MadhatteR
10-25-2003, 12:58 AM
After watching JimmyJ’s webcam clips, I got to thinking: You know what would make a great tool for guitarists?…(drum roll/dramatic music please)…a mirror!! It makes perfect sense (at least to me it does). I lift weights, and the walls of the weight room are mirrored; same for when I studied martial arts. I am also pretty sure that ballet classrooms have mirrors, too.
Mirrors are an excellent tool to make sure that you are performing a technique properly, which means that they would be great for guitarists. Watch people whose style you like, and then use a mirror to evaluate your own playing technique (After, of course, you have spent two hours posing in front of it with your guitar, that mullet wig, and that Crue costume. LONG LIVE THE 80's! :D). I’m not saying to copy someone else’s technique completely. Use the mirror to see if you are playing differently that someone else, and figure out why & how you are. And, experiment around with other techniques until you find one that you want to make your own. You can use the mirror to closely analyze and improve your own playing i.e. posture, finger & hand position, how you hold the pick etc…
Be careful to not develop the dreaded GIFO (Got It Figured Out) disease :eek:, which Terry Syrek (Shred’s not Dead video/National Guitar Workshop/etc…) explains so beautifully on his site http://www.terrysyrek.com/doorway2.html More about GIFO disease can be found in Lesson one.
This brings me to another observation; no guitar instruction videos (at least to my knowledge) have the camera angle from the instructors point of view. They are all filmed form a third person type of view, looking at the instructor. It may be that the third person type of view offers a better vantage point that the other.
These are my thoughts. Please, somebody (preferably a whole lot of people will respond) tell me what you think about all of this! Nobody responded to my other new thread :( , oh well.
P.S. I’m new, so I really hope nobody already came up with this idea already.
-------------------------------------------Peace, Mad hatteR
Mirrors are an excellent tool to make sure that you are performing a technique properly, which means that they would be great for guitarists. Watch people whose style you like, and then use a mirror to evaluate your own playing technique (After, of course, you have spent two hours posing in front of it with your guitar, that mullet wig, and that Crue costume. LONG LIVE THE 80's! :D). I’m not saying to copy someone else’s technique completely. Use the mirror to see if you are playing differently that someone else, and figure out why & how you are. And, experiment around with other techniques until you find one that you want to make your own. You can use the mirror to closely analyze and improve your own playing i.e. posture, finger & hand position, how you hold the pick etc…
Be careful to not develop the dreaded GIFO (Got It Figured Out) disease :eek:, which Terry Syrek (Shred’s not Dead video/National Guitar Workshop/etc…) explains so beautifully on his site http://www.terrysyrek.com/doorway2.html More about GIFO disease can be found in Lesson one.
This brings me to another observation; no guitar instruction videos (at least to my knowledge) have the camera angle from the instructors point of view. They are all filmed form a third person type of view, looking at the instructor. It may be that the third person type of view offers a better vantage point that the other.
These are my thoughts. Please, somebody (preferably a whole lot of people will respond) tell me what you think about all of this! Nobody responded to my other new thread :( , oh well.
P.S. I’m new, so I really hope nobody already came up with this idea already.
-------------------------------------------Peace, Mad hatteR