practicing and teaching

The idea is to collect various tips, tricks, opinios etc on praticing and teaching (others or yourself.. ) So lets go ahead. Maybe we should exclude run of the mill exercises, there are plenty of other places you can find them. But everything that sheds some light on the subject per se is more than welcome

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Paul Gilbert has always been (in my minsd) an amazing teacher. His lessons are rarely just about "shred" and he teaches from both the technical and emotional sides...if you aren't careful, you'll learn some theory along the way too :) Enjoy this clip of how he likes to break up sequences and arpeggios...

[url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2_r5HJ_J68[/url]

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Two very important aspects of that lesson:
1) Simple exercises that build a foundation are very important
2) Right hand technique is often overlooked.

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Some highly recommended books:
I'm in the process of reading Kenny Werners "Effortless Mastery". Highly recommended.

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A short and sweet bit of advice / insight into improv from Robben Ford :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_kBtZ3WyZ_Y

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Thank you Dan for sharing that. Felix listened to it also. :)

We actually got to meet Robben Ford three times. :) Once at the SF blues festival (defunct now, boo!); once in Mill Valley at the Throckmorton Theatre, and once at the Novato Wine and Arts Festival. :)

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Does anybody know something about these books?

Hal Galper: Forward motion
Randy Vincent: Line games
Masaya Yamaguchi: Guitar method (among others)

If so, please share

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Benjamin Zander a great talk, wonderful outlook / insights

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9LCwI5iErE

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Its been a while since the last activity here.
I had a long talk with an old friend of mine yesterday, also a musician and teacher. In that discussion i realized that there where three things that made me play better. All three being "renderings" or "visualizations" of mental processes. Also they are best practiced and performed with your eyes closed.

1) The first one i would like to call a "temporal rendering" i.e being aware of the temporal aspects (meter, tempo, rhythm, how you play relative to the beat etc) of your playing, and ultimately having control over them. There is a exercise called "the magic clap" wich helps this a lot. Also ALWAYS tapping your foot enhances this awareness

2) The second i would like a "audible rendering" in lack of better terminology. To have a mental image or to actually "hear" what you are playing inside your mind at the same time (or maybe a little before) you are actually doing it.

3) The third one i would like to call a "motoric rendering". By this i mean that you are aware of both the position and the movement of your fingers (or feet or lips or..) without actually having to look at them. When i play with my eyes closed i can acually "see" both my hands performing

Focusing on these and practicing them has helped me a lot.

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