Accuracy Issues

[hellbike]

I focused practising on harder parts of exercises and right now i miss mostly on easier parts.

I don't find it efficient to focus on every single easy transition until i perfect it, since there's too much of them and this would take too much time - i need to increase my overall accuracy (and i hope this will solve my problem with missing on easier parts).

I hope you understand me - there are much less hard parts, and they are being repeated in every single exercise, so i can focus on every single hard transition and master them easly - however, my overall accuracy remains poor and i make mistakes on easier parts, which cannot be mastered one by one (because there are endless possibilities of easier parts).

I'm using "modern method for guitar" (berklee), I'm on page 22 and i struggle because it's missing exercises i need.

Should i just keep going and hope that easier parts will actually become easy overtime?

If not, could you provide me with some accuracy exercises appriopate for my level? (for both left and right hand)

[mr. beaumont]

What tunes are you working on now? Get away from the exercises for a bkt and switch gears.

When you go back, set the metronome slow...work on precise, economical movements at a very slow tempo. Breathe. Relax.

Always ask yourself "what does it mean if i cannot play this yet?" does it prevent you from making music?

[bako]

I always liked what my former teacher at Jazzmobile, Ted Dunbar said on the subject of working with music books, which may have some application here.

approximate paraphrase: "For every page that you read out of a book, write 25 pages of your own."

In other words personalize it. Simplify, break it into graduated steps or expand according to what serves your development best.

The 1st expansion page will probably include some variant of Mr. B's suggestion.

When you go back, set the metronome slow...work on precise, economical movements at a very slow tempo. Breathe. Relax.

[MarkRhodes]

There's an old saying, "If you make a mistake, you're playing too fast."
It *kills* me to slow some things down enough to get them right, but hey, jazz is worth dying for, no? Seriously, Jeff asked the right question: "what does it mean if I can't play this yet?" If it means you don't get the ego boost of playing something at lightning speed, well, you just have to live with that. If it means you can't keep simple time on a standard, well, you *can't* live with that and you have to slow it down 'til it swings and gradually notch up the tempo.
It's always good to pay most attention to things you will actually play in tunes.

[Reg]

So your somewhat combining a few aspects of playing...

Why can't you play, in this case Berklee's modern method...
1) your reading...
2) your memorization of the exercises
3) your technical skills
4) your method of understanding what your playing
I could go on... but most guitar players can't play at faster tempos for all of these reasons.

Forgetting about the reading issue for now...
You can't play at fast tempos with out good technique... you may be able to memorize or practice something enough to finally play it at tempo... but you may be simply reinforcing or making your technique problem worse.

I'm not in to the slow it down school... that's not the problem. You can play anything slow, with any type of technique... when you play at fast tempos, your weak or lousy technique will be exposed. I'm not implying you have lousy technique...

Why do you slow down what your playing... so you can make what ever technique your using work through beating it into the ground with practice... Spend time developing better technique... we all know what that is. If you don't... I'll go through it again.

You also need to become aware of how music is organized... somewhat like an outline, FORM. If your aware of the overall FORM of what your playing, you'll have a much easier time playing the parts.

The sight reading issue... when you have good technique, you'll generally already have become aware of rhythmic and melodic patterns, which is basic trick to being able to read music ahead of what your playing... Reg

[JakeAcci]

If one of my students is working on something and making many mistakes I'll usually switch them to easier material.

There's no science behind the following perspective, but I give my students assignments I think they can complete in 1-2 weeks. If they are having trouble with a piece after that despite practicing consistently, I know we have to change gears.

I personally have little tolerance for technical mistakes, missed notes, "clicks", buzzes, etc, and that low tolerance often isn't shared among even elite jazz musicians. It's just a personal preference. It's also probably one that holds me back from excelling at faster tempos.

But most of the time, if somebody gets up on stage in front of me and is missing and flubbing a lot of notes, I'll probably leave the room.

As much as you might hate to hear this, you might need to be working on easier material.

[ecj]

I don't find it efficient to focus on every single easy transition until i perfect it, since there's too much of them and this would take too much time - i need to increase my overall accuracy (and i hope this will solve my problem with missing on easier parts).

You have this all wrong.

Accuracy comes from an accumulative process. You learn simple things well, then you learn harder things, then you learn even harder things. Down the line, all the stuff that you will be working on will need to have a solid foundation in the super simple things that you are skipping now. The reason that you are having trouble is because you are not focusing on "easy" transitions.

You need to step back, evaluate your overall approach, and start from the ground up.

1. Do you hold the guitar with good positioning?
2. Are you free of tension?
3. Are you breathing?
4. Is your left hand fretting the notes without too much pressure?
5. Is your right hand relaxed and plucking the string with good technique?

I'd have to see a video of your technique to see what's going on with you, but my guess is somewhere in those first 5 steps you have a serious problem that is holding you back.

[coolvinny]

Yeah it sounds like you are working on stuff that's just too hard for you. I'm a big fan of beginners hooking up with a teacher in the early-goings to keep them on a good path and with appropriate material - worked for me.

[mr. beaumont]

I am a member of the "slow school," but Reg does bring up a good point--it's not just about slow, as I alluded to...it's about slow and precise and with good technique.

Nowtruly, you'll never play fast well unless you practice playing fast...but I think before you can even effectively practice fast you need to pratice effectively slow and look at mechanics.

So that's what I mean by "slow down."

[Bill C]

Accuracy comes from an accumulative process.

+1 . I learned the hard way some years ago that it's not an intellectual problem, where the "right" information yields a "breakthrough" - it's a craft problem. Working on the problem over time - ideally with an expert mentor - yields the answers - and raises new questions ...

[jtizzle]

I would check some things with my students for technical mistakes.

How is your picking hand set up when you're picking (anchored on something? or floating?) How are your fingers pressing down on the frets? (are they right on the fret, or in the middle space? Are you using the very tip of your fingers or are you more close to barring them with the front/side?)

These things cause mistakes. When I start a person off with guitar I would first have them learn to anchor their right hand on the pickguard and on the high e string for playing the lower strings. I would make them press the frets down with the very tip of their fingers, closer to the frets, but not on them, closer to the fret than to the center.

With the modern method book, you should be in the section where it's all still in C major. Take a metonome and set it to 40-60, and play your C major scale in first position. Try not to look at either hand but concentrate on the metronome to get perfect 8th notes (digital metronomes usually have lights, just visually expect that light as well as listening for the click). When you get the scale, work in patterns (1-3-2-4-3-5-4-6-5-7 or 1-2-3-1-2-3-4-2-3-4-5-3-4-5-6-4-5-6-7 or try arpeggios or even larger intervals such as 4ths, 5ths, 6ths or 7ths and also try them in reverse). This will help you learn the shape much better and will help in preventing mistakes. Remember to watch your picking hand as well to not make mistakes there and keep the anchor.

[hellbike]

switching from casual to classical position solved my issues and made practising much less irritating.