I read about this kingdom many years ago.

It had a crazy king. One day, the king decided to build a new palace and all his subjects would be invited to stay one night in it.

The subjects were excited.

They said, “Perhaps he’s not so crazy after all.”

The palace was completed. But there was just one catch—whoever stayed in the room had to fit the bed perfectly.

If he or she was longer than the bed, two strong men would come in and cut off the legs until they fit the bed perfectly. If their legs were too short, two strong men would come in and pull them until they fit the bed too.

Sounds crazy, but I know of a country where all the children are expected to behave perfectly according to rigidly prescribed standards of what is considered ‘normal behavior.”

And if they do not fit the model, they are medicated until they do.

In the guitar world, I know of teachers who demand their students follow fixed rules of playing. And if their playing do not fit the standard model, they have to modify it until it does.

One-size-fits-all.

So convenient for those dishing out the rules and enforcing them, not so convenient for those on the receiving end.

When we buy shoes, we do not buy them based on some arbitrary predetermined size and force our feet to fit them, we try several pairs until we find the pair that fit the best.

It’s the same thing in life and in guitar playing.

Instead of forcing our body to follow some predetermined generic model of what constitutes “good guitar technique,” we should find a method that works for us and takes advantage of our particular unique situations.

One of the keys to virtuosity I described in the AOV is lightness, a lightness of touch in everything you do.

Imagine my surprise on reading this excerpt from The Ultimate Happiness Prescription by Deepak Chopra (page 43).

Lightness of being in my body will be my indicator of happiness. If I feel heavy or dull, I will pay special attention, because these feelings are signs that I am suffering from inertia …

I’ve always known that the principle of lightness extends beyond guitar playing and this excerpt reaffirms that conviction.

What does happiness and playing guitar well have to do with each other?

Because both describe a state of perfect equilibrium, of pure effortlessness, where you’re able to accomplish anything you want without stress or strain.

As the old Sage Lao Tzu said:

“The Virtuoso does not do and yet everything is done.”

One important qualification:

Lightness is not to be confused with weakness. On the contrary, lightness is the true source of power.

Only by being light will you be able to fully tap into your natural power, but that’s an article in itself, which you can read about in the chapter “The Art of Power” in the AOV.

I recently received an email from Bob Wooldridge who pointed me to this video of George Sakellariou. In Bob’s words:

I was just watching this video that was recently uploaded by Dave Schramm. Take a look at Sakellariou’s right hand fingers. There are several points in the video where the camera is looking at his hand from the left side and you can clearly see how his fingers are attacking the strings. I think you will find this interesting:

My own continuing youtube research also uncovered this video of Douglas Niedt:

In both these videos, one can clearly see the same upward motion in their fingers, in that same circular trajectory I had talked about earlier in my Isbin post.

There’s quite a bit of hand bouncing too in Niedt’s hand, which is absolutely essential in chordal playing, but is also very much a part of this circular type of playing.

Most good players develop the circular approach to plucking naturally and intuitively. It’s something they probably don’t even think too much about.

So why is this a concern?

Because for some players, developing this natural approach may not come so easily.

This is especially true if they have been subjected to the strict playing-from-the-knuckle methodology, (plucking strictly from the knuckle) or if they have been taught to exaggerate the follow-through in their fingers after the stroke.

The inevitable result of playing only from the knuckle is a loss of fluidity in the fingers. That’s because you wind up with stop and start pendulum-type motion in the fingers.

Exaggerating the follow-through also results in the same stop and start pendulum-type motion as the knuckle stroke.

The great thing about circular plucking as I explained in the AOV is that it creates a continuous flow of motion.

There’re two parts to plucking a string, the plucking and the rebounding (to reposition the finger). As soon as you pluck the string, you have to bring it back to reposition it. So there’re two points where you have to effect a direction change in your stroke.

If you move back and forth in a pendulum-type motion, you’ll have to stop at each point to reverse direction. This is inefficient. It stops the flow of your motion and you lose momentum.

But if you loop around each direction point, you can keep the flow of your motion going even as you change direction. That’s why circular motion is so crucial to speed and fluidity.

Circular motion of course is nothing new. It’s central to Tai Chi and Aikido.

This article came from an earlier version of the AOV.

To perform like a pro, you have to do it constantly, under the spotlights. Because that’s what pros do. They’re constantly performing. That’s why they’re good.

At the beginning, this could mean imposing yourself on others, playing free gigs, whatever it takes. The goal is to establish familiarity, to make the performing experience as ordinary as possible.

If you go out under the spotlights every day, pretty soon, those spotlights will stop bothering you.

But you have to do it under real conditions, or in simulated conditions if real conditions are not available.

If you’re a concert musician, play in concert halls as much as possible. If you’re an athlete, perform in tournaments. If you can’t do it in real concerts and tournaments, do it in rehearsals.

The truth is, you can’t learn your skills under one set of conditions and expect to deliver them under another. In other words, you can’t practice your guitar in your bedroom and expect to replicate that performance in a concert hall.

Many people do not understand this.

They would practice a great deal in their practice rooms and attain a high level of proficiency. But then they go out in front of the public, find themselves unable to deliver, and would blame it on nerves.

Yes, nerves is always a factor, but it’s more than nerves, it’s also inexperience; if you’re not used to performing in front of an audience, you wouldn’t be able to deliver your true potential.

Sometimes the problem is not lack of experience, it’s lack of preparation.

To play like a pro, you must know your material like a pro. This means practicing your moves over and over until they become second nature.

The trick is to acquire a repertoire of moves and routines that you are deeply familiar with and which you can play at the drop of a hat.

That’s what pros do. They have a core repertoire of favorite moves and routines. When they play, they would usually reach into this repertoire and perform something they’ve done many times before.

If they have to do a new move or play a new piece, they would practice it over and over and test it in front of many audiences before they add it to their core repertoire.

That’s a disadvantage many beginner and student players have. They don’t have a core repertoire.

When they play, it’s usually something new, perhaps even something they just learned last week.

That’s tough. If you’ve just learned a piece, there is no way you can play it as well as someone who’s played it for forty years. (Translation: If you’ve just learned the Chaconne, don’t expect to play it like John Williams in your first performance, or even in your tenth performance.)

That’s why it’s good to put things in perspective. Don’t expect too much from your first performances.

And don’t be afraid to perform the same routines over and over. That’s the only way to polish your act, to do it constantly.

If you were to check the programs of concert artists, you will see the same pieces featured over and over.

I used to think it was a lack of versatility. Now I realize it’s a sign of their complete professionalism.

At the beginning, you might have to be a one-trick pony, but with time, you’ll become a two-trick pony, and in no time at all, you’ll be a hundred-trick pony.

Pros understand one thing.

It’s not how many routines you have in your repertoire, it’s how well you play them.

I was surfing youtube when this video caught my attention.

It’s the incomparable Sharon Isbin. What caught my attention is her right hand, especially in the way she plucks ‘upward’ in a soft brushing motion, rather than inward with a lot of ‘follow-through.’

It’s almost a textbook example of what I described in the AOV for Guitar as good efficient right hand movement (in the section on fluidity, page 89):

Right-hand fluidity is mostly about moving in circles and arcs.

This is a point I’ve made a few times before but here’s a more detailed explanation of how it works.

The right-hand plucking motion consists of two parts, the plucking and the rebound.

It’s crucial when you pluck that the two parts are part of a continuous movement. The only way to achieve this is to move your finger in circular motion at the fingertips.

To do this, push through the string when you pluck.

Make sure you don’t push too hard. Most of the action should be taking place at the fingertips.

As soon as you clear the string, move upward and back to your starting position. (Yes, this is probably the tenth time I described the process, but bear with me.)

The whole movement is one continuous action. If you were to watch your fingertip in action, it will describe an oval-shaped trajectory.

I’ve always been aware that my approach to teaching is different from many of my colleagues in one respect:

I emphasize facility over polish.

My rationale is that facility is something we can’t take for granted while polish is mostly a matter of time and increased sophistication.

In the beginning stages, I give students mostly free-stroke pieces and studies, all designed to get them to start moving their fingers.

The emphasis is on facility and speed, without any regard for tonal quality.

It’s just common sense, there’s not much point demanding good tonal quality if a student can barely move his or her fingers.

It’s like getting an invitation to a party.

If you haven’t been invited to a party, you’re not going to worry about what you’re going to wear.

You’re going to work on getting that invitation first, and then worry about what you’re going to wear later.

It’s the same with playing the guitar

If you haven’t developed good finger facility, don’t worry about the finer details of tone and refinement.

Focus your efforts on developing that speed and facility first and then worry about the finer details later.

I came across Lean Six Sigma while browsing at a local bookstore.

What caught my attention was the word “lean.”

As I started reading, I was struck by how similar the principles in this hot new trend in management strategy are to the ones I described in the AOV.

Especially the emphasis on speed.

I’ve always been convinced that the principles I wrote about in the AOV are universal principles that apply to everything we do, but I didn’t quite expect the close parallels between them and LSS.

Leanness or economy makes sense. If you have less to do, you can do them faster.

It’s nothing new of course—just common sense. But I have to admit, “Lean Six Sigma” sounds a lot better than plain old “economy.”

What intrigued me are the inevitable layers of organizational paraphernalia that have grown around the concepts.

Taking a cue from the martial arts, practitioners of Lean Six Sigma have to go through several stages before they attain “Master Black Belt” status. And that’s just one small part of the complex LSS architecture.

It’s interesting to note that the whole LSS phenomenon emerged from some Toyota assembly plant and from Motorola’s highly innovative management team.

The question now is, which part of LSS is responsible for Toyota’s current problem with runaway cars.

I recently did an interview with Christopher Davis of the The Classical Guitar Blog. Chris is an incredibly talented young man and I’m honored he asked me to do the interview. Here’s the link:

http://www.classicalguitarblog.net/2010/01/philip-hii-interview/