“Music is the language of the spirit. It opens the secret of life – bringing peace, abolishing strife.” – Kahlil Gibran
Guitar Yoga is a comprehensive study of music and the guitar for all ages and levels of experience that focuses on the critical connections between the Body, Mind and Spirit and their important role in achieving pure musical expression and fulfillment: the end result – MAGIC!
I’m not talking about lying on the floor and doing exercises with your guitar. I’m talking about applying the principles of yoga to your guitar practice and playing. The body, mind and spirit all have to work together to achieve pure musical expression.
The fundamentals of classical guitar technique are tried and true. They have developed over hundreds of years and the current model is right and it works. I’m not trying to create a new technique: what I am doing is creating a method or system for teaching and learning the technique that makes the study fun, productive and effective. Starting with the basics of hand and body position and movements and moving on through learning the music, sight reading and interpretation and, finally, public performance, my system, I believe, will make learning music and the guitar accessible and rewarding for anyone at any age or level of experience. Learning to play the guitar is not hard if you start right and stay right.
For those not able to take personal lessons or classes, I am writing exercises that reinforce my principles. I have put some up on my Exercises page.
Key Principles
The Body – Your hands, muscles, sinews, joints; your breathing, posture and position all come into play. Development requires practice in the form of exercises and drills.
The Mind – The mind controls the body and reads, hears and processes the music. The mind and body must work together. Development requires study, attention, focus and sight reading.
The Spirit – Music is the most ethereal of the arts. It doesn’t exist until the moment it is played and heard and even then it is not something you can touch or see, but you can feel it. It exists on a spiritual level. The music has a life of its own, in a sense, but the musician has to understand it, wake it up and bring it out. When the Body, Mind and Spirit all work in harmony to bring the music out, that’s when it becomes magic. Development requires a solid foundation in the first two principles (Body and Mind) so that you are free to bring the music to life.
Key Elements
Body
- Position
- Alignment
- Flexibility
- Relaxation
- Control
- Precision
Mind
- Theory
- Analysis
- Understanding
- Concentration
- Memorization
- Restraint
- Sight Reading
- Application
Spirit
- Awareness
- Intention
- Interpretation
- Inspiration
- Feeling
- Confidence
- Magic
At GuitarSkool we concentrate on these key principles in our study of the guitar. The method is effective, stimulating and rewarding.
Contact me for more information.