Can you walk?
Hold a pencil?
Write?
Touch your nose on the first try?
All muscle memory.
Do you remember putting ANY mental energy into those?
Probably not. Well, maybe writing, but that was so long ago for me I don't remember it!
Mental memory isn’t 100% reliable.
Think of an experience that was difficult at the time, like you were in the thick of it and didn’t know how you would get through.
After you came out the other side and looked back on it, it never feels as bad as when you’re in the middle of the experience. You can even laugh at the eff-ups along the way - weren’t nothin’ but a thang!
Because you’re on the other side - - and you didn’t die.
Our mental memory tends to soften experiences, and the further back in the past, the less emotional charge they have.
But muscle memory wears grooves in our framework. You can put down something and not do it for years, then come back and pick it right up.
Sure, you're not as smooth and polished, might need a little grease applied to make it glide again, but you’re definitely not starting from scratch.
Ever gotten back on bicycle after years away?
You never forget.
So dig in there and read the tabs, put skin and bone to the fingerboard and make it happen!
ALSO, muscle memory gets better with time and application. You must continue to use the new movements until they become natural
And another thing. Once you’ve learned one pattern, every pattern after will be a little less difficult. It won’t seem like it, but because you’ve started establishing muscle memory with the first pattern, your fingers will use that familiarity and adjust for the new pattern.
One caveat (don’t you LOVE all the Latin I’m throwing at you today!?):
When you're learning a new pattern, make sure you are deliberate and accurate with your finger placements.
You’re going to create new muscle memories - might as well make ‘em good so you don’t have to break a bad habit later.
Hmm, time as an excuse? Uh, no.
In one minute's time, you can pick up your guitar, play a scale six to eight times, and set the guitar back down.
You could finger a challenging chord and strum it twenty to thirty times.
We waste more time each day picking our noses!
The best way to make sure you do something with your guitar every day is to keep out where you can pick it up easily.
Line of sight is good, close at hand is even better.
That way it’s easier to hear that irresistible siren song that will draw you to your guitar, compelling you to play…
Admit it, you have no willpower against the hypnotic beauty that is guitar.
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