Seth Guillen, classical guitarist

Practicing in and practice out

seth — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 12:48:55 +0000

If something that goes in does not work it must come out; but how? For me practicing has become something I now think about as much as I do and it has made me a better practicer. These thoughts have led me in interesting directions and recently while teaching a lesson I began thinking about how to get things into one’s hands.
As I tried to explain to a student why something was not working for him I stumbled upon the notion that what wasn’t working was something he already had in his hands and that in order to change it he had to replace it. Simply put, if something needs to go, or be practiced out as I referred to it, something else has to be practiced in. This to me then has become an extraordinarily simple way to think about practicing. In order to improve something we have to know how we are going to do it. I think of it in terms of assessment of our own playing and being proactive in the solution to any problem whether it is as large a problem as not working at all or as common as an area in need of improvement.
I think about the idea of practicing in and practicing out aspects of my playing that do not work like this:
1. Deciding what it is that needs some alteration and then deciding if there is an aspect of it that does not work, i.e. needs refinement or as a whole does not work.
2. Clearly identifying not just one way, but multiple ways in which to replace the aspect of technique or playing with exercises, both technical and musical, that lead me in the direction I need to go.
3. Not just spending one session on the problem. Once there is an identifiable goal it must be achieved over a period of time, a week, month, perhaps longer depending on the size of the issue.
4. Making sure to revisit the problem even after it has seemingly been fixed; it is very easy to slip back into old habits.
Practicing in clear focused ways ultimately leads to more productive and effective practice sessions. The great players aren’t actually great players, they are great practicers. The fewer the reps, one can use to make something work in their hands the better. It will lead us to longer playing careers, but often times fall into the trap of more is better. Better is better. We cannot become brilliant in one session of practicing but we can become brilliant at an aspect. I like to think of it in terms of a house; if there is a brick house that needs work, cracks in the brick, discoloration anything, simply removing the bad brick does not fix it. It needs to be replaced with a new and more pleasing brick. The same goes for our playing; we simply cannot remove an aspect of our playing without putting something back in, and frankly you would never remove a brick from a house without having one to replace it with. The same goes for playing guitar, you cannot take a part of your playing out with first knowing what you are going to put in and having it ready to go! Happy practicing!

Winter danger prevention for your nails.

seth — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 19:13:05 +0000

As classical guitarists we take great pride in our tone production via constant buffing, filing and care for our nails. It is rare however for me to hear many if any guitarists say anything about preventitive maintenance. While most of us associate the winter season’s lack of humidity as danger to our beloved wooden instruments, and rightly so, we fail to realize the danger it presents for our nails!

From my first lesson with Stephen Aron where he told me my tone sucked I have been on and endless pursuit of good tone production via my nails. Since I use my natural nails there are certain dangers that crop up in the winter, namely dehydration. The winter weather can sap our skin of moisture causing our hands and lips to become dry and cracked, but this dryness has a secondary danger in our hands. Dry brittle nails translate to thin and weak tone so this must be prevented at all costs.

The three things I have done to prevent dry and brittle nails in the winter is to first constantly use a hand moisturizer that absorbs quickly into the skin. Our nail beds are fed by the skin cells in our hands, the healthier the hands the healthier the nail. Second, using a vitamin E oil a couple times a week just on the cuticle and nail bed helps as well. This can be obtained from any reputable nail salon. The third and final thing I have used and had great success is a product called “solar oil” made by the nail polish company OPI. This is a re-hydrating oil that you brush onto your nails. If you just need a slight boost brushing it on a couple times a week before going to bed will likely be sufficient, however, if your nails are becoming very dry I suggest brushing it on and finding a way to cover either your nails or enitire with something that will not absorb the oil. This way the oil will soak into directly into the nail and help offset the dryness of the nail.

Winter is dangerous for our guitars, but our nails as well…keeping both hydrated will help ensure happy practicing and performing with healthy nails, tone and guitar. Cheers!

Fernando Sor Guitar Duo: Le Premier Pas Vers Moi

seth — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 02:10:25 +0000

I. Andantino

II. Valse

The Thumb

seth — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 16:15:05 +0000

I have been playing guitar in general for thirteen years of my 29 year life, which, is a considerable portion. Much of that time playing any style of guitar I have used my thumb in one singular way: to squeeze the neck. What I am realizing now after playing classical guitar for five years now, the thumb should be less involved in the playing than I or most of us think. Instead of using my thumb to apply pressure I am beginning to use it to balance my hand and control my fingers overall instead of using it to get notes. What I mean is the thumb should be able to be removed at almost any point in the playing of a phrase and the notes should still be able to come out, for the most part, which I will explain later.

Something to try.

There are two things to try one coming before the other. The first of these two things is to work on shifting in a specific way, which, I got from Dr. Stanley Yates. The way to practice is this, if your first finger is down on the third string(at any place it doesn’t matter) your thumb should be with it, then play the note. After that note has been played place the next finger, I suggest starting with the second finger, when you place the next finger down the thumb comes off the back of the neck and when you shift up to the next note landing with your first finger again that is when you place your thumb back on the neck. After working on this way of shifting you begin to realize how light your touch can be in general, its eye opening.

Now the second part that I have been working on specifically is when I am working on a phrase and want to quickly become confident in it. I started the other night by first working out a phrase, fingerings for both hands etc. Once I had that, I worked it out slowly so I had a small chunk of it memorized. Once in the memory I practiced it extremely slowly without my thumb on the neck at all, working on getting the shifts perfectly and landing where I need. To do this you have to do so very slowly, some of the notes will even buzz, but this matters not because its the sensation of playing lightly and once you have this in your hand after four or five tries you add the thumb back in and magically its extraordinarily accurate and easy to play!

This is by no means the fix all for everything but like anything guitarists do, the more ways in which we can do something, the better we become at it. Technique is less about virtuosity and more about makings things easy. This is one way that has begun to work for me and allowed me to play lighter, which, lets me play longer! Cheers!