Guitar Roundtable 1.18.26

1. when we first open the case
• Warm up your hands. Resolve to play light.
• Ask: what do i intend for this session? To play? To improve? To learn?
• Reminder: today is the only day

2. A bit of theory: the number system

3. exercises
• chromatic scale
• 4-string inversions: dominant 7ths / minor 7ths / major 7ths
• some scale and arpeggio ideas

4. picking: tips for speed, efficiency, and accuracy
• Watch your picking hand more, fretting hand less
• imagine the pick being glued to the the string
• imagine picking ON the string, not moving through it
• the greater the exerted force, the more tension in your forearm = less control
• better said: more relaxation / picking lightly = greater grace & accuracy
• practice slowly to teach your body the part, then practice at increasing speeds

5. Jeff Baxter’s counsel
“I only give two lessons. One is to use a metronome, because if you can’t groove you won’t get any work. The other is to sing along with your playing, à la Oscar Peterson [or George Benson]. Sing while you play, and eventually you’ll be able to connect singing the melodies in your head to your fingers, and that’s how you get into what psychologists call a flow state, where you remove the conscious piece. That’s what most improvisers do: translating the voice in their head to their fingers.”

6. Itzak Pealman’s counsel
• limit practice time to 3-ish hours per day. Beyond this, the mind (and the body) cannot absorb more. “I would rather have 1 or 2 daily hours of mindful practice than 10 hours of mindless scales.”
• Practice slowly. Be patient. 
• Have an agenda. Practice each section slowly. Attend to both hands. 
• Nerves: you can’t eliminate them, but you can get familiar with what happens in your mind and body. Note this, write about it. 

7. accompanying a soloist
• Aim for contrast—what kind of canvas does this painter need?
• Play simpler chords—2- or 3-string chords (Will the 1 and 3 suffice?)
• Leave more space
• Follow the soloist’s dynamic lead