That moment when the light goes on

tovo
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Tue Sep 29, 2009 4:32 pm

I practice guitar early in the morning, that's when I have the house to myself and can concentrate fully. This morning however it just wasn't happening for me, I seemed to have regressed overnight and felt the frustration.

This will probably sound really dumb to more experienced players but I hope some will understand what I am trying to say here.

Suddenly I realized that my eyes didn't need to be exclusively on my picking hand. I had been having really trouble landing the D chord in the song I am working on, even though I am applying Neil's method of concentrating on landing the lead finger first. All of a sudden I realized that my right hand could get along without my attention for the time it took to land that chord one finger after the other. I had been trying to land all the chords without ever glancing at that left hand. All of a sudden there I am playing though with Neil at the correct tempo and landing the chords cleanly. It was that "I get it" moment and I felt like running around the back yard whooping it up (My neighbours would surely appreciate that I refrained).

Such a simple realization but such an important one. I had been on the verge of moving on to try another song but now I can continue with enthusiasm to get this song imprinted on my pea brain!

Reading back over what I just wrote I expect some will think "yeah duh dummy!" but it was such a "moment" for me in my learning journey I wanted to share it.


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Music Junkie
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Tue Sep 29, 2009 4:38 pm

tovo wrote:
I practice guitar early in the morning, that's when I have the house to myself and can concentrate fully. This morning however it just wasn't happening for me, I seemed to have regressed overnight and felt the frustration.

This will probably sound really dumb to more experienced players but I hope some will understand what I am trying to say here.

Suddenly I realized that my eyes didn't need to be exclusively on my picking hand. I had been having really trouble landing the D chord in the song I am working on, even though I am applying Neil's method of concentrating on landing the lead finger first. All of a sudden I realized that my right hand could get along without my attention for the time it took to land that chord one finger after the other. I had been trying to land all the chords without ever glancing at that left hand. All of a sudden there I am playing though with Neil at the correct tempo and landing the chords cleanly. It was that "I get it" moment and I felt like running around the back yard whooping it up (My neighbours would surely appreciate that I refrained).

Such a simple realization but such an important one. I had been on the verge of moving on to try another song but now I can continue with enthusiasm to get this song imprinted on my pea brain!

Reading back over what I just wrote I expect some will think "yeah duh dummy!" but it was such a "moment" for me in my learning journey I wanted to share it.
Tovo:

You are certainly not alone there. I have those all the time. This wonderful instrument that we chose will lead you to many more of these moments in the future, I am sure. I was just practicing the other night, working on "Landslide" and it finally dawned on me that I could move my fingers independently. Neil talked about it, but I never really got it. Then it just happened, and it felt natural. The comment that Neil made a while back that has REALLY stuck with me is the fact that "Most guitar players are NOT looking for the most difficult way to play something". That was a recent Duh moment for me.....

Cheers!

MJ


reiver
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Tue Sep 29, 2009 4:44 pm

Glad to hear of you success. They are all important steps along the path.

I was interested to read that you are learning both the picking and the chord positions/changes at the same time. When I first started out I concntrated entirely on the chords - only ever strumming the strings (with my thumb) until I could change smoothly from chord to chord. Then I started trying to fingerpick - which set back my chord changes, but I soon managed to get both going together. Would be interested to hear how others approached the "patting head/rubbing tummy" conundrum of getting both hands to work independantly.

Congrats again. It's these forward steps that keep us going back for more.

r


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neverfoundthetime
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Tue Sep 29, 2009 4:51 pm

Join the club tovo! Happens all the time no matter what new skill you are learning and you describe the moment perfectly. It highlights heyjoe's point a while back about perceptions changing. There is a change of focus as one thing falls into place. Now you'll see something else come to your attention. We go from unconscious incompetence to conscious incompetence to conscious competence and at some point we finally click into glorious unconscious competence as muscle memory takes over. I'm forever trying to trick myself into an unconscious mode to bridge the gap a little faster.


goldleaf
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Tue Sep 29, 2009 5:03 pm

It is a great moment when we finally jump up a plateau that we have been struggling to reach. Enjoy the moment, sounds like you did, cause one of the other moments we have is frustration where it seems like our finger are never going to be able to make that chord change cleanly or finger pick or the thumb to to pick the proper string at the proper time. In the end it is nice to look back and see how much we have improved. Gary


tovo
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Tue Sep 29, 2009 5:06 pm

reiver wrote:
I was interested to read that you are learning both the picking and the chord positions/changes at the same time. When I first started out I concntrated entirely on the chords - only ever strumming the strings (with my thumb) until I could change smoothly from chord to chord.
Yeah reiver I get what you are saying. I've been through the stages that you are describing with strumming. I can land those chords well in several other (strumming) tunes but this is my first finger-picking effort so the complexity has gone up (at least for me). I've been practicing this thing to death and gone through the "I've got it"..."no I haven't" stages but for the first time today I was playing it consistently well and it was all about relaxing enough to glance back and forth between picking and grabbing the chords.

Glad to hear I'm not alone MJ. Neverfoundthetime.....I have the "incompetence" bit down absolutely brilliantly so now I can focus on the other levels! :lol:


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neverfoundthetime
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Tue Sep 29, 2009 5:11 pm

Glad to hear I'm not alone MJ. Neverfoundthetime.....I have the "incompetence" bit down absolutely brilliantly so now I can focus on the other levels!
Oh man, I've got a PhD in incompetences!!!!
Really enjoy your post tovo... good on ya!


helloworld
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Wed Sep 30, 2009 10:12 am

neverfoundthetime wrote:
Join the club tovo! Happens all the time no matter what new skill you are learning and you describe the moment perfectly. It highlights heyjoe's point a while back about perceptions changing. There is a change of focus as one thing falls into place. Now you'll see something else come to your attention. We go from unconscious incompetence to conscious incompetence to conscious competence and at some point we finally click into glorious unconscious competence as muscle memory takes over. I'm forever trying to trick myself into an unconscious mode to bridge the gap a little faster.
That's a very good way of putting it. I'm working on improving my timing right now. Sometimes I bumble about the metronome not able to concentrate on the clicks and the count and the ands and it all sounds so forced. Sometimes I get the "feel" of a song and it just clicks, flowing from my hands effortlessly in perfect time. Now I have to figure out how to get to that point on cue.

As per the aha moment... I've been working on fingerpicking Dust in the Wind forever now. The picking is relatively fast for picking and I although I can get it all right, I just haven't been able to get the speed up to par. I was picking away at it not too long ago and someone started talking to me. I looked up, but kept playing the guitar. I was amazed to find it was easier to pick the song when I wasn't looking at my right hand! After thinking about it for awhile, I realized that I'm so intent on trying to pick the notes quickly that I'm sitting there, tense as can be with a grimace on my face! That's no way to play guitar! By looking away I'm able to relax a little, which speeds up my hands. Pretty cool stuff.


tovo
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Wed Sep 30, 2009 4:24 pm

helloworld wrote:
I was picking away at it not too long ago and someone started talking to me. I looked up, but kept playing the guitar. I was amazed to find it was easier to pick the song when I wasn't looking at my right hand! After thinking about it for awhile, I realized that I'm so intent on trying to pick the notes quickly that I'm sitting there, tense as can be with a grimace on my face! That's no way to play guitar! By looking away I'm able to relax a little, which speeds up my hands. Pretty cool stuff.
I hear what you saying. I have had the same experience of playing better when someone started talking to me and took my focus away from my hands. Our brains are awesome in the way they work. (Some more than others I guess!)


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neverfoundthetime
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Wed Sep 30, 2009 5:06 pm

For fingerpicking, just sit in front of the TV watch your favorite show and hold your guitar and travis pick with your right hand. Not thinking about your fingers. Do that for several days and it will become a natural movement for your fingers. Don't finger the frett board with your left hand. Just travis pick. I found that I learned in a stair step fashion. There are times you may stay stagnent in your progression for a short time. Then there are times when you will make fast progress in a very short period of time. My advice is, if you are stuck on something back off of it for a few days and work on something else. You will be surprised how fast you will pick it up when you return to it.. Practice what you want to improve, play what you love to play.

PG;)


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