In this issue of Play Better Guitar I have decided to talk about technical facility. So what does that mean? Technical facility would mean in music the ability to play your instrument, physically without any tonal and or tempo loss. So how do you attain this measure of technical facility? That’s easy to answer; PRACTICE!!!Practice what? Start by playing chords that you wouldn’t normally use, or learn some licks from other instruments.We will begin by looking at some exercises that will help this area of practice.Remember that whatever you rehearse should be done in some musical format, either by using a metronome or a backtrack of sorts.So let us begin with something really easy; a basic Am Pentatonic scale.
Take a metronome and set it to about 75bpm and play this exercise, paying special attention to being on the beat and making sure all the notes are played at the same level, then try and do the same exercise playing slightly behind the beat, always making sure that the quality of your notes are the same.
Now let us introduce some technical facility, once again remember it means that you should have no physical limitations as a musician.Try this one; we will keep it simple for now
Same scale but a completely different articulation! So how would you play it physically and from a fingering point of view?
Here is another way of playing the Am pentatonic scale; this is a method used by Frank Gambale. Take note how he employs sweeps into his playing.Many people can sweep and play fast but 90% of those people can’t do it in time, and that is the challenge. Try this next one.
Here we have an Am pentatonic scale over 2 octaves and I am using a series of sweeps and alternate picking to get through it. Once again remember the timing and note generation are as important as playing the correct notes.
Here we have triplets into 8th notes so please keep that in mind and try really hard to play the rhythm 100% correctly.
Here we have an Am pentatonic scale over 2 octaves and I am using a series of sweeps and alternate picking to get through it. Once again remember the timing and note generation are as important as playing the correct notes.
Here we have triplets into 8th notes so please keep that in mind and try really hard to play the rhythm 100% correctly.
There are a couple of options with this exercise. We could pick it as normal with alternate strokes or we could use hybrid picking where we would use a combination of pick and fingers.
Here is the same exercise with a slight alteration; if you look at the stave you can visually see the large intervals between the notes. This can sound really awesome within an improvised section if played correctly.
RSII am definitely not a doctor but I do know that anything in excess is bad for you.Here I refer specifically to repetitive strain injury or RSI, found common amongst musicians, mostly drummers and guitarists.Once again I must remind you; you cannot over practice as you will get injured, however, the more you practice the longer you will be able to practice. Find a balance and build this up.I remember days of learning a new lick and sitting there for hours trying to play it as fast as I could. Little did I know I was developing some serious RSI problems. So as with any sport or anything that is physical you need to pace yourself, and remember bigger stretches equal more strain, so be careful as to not injure yourself by over practicing. RSI can keep you away from playing for a long time so prevention is better than cure. If you are not sure about it then go speak to your doctor and then discuss a rehearsal program with a guitar teacher who could steer you in a specific direction and also a safe one.In the next issue we will take a broad look at the country styles of playing and the techniques associated with this genre.Till next time practice safely, steadily and more importantly in TIME!!
