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The songs you learn are the “parents” of everything you become as a musician. They teach you the techniques you will incorporate into your playing, and they form the basis of ideas that will shape your personal style and sound. The sum of everything you learn IS your musical personality.
So be careful what you study! Make sure it’s not just a bunch of easy stuff but also includes songs that challenge you to be your best. Here is the next list of five to help you do that: 5 STREAMLINED TECHNIQUES FOR BUILDING A REPERTOIRE THAT GROWS YOU.
1. Each new song you pick should be just beyond your current ability: one that will stretch you but that’s not impossible.
If you want to be able to play better than you currently do, then don’t waste time on songs that are easy to learn (unless they’re songs you need to play in your cover band’s set list) because they’re not producing new strengths. No one succeeds as a body builder by lifting the same weight forever; it has to be increasing. When is the last time you learned a song that made you think “am I crazy for trying to learn this?”
You’ll often have to judge for yourself the difference between “just beyond” and “too far beyond” so you’re not setting yourself up for unnecessary discouragement. And sometimes you can’t see it until you get into it. It’s okay to stop mid-stream and switch to something more reasonable. You can pick it up again later.
2. Identify a new song’s stretch points by initially playing through the entire thing slowly.
Assuming you’ve acquired the written music for the song (which you should do), go through from beginning to end without stopping and working on anything specific yet. Some things that sounded hard will turn out to be not so bad, while other parts will be more challenging than you expected. For now, just play each part as written and highlight the most difficult-to-play sections.
3. Leverage the process to build your confidence: focus on stretch points first and save the easy spots for when you’re feeling frustrated.
Now you’ll work on individual parts. Go for the difficult stuff first, as these sections will require the most time and practice. Get a head start. If the part in question uses a technique the artist developed, you can try to find something written about it rather than the headache of trying to figure this out for yourself.
When I learned “Cliffs of Dover” by Eric Johnson, I had no idea he was using his pick and fingers at the end of the Intro. I worked and worked on it using just the pick until I found an article explaining his technique. Once I tried it the right way it made so much more sense and was finally coming along.
When you get to points of exhaustion or just plain monotony, switch gears and work on some of the easier stuff. This way you’re seeing constant progress and you’ll have the confidence to continue with the work. It’s like mom used to say “eat the spinach first, then you have all the good stuff to look forward to.” Keep mixing it up as much as necessary to stay moving.
4. Remind yourself that learning the song and learning the tempo are two different things.
This one ties into the previous point. Playing something right but slow is still right; playing something wrong but fast is still wrong. I guarantee you 100 percent of the time when you hear someone playing a riff or a fill or a lead with plenty of passion and fervor but no accuracy that this is the precisely the component they skipped. So while working on step 3, be sure you’re not trying to play up to full speed from the start.
Why do we musicians make this mistake on a regular basis? Rare is the person who enjoys listening to a slow motion version of the song they’re learning. Then again, rare is the person who plays with total mastery. Who do you want to be like? Make the accuracy of what to play and how to play it top priority at this stage.
5. Once the entire song is “downloaded,” begin the process of building up to full tempo by repeatedly playing from beginning to end, focusing solely on evenness and fluidity.
My all-time favorite piece of truth about playing an instrument is “speed is the by-product of accuracy.” Bottom line: doing something good is a function of having done it not just many times, but many, many, MANY times.
Having said that, it is also possible to do something many, many, MANY times the wrong way. If you heeded number 4, which I consider the downloading phase, then you’re likely already past that point. At this stage it’s time to commit to playing this piece repeatedly with patience and attention to detail, increasing the tempo only as you’re steadily growing ability allows. It can’t go without saying that playing with a metronome or drum machine is the only way you can accurately chart your progress along the journey, so don’t neglect to use one or the other.
And let me stress that you always go from beginning to end from this point on. I entered a guitar competition once and played “Eugene’s Trick Bag” by Steve Vai. I had learned it years earlier and had spent extra time before the big night brushing up on it. But my work was in pieces and chunks, not beginning to end. When the time came for my solo in the competition, about two-thirds of the way through my left forearm was dying, so I faked a ritardando (gradually slowing in tempo) just to make it look right. My mistake was not having practiced beginning to end to gauge and build my endurance. Fortunately, no one noticed and I ended up winning. Lucky break!
IN SUMMARY: I enjoy it when I play a song that not only entertains a listener but flat out impresses them. But the songs I’ve learned that do that took me no less than 10 to 12 months to master, some much longer. And by “master” I mean to study, pick apart, work on slowly, and do thousands of repetitions beginning to end until I can start almost cold and play completely through at full tempo without mistakes. At least none that they notice!
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Hopefully this provides a good prompt!
Comment by Mike Roberts May 21, 2009 @ 9:25 amGood Points. Common sense learning issues that the majority of people overlook (or lack the patience to do, untill prompted)
Comment by Grace May 20, 2009 @ 4:31 pm