Mental practice and visualization

[trader56]

Hi All,

 

This may sound a bit silly, but I was thinking about mentally practicing and visualization.

 

In sports, they've done a bit of work with having people visualize their peak performance, and practicing things like basketball shots mentally. The studies showed that people gained as much form this as actually goingout on the court and shooting baskets.

 

Just wondering if any of you here do things like this, and if you've found it helpful?

 

If so, any techniques you'd care to share?

 

Hope this doesn't sound too looney, but would love to hear from the experts once again!

 

Thanks,

Dave

[miroslav]

Yeah...I always visualize myself pulling off the perfect set of licks...

...and then I pick up the guitar and blow chunks.....

 

It's not quite the same as with sports.

In sports, you are just training yourself for a specific physical task.

With musicthere are a lot more variables.many non-tangible.

 

[audiac82]

i think there are strong parallels between music and sports, and that both fields are filled with variables.

 

playing guitar, you have to think about what chord you're moving to, which notes to use, which techniques to employ on the way.

 

in sports you have to think about which way to move, anticipate where the ball and other players will be, and think about exactly which actions to perform to achieve a given result.

 

the visualization technique can enhance both of these disciplines. if there's a certain lick you're trying to master but can't quite stick, visualize yourself playing it perfectly and hear the sound in your head. then go back to the guitar and try it again. but also, dont neglect the more tangible techniques at your disposal, such as playing with a metronome and mastering the lick at a slower tempo before increasing the speed.

[J J]

I heard of that same exact study in a "guitar principles" news-letter that I use to get in my e-mail. It was actually a pretty interesting article.

 

Basically the writer was pointing out that, in practicing, many guitar players will play whatever it is they're practicing over and over without actually "thinking" about it. For example, when you're trying to learn a lick or phrase and your fingers arn't use to moving and playing in a certain way. Many guitar players will play and play until their "muscle memory" sets in and they get more comfortable with it. This could take a long time and much stress, in my experience. The name of the article, and the point he was trying to get across when practicing was, "think twice, play once". If you can take time and imagion yourself playing the notes that need to be played, you'll save yourself the time of when you're just trying to get the feeling down. i can see how this would be a primarily important in arpeggio and classical type playing, however i think it could be used for any kind of instrument and style of music all in all.

 

The writer also pointed out that you could do "mental practice" virtually anywhere and anytime. It's simple, if you know what it feels like when you play it correctly, imagion yourself playing it correctly.

[J J]

the visualization technique can enhance both of these disciplines. if there's a certain lick you're trying to master but can't quite stick, visualize yourself playing it perfectly and hear the sound in your head. then go back to the guitar and try it again. but also, dont neglect the more tangible techniques at your disposal, such as playing with a metronome and mastering the lick at a slower tempo before increasing the speed.

 

exactly what I was getting at.

[J J]

In sports, you are just training yourself for a specific physical task.

With musicthere are a lot more variables.many non-tangible.

 

In the same article the on the analogy to PRACTICING sports. the author wrote that there was an experiment done on practicing shooting basketball hoops. I can't quite remember the specifics, but I think one group of people were practicing phsically shooting the hoops over and over while the other group would imagion the action of shooting THEN pysically shoot. The group that thought before they shot scored considerably better than the other group.

[Kramer Ferrington III.]

Well... if I know how to play a lick, I tend to run it over in my head. I see the music as a sort of bouncing ball thing going over horizontal lines that represent the strings. I often do that late at night when I'm trying to sleep. A bit like counting sheep.

[miroslav]

Well...while you can visualize yourself playing a particular lick...

...it's still not the same as a sportIMO.

 

When you visualize yourself skiing down a run...or hitting a home run...or making a basketball shot...

...it's often just about you and the physical activity/motion.

 

With music...it's more about your immediate action/reaction to whatever the rest of the music is doing...which causes your playing to change/adjust.

In other words...when you visualize hitting the home run...you always hit it the same way, every time.

But when your playing...there is much more fluidity and interaction, so that you are not playing everything exactly the same way 100 times in a row.

Sure...that type of repetition is OK for practicing a scale or to get the physical motion worked out...

...but then, when you really play, you have turn that into a performance that is interactive and that has some emotion.

 

I'm sure there is a certain amount of application to visualization with music playing...

...but I think you get more mileage out of actually playing...and more importantly LISTENING...

...than you would out just visualizing.

But of course...if something works for you...then it's cool!

 

[Kramer Ferrington III.]

I think you get more mileage out of actually playing...and more importantly LISTENING...

...than you would out just visualizing.

But of course...if something works for you...then it's cool!

 

Well, I never said that visualizing a riff would help you PLAY better. But it certainly helps *ME*... to remember riffs.

[miroslav]

I'll be honest...I can't remember half of my own riffs after I'm done recording!

 

I always have to sit down and figure out my own playing!!!

 

And sometimes I even scratch my head and think..."what the hell was I doing there" .....?

[Fumblyfingers]

For all my life my Dad was a Dale Carnegie instructor . In fact he was offered the position of President of the organization, but he turned it down as it meant he'd be behind a desk and not teaching, which was his great love in life. He owned his own company so he was able to take the necesssary time off here and there to teach evening classes. He was very into the power of positive thinking and consciously creating your circumstances. Lot's of fascinating mind stuff that he would speak of with me.

 

He used to tell a true story in his classes about a guy that was in a POW camp in 'Nam. Years after the conflict was over he was released and came home. One of the first things he did when he got back to the USA was to go and hit the links as golf was his big thing. His companions were amazed that he played a fantastic game and was either close to or right on his handicap and yet had not played in years and years and had spent just a brutal time in this prison camp. They asked how it was possible and he told them that every day of his life in that camp, to keep his sanity, he played a perfect round of golf in his head.

 

The mind side of things is very important.

 

 

[Justus A. Picker]

 

I visualize both the score and the physical motions required when learning a new piece or working on a difficult passage. It doesn't make the physical technique any easier, but it helps me remember and that is half the battle.

[trader56]

Waht great responses - thank you all! I never cease to be amazed by this board!

 

I was sort of wondering if this question might be viewed as being a bit (or more than a bit) kooky, but it sounds like many of you have thought about this, too!

 

Again, my thanks,

Dave