Practice and discipline…I’ve been thinking about these words lately because I’ve been trying to teach myself to do a 4-finger right hand roll. It is more difficult for me now because I basically gave up the use of my 3rd and 4th right hand fingers years ago when I started to use fingerpicks (I use my thumb with the first and second fingers only…). I don’t like to do this kind of sit-down repetitive practicing either because its not really fun is it? But this “roll” is something I can’t do and that bugs me too! This all started because I have been listening to Andres Segovia play Tarrega’s ”Recuerdos de la Alhambra”. He plays this song so beautifully and there it is in the song - a kind of right hand roll that just goes on and on forever. I hear it a lot in classical and flamenco playing and it’s a staple of a lot of traditional folk music as well. So I figured it would be another good “tool” to add to my playing arsenal right? So now I sit here, just after having my morning coffee, trying to concentrate on doing these rolls over and over for a solid 20 minutes. I figured that that should be enough multiplied by however many days (years?) this might take until I learn how to do it correctly. Practice discipline right?
The guitar is a difficult instrument in many aspects I think. It hurts the fingers like hell at the beginning and especially when you’re just beginning to play this is not very fun. No easy gratification here (like drums for instance!). Guitar playing is the kind of instrument that you really have to want to play to get yourself through those first painful months. It’s easy to become discouraged. The other thing is that there is sooooo much guitar music in the world these days that it’s easy to fall into the trap of comparing yourself to a hundred other players that sound way better then you’ll ever sound in a million years right? So why even try? Practice discipline. I’ve lately been wondering just how much of that kind of discipline I really had at the beginning? Or was it something else??
As a child and into my teenage years I did play the clarinet. My folks made me practice 30 minutes a day, 5 days a week for as long as I played the instrument. I’m not sure I even hated the practice all that much although I know there was times when I would have rather been outside with friends or whatever. Still, for all that practice I had the pleasure of sitting in the first clarinet chair during my senior high school year and I was proud of that accomplishment. I got the solo (if it was to be had) and (to be honest) the attention, which I suppose, meant a lot way back then. Hey, I was a nerdy, skinny little geek. I do know that I got that chair because of all the practicing. Probably a bit of talent had something to do with it although I think it was a very small part. Clarinet playing (for me anyway) was more about being able to correctly read the notes and the technical expertise to do that came from the repetitions. This was not jazz or rock and roll music. No improvisation or freedom of expression here. It was school band music. You read and played what was on the sheet music that was placed in front of you.
Was it fun every day for years, all of that practicing? No it was not. Was it worth it? In retrospect I would have to say yes even though I don’t play the instrument anymore. I learned a lot about music, musicality, effort and reward and yes, about practice discipline.
How did all of that discipline help with my guitar playing? Well, certainly I learned early that perseverance does indeed pay off or at least in regards playing an instrument. Practice does not “kill” a person and there can be quite tangible results (benefits) from taking the time. It’s a fact: one does get better with practice. I did love the guitar from a very early age though and it was more a problem at that time to get me away from the instrument then having to force me to play it. I’ve always been thirsty for improving my playing techniques and I’m constantly striving to improve those skills that I do have. So, at least at the beginning anyway, practice was never a problem.
But here I am now, some 40+ years later, still finding myself in need of doing repetitions. And as I sit here slowly and awkwardly rolling my right hand fingers on simple chords, trying to bring some kind of fluidity to my unruly digits, I am not at all comforted by the fact that at the end of still more of this practicing I will be a tiny bit better guitar player. That’s all down the road. Nope… right now I want to go for a walk, maybe drink a beer or listen to music - anything but this endless rolling, rolling, and rolling… Isn’t there another way? Practice discipline!!
Argh! I’ll let you know how it turns out…
