From the notebook
Drills give you at least two types of benefits. You get lots of good reps - repetitions of movements made correctly - and these over time become exactly the habits you want. But you also get the benefit of repeatedly adjusting the motions so that they are, in fact, made the way you intend them. You’re practice both good reps and good tweaks. June 1
I’m having to make these motions very conscious before I make them unconscious. This is at least partly because I want to make sure they are clear and simple before I commit them to muscle memory / long-term memory. They’ll be easier to recall and easier to use that way. June 2
I used my cell phone and a tripod to make a video, from below and to my left, of my right hand using a pick. It looks completely different than I expected. I though my hand was moving more or less parallel to the top of the guitar, when in fact it’s moving away on downstrokes and back on upstrokes. June 8
Playing in time is something I want to do unconsciously. I have to learn to do it consciously first. (I tried it the other way - didn’t work for me.) This means using a metronome and paying attention. But I think, since ‘feeling it’ is the ultimate target, I need sometimes to practice playing in time in a less focused, more relaxed from of mind - to practice ‘feeling it.’ June 10
