The Workout, Part 3
(06 Jan 04)
Brain-twister
This next one is a real brain- and finger-twister, and is taken from Vai's workout...
The pattern is kinda shifted around on each string… 2 3 4 1 , 3 4 1 2 , 4 1 2 3... try to understand it before ya attempt to play it. This one I tabbed out from the low to the high E-string... ascending and descending...
Now, on to those "zig zag" exercises I like so much. I have talked about and featured them in articles before, I just included them once more this time to show you that this is one other variation you can do with those symmetrical kinda runs...
See, the main-point about the first half of this article is that you should keep the variety in your practicing. Some small variations can make a huge difference, can keep it challenging, and it will help you to stay focused, motivated... and help you build yer chops.
So here are two different "zig zag" run, one on adjacent strings...
and on non-adjacent strings...
OK. The exercises above are by no means the only possible r.h. / synchronisation exercises or all possible exercises you can do with those 1-2-3-4 kinda patterns.
You can throw in stretches (1-2-3-5, 1-3-4-5, 1-3-4-6 etc), you can play em one note per string, you can reverse the order of notes on each string, you can play different directions.
You can spend HOURS doing these kinda exercises if you move them up and down the neck. Imagine you'd play each one of the above exercises over and over, each time moving it up one fret... that should keep ya busy.
And yet again, it's up to YOU how much of this kinda stuff you wanna do. If you're just starting out, if you just wanna play some songs, you might wanna neglect this kinda stuff and focus on strumming and chords instead... although, the exercises above are usually quite helpful for every kinda player. If you have lots of time to practice, if you feel motivated and eager to try every possible variation, you can spend hours and hours without ever really repeating yourself.
Keep in mind: Practice what still needs work, not what's easy already (I first heard this one from Steve Morse). It may not be rocket-science, but if you pay attention to your practicing, you might figure out that you're spending too much time on stuff that doesn't need that much attention anymore. Which is obvious. It can be frustrating sometimes to try and learn new stuff. We usually gravitate to playing something that's kinda easy and feels natural. So if you can play the good ol 1-2-3-4 (exercise 1) at light speed, all relaxed and easily, it might bum you out to go to one of the other exercises… cuz you'll most likely have to decrease the tempo quite a bit in order to play accurately. But there's no progress if you keep doing exercises that are way too easy.
So... keep that in mind, k?!?
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