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The Workout... Part 1
(13 Nov 03)
Warmup and Picking
This is a workout that is typical for what I used to do while I was attending the MI. I'd first
WARM UP
The warm up-phase lasted for about 10-15 minutes. What I did was:
I'd start playing some basic, open chords (I.e. C, G, Eadd9 etc.), picking them to make sure all notes were fretted correctly. Then I'd play basic bar chords, starting in the upper areas of the neck (i.e. Cmajor, Cminor, Cdim, Cmaj7, Cdom7, Cmin7, Cm7b5 in 8th position), slowly moving down the neck… that way, the stretch would increase.
Next step was to use chords which involved wide stretches… maj add9, min add9, maj9 etc. Eventually, I'd arpeggiate some really tough ones, i.e. the "Satch-chord" (that's how I referred to it), an Amin11 in 5th position.
All this would last for about 5-10 minutes. To conclude the warmup-phase, I'd play a few scale patterns of the a) major and minor scale and b) chromatic scale, and do some fast picking on a single-string and on two adjacent strings. This would help to get the right hand warmed up, and to synch up both hands (r.h./l.h. synchronisation)
Next part (and remember, this is just one example workout!) would be
ALTERNATE PICKING
Check out my "Art Of Picking, Pt. III" article for bunches of picking exercises, ranging from one string-exercises to 6 string scalar or chromatic runs.
Here are some of the picking exercises I used:
I'd start out with some chromatic (I actually do refer to them as mechanical exercises) runs, using different finger combinations. Start on the low E-string, play up to the high E-String, shift your hand up one fret and descend again. Once you reach the low E-String, shift your hand another fret and ascend again. Continue to do so until you're in 12th position, then move down the neck again…
Next, I'd do variations on that first exercise. This is closely related to the approach explained in "Squeeze It Out"... vary any exercise and play all possible variations. Here are examples of those variations. Play each one up to 12th position and back, as described above...
OK, so much for 4 notes per string. Let's continue with three notes per string, chromatically...
Same as above: up to 12th position and back. I'd do this one in two different versions: First, using fingers 1,2,3, then using fingers 2,3,4. The latter might feel awkward, and you have to be careful to not hurt yourself. Also, you might hardly ever use that kinda stuff in a song, but it is a good exercise to get your fingers to work, and to improve your synchronisation.
Even though it's a weird exercise, it has some benefits, and it makes sense to work on some stuff what you'd never use in a solo or anything… these are EXERCISES, not actual pieces of music. Those exercises are supposed to improve synchronisation and l.h. technique.
Here are the next few exercises (I guess you realized already that with some of those exercises, I only tab out the first bar or so, so you can see what the exercise is about. It's your job to apply them to all the other strings and move them up and down the neck)
When I was still struggling with my picking technique a lot, I used to play each one of these exercises TWICE, the first time starting with a downstroke, next time starting with an upstroke.
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Picking, continued and Legato >> |
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