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Probably no revelation but offering this as something that Is helping me immensely at present ( didn't come up in the awesome search here at foro - though imagine it's there somewhere) A personal observation of my playing is the thing that will always fail is the technique to execute some or new rythmns I have some time now to focus in on these problems and try to solve these to the best I can , given my limitations and tempo threshold The dancer/teacher I play for has an indian background and gets her students to 'sing' the phrases of a given footwork - usually while doing palmas Obvious point for me was to translate this to the guitar somehow ( palmas excluded )
All my technique needs continual work - some odd things going on - particularly in performance quintuplet tremelo is being asked for a lot by the teacher and mine gets pretty lumpy from 90bpm onwards - general lack of control and conviction ( no issue with the classical tremelo )
So here's the gist in relation to what I'm working with
I'm using the Indian syllable system with a metronome and or foot, to verbally say what I'm trying to achieve For instance Saying Ta Di Gi Na Thom at 100bpm is as much a challenge as executing a clean tremelo at that speed for me However a few days of perseverance it seems to even out my tremolo - along with either observation in hand mirror or closing my eyes It's also helping - as well as controlling the 'dynamic ' of each digit Thinking Ta Ka Di Mi for 16ths Also is helping me correct a dragging m finger as I assign a syllable to a finger i = Ta Di m= Ka Mi and reverse or just Ta Ka
Also finding 'exaggerated ' finger movements at slower tempos beneficial
ERGO - if the tongue can't say my hands can't play it
Just offering this as a personal observation and may be of help to others ...guess it's been around for centuries so seems a logical method to approach Anyone else use this kind of method ?
Below is a link I have found helpful along with a pic of the traditional syllables used
RE: Indian Taal-syllables for Guitar... (in reply to timoteo)
Thanks Timoteo - will search some threads - konnokol not being a term im familiar with - my bad for adding another
i guess my rather long post was directed more towards 'repair' of lost technique to some degree meaning i am finding benefits in verbally saying while practicing technique in college, some 20 years ago, the syllabary system was explained to us before our aural assignment of transcribing Trilok's Solo on 'Mother Tongue' - only now the penny has dropped
seeing real benefits in verbal transference to the fingers...
appreciate the replies
edit oddly enough someone who was attending the same course as i wrote their masters paper on Konnokol here is link for anyone interested - applied more for vocal improvisation - but enjoying the syncronicity http://lisayoungmusic.com/wp-content/uploads/masters/masters.pdf
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From: Washington DC
RE: Indian Taal-syllables for Guitar... (in reply to Guest)
lot's of percussion styles use verbal expressions to help. The true challenge for folks in your situation is if they can actually SAY the syllables you wrote, in proper rhythm. For example, if there is a space between "thom" and "ta" upon repetition, it still creates a legitimate rhythm...just not the one you intended.
I learned some of this by ear listening to shakti...before I saw the gateway to rhythm, I thought they were saying "dah dee giddy gum" and "dak ah dimee dak ah joon ah" etc....so the actual words are arbitrary to the concept. "flam a diddle".
RE: Indian Taal-syllables for Guitar... (in reply to Ricardo)
thanks Ricardo i got a bit tired of hippopotamus for quintuplets and would have no time to join a konnocle singing group
certainly agree the syllables are arbitary - as is witnesed from different cultures and ritmo
i am finding the verbalization process is helping gain some relaxation,confidence and control..with the end result not in singing but in playing the guitar
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