We're Different

webtvdan
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Wed Apr 30, 2014 5:11 pm

Science Shows How Guitar Players' Brains Are Actually Different from Everybody Elses'
Whether it's playing "Stairway to Heaven" until your fingers bleed or always finding yourself in the center of a group of people intent on singing "Wagon Wheel," some things are common to all guitarists.

Including, as it turns out, their brain chemistry.

Read More Here~


http://www.policymic.com/articles/88357 ... ign=social


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neverfoundthetime
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Wed Apr 30, 2014 6:24 pm

So its official, we are an odd bunch! :laugh:

That's an interesting study Dan, thanks for posting.

"They discovered that the guitarists' neural networks would synchronize not only during the piece, but even slightly before playing. So, basically, guitarists can read each others' minds better than they can read music."

I was wondering if this explains why I have no problem syncing and keeping time with other guitarists but great difficulty keeping time with the metronome or playing to a recording. Maybe I'm not as dumb as I was beginning to think! The recording or nome doesn't sync with me but obviously another guitarist does, and I with him/her, its a back and forth where keeping time is not mechanical but instinctive, flexible and hooked to a feedback loop (our brains syncing) which allows for the inevitable imperfection two humans will produce. This makes great sense to me.

The brain frequencies involved are at 1-4 Herz and 4-8 Herz. While 1-4 Herz is in the Delta range (responsible for sleep), 4-8 Herz (Theta) is more active when we are in an intuitive state, like when we are between sleep and awakening. In my experience (I worked with EEG neurofeedback computer programs for training brain states for performance over many years) the 4-8 Herz range is the area I'd train to connect the digital (conscious analytical) mind with the intuitive (subconscious) mind to get a more centred, intuitive and balanced behaviour.

It would indicate to me that guitarists are adjusting slightly to each other continuously even if one is the designated leader and not that one just follows the other like a metronome. That's just my intuitive take on this.


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