"Listen to your body- The Path to Virtuosity" with Steve Goss
Today we dive into the magic of virtuosity with Steve Goss!
Australian guitarist and composer Philip Houghton used to ask his students to listen to their bodies. What did he mean? In this livestream, we'd like to explore how can being more present in our mindset and more attentive to the feedback our body is giving us, can help us travel further along the path to virtuosity.
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Steve's presentation on listening to your body was awesome! Thank you Steve and Martin!
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Wonderful, thank you!
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Thanks Steve and Martin, this was great! I have a question about this topic. I'm very tall and have long arms. I find that I get shoulder tension in my right shoulder because my arm sort of hangs more off the side of the lower bout rather than resting upon it which means I have to hold my arm up more using my shoulder than I would like. Wondering if anyone has any thoughts on any way to address this or possibly of guitar makers that might build slightly larger that I should look into?
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Mark Baran Hi Mark, thank you for the question! You could try to experiment with the angle of your guitar, maybe keeping the neck a bit higher to bring the bout into a different position?
(Joaquin Clerch is kinda huge and he does something like that: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndasK2yQgvI)
A more adventourus experiment would be to use a sponge rubber between your guitar and your arm to keep your arm from sliding off (I’m using this between my leg and my guitar to prevent it from moving).
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Martin Thank you for the reply! Watching a couple of videos of Clerch and he looks like he has almost the exact same placement and angle that I do. His right shoulder seems to be a little higher in some of the videos as well.
I'll give the sponge a try. Hopefully I can find a slightly larger guitar at some point as well.
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Just watched the session, and it was so timely for me. I'm experiencing pain in my left wrist and shoulder, and look forward to utilizing Steve's techniques to help alleviate this. Also purchased the book "Ricardo Iznaola On Practicing: A Manual for Students of Guitar Performance" mentioned in the session. Thanks so much!
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Tony Gunia Fantastic choice!
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Since we are talking about sitting positions, it’s interesting to watch Ricardo Gallén’s latest video on YouTube. I have always seen him hunched over the guitar resting on his right leg. I wonder what the reason can be.
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Gunnar Oh, he actually don't recommend anybody playing like that, but he got used to play like that in his childhood! This video from 4 months ago shows him performing in a somewhat regular position
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Martin Yes, I have seen that in an interview with him. I was wondering if he finally has changed to a more regular position. I guess we have to wait for his next video.
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Extremely informative and well presented (as usual). Thanks!
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Nowadays, with all kinds of guitar supports and adjustments. It is hard to know the guitar's optimal position and height (and left-right shifting). Can anybody please give an inside about the best way o set up the position of the guitar to have the body in the best position? Thanks
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Jesús Rogelio Pérez Buendía Maybe you could find a neutral, comfortable position in a chair without your guitar. Bring your left arm up into playing position and have someone place a guitar into a position that meets your hands. At that point attach the support.
I've done this with a Guitar Lift... it was leaning on my chest and when the guitar was added I needed only to push the Guitar Lift suction cups against the back of the guitar.
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Jesús Rogelio Pérez Buendía
The GuitarLift is awesome. Fast. Easy.
Also, Playing with Ease is a good read on the topic.
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Michael Neverisky thanks :)Michael Neverisky
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Scott Sundsvold. Thanks. I just got one :)
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Another excellent offering from Tonebase and one I will come back to. I've been paying attention to my left shoulder since watching the live session and believe it's been very helpful.
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Thanks to Steve for this extremely helpful and clear presentation. I could not hear it before.
Great Steve and Tonebase !
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