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Squeeze it out
(29 Aug 03)
Twist your fingers, twist your brain
Let's move on, shall we?
One thing about that Steve Vai-workout was that he i.e. took a simple 1-2-3-4 chromatic exercise and changed it around every time. That way, you really get your fingers and brain to work. Of course, it's highly questionable whether you'll ever play something like the following exercises on stage, but hey, practicing this stuff will improve you as a player, believe me!
Here is our basic exercise:
Simple enough. I guess you've seen that one a bunch of times, not only in previous articles of mine. Oh, and before we get to variations on that one, remember that you should also try to apply variations to similar exercises which i.e. have only 3 notes per string, or 5, or are diatonic instead of chromatic etc. And of course, try them ascending AND descending, move them around on the fretboard, etc.
Check out these variations:
1-3-2-4, ascending and descending...
Here, we'll change the pattern on each string...
Here are a few exercises with two notes per string. Pay attention to your fingering: 1-4 i.e. should be played with your index finger and pinkie, 2-3 should be played with your middle and ring finger!
And, to try yet another aspect, here is my beloved zig-zag-exercise, and a variation which will require you to skip strings. Try them descending, too!
The possibilities are ENDLESS. Try different stuff. Each exercise will help ya to focus on a different aspect... improving the strength or coordination of the left hand, improving your ability to use your fingers in a weird sequence, improving picking on adjacent and non-adjacent strings.
You can extract bunches of exercises from these simple ones if you add variations like "start on an upstroke" or "shuffling the notes" or "Accenting the 3rd note of each group of sixteenths". Depending on what you need, what you wanna work on or towards, you can make up your very own exercises and constantly keep challenging yourself.
And this, most of the time, is way more valuable and effective than printing our or xeroxing billions of different exercises from different sources... focus on ONE thing first, then slowly add some slight variations to get the hang of that one thing.
When I talked about exercise schedules, and mentioned that it keeps it interesting to go from one topic to the next, I meant that you should separate your time into blocks, and i.e. say "OK, first, half an hour of picking exercises. Then, to keep it interesting, I'll do half an hour of theory, then half an hour of legato..." Well, those blocks will get a variety into your exercise time, and will keep it more interesting than it would be if you'd do only one exercise for 3 hours.
BUT: Those blocks themselves should consist of what I just explained. Start with one basic exercise, nail it, add variations, nail those. Then, maybe, work on a different exercise belonging to the topic of that block.
To make it even clearer... let's say your first exercise block is picking... Start with a simple picking exercise, like a 3NPS-run played with all alternate picking. If you have an hour designated for that block, take half an hour of that and work on that basic exercise and the variations. Then, after half an hour (the amount of time is just an example!), move on to a different picking exercise, like i.e. a repeating pattern on two adjacent strings and so on.
Get the idea?
Good. Let's move on!!!
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Sequencing a pattern >> |
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