Tone is in the fingers, speed is in the brain?

Its all in the fingers, or is it?

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Re: Tone is in the fingers, speed is in the brain?

Post by calling card »

That's the thing I get riding a motorbike & the heat of battle (motocross). Cat like instinct taking over, never conscious of shifting gears, braking etc... just eyes fixed ahead. I never won races...
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Re: Tone is in the fingers, speed is in the brain?

Post by jeremyb »

Been reading up on neuroscience a lot recently and like with learning anything you need to do it sufficient times to forge enough new connections in your brain to be able to remember the movements without you having to think about it, this just takes repetition :)
Slowy wrote: That's the problem; everything rewarding is just such hard work. Regret takes much less effort.

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Re: Tone is in the fingers, speed is in the brain?

Post by Mini Forklift »

In terms of neuromuscular actions, it generally takes around six weeks for your brain to 'reprogram' your neurotransmitters so that they fire differently. I'd imagine this to translate similarly for learning new finger movements/patterns on an instrument.

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Re: Tone is in the fingers, speed is in the brain?

Post by Slowy »

hamo wrote:I've been thinking about playing fast, or at least playing certain riffs up to speed. We always seem to think/talk about it in terms of finger speed and muscle memory, but I find that I am more limited by “thought speed”. My fingers can keep up with what I’m trying to do, but my brain can’t, and that’s what messes me up. Does anyone else feel like their speed of thought holds them back? Or is the trick to just practice something so much that you can take the thought part right out?
You're right on the money there Hamo. Much advanced martial arts practice is about learning Mushin which translates as 'Empty Mind'. Simplistically, it is honing the reflexes to be faster than thought. Sounds special but it's actually very common. Do you think a Squash or Ping Pong player thinks about their moves?
Experiencing a Mushin moment for the first time is awesome. Sadly, no matter how you want to apply it, the process is always the same: Repetition of basic moves followed by repetition of linked moves. It's training muscle memory and reflex to such a high level that the mind can't keep up and wanders off in search of butterflies. :D
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Re: Tone is in the fingers, speed is in the brain?

Post by Lyle »

In Troy Grady's Cracking the Code he talks about 'chunking'.

He breaks groups notes into chunks that end on the beat, e.g. he has a six note pattern that starts on downstroke he just has to make sure he's hitting the downstroke on the beat and everything else falls into place. It works for me, rather than thinking about what I'm playing I just make sure I hit the downstroke on the beat and everything in between just falls into place.

I think he talks about it in this video (don't have time to check at the moment), or maybe it's in episode 8 or season 1.


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Re: Tone is in the fingers, speed is in the brain?

Post by jeremyb »

Ben Eller's videos are awesome, he explains stuff really simply and teaches the right way to do stuff, no point repeating the wrong thing over and over, I need to sit down and go thru his whole series!

Slowy wrote: That's the problem; everything rewarding is just such hard work. Regret takes much less effort.

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Re: Tone is in the fingers, speed is in the brain?

Post by Lyle »

jeremyb wrote:Ben Eller's videos are awesome, he explains stuff really simply and teaches the right way to do stuff, no point repeating the wrong thing over and over, I need to sit down and go thru his whole series!
Nice, I was just practicing one of his weekend wankshop licks. His videos are what lead me to the Cracking the Code stuff.

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