They should have been called “pop-offs”. I don’t mean any disrespect to the great Pete Seeger who brought us modern tablature and named the pull-off, it’s just that if you […]
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We play with our finger TIPS. I know that seems obvious, but we often don’t do it. If we spend some time getting used to this weird use of our […]
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Bored with playing the same predictable rhythms when you’re improvising? Break it up using the rhythms in names. Say these names aloud and feel the rhythmic pulses in them, especially […]
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A player asked me yesterday if he could postpone his lesson a week because he didn’t get to play much that week. Of course, that’s fine with me, but I […]
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Well, you may have heard several reasons, but this is my favorite: To witness what you actually do instead of what you think you should be doing. We are […]
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In the beginning there was cacophony, and it was good. But not everybody thought so. Several hundred years ago, Christian monks discovered how to play several notes simultaneously in a […]
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Yeah, it’s a killer. Try this: Don’t strum all the way to the moment that the tough chord should be played and then changing chords (that’s like pressing pause while […]
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It can be tricky. Try this: Pause the playback immediately after you hear the note/chord you’re listening for. Then, listen to your short term memory, sing whatever you hear and […]
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They show you where you can improve. If you try to avoid them you won’t know where where to focus your practice. The trick is to be open to mistakes. […]
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And thinking is often too slow for playing. Now, obviously, we have to think and occasionally look at our hands when we play. But we often watch our hands because […]
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