Technique and music

This page introduces left-hand-right hand technique and how to practice effectively, so that you develop the necessary skill to master each finger style song that you try to learn. 

About practicing

Over the years i have come to believe that people experience music in different ways. For example, some of my friends can remember the lyrics to songs remarkably well, some enjoy ambient music for the emotional experience, club for the energy, etc. 

Most people  do not think of music as an athletic ability that requires practice, planning and thought - most people only see a musician on a stage making it look easy. Playing a musical instrument however, requires training your fingers so that you can improve on your physical limitations. Listen to yourself when you try to learn a song. If you hear "oh, I missed that,"  "I always miss that spot," or you are repeating mistakes, that is what you are learning -- mistakes. Try comparing what you are doing to riding a bicycle - what would it be like if you crashed as often? What about dancing? It would be a silly sight if a dance floor was filled with people tripping over their feet because they either tried to go too fast or did not practice the steps.

Dancing is similar to the skill set required for music. To be an accomplished dancer one must master the footwork, and then there comes the part where the dancer has to "make it look easy" or as though it is being improvised. Doing so requires flawless mastery of the steps, accomplished by going over the steps slowly until they feel natural. After the steps are mastered then dancers can focus on making their work look fluid and effortless.

When I was studying music at UMASS the guitar department had a master class with Manuel Barrueco. I was set to play a piece by Bach. He stopped me after 2 measures. "Play it slower." I started again. "No, slower ..okay.. try again, slower." the 1/8th notes were about one second long. I couldn't do it, that was frustrating. He said "practice this piece of music at this tempo (bpm=52), once you can play it there, move the metronome up two ticks and start again. Repeat this until you can play at each tempo, no mistakes" He is the nicest guy, so humble for such a huge icon in the world of classical guitar.

That's how he practices. Start  really slow, bring the tempo up, bring it back down, no mistakes, rinse and repeat.

How to slow-play practice

Plan: go through the piece, guitar in hand. Don't try to play it, just check the chords, their voicing, make sure you note right hand and left hand fingerings on the lead sheet.

Prep: strum or use the "finger-down" technique to learn the chords. Know the hard spots make sure you have them fingered so that the changes are achievable for your hands.

Practice: set the metronome at to beat about 46 bpm to get started. Play the music until you can do so with no mistakes at 48. Notch it up to 52 bpm. play it again; notch up to 56, play it again ... increase the speed until you make a mistake. At that point, turn the metronome down 2 notches, play it, turn the metronome down 2 notches, play it ... repeat until you are back where you started.

Do not play the song again until the next day when you repeat the same process, gradually increasing the speed past the performing speed, taking care to notch down when you make a mistake and stop playing that song.

You are messing up if you start telling yourself "I already know this section," and skip over sections. That will create an uncertain feeling in your playing, a loss of continuity. Instead, play every note from top to bottom at tempo, keep the beat, no stops. After 5 days of this technique you will feel comfortable with the music. After 10 days your mind can drift while your fingers are on autopilot - - it's muscle memory optimized. Always be careful not to practice mistakes.

The difference in how you sound, the confidence, strength of your tone -- the challenge is being patient.

Right hand

Right hand technique is best learned from playing some simple classical guitar music, and playing exercises every day.

The right hand is noted as   p-i-m-a.   In Spanish these translate to the names of the fingers; pulgar (thumb), indice, medio, anular, and chico (pinky). These are noted in music, same as left hand fingerings. These help guide coordination of the left and right hand.

Developing right hand technique takes quite some time and effort. However, finger picking styles Made famous by Merle Haggard, Chet Atkins, and Tommy Emmanuel use symmetrical right hand patterns - that is to say a short right hand pattern is repeated to make that Nashville sound. The patterns are not terribly hard to learn.

For example, this is the fundamental right hand pattern used in this style. To do this, place your fingers (all 4) on the top of the guitar and use your thumb only. Slow-play this until you have mastered the patten at 80 bpm.

Here's a version with chord blocks on the first beat only. Tackle this one next. Use i-m together to play the notes on the first beat.

This version uses the block chord twice, on the first beat and on the upbeat of the second. Here you can see i-m noted in the first measure.

Finally, here is the pattern as used in the song Freight Train.

About Reading

Many of my musican friends don't read and many are very successful, and talented. You don't have to read to play well, but reading is a nice skill to have. I learned how to read at a yong age and at University, which was intense. After I graduated I got some pickup work in a summer stock theater, and a teaching gig in a music store because I could. Seriously, reading will open up teaching jobs, pick up work and maybe even some studio work. Reading allows you to explore music too. While it is not easy at first, every day read something - spend 10 minutes per day, after some months you will be able to read first position. And to get started in finger style guitar, that is all you need.

Final Thoughts

Now that you have some skill with finger style, try learning House of the Rising Sun, treat the the first 8 bars as though it is the eniter piece. Just that much alone will sound great if you practice well.