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guitar is good for your mental health?


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It is fantastic exercise for one's memory and dexterity, physical benefits.

One can be lifted away by the music and inspired to connect with others in an abstract creative group endeavor, spiritual benefits.

 

One can even think about it. I try not to think (in verbal terms - words and defined ideas) when I am playing.

 

I've met lots of wonderful and talented people sharing music, social benefits.

 

I love it!!!!!

It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is.
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The guitar can provide mental challenges as we strive to learn more and improve. It can also provide a heathy mental escape from the world around us. It's much like martial arts practice and/or playing a game of chess. For an hour or so you concentrate on the game and/or your skills. When you are done you realize all the worlds problems that were bugging you were ignored and that you tuned them out. Works for any sport and/or a good book, movie, guitar, other instrument, etc. You have escaped from the world and cleared your mind while adding to your knowledge and physical attributes through concentration. You became a little better guitar player during your practice and then you can take it out and play it for someone...or just lock yourself in a room and play for your own enjoyment. :cool:
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Take care, Larryz
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I think the benefits of music are well-established, even for a purely passive listener.

For those fortunate to be able to create music it's even better. I wouldn't shout this in a record store if I had

a CD out, but actively producing something creative is far more powerful than just consuming it. Creating something is

more engaging and better for staying sane.

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Same old surprises, brand new cliches-

 

Skipsounds on Soundclick:

www.soundclick.com/bands/pagemusic.cfm?bandid=602491

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'It's indescribable how listening to a song can change everything. It's said that a powerful enough song can even change your life. Music can even teach what humanity cannot always â how to be human, live, feel and love. I'd recommend to anyone that if things aren't going right, and you don't know what to do, just turn up some good music, and tune out for a few minutes before you attempt to figure everything out again."
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  • 2 years later...
On 10/17/2020 at 10:36 AM, KuruPrionz said:

It is fantastic exercise for one's memory and dexterity, physical benefits.

One can be lifted away by the music and inspired to connect with others in an abstract creative group endeavor, spiritual benefits.

 

One can even think about it. I try not to think (in verbal terms - words and defined ideas) when I am playing.

 

I've met lots of wonderful and talented people sharing music, social benefits.

 

I love it!!!!!

for more check out the article benefits of playing guitar

Hello. I've been self-taught for 4 years now but I have the opportunity to have lessons with a very experienced solo fingerstyle guitarist...who has asked me if I would like to do a standardized syllabus in the classical guitar style because of all the benefits it will bring to my guitar playing and learning now aside from crisp technique that learning classical guitar will bring...what are some of the other benefits to learning this style..it can't be a coincidence that all the best solo fingerstyle guitarists have studied classical extensively

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13 minutes ago, cayine said:

Hello. I've been self-taught for 4 years now but I have the opportunity to have lessons with a very experienced solo fingerstyle guitarist...who has asked me if I would like to do a standardized syllabus in the classical guitar style because of all the benefits it will bring to my guitar playing and learning now aside from crisp technique that learning classical guitar will bring...what are some of the other benefits to learning this style..it can't be a coincidence that all the best solo fingerstyle guitarists have studied classical extensively

Complex question with no right or wrong answer! I am self taught, for a while decades ago I took some piano lessons and began learning to read music. The European tradition of written music turns out to be simpler for keyboards. There is only 1 middle C on a piano keyboard, there are 5 different locations for middle C on a 20 fret guitar neck. 

 

I didn't get far with reading music, I asked my piano teacher to show me more about how various scales work, which was very useful information. 

 

Here is another HUGE difference between keyboards and guitars, this time advantage guitar. On the guitar, if you learn a scale as a "pattern" you can simply move that pattern up and down the neck, it will be the same scale but in a different key. To change keys on the piano, you need to learn a different "shape" for each key, each major and minor, etc. This is true for scales and chords, guitar "shapes/patterns" remain consistent, keyboard "shapes/patterns" are different for different keys. 

 

Regarding finger style - from this article - https://alancackett.com/chet-atkins-biography  

"Chet idolised his elder half-brother Jim Atkins, who played guitar regularly on the National Barn Dance radio show and later formed a trio with guitarist Les Paul. Like most aspiring country musicians in the 1930s, Chet listened a lot to Jimmie Rodgers, but also absorbed himself in jazz and blues. A big influence came when he happened to hear Merle Travis playing guitar live on Cincinnati station WLW. He was amazed by the thumb-and-finger-picking style developed by Travis. Not being able to see how he was playing, Chet developed his own two-finger-and-thumb style of picking."

 

So much for the "coincidence that all the best solo finger style guitarists have studied classical extensively". If you are playing classical guitar repertoire on a nylon string guitar that's one thing. If you want to play American music, that's a different thing entirely. As fingerstyle guitarists go, Chet was as good as they come and self-taught. I am certain that Chet is/was not the only self taught finger style guitarist, you can do the research on that if you like. Or...

 

It's your choice to make, nobody else can make it for you and nobody else should judge your inclinations. Have fun and enjoy the music. 

FWIW, I am a reasonably decent finger style player, I use my thumb and 3 fingers. Self taught, I've always allowed my thumb to wander from the 6th to the 2nd strings and my fingers can and will play any and every string at some point. A friend who is classically trained wonders how I do that and Chet, Merle Travis and other classic American finger stylists tend to use the thumb just for bass parts primarily on the lower 2 strings with the occasional 4th string pluck. 

 

Do you!!!!!

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It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is.
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@cayine, Welcome aboard! If you are interested in playing classical guitar and have the opportunity to take lessons from an experienced teacher, then have fun and go for it.  There are many benefits to taking up guitar lessons in any style.  +1 to what Kuru said, I believe that there are many great finger pickers out there that have never taken up classical guitar.  😎

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Take care, Larryz
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