The Poised Guitarist

BODY MAPPING FOR GUITARISTS

“It’s not what we don’t know that most harms us. It’s what we know for sure that just ain’t so.”

Mark Twain

In Body Mapping for guitarists we reflect upon what we assume to be true of our body’s structure and discover where “it just ain’t so.” Since our brains are not fixed these discoveries can lead to corrections of harmful misconceptions. Once assimilated, this accurate information improves the quality and coordination of our movements in playing and thereby frees the musician from tensions and restrictions that occur as a result of flawed body maps.

THE BODY MAP

“We move according to how we think we are structure not according to how we are actually structured.”

Bill Conable,  Cellist

Our body has a particular anatomical structure. In our brain is a neural representation (the body map) of that structure. But the representation (body map), not the structure, determines how we move. If our body map is incorrect, we will try to move in a way inconsistent with the actual structure of our body. We will not succeed in changing our structure to fit our false beliefs. Instead movements will be tense or awkward. Tension detracts from our guitar playing. More than that, it is actually harmful. That is, an inaccurate body map may lead us to move with tension that takes the form of one of the causes of injury, pain or limitation.

Just as a poor body map generates poor quality of movement, an improved body map generates an improved quality of movement. How do we improve our map? The information in the course “What Every Guitarist Needs to Know About the Body” is designed to inform guitarists of the most common mismappings that most guitarists share. This course is a good starting point for any guitarist to learn about the body map and the process of Body Mapping.