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Many people begin to play the guitar by learning a few
chord
changes to their favorite song. In fact, I learned
this way. There are
many things to be aware of while doing this. There are
things to
know and do that can make it easier, and guarantee you
will have
success. There are also many things that can go wrong,
and
guarantee trouble.
You should first understand that often the term
"simple chords" is
very misleading. Most "simple chords" for guitar
require quite
complex movements of the fingers, in order for them to
get into the
final "form" of the chord. In the following essay, I
am going to analyze
one of the most common chord changes, and one of the
most
misunderstood in terms of it's actual difficulty. I am
referring to the
chords G and C.
Let's look at this chord change from the viewpoint of
the ideas
outlined in " The Principles of Correct Practice For
Guitar". And I am
also going to use a real life example of a student of
mine named
Kathy. You will see many things in her story that will
be true for you
also, and the principles will apply to all chord
changes, not just G and
C.
Kathy's Situation
When Kathy came for lessons with me, she had already
been trying
to learn the guitar for about 2 years, with a few
different teachers,
and with no success. She could struggle her way into a
few chords,
but watching her try to change them fast enough to do
a song was an
exercise in agony, for me and for her. Her case is a
good example of
how bad things can get when there is no understanding
of the
mechanics of playing and practicing, right from the
beginning.
First of all, I needed to make her aware of how tensed
up her left
shoulder was as soon as she began to raise her left
hand to the
neck. This made her whole arm tense, right down to the
fingers. As
she tried to get in to the first chord, the fingers
tensed up even more,
and started leaning and pressing against one another,
instead of
having the proper space between them.
This tension of the fingers immediately began to cause
a reaction in
the rest of the arm, tensing up the large muscles of
the arm and
shoulder. All of this created a great feeling of
discomfort, that Kathy
had assumed is "just the way it feels to do a G
chord."
How To Avoid "Lockup"
This is a situation that happens all the time to
beginners, and even to
advanced players to varying degrees. I call this
buildup of tension as
the arm is raised and the fingers about to move
lockup. That is, the
fingers, hand and arm "lockup" with tension, and
usually the
unfortunate player continues to try to get them in
position by working
through the tension, trying to make the fingers
perform while they are
"locked up".
The thing to do is stop, go back into the position you
were coming
from, and begin to move very slowly, examining the
fingers closely as
soon as they release the first chord, and focus on
staying relaxed
from the shoulder down to the fingers, and staying
that way as the
fingers move to their new positions.
Now, you have to look at the whole situation the hand
is in. For
Kathy, her thumb was wrapped around the neck in such a
way that
there was no space between her hand and the guitar, so
her fingers
had a difficult time, not being free and relaxed, or
having the room to
move. By the time she got in to the G chord, she was
holding on to it
for dear life! Not exactly in a position to easily
change to the C chord,
which is even harder.
Then, as she began to pry her fingers off the G chord
and go for the
C, she did what many people do, she led with the
strong finger, the
first finger, that is, and smashed it down on it's
note, on the second
string, first fret. Now, she was holding on to that
for dear life, with
the whole arm, from finger tip to shoulder, knotted up
with tension.
Next came the attempt to get fingers 2 and 3 into
position, which was
very difficult for her to do, and me to watch, as
those poor, stressed
out fingers did their best to do her will. By the time
she got them in to
position, somewhat, they weren't standing straight
enough to allow
the adjacent strings to ring clearly, one of the
difficulties of the C
chord.
So the net result of all this effort was the inability
to change chords
smoothly, and the inability to get the notes of the C
chord out clearly
once she got there.
My Solution for Kathy
Here are the steps I used to undo the knots of tension
that Kathy had
unknowingly created and allowed, that were preventing
her from
performing actions on the guitar which anyone should
be able to do, if
they approach them properly.
1.I explained the concepts of muscle memory, and how
disastrous
muscle tension is, and how difficult it can be to
become aware of
it.
2.I explained the practice tools outlined in my book,
Posing, and
No Tempo Practice, used for becoming aware of, and
eliminating, excessive muscle tension.
3.I explained how to bring the left hand to the neck,
with the
fingers in a relaxed curl as she approached the
strings.
4.I had her begin practice of Left Hand Exercise #1,
using Posing,
No Tempo Practice, and the Basic Practice
Approach.
5.As a few weeks went by, she developed the ability to
have
relaxed fingers come to the neck and strings, and
also to have
them stretch out from one another in a relaxed
way, while the
arm and shoulder stayed relatively relaxed.
6.Then we applied this way of moving to the chord
changes, G to
C. She learned how to keep everything relaxed, and
how to
keep a good space between the hand and the guitar
as the hand
turned, as it must in going from a G to a C.
7.I had her place the 2nd finger down lightly on the
4th string, for
the C chord first, not the first finger. As she
placed the 3rd finger
next, she kept the hand out, and the 1st finger
poised over the
2nd string, first fret.
8.Finally, she placed the first finger down, still
keeping it curled,
and going down on the tip, but with the fingertip
leaning slightly
toward the headstock, and the hand still out, so
that there was
enough space between the hand and the guitar at
the index
finger that you could stick your finger in between
the hand and
guitar.
9.I had her stop and Pose at random times, when the
tension
would build, so she could learn to be relaxed in
these positions.
10.After repeated No Tempo Practice of this, we began
to work up
speed using the Basic Practice Approach. And she
started to be
able to do it faster and faster. Now, I am happy
to say, she is
playing many songs well, using these and other
chords.
I really believe that without this approach, she would
never have
unlocked the tensions that were preventing her from
being able to do
these chord changes. This approach will work for
anybody, and any
chords. Try it, with these chords, or any other
changes that give you
trouble, or that you would like to improve.
All of the above can be seen as an illustration of the
first two
Principles of Correct Practice, stated in my essay,
"The Secret
of Speed". I will now add the 3rd Principle of Correct
Practice:
Principle of Correct Practice #3:
"The fingers are energized by Attention, and moved by
Intention."
I will elaborate on this later, but you should read
and re-read the
previous essays in light of these 3 Principles stated
so far, and your
understanding of them will increase, and so will
recognition of their
relevance to your own playing situation. And so will
their usefulness.
That is, by thinking about these things, when you
practice, your
practice will be more powerful, resulting in faster
progress.
Copyright 1999 by Jamie Andreas
Click here for more of Jamie's articles
Copyright 2002 Jamie Andreas.
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