Here are two more interesting emails I have got lately.
I hope you find the emails and my thoughts useful.
Today we are talking about a funny little guitar/fishing story and a guitar shop dream with tips on memory…
Email #1
“Hey Dan,
My wife took two weeks off from work to get things done around the house.
We also went fishing several days. I caught myself, every time we went fishing, holding my fishing pole in the classical position! I didn’t even notice until I got a bite and started reeling in my line! Just habit from holding my guitar!
Anyway, I just thought I would share that! Keep on keeping on! Thank you once again for your service of teaching us old dogs new tricks!”
Matt
I love this.
Definitely made me laugh.
Matt has sent regular emails lately to me, saying how much he’s having fun on the guitar and how much he is enjoying the progress he’s making.
It shows in this email.
There’s nothing that highlights how much you love the guitar more than when you’re doing something totally different and thoughts of playing guitar pop up in one way or another – especially subconsciously like this.
Now I wonder what song he was imagining himself playing when fishing in the classical position.
“Run to the Gills” by Iron Maiden?
Something by The Carp-enters?
Or was he just practising his “scales”?
Anyway, enough bad puns from me (send me your fishy guitar puns if you like), and let’s move on…
Email #2
“My largest goal is to memorise one song. I would love to walk into a guitar shop (I can hear my wife now lol) just to find that perfect connection.
However, I would be so embarrassed whipping out printed A4 guitar tablature or my phone just to play.
I have tried learning from memory 1 bar at a time, 10 minutes later I couldn’t tell you the first note. I know this is holding me back as I cannot read the music quick enough to keep in time.
I will be prioritising this within my practice routine.”
Sean
The thought of going into a guitar shop and having to pull out some TAB just to play something is a slightly amusing thought…
You can probably picture it too.
…But this is a real thing many struggle with and we’ve all been there.
Trying to remember how to play new pieces of music is a challenge.
The typical advice is to break up a song into small parts and use lots of repetition.
That works, but there is a lot more to it than just that.
As I’ve talked about before, in the scientific circles there is something called the Magic Number 7 (+ or -2).
The idea behind it is that most people can remember seven things, but for some people, you can add two on to that or take two off.
So, in reality, most people can remember anywhere from five to nine new things.
…But that’s in a normal setting.
When we’re playing an instrument, there’s loads more to think about – it’s not just remembering the notes, it’s playing them.
Don’t forget if you’re playing seven notes with the fretting hand, you have to remember seven picking movements with the picking hand.
That equals fourteen.
So, if you struggle with remembering anything, you probably want to break it up into 3 or 4 note sections.
…And then play each section 10 times in a row and at multiple points throughout the day.
That is just one of the tips of the iceberg when it comes to memory.
There’s plenty more to it than that, but the above is a good start.
For more on memory, I recorded a lesson a while back specifically on this in the Dan Thorpe Acoustic Academy.
To access the lesson and find out more about the Academy (where there are many essential lessons inside my In Focus course), you can check it out below…
The Dan Thorpe Acoustic Academy
…And don’t forget to keep enjoying your playing.
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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