Why Billy Corgan practiced guitar for years in total darkness
If you’re looking to play shows in dimly lit environments, you’d better know your guitar’s fretboard inside out. And how’s best to get to that point? As Billy Corgan would tell you, by practicing at length in total darkness.
In a new conversation on the And The Writer Is… podcast [via Guitar World], the Smashing Pumpkins frontman recalls his unusual practice regimen of practicing for four hours a day in the dark.
READ MORE: Iron Maiden aren’t attending their Rock Hall induction ceremony – but not for the reason you might think
“I was the type of guy who would have a record on eight hours a day. I was literally that guy,” Corgan says, before elaborating on his decision to develop an obsessively strict practice schedule.
“I was like, ‘Okay, if I’m going to do this, I’m really going to do it.’ I made this weird decision that day: I’m going to play four hours a day. I don’t know why I picked four hours a day. I would time myself, and I would get up in the middle of night, play it in the middle of the night, in the dark, no light, and just learn how to play the guitar without seeing it.”
Corgan ultimately set a goal to practice guitar for four hours a day for four years in a row, and as you might predict, stuck to his goal.
“When I hit the four-year anniversary, I was like, ‘I’m good.’ I still practiced, but not like I did.”
So what do you think – is practicing at length in pitch-black darkness a smart way to get to know your guitar inside out, or a little overkill? We might give it a go and find out…
In the same interview, Billy Corgan touches on AI, and outlines his staunch opposition to the technology in music.
“You didn’t ask me, but I’m gonna make a declaratory statement,” he says. “I refuse, refuse, patently refuse to use AI in my music creation. Because, to me, it’s a deal with the devil. Simple. Whether it’s the Promethean fire myth or whatever, to me you’re literally leaning into the thing that will destroy you. Period.”
Watch the full podcast episode below:
The post Why Billy Corgan practiced guitar for years in total darkness appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
Source: www.guitar-bass.net
