Miguel de Maria -> Point break (Sep. 15 2003 17:51:15)
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Something Jon Boyes made me think. He said that there are some techniques that cannot be done slowly. Just as practicing walking is not how one practices running, perhaps practicing slowly does not help when one goes faster. A good thought. Also, Scott Tennant mentions that there is a "break point," in scales, a noticeable spot where the technique breaks down, and where the player can play well above and below. Everyone, he says, has a break point--it is a flaw that must be worked around. And he said that Eddie Lastra's continuos rasgueo also had one of these break points. He started slow, accelerated smoothly--but there was a point where it hit another gear and then went fast. Not a smooth, steady acceleration, then, but a plateau. Another example of break point, I would think. I decided to test this in my own playing. I wanted to see one, whether I have these break points too, and two, whether I can eliminate them. I tested this with picado, arpeggio, xmaii rasgueo, and pmi rasgueo. The answer is that I do have break points. There is a spot in all of these techniques where it seems I hit another gear. It's not a smooth progression. I hypothesize that there is a true shift in technique here. The muscles are being used in different proportions, in a different way. The sensation is different. But then I tried to do it the other way, to do it smoothly. First I tried the xamii rasgeuo, going real slow, and smoothly accelerating. I found that I could to it, but that it took a concerted effort. My hand wanted to go into overdrive, but I would not let it. I held it back like a horse chomping at the bit. The verdict is out on this one. I reached pretty high speeds in 1st gear--one xamii per beat at 132 bpm. So I could smoothly accelerate all the way up to that, all in 1st gear. The break point doesn't seem to be a big factor here. I tried the same thing with picado, and was able to smoothly accelerate from a standing start to 160 bmp sixteenth notes, all in 1st gear. At least to my perception, I was able to eliminate this break point that Scott Tennant claims everyone has. Now I got tired of the experiment, as I'm sure you all are, but I hope this raises some questions or interest. If it is true that the sensations and motions for playing both xamii rasgeuo and picado are the same from a standing start all the way up to the limits of necessary speed, then does the "practicing walking to run" analogy hold true? Obviously other people have different sensations of playing the guitar. I have been practicing slowly for a couple weeks fairly religiously now, maybe this has added a different level or feeling of control. That being said, to get my picado up to speed I did lots of speed bursts which are rather the opposite school of thought than the slow practice.
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