By Chad Crawford, PMI Guitar Instructor<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you have been learning guitar for any length of time then\nyou know that unbridled self-expression is a long term project rather than a\nonce-done event. Along the way you may at times find yourself wrestling with a\nvague sensibility that your playing seems to be technically correct as best you\ncan tell, but yet does not seem to have the lively gut-wrenching feel of your\nfavorite guitarist playing the same thing. Then you may be tempted to think\nthat your technique development endeavors are not getting the job done. If you\ngo online to read some articles about such things, you may stumble across\nlengthy arguments regarding whether or not technique is more important than\nfeel, whether or not music theory stifles creativity, and so forth. If you are\nin that stage where you have pretty good technique but do not feel that you are\nexpressing yourself well, you will probably be tempted to align with the\n“feel\/creativity” side of this age-old debate, versus the\n“technique\/theory” side. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Let us consider some pertinent issues before addressing the\ncore of the matter: (1) humans (myself included) are averse to work and will accordingly\nlatch on to any rationalization we can find to get out of doing some work, such\nas technique development, and (2) people who do not have a fully developed\nunderstanding of a thing often insist on convenient, simple answers where such\nanswers do not exist. So it goes with ideas about learning guitar. Aligning\nwith either extreme in the “technique or feel” debate betrays a lack\nof experience that leads to further lack of understanding and consequent\nerroneous judgments over the more subtle aspects of musicianship. Asking\nwhether technique is more important than feel is like asking if a tire is more\nimportant than the wheel it mounts to. In both cases, neither can do its job\nwithout the other such that they are both critical to achieving the desired\nresults. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
So here is the core of the matter: Playing with feel is not the opposite of playing with excellent technique,\nbut is rather the outgrowth of having developed technique to the point that it\nis no longer a barrier to self-expression. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n By way of example, I recall in my youth being greatly moved\nby certain beloved songs. I had more than enough feel. I was bursting over with\nit. What I did not have was any idea how to make such sounds come out of my\nguitar. My lack of knowledge and technique utterly crippled my efforts to pull\nwhat I wanted to express out of my guitar. I needed knowledge of what my\nfavorite artists were doing, and the precise finger control and hand\ncoordination to make it happen. Without sufficient mastery of technique, all\nthe feel in the universe is useless in making music. <\/p>\n\n\n\n So I set out on my technique development journey with a\nscale book, metronome, and various private lessons. Some years later I reached\na point where I could rip through scales at speeds I would have never thought\npossible for myself, but I still could not make my licks sound like Stevie Ray\nVaughan’s level of raw passion roaring from every phrase (or at least not to\nthe level I wanted to … some folks thought my playing was quite good at that\npoint).<\/p>\n\n\n\n The next level for me was working on refinement of my\nbending and vibrato, particularly the accuracy of the start and stop points of\nthe bending, plus the rate and proportions of the sweep of the bend. Then to\nnail these down beyond pure technique accuracy, I looked toward my favorite\nBlues players and mimicked their technique. Bear in mind, if I had not had the\nexperience and results of laying the foundation of accurate and timely bends\nthen I would not have had the ear for what my favorite artists were doing, much\nless the finger control to reproduce it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Then I needed work on my pick attack. I think much of the\n“feel” in guitar music comes from the pick attack, which varies a bit\nfrom one guitar player to another, and from one style to another. Pick attack\nis a very personal part of musicality, but there are certain universal aspects\nof pick technique that enable good playing … proper pick hold, strong\narticulation, accurate timing, playing to the song, etc. Again, without the\npick technique foundations you will not have control to apply the subtleties\nthat make for true self-expression. <\/p>\n\n\n\n It is also important to understand that no matter how well\nyou have developed your technique, if you do not resonate with what you hear\ncoming from the guitar then you are not going to be able to play with maximum\nfeel. Self-expression is ultimately a sort of dance between you and your guitar,\ntranscending technique. Technique must be something that is done and out of the\nway, but you also must enjoy and be moved by your guitar’s tone to get the most\nout of your playing. If you are not sure what your tonal preference is, just\nlisten to your favorite guitarist and start tweaking your tone towards that.\nMuch like overall musicality, tone development is not a once-done event, but\nrather a process. The sooner you get started the sooner you will find a tone\nthat compels you rather than hinders you, and then you continually tweak from\nthere as your ear and tastes develop. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Now let us consider a more subtle aspect of music that you\nmust be aware of to avoid undue frustrations with your playing. If you want to\nplay with feel, you must play music that you truly feel! For example, I am\nnever going to play highly expressive solos in certain styles such as\nprogressive metal, jazz, or bluegrass flatpicking, because I do not connect\nwith these styles. This is not because I have any contempt for them or those\nwho play them, but they do not move me as do Blues and Classic Rock. This does\nnot mean that I can not play anything at all in these styles, but my best\nplaying will always happen when I am playing along with Blues, or Classic Rock,\nor their close cousins. So if for instance you are attending my group classes,\nyou may not really resonate with all of the variety of songs I use for these\nsince I need to appeal to the tastes and abilities of a broad audience. So, if\nyou find that your solos are coming out somewhat lifeless in these situations,\nrealize that this does not mean you are failing at guitar. Always strive to\nimprove your overall skills of course, and recognize that sometimes being a\nmusician means playing what suits others rather than just yourself. At the same\ntime, recognize that you are never going to be able to get into the\n“zone” while playing music that does not really stir you up inside.\nThat is perfectly normal, even for pros. (If you take a moment to think about\nit you will notice that most highly regarded guitarists are known for\nexcellence in only one very narrow range of style.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Likewise, when playing open jams, playing with a friend, or\nbeing put on the spot by someone who knows you are taking lessons asking you\nplay for them, realize that you are not going to do your best playing in these\nsituations, so don’t judge your skills by how you perform under these\nconditions. Open jams are notorious for including musicians who are not well\ndeveloped enough to keep good time. You can not feel the music when one or more\ninstruments of the rhythm section is out of time, and you can not resolve\nphrases properly when a chord change you are expecting is early, late, or just\nwrong. When you get put on the spot with no warm up you are not going to be\nable to play as well as after you have had thirty minutes or an hour of playing\nbehind you. The best thing to do with these types of situations is to avoid\nthem. If you wish to play open jams then just play rhythm as best you can and\nsee if the general level of musicianship is going to allow for good soloing\nwith feel, before attempting to cut loose with your best chops. If someone\npulls out a guitar from a closet and asks you to show them what you’ve got,\ntell them you are going to show them some Hendrix first and then smash the\nguitar over their head. If you are attempting to play in a band and the group\nis not in good time with one another (i.e., “tight), then do not expect\nyour best playing to happen with this group unless and until they get it together.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n Finally, we need to strike a balance between technique\ndevelopment and making music. In answer to a question like “how much\ntechnique development do I need to invest my limited time in”, I respond,\n“rough rule of thumb for a hobbyist, about 20% more than you need to play\nthe music you want to play”. For instance, if you wish to play Blues and\nClassic Rock, then you do not need to invest a lot of time in cultivating sweep\narpeggios to 1000 notes per minute, but you should work on speeding up pentatonic\nscales and licks to 20% past the speed that you will use them in live playing.\nThis gives you a buffer to offset stage fright, distracting anomalies in the\nrhythm section, etc, such that you have more than enough control to listen well\nand play with feel at the speeds you really need, even under these imperfect\nconditions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n So … if you have been thinking that “feel is more important than technique”, try doing some spirited sport driving with the tires removed from your wheels. After you get out of the hospital then get back to metronome practice, and lots of it.\u00a0 \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n\n\n\n Copyright \u00a9 2005 Palmetto Music Institute. 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