Be Like Miles

There I was again.  I was attempting to learn how to play a Miles Davis solo on my guitar and it happened.  Everything was moving along nicely and then he played a line that I just couldn't figure out, let alone play. This happened just about every time a tried to transcribe someone's solo. Miles was in fact pretty good learn from because he tended to play very few notes and he played them slowly. I found this incredibly frustrating. I was beginning to think that I wasn't cut out for this type of activity or that I had a 'bad ear.'

I must have played that particular line in the solo 100 times. I'd hit rewind endlessly to no avail. I started from the beginning of the solo and reviewed the pieces I knew and then a new idea hit me. I thought that I should go through as many solos of miles that I could find and just learn the easy bits. If I could only get a few notes from each that was fine. I started doing this and within a few weeks I was astounded by the results. Suddenly I could hear all kinds of things that I hadn't been able to decipher a few weeks earlier. My ears had seemingly grown.

Here are a few ideas that make this work.

Slow down:
Whether you're learning a piece of music or practicing a martial art, from time to time, slowing down the tempo at which you take in information, or practice something will help you learn more smoothly than stumbling at a quick tempo.

Practice small, easy pieces:
Focus your efforts on very short discreet pieces that are very easy for you. Practicing something that is too difficult can prove to be counterproductive. Furthermore, it's an indication that you haven't really mastered the skill that lead up to that.

Practice pieces that you like:
Practicing pieces that you like will build greater and greater motivation to keep practicing versus building frustration.

By applying these guidelines, I've found that  I'm able to make progress at a good pace in places where I had previously been stuck. Although you may not end up sounding like Miles or your favorite musician, I think you'll be pleased with the results.

All Japanese All The Time

All Japanese All the Time.

A buddy pointed out this blog to me. This guy apparently learned business level Japanese in about 18 months.

From the blog:

"I am your host, Khatzumoto. I learned Japanese in 18 months by having fun. In June 2004, at the ripe old age of 21, all post-pubescent and supposedly past my mental/linguistic prime, I started learning Japanese. By September 2005, I had learned enough to read technical material, conduct business correspondence and job interviews in Japanese. By the next month, I landed a job as a software engineer at a large Japanese company in Tokyo (yay!)."

I've been studying Japanese as well as other languages for years, so once I got over my jealousy, I gave it a good read and there are tons of great insights and resources for language learning and working toward any goal.

I recommend it highly.