DON'T Start From the Beginning

Mastering a piece of music.

There have been many times when I'll have a student get to a certain place in being able to perform a piece of music and not seem to be able to perfect it. The beginner usually decides that the best thing to do is to just start over and play the piece all the way through. The advice I give gets ignored, or worse, the excuses start coming. I've heard it all: I can't memorize things, I don't like this song, (translation, it's too hard and I don't want to bother finishing it), it doesn't sound good slow, and the list goes on. Beginning guitar students seem to have an especially hard time working on a song, being satisfied as soon as it resembles what it should sound like.

Isolating the trouble spots.

Trouble spots come in many forms. It can be rhythm, awkward fingering, a passage that you play wrong over and over, and more, lots more. Let's take a look at a couple of these and how to get over the hump.

Rhythm.

Solved by a) listening to a recording of the song, b), slowing down and working with a metronome,
c) having your guitar teacher go over the rhythm with you until you fully understand it. One technique I've used is to listen to a recording of the song when I'm not trying to play it. Listen to it over and over until you know exactly what the song is supposed to sound like. Don't go too long without listening, thinking that you know how it goes.

Awkward fingering.

Beginning guitar students and even more advanced guitarists seem to have a way of talking themselves out of using the pinkie on their left hand. Most give up on it way too soon, so they never develop the ability to use it. The concept of position playing on the guitar, one finger per fret, can almost always help you work out a fingering problem. An important point to remember is to use the same fingering consistently once you decide how you'll play that part of the song. Your guitar teacher can help you pick the finger combinations that work best. I always tell my students though, fingering is a suggestion and if you find something that's more comfortable, don't be afraid to use it.

Starting over from the beginning.

People learn things in many different ways, and one of the ways is to start over from the beginning if they make a mistake. When I learn a new song, I always try to play through the whole thing, no matter how slow and painful that may be. It's a way of seeing what you're up against, and after playing through it a few times you can usually find the parts that are going to be the most difficult. Another approach is to learn each measure one at a time, only moving on when you can play those notes well. Whichever way you choose to start, after playing the song a couple times listen and look for the parts that will be more difficult. Play those parts through a few extra times each day when you practice the song, so you can smooth them out.

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