Brain Stimulation Theory

I've been doing some testing on myself, in certain areas, and have found that certain non-guitar things (and non-musical, at that) things can make you a better guitar player, almost immediately. I've found that if you are challenging yourself, your brain, in some way, shape, or form, your musical ideas will flow much smoother than if you just sit in your room playing guitar 8 hours a day.

The theory, basically states that:

*It is much wiser to spend 4 hours a day playing guitar and 4 hours reading challenging books, than to spend 8 hours a day playing guitar.

This is a little different for most people, considering the fact that "Who reads 4 hours a day?", but basically, what i mean is to divide your time, if you are in excess of it.

After every single novel i've finsished reading, i became significantly better on the guitar almost immediately. My brain functioned at a higher level than possible before, i could tell, every single time this happened. I'm not sure if this will happen if you don't learn anything from the novel, because I choose books that are mind-blowing in their own philosophical viewpoints on different things, so i was (and am) always learning.

Some books that i've been reading lately, such as "Moby Dick , by Herman Melville", "1984, by George Orwell", "The Lord of the Rings (whole series), by J.R.R Tolkein", "The Origin of Species, by Charles Darwin", "Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury", "The Martian Chronicles, by Ray Bradbury", "War and Peace, by Leo Tolstoy", "The Client, by John Grisham", "Skipping Christmas, by John Grisham", "The Summons, by John Grisham", "The Testament, by John Grisham", and several others, have seemingly placed me at a higher level, musically, although the contents in the books are rather non-musical. I guess that is arguable, but then again, this entire idea is arguable.

This thought doesn't work if you completely stop playing during your reading purges, you have to maintain your current guitar level, in order to see the immediate effect.
Note that this won't work for everyone, as there are alot of unimaginitive guitar players out there that are incapable of making a piece of music themselves, but I believe this theory will help at least a dozen of you get better at the guitar, while enjoying a great novel.

Incidents~


Who would have thought, at 2 o clock in the morning, i'd be posting away on Guitartricks.....can you say "Dedicated"? :D

Dedicated :D

Does that include picture books or magazines? lol. Will I get better at guitar by looking at beautiful babes in Maxim? Whoa...each time I see a chick, my sweeping arpeggios accellerate!! :)

I read the hobbit and than picked up a bunch of theroy right after i finished it hehe, mabye your right.

If you want a real Brain-Twister, check out "Finnegans Wake" by James Joyce. The way he words his material is outstanding.

I wrote for my band already 4 songs with realy nice riffs..
And I havn't read anything like that.. basicly I don't like stuff like Tulkin's...it's pink and happy and discasting...
I wrighting a book myself DUDE! I wirght songs about my life...me and my girlfriend that was my first real love broke up and I wrote about it...I had a fight with my parents and I wrote about it..I wrote a song about drungs because some of my friends smoke and that's sucks...
I'm wrighting happy songs about nothign u know...
we have a song called "chains" and he's about....nothing..just made up a story and wrought and made music..it's pretty cool...now that I'm playing fast enough I can make some solos to my songs! that would be asweme!

Originally posted by Metalic Dude
... I wrighting a book myself DUDE! ...

I wish you well - I also hope you can hook up with a good editor, or at least get a word-processing program that has a spelling check function. :rolleyes:

I think you're on to something here, Incidents! And let me say how impressed I am that you've actually read these books. I know graduate-level English majors who've never read Finnigan's Wake, and many who hate Moby Dick and War & Peace because of their length. And to think you're just a teenager! In fact, I have never met ANYONE personally who has read the whole of Finnigan's Wake, besides myself. The greatest songwriters, I am convinced, are voracious readers. Have you read Crime & Punishment? Another great Russian novel. You should also check out the Greek and Roman classics, if you haven't already: The Iliad, the Odyssey, the Aeniad, etc. And then there's the Beat generation: Jack Kerouac, William Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg . . .

David

Yes!! Jack Kerouac, "On the Road" is excellent! (my 3rd favorite book! Beatnik Bible!) I absolutely love Dean Moriarty (Neal Cassidy in real life, who famously drove the Acid-taking Merry Pranksters, across America, almost always dosed on acid!), and Sal Paradise plays the perfect observer, the perfect story-perspective character. I love Kerouac.

I've read the Oddysey (by homer), which I personally found to be a good book, but not.....how should i say this, "not up my alley". It wasn't really challenging my mind in philosophical viewpoint, I basically kept the same vision, same viewpoint of the world, after reading it. I HATE that, and I can tell you that, since I'm a huge fan of Pirates/sea shanties/whaling ships, Moby Dick did alot for me. The fact that people don't know that the the Captain is Ahab, and that the WHALE is Moby Dick (i was surprised when one of my classmates thought that Moby Dick was the insane captain!!!), just tells you that not everyone is meant for reading of the higher intellect!

I have not read Crime & Punishment, yet. I like to go through the books I read 2-3 times, to get the full dramatic detail, every dripping drop of information that i can get (and with Tolstoy, Joyce, Tolkein a little too, and Kerouac, you need to go through each book at least twice to obtain the proper information. I compare this to watching a movie like "Apacolypse Now" (which i just saw, by the way! excellent film!), twice, to fully understand Willard's mental state of mind, and Colonel Kurtz' as well.

Originally posted by Metalic Dude
I wrote for my band already 4 songs with realy nice riffs..
And I havn't read anything like that.. basicly I don't like stuff like Tulkin's...it's pink and happy and discasting...
I wrighting a book myself DUDE! I wirght songs about my life...me and my girlfriend that was my first real love broke up and I wrote about it...I had a fight with my parents and I wrote about it..I wrote a song about drungs because some of my friends smoke and that's sucks...
I'm wrighting happy songs about nothign u know...
we have a song called "chains" and he's about....nothing..just made up a story and wrought and made music..it's pretty cool...now that I'm playing fast enough I can make some solos to my songs! that would be asweme!

Metalic Dude, are you saying that, just because it happened to you, that I know nothing of the sort? Who are you to judge what concepts I do and do not understand, when you can barely type your concepts out without spelling every word wrong? Music is a language, and if your guitar style is as sloppy as your English Language style, wouldn't that tell you something? Perhaps you should take into consideration that I am a songwriter as well, and have written far more songs than four (four is laughable, to tell you the blunt truth. If you are just starting out, that's fine, however). I should be shocked that you'd deny yourself an education like that, but then I came to my senses and realized the fact that American Teens today are too cool for school (I am an American, so before you go on your patriotic rants...) . Everything is transferrable! When I took two years of spanish (in 7th and 8th grade), latin/spanish lead guitar lines became much easier. When I read Moby Dick, Whaling Ballads by MacCall and Lloyd became much more authentic and easier to play! You only experience a very limited amount first-hand, and that is why there are books out there, man! To experience what is not possible, first-hand! You may believe that you are too cool for knowledge, but knowledge definitely isn't too cool for you. I'm sure there is a library in your town.

By the way, not to sound like a downer, but four songs won't fill up a record (unless they are 15 mins a piece,doubt it) and you gain nothing by denying yourself the world of knowledge.

You guys won't believe this next part...About a year ago, during that same argument between ponyone and myself about specialization in music (he was totally right, I was ignorant at the time. Fourteen years old, but still ignorant..), I remember I must have said something dumb, because he shot back with "The world of knowledge is open for you! Go out and learn as much as you can!!", and I actually took that to heart, in both music (knowledge and music are interchangeable in this case) and in reading.

I also believe that generally, those who read voraciously, understand Music Theory, pick up on music theory faster, etc. There is no drawbacks to an education! And further, when I say 'education', i do not mean 'high school' or 'college', i mean "Self-gained knowledge", by visiting your local library, reading as much as you can, it WILL make you a better guitar player.

Now, back to the other subject. Ginsburg is awesome! What a controversial man, what a controversial poem (Howl), I love it! "I have seen the greatest men of my generation destroyed by greed......" etc. Although, I've only seen "Howl" in poem books, and it seems that there must have been revisions, because every version is a little different than the next. Same goes with every foreign book, originally written in another language (yes, a book can be foreign and still written in English, for those who don't know), like the introduction to "War and Peace"..Well Prince, so Genoa and Lucca are now but family estates at the bonapartes!, etc.

I'm happy to hear that I'm not the only one reading great material anymore!

:D

~ Incidents

(The Late Night Self Proclaimed King of Long-Winded Posts :D) :)

[Edited by Incidents Happen on 07-29-2003 at 01:09 AM]

Yeah, your definetly right about advanced literature stimulating the creative process. Some other things I've found that helped are visiting an art museum, engaging in intellectual conversation/debate, playing chess, attend a lecture, and listening to music that requires your full concentration; chick Corea, Micheal Brecker, Chris Potter, etc....I find stuff in odd time signatures and stuff based around exotic scales to be quite stimulating.

Stimulating the brain can be quite an inspiration....and when you think about it whats the biggest brain stimulator of all thats been the basis of many songs.....Love.

I hope no one takes offense at this, but I despise almost all books. I have tried to read many books, fantasy, fiction, non-fiction, scientific, linguistic, biographical, historical, and almost no book can keep my attention. Partly because I've got mild ADHD - I've got to do something physical almost all the time.

I've read approximately 5 books ever in my 18.5 year lifespan. I'm in the middle of one of the only books that has ever been able to keep my attention - [u] Gödel, Escher, and Bach, An Eternal Golden Braid [/u], a book about the connection between math, art, and music. Other things I've read - [u] The Bible[/u], [u] The Tao Teh Ching [/u], [u] The Art of War [/u] (by Sun Tzu, not by that European guy who wrote a book of the same name), and [u]1984[/u] by... I forget who (George Orwell, maybe?). Hmm, I think that's about it. It took me almost 3 years to read the bible through, and about a few months each for the other books. I have read about 10 pages of many other books, but I can't ever keep going.

I believe that physical stimulation begets mental stimulation as long as it's not the same repetitive task over and over. For example, I constantly come up with difficult coordination tasks to challenge myself. One of my first ones was setting down my hand and simultaneously lifting my index and ring finger, then setting them down, then lifting my thumb, middle, and pinky fingers and setting them down. Repeat. It's hard to do at first, but stimulates your brain and muscles in a new way and thus you get more coordinated and dextrous, which is advantageous to any other motor skill you use your hands for (guitar playing for me). Actually, my first conscious effort to increase coordination was with my butterfly knives. I learned to open one right handed in about 1/10 of a second (I open them upside down from normal, my own way). Then I learned left handed, now I can do two at once. To get more coordination, I have also learned to write pretty well with my left hand in both print and cursive, and I learned to write completely backwards (text is perfectly readable in a mirror) right handed. The ultimate mental stimulation that I'm working on (and I can do, just not up to speed yet) is multi-hand writing. I can write two different sentences at once, or one sentence with both hands (writing two letters at a time). I find that this type of stimulation is to me what reading is to some of you. Everyone's brain works differently...

Another thing that you might find interesting - I do not watch TV, nor do I play video games. I occasionally watch movies with my girlfriend, but I find it a bore to sit through one by myself (unless it's a martial arts movie... I have a nice collection of Jet Li and Jackie Chan movies). My ADHD is kicking in... I forgot what this thread is about. I have an extremely short term memory except when it comes to schoolwork (except history... I get names and dates and who did what confused, though I managed to pass the American History AP test) and music. I rarely listen to music on my cd player or the radio unless it's a new song or I'm with friends. I can hear songs perfectly in my head just as if it were coming out of a radio - just as enjoyable.

Once final note - an old English teacher of mine once said that "You can't be smart unless you read a lot of books", and another teacher said that to have a good vocabulary and grammer, you must read a lot. This thoroughly pissed me off. I hope to have proven them quite wrong. I had the highest test scores in my parish (though that's not saying much since I'm from Louisiana :), and I'm in the top .1% of the nation academically, and I read less than those people in the bottom 25%, and I think I have a pretty decent vocabulary and grammer since I'm not supposed to be intelligent.

I have a lot more to say, but I just realized how much I've already written and I'll shut up now. Feel free to comment, and please do.

Reading rocks :) English was one of my best subjects at school and I used to read for well over 4 hours a day...nowadays it's much less than that but I still keep a novel close to hand.

I find I go through stages with different authors. I've read just about everything Stephen King's written, same goes for Iain Banks (don't know if he's popular in the states but for gods sake READ HIS STUFF!) I love crime authors like Patricia Cornwall, Minette Walters, Iain Rankin...crime is very stimulating because I always want to know what happens next and how a seemingly unsolvable mistery can be solved....subsequently I often devour crime novels in two or three sittings.

Books that can be considered proper literature can be cool too. I studied English Lit to advanced level at college and wrote analysis of books like Forster's A Passage to India which has loads of good ideas about colonialism and invasion of culture....experience of other cultures is essential...as I can read in three languages I've come to appreciate this. An understanding of the original language of a text I feel brings the reader closer to the author...I've found in my study of German literature that some words and phrases can be almost impossible to translate, so the translater gets as close as he can resulting in something thats not completely accurate or what the author intended.

Whilst on German lit, Kafka is a fantastic author. The only thing more mind-blowing than reading his work is writing an essay on it - it works on so many levels and sometimes it's impossible to really figure out why he wrote what he wrote and what he wants people to take away from reading his fiction...in order to even get close to this you have to know about the author himself.....reading literature takes you to a greater level of understanding when it comes to people. (If you can read German I'd recommend Kafka as he greatly improved my knowledge of the language itself too. If you cant, most available translations read quite well.)

I'm currently reading 'Cronica de un muertea anunciada' by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (thats in Spanish) and 'Noble House' by James Clavell - thats in a series known as 'The Asian Saga'...the third book of the series, Gai Jin (thats japanese for 'Foreigners') is my favourite book of all time.

Good Post, Incidents....its nice to see someone your age realising the value of knowledge and reading....as I know so many young people who frankly dont give a f**k about either. Although I've never really noticed how it affected my guitar playing.....yes when I write songs/instrumentals i often take inspiration from literature, but the technical ability and practice influence I've never thought of....food for thought. :)

^Chacron^.

Originally posted by TheDirt
I

Another thing that you might find interesting - I do not watch TV, nor do I play video games. I occasionally watch movies with my girlfriend, but I find it a bore to sit through one by myself (unless it's a martial arts movie... I have a nice collection of Jet Li and Jackie Chan movies).

Sorry to double post but I missed TheDirt's post while I was writing my own....Martial Arts are proven to improve a child's level of concentration and discipline in school-work. (Thats from DOING the sport I might add, not watching it) Since I started doing it i've noticed the difference in my staying power, calmess and concentration, both with the guitar and when doing work for my degree.

I like TV :) A good movie is a wonderful thing...I usually prefer the sort that are tactful and require me to use my brain (Usual Suspects springs to mind here) but sometimes I like to relax, turn off my brain and watch something with gangs, guns and car chases. It's good to turn the brain off too.

Quick afterthought-edit: I seem to remember Lalimacefolle had a post a very long time ago where he talked out the advantage of video gaming for making you thumb and fingers stronger.....

Enough writing I've been here for ages! I hear my strat calling me....

[Edited by ^Chacron^ on 07-29-2003 at 11:48 AM]

I am quite impressed with your observations, Incidents. Its something I have become aware lately, and I am 20, you are 15, I guess.
Just to add something to your point: I think that gaining mathematical experience and knowledge or traing or whatever also improves your songwriting skills. By saying this I do not mean that you have to be a fat math nerd to play well guitar, I mean that it widens your borders of perception, you are able to make interconnections between ideas much more easily if you have that thing. Basically I am conviced that people with math type of brains are able tomake more original music than people with music type of brains nowdays. I say this because I think that musical shapes that are appealing to the ear are being used as music has undergone through so many stages and every chord progression seems familiar. In this respect I think that a mathematical kind of person is able in a better way to find his niche(sp?) in todays music. And again, I am not talking about those mathematical guys that are nothing more than that and have no other interests than solving math problems and playing Warcraft and etc.
About books: I think its great to read a lot but I just do not have time for it, since I am working fulltime right now and when I get home I just have energy to grab my guitar for 2 hours or so and throw some stuff on my computer. I feel that there are huge holes in my culture, in terms of knowledge of literature, philosophy, music which I would like to fill up. It appears thought that I'll be going just in the opposite direction since I'll be studying some Engineering in Germany(possibly in Hamburg).

I never thought there'd be a thread pertaining to reading on here, but I'm glad to see it. Has anyone ever read Ishmael by Daniel Quinn? In my opinion, this is the single most important book ever written in the entire history of humanity. I read it 3 years ago when I was 19 and have never looked at the world the same since. Please, please, please go out and read this book. It's not some new-age bullsh*t, nor does it requires a leap of faith of any kind. If you are a human being then this book was made for you.

Incidents, from the trends I see in your book lists, I think you'd appreciate "The Sirens Of Titan" by Kurt Vommegut Jr. Most people go for "Slaughterhouse 5", but I think 'The Sirens' does it better. And Kafka - almost anything from him - I think "Kalki" might be a good place to start.

And don't forget humour! Some of the most pointed dissections of society are dressed as comedies, (possibly as a ruse to ensure the author's survival). I think Terry Pratchet's "Discworld" series is great. My sign-off was inspired by "Soul Music" from that series. You can just relax, roll along with the craziness, and enjoy the ride. Later, you'll find illuminating insights springing unbidden into your perceptions.

Enjoy. This is probably the best possible time of your life in which to absorb all this stuff. In a very few years, you're going to find that other priorities will try to crowd such pursuits out of your daily routine.

I'm constantly thinking and pondering.I envy anyone who can "shut off" there mind.Ive never been much of a fiction reader,but much more into space,time and science in general.Non-fictious wonders,mysteries and the unanswered gets me going.I love stuff by Stephen Hawking,Tim Ferris,Brian Greene,Michio Kaku e.c.t.Theres lots of physics and Mathematics involved when breaking down the mechanics and happenings of the universe and this life,but its very much comprehendable.Thought provoking to say the least.

Oh yeah.To "The Dirt".
I remember you saying somthing about blaming god and how troubles in life are not his fault.Since youve read the bible you should be familiar with this.

"I make peace and create evil.I the Lord do all these things." -Isaiah 45:7

heres a link that proves(biblically)we dont have free will.
http://www.bible-truths.com/

Before you say that I'm stupid and Ignorant,I think you should check it out...
Sorry for turning this into a Bible study everyone.

\m/(- -)\m/

Later!

Very Impressive Incidents. 1984 is great book, I love that book. It's amazing that he wrote that in 54 and still was so accurate that it was scary. If anyone is into political/philosophical views it's a must read. About your brain stimulation theory, that's not just a theory that is a proven fact. :) If you search the net I'm sure you'll find plenty of studies in this field. Probably not directly relating to guitar. The fact is, the brain is a muscle so by stimulating it (reading), it becomes stronger just like any other muscle in the body. Different function for the brain is neural, and it's strength is measured by neuron function. Recent studies have shown than someone with a fast neuron rate is more functional in any activity than someone who's rate is slow. Clearly, and if you got that your probably saying “duh”. :p If not to put this simply, this means the more information the brain can intercept and comprehend the more functional “smarter” you are. IQ tests test exactly this and this is why there not only cerebral but they are also based on the time needed to complete. The only way to keep this stimulation or flow at your max capacity is to stimulate your brain like you would work out any muscle. So reading will definitely stimulate and increase your guitar skills, and actually vice-versa. Other studies proclaim that a person involved in music, or any art, will definitely increase his/her “intelligence”. Chris named a few other ways to stimulate the brain, my favorite art. I find a lot of lyrical inspiration from paintings. Another good one that I think many may disagree but studies are now proving to be so, is video-games. Video-games actually stimulate the brain, and I’m talking about stupid stuff, but first-person shooters definitely make the mind more aware, and of course games like tetris and pac-man (strategy games) definitely stimulate the mind. Although if your craving intelligence playing video games isn’t the best thing to do. hehe

One book that I definitely recommend anyone to read, and it’s not exactly a book but the Dictionary. You should read the dictionary once every so many years. Sounds obsessive but there is a lot to learn from reading a good dictionary.

[Edited by noticingthemistake on 07-29-2003 at 05:55 PM]

Originally posted by noticingthemistake
... 1984 is great book, I love that book. It's amazing that he wrote that in 54 and still was so accurate that it was scary. ...

Actually, it was written in 1948. Orwell transposed the 4 and the 8 to get the title.

I agree that it's one of the scariest books out there, because in describing a dysfunctional world, dominated by inaccessible elites that rule by manipulating public opinion, he was eerily prescient in his depiction. And his warnings were not restricted to the Communist threat he illustrated in "Animal Farm". The cynical "doublespeak" of the bureaucrats has surfaced in all of the major democracies as well. :eek: We're all in this leaky boat together.

Haha. “Animal Farm”, I remember having to read that in ninth grade. Great fable, and a lot of lessons to be learned from it. It’s a shame that they weren’t learned but only separated into 2 branches of the same thing. One being Communism which is bad just because it‘s called Communism, and the Democracy which is only a softer more acceptable communism. Or I see it as masked communism. I’ll save you from the explanation of why I see it that way. Very, very long post. ;) What makes 1984 so scary to me is it was Orwell looking at what happened with the Roman Empire, and then saw the similarities with our government. Then he wrote what would happen if we followed the same path. Now here’s the scary part, it is almost dead-on. Now what happened to the Roman Empire?? The book shows you the same could happen to us, maybe even worse. If you don’t learn from history you are doomed to repeat it. That’s why I wish that everyone in politics should read that book. If that’s not a wake up call, you must be brain-dead.