The three P’s of playing the guitar (or any other instrument)
Q #1: Perception
Topping the P list at number one is Perception. When it comes to your five (some say six) senses, you might think your fingers are the most important part of playing guitar. No. What about your eyes? Wrong again. In fact, many people make music without the aid of sight (think Stevie Wonder and Ray Charles). So what is the most important thing you need to play the guitar? In my opinion, it’s your ears. Big or small, your ears are what you need to listen to other people’s music and to incorporate what you hear into your own performance. This is how you find your own personal style of play.
Think about this, before you could learn to: read, use your hands, walk, talk or see, you started hearing even before you were born! This is why you often see people talking to the stomachs of expectant mothers. Hearing is your most developed sense besides touch. This is why it’s so important to wear earplugs if you’re going to be in a loud band or playing loud solo. You have to save those ears! After all, it’s hard to know if you sound good if you can’t hear yourself play.
Believe it or not, you’ll be using your ears a lot more than your eyes or fingers when playing guitar. For example, you have probably seen many famous guitarists close their eyes in ecstasy when playing solos or certain notes. Sometimes they hold that note for a long time, letting it ring, before playing the rest of the solo (Eric Clapton is well known for this). What you may not notice is that, all the time, they are using their ears to hear certain things. For example: if the note is the right pitch, if the guitar pitch is right, if they need to play louder or softer, if the audience is silent or cheering, etc.
With these points about perception in mind, try this exercise (you won’t even need your guitar): Go to a place where there’s a lot of noise (not loud noise), like a restaurant or coffee shop (people talking), or even roll down your window in the traffic. Or, if you prefer, go somewhere quiet, like a park or wooded area, or maybe a lake or beach. Now take a moment and relax. Use your most developed sense to listen carefully. Try to clear your mind of thoughts, worries, and “to do” lists. You may hear honking horns or blaring radios if you are in traffic. You may hear soft coffee music or people laughing and talking in a coffee shop. Coffee shops are a great place to listen and relax; They usually have low lighting and soft music. But also listen to music on everyday sounds, not just music on the top speakers. That’s where it gets really interesting.
When you hear a horn, can you tell if the sound is high-pitched or low-pitched? What musical note does it sound like (A, B, B-flat, C-sharp, etc.)? What if you hear tires screeching? Is that sound an angry sound; maybe a rushed sound? Music expresses emotions at their deepest level, so pay attention to emotions in everyday things. A singing bird can sound happy; the how of a dog, sad. A revved-up engine can sound impatient or arrogant. Use your ears as a filter to help translate the emotion and feeling of life around you into your mind and heart. Then when you start playing your music, it will come from your heart and soul, not just your fingers. That’s what musical self-expression is all about.
P #2: Patience
The second “P” on our list is Patience. This can be difficult for many people. In today’s fast-paced and busy society, patience doesn’t come naturally. We have microwaves for faster meals, high-speed internet has replaced dial-up, and we can barely obey the speed limit every time we go somewhere. I’ve even seen a local McDonald’s put in an extra drive-thru lane! (Two drive-through lanes?! If you’re going to learn to play guitar (and play it well), you’re going to need patience. How much patience? Well, how much do you want to learn; and for how much? How long? When it comes to guitar, you’ll never fully learn everything there is to know about it. There are so many genres of music and playing styles that you’ll always be learning. But that’s a good thing!
When you first learn to play, you may be interested in one or two styles of music, for example blues and rock. A year or so later, you may want to venture into other styles like Jazz or Classical. It takes patience to learn many different styles, much less one style, of music. But therein lies the fun! You will never run out of ideas or ways to express yourself, no matter how long it takes. I’m not saying it takes a long time to play your favorite songs or genres, but you’ll hardly notice the time that passes once you’re really immersed in the learning process. As they say: “Time flies when you’re having fun.”
You must learn and strive to be patient; not only with learning to play the guitar, but with yourself as well. Regardless of how well you play, you are your own harshest critic. That’s right, you. You will always see yourself in a worse light than anyone else. It is in our nature as humans, especially as creative and expressive humans. Be easy on yourself. There is another saying that goes “It’s not about the journey, it’s about the destination”, but I disagree. The music is totally about the ride!
So don’t worry if you don’t understand what you’re playing or how to play it, learning music is a lifelong journey, and if you love music, you’ll love the journey no matter how long it takes because time will. be flying! Very soon, you will feel that you don’t have enough hours in the day to learn more and more. Be patient here too; you don’t want to overwhelm yourself with all the learning and no play. Give learning a break and just play the guitar. Patience will make you a much better musician; much more than impatience and discouragement. Above all, learn to be patient.
P #3: Practice, Practice, Practice!!!
And last but not least on our P-list is practice. (Okay, three practices is actually five P’s, so sue me.) As you can see by the emphasis on the latter, practice is the most important tool you have. Sure, your ears are very important, but if you don’t develop your concept of the way different chords, scales, songs, etc. are heard. sound by practicing actual listening, then having a good perception won’t help you much. This is called “Ear Training”.
You may be asking yourself, “Yo, what’s the best thing I can do to help me become a better player?” Well, it’s not just showing up at your weekly lesson; though, that’s important. And it’s not just playing a song once and thinking you’ve got it perfectly. (Do you realize perfection wasn’t one of the Ps? That’s because you’ll never be “perfect” on your instrument. Why? Because there’s always room for improvement! That’s why it’s so much fun to play; you’re constantly improving and learning new things!) The fact is, if you’re going to improve consistently, you’re going to have to go to the woodshed and buckle up. In other words, you are going to have to practice!
However, the practice does not have to be a boring, meaningless or tedious task. Practice should be fun and engaging; something you look forward to every day (after you’ve done your homework, that is). Every time you sit down with your guitar you should tell yourself, “It’s my time to enjoy what I’m about to learn because once I learn it, if I keep practicing, I’ll never have to worry about learning it again.” .”
It’s exciting for me to finally be able to discover something I’ve been constantly working on for a while, whether it’s a particular picking pattern, the progression of a song, or the development of my speed technique. Now I don’t have to spend as much time on that particular lick I learned because it’s been programmed into my head and fingers (via muscle memory, meaning my fingers “remember” that particular shape, phrase, or lick). “Exciting” may be too big a word to describe it, you may think, but go for it; Try it yourself and see if I’m right.
Practice involves repetition to some extent. But once you do, you just have to “oil the machinery” from time to time instead of plugging in the same thing day after day. Just a quick refresher every now and then on that lick you finally learned is all you need to keep your fingers nimble and ready to play in the real world. When that happens, let’s say you’re playing in your own band or at church somewhere, you’ll be ready for it. Why? Because you have practiced it! It’s like taking a test; once you’ve studied hard for it and it’s time to take it, the answers just come to mind without you really having to try.
When you put all of these things together (perception, patience, and practice), in no time you will find yourself becoming a better musician, able to play your instrument in ways you never dreamed possible. Just keep it up; which reminds me…
A parting word…
Three P’s is a good number, well rounded, but if I had to add a fourth “P” it would be Persistence. Closely related to patience, persistence means “Don’t give up!” In one word. Never give up. There will be moments of frustration. There will be feelings of incompetence and inadequacy. But you should never, ever give up. If you’re serious about being a musician, you have to keep going no matter what. Sure you will sound bad at first; everybody does. And there may be people who make fun of your way of playing. Just remember, most of the time they’re too smug to remember that they were once beginners too and sounded just as horrible (or even worse) than you think.
But you will improve. And do you know why? Because you have all three, ahem, four, P’s to guide you. You are now equipped to tackle the toughest assignments any teacher (or yourself) can give you from here on out. So now you have no excuse. Keep going, don’t give up, and I’ll listen to you sometime.
me