What is Guitar Technique And Why Does it Matter

What is Guitar Technique And Why Does it Matter Megan L. Whats the deal with guitar technique anyway? Guitar teacher  Alexander A.  explains a few of the fundamentals and why they are so important If your teacher is cracking the whip every lesson because your hands aren’t in the proper position you may be asking yourself, “Does my guitar teacher hate me?” The answer is “no” â€" at least, I certainly hope not! More than likely, your teacher is trying to make you a better player by guiding you to play with good technique. We’ll be looking at effective techniques to use for guitar and bass players, though these principals apply to most other instruments as well. Before we get into specifics, let’s talk about what were looking for and why. Power In case you haven’t noticed yet, playing music can be very physically demanding. Guitar and bass players face this demand with our hands, as this is our primary interface with the instrument. Ever play barre chords on guitar or an F# major scale on the low end of the bass? These tasks are challenging and require a great deal of power to accomplish. Much like in martial arts, power is not achieved with brute force but by taking every advantage we can find to deliver the most power with the least effort. This isn’t laziness; it’s a fundamental necessity of our instruments. Control Like they say in Spiderman, “with great power comes great responsibility.” I think Spiderman must be a rock star. But it’s true! All that power that you’ve harnessed will go to waste if you don’t have proper control over your strings. Among other things, this means letting them ring when they need to and being able to mute them when they need to be silent Energy Going green isn’t just for electric cars and paperless billing. Guitar players need to conserve our energy as well. Almost all players will push the limits of their physical stamina at one time or another, so it’s important to make every action count. Work with your hands, not against them. Simple Guidelines Here are some simple guitar technique guidelines for guitar and bass players. These just cover the basics, so be sure to ask your guitar teacher about progressing your technique by using more advanced methods when youre ready. 1) Fingers on the string When holding down a single note using the second, third, or fourth fingers practice using your other fingers to hold down lower notes at the same time to build strength. For example, if you play a C on the A-string with the second finger (third fret), the first finger should be holding down the note B at the same time (second fret). If you reach for the D above the C with the fourth finger (fifth fret), you should have all four fingers holding down the string. (Of course, guitarists will need to abandon this technique when playing chords.) By letting more than one finger do the work we are conserving energy and maintaining control over the string. If you are a new player (or just have some old habits to break) this technique will feel strange for a little while, but if you use it consistently you should be forming good habits within a few weeks. Before you know it you will have more power in your fingers; it will feel strange not to have all your fingers on the strings. Just stick with it! 2) Stay close We can further conserve energy and maintain control by keeping fingers close to the fretboard when not in use. Let your fingers “hover” over the strings just high enough to let them ring, but low enough to be ready for action! Reach for the stars with your music, not your fingers. 3) No negative angles We need to always have our finger joints at positive angles, curved as if holding a ball. One of the greatest losses of power for new players often occurs in the last joint in each finger â€" the one by the fingernail. They should never be bent backwards as this greatly diminishes your strength. 4) Maintain your reach Always maintain a reach covering three or four frets. If you play B-C-D on the A-string (in that order, one note at a time) your first finger should still be reaching the B (second fret) as your fourth finger plays D (fifth fret). By maintaining this reach and not letting the first finger “scrunch up” against the others we keep control over four frets of the instrument and conserve energy by keeping our fingers stationary. Energy, power, and control are all intertwined. What’s good for one is good for the rest. Let these pillars of success be your focus as you move forward with your guitar technique. Now, let’s rock! If you want to learn more about guitar technique, or get help correcting some bad guitar habits youve picked up, nothing beats taking lessons with a private guitar instructor. Search for your guitar teacher now! Alexander A. teaches guitar, bass guitar, ukulele, upright bass, and music theory in Tacoma, WA. He earned his bachelors degree at Berklee College of Music in bass performance and composition. Alexander offers lessons in-person as well as online via Skype. Learn more about Alexander. Interested in Private Lessons? Search thousands of teachers for local and live, online lessons. Sign up for convenient, affordable private lessons today! Search for Your Teacher Photo by  Daniel Hoherd

Harvard University A Student Interview

Harvard University A Student Interview The tutors behind Varsity Tutors are not just here to teachtheyre sharing their college experiences as well. Keena is a Chicago tutor and 2006 graduate of Harvard University, where she studied psychology. She specializes in math tutoring, psychology tutoring, and a number of other subjects. See what she had to share about her time at Harvard University: Describe the campus setting and transportation options. Keena: Harvard University is located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, which is really just a smaller part of Boston. The campus is pretty urban, but borders on residential areas which makes it feel a bit quieter and more neighborhood-y on the edges (I always liked this part because there were lots of people walking dogs, and I missed mine). Harvard has a shuttle bus that can transport students to and from various parts of the campus. The shuttle is a great option for students, since the campus itself is huge and it can take a long time to walk from one side to the other especially if you include the athletic facilities and graduate education buildings. A bike is also a good idea but be careful! Cambridge is known as the bike theft capital of the country and given the number of thefts Ive seen on campus, I believe it. How available are the professors, academic advisers, and teaching assistants? Keena: The professors, academic advisors, and teaching assistants make themselves fairly available, but its important to remember that they are all involved in their own research or professional projects and often its difficult to get on their schedules. Sign up early, and make sure you know what youre going to talk about when you go to office hours. How would you describe the dorm liferooms, dining options, location, socialization opportunities with other students? Keena: The Houses at Harvard are one of the best parts of the University, in my opinion. Each House has its own personality and traditions, and being part of such a vibrant mini-community in the University has a very humanizing effect, especially since Harvard can be a cold and intense place at times. The Houses each have a dining hall and host various social activities for both house members and visitors, and it can be great to go from House to House experiencing the different atmospheres. I think its extremely important to take time to build a social network and put down your work for a while, especially at a place thats as academically intense as Harvard is. Youre supposed to be having fun, too! Which majors/programs are best represented and supported at Harvard University? Keena: Im not sure I can speak to which programs are best represented and supported I do know that a lot of students come to Harvard and dive into a particular field without giving themselves the freedom to experience new fields, which I think is a big mistake. As an example, I started school thinking I wanted to be pre-med, but switched out of that track midway through my sophomore year because I didnt like organic chemistry. I graduated with a degree in social psychology, but if you asked me now what I would have done in retrospect, I would have chosen history or creative writing, since thats what I liked the best. Its incredibly important to take classes in new fields and focus on what you really enjoy doing, not just what you or someone else thinks you should be doing. How easy or difficult was it for you to meet people and make friends as a freshman? Does Greek life play a significant role in the campus social life? Keena: It was easy for me to make friends as a freshman. Harvard offers incoming freshmen the chance to go on a hiking trip with other new students before classes start (its called the Freshman Outdoor Program, or FOP) and it was through FOP that I met some of my best friends, friends I am still close with today. There are a lot of socialization opportunities within the dorms as well, and each entryway has two Prefects assigned to it upperclassmen who host weekly social activities with their freshmen, to help them make friends and integrate into the community. Greek life plays a pretty minimal role on campus; there are a handful of fraternities and sororities around, but they dont have houses and operate completely independently from the University itself. How helpful is the Career Centerand other student support services? Keena: I dont remember the Career Center being particularly helpful. I do remember a lot of huge companies recruiting on campus my senior year, mostly through dinners and social events designed to show students how fancy their lives could be after graduation. Some of my friends went this route, and had good experiences. For me, finding professors in fields I liked and who I could connect with gave me the most insight into what I wanted to do after school. Harvard is a big place, but finding upperclassmen and professors who you can connect with can help a lot in figuring out what you want to do. How are the various study areas such aslibraries, the student union, and dorm lounges at Harvard University? Keena: The libraries at Harvard are the coolest. There are two main libraries (though I read somewhere that Harvard has more than 90 in total across various campuses): Widener (absolutely massive), and Lamont (smaller, more Undergraduate-focused). Widener is a lot of fun to explore, and there are many little nooks and crannies for students to hole up in for hours at a time to do work. Lamont is more social and feels warmer since its a bit smaller and has big, public study spaces. I studied at both and really liked having the opportunity to work in such interesting and well-designed spaces. They are both easily available. Describe the surrounding town. Keena: Cambridge is a very interesting town. There are a lot of stores, restaurants, and bars, and it feels urban but without the size of downtown Boston. A lot of establishments have been in the same place for decades, so its always possible to go back to your favorite haunts when you visit. Most undergraduates will tell you that the Kong is a perennial favorite among the students, though I also enjoyed going to Graftons, Cambridge Common, and Pinocchios Pizzeria. Its very easy to take the T to downtown Boston, though most students stay near campus since there is so much to do. How big or small is the student body? Were you generally pleased or displeased with the typical class sizes? Keena: The student body felt big to me, though in reality the undergraduate enrollment is only around 7,000 students. Many of the introductory lecture classes are very large, but these always include smaller group sessions made up of 8-12 students with a Teaching Assistant. The smaller lecture classes are often between 10 and 30 students, though you are able to find classes with only a few students in some of the smaller fields. Describe one memorable experience with a professor and/or class. Perhaps one you loved the most or one youregretthe most. Keena: Harvard is famous for its Human Sexuality class in the Psychology department. This class covers a wide variety of topics from sexual orientation and gender identity, to societal views of sexuality and sexuality in the media. Its an extremely popular class and was one of my favorites. The lectures were often so thought provoking that my friends and I would go out after class and spend hours talking about what we learned in class and how we felt about it. I would highly recommend every student taking this class if they can. In terms of regrets I regret taking too many classes that I thought I had to take (conceptual mathematics, organic chemistry, etc.) instead of classes I wanted to take. I didnt realize the freedom I had to dictate my own curriculum, and I wish I had figured that out earlier in my undergraduate career. Check out Keenas tutoring profile. The views expressed in this article do not necessarily represent the views of Varsity Tutors.