Rhythm Guitar Meditation
Rhythm. I don't have it. Yet, anyway. At times it feels like my inner clock has sprung a spring. I'm not dissuaded however. I'm working under the assumption that the rhythm guiding part of brain just needs some exercise and that, like anything else, it will come with practice.
It's the practice that I really wanted to post about. Or rather how it so much it reminds me of meditation. I don't recall whether I've posted about meditation in the past but I use it for stress relief. The meditation technique I've used calls for you to focus your mind on your breathing and then work to remain focused on that and that alone. When a random thought intrudes you notice it, categorize it and then go back to focusing on your breathing. It's one of the many things in life that takes only minutes to learn but you can spend a lifetime trying to master.
Guitar rhythm practice is very similar. Rather, instead of breathing, the focus is on the tick of the metronome and the count of the strum pattern. If your concentration wavers and you get off beat you need to recognize how you've diverged and get back in time. They require a very similar world-detaching inner focus.
It will be interesting to see if the later has the same stress relieving benefits. Luckily, life's already been pretty mellow lately but it certainly can't hurt and in the process I might develop some rhythm.
It's the practice that I really wanted to post about. Or rather how it so much it reminds me of meditation. I don't recall whether I've posted about meditation in the past but I use it for stress relief. The meditation technique I've used calls for you to focus your mind on your breathing and then work to remain focused on that and that alone. When a random thought intrudes you notice it, categorize it and then go back to focusing on your breathing. It's one of the many things in life that takes only minutes to learn but you can spend a lifetime trying to master.
Guitar rhythm practice is very similar. Rather, instead of breathing, the focus is on the tick of the metronome and the count of the strum pattern. If your concentration wavers and you get off beat you need to recognize how you've diverged and get back in time. They require a very similar world-detaching inner focus.
It will be interesting to see if the later has the same stress relieving benefits. Luckily, life's already been pretty mellow lately but it certainly can't hurt and in the process I might develop some rhythm.
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