Potential Energy…in Music

If you’re like most of my readers, then you’ll want to make sure your guitar technique is as effective as possible. This means ironing out all the tensions and extra movements and making sure we’re always moving efficiently. This applies whether you want to play solos at 200bpm, or if you just want to switch between open chords cleanly.

Playing By Chillaxing

…er…that’s both “Chilling out” and “Relaxing”, but why so much talk about removing tension? Well, I came across an equation the other day that should help explain it. Don’t worry, this isn’t a maths lesson! What it is, is a way for you to use the minimum effort to create the maximum results. You know how some guitarists seem to be able to play quickly and cleanly all over the neck with no real effort? How do they do that?

It may, at first, seem like brain science, but when you break it down, it’s really not rocket surgery! The equation goes something like this:

Your Potential = Your Potential – Interference

Now, lets look at each of those factors individually.

Your Potential

This is something that everyone starts out with. If you’ve been reading my other posts on this site, you’ll already know that I don’t believe in “talent”. Anyone can learn how to become a great guitarist (this also goes for other things in your life too).

I like to think of your potential more like “potential energy” in physics. I don’t want to give a physics lesson either, so I’ll simplify things a bit. “Potential Energy” is what a toy car has at the top of a ramp- when you let go of the car it uses this energy to “drive” down the ramp (does a toy car “drive”?!). It’s like stored energy in a spring that gets released when you let go of the spring.

Your potential energy (for guitar playing) is stored in you like a coiled spring. Everyone has it, you just need to know how to unlock this energy and power your own improvement on the instrument. This is where having guitar teacher can help.

Even when it’s been unleashed, your potential energy in this case only means how fast you can progress, not how far you will go.

Interference

So, lets go back to our car at the top of the ramp. You let go of the car…

…what happens? The car runs down the ramp. Now, the only thing that is really stopping that car and affecting how far (or how fast) it will go is the smoothness of the ramp/surface the car runs on. That’s it. If there was no friction slowing the car down, it would travel on and on forever. So this “friction” is the interference.

The same applies to guitar playing. Each distraction you add slows your progress, whether that be a mental distraction (like when you’re worrying about stage fright) or a physical one (like when you have bad posture). This is why posture and hand position are so important.

So, remember:

Your Overall Potential = Your True Potential – Any Interference You Introduce

…and don’t forget to keep updated on this blog with more tips on guitar playing
Rob.

April 14, 2010 at 11:00 pm | Guitar Technique and Exercises, How to, Practicing and Practice Routine | No comments