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By
Spencer Westwood
This manual and accompanying materials are protected under International Copyright Laws and Treaties.
Any unauthorised reprint, loan or resale is prohibited and unlawful.
CONTENTS
1 INTRODUCTION........................................................................... 3
2 LEARNING HOW TO LEARN..................................................... 13
3 RELAXED – AM I RELAXED ENOUGH?................................... 52
4 POSTURE ................................................................................... 65
5 FINGER STRENGTHENING....................................................... 68
6 TENSION – AM I REALLY THAT TENSE? ................................ 77
7 PRACTICE, ADJUSTMENTS AND LESSONS .......................... 82
8 PRACTICING FOR 24 HRS ........................................................ 99
9 READING MUSIC/TAB ............................................................. 108
10 TECHNIQUES ....................................................................... 144
11 UNLEARNING BAD HABITS................................................ 170
12 USING BACKING TAPES; ABERSOLD, BAND-IN-A-BOX
AND HOMEBREWED ...................................................................... 184
13 DEEP TRANCE IDENTIFICATION ....................................... 185
14 PERFECT PITCH .................................................................. 193
15 CONCLUSION....................................................................... 215
1 Introduction
‘A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step’
- LAO-TZU.
Hypnosis techniques
All of which have been specifically tailored for guitar playing and
musical applications.
It’s not full of pages and pages of music and diagrams that give
you exercises to practice in the vain hope that you will learn to
play better.
Yes you can go and buy those and follow them to the letter if you want.
Some of them are worth reading while your mastering the skills in this
book. A lot more are not!
It will be self-revealing
I knew that when I started this project it was going to be a long slog.
Some of the techniques, as I tried and refined them, were going to
personally challenge me to the max. Some of them are going to
challenge you too. Some of them will highlight your weaknesses even
though you have managed to hide them away .Be honest with yourself
- quite often it really is worth taking one step back in order to take two
forward.
I’ve played on stages in the UK and USA and I’ve recorded and
produced demo tapes, roadied for other bands, and all that fun stuff –
All as a hobby.
About four years ago, quite by accident, I got into the whole self-help
and personal development thing that was sweeping through corporate
cultures like a virus. Not content with skimming the surface that the
few compulsory courses I attended taught, I got more and more
interested. Especially on things that would increase my learning
speed.
After that I spent quite a while searching for articles, books, tapes etc.
that would allow me to find out even more musical applications of this
‘mind’ stuff. There wasn’t one book out there that specifically covered
guitarists. Yes there was one about using this ‘stuff’ for music in
general. There was one written for guitar teachers to help their
students – but no book specifically for guitarists, especially one written
by a primarily self taught guitar player.
That’s when it struck me – I’ll write a book. I’ll learn even more in the
process, I’m sure there are some other people out there that would
want to know how to use this mental stuff , specifically for guitar
playing.
To get the best from this book, Read the whole of the second chapter
first before skipping through to any of the others. This gives the
background to the techniques and lays down some fundamental mental
skills.
It’s a long chapter so take it easy. Read it once quickly and then read it
again doing the exercises as you go through.
Most of the other chapters are on specific topic areas. You can
dip into them randomly in any order.
The First Appendix is a collection of the tab for all the exercises.
This is so that you can just print out the pages you need rather
than the whole book when practicing away from the computer.
To save paper, when I am printing out e-books I select the two
pages on every sheet option. This makes the tab a little small
So if you do the same as me and print the books out half size,
that’s why the tab is repeated – so you can print just those
pages out full size.
It was an amazing thing listening to him losing himself with the music,
ignoring the interruptions and the flow of people around him.
Yes I did tip him, and next time I see him, I will buy one of his CD’s.
That’s a challenge – could you play like that with all those interruptions
going on, people walking past constantly?
Are you going to improve? Absolutely YES! If you use and practice
even half the techniques presented your playing will be much better
than before you started reading this book – in a much shorter time than
ever before!!
I can’t be there to look over your shoulder and force you to practice –
every day. I can however give you some of the best ‘self-help’ (i.e. the
ones that are proven to work) techniques to help you get better and
better. The mental techniques will also allow you to practice even
though you are away from your guitar for a few days.
The market is flooded with books that teach you how to play from
scratch so if you’re a complete beginner contact me via email – I’ll give
you some personally tailored recommendations depending on what
style of music you want to play and what sort of guitar you have.
If you are a total beginner, the techniques presented in the book will
give you a head start once you have got the basic mechanics of
playing mastered.
When I was writing the book, I made the assumption that the baseline
was that you’ve been playing for at least a couple of months, can strum
a few chords and play single note lines without the frets buzzing.
Of course some of you will have been playing for years, and be very
accomplished – there are still plenty of things in the book for you too.
and useful but if you want to play along with records, other
instruments etc. a tuner is the only way to go. I’ll cover tuning again
briefly in a later chapter
Download and install a copy of Powertab - its free, easy to use and
its fantastic. The powertab .ptb files for all the exercises are
included in the download.
http://www.power-tab.net
Some fast fret – this is a type of gel that you rub onto the strings.
I guess it’s got a silicone base because it makes the strings
slippy again like when they are first put on the guitar – the rust
and grime on metal strings makes your fingers stick and not
slide about. I love that stuff.
There will be other tools and software that I will mention along the way.
Acknowledgements
I’d like to first thank my wife Nicola for her support and patience,
putting up with me spending hours and hours in front of the computer
instead of with her whilst re-writing this book.
Secondly a big thank you to Jim Oram for proofreading the first version
of the book and picking up all the typos, spelling mistakes etc… that
are easy to miss. Keep practicing Jim.
Dr. Richard Bandler, Paul McKenna and Michael Breen for opening my
eyes to the possibilities of change.
Win Wenger for his permission to include some of his many varied
accelerated learning techniques. www.winwenger.com
Steve Manning for his brilliant writing tools – this guy is a genius. I’ve
been using his techniques for a lot of different projects over the last two
years. His writing course has been my best buy on writing so far.
Jim Edwards for his ebook that finally sparked me off writing this one
www.beyondbedroomguitar.com/7dayebook.html
Finally I’d like to thank my late father for buying me my first acoustic
guitar and teaching me the basics, and then buying me my first electric
guitar. I miss you Dad.
You may print out one complete copy of the book for your own
use and four copies of the second appendix. Teachers wishing
to print out multiple copies of any part of the book for their
students must contact me for permission first. (I can do a
discount on bulk orders –email for details
spencer@beyondbedroomguitar.com)
I want to know if there are things that you believe can be better or
should be included in the second version. If you have completed the
email form when you brought the book then I will inform you of updates
when they become available.
If you have any feedback – errors, improvements, things that you really
liked or hated then send an email to:
spencer@beyondbedroomguitar.com
Sometimes you got it, sometimes you didn’t. It depended on the skill of
the teacher, your own interest in the subject area and how it was
presented to you.
Did you get given a recorder to play when you were in kindergarten or
nursery? If you did, how many hours did you spend holding it wrong,
or blowing it wrong?
Eventually most children give up on the thing even though the teacher
was trying to show them how to play. It’s a terrible shame because
that sets in their mind the belief that they are not musical, they don’t
have any musical talent, and they don’t have the aptitude. WRONG!
The same thing happens in art class by the way. Got given a pencil
and paper and told to draw what you see? Unhappy with the results?
Not artistic, no artistic talent, no aptitude for art? WRONG!
First shake both your hands vigorously for a count of 20, using a
backwards and forwards ‘flapping motion’
This loosens the wrist and gets blood pumping through your hands
Finger independence
Using your right hand fingers, separate and stretch out the gaps
between your fingers. Do this ten times. The first time through be
gentle and only use one or two fingers as a spacer. Widen the gap a
little more each time. Repeat the exercise, without using your right
hand as a guide (just move the fingers to make the gap on your left
hand).
Massage the gaps between each knuckle. Top and sides. Start on
first finger near the tip and work inwards. Then do the second finger,
third finger etc.
Finally shake your hands again with the flapping motion and then rest.
For the first week you should do it 4 or 5 times over each day,
increasing to 10 times daily for a month. Then back to 3-4 times a day.
After a month your hands will be naturally more supple and stronger
and just need a little movement to keep them in form.
It should also be done before and after your daily practice session.
There are lots of exercises that improve speed, accuracy etc. out on
the Internet. Some of them are very good, but most of them are very
boring and repetitive.
Pianists use some practice exercises to warm their hands and extend
their playing ability; one of the most popular is the set of Hanon
exercises. Good but very boring after a while.
Problem with boring is that the repetition becomes the norm and your
mind shuts off concentrating on what you’re doing pretty quickly. If you
don’t get it right at the beginning – bad habits and poor playing set in.
There are five different exercises for you to do. Not all at once, and not
all in the same week. They are ordered in level of difficulty.
1. Pressure pumps
2. 1-2-3-4-3-2-1-1-4-3-4-2-4- single string 1st fret to 12th fret each
string
3. The stretcher (1-3-5-7 starting at 9th fret)
4. The wasp 6 string
Pressure pumps
Place your fingers, one fret apart, anywhere on the neck on any
string. If you’re just starting use the G-string with your first finger on
the 8th fret.
Now press your first finger down on the fret and apply more
pressure. More pressure and even more. Hold for a count of two
and release the finger from the string.
Do the same for each of the other fingers.
Now repeat except this time whilst applying the pressure, rock the
first knuckle backwards and forwards.
Figure 5-5 First knuckle bending backwards and forwards - Finger pumps
This was the first exercise I ever learned, and it still proves useful
even after 25 years. It Improves your 4th finger strength and it gets
the muscles all working. Start slowly at first and don’t be afraid to
stop if you get tired. If you do stop, count four beats and begin
again.
Shift onto the B string and repeat – 1st to 12th fret to 1st and then the
other four remaining strings.
Stop and shake out your hands.
One of the most common exercises I’ve seen on the net is to play a
repeating finger movement such as 1st fret, 2nd, 3rd 4th on each
string with alternative picking – then move up a fret and repeat.
Now this will build up speed and muscle memory – slowly – but it
takes a long time.
The exercise cycles through every one of these starting on the top
E string and doing one pattern per string down to the low E. Then it
moves up a fret and starts again with the second column, then the
third and finally the fourth column.
Lets try a little experiment. I want you to pick up your guitar and play a
simple single note line below.
Now I want you to start to speed up each time you repeat the phrase.
Verse
Chorus
Middle 8/Breakdown
Verse
Chorus
Outro
Now if you were to write that down without using repeats or any use of
DC or Coda it would both get very long, and also would have a lot of
the music looking exactly the same. Our brain is forever trying to
simplify things so by just writing out the Intro, Verse, Chorus, Middle
and Outro, we can then specify which bits to repeat, how many times
and what leads on.
Intro
| : Verse
Chorus : | % (repeat once notice the de capo symbol)
Middle 8/Breakdown
Chorus DC al Coda
Outro
Before we go any further get yourself a copy of powertab. It’s free and
it’s one of the best tab programs I have found!
http://www.power-tab.net
|-3-2-0--------|-!2----|
|-3---3--0-1-3-|-!3----|
|-0---0--------|-!2----|
|-0---2--------|-!0----|
|-2---3--------|-------|
|-3------------|-------|
Instead of the lines representing note names like the clefs on ordinary
music, the lines represent the strings of the guitar the lowest note being
at the bottom. A number is placed on each line showing which fret
needs to be pressed (nothing on the string line means don’t play, 0 is
an open string and X is a muted string if necessary).
The spacing along the tab represents where in time that particular
fretted note or notes are to be played. Some tab is quite accurate in
this, using extra dashes to represent the space between the notes but I
don’t always trust it – especially things posted in newsgroups.
There are other symbols, which are shown in the table below. Again
some of these are more common or important than others.
|--------|
|-2h3----|
|--------|
h |--------| hammer-on
|--------|
|--------|
|--------|
|-3p2----|
|--------|
p |--------| pull-off
|--------|
|--------|
|---------|
|-3b5r====|
|---------|
b |---------| bend
|---------|
|---------|
|----------|
|-5pb7-----|
|----------|
Pb |----------| pre-bend
|----------|
|----------|
|---------|
|-5b7r====| bend release (if no
|---------| number after the r,
r |---------|
then release
|---------|
|---------| immediately)
|-----------|
|-\9--/7----|
|-----------| slide into or out of
/\ |-----------|
(from/to "nowhere")
|-----------|
|-----------|
|--------|
|-5s7----|
|--------|
s |--------| legato slide
|--------|
|--------|
|--------|
|-5S7----|
|--------|
S |--------| shift slide
|--------|
|--------|
|-------------------|
<n> |-<5>-[7]--5(17)----| natural harmonic
[n] |-------------------| artificial harmonic
|-------------------|
n(n) |-------------------| tapped harmonic
|-------------------|
~
|----------|
|----------|
~ |-7--------| vibrato
|----------|
|----------|
|----------|
|-------------|
|-------------|
|-7tr8--------|
tr |-------------| trill
|-------------|
|-------------|
Most guitar magazines that feature pieces, give their own list of the
way the tablature is notated. This is worth studying at length, and I’ve
written them out several times (it’s a good way of memorising them
especially when I imagine playing them at the same time and imagine
doing them and imagine the sound. Kind of re-enforces the symbol.
Also because there are loads of different special techniques that can
be done whilst playing (whammy bar tricks, harmonics etc.) it gives you
a unique list of the techniques – even if you don’t know them at the
moment. It won’t cover every possible thing, but its 99% there.
For more information then look out on the net using the resources.
There’s loads of stuff out there on both.
Firstly break down the learning. Don’t try and learn all the tab symbols
in one day.
Then try playing them on your guitar, and then keep thinking about
them during the day.
For the more advanced players – Still do it. Take four a day, learn
them play them and then think about them at odd times during the day.
I usually do this mini reminder thing when I’m waiting for something like
coffee to filter, or a can to drop out of the machine.
The intention is that you’ll have at least 30 – 50 times during the day to
specifically think about the three steps (I’m a busy person and I have
at least that many interruptions over the whole day).
On the second day, after learning the second four and thinking about
them etc., remind yourself of the first 4, write them down, play them
and imagine them just one more time.
Continue this way reviewing the previous day’s stuff until you’ve got to
the end of the table and then Review them all.
Write them down one by one. Check them. Play them all one by one
in your head and then physically.
By now you might even have a few new techniques to add to your
playing.
Ok after a few days of working on the tab symbol stuff some of it will be
UC, some CC.
Go out and buy another edition of a guitar magazine and look at one of
the pieces.
Take out a piece of paper and write down each notation item that you
can find on one page- for example if it’s a slide, imagine you doing that
slide. Go through the whole of one page looking at each notation item
in turn.
Can you imagine your fingers actually doing those things? Cool huh…
And your almost there.
It’s a funny thing but when someone buys a new car, they notice more
other cars that are similar on the road. For example if the car is
metallic blue, they notice more metallic blue cars on the road. If it’s a
Van or MPV as we call it over here in the UK, then you notice more of
them on the road. It’s not that suddenly more people have bought the
same as you it’s just that your awareness has changed.