NEWSLETTER 2006      Previous newsletter

Hi to all you fellow buskers,           

            For most people I know time is the big element in restricting the learning process. Most players that come on our weekends still have busy careers and family commitments, so time to sit down and practise is at a premium. Remember you don’t have to have a guitar in your hand to practice. All those scales and chord shapes you are learning can be visualised in the minds eye (just one at a time I hasten to add). Going through a scale pattern and seeing each of your fingers playing each of the notes and hearing that note in your mind can really prepare you for when you come to do it for real. We all do this in our jobs, we go over what the plans for the day are as we travel to work. We can see that meeting happening and visualise what we are going to say. We can also mentally hear the response we want to get. Sports people use these techniques a lot. The mind is a very powerful tool in learning the psychomotor skills required for playing an instrument. As youngsters we do this automatically.
            How many times a day can you find time to just think? I’m sure a lot more often than you can to pick up a guitar. Give it a try. It does take a bit of discipline and mental organisation. Which after all is what you should have for you practice sessions with the guitar.

            Of course a lot of us have been playing for years and still have problems with our playing where we can’t quite get our hands to do what our brains (or ears) want. This comes from years and years of playing in our own style. The strumming pattern that we developed when we first learn to play, to get the sound we wanted without really bothering about the technique used to get it. As long as it sounded right, that was ok and we repeated and repeated it. Of course this then becomes embedded in our brain to finger connections (psychomotor skill). We then try to use that learned skill to reproduce some fresh sounds (rhythm patterns) but they always seem to come out the same. Practice doesn’t make perfect – it makes permanent. What you practice if it’s the right technique, and you can realise if it’s wrong. That makes perfect. There’s no one to tell you that when you are alone at home. Just hearing that something is wrong is not enough, you need that visual feedback to find out what you need to do to put it right. That’s what good teachers are for.

            Remember should you feel you want a break from the fast lane of life to put a bit more time into your playing then you could just come for a short break with us at our B&B in the Lakes (not on a Guitar Weekend) and make use of the teaching studio and resources we have here to do some practise and learning. Mixed in with a good helping of Local food and visiting places of interest. You could even do some walking! Stay at standard Guest House rates.  Beckfoot Country House