Chaining¶
Summary: Play the two notes at either end of a passage at speed. Then add notes before it (back chaining) of after it (forward chaining), until you've chained them all together to make the full passage. ☆☆☆
For example, take this G minor arpeggio from the Gigue, BWV 1004 Violin Partita no. 2, J.S. Bach, which you’re aiming to play at 80 bpm, strict alternate picking:
Arpeggio
Instead of trying to play the whole thing in one shot, you can build it up, note by note (or small groups of notes if you feel up to it), so your body can sort out how it should flow. You can do both backwards and forwards chaining.
Chains can sometimes create new difficulties – see The trouble with bursts for more. It’s still a great technique for technical and repertoire practicing though.
Tip
Try chaining the same passage both backwards and forwards: sometimes you’ll end up with different choices that are more accurate or easier to play, because they’re better suited for your mind and hands.
Backwards chaining¶
With backwards chaining, you start at the end, and build your chain backwards. At each step, you ensure that you can play it more or less perfectly, and then you add more notes at the start.
First, start with the two notes at the end, and repeat until they smooth out and you can play them at the target tempo.
Chain, 2 notes
Then add the note prior, playing until it smooths out at target tempo. Note I’m using an upstroke for the first note, because that’s how it’s played in the original lick:
Chain, 3 notes
Then the next note, etc.
Chain, 4 notes
And so on until you reach the beginning.
As you add new notes, you might find that previously secure segments fall apart. That’s your body and brain sorting out how to integrate all of this information into one big “chunk”. If things completely explode, take some time with it – perhaps you’ve hit some kind of technical limit that needs further exploration.
You may also occasionally find that when you add another link to the chain, you have to re-orchestrate all subsequent fingers, due to an incorrect fingering or position choice. It’s a small annoyance, so you might want to use Forwards Chaining as well to work out the “big picture”. And don’t worry if things which used to be secure fall apart, that’s part of the process.
Why this works¶
With backwards chaining, you are always moving from new, less secure territory – the new notes you add at the beginning of the chain – into old, secure territory – the notes at the end of the chain. One of the determining factors in your speed is how quickly and securely your mind moves. By playing from less secure to more secure material, your mind can quickly map out how to play the full line, and you can put the whole thing together quicker.
Another reason this is a great technique is its emphasis on follow-through. You’ve probably started a song or solo, but then got slightly lost in the middle section where it gets fuzzy and insecure. There are many reasons for this, but one is that it’s very easy to rehearse or think about the start of a passage, always working the beginning, and perhaps relying on auto-pilot for the rest. With backward chaining, you practice the end more, avoiding auto-pilot, so it exposes and deals with the memory weaknesses.
Lastly, breaking things down like this lets you deal with small slices of the problem at a time. There are several things going on in any lick: fretting, string changes, hand shifts, stretches, etc. It’s much easier to deal with this bit by bit.
Backwards chaining for repertoire¶
Backwards chaining is exceptionally useful for learning new repertoire – either licks, or full pieces – for the same reasons that it’s useful for technique. If you start learning something from the end, rather than the beginning, you’ll find that the “feeling” of memorization is quite different, because you’re always prepending new material to material you’ve already mastered.
If you memorize something starting at the beginning, there is the danger of just playing what you know for a few bars, and never really getting into the remainder of it: you start strong and then bluff your way through the rest. I know I’ve been guilty of that. Starting at the end ensures that you will end up really learning what you’re working on!
Forwards chaining¶
Forwards chaining is the same thing in the other direction.
First, you start with the two notes at the beginning, and play them up to tempo:
Then add the next note, repeating the process:
Then the next note:
And so on until you reach the end.
Forward chaining is useful because your fingering selections will likely be more accurate as you work through the passage – i.e., the choices you make while chaining will be those you use during the final performance.
Middle chaining¶
There’s nothing stopping you from starting your chain wherever you want, and building it in either direction – this is simply isolating problems, and building context around them.