I found this interesting article, itās from a classical guitar site, but it well applies to fingerstyle and lead guitar in general I think.
Anyone else experiencing this? It reminds me of the 6 areas of practice from one of Justinās Food for Thought articles; we need to develop our skills in all the areas, otherwise something will be always missing, and when fingers memory lets you down you go blank and get stuck it used to happen to me so much! But Iām trying to avoid this now
Thoughts?
@RadekSiechowicz you might find this article of some interest I think.
Hi Silvia,
I donāt understand the article or itās a strange articleā¦ when I practice something I have to do things very often ā¦ really days weeks months and memorize things in my head before even a finger can work on his muscle memory , or am I am the only one who first practices and learns drowsy and at the last moment it goes automaticallyā¦ no I`m not or
does this piece apply to advanced players who know the piece after a day and not us mortels?
That means youāre a good boy Rogier, and youāre already able to delay your fingers memory as it is adviced in the article.
It took me a while to understand this, my fingers tended to remember too early znd actually play correctly, without my brain and my ear being able to followā¦and I soon got into the trap āoh wowā¦I can do it already!ā
Butā¦I got wiser and learnt to practice like a good girl would
ā¦ Will I ever come back to this or will I abuse it to my own advantage to third party
If you find something somewhere to speed up my muscle memory, think of me and send it please
we are so sweet and good people
Okay ā¦ admittedly ā¦ before I met Justin I thought kuchā¦severalā¦kuch times with songs where I only played along with chords after half an hour ā¦ āfinished, I know that nowā
and then came a friend and
And if that is what is meantā¦I was guilty
Edit: no thats not what you meant because that quick the muscle memory didnt kick in
Well I find ik oke ā¦the thing what I take from here is the ā¦GOOD boyā¦
Iāll leave the rest for others and now Iām going to work very hard and with great pleasure on those songs that just donāt get into my finger memory
I think the point of the article is that we shouldnāt just literally go through the motions when playing something but also be aware of what we play.
Personally, especially as a total newbie, I had an emphasis on what the article calls visual memory (plus looking at my fretting hand, of course). Then, over time, muscle memory got a bigger share of my mental approach. It happened quicker when I didnāt have to change positions too often. Aural memory is mostly there, but this also improves over time.
I have certainly been guilty of āmindlessā learning recently and it bit me in the butt during an open mic. No problem sat at home practicing but a simple change of environment and the muscle memory can soon forget. Body position becomes almost guaranteed to be not what you are used to so the auto fire reflexes can get muddledā¦. Plus there are many more intrusive thoughts in a pressured environment.
Iāll take a look at the video later Silvia thanks for sharing, Iām in a 10 minute break from grass cutting and a good 90 minutes to go. Needs to be finished as storm is about to hit.
I am convinced my finger suffer from amnesia ! I have been (finally) practicing a finger style pattern over Am Em D Am and as the aim is to finally sing while playing finger style, I have moved on to singing the PIMA letters as I play the pattern. I seemed to be making progress.
Today, I dug out my list of common chord progressions with the plan of just playing the pattern with different chords. So my left hand is doing something different and I am just saying to my right hand ārock on do the same thing manā it will be easy. Right hand says āno way man, what the heck is lefty doing, I canāt follow that !!ā My brain is going get a grip boys it canāt be that hard.
So any help I can get is most welcome. And back to the mowing
Hi Toby, this article is not about fingerpicking patterns where the sooner you develop muscle memory the better, I think.
Have you tried to slow down tempo while playing on different chord progressions? That should allow your right hand to go like āah, yeah C is coming next so thumb picks the 5th stringā. If you can anticipate in your mind/ear what chord comes next the right hand will have a way easier time.
As regards singing you could try to do exactly what Justin does in his songs lessons when he strums and sings on the 4 downstrums of the bar. If you pattern is pimapima for example you have p on 1 - m on 2 - p on 3 - m on 4ā¦ If you visualise it like this and you tap your foot accordingly youāll find yourself practicing songs the same way youād do with strumming ā¦ Itās all about Rhythm, right?
Shortly: if you go slow enough to anticipate what chord comes next and you tap your foot on the beat and youāre aware that only p and m play on the beats and youāve practiced your singing tapping on the beatā¦then it should click. Does this makes sense to you? If it does have a try, let me know how it goes.
Nowā¦wiill you be nice and send some of your storm down here to Italy?! Pleaaaseeā¦
Iām not the only one that experienced it thenā¦weāre human, we do mistakes but we can nevertheless learn from them and do better! In this case we learnt that when we practice we need to be mindful, foccused and fully engaged in what weāre doingā¦ My attempt at arranging Wind of Change by myself is a response to feeling this miserable; while commenting my video Andrea wrote something like āyouāre loving each note of itā and that was true! Itās my ear that tells my fingers where to go in the first place and I always know where I am in the bar, if I make a mistake and hit a wrong note no problem, Iām learning to keep on going follow my foot tapping and play the next correct note.
This explains it in a clear way, I never thought about these aspects, thank you.
Thanks for sharing Silvia. Yes, it is interesting and true. You can learn a song quickly, repeat it countless times going on automatic pilot, even watch some TV as you go. But it will most likely backfire at some point, I have one piece Iām playing for over 2 years to the point it is almost automatic (although not very precise). Quite recently I was going about 2nd verse and realised I donāt know what comes next, so I rewind to the beginning of the verse and againā¦ some notes around but not quite there. I brought up the score and the stuff there look totally alien to me, I had to re-learn it whole verse and be aware what Iām learning.
Another story, I got a song quite quickly a month or so, I was going about it one time and totally messed up end of the bridge. After few failed attempts I brought tabs and had hard time re-learning what was lost.
Visualising helps me to memorise those lost fragments better, I recall the tabs in my mind how the look like for this particular part Iām struggling to re-learn. At some point it goes back to automatic again.
Experienced/talented musicians learn pieces very quickly, they record it on YT and they move to another thing without being bother to retain this songs in their memory. So perhaps the problem is in the keeping something in your memory for a long time, it can erode despite of practicing.
Iām afraid I didnāt earn this āyouāre a good boyā honestlyā¦itās just that Iām so slow of myself to remember these things I āaccidentallyā learn this one the(this) right way
But for now much more important ā¦ France and Italian people, you are constantly making the news here (and more countries that are on fire (literally)) ā¦ good luck and Silvia, and for now Richardās mantra has now been replaced byā¦ Learn songs and DRINK DRINK DRINKā¦ Learn songs and DRINK DRINK DRINKā¦ Learn songs and DRINK DRINK DRINKā¦
Good luckā¦I will send something to temporarily cool you down this was last winter (during the heat here there is always a channel on skates on the outside ice here)
Thank Jozsef for checking this out and sharig your point of view, I agree our aural memory ks what counts in the first place, but there might be also some way it combines with our fingersā¦ some more food for thought to investigate
If only I could, looks like your roasting again. Also lots of high alerts in more southern French departments. As yet no big storm just a little rain overnight !
Watched the video just now. Some useful info and very much the approach I take when learning solo pieces. Break it down and slow it down. So good share.
As to the fingerstyle and singing it will come eventually. Now I have finally gone back to practicing patterns, Iāll search out a few songs I know well lyrically and start with something familiar. Thanks for the tips.
Yes you earned it because youāve been wise and able to turn your being slow in a great resource for your learning! Justin says that slow learners will prove better in the long run in one of his lessonā¦so keep on rocking my friend
can I add eat ice creams and have cold showers?..oh noā¦the water here comes only warmluke I do drink a lot of water and take mineral salts everyday!
it used to happen to me so much! But Iām trying to avoid this now 
ā¦ Will I ever come back to this or will I abuse it to my own advantage to third party 
I do drink a lot of water and take mineral salts everyday!
your kitty is so sweet!