing her from performing actions on the guitar which anyone should be able to do, if they
approach them properly.
I explained the concepts of muscle memory, and how disastrous muscle tension is, and how difficult it can
be to become aware of it.
I explained the practice tools outlined in my book, Posing, and No Tempo Practice, used for becoming
aware of , and eliminating excessive muscle tension.
I explained how to bring the left hand to the neck, with the fingers in a relaxed curl as she approached the
strings.
I had her begin practice of Left Hand Exercise #1, using Posing, No Tempo Practice, and the Basic Practice
Approach.
As a few weeks went by, she developed the ability to have relaxed fingers come to the neck and strings, and
also to have them stretch out from one another in a relaxed way, while the arm and shoulder stayed
relatively relaxed.
Then we applied this way of moving to the chord changes, G to C. She learned how to keep everything
relaxed, and how to keep a good space between the hand and the guitar as the hand turned, as it must in
going from a G to a C.
I had her place the 2nd finger down lightly on the 4th string, for the C chord first, not the first finger. As she
placed the 3rd finger next, she kept the hand out, and the 1st finger poised over the 2nd string, first fret.
Finally, she placed the first finger down, still keeping it curled, and going down on the tip, but with the
fingertip leaning slightly toward the headstock, and the hand still out, so that there was enough space
between the hand and the guitar at the index finger that you could stick your finger in between the hand and
guitar.
I had her stop and Pose at random times, when the tension would build, so she could learn to be relaxed in
these positions.
After repeated No Tempo Practice of this, we began to work up speed using the Basic Practice Approach.
And she started to be able to do it faster and faster. Now, I am happy to say, she is playing many songs well,
using these and other chords.
I really believe that without this approach, she would never have unlocked the tensions that were
preventing her from being able to do these chord changes. This approach will work for anybody, and any
chords. Try it, with these chords, or any other changes that give you trouble, or that you would like to
improve.

All of the above can be seen as an illustration of the first two Principles of Correct Practice, stated in my
last essay, "The Secret of Speed". I will now add the 3rd Principle of Correct Practice:

Principle of Correct Practice #3:

"The fingers are energized by Attention, and moved by Intention."

I will elaborate on this later, but you should read and re-read the previous essays in light of these 3
Principles stated so far, and your understanding of them will increase, and so will recognition of their
relevance to your own playing situation. And so will their usefulness. That is, by thinking about these
things, when you practice, your practice will be more powerful, resulting in faster progress.
 Your Hand is Your Band: The Importance of Fingering
By Jamey Andreas

Could you imagine how good a band would be if the players weren't sure of who was supposed to play
which notes? How good would their performance be if at rehearsals different members played different
notes at different times? And yet, when guitarists practice, this is actually what happens for many of us.
Very often, we are not really sure of which fingers we are using for each note we must play, and we do
different things at different times. Or, we may be using awkward fingering for something, because we never
stopped to think, examine, and analyze what we are doing.

As I have gone through many years of teaching the guitar, I have formed a list which now contains many
items. The list is called "really basic things that every guitarist should fully understand and put into
practice, but apparently, nobody is telling them, or they are just not listening."

I hope eventually to get to every one of the items on this list, but the subject of fingering is one I would like
to talk about now. It often happens that I will get a new student, who has played for a while, and had
lessons with another teacher. Many times I have been surprised, in fact, shocked, to find them practicing
things, especially rather complex things like classical pieces or fast rock licks on electric guitar, and they
DO NOT HAVE ANY FINGERING OR PICKING WRITTEN ON THE MUSIC. In other words, the notes
or tab are there, but the fingers to use for each hand are not.

Why is this important? Because the fingering is the set of instructions that your brain is supposed to be
processing and following when you play in order to bring about the results you want: namely, the right
notes at the right time. If you have not figured out the fingering you are going to use (or experiment with),
than you are, in effect, making your practicing weak and ineffective because you are not fulfilling the two
conditions of practice:
Know the right thing to do to achieve what you want, and
MAKE SURE YOU DO IT!
Here is the fundamental understanding you must have. When you are training your fingers (and realize you
are really training your WHOLE body WITH your mind) to perform the actions necessary to get the result
you want (the exact right movements at the exact right time) you must be entirely and consciously clear as
to what those movements need to be, AND you must know, really know, whether or not you are doing those
movements with each repetition during the practice process. If you have not even bothered to figure out and
write down the picking to a complex lick, or complex passage in say, a Bach fugue, then you are
undoubtedly doing something different with each repetition, and doing something even slightly different
just won't cut it when it comes to nailing things securely.

The only time you can get away without being consciously aware of the fingering you are using is when the
notes you are playing are parts of patterns that are already well learned, and able to be done automatically.
Of course, the more we develop as players, the more patterns we accumulate. But if you want to continue to
develop your abilities as a player, you must know how to deal with new and challenging material, and to
CONQUER IT! And believe me, there are ways that work, and ways that don't!

Don't be lazy. I used to want to just jump in and start playing the music, and not have to figure out the best
right hand fingering for the Bach fugue that I couldn't wait to play. But as I developed, and saw how
unreliable and awkward the results of such practicing were, I started to take the time to write in the fingers
when I needed to. My practicing became more consistent, and the results more powerful.

It is very important to realize that the fingering you use for a passage can make the difference between
being able to play something, and not being able to. There are a few reasons for this:
Some fingering is just BAD. Some fingering is just awkward or inefficient by nature for human hands.
Some fingering may be bad for YOU. It may be used, and work for someone else, because of individual
anatomic differences, or different levels of development. Fingering that wasn't good for me at one point,
became usable years later, and vice versa.
Learning the ins and outs of fingering and picking takes experience, and analytical thinking. If you take
lessons, ask your teacher about the subject, and always think in this way when you practice.
Whenever you are having trouble with something, a lick or scale run or intricate fingerstyle passage, ask
yourself this question: do I know EVERY finger, on both hands, responsible for playing EVERY note (for
pickstyle, substitute pick stroke, up or down, for the right hand). Providing an answer to that question (the
right answer, YES, of course) may very well solve that problem for you.

Natural Talent
By Jamey Andreas

A guitarist is by nature an emotional sort of person. I mean, it's such an emotional instrument, I think it
attracts people of a highly sensitive nature, who need to learn to play so they can express that emotion, so it
doesn't drive them crazy, perhaps!

Because of this, I think we can fall prey to a few psychological conditions that make our progress as
guitarists and musicians much more difficult than it needs to be. One of these conditions is the chronic
mood of doubt, which manifests itself as the spoken or unspoken question of "Do I have any Natural Talent
for this?" "Am I kidding myself here, thinking I can learn to play like these obviously talented players I
hear, who make me feel so inadequate?" Boy, I spent a lot of time feeling like that. I remember listening to
a Segovia recording of the Bach Bouree in Em, which I was working on at the time. He played it so fast,
and I was so struggling to play it at even half that speed, that it put me in a serious state of self doubt.

Well, I have learned a few things about this subject of "natural talent", and I think they would be good and
useful things to share with the aspiring players out there.

You Too Can Be A Superhero!

My first insight into this "question" was when I observed how I reacted to my first experience in taking
lessons. I had taught myself guitar for three months before I began formal lessons. I was practicing for 3
hours a day by myself, working out of a book called something like "Teach Yourself Guitar the Easy Way".
It was a pretty decent book, and I learned first position notes, some chords and some songs. When I started
lessons, I started with Mel Bay # 2, and had a lot of mis-conceptions cleared up, and started learning a
world of things I had no clue about, with the aid of a very good Jazz style teacher.

When I started lessons, I began to practice even more, 5 or 6 hours a day. As a result of this, and because I
did have some degree of "natural talent" (which I will define later), I got pretty good pretty fast. My teacher
was amazed, and used to show me off to everybody, as I had become his "star pupil". He would always say,
"tell them how much you practice."

Now the funny thing is, I would always lie about it, and tell them "oh, 2 hours a day". I didn't want them to
know I practiced so much. I thought " I don't want them to know how much I work at it, I'd rather let them
think I'm some kind of genius". I used to get really afraid someone would realize how much I worked at it,
then I 'd just be like everybody else.

Now, I do forgive myself for this character flaw, because I understand why I felt this way. I grew up in a big
family, and there was only so much attention to go around (and being someone who would spend a lot of
time on stage in later life, I needed a whole lot, by nature). This was the first time in my life I ever stood
out at anything, and had people pay so much attention to me, and make me feel special. It was a good gig,
and I didn't want to blow it by having them find out I'm just a common slob like everybody else. No, I'm
special. I just picked this thing up, and got divinely inspired.

Besides, my fondest desire as a child was to be a super hero, like Superman, or Spiderman. I'd even settle
for Batman! This was the closest I had come to fulfilling that career choice!

Learning What Being Special Really Means

As I began teaching, I got the opportunity to see large numbers of people attempting to learn to play, and I
started to really investigate this idea of natural talent. Was there such a thing, and what were the reasons
some people got really good, and others did not. I saw many people grapple with the challenges of learning
to play, and I realized that yes, I do have some natural talent, because many of these people were having
such a harder time than I did. But I also noticed another interesting thing. A very good percentage of the
people I was teaching seemed to have at least as much talent as I did. Some maybe more. But very few had
the burning desire I had. Very few were practicing the number of hours I did, even from the beginning. Very
few seemed to have the almost desperate need in their life for this thing we call playing the guitar.

So I saw that there is literally a whole lot of natural talent around. But there isn't a whole lot of love,
dedication, and "hard work".

I started to see how immature, and downright incorrect my old way of thinking was, when I was trying to
be a Superhero. I began to realize how beautiful a thing it was that someone would love and need
something as beautiful as playing the guitar, that they would give so much of themselves to it. I certainly
thought it was beautiful whenever I saw my students do it, and I still do. I was beginning to see that love,
dedication, and hard work were the really "special" things. (Of course, it has never felt like "work" to me. It
is called "playing" the guitar, isn't it?)

You Expect Me To Practice Only 5 Hours a Week!!??

It took me a while to understand why all people who said they wanted to play the guitar didn't spend most
of their day doing it. I remember being in high school, and filling out the form for getting extra credit for
taking music lessons. Mine said you had to practice at least 5 hours a week to qualify. I raised my hand and
said, "excuse me, I think there's a mistake on mine. It says you only have to practice 5 hours a week,
shouldn't that be 5 hours a day." I couldn't understand the concept of only practicing 5 hours a week! Boy,
did I learn different when I started teaching full time!

Now as the years have gone by, I have become much more tolerant. I can accept the fact that there are
people in this world who want to play the guitar, and yet only want to practice maybe ½ an hour a day, or
whatever. I also realized that these are the people who are probably not planning on becoming
professionals, and that's okay. There is a place in the world for people like this, although the world would
probably be a better place if more people spent most of their day playing the guitar. But of course,
professionals do need some people who just like to listen, and admire how special we "full-timers" are.

In all seriousness though, I am always moved when I see so many people, school teachers, landscapers,
office workers, mothers and fathers, make such a commitment to keep up their efforts to learn to play this
instrument, in the midst of otherwise very full and demanding lives. Maybe they only get to practice 20
minutes a day, but it is very important to them, and they make sacrifices to keep it in their lives and have it
grow. That's one reason I have made a specialty of showing these people how to get the most out of the
time they put in.

Okay, So What Is "Natural Talent"?

Natural Talent is a pre-disposition in the mind and the body, to do the right thing. When a person who has
natural talent for singing hears someone sing, their body and mind "know" what that person is doing to get
that sound. And their body/mind knows how to do it too, or how to begin moving in that direction. (They
don't have to know this consciously, that is "know what they know, and how they know it, they just
"know"). Some people come in for lessons, and they "tend" to do everything right, from sitting comfortably
with the instrument, to positioning and using the fingers. Some people do everything wrong, and must be
shown, painstakingly and minutely, exactly what to do. These people are the ones I have learned most from,
about teaching and about playing.

Understand that everyone falls somewhere in between the two extremes of total cluelessness, and being a
genius. Yes, I have some talent, as do many people. If I didn't work really hard, it would have got me
nowhere. I needed a whole lot of education to go with that talent. So did Beethoven, who studied with
Haydn, and so did Bach, who spent his life copying out the music of composers he admired, in order to
study their work. So did Eric Clapton, who spent years copying every blues record he could find.
Don't Worry If You Think You Don't Have Any

I have, as I said, some natural talent for guitar, but I sure don't have it for singing. When it comes to
singing, my head is on backwards. Whatever the right thing to do is, I'll do the opposite. I don't need
"Singing For Dummies", I need "Singing for Retards!"

But guess what? I get paid every week now for singing, and people compliment me all the time on my
voice. That is because I tried my hardest with many teachers over the years, and slowly began to "get it".
Not as fast as someone with natural talent, but I discovered how to express myself with my voice, make a
sound that was pleasing and not ugly or strained, and fulfill my desire and need to sing. I also found that I
could move people with my singing, and transfer my emotion to them, which is what music is all about.

And that is the good news. With the right approach, any one can learn anything. I have proven this as far as
playing the guitar goes, for myself and for my students, many of whom have had their "heads on
backwards." In fact, the more you really try, the more "Natural Talent" you will discover in yourself. It is
like having a little voice in your head guiding you in the right direction if you will listen. I have found the
more I listen, the louder that voice gets, and I hear it more often.

Summing Up

Having "talent" is not the primary factor in whether or not you will become a good or great player. Your
burning desire and desperate need to play, coupled with the correct understanding and approach, are the
most important things you must have.

There are lots of people with talent, but not a lot who allow their desire to grow, and become powerful. If
you can allow yourself to feel this need and desire, and use the power of that to overcome all the obstacles
you might encounter along the way, you will find all the talent you need to be the player you are meant to
be.