Nashville Guitar Guru | Guitar Lessons in Nashville, TN

Dave Isaacs, Nashville guitar guru and master teacher

Musicianship

Core Concepts 12: build a repertoire and perform it

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There’s no better way to master a piece of music than to perform it.

Practicing alone can only take you so far. Many people find that when they learn a new song, stubborn trouble spots persist even when everything else has become fluid. These might be very obvious things, like a difficult lick or chord form. But they might also be musical factors, the things that make a performance smooth and natural. Either way, the player is left feeling that the song gets to be about 80 percent there and then stops improving.

This is a very common problem, and in fact is a natural part of the learning process. Mastering the song completely requires another step: adding the listener’s ear. That ear might belong to a person, but it could just as easily be a microphone or camera. The simple fact of the performance being documented, or experienced by an audience, changes the player’s awareness. Weaknesses are magnified and stand out more prominently. The natural jitters that most performers feel take their toll on technique as well. The bottom line is, performance is a stress test: how well can you keep it together under challenging circumstances?

The improvements are subtle and don’t happen immediately. If you’re new to performing you will have more frustrating experiences than satisfying ones at first.

But if you continue to do it, you start to become more comfortable. You begin to realize that even an obvious mistake is fleeting, and as long as you can regain your balance most of the audience won’t notice or care. Most of all, you develop the ability to maintain concentration and flow in an unpredictable environment full of distractions. All good musicians need to be able to keep track of multiple things at once, and not all those factors are musical.

Preparing for performance also forces you to zero in on a specific set of music. Without an imperative to perfect particular songs, you’re less likely to push through the work of polishing and refining. It forces you to take a closer look, and work out details that you might not of been aware of or found easy to overlook. Best of all, once that work is done it tends to stick.

Some people just don’t enjoy performing, and it’s certainly possibly to hone a performance without ever stepping on a stage. But for goal-setting, developing flow, and building overall confidence, there’s no better method.

Core concepts 11: never stop looking for new options

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If there’s a single lesson that might have the most impact on your guitar playing, it’s that you should never stop looking for new options.

When we first start playing, nearly everyone learns the basic open chords. This is foundation stuff, and important to any style of music. But a significant percentage of people stop there. If your goal is to play songs you like, that basic vocabulary can be enough for you to be functional. But the limitations soon become clear.

If your goals include playing lead and melody, you’ve probably learned some scales. If you’re diligent, you might have learned multiple scales in different places around the neck. But even skilled players begin to repeat themselves, and can eventually start to feel like things are getting stale.

 

Most styles of music have a primary vocabulary that helps defines the genre. But even within those (necessary) limitations, there’s always another way to play virtually anything.

If you find yourself stagnant and stuck, it’s almost certainly because you stopped looking for options.

Think about that basic open chord vocabulary. How many different ways can you play a D chord? That familiar triangle shape is often the right thing to play, but have you tried others? Even within the same song, some variation can make things more interesting. You can also find new possibilities for melody and signature guitar parts by expressing the same chord different ways.

We could say the same for scales. Even playing the same melody in a different location or with a different fingering can change the sonic effect. When improvising, simply landing somewhere new will have an impact on your note choices.

Let’s go a step further. What about alternate tunings? Some players invent their own, while others fall in love with the sound of a particular tuning. Some people pick up another guitar or even a different instrument when they need inspiration. But you don’t have to go that far to shake things up a little.

 

Looking for options simply means being on the lookout for other things to try.

Since guitar playing is based on learned movements, it’s easy to rely on muscle memory. Since music is based on patterns, it’s easy to fall into using the same ones automatically. It’s easy to favor the familiar, and sometimes that’s the right thing.

That’s not to say you should analyze everything you play. Your first intuition will often be the right one once you’re tuned in enough to connect to it. But if you get into the habit of challenging your musical decisions, you will always reach further and keep stretching your both your vocabulary and your skills. This keeps your playing fresh, engaged, and dynamic. Most of all, it gives you a path out of the ruts we all fall into from time to time.

Core Concepts 10: improvise and explore!

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A confident player is unafraid to explore.

People learn to play in two ways. One involves the guidance of a teacher or mentor, who leads the student one step at a time. The other involves exploration and experimentation: try this, try that, and see what happens.

In last week’s Core Concepts we looked at the philosophical split between those who seek out a teacher and those that prefer to find their own way. Where you fall between those two poles will determine how you learn. Ultimately, everyone can and should benefit from both. But the ability to improvise and explore – to let your ears and fingers lead you into new territory – is an essential part of developing true confidence as a player.

 

Watch a child approach an instrument for the first time.

Kids aren’t inhibited by not knowing what to do, because exploration is how they learn about the world. They simply make sounds, and sometimes those sounds begin to develop into something coherent. Some begin to hear relationships and make a connection between an action on the instrument and a particular sound. This is, of course, the skill every player eventually develops, but some take to it more naturally than others.

I’ve come to believe that the thing that stops most adults from just exploring on the guitar has little to do with natural affinity. As we get older and become more accomplished at other things, we get used to knowing what to do. This makes the prospect of blindly jumping in more and more daunting over time. Not knowing where to begin or what choices to make is inhibiting, and creates an “option anxiety” that stops us from trying.

 

The thing is, though, that if you can make one good sound you can make another.

And as you learn to be a conscious listener, you will begin to hear and recognize different sonic relationships. The ability to make these connections is simply based on pattern recognition. Granted, this comes more easily to some than others, but it’s a fundamental aspect of the way our minds order the world. If the patterns are there to be perceived, you can learn to perceive them.

So what’s the value of this kind of exploration? Learning to find your way around the instrument builds confidence and strengthens the connection between hands and ears. For songwriters and composers, it’s essential in order to stimulate creativity and find new patterns to work with. For any player, it opens up the possibility of finding something new every time you pick up the guitar. It’s also highly liberating to feel that if you step off the path you won’t be lost in the wilderness.

Above all, it’s great fun, and a way for anyone to be creative even if you aren’t setting out to write music. It gives you a way to tap into unconscious flow and intuition, once you can comfortably make a good sound. For me, it’s one of the most gratifying aspects of playing music, and there’s nothing like stumbling onto something wonderful you didn’t expect.

So no matter what your goals and interests are, no matter your level of natural ability or skill: pick up your instrument and explore.

It doesn’t matter if you don’t know what’s going to happen: just play.

 

 

 

 

Core Concepts 9: Know the rules, learn from the rulebreakers

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There seems to be a hard philosophical split among musicians when it comes to “learning the rules”.

“Rules” primarily fall into three categories. There are rules of music theory that explain why some notes work well together and some don’t. There are rules of technique – the right and wrong way to play. And then there are stylistic rules: what is and isn’t appropriate within a given genre.

The basic division is on the question of whether or not it’s important to learn “the rules”. Not everyone falls to one side or the other of the divide: as with most such philosophical splits, there’s a continuum. But there are fundamentalists on both sides.

 

1. Music theory

This is an oddly contentious subject, one that people tent to have strong opinions on. On the one hand, there’s the old saw about having to know the rules before you can break them. There are plenty of examples of self-taught musicians “breaking the rules” in very powerful and effective ways without any schooling on what those rules are. However, it’s worth pointing out that some rules matter more than others.

On the other hand, there are creative people that believe any formal knowledge is just a straitjacket. I had a student tell me about a successful songwriter that once told him something to the effect of “I don’t want to know about music, I gotta stay pure”. I applaud this person’s faith in his muse, but it seems needlessly self-limiting.

I think the truth lies somewhere between, as it often does. First of all, many people have a fundamental misunderstanding of what music theory is. The principles of music theory are not like traffic laws that need to be enforced. They are more like an explanation of natural phenomena. Rather than determining which notes are supposed to be used, these “rules” expain WHY certain combinations of notes work well together. Music theory is a system, a set of interconnected relationships. There are principles at work, but they’re far broader than the formulas might suggest.

When something seems to break the rules, it very often doesn’t.

If it sounds good, there is almost certainly a principle in music theory that explains why it works even if the math doesn’t seem to add up. Many naturally intuitive musicians simply hear these relationships, and their musical choices are guided by these principles even if they don’t realize it. For many others, theory gives us a way to classify and categorize the tools in our musical toolbox – something any craftsman can clearly see the value of.

It can be easy to fall into a trap and make the same choices again and again, but I would submit that this trap is more a symptom of creative laziness than any innate shortcoming of understanding music.

 

2. Technique

I don’t believe in “right vs wrong” when it comes to technique. There are great players I’ve admired all my life that use approaches no teacher would be likely to ever recommend. There may be disadvantages to a particular approach, though. There are two things to consider here: one is always a variable, and one isn’t.

For the most part, all humans and all guitars are made more or less the same way. There is a basic mechanical logic to the body, just as there is to the instrument. However, no two people are proportioned exactly alike, and guitars also come in different shapes and sizes. How you ergonomically relate to your instrument depends on the intersection of these two variables.

This directly impacts things like hand position, how high or low to wear a strap, and other mechanical questions. Since all mechanisms work according to the laws of physics, there’s definitely an optimal approach. From the ergonomic perspective, this means maximizing sound while minimizing effort. This makes a lot of sense, and it’s the approach I recommend as a teacher. However, one has to consider the variables: physical differences between people and guitars, and the demands of different musical situations.

Again, I would suggest that the most natural and intuitive players find this optimal approach because it’s the most physically fluid. Those that don’t are often simply distracted by the specifics of playing the notes. They don’t notice the how, only the what. But there’s no denying that sometimes something different just works. If you feel restricted by an approach, you can likely find a better one. If you don’t, as they say, it ain’t broke…

 

3. Style

This is another contentious point for some people. How important is it to be true to a style? Where do we draw the line on what’s appropriate and what isn’t? The answer depends on your goals, and what you’re trying to accomplish.

If your goal is to replicate another player’s style as accurately as possible, the choice is obvious. We might choose to do this simply because we love it, and there’s a lot to be said for getting to know the ins and outs of an artist’s approach. The trap is when it becomes a creative straitjacket. For your average bar band or fan, this may not matter. It’s often more important to sound like the original because that’s what the player and the listener want to hear. But that’s not always the case.

The fact is, all innovation in music has come from people that found their own way of doing things. The history of music is full of artists who forged their own style and changed the sound of everyone who came after them. The great irony for the purist is that they may find themselves imitating and even trying to enforce the approach of a maverick.

 

Ultimately, the idea of “choosing a side” is self-defeating.

What we call “rules” are more often principles and guidelines. They exist because they work, but they aren’t monolithic and there are no penalties for breaking them. Learn the rules, they give you a framework and a path to follow. But you can also learn a lot from individuals that found their own way: don’t be afraid to be yourself.

 

Core Concepts 8: play well with others

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There are lots of good reasons to play music with other people, no matter what your musical goals are.

A significant percentage of people spend most of their time playing alone. Not just in practice time, but playing in general. There’s nothing inherently wrong with that, but there are musical skills that are only developed by playing in a group. Relating back to last week’s “big ears” post, the ability to listen and react is one of the most important.

There’s a big difference between practicing a part by yourself and playing it as part of a group. Playing along with a backing track can be a good first step in learning to fit in and blend, but a track never changes. After some repetition, you know exactly what to expect. But in a live setting with other players, even solidly consistent performances have variations. Playing with other humans forces you to tune in at a more detailed and dynamic level, even if the parts never change.

 

One of the highest goals for the aspiring musician is to be able to play with intent in the moment.

The part might be thoroughly practiced and planned in advance, but in performance it still has to be executed musically and dynamically. There’s no better way to develop that intention by reacting consciously to other players.

Maybe most important of all, though, playing music is one of the best things people can do together as a group. When a performance is at its best, it’s a collective experience shared by everyone, a way to wordlessly communicate and share an emotional connection.

 

Core Concepts 7: the best musicians have big ears.

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“Big ears” means knowing how to listen, and what to listen for.

All the practicing in the world won’t make you a good musician if you don’t develop your listening skills. The best players can play the right thing because the music suggests it. The specific parts each person plays are shaped by the other parts and the overall feel of the music. Everyone is listening and reacting to everyone else, balancing the different elements to create the whole.

Even a soloist playing alone has elements to balance. There is a dynamic flow through the form of the song, and the relationship between melody and accompaniment. A strong rhythm part balances the different parts of the beat the same way a drummer balances the different parts of the kit. These things can all be worked out in a practice session, but each gesture should be executed consciously. We decide what to do and how to do it in the practice room, but in performance we practice the action of executing the thought in real time.

A good listener is a sensitive accompanist, a dynamic soloist, and a good conversationalist. It’s most important skill a musician can have, and the single best way to elevate your playing. Best of all, all you need to do is start paying attention.