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Mozart Biography
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String Skipping
(30 Apr 02)
Right, now we get down to some serious skips!! The next idea is one that, I must confess, I 'nicked' off Paul Gilbert, though I've changed it a bit from the one I read of his. He is to my mind the pioneer of "serious skipping" although others have done it on a smaller 'scale' before.
This lick arpeggiates the E minor chord in the 12th position. This could take a while to get used to so practice it slow and don't play it any faster than you can play it confidently.
String Skipping Exercise 7
Note, developing an efficient and almost subconscious technique for picking is essential with this. If I am not going to pick EVERY note, or I am not tapping everything, I employ the following technique.
- Every time you jump to a new string, pick the first note. (Even if you are just jumping to an adjacent string).
- If a note is on the same string as the previous note, hammer-on or pull-off to it. (Unless the line is too long, then pick a couple of them)
- Decide on the rhythmic structure (ie. groups of 3 or 4) and if the picked note lies on a "down" beat, use a down stroke, otherwise use an "up" stroke.
This will take a while to get used to, but I strongly endorse practicing it religiously! I'm now able to do this whenever I want as a second nature and in almost all applications of skipping, this proves to be the most efficient and articulate way of playing. Of course, keep the rut-busters going by making yourself do things differently now and then. You want this as a skill, not as a master. Aim to get it down, but always have control of it and make sure you are able to alter things if you wish. The above idea can be manipulated for different voicings, chord types, strings and time signatures. Keep reformulating new ones otherwise you will go STALE!
Here is a pentatonic idea which is in the same key and position for the purposes of consistency, but play around with it to really get to grips with the idea.
String Skipping Exercise 8
[Note: The last note is a Down stroke rather than an up-stroke. If you look at the next note (ie. the first note of the exercise), an up-stroke would involve a tricky bit of inside picking, so the down allows you to sweep the two strings. If you prefer, use the up-stroke for the sake of consistency]
To illustrate the possibilities of skipping in a chordal sense, I have scratched together a little exercise which utilizes two-string sweeps (easy), 1string skips, and open strings. Note that this can easily be constructed for a sweep picking exercise (that's what I originally created it as) but it's easy to keep it rhythmic with the skips.
B9(no 3)
similarly, repeat the remaining chords 4 times, with same picking,
C major 9 (#11) C# minor 9 D 6/9 .
keep repeating the whole exercise until you've had enough then do one of those posey retardandos with the overdramatized emotional thing on the final D chord. Great Stuff!
String Skipping Exercise 9
Ok, if you can get this one working well at even a moderate speed, you're a certified "Skipper"! It involves some wild left hand stretches and giant picking! Also, the timing is fairly regular, so concentrate on getting it even, play it with a metronome. Either economy pick (as described above), or pick every note - either would do, but I would recommend getting both variations down, and perhaps the ability to interchange at will would be useful also.
Then repeat back down the positions. You can extend this over the whole fret board in any key, with all your own special little blues scale modifications. Happy picking everyone, and I hope to send you some more soon with some other practical angles to this subject, particularly arpeggiation and tapping.
Au Revoir,
Geoff
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