Guitar practice is built on doing things. Just as important as doing is the way we do things. The how matters.
Learning to play is a cluster of processes rather than a fixed sequence of linear events. We may think we are being linear, but the zig-zagging nature of learning winds and dips and crests rather than one thing absolutely leading to the next.
Now there are general sequences to learning. We have to be able to sit or stand before we can even hold a guitar. We need basic technical know-how to set strings in motion. Yet, once these things are in place, we piece together our practice from a variety of sources and ideas.
Let’s say that we are building a chain. And, we acquire links from a plethora of sources. We collect and apply information and ideas. We piece together a strong chain. When doing that, I believe that no matter which order the components were presented, everyone will piece the chain together in a different order; their own order. And, this is as it should be.
Everything overlaps and relates and connects with everything else. We follow our intuition and build our practice. Like Yogi Berra says, “If there’s a fork in the road, take it.” Our internal cues guide our experience.
Ultimately, it all leads to the same place: making music by being musical.
To get there, we engage in primary practices. I consider the core of these to be tonal exploration. We all have the same level of access to our tonal system. We work with a given set, doing everything we can think of doing. We play all of the chords from a given set. We work our melodic faculties by singing to ourselves using the given set. We explore, free of fixed ideas. This process takes time. We start immediately.
Primary practices also include working with others, training and jamming, caring for gear, playing our repertory, and contemplating how it all fits together. And, there is always more, often in recombining these activities.
As we learn to play, we are ultimately studying ourselves. We consider how we are doing this as much as what we are doing. We can only be where we are.
