head time vs. seat time

[David Peirce]

I find that time spent hearing things in my head and then trying those things out on the guitar can be just as valuable as, or even more valuable, than sitting at the guitar and fishing for ideas. When sitting at the guitar my tendency is, more often than not, to play what I already know, rather than going off on interesting, useable, tangents which expand my playing 'vocabulary'.
Further, out of laziness or ignorance, I try to play 'what sounds right for the tune', as opposed to stressing about the music theory which explains what chord or note I ought to be playing next. I've had band leaders compliment me on my chordal 'sophistication', and I have no clue what they're talking about.
Am I missing something by 'just playing' without a complete understanding of what it is that I am 'just playing'???

[John McClung]

David, I played many chords and things for years because they fit and sounded good, I had no idea what they were, they just worked and I just played them. People like my style. Only after teaching for nearly 25 years do I have a better understanding of chord theory and construction.

So keep on keeping on!

[Ian Rae]

I do a fair bit of head time. The actual instrument can be a distraction. I try to plan my practice away from it and then sit down.

[Donny Hinson]

I find that time spent hearing things in my head and then trying those things out on the guitar can be just as valuable as, or even more valuable, than sitting at the guitar and fishing for ideas.

The brain is what makes the body move, you can't play something without first having thought of it. Sometimes, the thinking is planned and obvious. Others, it happens very fast, almost instantaneously. The idea, in the end, is just to play good music, and how you go about doing that is up to you.

"Mental practice" is wonderful, and being able to hear things in your head, all those moves, chords, and pedal changes, marks a major accomplishment in your learning. It's sublimely rewarding when you can figure out how to play things without having your instrument in front of you.

[Bob Hoffnar]

Welcome to the world of spaced out musicians !

[Kevin Fix]

Been a ear player all my life. Almost 37 years Pedal Steel Guitar. I am 65 now. Was a guitar player years ago. I play a lot of stepping chords. It is funny, I have no idea what some of these chords are. I remember playing with groups over the years and one of the band members would ask me what that chord was. I had no idea.. It is amazing what a half a pedal and a use of a knee lever can do. Ears always worked well for me.

[John Davis]

Ears only here...... head time only useful if your head works .....

[Bobby D. Jones]

I was a police firearms instructor for 15 years.
One class I attended was called Nero Memory.

This class was about doing a move or moves over and over until you do not think about doing it. When your body observes the EXCITER, Your body reacts without your brain processing the information. It just does the move you have trained your body to do.
The EXCITER can be any of your senses, Which makes you body react without your brain having to process it.

When playing a steel guitar, And you are using tablature, Site is the EXCITER, When your eye sees the move, Your body moves the bar, hand, knees and feet to obtain the proper positions, With good practice. Your brain did not have to think it through to react.

When playing by ear, The EXCITER is hearing the notes of music. Your body will react from its training, Move the bar, hand, knees and feet to obtain the note or phrase without your brain having to process the moves.

This is why if we just sit down at the guitar we want to go over the moves our body has already stored in Nero Memory.
If we set and practice a new set of moves, Like a new phrase, And set at the steel and repeat the moves over and over perfectly. We will eventually store them in our Nero Memory. Our brain will not have to process it, Your body will just do it.

As we add different licks and phrases to our Nero Memory. We now have added them to our bag of licks and phrases, We can do them with no thought processing.

Perfect Practice. Doing it exactly the same way over and over many times, Is the way to do the maneuver perfect every time.

We may think it is of no use and boring, If a teacher makes you repeat a move over and over till we get bored. Do the same thing when you practice by yourself, Make yourself do it perfect over and over. When the body has done a maneuver over and over exactly the same way enough it goes to our Nero Memory.

We have many things stored in our Nero Memory we do not even think about. Example: Unlocking your normal home entry door. We pull out our keys, Place the key in the lock properly aligned and turn the key just so far the door opens and our brain did not process it, Our body just does it.

[Mark Eaton]

Great post Bobby!

[George Kimery]

Scotty told me that concerning speed picking,he once asked Buddy Emmons how do you get your fingers moving so fast. Do you do excercises, is it the position of your hand etc. Buddy's answer was it has nothing to do with your hands. It all about your brain. Anybody's fingers can move faster than ever needed, but they can only go as fast as the brain tells them to go. The problem is, it takes so many hours to train the brain, most people are just not willing to do the time.

Somebody did a study of the best of the best musicians and other professions that require a high level of dexterity and good hand and eye coordination. They were trying to find a common thread or trait that they all had in common. The two things that stood out was just about everyone of them started before they were 9 years old and had at least 10,000 hours of practice.

A couple years ago I reproduced an entire article on the forum written by some psychology professor in the early 1900's. It dealt with how to train the brain to learn any difficult task that required a high level of dexterity.The basic jest of it was you pay no attention to speed in the beginning, at all. You do the required motion very s!ow with all the emphasis on doing it correctly. Once this is accomplished, you gradually increase the speed to the point that the brain is embedded with the information and it can repeat the move quickly without very little thought.

I forget who told me this, maybe Jeff Newman, that almost all the great steel players, at some point in their lives, the steel became an obsession. A lot of them went through divorces and lost familys. A lot of them in their younger days, had gigs playing 6 or 7 nights a week in a club, maybe 9 til 2, and maybe for several years. Speaking for myself, I have a great desire to play better and am still working on it after 50 years, but I am not hungry enough to be great to do what a lot of the top guys have done.

[Pete Burak]

I have found when I am working on a long song for a recording, I will spend 3-5 days playing that part(s), ramping up my ability to play it in-my-sleep (as they say), and, by simply going to sleep and waking up the next day, I get noticably better!
Play it before you go to bed.
Play it when you wake up the next day.
Better!

[Erv Niehaus]

I've read that Buddy Emmons used to take a practice board to bed with him and he'd practice till he couldn't stay awake any longer.
He also would practice in the dark so he would still be able to play if he ever went blind.
Now that's dedication!
Erv

[Rex Mayfield]

After reading all of these excellent posts,, I'm reminded of a phrase I saw somewhere recently that I can't get out of my mind. Something like,, "Don't practice until you get it right,,,, practice until you CAN'T get it WRONG". RM

[George Kimery]

Great advice Jeff Newman gave in class: "Don't listen to a lick once, then try fifty times to play it. Listen to it 50 times then play it once."

Benny Simms,a great local fiddle teacher, told my brother when he was taking lessons from him: " If you haven't practiced a song until you are sick of it, you are not ready to play it in public"

I have heard all the great steel players play at steel shows for probably 40 years. One thing I noticed, except for a few exceptions, they played pretty much the same songs everytime. There could be a lot of reasons for this, such as these are what the steel players want to hear, these are the things I play best, the band has played them with me before, it's not worth the effort to learn new songs, I don't have the time or desire to play anything new, etc. etc. If you only learn 10 songs and practice them over a period of years until you are sick of them, I think you just might develop a reputation of being a much greater steel player than you really are.

[Fred Treece]

I agree with you, David Pierce. Hearing something in your head and imagining how to play it is a skill (a gift?) that is as valuable as being able to sit down and actually play it. That is the essence of creativity, which is linked to technical ability, but obviously not the same.

“Noodling around” time is part of the fun of playing and can also be considered creative, but it is a less focused, random process and is the reverse of what you are calling “head time”.

[Lee Baucum]

A related post:

Click Here

[John Orr]

Great thread. I have been consolidating my main repertoire, to Benicia last effect on my performance. I have also stated to notice local steady working performers have their base repertoire which fans always request. Common thread is familiarity.

[Dan Beller-McKenna]

Another vote here for practicing fast passages very slowly. I learned this form my years playing classical guitar: it just works. Recently worked up Buddy Charleton's "Almost to Tulsa." I've played it at half and 3/4 speed way more than full. Also helps to concentrate as much on the exact right hand fingering as anything else.

Recently I agreed to take part in a Garth Brooks tribute project. I said to myself,"Let's see, what Garth Brooks songs do I know? Well, there's 'Friends in Low Places,' and then there's ..... umm .... er.... I guess that's it!" Of course I quickly discovered that there are a ton of god steel tunes in his rep, and now I need to learn all the signature licks. At the moment I have more time to listen and think than sit behind the steel before the first rehearsal tomorrow night. When I do get to sit down, it's impressive how much the thinking about what I'm hearing away from the steel has as much impact as having practiced it at the steel. A lot of it is right there for my fingers where my brain said it would be.

[Johnny Cox]

As a new player 50 years ago seat time was all I did because I knew nothing. Now it's 95% head time especially since I'm on the road in my truck 80% of my life. By the time I get home I have stuff figured out in my head or on paper.