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Ways To A Monster Guitar Technique

Bill Tyers - February 2015

The age old saying 'practice makes perfect' is still the very best advice that any
student of the guitar can follow. Unfortunately for some practice consists of
playing through their latest tune that happens to be in favour or more to the
point playing snippets of this and that or more to the point, where they meet an
obstacle that challenges their technique, therefore it is most important to look at
the quality of your practice time. It has been demonstrated time and again that
concentrated practice with a particular focus in mind produces the most
beneficial results in a much shorter time span than random noodling on an
instrument.

If you wish to take your playing to the next level I would like to suggest that you
consider setting aside 15 minutes every day to a formulated practice routine. It
should consist of exercise that stretch your technical capabilities and should
include some form of assessment to enable you to keep track of your progress.
Once this session is complete you should be warmed up and ready to continue
with building and practicing your repertoire.

The material that I will include in this series of lessons should be useful for
players from intermediate to advanced level.

Lesson 1.

C Major scale in 2 octaves - includes some position transitions.

Work through the very slowly at first and make sure that the fingering is as
suggested, pay particular attention to the transitions. If you prefer to use the
standard notation you will need to look at the tab to find the suggested string
choice, likewise those using tab will need to take fingering advice from the
standard notation.

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Do not neglect to use the 4th finger. Please do not hide this finger because it
happens to be your weakest, strengthening this finger will do wonders for your
ability to play challenging pieces.

Pay particular attention to the transition points. The guide finger targets the new
note moving up smoothly to bring your hand to the new position.

Once you are very familiar with the fingering start playing this scale with
a metronome. Set it at a tempo that you can play 2 quavers per beat and
make a note of the speed that you are very comfortable with. Play through
at this tempo without stopping till your hand becomes rather warm and
you feel tiredness creeping in then take a short break. Next increase the
metronome to a speed that is very challenging - don't overdo this and
always stop and re-adjust if you begin to make errors. Make a note of this
speed and make it your weekly goal till it becomes very comfortable.
Continue with this cycle of long sessions at your comfort speed then a
quick burst at challenge speed and you will be very surprised at how
much you will improve in a very short time span.

Keep left hand fingers close to the fingerboard. The key to this is the
thumb position at the back of the neck. The fingers should be pressing
through to the thumb which should not protrude above the neck.

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Left Hand Thumb Position Left Hand Finger Position

Lesson 2.

C Major Scale in broken thirds.

Slowly at first till the fingerings are under the fingers and you have the
pattern memorised.

Important! Keep left hand fingers close to the fingerboard. Pay attention
to your left-hand thumb position.

Practice the transition points very slowly in isolation so that the

movement is ingrained in your finger memory.

Use your metronome to keep your tempo steady and also to assess your
development as explained in the previous lesson. Keep a daily progress
log.

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Lesson 3.

Finger Independence Workout

Hold down the fingers for the first four quavers in each bar. Once you have
played these notes all four fingers should be on the fret-board. To play the last
four quavers simply lift of the fingers one at a time.

Once you have completed the exercise you can then play it in reverse one
fret higher starting from the sixth string back to the first. Keep repeating
this procedure till you reach the ninth position.

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Right Hand Fingering.

Additional benefit can be gained from these lessons if you combine some right
hand fingering alternatives.

Combination 1. i-m-i-m in strict alternation.

Combination 2. m-i-m-i in strict alternation.

Combination 3. p-i-p-i in strict alternation.

Combination 4. p-m-p-m in strict alternation.

Lesson 4.

Diatonic passages in thirds.

Notice that this lesson is a series of sequences based on a 1-2-3-1 pattern

rising up the notes of the C major scale.

As in the previous lessons practice the transition points slowly in

isolation to re-enforce the finger memory.

Use the metronome to help evaluate your progress and include the results
in your log.

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Lesson 5.

This lesson will help you gain left hand finger independence.

Important! Hold down the notes on beat one for the entire bar whilst
you play the following shapes on beat two then lift the fingers to play the
initial shape for beat three and place them down again on beat four.
Continue this for the entire exercise.

Once you have completed the exercise you can then play it in reverse one
fret higher starting from the sixth string back to the first. Keep repeating
this procedure till you reach the ninth position.

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It may take some time to be able to play up to the ninth position without
muscle fatigue so dont overdo it. If your hand becomes over tired stop
before you do damage to you left hand.

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