In this article, we will explore the importance of developing both mental and physical abilities from a Zen sword master’s perspective. If we are to master anything, we must be able to practice the skill until it becomes an intuitive part of us, and as natural as breathing.

Learning guitar, or any craft requiring both mental and physical skill, can be distilled into two areas of practice; theory or principle and technique. The great Zen Master, Takuan Soho, discussed these two areas in regards to sword and martial arts mastery over three hundred years ago. His teachings and advice are as valid today, and can be applied to our practice and pursuit of guitar mastery.

In Zen Buddhism, much emphasis is placed on achieving a state of what is called No-Thought-No Mind. Essentially this is a relaxed frame of mind where concentration no longer requires conscious effort. I will also define it as automatic spontaneity, which allows you to creatively use what you have learned without deliberate and specific thought or conscious rationalization. It is the total absorption of knowledge, or what Takuan Soho called principle.

This state of mind is only possible with much training, so that knowledge becomes an indistinguishable part of your thoughts, rather than being separated from all the other things you know. It must become like talking, counting, or reading. You have trained your mind through education and repetition to the point where you can just do it naturally.

An example would be the principle of chord/scale relationships. Memorizing scales and chord construction is only the beginning. The knowledge must be internalized, so that their application becomes instinctive. In composing, one can afford to deliberate on these choices, but when soloing in a performance situation, you only have a brief moment to decide. We must practice for as long as it takes until our understanding is so complete that there is no hesitation. Watch Eddie Van Halen play, or look at old concert footage of Jimi Hendrix. By knowing the material so completely, they can transcend it, and allow their creativity to run free. Of course, guitar virtuoso’s like these also have amazing technique as well.

All the knowledge and theory in the world won’t do you any good without the technical means to manifest it through your music. I can read countless books on perfecting the mechanics of my golf swing, but if I don’t actually practice swinging the club, it won’t do me much good overall. We must train our hands to translate principle into action. Again, practicing technical skills must be with the intention of bypassing the conscious mind. To state it another way, we must train our fingers to move freely without being tripped up by our mind’s inhibitive attention to them.

Going back to the scale/chord relationship example, we must practice scales so that our fingers are capable of performing the musical passages that our creativity is transmitting to them. We must strive for effortless execution. This is often called muscle memory, where our muscles retain the proper movement through repetition and consistent practice.

Our knowledge must be developed in equal proportion to our technique. Any disparity between the two will result in our playing being unbalanced. These two essential areas must coexist on the same level for us to truly realize our guitar playing potential. Takuan described principle and technique as wheels on a cart. The cart cannot properly move along without the wheels working in tandem side by side.

All of this may sound like an impossible level to achieve, but all you have to do is take it one practice session at a time. Break these two categories of theory and technique into smaller pieces. Develop one chord, one scale, or one exercise, master it, and move on. Keep building, but don’t force your progress. Give your mind and body the necessary time to fully assimilate the principle and technique. If you learn only one chord a week, that’s fifty two chords in a year, and there are thousands of songs that use only three of those! Be diligent, practice hard, and play harder.