Printable Version of Topic

Posted by: PosterBoy Aug 31 2013, 08:13 AM

I was given a copy of Frank Gambale's Chops Builder which is a series of 'warm ups'

Frank covers many types of exercises in his regiment of exercises: Alternate picking triplets, Alternate picking sixteenth notes, Combination triplets and sixteenth notes, Major scales and their modes, Melodic minor modes, Harmonic minor modes, Diminished and whole tone scales, Interval scales and patterns, Chromatic exercises, String skipping, Sweep picking triad arpeggios, Hammer-ons and Pull-offs, Stretch voicings, Blues progressions, and much more.

As I was learning the first and 2nd Round of warm ups, I started to find drills I had to slow down or break parts down until I could get them to my normal speed, it reminded me of Todd and Ben's video chats and approaches to getting technique down

Also I have reached a drill that requires more work on my part, I'm watching Frank and his students running it and whilst they are playing at a faster tempo than me, their fingers don't seem to be moving as fast. It baffled me for a few minutes until I recalled Rick Graham saying something the other day, normally people say speed is a by product of accuracy but he said Speed is a by product of efficiency.

So with the drill I'm having issues with I am starting to really look into each movement and position shift to minimise wasted effort of the left hand, which is making things look less hurried and allowing me to up the tempo.

Posted by: Cosmin Lupu Aug 31 2013, 03:35 PM

hey man - it's always great to see the results of slowing down and breaking things into small pieces that you can assimilate Isn't it?

Posted by: Gabriel Leopardi Aug 31 2013, 03:49 PM

Hi mate! That's a great trainer! I also worked on it an it was really helpful. And these though that you shared are the big secret behind playing fast! There are 2 important things to have in mind when you are trying to play fast:

1. Efficiency
2. Muting the strings that mustn't sound.

Posted by: verciazghra Sep 1 2013, 10:24 AM

There's a great section in the book The Inner Game of Music by Brian Greene which deals with a concept of awareness practice. Whenever you find that you can't do something, rather than being critical towards yourself and becoming frustrated, it tries to emphazise a mindset where you become increasingly aware of what you're doing; where your playing is breaking apart; if you're tensing up at that moment; what you think may be the problem, and so on.

It's a great way to think, especially when you've started breaking things apart the way you have; because, you might instinctively start trying too much to make that difference that you want to see happen. Trying can become a mental hinderrance in which you start tensing up more or start becoming critical again. Doing what you're doing, and adding this concept of just being aware and explorative rather than too hard on yourself and trying to force changes can be a great way to go!

I'm not saying this because I assume that's what you do; however it's what many people do instinctively(myself included when I started doing the breaking apart things). Personally I think isolation-practice(which I call what you're doing) is one of the finest arts involved in practicing and I love what you're describing here!

Posted by: Cosmin Lupu Sep 1 2013, 04:07 PM

QUOTE (verciazghra @ Sep 1 2013, 09:24 AM)

Posted by: verciazghra Sep 1 2013, 04:20 PM

QUOTE (Cosmin Lupu @ Sep 1 2013, 03:07 PM)

Great words mate - I will look this book up myself Now the idea is that this concept is available for everything we do in life It can be applied to a lot of situations

Posted by: Ben Higgins Sep 1 2013, 07:09 PM

I have that very same video.... it's one of those videos where, if somebody walked in on you whilst you were watching it, it would be very hard to explain...

The clothes....

Good to hear you're noticing areas where you can increase your efficiency of movement. Another fave phrase of mine is:

Give yourself time to get it right.

That could mean slowing it down as much as it takes in order to repeatedly nail a phrase exactly right, instead of rushing with loads of mistakes..

Or it can mean isolating things so you're playing very short reps...

Both of these approaches should be with the intent of minimising chances of mistakes.. and minimising fatigue, thus avoiding tension.

The flip side of this coin is that there will be a necessity to push the boundaries as well in order to break through plateaus.. but that's another story

Posted by: Cosmin Lupu Sep 2 2013, 12:07 PM

QUOTE (Ben Higgins @ Sep 1 2013, 06:09 PM)

I have that very same video.... it's one of those videos where, if somebody walked in on you whilst you were watching it, it would be very hard to explain...

The clothes....

Good to hear you're noticing areas where you can increase your efficiency of movement. Another fave phrase of mine is:

Give yourself time to get it right.

That could mean slowing it down as much as it takes in order to repeatedly nail a phrase exactly right, instead of rushing with loads of mistakes..

Or it can mean isolating things so you're playing very short reps...

Both of these approaches should be with the intent of minimising chances of mistakes.. and minimising fatigue, thus avoiding tension.

The flip side of this coin is that there will be a necessity to push the boundaries as well in order to break through plateaus.. but that's another story