Gabe's Guitar Technique Thread (Formally Lick Of The Week)
Moderated By: mods
Sorry it's been awhile but here is the next lick.
10/01/13 - G Major Legato Study
This lick focuses upon strengthening the fretting hand. The picking hand in this case performs the muting to make sure that the notes ring out clear.
The lick is based on the 3 note per string shape of the G major scale:
--------------------------------------------------------------------5---7---8---
-------------------------------------------------------5---7---8----------------
------------------------------------------4---5---7-----------------------------
-----------------------------4---5---7------------------------------------------
----------------3---5---7-------------------------------------------------------
---3---5---7--------------------------------------------------------------------
The trick to performing the lick is the hammer-ons. Make sure you are able to hammer-on strongly with your pinky as each grouping of notes starts with a hammer-on from this finger.
http://bestnetworx.com/uploader/files/4 ... 0Study.pdf
[youtube][/youtube]
10/01/13 - G Major Legato Study
This lick focuses upon strengthening the fretting hand. The picking hand in this case performs the muting to make sure that the notes ring out clear.
The lick is based on the 3 note per string shape of the G major scale:
--------------------------------------------------------------------5---7---8---
-------------------------------------------------------5---7---8----------------
------------------------------------------4---5---7-----------------------------
-----------------------------4---5---7------------------------------------------
----------------3---5---7-------------------------------------------------------
---3---5---7--------------------------------------------------------------------
The trick to performing the lick is the hammer-ons. Make sure you are able to hammer-on strongly with your pinky as each grouping of notes starts with a hammer-on from this finger.
http://bestnetworx.com/uploader/files/4 ... 0Study.pdf
[youtube][/youtube]
Last edited by Gabriel on Thu Jan 10, 2013 9:44 pm, edited 1 time in total.
.
Change of Direction
Hi guys! It's been quite a while since I've posted anything in this thread so I thought I'd go for a change of direction. Rather than posting one lick a week I think it'd make more sense for me to update this thread as and when I come up with cool new ideas that I think would be worth sharing.
So to kick things back off I want to talk about right hand technique.
Often the thing I notice most about guitarists who come to me for lessons (especially those looking to focus on advanced techniques) is that they spend all their time focussing on their fretting technique, or only about combining their fretting technique with some direction of picking. So something I have been working on with pupils is trying to improve right hand technique through focussing on the different approaches you can take to picking.
In my opinion, until you can make one note sound good there is no point in trying to execute difficult licks and phrases as the right hand will always let you down.
So lets isolate the problem:
- Choose any single note (7th fret on the D string is a nice one as it is near the centre of the guitar neck).
- Slowly pick the note using down strokes - aim to make sure that each note sounds exactly the same, you'd be surprised how often this isn't the case!
- Continuing with the down strokes... Is your hand/wrist comfortable? Can you feel any sort of tension? Is your thumb relaxed or locked in place?
- The aim here is to make sure your hand/wrist has no tension and that each stroke sounds great.
- Now try to vary the dynamics... Play as quietly as you can manage, then as loud. Try focussing on the transition of increasing and decreasing volume and how your pick attack changes to facilitate this.
- Once you feel you've taken more control over your down strokes do the same with just up strokes.
- Follow all the same steps for up strokes as you did down strokes.
- Once you're comfortable with just up strokes, combine the two first playing down/up then up/down.
You'll be amazed at just how much of a difference this can make to your playing as a good picking approach is the key to creating a good sound. Also you'll be amazed at how much difference the angle you strike the string at can make, so the key here is experimenting!
So to kick things back off I want to talk about right hand technique.
Often the thing I notice most about guitarists who come to me for lessons (especially those looking to focus on advanced techniques) is that they spend all their time focussing on their fretting technique, or only about combining their fretting technique with some direction of picking. So something I have been working on with pupils is trying to improve right hand technique through focussing on the different approaches you can take to picking.
In my opinion, until you can make one note sound good there is no point in trying to execute difficult licks and phrases as the right hand will always let you down.
So lets isolate the problem:
- Choose any single note (7th fret on the D string is a nice one as it is near the centre of the guitar neck).
- Slowly pick the note using down strokes - aim to make sure that each note sounds exactly the same, you'd be surprised how often this isn't the case!
- Continuing with the down strokes... Is your hand/wrist comfortable? Can you feel any sort of tension? Is your thumb relaxed or locked in place?
- The aim here is to make sure your hand/wrist has no tension and that each stroke sounds great.
- Now try to vary the dynamics... Play as quietly as you can manage, then as loud. Try focussing on the transition of increasing and decreasing volume and how your pick attack changes to facilitate this.
- Once you feel you've taken more control over your down strokes do the same with just up strokes.
- Follow all the same steps for up strokes as you did down strokes.
- Once you're comfortable with just up strokes, combine the two first playing down/up then up/down.
You'll be amazed at just how much of a difference this can make to your playing as a good picking approach is the key to creating a good sound. Also you'll be amazed at how much difference the angle you strike the string at can make, so the key here is experimenting!
Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it. It's funny how often guitarists overlook the one of the most important aspect of our instrument. I really started focussing on this form of practice after talking to a saxophonist friend about his practice regime, he actually spends up to an hour a day just working on his breathing in order to achieve the best tone. As guitarists we can definitely learn something from that, our picking approach needs to be completely uniform and under control regardless of the guitar we are playing and we really need to get to grips with controlling the on board controls of the guitar, if you are really comfortable you can sound exactly the same regardless of what guitar/amp you use (to a certain extent).BacchusPaul wrote:Brilliant post.
Also you'd be amazed at how useful it is to focus on your breathing when playing guitar, I've had a few back problems this year from playing guitar for many hours and over the past few weeks after focussing on my breathing it has improved a bit.
Brilliant stuff Gabe - I love this kind of thing. Couple of vaguely related articles I found useful a long time ago when I developed joint RSI in my index finger:
http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/lessons/ ... mfort.html
http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/lessons/ ... tness.html
http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/lessons/ ... mfort.html
http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/lessons/ ... tness.html
iCEByTes wrote:5 Most Jizz face maker Solo�s , classic Rock music i ever listened.
iCEByTes wrote:Blunt a joint , Take the Touch , Listen this.
This is the sort of practise I've never done on guitar, or that I've never done much of. My girlfriend played flute at uni and she would spend hours a day back then doing the breathing exercises. I took a similar approach to the piano when I was about sixteen, but with the guitar I've always enjoyed all the odd bits of technique that have come together from not having learned to control everything, to the point that I tend to set my guitars up differently and with different gauge strings so that they sort of trip my hands up a bit. I've definitely spent time in the past thinking about how inconsistent my picking and even fretting is. You rarely think about how to fret a note or how what you're doing is influencing the outcome and whether or not you have any conscious control over that.Gabriel wrote:Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it. It's funny how often guitarists overlook the one of the most important aspect of our instrument. I really started focussing on this form of practice after talking to a saxophonist friend about his practice regime, he actually spends up to an hour a day just working on his breathing in order to achieve the best tone. As guitarists we can definitely learn something from that, our picking approach needs to be completely uniform and under control regardless of the guitar we are playing and we really need to get to grips with controlling the on board controls of the guitar, if you are really comfortable you can sound exactly the same regardless of what guitar/amp you use (to a certain extent).BacchusPaul wrote:Brilliant post.
Also you'd be amazed at how useful it is to focus on your breathing when playing guitar, I've had a few back problems this year from playing guitar for many hours and over the past few weeks after focussing on my breathing it has improved a bit.
Lots of great information in this thread, especially the bits coming out of late.
I'm giving lessons to a friend's mom, which has led me back to the grindstone with my own playing in terms of fundamentals. I'd hate to set a bad example and give a sort of "do as I say, not as I do."
Would you recommend starting with strum patterns on single strings or simply starting with the big, wide "cowboy" strokes that are usually used? I'm telling her to use as small a movement in picking as possible in order to develop fine-motor control that's needed for individual picking, then simply widening the scope to the strings needed for the chord.
I'm giving lessons to a friend's mom, which has led me back to the grindstone with my own playing in terms of fundamentals. I'd hate to set a bad example and give a sort of "do as I say, not as I do."
Would you recommend starting with strum patterns on single strings or simply starting with the big, wide "cowboy" strokes that are usually used? I'm telling her to use as small a movement in picking as possible in order to develop fine-motor control that's needed for individual picking, then simply widening the scope to the strings needed for the chord.
jcyphe wrote: Mo is the most sensible person in this thread.
icey wrote:and thats for the hatters (╯°□°)╯︵ ┻━┻
I'd start with single note strokes, then move on to larger note blocks. When looking at chords focus on how each note rings out and make sure the chord is completely even. I like to keep all my motions to a minimum even when I'm doing some loud strumming.Mo Rawka wrote:Would you recommend starting with strum patterns on single strings or simply starting with the big, wide "cowboy" strokes that are usually used? I'm telling her to use as small a movement in picking as possible in order to develop fine-motor control that's needed for individual picking, then simply widening the scope to the strings needed for the chord.
Glad you guys enjoyed the post!
Not a technique but useful none the less.
Pro tip for guitarists: Never underestimate how powerful adjusting the pole pieces and height of your pickup can be. If you ever feel like swapping out pickups, compare the guitar with one that you're happy with the sound of. See how close you can get it by a few very tiny adjustments. You'd be amazed just how much you can change the sound of your guitar with just a little fiddling.
Pro tip for guitarists: Never underestimate how powerful adjusting the pole pieces and height of your pickup can be. If you ever feel like swapping out pickups, compare the guitar with one that you're happy with the sound of. See how close you can get it by a few very tiny adjustments. You'd be amazed just how much you can change the sound of your guitar with just a little fiddling.
No rush Gabe, I was just curious & knew your course was manic.
Some things I am interested in are inversions, drop 3 & 2 chords and good left/right hand technique for 16th note strumming & picking
Some things I am interested in are inversions, drop 3 & 2 chords and good left/right hand technique for 16th note strumming & picking
plopswagon wrote:I like teles and strats because they're made out of guitar.
robroe wrote:I dont need a capo. I have the other chords in my tonefingers
'Sustain Pedal' Scales
Ok so it's been a really long time since I last uploaded a lesson, so apologies for that. Anyway, tonight I was watching a Bill Frisell documentary on youtube and there was one little clip that really caught my attention. He played a scale, but instead of just playing each note cleanly, he managed to play them in a way that sounded like leaving the sustain pedal down on a piano. This is a great sound and definitely something worth exploring.
Here is an example of a C major scale performed in this manner:
let ring:
----8-----------------------0-------------------------------------------------
--------12--10-----------------3-------0-------------------------------------
------------------12--10-----------5-----------0-----------------------------
---------------------------------------------7-------3--------0---------------
----------------------------------------------------------7--------3----------
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
And here is one for G major scale:
let ring:
----8-----------------------0------------------------------------------------------
--------12--10-----------------3-------0------------------------------------------
------------------12--11-----------5-----------0----------------------------------
---------------------------------------------7-------4--------0--------------------
----------------------------------------------------------7--------3--------0------
------------------------------------------------------------------------7--------3--
The nice thing about these shapes is that once you have them down you can just alter a note at a time to work through the different keys.
Ok so it's been a really long time since I last uploaded a lesson, so apologies for that. Anyway, tonight I was watching a Bill Frisell documentary on youtube and there was one little clip that really caught my attention. He played a scale, but instead of just playing each note cleanly, he managed to play them in a way that sounded like leaving the sustain pedal down on a piano. This is a great sound and definitely something worth exploring.
Here is an example of a C major scale performed in this manner:
let ring:
----8-----------------------0-------------------------------------------------
--------12--10-----------------3-------0-------------------------------------
------------------12--10-----------5-----------0-----------------------------
---------------------------------------------7-------3--------0---------------
----------------------------------------------------------7--------3----------
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
And here is one for G major scale:
let ring:
----8-----------------------0------------------------------------------------------
--------12--10-----------------3-------0------------------------------------------
------------------12--11-----------5-----------0----------------------------------
---------------------------------------------7-------4--------0--------------------
----------------------------------------------------------7--------3--------0------
------------------------------------------------------------------------7--------3--
The nice thing about these shapes is that once you have them down you can just alter a note at a time to work through the different keys.
