Lagrima
in 7 Days
DAY 4: Practicing
[A Section]
Once you have analyzed the piece and
found fingerings, it's time to begin
practicing!
The analysis told you a lot, but it’s
essential to make sure you understand
both your analysis and your own
fingerings really well. Be sure that your
fingerings solve problems rather than
create new ones. The music influences the
fingerings and the fingerings influence the
music.
13
The shift in the transition between bars 4
and 5 creates a problem for Thomas. To
practice this shift, practice replacing the
downbeat of bar 5 with lower frets- then
move up the neck fret by fret until you
reach the desired distance. Make sure your
eyes are on the final destination right
before you arrive.
SHIFTING
If after practicing the shift in that way
you’re still having problems, Thomas
recommends thinking about the role of
the elbow. A shift begins, from a muscular
point of view, with the elbow lowering, as
in these images. Keep the entire
movement as one very fluid gesture.
Lagrima 14
in 7 Days

In bar 5, make sure your ring finger is CONCENTRATION

curved when you land on the second beat.

Thomas practices bars 4 and 5 together

with a slow metronome, adding one eighth
note at a time.

Consider the maximum number of things

that the human brain can think about at
one time- it’s been found to be roughly
seven, plus or minus two. In this case,
never try to consider more than nine
elements at a time while practicing a
phrase. If bar 4 contains four or five
elements for you to think about, don’t add
many more until it becomes virtually
thoughtless.

Executing the shift ten times perfectly

with a metronome means you are ready to
move on!

“Nine things is the maximum number

of things the human brain can process
at once. Take a pen, and draw boxes
around the first nine things you have
to think about. Then practice that!"
Lagrima 15
in 7 Days

MEMORY

As you continue, circle the next nine

things that you have to consider and work
out those things before moving on. That
may include notes, finger changes, shifts,
releases, etc.

Again, ten times perfectly with a

metronome means you can move on. If
you ever had to slow down, increase the
metronome very gradually until you reach
a tempo.

It’s important to spend several days with

this kind of practice. After a single day, the
information will only be stored in short-
term ("working") memory.

After a few days of practice every day, the

piece moves into your long term memory,
and you’ll still be able to recall it weeks or
months later.