Fretting without the thumb to reduce tension

Playing Technique
#22

I largely agree, and I’m not a big fan of “exercises” generally. You can’t try to relax and you certainly can’t force yourself to relax, but there’s a lot more to be said about the process of finding an easier way.

As @WhammyStarScream mentions, perception is key. We organise into posture and movement based on our tactile, proprioceptive and kinaesthetic perceptions. If we want to find the easier way to do something, we have to learn how not to do what we’re doing and increase our sensitivity so we can actually recognise what is easier. Then, with increased sensitivity we explore the space of possible movement solutions.

It totally does, it’s called Differential Learning.

1 Like
#23

Man, thats literally the one thing I hate about Uni, doing stuff I don’t feel comfortable with or care about, yet I know it expands my horizons even tho I hate it.

I think I made a boo boo with that comment, can’t you explain Differential Learning in terms of guitar to me?

#24

The basic idea of differential learning is that by trying new (even weird or deliberately “wrong”) ways to achieve goals through movement, we actually better learn to optimize our movements generally.

So, for example, on a guitar you might learn how to fret without using your thumb behind the neck. This may teach you that pinching counterpressure with the thumb on the neck is unnecessary, and you may learn to achieve a fretting posture whcih doesn’t rely on the exertion of the muscles of the thumb.

1 Like
#25

Ok, I got confused searching it as it comes up with a learning style relative to your personal learning style, which would imply doing what feels right, but in terms of learning something new it’s not that meaning? It’s acually going outside of your comfort zone?

Basically my intuition and experience is doing stuff you’ve never done before is where you learn to get a grip. The stuff I googled was about tailoring a teaching style to a certain learning style. Which I think is a different concept

#26

From what I’ve read, it seems that Differential Learning helps to de-stabilize the your movement solutions which are suboptimal so that they can be improved upon. In some studies in sports contexts it shows dramatically better results than trying to give precise technical instruction.

#27

I think thats where it got confusing for me, we all got different learning styles, different bodies, different perspectives. So a tailored approach is the optimal way. Tho because we’re all adults here I assume lol We do that by default, learning in our own way. But that still sets us up for a dead end, so doing some weird stuff we never done before is a way to shake the jar and what comes on top works. Or is the bigger cookie :grin:

The stuff with messing up your playing or putting stuff on your hands is the way I think will help shake that Jar as it were.

If we just all took psychedelics this would be so much easier. Thats a true mix up and then setting of bigger cookies.

#28

This is a good video on it.

Use it or lose it really is a good phrase, and ironically you can train yourself into a dead end, ever tried to talk politics to certain people who been practicing a certain perspective most their life?

Thats why youth rules, adapt to the current culture.

You can mix it up and alter your playing tho with various tricks. This site n forum wouldn’t exist if it wasn’t possible.

1 Like