Learning not to look. What it is (and isn't) helping with

Image from fretjam.com

After something of the epiphany I had last week when I discovered that intensely staring at the fretboard when playing causes me to focus on the here and now instead of thinking (or looking) ahead, I've been working at sight reading somewhat differently.   I've started following the advice everyone seems to agree on - you just gotta keep doing it every day!  So I'm working through my trusty sight reading book (guitar at sight by Charles Duncan) yet again - 15 mins every morning - and for the first time I've now got past 5th position (hurrah)!  However instead of looking from my hands to the book and back again to be sure I'm situated correctly, I'm making a determined effort to find the notes without looking.  Yes, even in 7th position.  And in at least one way it's working - I'm actually getting an internal picture of the layout of the fretboard in my head so I don't have to look to find other notes on different strings.  I should be jumping up and down with joy - I knew this was one of the hurdles I had to surmount before I learned to sight read.  And  I can see this is going to pay dividends when learning a new piece.   But what about the reason I finally made myself do it?  Is it helping me read ahead while sight reading?   Like when it forced me to visualize ahead when playing a piece I've memorized....  ?

The short answer is a resounding NO.  I might be finding the notes faster and more accurately but I'm still not instantly visualizing a measure then reading ahead while I play it.  I have absolutely no idea how people figure out a measure so fast or do these 2 things at once...   So I guess it's back to the drawing board to solve that one.  Not that I'm giving up on what I'm doing 'cos it is getting me closer, but there is obviously yet another puzzle to solve before I get a handle on it.   In the meantime I have had another thought- I was leafing through some materials on sight reading from SCRIBD ( well worth the subscription BTW) and came across a sight reading tutorial that appeared to be nothing to do with sight reading.  More like memorization.  i.e.  Look at this measure.  Get it in your head.  Look away.  Play.  Huh?  I thought it was supposed to be about sight reading?   Thinking about it though, isn't that baby steps towards learning to read ahead?  Look at a measure, get it in your head fast and play it without looking (while you scan what's coming next, perhaps ??)   Might be worth a try.   If there is one thing I've learned from this latest discovery is it's worth trying a bunch of different things 'cos one of  them might just work. 😊

Thinking ahead when sight reading, or when playing from memory ...

I've spent a lot of that twilight time half way between sleeping and waking musing on why it's so difficult for me to think ahead when I'm sight reading.  I know that the only effective way to sight read is to read ahead, but except in the simplest examples I just can't seem to do it.  I become totally absorbed in the note that is playing now, with the result that what comes next can be a complete mystery until I have to play it - with inevitable consequences.  No matter, I console myself.  I'm OK at memorizing and I don't need to sight read (much) at this stage.

And then came the Bach piece, for which I am thankful, really I am.  It's not a hard piece with multiple simultaneous voices - indeed most of it is single line music.  And although it presents some unique challenges for me, I shouldn't have any problem memorizing it, right?   Wrong.   Despite learning individual sections fairly well, when I try to string it all together my mind goes AWOL at random places.  What on earth is going on?   "It's just Bach" people say - but that doesn't explain why it's causing me such a problem.

I set out to see if I could figure out a way to overcome this mental ditziness.  The first thing I tried was actually reading the music ( I know, not my thing) while playing.  This led to the usual issue I have, which is I'm not good at playing without looking at my hands, and of course I can't look at both at the same time.  OK - I thought - I can remedy that - I will practice the piece with my eyes closed - there must be large parts of it I can actually play without looking, I'm just not used to it.   I did have the usual problems with hitting the right place on shifts, but apart from that, a very strange thing happened - I wasn't forgetting where I was. In fact I found myself actively visualizing what was coming next.  Which led me to the realization that this is unusual for me - even when playing from memory I am focused on the here and now and not what is coming next.  There is evidently something about staring at my hands that stops me thinking ahead.  This explains why I sometimes "lose my place" - no doubt exacerbated in the Bach where the different phrases have so many features in common that if muscle memory fails I can't instantly figure out what's up next.

Of course this leads me to an unfortunate realization that in order to better learn pieces, I first have to be able to map my left hand to the fretboard without looking.  This is something I've avoided rather successfully up until now.  Best case scenario - maybe I don't have to totally learn not to look, instead the attempt to play without looking will retrain my brain to think ahead.   We shall see.

Tremolo update

October 2016 - thought I was getting somewhere with this until my guitar teacher pointed out that I had more of a "gallup" rhythm than an even 1-2-3-4.   I really couldn't hear it when I was playing, particularly when the thumb was playing a different string to the fingers. So I recorded it on my trusty twisted wave app (definitely the most user-friendly recording app I've found for the iphone) and as usual, he was right.

 So I tried another approach. This time using the technique suggested at thisisclassicalguitar starting slowly and recording each speed until I was confident I was hearing an even beat on the recording. It was really helpful to be able to relax back into just i and m before things got out of control, and I found it easier to adjust my hand position when only adding a or i to the pattern instead of diving into the complete pattern.   I have been practicing it on the first string and muting the strings with a natty little device  making it easier to hear the rhythm both in real time and on the recording.  I know the left hand works perfectly well to stop the strings if you're just practicing rhythm, but this will eventually allow me to transition to something more musical!  Actually you don't have to purchase anything -you can make something that works just as well by rolling up a small piece of felt and taping it into a cylinder...

I decided that I would do it as part of a right hand warm up for 5 mins each day, and I have been gradually increasing the speed when I am happy with the recording.  It was, and still is, a slowish process and a couple of times I have had to go backwards as I heard that dreaded gallup creeping in...  but progress is being made! Each day I start at well below tempo and move it up, but the starting point is also moving up as I get better at it. [EDIT end of November - starting point is now up to 130 and can get 135 to 140 consistent in tempo but not in volume].   So next - volume control work...

Another way of learning a piece "thoroughly" ?

Apart from nerves turning my fingers into sausages when I try to play for others, my brain seems to go on coffee break and I'm quite likely to get stuck in the middle with no idea how to get restarted.  I know this is because I've only learned it by "muscle memory" and anything that interferes with the flow (like missing with one hand or the other) is likely to result in a blank because my conscious brain kicks in, and "it"  hasn't learned it. (I find it totally amusing to contemplate having 2 brains inside my head that don't speak to each other - much more fun than the scientific description),  I've tried half heartedly to kick my conscious brain into action by learning things one hand at a time - and in fact have had some success with the left hand alone (plus singing so I know where I am), and for short sections needing to be worked out, the right hand alone while reading the score.  However it's totally tedious (ie not fun) and I am having a hard time making myself do it.

So a few weeks ago my guitar teacher gave me specific instructions to practice a piece at an unbelievably slow tempo.  Almost so slow you couldn't tell what was going on.   The intention being I would have time to  concentrate on all the things I don't do well (or at all), like actually hitting all the notes and making them truly legato.   However it had the serendipitous effect of making me think about what my hands were doing.  Indeed I find I have learned the part I was working on quite well.  Admittedly this is just a small sample, but it does offer another way of perhaps getting a piece lodged properly in both 'parts' of the brain.  I don't know if you've ever come across the effect that when you try to play something a lot slower than normal, you "forget" what you were supposed to be doing and get lost. I certainly have.  I'm hypothesizing that at very slow speeds,  the muscle memory sequence is disrupted and your conscious brain has to kick in instead.

Anyway I'm excited to try it - particularly on some pieces I ought to be able to play well, but am prone to "forgetting" in the middle.

Update on tennis elbow - preventing future injury

Well it's been 3 weeks since I used my left arm to any great extent on the guitar, and the pain has subsided considerably, particularly after a fairly intense dose of NSAIDS for a week due to another injury (fortunately doesn't impact guitar playing) Got a consult on adjusting my practice schedule to prevent this happening again - some surprising advice, and some not so surprising.

The not-so-surprising was that the injury was probably caused by too much tension - ie gripping the guitar in a "death grip."   I don't think I'm that bad when playing normally (my guitar teacher might disagree)  though I could definitely stand to lighten up a fair bit.    The real culprit so far as this injury goes was practicing slurs (a lot) using way too much pressure - particularly multiple hammer-ons in sequence.  I blame practicing "Oriental" for that.   I think it's because my fingers are still confused about where the pressure needs to be quickly applied (and equally quickly removed) so they all just go for it at maximum force.   So I guess I'll be working on it extremely slowly (as if I haven't heard that before!) to get that sorted out.

Also not surprising was that at my age (definitely not to be disclosed) I should not be practicing more than 45 mins in a row - evidently blood supply starts to become reduced after that, presumably resulting in less removal of toxic products of exertion etc etc.    So uninterrupted 2 hr practice sessions are out...    After the 45 mins, I'm to stop and ice the injury for 5 mins.

The surprising advice was to warm up the whole body for 5 mins before practicing - yes - large muscles, running, jumping jacks, stair walking, knee bends etc.  Gosh I haven't done exercise like that in about 4 years (and jumping jacks are definitely out on a broken ankle).  However I can manage sit ups and kneebends so I guess its not out of the question.  I don't know if I was too horrified to ask why during the consult, but I suppose as a means to get the hands warmed up and blood flowing it's efficient.  Also probably compensates somewhat for then sitting for 45 mins...

So the routine is -
Large muscle exercises 5 mins
Practice including guitar warm up 45 mins
Ice 5 mins
Rest 5 mins

And if you want to practice more, repeat the whole thing.  Yikes! I can tell you that I'm not used to this amount of (admittedly limited) callisthenics but it does seem to shorten the overall time before my brain and fingers reconnect with the fretboard. That may be wishful thinking though.   On the other hand, a 1.5 hour practice session now takes 2 hours.  And I'm totally tempted to eliminate the second set of 'large muscle exercises' prior to the second 45 mins, or at least reduce it to a few situps and push ups.  Though given that the arm has been cooled down by ice, probably I shouldn't be so tempted. Has anyone else had to adjust their practice schedule to prevent injury?