Miguel de Maria -> How anyone can become a good guitarist (Jan. 2 2006 21:10:58)
|
I decided to write a little essay to summarize my current feelings about the topic. Hopefully we can get some discussion going and see if we all agree. There is a saying, "When the student is ready, the master appears." What does it mean? I think it means that great lessons of life and music are flying by our heads all the time, but until we acquire a certain framework or level of understanding, it is no good. How often do we see people shrug off piercingly insightful advice, or how often have we looked back at our "wasted youth" and wondering why we didn't listen to our parents or teacher or whatever? In any case, certain bits of advice that have always been flying around are finally starting to take roost in my head. It seems I have a very powerful ability to ignore good advice. But now that one of them has taken hold, others are coming in, and even others. Like a puzzle, bit by bit a general shape, or framework is starting to coalesce. The outline of that framework is what I'd like to discuss. Everyone has an opinion on what makes a good guitarist, or even what makes a guitarist good. They range from having a great teacher to having great genes to having a great guitar. There is truth in most of these ideas, but more important than that is their utility: how helpful is each framework, each hypothesis, and will it be able to assist me in my goals? So to say that all it takes is talent can't help me. And to say that all it takes is hours of practice--well, that might be going too far in the other direction. To jump right in, my thinking is that the main key to attaining excellence on the guitar is merely a committment to excellence. I have a feeling that some people are going to read that and say it's the dumbest thing they've ever heard, how does that help? I also have a feeling that some people are going to be saying "duh, of course." Well, I said I was dense! I was watching Todd's Soniquette video today--what a depressing image--and I asked myself, what does it take to attain that level of excellence? The answer that spoke to me was, a level of mental excellence, both at the time of the performance and over years of practice. I think it's kind of like meditation, you want to be focused on your breathing or whatever topic you like, and not let other things intrude. For music, I would say it is the music itself that must be held in your mind, almost like an idea of perfection. Without holding a perfect represenation of music in your mind, how could you physically attain it? It's like Michaelangelo drawing the perfect circle--to be able to do that, besides the physical skill, he would need to see the perfect circle in his mind. I remember reading David Russell's advice, and he said, "Can you make one note sound good?" Can you actually play a single note and have it sound good. If not, then how would you be able to make two sound good, let alone the incredible complexity of a whole piece? I think the bad news is that if we don't put in that foundational work, that one note clapping type of thing, then we aren't going to sound good. The good news is that if we do, it will become more or less natural, and we'll sound better. I asked Todd about it, and he said "What could be more true than that?" I guess most of us are constantly "cheating" when we play, in the same way as you see some guys in the gym "cheating" when they lift. They want the big weights, so they throw their whole body into a rep on the biceps curl. Their veins are popping, their eyes look like they are going to squeeze out, and they do succeed in getting the weight over the hump. But the point of fatiguing and training the bicep muscles was undermined, the mental focus was never there. It might be the same thing when you allow yourself to play sloppy. Heck, Scott Tennant said, "Whenever you make a sound on the instrument, you have the choice to go forward or let yourself fall back." Grisha's recent advice hit home: "When you play, listen as if you were transcribing yourself." Who listens to each note with that kind of out-of-body focus, the kind of focus you would need to write down each rhythmical nuance of a Tonino lick or the syncopations in a funky alegrias compas? My hypothesis, the puzzle, is telling me that the good players do. And as intimidating as they are, and this hypothesis is, it is also very encouraging. All we have to do is put our full attention and focus into each note we make on the guitar, all we have to do is listen, all we have to do is make the choice to go forward with each note. Simple! If we want to play great, we can--we just have to try. If we don't care, then we will sound like it. When you hear Richard talk about rhythm, about how it must be "perfect", then it all starts to make sense. It must take formidable discipline to play perfect rhythm. "Good enough" becomes the enemy. Distractions avoided. Groove becomes the unifying concept. Guitar becomes a mediation.
|
|
|
|