Love Every Note

Don't play crooked what you can't play straight.

- Anonymous

Music can be defined in many ways, but, for the confident performing guitarist I recommend thinking of it as 'sound in time.'  The sound part is obvious; it is the 'in time' aspect that cause the most problems.

 

It is a musical truism that an audience will forgive many a pitch inconsistency as long as the rhythm is strong.  The reverse is however never true; a rhythm lapse is instantly recognised by an audience and it tends to make them uncomfortable. 

To love every note it is a given that we diligently attend to all of the intonation aspects required to make it sound good. The real key, however, is to get the rhythm right.

The golden rule is rhythm improved improves all other aspects of our playing. 

Phrasing, dynamics, fingerings and tone colour all fall into place when we simply play the rhythm actually written right there in front of us on the piece of paper.  Until that point there is often confusion, second guessing and fudging. 

How is it done?  It is surprisingly simple to make your rhythm perfect.  Greatness is achieved when we mentally count each and every note we play.  This means '1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and,' or whatever the case might be, for each and every bar of every single piece we play.   

Most students reject this idea.  Perhaps because it seems too simple, or, perhaps because it sounds like hard work.  In fact, counting is easy and becomes somewhat automatic.  It is the single most powerful thing you can do to help set your music free.