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Guest Column: The Power Of Visualization Vs. Memorization
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The Power Of Visualization Vs. Memorization
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by Greg Brown
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Page added in
December, 2003
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About the Author
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Greg Brown is a guitarist and instructor from Texas who has written instructional books and authored videos and CD-ROMs designed to help a wide variety of guitar students..
His latest work is a method called the "Master All Strings Visual Learning System" that leads a guitar player into total visualization of all chords and scales as opposed to memorizing everything.
Visit Greg's web site.
Send comments to Greg Brown.
© Greg Brown
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If I asked you would you rather spend 10 years learning an instrument, or a year
with the same results, what would your answer be? Most people would say the year.
Others may think it`s not possible. Can you actually learn an instrument's structure
as well as someone who has been playing for many years - in a shorter time?
One
thing must be understood: in order to get this kind of result you have to have a
different approach. When you really know something you can visualize it, or see it
in your mind. The whole approach to learning things is all about getting to a place
where you can visualize what you do. Some people achieve this by doing something
over and over again to memorize it. Others use the power of visualization.
When you can visualize all the chords and scales you could play on an instrument you are not really relying on what you remember. The difference is you can lay off an
instrument, or not practice for long period of time, and the minute you pick that
instrument up again you can see the instrument structure.
Let`s look at a chord for an example. I can practice a chord shape so my hand
remembers where to go. Or I can practice that chord shape using a visual pattern
that I use to remember that chord. Let's use a chord shape that has 5 strings for
our example.
Now, looking at the two ways of learning we have these options:
practice a chord over and over trying to remember where each finger goes for each
one of the five strings, or use a visual tool that is used to create that chord that
only has two notes. What would you rather use? The chances of you remembering the
chord using two notes is greater than trying to remember all six strings.
Below are the notes of the G7
chord. They are the B and F. These two notes form what is known as the tritone.
Any 7th chord will have any one of these two string shapes. So if you can look for
these in any dominant chord you will have two notes of the chord visualized.
Below you'll see a G7 chord with B in the bass.
Look and see if you can the tritone in this chord. Now, use this example as
possiblities to use visualization. If you look hard enough at chords and scales, you
will find visual tools to use.
When you
look at visual patterns as opposed to memorization you will always be able to play
the things you learn. Thus, the mind can, as an option, be trained to learn an
instrument with visual patterns and not memorization alone. Memorization is a
long tedious process that does not produce the same results as visualization.
The two paths of learning may be separate, however the end result is the same. The
objective is to be able to see the chord or scale in your mind.
In summary, you can learn
an instrument much faster with less frustration. Many people are starting to
experiment in all fields with visual approaches to learning. Why should instruments
be any different? In fact, many great guitar players use visual shapes to help them
learn. You can even crerate your own unique visual tools. I encourage you to check
out methods of visualization as well as take a deeper look at how you are learning.
Before you set out to learn a new chord or scale look for visual patterns that will
help you as you practice. Once you start to look for visual patterns you will find
them! Playing an instrument using visualizastion is a reality and offers a lot of
freedom.
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Additional Columns by Greg Brown
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Additional Guitar Technique Columns
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- And 285 more in the Guest Columnists category, view the index
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