This whole post is about learning to play guitar again.
After my post about new years resolutions a friend of mine left a comment suggesting I pick up my guitar and start writing songs again. Up until I was about 21 years old I used to play my guitar all the time and I'm not being big headed when I say that I was pretty good. I was a strong rhythm player and wasn't bad at song writing either. It's difficult to say why it was I stopped playing, I think it was a gradual thing. The bands I had been in fell apart, and I remember becoming bored with a lot of music that was out at the time. I think I went through one of those phases where I was looking for a "new sound", or something that could at the very least provide me with some inspiration, but it didn't happen. I started listening to music less and less and my interest started moving towards film, hence why I am where I am today.
I never totally stopped playing the guitar, but unlike before where I would play it for hours everyday, over these past few years I would perhaps pick it up for for only 15 mins at a time once a week, or maybe even once every fortnight. But I have decided to take my friends advice to start playing again and write some new songs. I picked up my acoustic guitar with bags of enthusiasm, and I considered making some sort of pledge to myself that I would write one new song every week. But of course I started playing, and quickly realised that I'm not the player I used to be, and generating one song everyweek was perhaps a tad too ambitious.
I felt like a beginner again. The callouses that I had developed on my fingers when I first started playing at 14 years of age have now completely gone. My fingers are soft, and have lost much of their former dexterity and nimbleness. But really, this is all by the by. It won't take long for my fingertips to become hard again, and the dexterity will return, I'm just a little rusty. The basic skills are all there and I can still remember the chords. The thing I seem to be lacking is my musical creativity. I have made several attempts at trying to come up with a riff, or playing some chords and trying to develop some sort of melody but it doesn't seem to be happening. At first this left me feeling a little worried. Is it possible to just loose that knack for song writing?
But after much thought on the matter I realised that like my stiff clumsy fingers, I just needed practise. It's the same with writing. A lecturer on my course said that creativity is like a muscle. It's something that needs to be worked at everyday if you're gonna get any good. So, being out of practise with my guitar I decided I would approach it as if I were a beginner.
I first began playing when I was 14 years old and I never had guitar lessons. Like a lot of people I learnt to play by learning the songs of other bands. I would do this by downloading tabs of the internet or buying guitar tablature books, but after a while I was able to learn songs by ear. I never really learnt much music theory, I knew the notes on each fret but I didn't really know any of the scales. Instead I developed a natural feel of where the notes should go and what would come next. I don't really have that any more, and I know it will take a long time to get to that place again. But there are loads of sites on the internet that teach guitar so I'm using this as an opportunity to learn all the stuff I never learnt before. If I keep at it I might become an even better player than I was when I was 20 years old. I guess we'll see.
Now if you've read this post as far as this (because I have a feeling it's probably quite boring, I know I'm feeling a little bored writing this one. It's feeling like one of those youtube videos where some kid demonstrates the best way to eat a Jaffa Cake) I will show you a little exercise I found on a site that is supposed to help with developing dexterity in your left hand (unless your left handed, then do this with your right) and you won't need a guitar to do it.
Lay your hand on a flat surface and slightly arch your fingers...
Put them down and raise your middle and pinky fingers...
Now repeat this over and over and over and over again.
(this can be found on the site http://www.onlineguitarlessons.co.uk/)
When I first tried this I found it quite difficult to do. I was shocked that as an experienced (if out of practise) guitar player I should be able to do this with ease. It wasn't until I demonstrated the exercise to my housemate that I discovered the secret to doing it. Because as I showed him the exercise and complaining about how awkward I found it I realised that I had been doing it effortlessly for almost a minute as I was talking to him.
The trick is to not actually think about what you're doing. It seems the more concious effort you put into doing the exercise the more mistakes you make. It's like walking, we do it all the time without thinking about what we're doing, but the minute you start conciously thinking about the act of walking and where you should place your foot next you'll find it might become a little awkward.
That's enough rambling for now. Until tomorrow.
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