Skill Vs Memorization

"Capt Blake, this is command, please respond"

"Capt Blake reporting in"

"Rodger that Blake. Do you have the target in sight?"

"Well command, I have been tracking the target for a couple days, and i think i got it. I'm just waiting for confirmation now"

"Rodger that. Will wait for your confirmation"

"lemme see here......YES! we have connection. I repeat. We have an internet connection"

Finally after days of flights getting canceled and rerouted and arriving in Hong Kong and having trouble with my friends internet, Captain Blake (Daniel) is back online.

Anyways, here is something i have been meaning to post that is completely different from the intro, though i really want to write a full paper on something like that now.



Skill Vs Memorization

Need an awesome little game to waste your time? Then check out “Super Crazy Guitar Maniac Deluxe 2”. It is basically a flash game which could be described as poor man’s guitar hero. Anyways, as I was playing this game, I started wondering if I was actually getting any better at seeing the notes on the screen and pressing the corresponding keys or if I was just memorizing the hand movements by playing the song over and over. In the end, I decided that I had actually gotten good at the game when I got a gold on a completely new song (rough tone, for anyone who is playing this). My incredible skills aside, my thought about the game made me wonder if any activities relied on sheer memorization as opposed to skill building. One thing that came to mind immediately was school. Often times, I will be studying for a test and I will start to think if I am actually learning how to apply what I learn or if I am just burning the information into my brain so I can pass the test.
After putting more thought into this (not when I first had the idea mind you, I had to beat Switch vs Evil-Dog on pro), I realized that memorization is often interwoven in the skill building. For example, you couldn’t learn to play the guitar if you hadn’t memorized all the chords or if you didn’t know the sound of the different notes (And that is why I am a drummer). In this case the information grinding helps improve the skills.

However, when I am just memorizing something without actually learning to apply, I often find it boring because you are only learning how to do one thing, instead of teaching yourself a skill.

Now if you will excuse me, those songs aren’t going to perfect themselves.

P.S. Now, however funny that last line may have been, i have 2 notes that i would like to make. 1) i haven't beat the game since i wrote this, and 2)i am actually going to pass out from it's 2 in the morning syndrome.