Shreditation Follow-up

(Due in part to the surprising amount of views the original Shreditation post received, here is another article, which will further expound on visualization technique... the regular shred madness posts and videos shall resume shortly.)

Last time, I left off with a basic visualization practice to use along with a legato piece I'd written. I'd like to start off even simpler this time; let's work on any short lick which you haven't fully mastered. It can even be something as simple as a single chord; it really doesn't matter. The only two rules are that it must be short, and it must be difficult for you.

I want your practice to be painstaking, for now. If you decided to tackle a lick, all notes are to be articulate and even in volume, and all physical movement economical and relaxed. If you are working on a chord, play it slow enough that all of your fretting hand fingers are moving to their destinations at the exact same time. Make sure each note in the chord is fretted well by arpeggiating it (play it one string at a time). Above all, make sure this feels easy before you move on.

The key here is your own awareness of what it feels like when you are doing everything correctly. Think about how it feels for both of your hands when they are working in perfect coordination, listen to the sound the guitar is producing when you've done everything right. How do you feel? Be aware of as much as possible; we are going to need to recall this information for our shreditation.

After you've practiced thoroughly, sit comfortably. Close your eyes, and slow your breathing; count along with your inhalations and exhalations, keeping them the same length of time. Neither inhale nor exhale maximally; just keep things comfortably slow. Once you feel fully relaxed (don't fall asleep!), the shreditation starts.

Picture yourself where you normally practice; as mentioned in the previous article, the more details you can recall, the better. Imagine the typical temperature of the room, what it smells like, etc... we want to make your brain feel like you're actually there. Then, see yourself playing whatever you decided to practice before, but see yourself gradually doing it faster, better, while recalling all the playing details you became aware of in practice earlier. Do not allow any negative thoughts to take control; if any slip in, keep concentrating on the idea of your own perfection, and they will fade away.

The goal is to convince yourself that you can achieve incredible swiftness or accuracy by envisioning just that, while recalling the feelings you noted earlier, of correct playing and effortlessness. Regularly using shreditation will, at the least, aid in removing mental roadblocks and enhance confidence, which when combined with typical practice will yield tremendous results. Keep these visualization sessions down to approximately 10 minutes daily, but don't keep eyeing the clock; if you go too short or too long sometimes, it won't matter, but constantly breaking the visualization to check the time will.

If you have any questions or comments about mental techniques, fire away! More articles and videos are on their way; stay tuned!