I
always ask my students right on the very first day relevant questions like:
“What is/are your favourite musical genre, songs, and who are your favourite
artists?” And most of them particularly total beginners say “I don’t know”. Now
honestly speaking I am quite surprised every time I hear this and I begin to
ask myself: “...then why are you even here... what makes you want to learn to
play guitar if you’re not that much into music at all?” But then I always
realise that they are total beginners therefore they don’t know what they don’t
know to even know what they want or should want.
Anyway,
the purpose of this article is to emphasize the need for listening to as many
records (at least of your favourite musical genre) as you can.
Back
in 1992, when I first started to learn to play guitar I wanted to play in a
band within the shortest span of time. I was young and wanted results to happen
almost immediately. Unintentionally I have found myself back then listening to
many records ranging from alternative to death metal due to the huge number of ‘rock’
fanatics I was exposed to.
We
were basically lending and borrowing cassette tapes from one another. Then one
day I’ve come across Nirvana’s ‘Smells like Teen Spirit’ and I thought “Hey
this is very cool and at the same time not so difficult to play!” Then on
another day, Green Day’s ‘Basket Case’ and I thought likewise. And later on I
just found myself playing along the records and this time with Sepultura songs
too! And I thought: “Great! If I can play along the recordings then I can play
them with a real band!” I was so excited and very much driven to form a band
and play gigs and become popular in my local area.
Fortunately,
there were like-minded guys who were learning to play bass and drums, as many
as aspiring guitarists there were and eventually we were able to form a rock
band. There were many other amateur bands which suddenly formed and developed
as well and our city immediately became a city inhabited by amateur rock bands.
We
kept on learning more and more challenging songs and played more paid and
unpaid gigs. Basically we just had fun and passively develop ourselves as
musicians. Most of my band mates back then are international professional
musicians now and they have really grown into more mature musicians. And
thinking back I never recall anyone of them taking formal music lessons. That
sheer passion for music which manifested itself through constant and
intelligent listening surely had paid off.
Now
going back to my students, they have learned many physical techniques and
chords but when time comes for real playing they don’t have any sense of rhythm
and they don’t know whether or not they are playing the correct chords (although
they know the chords) just simply because they can’t recognise any consonance
or dissonance that the intervals of notes in the context of harmony and melody
make. It is somewhat frustrating as they have been with me for more than a year
now whereas I was playing in a band within one year and without anyone teaching
me! I would have been a much better guitar player if I had a teacher back then
though.
Now
there are times when they come for their guitar lessons I don’t give them any
new materials but I make them review and master the old ones plus I give them
assignments that involve listening to records like: “What are the chords to
this intro?” or as simple as “What is your favourite song in this particular
album and why?”
So
if you happened to be a beginning guitar player do yourself a favour by
listening to many, many recordings and get valuable things from these if you’re
not doing so already. Just marinate yourself!
Remember,
nobody is interested in you playing guitar exercises and practise materials. Listen
to or even learn some songs from time to time when you are not practising
guitar exercises. Try to imitate what chords, melodies, and even weird sounds
that your favourite artists are making. If you think you suck, do it anyway!
Everybody else sucked when they first started.
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