<\/p>\n\n\n\n
By Chad Crawford, PMI\nGuitar Instructor<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After a couple of decades of teaching guitar and interacting\nwith other teachers and many clients, I can make a number of predictions on\nwhat any aspiring guitarist will struggle with and how the various responses to\nthese stumbling blocks will either help or hinder progress. The guitar is a challenging instrument, and\nthere are any number of areas where one might encounter a temporary roadblock.\nOf these typical areas, there is one that stands out above all others as the\nnumber one barrier to progress: not following the instructions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Allow me to clarify this concept since the phrase alone may\nseem too broad and actually contrary to your experience. I doubt you have ever\nopenly refused to learn a particular chord, for example, or a basic scale\npattern. This is not the sort of thing I mean when I suggest that a significant\npercentage of guitar students often stumble in implementing course\nrecommendations. It is not a matter of people intentionally side-stepping the\ninstructions. Rather it is that certain aspects of optimum physical technique\nrun contrary to our instincts. Most students tackling a challenge in physical\ntechnique tend to unconsciously default back to instincts rather than\nconsistently apply good technique recommendations. For the record, I am guilty\nof this as much as anyone, although I have improved significantly over the\nyears in applying what the guitarist community has found to be the most\neffective technique development methods. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now let me narrow this down to the specifics items that I\nsee over and over. If any of these seem to apply to you, keep in mind that I am\nnot writing about any specific person or experience, but rather my collective\nexperience as a guitar student and teacher. I assure you that although some of\nthese may apply to you, they are universal themes in the guitar community, so\ndon\u2019t feel like I\u2019m singling you out to give you a hard time! <\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you have taken lessons with me for any length of time,\nyou will know that I teach these things routinely, so you may wonder why I am\ntaking up a Newsletter column with this routine lesson fare. There is a reason\nI am emphasizing these things for you: \nbetween knowing good technique and doing good technique, there is a\nsubconscious barrier that we all struggle with: instinct. As your teacher, one\nof the most significant challenges I face in helping you develop your skills is\nyour own instincts. Your basic instincts tend toward moving the fingers as a\nunit, favoring the index finger, using much more strength than is necessary,\nand handling the pick as if it is a plow. Your secondary instinct is to do just\nthe opposite of this. For example, when attempting to play scales for the first\ntime, you will note that your fingers want to stay together and mute the string\nyou are trying to pick, so you will then pull your other fingers way back from\nthe fretboard. Then you have to slam the next finger down like a dive bomber in\norder to stay in time on the next note. This causes subtle delays that cap your\ntop speed at limits far below your potential. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The first step in\nconquering this barrier is to be aware of these instinctive actions and\nover-reactions, so that you can be ready to spot them and counter with\ndeliberate focused repetition of a balanced, optimum technique method that\ncooperates as far as possible with your natural physiology. Then, apply focused attention to repetitions\nof good technique. Repetition of good technique results in habits, such that\ngood technique becomes increasingly automatic, enabling to you to move between\nchords and notes accurately with little conscious effort. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Here is where the process breaks down: the focused\nrepetition of good technique, and namely, the focus part. Your hands will\nconstantly try to resort back to instinctive positions and motions, even though\nyour conscious mind is well aware of these issues. You must <\/em>pay close attention to these details of technique when you\npractice. This can be tedious at times, but the pay off is more than worth the\neffort! <\/p>\n\n\n\n Copyright \u00a9 2005 Palmetto Music Institute. All Rights\nReserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By Chad Crawford, PMI Guitar Instructor After a couple of decades of teaching guitar and interacting with other teachers and many clients, I can make a number of predictions on what any aspiring guitarist will struggle with and how the various responses to these stumbling blocks will either help or hinder progress. The guitar is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[20,65,2,47,22],"class_list":["post-344","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-chad-crawford","tag-guitar-challenges","tag-guitar-lessons-greenville-sc","tag-guitar-technique","tag-palmetto-music-institue"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.guitarlessonsgreenville.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.guitarlessonsgreenville.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.guitarlessonsgreenville.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.guitarlessonsgreenville.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.guitarlessonsgreenville.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=344"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.guitarlessonsgreenville.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":345,"href":"https:\/\/www.guitarlessonsgreenville.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344\/revisions\/345"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.guitarlessonsgreenville.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=344"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.guitarlessonsgreenville.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=344"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.guitarlessonsgreenville.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=344"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}