Practice makes perfect, so the cliché says, although like many clichés, it has also spawned corrective variants.
Practice makes permanent, a common one of them goes, and what it lacks in catchiness it may well make up for in neuroscientific truth.
We've all recognized that, when we do things a certain way, we tend to keep doing them in that certain way; in fact, the more we've done them that way before, the more likely we'll do them that way next time.
What holds true for simple habits, formed over long periods of time and often inadvertently, also holds true for deliberately perfected - or anyway, permanent-ified - tasks. But what happens in our brains to cause it?
Practice is the repetition of an action with the goal of improvement, and it helps us perform with more ease, speed, and confidence.
It's also our two kinds of neural tissue, grey matter and white matter. The former processes information in the brain, directing signals and sensory stimuli to nerve cells, and the latter is mostly made up of fatty tissue and nerve fibers.
When we move, information needs to travel from the brain's grey matter, down the spinal cord, through a chain of nerve fibers called axons to our muscles, and those axons in the white matter are wrapped with a fatty substance called myelin.
These are all interesting facts, to be sure, but how can they help us in or own practice sessions. Here are a series of tips that are each quite simple but all in alignment with current neuroscientific knowledge.
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If you liked this edition of
Mike Overly's
12 Tone Music Newsletter, forward it to your friends.
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The Broadcaster, Fender's first solid body electric guitar with a truss rod and two pickups, was first released in 1950. After only a few months in production though, Gretsch - the company that owned the BroadKaster trademark - asked Fender to cease using the name for its new guitar. Fender complied, and simply clipped the name off the headstock decal. The guitars briefly then became known as "Nocasters" before receiving the name they've retained to this day, the Telecaster. Only 250 original Broadcasters are known to have been produced.
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IN THE BASSMENT
The veteran heavy metallers Iron Maiden are so active, four decades after the London band's inception, and do so much high-profile touring, that it's hard to imagine that one of them - and the founder member, no less - would ever have time for a side project. Nonetheless, that's what bassist Steve Harris, Maiden's undisputed leader, has been doing since his band British Lion debuted in 2012 with a self-titled album. Whether the crowd is 200 or 200,000 people, there's no difference - I still give 110 percent wherever I'm playing.
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Here are 4 ways
Fretboard Flashcards for Guitar and Bass will greatly improve your musical knowledge and playing skills.
1. Learn all 21 letter names and staff notes on each string,
2. Use both sides of your brain to quickly learn and memorize,
3. Clarify your understanding of the guitar by seeing the entire fretboard with a holistic understanding, and
4. Make key signatures, scale spellings, circle of 4ths and 5th sand a lot more simple and easy.
With 126 cards in the deck, it's the only complete set of fretboard flashcards in the world! Buy a deck today and see for yourself. Order now through June 6, 2019 to receive
FREE SHIPPING on
Fretboard Flashcards for
Guitar and
Bass.
Only available from the 12 Tone Music
store
. No coupon code necessary. Domestic orders only. Money back guarantee.
Fretboard Flashcards for Guitar and
Bass are as essential as your instrument!
Order
Guitar Fretboard Flashcards or
Bass Fretboard Flashcards now through
March 26, 2020 to receive
FREE SHIPPING on Fretboard Flashcards for Guitar and Bass.. Only available from the 12 Tone Music
store
. No coupon code needed. Domestic orders only. Money back guarantee.
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WATCH THIS
On August 18, 1988, one of the greatest assemblages of guitar talent in history got together at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York. The occasion - a tribute concert to Les Paul - featured some absolutely incredible guitar moments. It features Brian Setzer who calls on Eddie Van Halen to join him. Van Halen is followed by David Gilmour who makes way for B.B. King who is followed by Les Paul, then 73, who caps everything off with a solo of his own, giving everyone else a run for their money in the process. And if that wasn't enough for ya, Steve Miller and Stanley Jordan also take solos in between! Waylon Jennings!
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LEARN HERE
James Taylor Teaches "Carolina in My Mind"
In this video, Taylor shows how to play his hit song "Carolina in My Mind." As you can see, Taylor capos the third fret and then runs through the fingering of each change. The cherry on top of this sweet lesson is the view from inside the sound hole as Taylor runs through the song, so that you can see the finger picking pattern up close and personal. Better still, after he runs through it once, the video is presented again at half speed, so you can make sure not to miss a single thing.
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GREAT GEAR
For fans of chorus, flange, Uni-Vibe, rotary and trem effects, this pedal is your Jetsons moment. It's the future we dreamed of in the swirly, modulated, chorused-out haze of the late 1900s. But in fact, it's actually even more than that. In all, the Mod 11 delivers Trem, Harmonic Trem, Vibrato, Uni (as in Uni-Vibe), Chorus, Rotary, Flange, Phase, Pitch, Filt (an analog synth-style modulated filter) and TZF (Through-Zero Flange; more on this below). And while the depth and rate knobs alone give you plenty of control over the tones, a mode button unlocks the awesome on the Mod 11.
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ARTIST AWARENESS
While many musicians fit easily into a single category, Steve Vai's unique musical vision remains unclassifiable. After more than 30 years, Vai continues to use unbridled guitar virtuosity and soulful artistry to explore the spectrum of human emotion.
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