Most people just learn a song for the
sake of learning a song or just simply because they like it. Well what
if I was to tell you another reason for learning a song? How about
learning a song for the purpose of learning a specific technique? I
remember when I was first learning how to play guitar. I would see a
guitarist from some famous group do a certain technique. I would sit
up and say: “wow! I have got to learn how to do that!” So I’d pick up
one of the band’s albums and the sheet music for it, just so I could
learn some of their music. I would learn a few of my favorite picks of
their songs, usually the ones that had the techniques I wanted to
incorporate into my own playing. Then of course something else would
come along and I’d do the same.
I learned how to fingerpick fairly early on in my learning years. I
started out with a song that used only a couple of fingers (thumb and
index) and then I would learn a song that utilized three fingers, and
so on. Then I saw Jimmy Page play with a pick and his fingers. Then I
obviously had to learn how to do that. I’ve learned bits and pieces of
numerous songs and it was usually for the purpose of learning how to
do a specific technique. A lot of the songs I never ended up doing
with any of the bands I was in. But the techniques were applied to
some of our originals and even applied to some of the covers we did by
other artists.
Most people think that the process of learning a piece of music for
the sake of learning a technique is just a learning process that is
usually applied by beginners. But even experienced guitarists can
benefit from this approach, especially since there is always some
innovation popping up in the guitar world. Like when
Eddie Van Halen came out and did "Eruption." All of a sudden
everyone wanted to do hammer-ons. When
Randy Rhoads came out, everybody wanted to blend Classical guitar
with hard rock. When
Yngwie Malmsteen came out, everybody wanted to do lightning fast
arpeggios. I’m not saying that someone should learn the trick of the
day just to keep up with the trends. But they should at least be
willing to continue to improve themselves as musicians. To be a
well-rounded player, one should learn multiple techniques. And this
could be done one song at a time. So every song could potentially be
an exercise.
Until next time.................... |
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