Freeze!
Published: Fri, 09/30/22
Since (deep sigh of disappointment) life isn't a movie, practicing music – as opposed to playing it – is largely about simulating that sense of freezing time, or close to it, so we can get a good look, in a particular moment of the music, at how we got here, what's happening right now, and what the implications are for what's going to happen next. Because if we could freeze time, it would allow us to stop and observe what we're doing while we're doing it, to both think about what we're doing and operate from instinct and muscle memory. And that, in turn, would allow us to see where our instincts are failing us, where muscle memory is breaking down, where we don't really know which finger to put where next. Which is all part of to figuring out what we need to do to play better, You can't get to the next note on time if you're not sure what it is, and when you don't get there on time, the music falls apart.
And that, in turn, is probably why the most effective practice strategies usually involve various shenanigans regarding time: using a metronome, changing the tempo, repeating one section over and over. Because even if we can't stop time, at least we can slow it down. Which is ultimately more practical than actually freezing time, because music only makes sense in time. So the trick is to slow time down enough to work consciously through a particular trouble spot, seeing and feeling every subsequent move, but still experiencing those moves as taking place within a continuous, regular pulse.
When you do so, things are still unfolding melodically – horizontally, if you will – and, by definition, rhythmically. On the guitar, the more vertical elements involved – double stops, chords, or just the combination of single note phrases with some kind of ongoing bass line – the harder it becomes to continue to maintain the time, that is, to get to each subsequent note (or notes) at the proper rhythmic moment. Which is why practicing also calls for a degree of isolation – say, making sure you can execute each horizontal moment successfully in time before complicating things vertically.
A good example of this is when you're learning to play a blues lick over a steady bass. The first thing to do is isolate the bass. As simple as it seems to just play an E or A bass note with your thumb on every beat, it will get more complicated very quickly as soon as you add in just one more vertical element, namely, the lick you want to put on top of that bass line. So first, you want to play that bass line on its own, in time, to get as clear as possible about what you're playing on each beat and to build some muscle memory of how that feels.
Next, you can do the same thing with just the lick. Again, the idea is to get as clear as possible where each note falls in relation to the pulse: if you're starting on a strong beat or a weak beat, where the lick resolves within the measure, and so on. You can also clarify which picking finger is playing what string, if there are any hammerons, pulloffs, slides or other articulations. You can also start to think about the lick as a lick, a phrase with a beginning, middle and end, and how you might use dynamics to play it as expressively as you want to.
Once you've done all that, you can start to combine the bass line and the melody – the first step involving the vertical plane. The bass line and the melody need to unfold simultaneously, but by putting them together at a slow metronome setting, you can effectively play the passage in slow motion – the sweet spot between the world being frozen and the world going by at performance speed.
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A big frustration for a lot of improvisers is the feeling that what you're playing just sounds like scales, not like actual licks. In this week's Youtube lesson, I explain how to use one basic rhythm to start turning the E minor pentatonic scale into your own personal supply of blues licks. You can find the lesson here:
How To Turn Scales Into Pentatonic Licks
More soon,
David
P.S. If you're interested in learning how to start improvising – or get better at it – I'll be holding a live online workshop on the fundamentals of improvisation Saturday, October 15th. I'll have more details about what I'll be covering, and information on how to sign up, this time next week.
For organized, ongoing weekly lessons that help you learn tunes, turn them into complete songs, and start improvising, register for the Fingerstyle Five membership at www.fretboardconfidential.com