Friday Mar 21,2008
Did you ever happen to see a (once) good guitar player that didn’t practice for a long time? I guess most of you did(probably in yourself too), because usually guitar playing, when not a profession or a serious hobby, happens in young age. Then life rolls over us. It happens! Or to put it an other way, “life’s a bitch and then you die”(well, that is the pessimistic point of view that does not define me, just that I like how it sounds).
So, if you look at this guitar player that now plays like a 14 year old, it’s quite embarrassing. For someone at 14, sounding flat works. For someone who’s supposed to have some experience and history in playing the guitar, it sucks!
I have seen such people. Damn, I have even seen myself! I have seen how some good player that I used to look up to when I was a teen, couldn’t solo anymore…
But, at one point this guitar player started to practice seriously, and man, what a learning curve he had! Soon, in only a few months he again became someone to look up to! What happened? Nobody really learns that fast, right?!
Dr J spoke on his guest article here a bit about muscle memory, and boy, he’s right:
“We musicians rely so much on muscle memory and I firmly believe that the most productive time you can spend teaching your brain to remember the movements is really only the first 15-20 minutes of a practice session. After this amount of time, the brain is no longer interested in storing muscle memory information and if you continue to practice without taking a break, all you are doing is exercising your muscles.Give your brain a rest and go do something else for a while, then get back to practicing.”
When learning to play the guitar, you actually store patterns in your brain and in your muscles. It happens in music practicing, but it also happens in domains that have less to do with skills, but with capabilities, like in lifting weights. Really! This is why you find yourself taking some automatic actions in some particular situations, without “thinking” about it before. Like if you practiced box, wrestling, etc, if attacked, you will find yourself reacting fast and precise without recent previous training. It’s in you, sleeping, people!
So, when starting again to practice, your muscles start to remember things they were used to before! And if you really enjoy what you do, it comes so fast to you that you will be amazed. What the 14 year old will need to fight and struggle for a few years in a row, you will get in only a few months with a good, relaxed but constant practice!
All it takes is will, because the skills, you have in you! Start practicing and you will see how fast you will learn it again.
I cannot tell you how I felt when after a longer period of not playing constantly. I started again and after only a few weeks, I gained that joy and feeling of knowing my way around the neck. In the first days I had the impression that my fingers were some kind of cucumbers, but after a while I started to feel the guitar neck as very comfortable and friendly.
Article by Ovidiu Oprescu at: Guitar Flame
BandSuccess Comments: Thanks Ovidiu for this incredible 'heads up' article and allowing me to publish it here!
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