On Learning a New Piece

I've finished Jeux Interdits (which, btw, I learned was also called Spanish Romance or Romance) a few days ago. The piece needs more polishing, especially part two. Also, not enuf feels yet. But I lala-love the song :)

My next piece is ... Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring. At last, at last! I'm using a cheat sheet though. I really shouldn't because I haven't been practicing reading notes. Part of the consequence is I've forgotten to play Adelita, and I haven't reviewed it yet. If it weren't for muscle memory, I swear I wouldn't budge one finger to review Carulli's Andantino in G and Waltz in Em again, which are the first classical pieces I ever learned to play.

Right now I'm still at the fourth bar of Jesu, and now that I've picked up a new piece after a few months of sabbatical I thought I should write something about how I learn a new piece.

I can't really say that there's a step by step process because at some point my fingers and memory fail me and I have to start over. But here's my best explanation:

1. Get sheet. If I can't find a downloadable copy of the piece I search for tabs in Ultimate Guitar. But I usually go straight to UG if I'm too lazy to read sheet music (which is most of the time). There are a few advantages when using sheet music though. Some sheets notate left hand fingering. I also find that when I read tabs I get impatient because the songs seem very long. Since sheet music notates those parts that are just repeated, they read pretty concise.

2. Read sheet. Now, I'm not a savant who can see notes and then automatically translate them to tones in my head. This is for me to get a general idea of the fingering or how many frets I have to traverse. I check if the distance between notes is sane and within the reach of my puny fingers. If I find it too difficult for my level, I put it aside and set my sights on other pieces.

3. YouTube. My best friend. I search for other guitarists and take note of their playing speed and how they phrase the song. A note about YT: It was by searching various interpretations that I realized guitarists have the liberty of changing the lengths of a few notes, creating their own... cadence of sorts. Some formalists may frown at how liberal an interpretation may be. But hey, who's playing?

4. Play sheet. This is the hard part. This is the true test of my patience, tolerance and interest in a particular piece. I usually go bar by bar, repeating more than once after I memorize the succession of notes and their corresponding fingering. A tab is more helpful in this case, since all I have to do is to look and then I'd know where I should place my fingers. A bad practice actually, since I am not training myself to read notes and base my fingering on them.

After I memorize a group of bars, I repeat the phrase as often as I could. By "often," I mean until my brain and muscle memory fail me. When I get too distracted, I rest. I found out that resting is a very important ingredient in learning a new piece. It's just as important as the literal rest notes on the staff. I feel that when I take a break, the nerves in my fingers and brain use the opportunity to make new connections, and really stamp the movement of my fingers deep inside my head. Muscle memory.

I realized that I often play with my guts and rely on muscle memory more than brain memory. When I use my brain, I get more distracted. I dunno. Focus is a matter of how people are used to lose themselves on a task. When I play, I literally lose myself. In moments of self-consciousness, I find that my brain has shut down and the lights are off. I don't think about what I play, I don't process what I sense. I feel I am the music that just has to come out of the instrument.

Haha, andami kong nasabi. That's it for now. El Dia's getting cold.

Making Progress: Right Hand Sixteenths

At last, I'm making good progress on this song I've been trying to learn since forever. When I wrote that blog post, I was stuck with the sixteenths. My right hand (P I M) just can't keep up with the movement and speed. Now I'm very proud to say that that part is done! I'm anchoring my ring finger on the sounding board though; I don't know if that's right by classical playing standards (I don't think it is, but it's working for me). I'm hoping that this exercise will help me when I get to tremolo (in 10 years, maybe). I'm moving on to practicing making a smoother transition between the left hand positions. The transitions from 1st to 2nd position, and from 2nd to 3rd position are the most difficult.

But after the sixteenths, everything else seems so much easier to execute. I am anticipating another plateau once I get past left hand transitions and on to the second movement of the song, the part where everything else is played one octave higher. I'm not very good past the 12th fret; I'm having difficulty pressing and sustaining a note. But I'm so glad I'm using a classical guitar now. I would have given up a long time ago if I was still using an acoustic.

As for the other parts, I'm doing fine. Still need more practicing though. With the rhythm, I'm trying to slow down for better expressivo. As for the melody, I'm trying to memorize the notes. My hammer-ons suck, sooo I have a long way to go with Tarrega's Adelita. I'm still using the 2-guitar version, but maybe I'll try melding the two, like in the video. Try searching for Comptine d'un autre ete lapres midi on YouTube and you'll find that almost no 2 guitarist play this song the same way. Not that that helps, but at least it's saying anyone can tab this song. With enough patience, anyway. I remember a period when I did have patience and transcribed this song, both melody and rhythm, based on the 2-guitar version I linked above. But I can't remember if I did write the notes down before my patience finally ran out. Oh well.

Regarding my progress on classical pieces... well, I haven't really made much since I've finished Adelita. I promised I would do Bach's Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring, but I can't seem to convince myself to write the sheet music down on my notebook.

Homework (credit to)

Gaah! I really hate reading sheet music. But I must if I want to learn this. Just gimme a few more days to sulk then I'll carry my a**, thank you very much.

March 13, 2013. Uploaded video. Trying to play the sixteenths without resting my ring finger on the sounding board. But I just had to in this video. And still sulking through sheet music.