Here is another Friday 10-second tip for you to enjoy…
First up, here’s an embarrassing story.
I remember when I was 15.
I hadn’t been playing guitar long and was jamming the riff to “Enter Sandman” by Metallica for a friend.
I played it hoping he would be impressed….
…But there was the sound of tumbleweed.
I asked him what was wrong, and he awkwardly said he thought it didn’t sound quite right.
“What?!” I thought.
I knew I was playing all the right notes.
…But I was not playing the rhythm right, so it sounded bad!
The reason why I was not playing it right was because I was not really listening.
I was just focused on the movements.
In fact, in my teaching experience, one of the biggest issues I’ve come across is students who do this.
They play but they do not listen.
The sound goes in their ears but they do not ‘hear’.
Like I say, I was guilty of this. It’s only when I fixed this that I improved my playing quickly.
That’s why you must listen deeply when you play.
To help, I use a technique with students which I call…
“Immersive listening”
…And it’s one of the secrets to being a more musical musician.
And you know what? This is not hard to do.
It’s all about really zoning into the music.
To begin with, you can try this:
Choose a piece of music to listen to – ideally, a new piece you’ve not heard yet, but you can do this with a familiar piece of music too.
Turn up your speakers and listen to this song.
Turn off the lights so you shut down your other senses.
Embrace the music.
Let it wash over you in an emotive way and try to feel what the songwriter is trying to convey.
Then hit repeat and this time listen to it logically, trying to pick out every detail in the tune.
Then you can hit repeat and do a mix of the above.
Honestly, this is one of those little things some people do naturally, but it is powerful.
That is why I’ve created a brand new and super short lesson on this for DTAA members.
In this lesson, I’m taking a very simple piece of music and getting you to do the above exercise along with it. (I’ll show you how).
It’s a super simple introduction to “Immersive listening”.
And the more you do it, the more music will start to make sense, you will enjoy music more, and you will play your music better.
You can check out the academy below and don’t forget, if you want this lesson plus the other new lessons, you will need to join before Tuesday.
The Dan Thorpe Acoustic Academy
Enjoy your Friday!
Dan Thorpe
Guitar Domination
P.S. This post was originally taken from Dan Thorpe’s private email list. To get blog posts like this sent to you which are full of great tips to make fingerpicking, strumming, and learning guitar more enjoyable (especially if you are over 40) join Dan’s list. It’s 100% free, HERE.
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