New Era of Guitar?

Last night before bed I decided to sit down for a few minutes with my guitar. As usual, those few minutes turned into well over an hour. But what made this particular session unique was that I think I made a significant improvement to my technique. It’s not often when something just clicks like that, so I figured I’d write about it.

Last night I switched from left hand control to right hand control. It came in the form of alternate picking. I’ve been trying to increase my speed for quite a few months now but couldn’t comfortably get past say… 210bpm with notes on the up and down beats. As I played, I would control the speed with the movement of my fingers on my left hand. Last night, I suddenly tried just letting the left hand go and instead focused on keeping my right hand fluid.

And just like that, a significant improvement in speed and quality. My left hand did what it was suppose to do without having to really think about it. My right hand increased its speed and the result was one notch closer to rock. I think when I can finally be comfortable with making that left-right transition I will have extreme speed possibilities.

8 thoughts on “New Era of Guitar?

  • 12/10/2007 at 9:51 pm
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    I remember when first I went to college and I needed new guitar strings. I walked about a mile and a half to the guitar store and, naturally, a mile and a half back. As I was stringing the thing up, one of the strings fell into the tiny space between a plug and an outlet, crossed the two contacts then literally turned the entire thing to molten red metal and it fell to the ground like T2. The coolness of the situation was outweighed by the fact that I would need to walk all the way too and from the guitar store again. (I’m like a sloth, what can I say)?

    Anyhow, I’m putting out the challenge to you and your bright minded readers as to figure out at how many BPM would you need to strum in order to turn the string into molten metal as I described. Most compelling logic will win a copy of Simply Irresistible, starring Sarah Michelle Gellar and Sean Patrick Flanery. “Enchanting and Romantic” says Roger Ebert. Have at it.

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  • 12/11/2007 at 9:44 am
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    This, would require a pick of utmost proportions. And it’d probably need to be insulated from your fingers. Maybe it could be a pick with a small heatsink on it to keep your fingers cool!

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  • 12/11/2007 at 11:41 am
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    Assuming it was solely the oscillations of the power lines (which it likely isn’t) you’d have to match the 60Hz of the power mains, or 3600 bpm.

    maybe 3600 bpm with a tazer pick?

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  • 12/11/2007 at 11:45 am
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    If your pick was wicked hot in the first place, you could probably play really slow and melt it. I’d recommend some sort of an iron pick, with a ceramic grip-area (or asbestos gloves).

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  • 12/11/2007 at 12:27 pm
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    My guess will be a LightPick. Preferebly in blue or green. Maybe Violet. Then you could melt through the wire and defeat evil Sith Lords in an evening outing!

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  • 12/11/2007 at 3:46 pm
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    This makes me think of how the brain plays a role in both “controlled” and “automatic” behaviors. Driving, for example, is automatic for experienced drivers. Initially, however, it is controlled, and the new operator has to think very hard about how hard to press the gas and turn the wheel at the same time. Eventually this becomes an automatic behavior. Thinking about it now and “controlling” it, can actually impede your coordination. It seems that the guitar is the same way. Thinking about it, and controlling it, will actually impede performance.

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  • 12/11/2007 at 4:45 pm
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    Seeing as how I bombed on my driving test, I better not put too much hope into my guitar playing, huh?

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