I got an email from a prospective student today with a common problem that many of you may recognize. Here is the original letter (with name changed) and part of my response:
Hi Herb,
Thanks for the reply. I am self taught and been playing for 12 years with all the books and a few lessons. I have been tinkering with Leyenda and Bourre in e minor for years and can do bits and pieces but would love to master them someday.
Ron
Ron,
I know just where you're coming from when you say you know bits and pieces of certain pieces, without learning them in their entirety. I'm just guessing that you've kind of "plateau-ed" in your learning and playing. This happens with a lot of people who study classical guitar and is perfectly normal. I think I can be a lot of help with that. I've been doing straight guitar gigs -- all guitar solos, no singing -- of three to four hours for many years. I did a three hour gig last night with no music in front of me. I don't tell you this to toot my own horn, but only to convey that i know how to learn an entire piece, without the understandable frustration that can build up with practicing a piece over and over without seeing any real progress in learning the entire piece. Honestly, you're just the kind of student I'm looking for.
Sincerely, Herb.
Whether you're playing the classical guitar, or your favorite songs, knowing bits and pieces of music without being able to play them all the way through is a common problem. With all the new instructions, ideas and thoughts that go into programming the brain to learn the motor-memory that it takes to learn an entire piece — oh, and with good hand positioning and technique, keeping it in time and trying to be musical — it's easy to be overwhelmed. When I learn a new piece, I go about it the same way I would if I were a beginner — I play it so slowly that I can't possibly make a mistake. It works every time and has the great added benefit of helping one towards the ideal of total concentration. Once you can do this it's only a matter of speeding up incrementally — but again at a very slow rate. You've probably heard the phrase "Make haste slowly". It certainly applies here. I've tried to learn pieces too quickly before and have always been dogged afterwards with spotty performances of the particular piece. Sometimes when I feel "hot" I may get through it okay, but at other times being sloppy and unsure. Whenever I take the trouble of "making haste slowly", as partially defined above (and as I always do now), I learn much more quickly(!) in the long run, and am much more prepared to pull it off when I have to on a gig. It's a tortoise and hare story. The tortoise wins every time.
