Miguel de Maria -> RE: Principles Update (Sep. 14 2003 15:20:26)
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Paul, I'm can't really answer your views with my own, because I haven't formed them yet. Descending arps are a bit tricky... my solution has always been to preplant, that is, put all the fingers down first, then play them. You get a crisp sound like this, but I have been a bit unsatisfied with it. It seems kind of like cheating. So I'll have to let you know how the arp thing goes. It seems to be working okay, though. My fingers already move fast, they just aren't coordinated. So this might work for that. As far as the rasgueo go, I'm not sure either! I already am pretty happy with my rases, but to tell you the truth I did a bit of "slow-tempo" practice when learning them. a down relax m down relax i down relax i up relax, all marcado. Of course, I quickly got bored of that and they started to just come out better in my playing in time. I think one thing that might be salient is the question: when you slow it down to "no-tempo", are you playing the same stroke? I found that when I slowed things down too much, I started to miss things, you know, like muscle groups. For example, I would slow down an i picado, slow, slow, slow, and eventually it stopped working, catching or whatever. Eventually I realized it was because I had neglected a part of the motion. Maybe I was concentrating on the pulling action too much, although when I play at speed there is a combination of pulling and pushing. This, I believe, is the process to really know your technique, consciously. Perhaps it takes time, lots of acute observation and even experimentation, merely to know what you are doing! And then when you know, you practice each of these elements very slowly and accurately. This is how I view it now and seems to be Jamey Andreas' position. Like I said, I'm going to stick with it and let you guys all know how it works. One thing I'm pretty sure about, and that is that Jamey's method requires great concentration and focus. And this to me, is the number one factor in obtaining skill, much higher on the list than mere years, long fingers, gypsy parents, etc. I believe the difference in good players and bad players is largely due to the ability to concentrate (which can and should be cultivated!).
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