The Smokejumper Strategy for Guitar

Transcript included below… Today I’m going to provide a strategy that just might sharpen your approach to playing any song you work on Today’s episode will be one of the shortest you’ll experience here, because I want to get right to the point. And I’m going to use an analogy, like I enjoy doing from time to time.Several years ago, I was performing at a big festival, and one of the ladies who was serving the food to the musicians told me about her career. It was an unexpected revelation. She was a smokejumper. Now, if you know what a smokejumper is, great! If you don’t, it’s basically a firefighter who drops into a forest fire by way of a parachute. I would think that starting at the edge of the fire would be sufficient, but smokejumpers have been able to strategically drop in and drastically reduce the fire damage more quickly, because they target specific spots.It doesn’t make things any easier; in fact, it’s considerably more dangerous. Just imagine it, right?Well, let’s take a piece of music for a moment – it could be a fingerstyle guitar solo in an alternate tuning with lots of ties across the bar line…or it could be a pretty standard worship song in 4/4 time with “Verse, Chorus, Verse, Chorus, Bridge, Chorus, Chorus” song form.Really, the type of song does not matter for my point of illustration. And the level of difficulty doesn’t matter, either. What does matter is the strategic approach to tackling the song. How many of us have heard someone play a song (especially a difficult one) from the beginning, and listened as the song gradually fell apart?Lots of us. Why would this be, you ask? Perhaps because the person who had practiced it employed the approach, when running into challenges, of going back to the beginning and starting over. Now I’m not at all against playing from the beginning.But if it’s the rule, not the exception, I have another suggestion…and hear it is. You ready?Find the challenge spot and work on that. Literally jump into the middle of the piece and work the section that needs the most help.This might feel natural, because it might be right at the chorus.Or maybe it will be in the middle of a measure. Or the latter half of a beat.You’ll know, because you’ll be able to target the point in the music that needs work, and you can approach it from the nearest point of entry. If you’re in a worship team rehearsal, guide your band to a spot you can all find (e.g. pick-up to measure 9.) If you’re on your own, you’ll have a little more flexibility and can find a spot at a gentler pace. But do me (and yourself) this favor: avoid the temptation to go back to the beginning over and over.It will save time, it will allow you to get to know the piece better overall, and it will enable you to solidify the more difficult sections more quickly. In short, it will help you put out the fire effectively…like a smokejumper. Make sense? Conclusion and Next Steps And that just about wraps things up for today. Yep, I wanted to keep things succinct for today’s episode, because sometimes, all it takes is a simple thought to get you on your way. And if you want more simple thoughts, find us on social media on Instagram , YouTube and Facebook where GuitarSuccess4U has a presence in each. Some of our content appears in all three areas, and it includes short-form content like reels or shorts that are less than 60 seconds long. Little nuggets of wisdom, encouragement and practical thoughts. It’s been interesting to watch and see who responds more to what on Instagram , Facebook or YouTube , based on the audience. But if you’re looking for the real meat, the real feast, treat yourself to GuitarSuccess4U , a members-only experience for Christian guitarists who know there’s more to the guitar and music.If today’s analogy and thoughts gave you something to run with, just imagine what a proven 6-stage Success Path and 8 bonus guest expert interviews could do, to say nothing of the Christ-honoring community of what I call my “Guitar Successors.”We’d love to welcome you in. Learn more and join now at GuitarSuccess4U.com . And if you want to experience our new free guitar web masterclass , just include a forward slash and the word “formula” after that. So, the URL would be GuitarSuccess4U.com/formula . I can’t wait to see what the Lord does for you with this new Smokejumper Strategy, and I hope to serve you inside GuitarSuccess4U !Thanks for experiencing these thoughts, and I’ll see you next time! Thanks for reading Guitar Serious Fun!

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The Smokejumper Strategy for Guitar is an episode from Guitar Serious Fun by David Harsh.

This episode is 4:56 long.

This episode was published on Mar 13, 2024.

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