Cabin Fever Combat - Chapter Three

With any luck and without the normal distractions you encounter at home, a quiet hotel room can often provide you with a good place to focus on a piece of music. When I first approach a new selection or go back to tighten up a tune already under my fingers, I spend many hours visualizing the music - running it through my head while not playing my guitar and then locking in the visual while playing.

One time my mind may focus on the timing of the music, whereas another time I make a point to look at my fingers and notice what they are doing. Once while playing, after many hours of learning a rather complicated piece with my eyes closed while visualizing the music in my head, I suddenly looked at my fingers and freaked out because I had never seen them move precisely that way before. Sound creepy? Well, it was!

Another very effective method of fully absorbing a piece of music is to simply study it. While stuck in your hotel, instead of watching the TV, look at the notes on the paper as puzzle pieces. You will begin to see the repeats, the variations, the sections, the intros, and you will eventually understand the framework of the piece. Not only will this method help with the memorization of a tune, but it may give you some insight into understanding the compositional approaches used by some of your favorite artists.