>> Todays Target members only Student Video Review by Neil - The Last Steam Engine Train by tvarga

tgjameela
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Mon Jul 16, 2012 12:53 pm

Hi Everyone,

Today's Target members only student video reply by Neil is now live. Today we look at John Fahey The Last Steam Engine Train by tvarga.

Hope you enjoy!

http://www.totallyguitars.com/video-rev ... iew_id=947



thereshopeyet
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Mon Jul 16, 2012 4:38 pm

Thanks


tvarga
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Tue Jul 17, 2012 10:50 pm

Thanks! Although I'm cringing somewhat now that I watch my playing that song. It certainly needs more work...

Anyway, I don't think I hit on any secret to learning a new song other than an incredible amount of repetition.

I watch Neil's videos very carefully paying particular attention to what he suggests as well as his finger and hand positioning.

Then I start attempting to play the tab. I try to work on songs that require some particular new technique that I have yet to learn, so usually it's very slow going at first.
Since I've become very adept at reading tabs, I don't worry about trying to memorize the song. I've found that the only way I can get good at playing something is by developing the muscle memory through repetition.
Once the muscle memory starts to work, I find that I've already memorized the tab because I've played it so many times. It feels almost like cheating because I don't work at memorizing the song and instead depend on repetition to learn it.

The downside to this technique is that I generally work on one song at a time. By the time I've learned a new one, I've forgotten how to play every other song I've ever learned. :(

For example, I've been working on 'Mood For A Day' for over 3 weeks now ... and have probably played through parts A-D many hundreds of times. But, I can barely remember how to play the song that I most recently learned before.

I'm not sure what my long term strategy is going to be. I think for the immediate future, I'm going to continue working on new techniques that I have yet to learn. Then I need to work on theory and hopefully some improvisation. Then, someday I'll hoping to spend a few months going back over the dozens of songs that I've learned in the past and try re-learning them so that I'll eventually have a repertoire of songs that I can play.

Good luck ... and keep repeating!!!

-Tom


mark
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Wed Jul 18, 2012 3:24 am

tvarga wrote:
The downside to this technique is that I generally work on one song at a time. By the time I've learned a new one, I've forgotten how to play every other song I've ever learned. :(

For example, I've been working on 'Mood For A Day' for over 3 weeks now ... and have probably played through parts A-D many hundreds of times. But, I can barely remember how to play the song that I most recently learned before.
I find your words very interesting. They way you are learning things means that you have no repertoire at all, only the last song you've been learning.
I would think that this way a song would never get perfected. The songs you are playing are quite complicated and to get them really good requires playing and practicing over a long time period.

Muscle memory is good but it only gets us part of the way. Muscle memory goes wrong sometimes and you can then get that terrible feeling of being in the middle of a song and having no idea what comes next or even what's just been played. At that point you have to rely on something else that you know about the song - such as the chord progression or what the melody is. I know I have been playing songs which have gone wrong and I have no idea what chords or even what key I should be playing. I've been relying completly on muscle memory.


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neverfoundthetime
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Wed Jul 18, 2012 4:22 am

Very enjoyable Tom! Great work. And that's an interesting discussion on how you learn (and forget) as Mark points out. Forgetting is a form of mental hygiene, our minds clear-out stuff which seems less important or unwanted or unnecessary. I believe that the emotional attachment to things learned plays a vital role in retention. Revisiting songs learned is a vital part of carrying them over to long-term memory too. I can imagine the time constraints play a big part in your learning... you may not have enough time to revisit and play much previously learned songs if you are investing a lot of time and effort in a song you are learning now. Mark makes a good point about muscle memory providing a bridge at times... its true, certain parts remain and other parts may fade or disappear and we need something to jog our memories. Maybe you need to designate one session a week for playing all the songs you know to refresh and re-connect emotionally.


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