By John Fogerty/Creedence Clearwater Revival

A true American classic, Fortunate Son's mix of loud, rock sounds and passionate lyrics sung by one of the great country vocalists of all time makes for an energizing blend of sound.

Daft Punk is Playing in My House

By LCD Sound System

The techno beat and fast pace of this song makes it the kind of music you would expect to hear during a chase scene in a movie, but it is also good for getting energized while driving around.

Bad Moon Rising

By Creedence Clearwater Revival

A classic road-trip song for generations, Bad Moon Rising has a catchy beat and a mix of instruments that is perfect for the highway. Once again, John Fogerty shows his genius as a vocalist, as well.

Superstition

By Stevie Wonder

This classic song, with its mix of funk, brass instruments, and a synthesizer, is extremely catchy. It's great for highway driving on a long trip, as well as for brief errands and the daily commute.

Single Sedative

By Eastern Conference Champions

Not everyone will be a fan of ECC's sound, as it can be a bit nasal at times, but the beat is catchy. This song is great for getting going at the start of a long road trip.

Ball and Biscuit

By The White Stripes

A strong electric guitar and drum opening, along with stellar vocals by Jack White, make Ball and Biscuit a great song for rhythm on the move.

The Hardest Button to Button

By The White Stripes

The rhythmic beat of this song will get anyone nodding in time, and the combined electric guitar and vocals of Jack White make for a good highway cruising song.

Rock and Roll Ain't Noise Pollution

By AC/DC

With one of the classic guitar openings of all time and a great, catchy chorus, this AC/DC masterpiece is great for local driving, as well as on longer trips.

American Woman

By Lenny Kravitz

No road trip selection is complete without American Woman. Although both the older and more recent versions are good, I recommend the original version. No matter which one you choose, turn it up LOUD.

Ahead of My Time

By Teddybears

Make sure you watch your speedometer when this song comes up, as it will make you want to drive a lot faster. Definitely a good highway song, but also fine for short trips.

Of course, as we continue to try the new skill, and assume the effort we feel must be that way, it becomes ingrained into our approach, and gets worse. So we have a vicious circle that leads to frustration and bad playing.

So extra tension in the muscles, which every advanced player knows is the number one cause of playing difficulty, becomes a blind spot for us. Usually we are only aware of the result of the tension, which is that mistake we just made. Often it happens we are not even aware of that, because we start to filter out those unpleasant reminders of our troubles.

As you will see shortly, the correct approach to dealing with "mistakes" caused by tension, is to repeat the movement extremely slowly, with a great focus on keeping all muscles relaxed. With each repetition, the muscles learn the relaxed way of moving to produce the result you want. "

So you see, it is lack of understanding of how the body/mind functions, and lack of honest attention while practicing, that gets us in to trouble.

You must start to observe your own "Tightness", and replace it with "Lightness", then you will see your level as a player change upward, what I call Vertical Growth. Since many players have no idea what this lightness feels like, here is a very simple way to connect with it. You must then begin to cultivate this feeling in actual playing. Believe me, it feels good! In fact, when you see a good player "making it look easy", it's because it is easy, when you have the "Incredible Lightness".
Let's discover "The Light Finger"

The first step in finding "The Incredible Lightness" is to discover The Light Finger. The Light Finger is the completely relaxed finger, brought to the string, and touching the string, with only the weight of the finger. It does not press the string down until told to do so. To discover the sensation of the Light Finger, do this:

1. Raise your arms in front of you, without the guitar, and take hold of the index finger of your left hand with the thumb and index finger of your right hand. Completely relax the left index, and wiggle it around with your right hand. This is the Light Finger.
2. Touch the palm of your right hand with your left index. Raise the left index two inches from the palm. Now let it drop by it's own weight back to your palm, touching it very lightly, with no pressure. This is how the finger feels when it first touches the string.
3. Now hold the guitar, paying attention to the being comfortable and relaxed throughout the body, and slowly raise your relaxed left arm up to the neck, bringing the hand up so that the index finger is lined up with the ninth fret. Have your fingers in a relaxed curl over the 6th string. Allow your Light, relaxed middle finger to fall to the 6th string, behind the 10th fret, so that it touches the string, but applies no pressure. Look at the string under your finger, and see the distance between the string and the fingerboard. Make sure the string does not get move at all down toward the fret.
4. Raise your finger an inch, and then bring it back to touch the string again in the same way. Do this over and over, touching the string with the Light Finger, bringing it away, and touching it again. This is called Finger Flapping. Do this a few times with each finger every day. Make sure you keep the inactive fingers as relaxed as possible while touching the string with the active finger. This will get you used to the feeling, and over time, very sensitive to the feeling of complete relaxation.
   
   This light feeling is how your fingers will be when they first touch the string to play a note, and it is the feeling they will return to when they release from a note. It enables them to be prepared for their next job. Many people never have this light feeling, and play with tense fingers all the time, and their playing suffers greatly because of it.
   
   This exercise is what I call a Foundation Exercise, one that should be done regularly, no matter how long you have been playing. It will continually act to increase your awareness of the correct and necessary sensations you must have in order to play well. Learning how to bring this feeling in to all playing situations is often a tricky matter, and there is much else to know, but we have to start somewhere!

Now I know I haven't mentioned speed yet, and here is why. Speed, or the ability to execute movements rapidly and accurately, is simply the result of continuous correct practice that promotes "The Incredible Lightness". If you are creating "The Incredible Tightness" when you practice, you will suffer because of it. Think of walking and running. Does a little kid have to practice running? No, it just happens after balance is mastered, and the ability to place one foot in front of the other, and have all the body parts work together to keep the movement going. After the two year old gets that down, don't worry, he'll be running!

In closing, let me say that all the preceding is founded upon the first two Principles of

Correct Practice. I will state them pretty formally, and they apply to all instruments.

Principles of Correct Practices

1. Your aware, thinking mind is your primary practice tool.
2. Control of the fingers is developed by infusing conscious awareness into the muscles through the mechanism of attention while practicing.

Remember, as in all things in life, you get out of it what you put in to it (and believe me, it makes me feel pretty old to hear myself saying that, but it's the truth.) So read this over and over, and do the exercise, and apply these understandings to your practice. Good Luck!