So to get to my work I gotta take an hour and a half long bus ride. Rather than just sit there, I thought I could do something more useful with my time. I'm trying to working on my reading lately, so I just open a page on a few guitar books I own and try to imagine what I would play and I go without stopping.
Now I'm wondering, has anyone ever done this and has it made a big impact on your reading? I feel like my sight reading skills are improving and my ability to read up in 7th or 9th position is getting better. I've gotten pretty obsessed with doing this, any music I see, I'll be thinking on how I would play that and what It would sound like.
Anyone go through phases like this? How beneficial was it?
> So to get to my work I gotta take an hour and a half long bus ride. > Rather than just sit there, I thought I could do something more useful > with my time. I'm trying to working on my reading lately, so I just > open a page on a few guitar books I own and try to imagine what I > would play and I go without stopping.
> Now I'm wondering, has anyone ever done this and has it made a big > impact on your reading? I feel like my sight reading skills are > improving and my ability to read up in 7th or 9th position is getting > better. I've gotten pretty obsessed with doing this, any music I see, > I'll be thinking on how I would play that and what It would sound > like.
> Anyone go through phases like this? How beneficial was it?
> Thanks
I did something like this when I was first trying to improve my reading and fretboard knowledge. I made flashcards with four bars of music on one side and the tab on the other. Then on my lunch break I would go through the cards and write out the tab and check my answers.
It helped me, but it sounds like you are already way beyond that.
Another thing I do away from the guitar is use ear training software.
> So to get to my work I gotta take an hour and a half long bus ride. > Rather than just sit there, I thought I could do something more useful > with my time. I'm trying to working on my reading lately, so I just > open a page on a few guitar books I own and try to imagine what I > would play and I go without stopping.
> Now I'm wondering, has anyone ever done this and has it made a big > impact on your reading? I feel like my sight reading skills are > improving and my ability to read up in 7th or 9th position is getting > better. I've gotten pretty obsessed with doing this, any music I see, > I'll be thinking on how I would play that and what It would sound > like.
> Anyone go through phases like this? How beneficial was it?
> Thanks
Next thing you will realize is that you can *write* music without the instrument where ever you may be on the planet. Just be sure to bring a writing tool while asking for extra napkins. And if you dig a little harder, you will be able to improvise in your head while seeing yourself execute the notes on your axe. You can thus write *those* notes down, as well. With a little chutzpah almost anything may become second nature. There is just no end to it all.
> So to get to my work I gotta take an hour and a half long bus ride. > Rather than just sit there, I thought I could do something more useful > with my time. I'm trying to working on my reading lately, so I just > open a page on a few guitar books I own and try to imagine what I > would play and I go without stopping.
> Now I'm wondering, has anyone ever done this and has it made a big > impact on your reading? I feel like my sight reading skills are > improving and my ability to read up in 7th or 9th position is getting > better. I've gotten pretty obsessed with doing this, any music I see, > I'll be thinking on how I would play that and what It would sound > like.
> Anyone go through phases like this? How beneficial was it?
> Thanks
One that starts happening if you do that a lot is that you will begin to hear the music without playing the guitar. It happened for me with things written in the key of C at first. I didn't realize it until I was looking through a classical guitar book in a store and started humming what was written. Charlie
> So to get to my work I gotta take an hour and a half long bus ride. > Rather than just sit there, I thought I could do something more useful > with my time. I'm trying to working on my reading lately, so I just > open a page on a few guitar books I own and try to imagine what I > would play and I go without stopping.
> Now I'm wondering, has anyone ever done this and has it made a big > impact on your reading? I feel like my sight reading skills are > improving and my ability to read up in 7th or 9th position is getting > better. I've gotten pretty obsessed with doing this, any music I see, > I'll be thinking on how I would play that and what It would sound > like.
> Anyone go through phases like this? How beneficial was it?
> Thanks
Hi Antal,
I"m working on classical guitar, a lot of people in the cg world recommend reading w/o a guitar not only to improve your reading, but also as a way to learn pieces. The people who do this swear by it. I tried it w/ 2 pieces over a 3 day vacation when I didn't bring a guitar.
It worked pretty well. Learning entire pieces w/o th instrument is something I should do more of, but I haven't tried it since.
I regularly read scores w/o guitar to memorize scores or as a kind of pre-read study, but I haven't tried the intense visualization needed to actually learn a piece that way.
I should make it a regular thing. I could only help.
Antal Abel wrote: > So to get to my work I gotta take an hour and a half long bus ride. > Rather than just sit there, I thought I could do something more useful > with my time. I'm trying to working on my reading lately, so I just > open a page on a few guitar books I own and try to imagine what I > would play and I go without stopping.
> Now I'm wondering, has anyone ever done this and has it made a big > impact on your reading? I feel like my sight reading skills are > improving and my ability to read up in 7th or 9th position is getting > better. I've gotten pretty obsessed with doing this, any music I see, > I'll be thinking on how I would play that and what It would sound > like.
> Anyone go through phases like this? How beneficial was it?
> Thanks
Yep. That's all good to do. Try to be as specific as you can about what you're visualizing. What finger (finger stretch or no?), what fret (fret number and position number?), string dampening (with left hand or right hand), up stroke or down stroke (to sweep/rake or not?), what's the thumb doing?, etc., etc.
I used to do this type of stuff poolside, when I was taking my correspondence lessons with Charlie Banacos and trying to work out fingerings for his "non-tertian bi-tonal pendulums" (God I love saying that) while I was on vacation and was away from the guitar. When I finally had the guitar in my hands, I couldn't simply nail the pattern and play it perfectly (he had me playing some hard patterns), but they did come a lot faster than if I had never done the visualization work.
I find that when I do this though, that I have to wiggle my fingers around in the air in mock fingerings. At the pool I could hide my hand underneath the cot. I might have looked like a psycho if I was doing that on a bus though. Bring a newspaper and cover it over your lap? Hmmm. They might think you're doing doing something even weirder then.
> So to get to my work I gotta take an hour and a half long bus ride. > Rather than just sit there, I thought I could do something more useful > with my time. I'm trying to working on my reading lately, so I just > open a page on a few guitar books I own and try to imagine what I > would play and I go without stopping.
> Now I'm wondering, has anyone ever done this and has it made a big > impact on your reading? I feel like my sight reading skills are > improving and my ability to read up in 7th or 9th position is getting > better. I've gotten pretty obsessed with doing this, any music I see, > I'll be thinking on how I would play that and what It would sound > like.
> Anyone go through phases like this? How beneficial was it?
> Thanks
This is a basic musicianship issue apart from your guitar playing, or playing any other instrument. A lot of students are required to take lessons in sight singing. This is engineered in such a way that it will gradually improve the student's ability to recognize intervals and rhythm patterns and sing them at sight. It is very beneficial regardless of what instrument the student plays.
So by all means continue with what you are doing. It will make you a better musician. ....joe
On 2008-05-10 05:43:50 -0700, Antal Abel <antalab...@gmail.com> said:
> So to get to my work I gotta take an hour and a half long bus ride. > Rather than just sit there, I thought I could do something more useful > with my time. I'm trying to working on my reading lately, so I just > open a page on a few guitar books I own and try to imagine what I > would play and I go without stopping.
> Now I'm wondering, has anyone ever done this and has it made a big > impact on your reading?
Oh yeah. I have championed this approach forever.
> I feel like my sight reading skills are improving and my ability to > read up in 7th or 9th position is getting > better. I've gotten pretty obsessed with doing this, any music I see, > I'll be thinking on how I would play that and what It would sound > like.
The first time, I too was stuck on a bus for about 2 hours a day. I was reading clarinet etudes. Bought the Bona rhythmic etudes but at that time they were too much for me, so I went back to clarinet. I could feel my reading chops come up. One of the best experiences for me. I did use the Bona etudes and got some use out of them, by the way, but at that time it was only for tapping out the rhythm.
A couple of years later I was stucking *driving* a bus for about three months. I drove a school bus to and from a college campus from an apartment complex once an hour. I drove to campus, waited 20 minutes. Drove back, waited 20 minutes. All day. Most of my day was waiting. I got a Hohner Melodica, which is configured like a keyboard. I would play bop heads out of a fake book while waiting. When the bus began fill up, I stopped suppling air, and would only finger the pieces. Another great reading experience.
The next year I got a job as a janitor at the school during the evenings and worked unattended. In reality most of my time was spent holed-up on the janitor's closet practicing the clarinet. Late one night Lefty, the main janitor over about 6 buildings, opened the door to my room while I was playing. He shook his head and said, "Damn that sounds really good". "Thanks, Lefty." A pause. "You're fired." Another long pause. "You should thank me again." "Hey, thanks." We then talked about clarinet and alto sax for about an hour. Turned out he had bought an alto about three years before but couldn't figure out how to play it. -- Dogmatism kills jazz. Iconoclasm kills rock. Rock dulls scissors.
> ................ I got a job as a janitor at the school during the > evenings and worked unattended. In reality most of my time was spent > holed-up on the janitor's closet practicing the clarinet. Late one night > Lefty, the main janitor over about 6 buildings, opened the door to my room > while I was playing. He shook his head and said, "Damn that sounds really > good". > "Thanks, Lefty." A pause. > "You're fired." Another long pause. "You should thank me again." > "Hey, thanks." > We then talked about clarinet and alto sax for about an hour. Turned out > he had bought an alto about three years before but couldn't figure out how > to play it.
That's a great story!! Thanks, Gerry!! ........joe
