Preface and Tech Tip No.1
Here are three guitar-tips that Steve wrote for the visitors of his website three years ago. Since those posts havenīt been available for quite a while, Steve allowed us to present them to you at iBreatheMusic, so they are republished here with Steveīs permission. We also added TABīs to visualize what Steveīs saying in those tech-tips. IMHO those tips are useful for every player, regardless of level and style... theyīre not just "licks" but great exercises focusing on several aspects of playing. Enjoy- EV
Steve Morse - Tech Tip No.1 (10-2-1998)
A different approach to practicing scales
Practice the usual scales (as in example 1: a regular minor scale played in 8th notes- EV) a little differently by changing the note values. If you have a scale pattern that normally would be in sixteenth notes, or any even number, try this:
Play the first note as a dotted eighth, the second note as a sixteenth, etc.
(Example 2)
The natural tendency is to try something like this at too fast a tempo to get something out of it. Remember not to lapse into just playing "isungi", or shuffle time, eighth notes. There's a difference between a triplet feel and a hard edged sixteenth note division.
We want to make the difference in length between each note to be clean and obvious. Be sure to play it very slowly and accurately. The benefit will come from the fact that you're shortening and lengthening the time between pick strokes. You see, half the time you're playing eigth notes and the other half of the time you're playing sixteenths. Your accuracy will improve if you slow down enough to play it perfectly with conviction.
For extra credit, switch the pattern to play the sixteenth note first (Example 3), on the strong part of the beat. The pattern will be a little weird, but you'll get used to it if you play it slowly at first.
Steve Morse - Tech Tip No.2 (10-10-1998)
A left hand-exercise...
Letīs try a left hand exercise that will improve your strength and melodic options. To keep the notes easy to describe, Iīll describe an exercise in G
major, but obviously, it can be anywhere in any key.
L.H. first finger on the 8th fret of the 2nd string is the beginning note (G) 3rd finger on the 10th fret of the same string is next (A). Now bend that note up a whole step (Two frets worth- to a B) without picking the string again. Donīt let up until you play the next note (C) First finger on the 8th fret of the 1st string next (C), you can release the bend on the 2nd string, or keep it ringing for a country steel effect. 3rd finger (or 4th) on the 10th fret is (D).
Now, come back down the scale to (C) but pre bend the A to a B before you strike the 2nd string. Youīll pick the bent B but just release the bend to make the A note instead of using the pick. Strike the beginning note to finish.
The idea is to make the bend exactly in time so that you reach the target when you would normally strike the note with a pick. But instead of hearing a normal
picked note, you have a note smoothly rising (or descending, on the way down the pattern) which gives a nice soulful, human quality.
Steve Morse - Tech Tip No.3 (10-21-1998)
Alternate picking-exercise
The main problem with alternate picking comes when you are picking a note in the opposite direction of the next string that youīre going to. For instance, if your last note was a downstroke on the G string, and your next note is an upstroke on the D string, then your pick has to travel a more complicated path than if you are picking up on G and down on D. What to do?
Some people just refuse to let their picking hand do the more difficult move, by trying to put a hammer or a pull off to time the direction of the pick to a more favorable direction. Others might just be using the pick to start the string in motion, but are doing all hammer or pull offs other than the first note on a string.
But letīs concentrate on what to do if you are using the versatile alternate picking method. Since we donīt want to limit the note choices, or string
choices, in any way, we have to just get good at dealing with the problem.
Practice going back and forth between two strings picking in the opposite direction just like the example: For example, in 2nd position, play a C on the 3rd string with a downstroke followed by an E on the 4th string with an upstroke. Repeat the C and E one more time.
Next, bring the C down to a B on the 3rd string with a downstroke, followed by the same E on the 4th with an upstroke. Repeat the B and E. Just to make a slightly musical pattern, do the same thing, but change the B down to an A, doing the same pattern. To make the pattern symmetrical, return the A back up to a B and play B,E,B,E, just like the second pattern.
It will take a lot less time to play this than to read about it, so try to muddle through this explanation to get to the actual notes, itīs not hard to play this as long as you donīt try to play it too fast.
As with all exercises, do it slowly and as accurately as possible at first. Doing this exercise addresses one of the most important points about practicing and improvements:
Practice what is weak, not what is already easy.
The net result is that you will have a much easier time with your technique.
Tech-Tips 1-3 written by Steve Morse. Used with permission. TAB / Notation by Eric Vandenberg