Form & Freedom

It's the proper mix of these that makes great playing!

by Jamie Andreas

When it comes to guitar technique, one thing that is always true is that nothing is always true – including what I just said. I know that will clear up a lot of things for all of you guitar students seeking wisdom out there. Don’t mention it, that’s what I’m here for.

Duality is a curious fact of life in this world, it seems that just about everything comes in pairs. It also seems, upon closer study, that even though human beings have a pronounced tendency to pledge allegiance to just one member of those pairs, it is the operation (and often, thankfully, the cooperation) of both members of a pair that makes for effective action.

For instance, I often think of the political philosophies of the Liberal and the Conservative as such a pair. These opposing world views have been evident in the politics of nations for centuries, and no one needs to be told that great numbers of people have a strong bias toward one or the other, and that bias functions on a fairly consistent basis. Many are tempted to think that one is superior to the other, whereas I believe the wisest view is to see them both as necessary expressions of human will and intelligence, both of them attempting in their way to see the truth about what is necessary for societal evolution at any particular historical moment.

“Liberal” represents freedom of movement. It is the agent of change, and sometimes the destruction, of established form or structure, whereas Conservatism operates on the principle of preserving existing forms and structures. I see Liberalism as the gas pedal on the car. You don’t go anywhere without it. I see Conservatism as the brake. You will probably have a very short, and “one time only” ride without one. It is the intelligent and appropriate combination of both of these forces that prevents a society, in its efforts to adapt to changing conditions, from either dying of stagnation, or destroying itself with reckless and heedless destruction of vital and unifying structures.

As in life, so in guitar.

Any attempt to restrict ourselves to just one member of a pair will end in failure to reach our goal. We are going to take a look at how this pair of opposite forces functions in playing the guitar well. Together, and used by an overarching intelligence, the appropriate mix of form and freedom in playing guitar, like the gas pedal and brake on your car, will take you where you want to go (okay, you need gas, well, that is The Principles combined with your correct practice. See, I’ve thought of everything!).

Driving, I Mean Playing, Your Guitar

The operation of the left hand on the neck of the guitar is all about balance, and the management of force. To achieve optimum balance and management of force, it is very often necessary to discover the exact and appropriate balance of Form and Freedom. Too much of one or the other, will result in playing difficulty.

First of all, we must be aware that some left hand positions are inherently strong (possessing a high degree of the quality of structure), and some are inherently weak (possessed of less structure, and tending more toward freedom of movement). One is not good, and the other bad. They both have advantages, and disadvantages in relation to particular playing situations. (This subject has been gone into more deeply in our “Online Classical/Fingerstyle Course”). The advantage of structure is strength; its disadvantage is sluggishness (especially where speed is required). The advantage of less structure is more freedom of movement, which is especially important where speed is concerned. Its disadvantage is weakness, which is dangerous in passages that require great strength and produce great stress.

For instance, the pinky down alone on a string is an inherently weak position, resulting from the imbalance of the opposing thumb which is out of line with the finger, and from the fact that the pinky is the smallest and weakest finger, sitting there on the end of your hand with most of the mass of the hand on the other side.

Is that bad? Not if you want to play a single note and give it a good vibrato, which requires a high degree of mobility (potential for movement) in the hand. In that case, the “weakness”of the position helps us get what we want. Sometimes, we need the stronger structure that results from 1 and 4 being down at the same time. I will do this sometimes even if I am not using 1; I just keep it down for the added strength and support it gives my hand.

Keep this in mind when you see good players violate the "economy of motion" rule, with fingers flying around, but somehow these amazing notes coming out. Sometimes, it is not economy of motion we need, but more freedom. Sometimes the energy of the increased movement, which can be used to facilitate smooth movement, offsets the greater distance to be covered from using less economy of motion.

In my practice of the two pieces featured in this newsletters video performance I had occasion to make use of this principle. There were a couple of passages that I thought I had found a good solution for, at least they seemed to work in practice. But, when it came to performance (as so often happens!), I found I had to adjust things in terms of the balance of Form and Freedom, making use of the added mobility of a weaker form. Doing so gave me what I wanted.

Take a look at these examples from these pieces, and examine your own playing in terms of these Principles of Form & Freedom. Notice how they operate, and discover where perhaps they are operating to your disadvantage, and your playing would be helped by an adjustment of Form & Freedom.

Video Performance: 2 Pieces by John Dowland

Jamie Plays "Melancholy Galliard" & "My Lady Hunsdonne's Puffe"

Here are the two pieces excerpted in the lesson above. "Melancholy Galliard" is a favorite of intermediate players, maybe because it is slow. However, slow pieces are nonetheless often unforgiving due to other technical considerations that pose obstacles to fluency of expression and refinement of sound.

In this case, it is the frequent use of bar chord forms. Many of the students I have seen play this suffer from an undeveloped bar, and it shows in the playing.

See "Melancholy Galliard" & "My Lady Hunsdonne's Puffe" here............

Strengthen That Bar!

This exercise will get you in shape!

Even long time players often suffer from an undeveloped, or improperly developed bar. Not having a strong bar, one that does not tie up the other fingers, limiting their mobility, limits all of your playing. It is an under-appreciated fact that the bar must receive special, and extended attention at some point in our development. Special exercises must be practiced over an extended period of time (and practiced correctly, or you will cause big problems, see article on Shearer's exercise book below.).

Here is a great exercise taken from a classical study, Villa -Lobos etude #2. I practiced this carefully for many years, and use it often to maintain strength. It will train the other fingers to be strong and independent while the 1st finger is barring. Try it yourself, if you do it right, and do it enough, you will see big changes in your left hand...............

Directions:

• Keep the bar down the whole time
• Keep a space between the fingers at all times. Do NOT let 2 or any other finger lean on or toward the bar.
• Release and rest frequently, and whenever you feel excess fatigue. Pain is bad, do not hurt yourself! Build it everyday, for a few minutes that's all.
• Do this up and down the neck. Start at 5th fret, or where comfortable.
• Principled Players, use the Basic Practice Approach.
• One last tip (about your fingertip) - it is a help to release pressure from the fingertip part of the bar when you are playing the upper strings. It greatly aids endurance. Re-apply pressure when you get back down there.

Study the pictures below, and the video provided, and watch your hand in a mirror. I have put in the right hand fingering I use. Feel free to experiment, and of course, if you use a pick, decide on your picking before practice of it, in accordance with your preferred style of play.

See the Exercise......

Starting position	Half way up
On highest note, notice the space maintained between 1 & 2	Coming down, notice 4 stays out

e

nd solutions available in ownGuitarPrinciples Wins Award!

"Best Instructional material" Award goes to GP Second time in a row!

There’s nothing better than to see the rewards of your efforts. Those of you using The Principles in your daily practice know what I’m talking about.

Well, here we have the greatest reward that Guitar Principles could ever imagine. Principled Players voted us in once again as producing one of the best guitar instructional materials available today. We are so grateful and honored to be alongside some of the most established publishers in the world…Mel Bay, Hal Leonard and Homespun.

And to think that it was almost ten years ago that the very first Principles book was born, in 1998. Those of you who have the first copies know that the original books were xeroxed by our local printer, and that we sent out separate sheets of technical photos to you months after your purchase as companions to the book. Why? Simply because GP did not have a camera as one of its assets. And what about that bright yellow goldenrod cover? The funky look of the first Principles can be easily explained. Jamie not only wrote the book, but also designed it!

Although we have grown, we are still a very small company doing something completely unique in the field of guitar instruction, where quality of content and results are our only imperatives. Because of that, we find ourselves award winners alongside million dollar companies with thousands of dollars to advertise, and thousands of products to sell. Here we are self-published with a small handful of books, a DVD Set, and a few Online Courses that have earned the reputation of being among the best available for guitar students.

What matters most to us is that the People’s Choice Acoustic Guitar Magazine Awards are a reflection of YOUR judgment…REAL GUITAR PLAYERS, concerned about only two things …learning to play the music you love and getting better on guitar. What we have is the incredible enthusiasm from our thousands of students around the world whose guitar playing lives have changed because of the Principles. That is invaluable.

From GP to all of you…many heartfelt thanks for voting for us!

Jamie, Geraldine & Steve

Reach Development Exercises

Aaron Shearer exercise book will improve your left hand

First Supplement By Aaron Shearer. Classical Guitar Method or Supplement. Shearer series. Book. 48 pages. Published by Alfred Publishing. (FC02320) See more info...
The Principles contain the essential knowledge all guitar players need in order to lay the foundation for proper development of the left hand. By "proper development" I mean the development of strength, stretch, and control in the roughly 40 muscles of the hand, wrist and forearm. Many of these muscles are used minimally in daily life, at least it would be considered minimal use by the standards of a guitar player! We need more functionality from our fingers than do normal human beings. But how do we get it? Many guitar students assume that dutifully practicing scales will give them all they need. Well, first of all, without knowing how to practice, dutifully practicing anything will most likely make you play worse and worse, especially advanced material. But, even with knowing how to practice, there is much more you will need than can be found in scales, or in the foundation for the left hand I give you in The Principles. In fact, just as athletes train for optimum performance by doing exercises in the gym that present challenges, not found in daily life, so guitar players must do exercises that present challenges not found in most of the music they will play. Special studies (etudes) and exercises are needed. One of the ways I have met this need for my own students has been by having them use the book by Aaron Shearer featured here "Slur, Ornament and Reach Development Exercises". I have them get it only for the sake of the "Reach Development Exercise" part of the book. As far as slurs go, the book is the usual compendium of legato formulas that many books contain, and like all those books, there is no information on the critical dynamics of hammer-ons and pull-offs that developing players really need ( I have provided that in "Hammers & Pulls According To The Principles"). The "Ornaments" part is mostly for classical players. But, the "Reach Development" exercises are great, and useful for all players. You will get a great work out of all the intrinsic hand muscles, especially the pinky. Principled players will realize that this will create great stress throughout the body, and the use of all the methods for controlling this tension found in "The Principles" are mandatory. Without them, these exercises, even though they develop the hands, will very likely degrade your overall playing ability by locking deadly tension into the larger muscles which will affect all your playing. So, if you work with this book, work smart!