Random Tips
Every now and again I find something that might help other guitarists and think it might be nice to share. Maybe you have some little pearls of wisdom that you find in your practice?
Here's one that I found in Taichi the other day that I think will be helpful for us with problems of tension: the effort you put into force should be put into concentration and precision. That is, instead of expending effort in physical strength, direct it into focus on and accuracy of movement.
Maybe a little subtle, or maybe already very obvious to you. There is also an interesting play of balancing between relaxing tension/physical strength and alertness; the relaxation can lead to lassitude and sloppiness, and so I think directing effort into concentration and precision can help maintain alertness. I think eventually over time, as things become more natural, that same effort might become less.
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Interesting idea, Roni - thanks for sharing! I often find when I'm practicing that I have a great deal of tension in my left hand. (That is, my fingers are pressing down on the strings with far too much force.) And then I wonder why that should be: there is nothing stressful in the situation, in fact I am doing something I rather enjoy! Does it perhaps arise from the very act of concentration, a sort of sympathetic effect of mental exertion? Or is it just poor technique that has become ingrained after years of habit? I really ought to address this properly some day.... Do you have any thoughts on how this principle from Tai Chi might be adopted by guitarists? It sounds like it could be very useful!
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Hey David , I think it's a very common thing amongst all classical guitarists to have too much tension in the left hand, as well as many other parts of the body. Probably for all musicians, if not all fine physical activities. It's the natural instinct of "if it doesn't work, I need press harder", which is particular noticeable on the guitar, especially because when we get buzzing and we press harder the buzzing stops.
Many guitarist rightly advocate relaxation (or better said, control of the degree of pressure/tension), precision and concentration as three separate elements. For example, I liked how in Vladimir Gorbach's course he taught how to relax the right hand between strokes of the fingers, focussing very precisely on releasing of the tension in the finger after it played (relaxation). Then most people know they need to e.g. play as near to the fret as possible, use only the necessary pressure on specific areas of the barré, focus on pressing only as hard as absolutely necessary (control of tension), and then you can see several teachers on Tonebase advocating things like doing the exercises for short periods of time (Gorbach) then resting briefly to make sure concentration is at its best.
What I found interesting from Tai Chi was how effort as a fundamental form of exertion could work, so rather than treating these as something separate, we direct effort away from physical force and into concentration and precision. In Tai Chi, when we notice that concentration isn't working quite so well, we slow down, which increases concentration, as well as the ability be more precise. So I guess the way this could work is to simply slow down as we notice unnecessary tension, but with a focussed interest in the movements of the hand/body/mind/etc. This, together with other techniques of intentional release of tension.
Hope that makes sense and helps somehow!
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Roni Glaser Thanks for elaborating! Slowing down our practice would seem to be what is called for. (This of course is widely recommended, though rarely explained.) I like the idea that the energy underlying excess physical exertion (i.e. tension) can be redirectled towards more useful mental activity (i.e. concentration). (If indeed that's the idea ...) I need to think this through a little more thoroughly, but I'm intrigued!
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David Yes that's the idea. It's what the Taichi teacher said to do, and it'll take a little while until to put it into practice and confirm how it and if it works.
One important point I've found is rather than relaxing and letting go of the tension and thereby losing the physical or mental energy we were putting into the hand movement, with the change of focus, the level of energy and alertness is maintained in order to be able to carry out the movement with the concentration and precision necessary. So slowing down is one way of doing this, but I think also refocussing can do that too. Does that make sense?
The slowing down I think can be useful in two ways: first, for precision, perceiving more clearly what the hands are doing, and therefore knowing what and how to correct, and second, for increased concentration. I'm not quite sure what the relationship between speed and concentration, but I think the intentional slowing means it's more likely that the hand won't simply follow the patterns we've drilled into them (which may or may not be good) and we work with greater focus and awareness. On the other hand, I also find concentration can increase when speeding things up, probably because the increased intensity, something like the fight or flight response.
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Random tip 2: vary tempo with repeated practice
When practising a portion of music repeatedly at the correct tempo so that it sticks, I find it difficult to maintain perfect concentration, and I lose focus just a little after 4 or 5 repetitions, just enough for a mistake to creep in. I’ve found that once I’ve got it up to tempo, slowing it down again for a couple of reps then speeding up gradually over a few more can help a lot to keep the mind fresh. I like only doing one or two reps a tempo before slowing it down again and building up, doing a few cycles of this until I feel it’s enough.
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