Why Can’t I Get Anywhere Trying To Learn?

By Jamey Andreas (www.guitarprinciples.com)

A recent letter:

Dear Jamey:

I am 47 years old and about 8 months ago I decided that I wanted to learn to
play the guitar. I am on my fourth teacher now and cannot play any better
now than when I first began playing. I have had your book for about 4
months, and I have read it twice and, I have attempted to apply your
principles to my practice but I just have not so far been able to make much
forward progress in improvement.

To your knowledge, is there someone who just cannot play the guitar, have
you known or have tried to teach such a person?

I practice on the average faithfully about an hour a day, everyday. I
practice what my teacher has given me for that week in order to get it
right, and then I will work on some piece from a book that I have bought and
I have a lot of books, but so far no ability. I feel that after 8 months I
should be able to play something, I should not be stumbling around as if my
head were in a sack.

Maybe none of this makes any sense to you because you would need to watch me
to draw some conclusions – but if you think I am wasting my time with the
guitar because a light should have come on by now, I would like to hear that
too. I enjoy guitar music and listen to many CDs that are only guitar
music – I really want to play but I have not been able to get my ability to
introduce itself to my desire.

No need to print this letter on your web site, just a return response would
do just fine.

Thanks Jamey

P.B.

Okay P.B., I hear you talking. And, as you can see, I do want to print your
letter in my newsletter. Your story is one I have heard probably a thousand
times, and I have met people in your condition consistently throughout my
teaching career. I have a number of responses to letters that say what yours
says. First, I get sad. Then, I get mad. As time goes on, it sticks in my
head, obsessing me. Before I know it, I can’t sleep at night (okay, maybe
I’m exaggerating a little!.) Anyway, it gets to the point where I feel I
have to try to do something about it. No one who is making a sincere daily
effort to learn the guitar should be experiencing the lack of results you
are experiencing. It is an absolute shame, plain and simple. It is also
unnecessary, because the fact is, yes, any normally functioning person CAN
learn to play, that’s it, period, end of story. There ARE reasons why people
end up in your condition, but they are all bad reasons.

As I always say, if you are taking lessons, and you are doing what your
teacher tells you, and you are getting nowhere, then it is your teachers
fault. He or she is not pointing out to you what you are doing wrong in your
approach, it’s as simple as that. Because your teacher is not teaching you
properly, you are left, essentially, to try to guide the path of your own
development, which you are not prepared to do. Your teacher, not giving you
the real instruction and hands on guidance you need, is simply supplying
information to you. That is the lowest level of teaching there is. It is
also the easiest, requiring the least amount of effort on the part of the
teacher, which is why it is so prevalent. You might as well be sitting and
reading a pile of guitar books by yourself. If you were sitting in front of
me each week, you would learn, guaranteed.

It’s too bad teachers don’t get paid according to the real quality of what
they are doing, and the real quantity of the results they produce. There
would be a lot of starving guitar teachers out there!

To put it succinctly, NO, it is not true that the reason you are stuck is
that you have no ability. The purpose of practice is to DEVELOP ability. The
reason you are stuck is because the thing you don’t have is the ABILITY TO
PRACTICE so that you CAN develop playing ability! What you don’t have are
the STUDY SKILLS necessary to effectively perform the processes associated
with developing new motor skills. You should not be investigating whether or
not you have the ability to play the guitar. You should be infinitely
suspicious of your ability to practice. If you knew how to practice, you
would develop the ability to play, it’s as simple as that.

Unfortunately, you are not infinitely suspicious of your ability to
practice. In fact, I don’t think you are even mildly suspicious! So, I am
going to try to put you on “high alert” about the matter. It SHOULD be your
teachers job to instruct you in proper practice, but as I well know from my
experience and the hundreds of letters I get on the subject, many teachers
simply are unable and uninterested in doing so.

What you, and everyone, needs to understand is this. Playing the guitar to
the level that would begin to give musical satisfaction is not that big a
deal. It is really pretty elementary stuff, developing the initial
flexibility to manipulate the fingers into various shapes on the
fingerboard, and make the movements smoothly to a beat. It is no big deal at
all. I NEVER fail to achieve that with anyone who I see over a period of
time. UNLESS, and this is a big UNLESS, they don’t really do what I tell
them to do, IN THE WAY I tell them to do it. (You, for instance CANNOT be
doing the Foundation Exercises in my book, following my instructions to the
letter, and applying yourself every day. Please let me know if you believe
you are).

No, I strongly suspect you are not doing what I tell you to do in my book.
Your words ” I have attempted to apply your Principles”, tell me that. As
Yoda said in Star Wars, “there is no try, there is only do”. Unfortunately,
you think whatever it is you did do was “trying”, well, it may have been
“trying” something, but it wasn’t trying to do what I tell you to do in my
book. Now, it is true, (and many people have remarked on this), my book is
very intense, it requires a whole lot from the student, as does my personal
teaching. There are people who read it and kind of just sit there with their
mouths hanging open unable to move, unable to begin. Knowing how to begin is
an essential study skill in itself. For many people, there is a learning
curve that must take place over time to bring them from where they are, to
where they must be (in terms of focus and study skills) in order to
effectively use my book.

But, don’t worry. This also is no big deal. It simply means that a few
things need to be done, including a more accessible approach for you and
others in your situation. Yes, I deal with such people all the time, and
yes, I always teach them to play, because in person, I can always find that
accessible approach AND I can use the energy needed to break through the
persons obstacles of ignorance (lack of correct knowledge and understanding)
and obstacles of unawareness (inability to muster the proper level of
Attention and Intention needed during practicing).

It’s like threading a needle before you use it to sew with. It sometimes
takes exceptionally clear vision and a steady hand to get that thread
through the hole in the needle, especially if it is very small hole. But,
once you do, you are off and running, ready to sew up a storm. You’re needle
needs this kind of precision to get that thread through so you can get
started. Once that happens, you’ll be on your way to becoming a tailor!

The first thing I do with people is show them where and how what they are
presently doing is ineffective, or limited. There are some people who are
doing things SO wrong, that they need an EXTREME amount of direction. If you
were to see me teaching someone, you would see me constantly grabbing their
hands, fingers, arms; moving their legs, jumping up and down, and
occasionally screaming. You would hear me taking things apart for that
person, in terms of the “missing piece of the playing puzzle” that was
keeping them stuck.

Unfortunately for you, no one is grabbing your hands, no one is jumping up
and down and screaming.

The fact is, yes, the only way I can absolutely, guaranteed, fix up someone
in your situation, which I will hereby dub the “Non-Starters”, is to have
that personal physical contact. Long distance is another matter, because I
cannot, for instance, point out to you that tensed up shoulder you are
ignoring while you try to control your fingers. BUT, I am going to try. I am
going to put up a series of lessons for “Non-Starters”. I am going to use
the materials I use with young children, and with cases where people just
aren’t able to get to “first base” in playing.

Go to this page, and look it over.

This first lesson is like baby food, but don’t underestimate it. It requires
only one simple chord, and the ability to strum a steady beat while tapping
the foot and singing. But, there are people trying to do more complicated
things who can’t even do this, and we must discover all the missing pieces,
so we must start this way. You will also find other instructions at the end
of the lesson, directing you to go and study the 4 Lessons on Rhythm I have
posted at HotFrets, in the free area. Everyone, by the way, should study
these, as they clear up a lot of the root mis-conceptions people have
concerning rhythmic concepts.

We need to find what pieces of the playing puzzle are missing in your case,
so, nothing is taken for granted here. This lesson will serve as a “checking
mechanism”, to make sure there are no simple skills whose presence is taken
for granted, but which are, in fact, missing.

Now, let me tell you a few things you are not doing concerning my book.

1) You are not following a written out practice schedule every day, which
includes all my Foundation Exercises, done exactly as described.

2) You are not setting specific, obtainable and appropriate goals, week by
week, and working to achieve them. Learning is a step by step process, and
must be treated as such , no matter what the subject being studied.

3) You are not developing and discovering the sensations of the Light Finger
and the Heavy Arm in the context of the Crutch Exercises in my book.

4) You are not doing proper No Tempo Practice and becoming aware of the real
state of muscular tension you are allowing during practice.

5) You are not following the Basic Practice Approach for these and other
exercises.

Here are a couple of other things I suspect are true also:

1) You have not read all the essays in my Getting Better section, and taking
all the advice to heart, using it to guide your practice approach.

2) You have not spent time in the Forum on my site, getting to know the
actions and attitudes of excellent practicers like Eric K who runs the
Forum, and the other players who are posting great questions and insights on
a daily basis. Many of these people are facing the same problems that you
face, and you would learn a lot from reading about how they deal with it.
Also, they would be very happy to hold your hand through as you work to deal
with various obstacles to development.

P.B., and all other NonStarters reading this, make an honest assessment of
your efforts, and see how you can begin to change things for the better by
using all the insights and resources I have provided here.

Copyright 2001 Jamey Andreas.

Fans of Jamey Andreas, make sure you check out Jamey’s exclusive
article, “Left Hand Form & Development For Guitarists,” classic Questions &
Answers from the famous “GuitarPrinciples” Newsletter. Jamey answers
questions related to left hand form and development which applies to all
styles of electric and acoustic guitar. The topics covered include: Thumb
Position & Movement, Training of the Little Finger, Difference Between
Classical & Electric Position, Making Bar Chords Easy, Developing “Finger
Lowness,” and Strengthening Weak Joints. The knowledge and insight contained
in this collection is essential for any player, of any level or style, who
wants a deep understanding of how to develop a left hand on guitar that
functions at full capacity.

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