The Steel Guitar Forum

I've been pondering the song Lady be good. Mostly the melody and some variations to make it close to the melody with a few liberties with the melody. I've always had to be creative when the 5 note is in the melody and I've found 2 or 3 ways of effectively playing in while in the car. Came home and it worked exactly like I thought it would on my guitar the way I thought about it in my head. I would really like to hear about other players that do that. Occasionally I'll get up at night and play something on my steel I've been thinking about. Heck, maybe you can just practice in your head and just go to your guitar to verify that it works. Inquiring minds want to know.

Yeah, but it can be both a blessing and a curse. Sometimes I sit and turn things over and over in my mind until they clarify. Music, mathematics, or some other technical thing - whatever I'm focused on at the time. It has to be something I've been working on pretty intensively - to the point where I have a strong mental image of the details.

Sometimes I feel compelled to get up and write things down or try something out on an instrument. But if I'm in bed trying to sleep and need to be up early in the morning, or I'm up but need to be working on something else, it can definitely be a curse.

I do some of the time. There are times I can listen to the song on radio, Mp3, etc, and play it that night on the bandstand (or something so close most couldn't tell). The big secret for me is to know what certain chord changes sound like (many, many songs use the same or similar progressions). I can always tell when a 1 maj chord moves to a 3 min, 6min 4, 5 etc. If you know what these changes sound like in your head, you can usually pick them up without spending days figuring them out. Also, listen to the tonal quality of the phrases. You can usually tell if he is playing high up on the fretboard with lower pitched strings, or playing lower on the fretboard with higher pitched strings. Listening to songs just to understand the chord movements (and learn some theory behind those moves and why they sound the way they do), you have won half the battle. That's why I always teach that you need to know the mechanical change of a pedal/lever (what strings it actually moves and how far), BUT also what it sounds like when used in ALL pedal combinations. You should then be able to "practice" in your head. Of course, things that are mechanical like picking, bar movement, pedal/knee movement may have to be practiced, but I find it not to be very often. You find these traits among the veteran players who have been playing for years, but the sooner you master this technique, the quicker you will advance. Even to the point where you can sit and play a song you have never played or even heard before.

I frequently awaken in the middle of the night due to my CPAP machine............

I've observed from high overhead, all of my bar movements, etc., I've learned any number of songs in this manner and I find it in most cases to be quite accurate and beneficial.

I used this technique also while driving those 12 hour trips in the REALLY BIG TRUCKS.

Mental practice is just as important as sitting down at you guitar and practicing. If you don't have it in your head, you will be hard pressed to play the tune. Jody.

Last week I had to learn a new song for a gig this past weekend....I practiced it at our keyboard players house on Tuedat evening...and when I got home I forgot the whole thing...this song is a Czech Grand Wedding March....it's all instrumental...so anyhow...I went to bed sooo mad, I could not sleep trying to remember the melody in my head, just humming away, never could figure it out...well I finally fell asleep, and I woke up at 5:45am, and the first thought out of my head was the song and...it hit me like a train! I was humming the darn song! so I ran to my music room...played it...it sounded right....so I recorded it on my camera!...anyhow..the mind works in mysterious ways!

Brandon

Wayne, we're having a power jam at Paul's on Sat. 8/1. Why don't cha figure out in your head a good time to commence "stand by."

I do this to the point of my wife thinking that I need some physcological help. Nothing like "air steel" while driving down the highway!

The song gets stuck in my head and I can't get it out until I sit down and play it. Funny thing is, once I sit down at the steel, I will be very close with some minor adjustments!

My wife says it sounds better in the truck via "air steel"! But she's a singer what does she know!

This is exactly why I have two steels. One is always set up and when I get these ideas out of the blue, I can just go try it.

Jody Sanders wrote:Mental practice is just as important as sitting down at you guitar and practicing. If you don't have it in your head, you will be hard pressed to play the tune. Jody.

I totally agree. If I can't "see" it in my mind, I can't play it at all. This includes "mentally picturing the tab" it as I learn a new tune. Sort of like grafting out the melody line against the stafff lines, then applying it to the fret board. I often "play" songs in my mind whenever I have to wait in line or just get bored at work. There have been studies done on this subject.

I practice in my head.

Mental practice has been shown to be effective - things like shooting free throws and, yes playing an instrument. The key is to be focused enough to visualize the exact physical movements and mentally hear the sounds. In otherwords, visualize the exact experience as closely as possible.

So... then you have to practice visualization

There's real power in numbers here. I always try and practice "consiously" to know what I am doing while practicing. It seems to be leading to more and more mental practice later. Learning chord pockets has been a very use full tool for chord melodies or single note riffs too.

Gary, I am visualizing my trip to the east coast as I speak. Say hello to Steve P. for me will ya.

Wayne

Wayne,Sometimes,usually when I'm in bed trying to fall asleep,I will have a song in my head and I break out the "mental guitar. In my head I can see every chord position,every slant,every pedal and lever movement,every string and string combos,it's absolutly beautiful.I get up,sit down at my steel and instantly forget all of it.It's driving me crazy.LOL (my wife's not too happy with 3am steel either)

I do it at my day job all the time. My co-workers are getting use to it now. When they see me with that thousand yard stare thay wait untill i finish the last chorus before talking to me.

Yeah, but it can be both a blessing and a curse.

It's like OCD with me. I can't get music out of my head.

It always sounds so good in my head and then when I try to play it on the steel it doesn't sound as good. Maybe a lot of us sound better in our mind than we do on the steel.

I have for years rolled ideas and licks in my head while at work and driving as well. I have even been guilty of pushing pedals while driving down the road.

All the time. It can be difficult to really imagine how to play something and hear it but it is the best way to learn the neck. However, sometime if you get to into it you can miss your subway stop; and I'm not sure that it's the safest thing to do while driving down the highway ...

I do it, too. I read about a study being done some years ago that concluded practicing in your head is in the same league with actually practicing on the instrument.

Cool. I think practicing on purpose will almost always lead in that direction. For me since I've been making it a point to understand what I am playing while practicing it has led to mental practice more and more. An example of the hardest things for me to see is the association of a note that is say a 1,3,5 and then associate it as say the 2 of the next chord I am going to. I think things start flowing so much better. Especially for single note lines.

Great input guys!

About 59-min. out of every hour that I'm awake! Maybe that's the reason I almost never get around to actually sitting down and playing! There must be a reason somewhere!

I definitely do! According to Oliver Sacks' splendid 'Musicophilia', practicing in your head is almost as good as practicing for real.

I do, on ocasion, go over some part I want to learn,instrumentally, in my mind, even the arangement of the piece, but being a terrible lyricist, I will sing a song that I just "learned" in my mind, on the way to a gig. If I want to learn a new song, I'll do a LOT of reps at home in the music room, usually on lead, bass, and steel so when I play out, I pretty well know the melody, and chord structure by heart.( I'm not always on the same instrument.) I most often play off the top of my head, and don't usually play the lead parts the same way twice except for a few special ones(For example, "Working Man Blues", and "Pickup Man". I notice lately, almost everyone is using the letters to numbers system for keys. When I learned the keys, about 62 years ago, the numbers system was was pretty much unknown to us. If I ever get around to learning the numbers system, you can bet I'll be going around, for days going over that, in my mind! ---Jake---

I do this all the time, especially when I'm trying to go to sleep. Damn thing's giving me insomnia! Seriously, it's the quiet times, when, I do this most. Sometimes, I just have to get up and try my new theory out.
I was talking to both, Jeff and Fran Newman, one time and she stated that he would make up whole renditions of songs, tab and everything, while traveling in a plane. He really had an extra sense, when, it came to steel guitars.

I thought about practicing in the head, but there wasn't enought room in there for my guitar. That pac-a-seat in there isn't very comfortable, either.