Get exclusive footage, become my Patreon: / theartofguitar Sounds too good to be true I know, but it's not. Check out www.the-art-of-... for more lessons.
Very true! He needs to earn a living too! We didn't have youtube back in the day to get lessons. We drove to the studio, paid for the half hour and practiced what we learned that day until the next week. This is very convenient.
this is solid advice. just about every professional jazz musician I have met has given me this advice. You can even tell how relaxed and happy they are when the play their instruments. Even the fucking drummers are calm while playing high tempo double time swing.
+fasterthings The faster the tempo of a piece, the lighter you should play. This is really true for drummers especially. The lighter the touch on drums, the easier it is to play to tempo. Playing hard does not always correlate to playing well, in fact the reverse is almost always the case.
Jon Faddis (trumpet) is one of the best examples of this. High, fast, loud, scorching lines screaming out of his horn while he stands there nearly motionless like a zen master. The only motion is his waist expands and contracts with his breathing and his fingers on the valves. It's amazing to see (and hear).
I've seen a lot of videos with titles similar to this relating to guitar but none have actually been accurate, except this one. Really great advice, I've been a pretty dedicated player for 6 years and this is definitely one of the most important things I've heard. If there is a 'secret' to guitar playing, this is it. Thanks, really great video.
For Whom the Bells Toll I attack that song like I'm cutting meat with my strings lol But I get a very nasty growl crunch from that motion. I wont play it anymore because its so over played unless someone asks . 1 thing I did was get my drummer to listen to it several times because I have seen to many bands speed the tempo up even Metallica !! It got a special see-saw rhythm so its gotta be paced right . I'm a perfectionist cant help it ?
It's a really great advice. That about relaxing and using 10% of power can remind us all to stop doing anything by pushing ourselves too hard, wasting energy, getting nervous or even stiffen up unnecessarily. Those sort of natural but negative reactions are harmful that will frustrate you and ruin your performance. From now on, I will always remind myself "Take a deep breath. You only need 10% of your power to do it well!" Thank you.
Should do a lesson on the MAJOR SCALE. Took me awhile to get good at guitar, because I had learned pentatonic first and got stuck in it for awhile. Then, studied MAJOR SCALE and it literally opened everything up. Modes, how to make scales by taking steps out, etc... DO ONE
Huh??? I thought pentatonic could be in either minor or major. To make a pentatonic major scale "true" major or (ionian) major, you just add what...5 notes? ... or am I missing something?
This also kinda happened to me, I was trying to learn a riff very late at night and because my family was sleeping I tried to play it quietly, I didn't put as much force as I usually would when I picked, and when I tried to play it and put more force in my picking I couldn't play it up to speed like I did when I played relaxed.
A very profound lesson! It's called "PLAYING" guitar, not "working" it. Relaxation is an art. Being nervous makes it harder, being confident makes it easier.
I'm a new(er) player. Only been playing for about 8 months, but I've noticed this is true. You just "go easy" and it feels smoother and easier to play and transition and what not.
Playing with less force can prevent injury also. Wish I knew that a couple years ago. I read a phrase not long ago that explains it succinctly, "It's not about power, it's about precision".
Man, this is old! Thanks for this. At 58 I really struggle with just playing w/o forcing things, and I've got the pain to show. This and the "yoga" vid helped me to realize what I'm doing wrong. The pain is slowly subsiding and I'm more relaxed and fluid than ever.
Hey, I don't normally comment on a lot of videos, but I wanted to let you know I appreciate what you're doing here. No annoying intro, owned up to the "click bait" and delivered great info. Thanks, man. Keep doing what you're doing!
One of my biggest problems and something I need to everytime I practice. I played in public for the first time at an open mic jam session. I was stressing at first but after 10 minutes I became more relaxed. Still a long way to go to be more fluid. Thanks for the advice
Hello. I discovered that a few weeks by focusing more on the sound coming from the guitar as a spectator would do than on playing the song. I was playing a lot better and I tried to figure out what made the difference. The answer was simple : no stress in the body, feeling completely relax and letting my hands do their job without interfering. I told to a friend. She is a dancer and she totally understood the idea since she was letting her body do the move focusing only on music. This video summarizes exactly that and gave some more insight on how to make it happen on demand. Thank you very much for this video and the others. CHEERS F4OM BELGIUM MATE!
Well I'm a Jiu Jitsu blue belt, a software engineer, & I just started playing guitar. I'm really waiting for the perks because my playing is terrible so far lol!
I’m a blue belt in BJJ and a white belt at guitar. They both have a decent learning curve, but there’s no better feeling than the moment when things start to click. Only problem is I’m paranoid about jamming the fingers on my fretting hand when I roll! Thanks for putting out great videos, I watch at least one a day.
Mike that’s an awesome point. I came across this several times and forgot about it again, never having fully formulated the concept. Thanks for reminding me! 👍
That's great advice. I feel the same playing the drums. I even hold my breath on difficult songs, making me exhausted afterwards. Difficult habit to break.
It's the same riding motorbikes fast. If you really push frenetically through a turn, you will go slower. Way back an American champ, Kenny Roberts said, you have to go slow to go fast. Get it right relax and speed will come, without teeth gritting energy sapping panic.
This is very true! I have my HSC music performances in 2 days and this philosophy is very helpful. Just letting my hands and the guitar/bass do the talking rather than trying to force myself to make it happen not only makes makes the guitar feel lighter and easier to play, but also helps me with my stage fright!
Bruce Lee taught to be relaxed. I read in a biography of him that he told a singer to relax all his muscles when he sings, I think he sang opera, and the singer said he sang better than he ever did. The whole idea is that if you are tense then your muscles will all be pulling against themselves causing you to not be as fluent or good as you could be by using the only muscle or muscle groups for that certain task. Your bicep pulls your arm toward yourself while your tricep PULLS, not push, your arm away. If you use them both them you end up in a struggle between them and cause an injury. This video is so old I doubt anyone will read this.
This is great advice, dude. I've never played with great intensity but there are times when I do catch myself being super intense and there's a tremendous difference.
This is some solid advice for all instruments. Honestly for other things as well, both my trumpet teacher AND my golf pro gave me this exact advice and it is extremely useful and helps you even enjoy what you are doing a little more.
This suggestion means a lot to me, after a live concert I was so fucking exhausted I was flying high and I forget about myself, I had to step back and calm down, pay more attention to technique, it was definitely a game changer for me, you are 100% correct and thank you.
I used to have a problem pushing down to hard from many yrs of either crappy guitars or bad setups . Once I realized that I could fix the mechanical issues i.e. the setup , so I had to remind myself that it doesn't require a lot of pressure to fret the strings. I also play GHS Boomers 9s which have served me very , very well since 1986 until now . I know people swear by other brands but Boomers feel right , they should after 30+ yrs I guess lol
Great Advice. I know for me trying too hard and forcing myself to play something only leads to frustration. Just relaxing and letting my fingers do their thing often surprises me on what I can do and how I sound.
I did this once accidentally and it really helped and then I forgot about it until watching this. I will definitely use this again. Thanks for the reminder!
The-Art-of-Guitar oh and btw, what you say it's totally true, same thing in jiujitsu when you use too much strenght. I'll transfer that knowledge to the guitar and try to enjoy a little more while improvising in guitar, thanks bro!
I had noticed this before as well. I was playing and got pissed so I decided to play it as if I knew the song back and forward, and it sounded pretty good. For some reason I forgot to try it more often. Thanks for the advice!
This is definitely true and something I realized almost immediately with guitar. Problem is most of the time I don't know how to get myself to back down.
Alan Watts would have agreed, I think, that the essence of what you are comes through in much of what you do. Mike's manner of teaching has a respectfulness and thoughtfulness which it's hard to separate, I should guess, from what he believes outside of guitar-playing.
Playing guitar well is hard enough without adding extra stress and attitude to it. Relaxing is the key to smooth and less tension filled playing. I always tell my own students, "Make it as easy on yourself as possible." Throw away the distractions and clear your mind. It works!
I'm just learning to play guitar and this is great advice. The more I stress about playing the more tension there is in my hands which makes it difficult to play. When I relax it is easier.
I've done a bit of studying in sports psychology. What you've just described is the inverted u hypothesis there's an optimimum effort level which gives optimum performance when, you try too hard or too little performance drops. There's an optimimum level of effort for maximum payout.
I had a teacher tell me to play and as I’m sitting there basically focus on each part of my body and release unnecessary tension from them.. I was surprised how much extra effort I was putting in when playing certain things.. especially extended lengths of trem picking or triplets.. even down to my feet and toes tensing up and my shoulder blades.. same concept you were talking about, def helped a lot to relax the tensed up muscles. Thanks for the advice
Being self taught to a degree I use so much attention and energy listening and learning a new song I'm usually wiped out fairly quickly. This really resonates... Remember it's PLAYing.
I know, old video, but I wanted to thumbs up on this. It's something I found out recently - metal guitar sounds so angry and forceful that, when you start playing, you think you also have to put that amount of energy in to make it work. But you really don't. I was practicing scales and frustrated with how I couldn't speed up, until I watched a video of someone just gliding over the strings. I thought, how do they do that? So I tried pulling back all the energy and pressure on the strings and whoosh, off I went. Biggest eye opener for me while learning to play.
I'm a classical violin player, I can't agree more, and it's much more obvious on the violin, the more you relax, the more chance you nail the technique.
So true!!!! Had a mx lesson and the pro told me to go as slow as I can. Make it feel like I am going to fall over in the turns,. I thought what.. but I did it and by the 5 th lap I was clearing jumps I was not able to do because I had enough speed now out of the turns.. trying to go to fast makes everything tense and worse. Slow down and next thing u know u r going fast without even trying or knowing.. was the best thing I ever learned... now to make sure to keep doing it to make it a habit is the next step.....works for everything!!!!!
I've heard Alan watts say that same thing about the teacher telling the kid to try hard and I have a feeling that's where you heard that example from so I just wanted to say you're a boss for listening to the greatest philosopher of all time. It's things like that, that give me hope for humanity lol.
Thats a great lesson Mike, its the idea of slow is smooth and smooth is fast. I like the Buddhist/starwars theme you started on. Its similar to lord of the rings. I know you talked about martial arts before, I think there is a lot there mentaly/emotionaly/spiritualy Videos like that would be cool. I dabbled in guitar for some years the reason I'm getting more serious about it is because for most of my life if I'm lifting weights and shooting my bow(archery is meditation) everything else in my life seems to work much better. I'm currently in Iraq and shooting bow isn't happening lol, so I'm replacing it with guitar.
I found this theme in a lot of your videos funny. But not in a hahaha way. My friends and I who are guitarists too like to relate martial arts with our music too. We both find it so funny how it fits together so well. Doing jeet Kune do and see how Bruce Lee used dance and other arts to add to what he was doing made me try it with music too. Thanks for sharing 😁
+Eric Cernech Agreed. In baseball, hitting coaches often refer to that as squeezing the bat too hard. In hockey, same thing - gripping the stick too hard. It's about relaxing and releasing the tension, not adding it in. Very Zen, very true.
I did this live when playing certain more energetic songs - pushing really hard down with my fingers because I was getting into it. I never do this when practising so I had to remind myself to step back a bit, you can do yourself some damage in the long term!
Holy crap! My dude..... I can't believe how much that just changed my guitar playing! Even my homie sitting right here in the studio just said..." Damn dude! What happened to you? No.... you weren't playing like THAT yesterday". 😳.....🤯
It’s because often when you first learn something there’s a bunch of mental energy and focus going into it especially when you’re learning chords at first and you have to press down really hard but then once you get it you can back off a lot and still do it and a lot of times people just don’t realize that the intensity and amount of energy that you go into something when you first learn it it’s only really necessary for the first little bit and then you can do what Mike is saying.
This might explain why my boy is getting good on guitar. He never seems to put energy into it but sounds good! I played a recording of his first gig to some session musicians I known and after the first couple of chords of purple rain, one said "wow he'slaid back!" He's only 12 so a lot to learn but listening to this advice, he seems to be on the right track.
OMG, I can't believe you mentioned Alan Watts I've been binge-watching Alan Watts videos. Such synchronicity. Yeah this can be apply to anything in life thank you so much.
I noticed this myself once. I was practicing this solo off a song I was going to jam with a friend and while practicing it at home it felt so damn hard, but the next day when I went to the studio with my friend we were just chill af and I played it so perfectly because of that ^^ Really helps
OSU! You're now my guitar sensei! *bows* got any tips for sore fingers after rolling so I can play guitar when I get home from the dojo?Two stripe bjj white belt, karate shodan and bedroom wannabe hendrix
Wow I came to this video thinking I’d get some technical advice but this is super duper and beyond!! It’s not only for playing guitar but advice for living life in itself. People take life very seriously but if they are given a chance or environment to relax and back off and just surrender to the flow of life instead of trying so hard to make things happen, things flow easier and life becomes more enjoyable. It is said that life is a big cosmic joke and that it is all just a divine play of hide and seek so we might as well be laughing and enjoying too instead of trying so hard and squeezing ourselves into a ball!
Dude I just realized that last night! I was practicing bends and it sounded so harsh. Just a simple note, one string, sounded harsh. It didn't sing. So I thought about finger pressure and notes going sharp. Sure enough I applied waaaaaay too much pressure so notes went sharp and the bends didn't sound soulful. I backed off a little and there was the moment of revelation! The bends sounded clean and soulful. But here's the thing! It takes soooo much of my focus to not tense up that I have to slow down a lot and really pay attention to how much I press down on the strings. Not just that, there are certain exercises that I can only halfway master when I push down like a maniac such as the spider walk. Why? Because I can't lift up my ring finger if I don't push hard with the other fingers. Idk if that's an anatomy thing or if I just need to figure it out and practice more.
You didn't point out that it's more about minimizing finger movement. If you're playing a riff and your fingers are flying 2 inches off the strings instead of 2mm it's going to slow you down and take more effort. You minimize effort (which is what this video is about) not by thinking "only give it 10% energy" but by realizing what is required to give it less energy, which is moving the fingers the least amount you can get away with, and no more. In addition to playing faster, it also keeps the neck more stable in your hand vs sort of rocking around when your hand is flailing about too much and that gives you more control and precision. This also means improving finger strength and control which is what allows you to play the riff with minimal movement.
That's true, i use an app to learn guitar, it was 1 week after starting and i sow an "hard" song called fairy tail, when i saw all the frets and strings to play it was too fast, i couldn't even do a note, but 2 months later i decided to do it again and it seemed very slow and easy, if i knew how to slow things down i could even play thunderstruck (maybe)
"I know a lotta people think it's just clickbait, partially true"
The most honest guy on youtube
Very true! He needs to earn a living too! We didn't have youtube back in the day to get lessons. We drove to the studio, paid for the half hour and practiced what we learned that day until the next week. This is very convenient.
Partial Honesty
I’ve only got 89.9% better at guitar. Sooo clickbait.
Lol
Lol
I only got 87.96% better :(
😂😂😂😂
this is solid advice. just about every professional jazz musician I have met has given me this advice. You can even tell how relaxed and happy they are when the play their instruments. Even the fucking drummers are calm while playing high tempo double time swing.
fasterthings yup!! Best advice given! 🕶
+fasterthings The faster the tempo of a piece, the lighter you should play.
This is really true for drummers especially. The lighter the touch on drums,
the easier it is to play to tempo. Playing hard does not always correlate to
playing well, in fact the reverse is almost always the case.
yeaaaa its coz they all smoke the jazz tobacco
Jon Faddis (trumpet) is one of the best examples of this. High, fast, loud, scorching lines screaming out of his horn while he stands there nearly motionless like a zen master. The only motion is his waist expands and contracts with his breathing and his fingers on the valves. It's amazing to see (and hear).
Good video but I wanted a video on making guitar 88% easier to pay.
Just watch a little less of it. Haha
craig cotter That is the funniest thing I've heard all day.
craig cotter.
Like "6 Minute Abs."
craig cotter Lmao
Dear craig cotter, have a look at my comment above here #easyplayguitar
How to make guitar 100% easier to play:
Practicing
Nee Nee if you wanna make electric guitar 100% easier ask James Hetfield.
Not true because you can practice the wrong techniques.
Being calm and knowing what you’re playing should be the first thing
I've seen a lot of videos with titles similar to this relating to guitar but none have actually been accurate, except this one. Really great advice, I've been a pretty dedicated player for 6 years and this is definitely one of the most important things I've heard. If there is a 'secret' to guitar playing, this is it. Thanks, really great video.
Awesome man. Yeah it only took me 20 years to realize it. :)
Secret of every instrument or any technichal skill thing ;)
But you're supposed to kill your strings when you play Metallica!
I mean you can do it in some of their songs😂
For Whom the Bells Toll I attack that song like I'm cutting meat with my strings lol But I get a very nasty growl crunch from that motion. I wont play it anymore because its so over played unless someone asks . 1 thing I did was get my drummer to listen to it several times because I have seen to many bands speed the tempo up even Metallica !! It got a special see-saw rhythm so its gotta be paced right . I'm a perfectionist cant help it ?
Aaron KM no gives a fuck about what u just said bruh
Metallica is trash but Death is one of the best bands ever so props
Andrew D your pick and your fingers too...
So basically, play the song like you've already mastered it
It's a really great advice. That about relaxing and using 10% of power can remind us all to stop doing anything by pushing ourselves too hard, wasting energy, getting nervous or even stiffen up unnecessarily. Those sort of natural but negative reactions are harmful that will frustrate you and ruin your performance.
From now on, I will always remind myself "Take a deep breath. You only need 10% of your power to do it well!" Thank you.
Should do a lesson on the MAJOR SCALE. Took me awhile to get good at guitar, because I had learned pentatonic first and got stuck in it for awhile. Then, studied MAJOR SCALE and it literally opened everything up. Modes, how to make scales by taking steps out, etc... DO ONE
Huh??? I thought pentatonic could be in either minor or major. To make a pentatonic major scale "true" major or (ionian) major, you just add what...5 notes? ... or am I missing something?
A pentatonic scale contains 5 notes, hence the "penta". They could be either major or minor.
Same.
Tone tone semi tone, tone tone tone semitone
@@andresgizmos1271 3-4, 7-8
2-3, 5-6
This also kinda happened to me, I was trying to learn a riff very late at night and because my family was sleeping I tried to play it quietly, I didn't put as much force as I usually would when I picked, and when I tried to play it and put more force in my picking I couldn't play it up to speed like I did when I played relaxed.
It's like hitting a new zone or zen guitar. Love it!
vidiac2012
Bob Mercurio
piano piano pianissimo _ppp_
Having to play quiet sometimes is a blessing in disguise it seems lol
“This gets into Star Wars, philosophy and stuff.”
Dammit I love this channel.
Holy shit when i clicked on this i thought 'this guy probably teaches jiu jitsu
1:05 I WAS FUCKING RIGHT LMFAO
How'd ya know? Haha
The-Art-of-Guitar honestly i was just guessing, you look like a martial artist for some reason
@@UriPhoneCracker 😳
10%... 90% easier to... Oh god damn it. You dad-joked all of us.
A very profound lesson! It's called "PLAYING" guitar, not "working" it. Relaxation is an art. Being nervous makes it harder, being confident makes it easier.
I'm a new(er) player. Only been playing for about 8 months, but I've noticed this is true. You just "go easy" and it feels smoother and easier to play and transition and what not.
You just made my day, I wasn't having a very good one. Respect
Playing with less force can prevent injury also. Wish I knew that a couple years ago. I read a phrase not long ago that explains it succinctly, "It's not about power, it's about precision".
Man, this is old! Thanks for this. At 58 I really struggle with just playing w/o forcing things, and I've got the pain to show. This and the "yoga" vid helped me to realize what I'm doing wrong. The pain is slowly subsiding and I'm more relaxed and fluid than ever.
This actually works! Death - Symbolic gives me trouble, but constantly reminding myself of this keeps me moving through it well.
Solid advice : add distortion
Hey, I don't normally comment on a lot of videos, but I wanted to let you know I appreciate what you're doing here. No annoying intro, owned up to the "click bait" and delivered great info. Thanks, man. Keep doing what you're doing!
+Jake Miller Thanks Jake. Trying to keep it real over here. :)
Didn't knew John Cusack makes guitar tutorials.
Me cago en la Luna know*
Me cago en la Luna I just pissed myself. 😂
Me cago en la Luna know*
Oh no. lol. But he is super nice and informative with his lessons!
I thought he was the guy from Stargate Atlantis.
My teacher literally just gave me this lesson!! He told me to dig in less and just graze the strings with the pick, and it felt great!
One of my biggest problems and something I need to everytime I practice. I played in public for the first time at an open mic jam session. I was stressing at first but after 10 minutes I became more relaxed. Still a long way to go to be more fluid. Thanks for the advice
hey brother , did you just mention Allan Watts in the lesson? you are quite something. respects!
Heck yes, Watts is one of my heroes! :)
The-Art-of-Guitar you are also probably the first philosophical guitar teacher I knew from UA-cam. Awesome!
Guitar makes us all crazy eventually. ;)
Alan Watts, Vernon Howard, David R Hawkins (and the map of consciousness) etc.
Hello. I discovered that a few weeks by focusing more on the sound coming from the guitar as a spectator would do than on playing the song. I was playing a lot better and I tried to figure out what made the difference. The answer was simple : no stress in the body, feeling completely relax and letting my hands do their job without interfering. I told to a friend. She is a dancer and she totally understood the idea since she was letting her body do the move focusing only on music. This video summarizes exactly that and gave some more insight on how to make it happen on demand. Thank you very much for this video and the others.
CHEERS F4OM BELGIUM MATE!
This wisdom has given my playing such a boost! Thank you to the moon and back!
you do Jiu Jitzu AND play guitar!! i subscribed for that. Respect.
Awesome man. Yeah you'd think the two arts would contradict but a lot of the philosophy translates. :) Thanks.
Being a nerd engineer and playing music compliment each other as well. I know lots including myself.
Well I'm a Jiu Jitsu blue belt, a software engineer, & I just started playing guitar. I'm really waiting for the perks because my playing is terrible so far lol!
THEJOEBECK keep on play and trying your best and you will become sussceful
I’m a blue belt in BJJ and a white belt at guitar. They both have a decent learning curve, but there’s no better feeling than the moment when things start to click. Only problem is I’m paranoid about jamming the fingers on my fretting hand when I roll! Thanks for putting out great videos, I watch at least one a day.
Mike that’s an awesome point. I came across this several times and forgot about it again, never having fully formulated the concept. Thanks for reminding me! 👍
2:56 I immediately though of that quote from The Matrix, "stop TRYING to hit me, and hit me."
One of the most accurate pieces of info, apply it to everything. Learned it in the Army as a Scout. Also love the fact that you quoted Alan Watts.
That's great advice. I feel the same playing the drums. I even hold my breath on difficult songs, making me exhausted afterwards. Difficult habit to break.
This is so simple but a huge thing no one should over look. Glad to be reminded to try and stay calm lol.
So accurate. i had this same issue on piano and it works so well to just stop tensing up and chill out
you're right,i've learned this advice by myself,its seems so easy for people looking at you playing guitar,
loved this. It's something i realized about a week ago on my own and it really works!
It's the same riding motorbikes fast. If you really push frenetically through a turn, you will go slower.
Way back an American champ, Kenny Roberts said, you have to go slow to go fast.
Get it right relax and speed will come, without teeth gritting energy sapping panic.
Igbon5 slow is smooth, smooth is fast
the world needs more teachers like you buddy!
Great advice . I had a teacher once say to me to fret and pick as lightly as possible. Not the same thing .... very helpful thank you.
Whoa! A golden piece of advice! Thank sir!
This is very true! I have my HSC music performances in 2 days and this philosophy is very helpful. Just letting my hands and the guitar/bass do the talking rather than trying to force myself to make it happen not only makes makes the guitar feel lighter and easier to play, but also helps me with my stage fright!
Bruce Lee taught to be relaxed. I read in a biography of him that he told a singer to relax all his muscles when he sings, I think he sang opera, and the singer said he sang better than he ever did.
The whole idea is that if you are tense then your muscles will all be pulling against themselves causing you to not be as fluent or good as you could be by using the only muscle or muscle groups for that certain task.
Your bicep pulls your arm toward yourself while your tricep PULLS, not push, your arm away. If you use them both them you end up in a struggle between them and cause an injury.
This video is so old I doubt anyone will read this.
This is great advice, dude. I've never played with great intensity but there are times when I do catch myself being super intense and there's a tremendous difference.
This is some solid advice for all instruments. Honestly for other things as well, both my trumpet teacher AND my golf pro gave me this exact advice and it is extremely useful and helps you even enjoy what you are doing a little more.
This suggestion means a lot to me, after a live concert I was so fucking exhausted I was flying high and I forget about myself, I had to step back and calm down, pay more attention to technique, it was definitely a game changer for me, you are 100% correct and thank you.
I used to have a problem pushing down to hard from many yrs of either crappy guitars or bad setups . Once I realized that I could fix the mechanical issues i.e. the setup , so I had to remind myself that it doesn't require a lot of pressure to fret the strings. I also play GHS Boomers 9s which have served me very , very well since 1986 until now . I know people swear by other brands but Boomers feel right , they should after 30+ yrs I guess lol
Great Advice. I know for me trying too hard and forcing myself to play something only leads to frustration. Just relaxing and letting my fingers do their thing often surprises me on what I can do and how I sound.
I did this once accidentally and it really helped and then I forgot about it until watching this. I will definitely use this again. Thanks for the reminder!
Dude, I play guitar too and you just got me when you told you do jiu-jitsu! I just subscribed to your channel now!
Sweet!
The-Art-of-Guitar oh and btw, what you say it's totally true, same thing in jiujitsu when you use too much strenght. I'll transfer that knowledge to the guitar and try to enjoy a little more while improvising in guitar, thanks bro!
I had noticed this before as well.
I was playing and got pissed so I decided to play it as if I knew the song back and forward, and it sounded pretty good.
For some reason I forgot to try it more often. Thanks for the advice!
This is definitely true and something I realized almost immediately with guitar. Problem is most of the time I don't know how to get myself to back down.
Alan Watts would have agreed, I think, that the essence of what you are comes through in much of what you do. Mike's manner of teaching has a respectfulness and thoughtfulness which it's hard to separate, I should guess, from what he believes outside of guitar-playing.
And he does jiu jitsu, what a superstar
Playing guitar well is hard enough without adding extra stress and attitude to it.
Relaxing is the key to smooth and less tension filled playing. I always tell my own
students, "Make it as easy on yourself as possible." Throw away the distractions and
clear your mind. It works!
I'm just learning to play guitar and this is great advice. The more I stress about playing the more tension there is in my hands which makes it difficult to play. When I relax it is easier.
I've done a bit of studying in sports psychology. What you've just described is the inverted u hypothesis there's an optimimum effort level which gives optimum performance when, you try too hard or too little performance drops. There's an optimimum level of effort for maximum payout.
I had a teacher tell me to play and as I’m sitting there basically focus on each part of my body and release unnecessary tension from them.. I was surprised how much extra effort I was putting in when playing certain things.. especially extended lengths of trem picking or triplets.. even down to my feet and toes tensing up and my shoulder blades.. same concept you were talking about, def helped a lot to relax the tensed up muscles. Thanks for the advice
Being self taught to a degree I use so much attention and energy listening and learning a new song I'm usually wiped out fairly quickly. This really resonates...
Remember it's PLAYing.
this was soooo helpful!! i was struggling with that exact metallica riff and i can play so much better now. thanks so much.
I got stuck the last two days this saved me thank you
I know, old video, but I wanted to thumbs up on this. It's something I found out recently - metal guitar sounds so angry and forceful that, when you start playing, you think you also have to put that amount of energy in to make it work. But you really don't. I was practicing scales and frustrated with how I couldn't speed up, until I watched a video of someone just gliding over the strings. I thought, how do they do that? So I tried pulling back all the energy and pressure on the strings and whoosh, off I went. Biggest eye opener for me while learning to play.
I'm a classical violin player, I can't agree more, and it's much more obvious on the violin, the more you relax, the more chance you nail the technique.
How do so many guitarists headbang while they play? How are their fingers relaxed while they're going crazy at the same time
So true!!!! Had a mx lesson and the pro told me to go as slow as I can. Make it feel like I am going to fall over in the turns,. I thought what.. but I did it and by the 5 th lap I was clearing jumps I was not able to do because I had enough speed now out of the turns.. trying to go to fast makes everything tense and worse. Slow down and next thing u know u r going fast without even trying or knowing.. was the best thing I ever learned... now to make sure to keep doing it to make it a habit is the next step.....works for everything!!!!!
I've heard Alan watts say that same thing about the teacher telling the kid to try hard and I have a feeling that's where you heard that example from so I just wanted to say you're a boss for listening to the greatest philosopher of all time. It's things like that, that give me hope for humanity lol.
Thats a great lesson Mike, its the idea of slow is smooth and smooth is fast. I like the Buddhist/starwars theme you started on. Its similar to lord of the rings. I know you talked about martial arts before, I think there is a lot there mentaly/emotionaly/spiritualy Videos like that would be cool. I dabbled in guitar for some years the reason I'm getting more serious about it is because for most of my life if I'm lifting weights and shooting my bow(archery is meditation) everything else in my life seems to work much better. I'm currently in Iraq and shooting bow isn't happening lol, so I'm replacing it with guitar.
I found this theme in a lot of your videos funny. But not in a hahaha way. My friends and I who are guitarists too like to relate martial arts with our music too.
We both find it so funny how it fits together so well.
Doing jeet Kune do and see how Bruce Lee used dance and other arts to add to what he was doing made me try it with music too.
Thanks for sharing 😁
Loving the Alan Watts reference. Zen and the Art of Guitar.
A MLB hitting coach years ago told a future hall of famer to "try easier not harder. Very similar approach.
+Eric Cernech Agreed. In baseball, hitting coaches often refer to that as
squeezing the bat too hard. In hockey, same thing - gripping the stick too
hard. It's about relaxing and releasing the tension, not adding it in. Very Zen,
very true.
I did this live when playing certain more energetic songs - pushing really hard down with my fingers because I was getting into it. I never do this when practising so I had to remind myself to step back a bit, you can do yourself some damage in the long term!
This is a shockingly easy way to remember to relax. Thank you!
At the Alan Watts quote i was sold :D
He's the man. Well, was the man.
Holy crap! My dude..... I can't believe how much that just changed my guitar playing! Even my homie sitting right here in the studio just said..." Damn dude! What happened to you? No.... you weren't playing like THAT yesterday".
😳.....🤯
It’s because often when you first learn something there’s a bunch of mental energy and focus going into it especially when you’re learning chords at first and you have to press down really hard but then once you get it you can back off a lot and still do it and a lot of times people just don’t realize that the intensity and amount of energy that you go into something when you first learn it it’s only really necessary for the first little bit and then you can do what Mike is saying.
Excellent advice, I kind of always knew it and had a relfex of doing that when I get a part wrong too many times but I never consciously did it.
This might explain why my boy is getting good on guitar. He never seems to put energy into it but sounds good! I played a recording of his first gig to some session musicians I known and after the first couple of chords of purple rain, one said "wow he'slaid back!" He's only 12 so a lot to learn but listening to this advice, he seems to be on the right track.
Sounded more like he was using 25% if you ask me.
Great tip! I get like that when someone is looking at me playing. Or when I try to play it perfect from the original song.
Jesus, that wind-chime gypsy shit actually works.
that helped a ton, thanks
This is a very useful life lesson. We are our most demanding critic and can really impose awful expectations on ourselves.
OMG, I can't believe you mentioned Alan Watts I've been binge-watching Alan Watts videos. Such synchronicity. Yeah this can be apply to anything in life thank you so much.
Incorporates Jui Jitsu and Alan Watts into a lesson. Best guitar teacher on UA-cam!
jui- jitzu and guitar, my two favorite things
Thanks for your help man.
I noticed this myself once.
I was practicing this solo off a song I was going to jam with a friend and while practicing it at home it felt so damn hard, but the next day when I went to the studio with my friend we were just chill af and I played it so perfectly because of that ^^
Really helps
This video is really good for beginners / intermediate guitar players like me!
Thanks!!
OSU! You're now my guitar sensei! *bows* got any tips for sore fingers after rolling so I can play guitar when I get home from the dojo?Two stripe bjj white belt, karate shodan and bedroom wannabe hendrix
Great advice man, thanks!! Seems really obvious once you know, but when you're struggling you don't see it. I love your channel, cheers!!
Wow I came to this video thinking I’d get some technical advice but this is super duper and beyond!! It’s not only for playing guitar but advice for living life in itself. People take life very seriously but if they are given a chance or environment to relax and back off and just surrender to the flow of life instead of trying so hard to make things happen, things flow easier and life becomes more enjoyable. It is said that life is a big cosmic joke and that it is all just a divine play of hide and seek so we might as well be laughing and enjoying too instead of trying so hard and squeezing ourselves into a ball!
It's funny you said Alan Watts cause that's exactly what I was thinking as you were describing it.
Dude I just realized that last night! I was practicing bends and it sounded so harsh. Just a simple note, one string, sounded harsh. It didn't sing. So I thought about finger pressure and notes going sharp. Sure enough I applied waaaaaay too much pressure so notes went sharp and the bends didn't sound soulful. I backed off a little and there was the moment of revelation! The bends sounded clean and soulful. But here's the thing! It takes soooo much of my focus to not tense up that I have to slow down a lot and really pay attention to how much I press down on the strings. Not just that, there are certain exercises that I can only halfway master when I push down like a maniac such as the spider walk. Why? Because I can't lift up my ring finger if I don't push hard with the other fingers. Idk if that's an anatomy thing or if I just need to figure it out and practice more.
You didn't point out that it's more about minimizing finger movement. If you're playing a riff and your fingers are flying 2 inches off the strings instead of 2mm it's going to slow you down and take more effort. You minimize effort (which is what this video is about) not by thinking "only give it 10% energy" but by realizing what is required to give it less energy, which is moving the fingers the least amount you can get away with, and no more. In addition to playing faster, it also keeps the neck more stable in your hand vs sort of rocking around when your hand is flailing about too much and that gives you more control and precision. This also means improving finger strength and control which is what allows you to play the riff with minimal movement.
You seemed cool, but now that you’ve said that you do Jiu Jitsu, you are the coolest person I’ve seen on UA-cam
That's true, i use an app to learn guitar, it was 1 week after starting and i sow an "hard" song called fairy tail, when i saw all the frets and strings to play it was too fast, i couldn't even do a note, but 2 months later i decided to do it again and it seemed very slow and easy, if i knew how to slow things down i could even play thunderstruck (maybe)
You are the zen master of online guitar teachers.
this concept works for athletics as well. When you're struggling, its usually because you're trying too hard and/or thinking too much.
Amen man. Brazilian Jiu Jitsu taught me this.
Thanks for the upload this helped a lot.
Wise words, mate