Issue 9 - September 2nd, 2012

I would like to invite you to be part of this Weekly Magazine by raising questions and giving me suggestions thorugh e-mail so this magazine can become a good material for all flamenco lovers, researchers and musicians. Enjoy it!

1.- Comments, Questions and Answers: "What is the best way in which one can harness ones time for guitar practice?"

2.- Videos of the Week:
1) Muted Strumming por Tangos for Beginners and 2) Tools for Composers Series - Possibilities of Linking a Dominant Chord

3.- Video Recommendation of the Week: "The World: Paco de Lucia".

1.- Comments, Questions and Answers: "What is the best way in which one can harness ones time for guitar practice?"

QUESTION:

I think I wasted a lot of time in the past although I used to play for many hours every week. Now I realized that I didn’t know how to use my time to improve, I guess part of it was because I wrote a schedule on my own without diagnosing first which areas were weak, namely rhythms etc…

What is the best way in which one can harness ones time for guitar practice?

ANSWER:

It depends on how good you are at following a personalized advice given by your  teacher on how to do it as there is no standard formula which could ever be applicable for everyone.

You have to be aware of your confirmed objective position, as opposed to your subjective status (namely, how you feel or imagine you are playing now). After we get that honest perspective, just by knowing “where you stand” great things can be achieved.

To give an accurate assessment, the teacher has to be an expert in the field, and favorable results for the student will be there.

In my lessons, I only ask for a minimum of 24 minutes a day for practice (obviously it can be more but that is up to you). If you have 24 minutes a day you can start with our study program and advance happily:

http://www.cfgstudio.com/cfgs-study-program.html

In fact to harness your time means how you will manage it to play more in less time not less in more time as we generally do.

To exemplify this topic in the following video I showed how to play thousands of notes in some minutes.

Modal = 3,762 notes in 10 minutes

Melodic minor = 2,508 notes in 6 six minutes

Harmonic minor = 2,508 notes in 6 six minutes

Following this method, for example, by playing only for 22 minutes a day you will play all these three scales (Modal, Melodic Minor, Harmonic Minor) and make a total of 8,778 notes in 22 minutes.

Therefore, those 8,778 x 6 days a week brings us to 52,668 notes; in a month you play 210,672 notes; in a year you will be playing 2,528,064 notes. That is only by practicing 22 minutes daily.

Furthermore, the student can be trained to identify every possible obstacle and I do that personally. To illustrate this point here are 6 videos (just click on links) in which you can see some of our drills in that regard:

When people design their own practice schedules whimsically (without a proper assessment of what they really need) they will be victims of their own subjectivity as generally they will only practice:

1) What they play good

2) What they like or would like to play.

And this is exactly the reverse of what they objectively need to upgrade their playing status.

There are three basic subjects I teach:

1)        Rhythmic

2)        Technique

3)        Repertoire

On a weekly basis we need to have a balance practicing those three things focusing on what you specifically need to get better at. For example: Suppose you are in Beginners Level 2 for Rhythm and you have the same level in Repertoire but, if there is uncertainty about being factually situated -at least- in Beginners Level 1 for Technique (which implies fluent scale playing between other things) then my duty as a teacher is to let you know what is going on and which will be your upcoming limitations if the problem is not fixed as soon as possible. In other words, what will be your choices afterwards on one way or other.

The above mentioned subjects are listed in order of importance:

1) Rhythmic

2) Technique

3) Repertoire

This means that all three have to be taken care of, one by one, under the guidance of the teacher on a weekly or a bi-weekly basis. Generally people like more to learn Repertoire but they aren’t aware that Repertoire will be very limited shortly if Technique or Rhythm are not strong enough.

In conclusion, if you give priority to Technique and Rhythmic, then repertoire will happen automatically as a result of that. If you want to save time just do your best to understand Technique and its effects on your playing. Technique confronts you with your present certainty as well as with your possibilities for a higher attainment in music.

The following is an additional video lesson about how technique is intimately related to injuries, tiredness, pleasure (or lack of it), satisfaction, efficiency, communication, expressiveness etc. 

To prove all this arguments you can watch some success stories of those students of mine who wisely emphasized technique over repertoire in my lessons and consequently now they are able to play many things with easy.

1) Soloist guitar & cante accompaniment

2) Improvisation & playing music in groups

3) Soloist guitar

Granaina

Taranta

4) Technique exam

2.- Videos of the Week:

1) Muted Strumming por Tangos for Beginners

2) Tools for Composers Series - Possibilities of Linking a Dominant Chord

1) Muted Strumming por Tangos for Beginners

2) Tools for Composers Series - Possibilities of Linking a Dominant Chord

Here is Paco's wisdom and his unspoken message about technique...