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Nice post, wolf.
I practice everything on an acoustic with 12's. I play electric live only. Playing 16's at speed is tough. It's doable, of course.
Now on melodic content, I like my typical 8th note ideas, so I am curious to see what I will come up with once 16ths are an easy currency for me. there will be 50% more "time" to play notes and outlines. I defiantly won't be busting out 3 octave runs, sweeping arps, or endless tremolo iterations. Being a chord-scale player, I have a lot to say with each mode, and I always feel short-changed by tunes with half-note harmonic rhythms. This might really open creative doors for me. Hot dog. I'm working hard.
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03-16-2011 08:48 PM
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+1 on this Reg. I think it would be most informative.
Originally Posted by JonnyPac
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I'm waiting, too, Reg! This should be great - I like how you play. Originally Posted by JonnyPac
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Hey Reg! A method video would be great! your videos are always spontaneous, very lucid and provide a good, practical learning experience for many of us. Go for it!
wiz
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OK... I may be slow and lazy, but I do get around to it... Anyway I'll try and show what was shown to me and how I adapted these studies to help improve technique. The first finger and picking exercise was shown to me in the 60's, I added the arpeggios but I'm sure they were done before me. The next part will be studies of the basic scales starting on each degree, If you think of minor... you know the three minors... Anyway
Here's the finger patterns...number refers to finger...
1234....4321
1342....4213
1423....4132
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2341....3214
2413....3142
2134....3421
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3412....2143
3124....2431
3241....2314
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4123....1432
4231....1324
4312....1243
Each four numbers or finger pattern is played on single string... scale like and also like arpeggios, from low to high and high to low. Each pattern becomes three studies.
While you practice these, usually to warm up or at the beginning of practice, you also work on picking, alternate picking is the default style. Very simple, stupid, non-melodic and any other lousy description... etc... But that's the point, all your working on is technique... there's nothing beautiful about them. I'll make different videos for each scale, with arpeggios ... Reg
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Reg, thanks again. Since you've done all this work and I've done nothing, I've taken these fingerings and created a PDF for members to download and use along with the video. I can't wait to get to work on this. Originally Posted by Reg
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Thanks a lot Reg.
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Right on time, Reg. Many thanks - and Paynow, as well. I'm so slow, you just doubled my practice time....
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Thank you, sir! You know, it's amazing, the similarities between this very short demonstration here, and the expensive "Rock Discipline" video that shredder John Petrucci made back in 1995 (and sold shit-loads of; it's become the shredder's bible - they'd rather not read, you see. Just joking.) Petrucci does the first pattern (1234) ad nauseum -- and in a million ways. Your "arpeggio" idea is great - love that. Petrucci makes a just slightly more elaborate exercise out of that and spends 30 minutes of his video demonstrating it. (Yawn, yes.) He demonstrates that he can play 1234, from low E to high E and back down, at 208 on the metronome (16ths), which is child's play now, as we've all seen a million times on YouTube.
Anyway, point is, your short video contains much more material than Petrucci's overpriced thing, and I appreciate it much. Looking forward to more.
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Reg, I was just thinking that you could double the amount of work by starting every excercise with a downstroke, but then repeating it starting with an upstroke.
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Thanks... for kind words, Paynow your the man, thanks for PDF. The great thing about those exercises is that there simply for technique.... there ugly, sound lousy etc... so you can just concentrate on technique... depending on how your fingers have been trained.... some will be very difficult. I might suggest after your fingers get used to the style of patterns to work on an easy on one day and a difficult one the next session. The point of these studies is to even out the good and bad areas of your fingerings. I'll try and get up the 1st chord tone, scale and arpeggio study posted today... Reg
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Hey Andres... yes you could... I wouldn't worry about down strokes but once in awhile Originally Posted by Andrés_G
all up strokes would probable help.... Reg
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I've been on it at least 30min per day since I posted in this thread. I've improved. It's becoming more comfortable.
Here's my speedy diet:
Play alternating 16ths with 4/4 or 3/4 metronome setting on dead strings or single notes until the sound is even and precise. Correct it if it drifts or in inconsistent in any way. Count 1e&a, etc.
Go up/down scales or patterns with whole notes while continuing 16ths.
Go up/down scales or patterns with quarter notes while continuing 16ths.
Do this from 110BPM to 150BPM.
So far this doesn't sound like jazz, too much "tremolo" of course.
Then I improv over one chord at 140-150 and try to land 16th note runs in tasteful ways. Somehow just getting the RH muscle memory and the feel, allows my LH to play what I hear with the right articulation. 16ths over swing and 18ths over straight feel different, I do both.
I'll keep at it till April and see the overall results. So far so good. Hope it helps.
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Sounds great JP... good luck
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Thanks for the lesson, Reg.
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Go up/down scales or patterns with whole notes while continuing 16ths.
Not sure what you mean, Jonny -- are you playing one note per four clicks (or three in 3/4 time) while COUNTING as if you were playing 16th notes, e.g., "1e&a 2e&a 3e&a 4e&a" while playing only one note?
Or what?
KJ
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That's it right there. Just get the feel. Originally Posted by Kojo27
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Cool! I've been doing this, and it helps - a lot! I don't know how I've managed not to learn something at least similar to such a great exercise -- it might help me more than any other thing.
Question, Jonny: do you count the "1e&a" groups aloud, under your breath, in nonsense syllables, silently, or how?
I find it hard to speak that fast -- at 112, and certainly at 152! How are you doing it? When I try doing it silently, seems I drift out of it and just go on playing sixteenth notes, catch myself, start again, etc. I have pretty good luck with an under-the-breath "tick-a-tick-a"... but even that's awfully hard at 132 and up.
How are you doing it? Love this technique!
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Thinking or "chunka-chunka" is good. Saying "1e&a" out loud is great for verbal diction!
It's good; I'm glad you're diggin' it. So simple, but it works. By summer we'll be shredders! lol
Keep me posted with your progress.
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Ok, I'll join this thread.
My right hand is the problem, I can play legato a lot faster than alternate, so I came up with an exercise for the right hand only.
I can play comfortably at 130 (16th notes), if I go faster, my right hand gets tired and can't follow the rhythm.
Then, what I do, is set the metronome at say 160, and play 8th notes for 2 bars(4/4). Then, I'll play 2 bars again, but in the last beat of the second bar I will play 16 notes. Another 2 bars, and this time I'll play 16th for the last two beats of bar 2. Again, and this time I'll do 3 beats of 16th notes. I do that until I can play the full 2 bars with 16th, if it's not possible, it's ok.
So it would be:
1st bar 2nd bar
| | | | | | | | - | | | | | | ||||
then
| | | | | | | | - | | | | |||| ||||
...
| | | | | | | | - | | |||| |||| ||||
etc.
I hope you understand me
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Your English is fine, Andres -- really, very good.
And a good picking exercise, too. The Gypsy guitarists (the real ones - Django, et al) called this a "speed blast," I think. Paul Mehling, in his Homespun video, "Pick Power," uses a similar thing for both single-notes AND for strumming chords. But your way of doing it goes way beyond that way. I think yours might be better! Mehling's 2 bars (and part of a third here) of 4/4 would look like this:
1.Down (strum)
2.Up
3 Down
4 Up
5. Down
6. Up
7. Down
8. Up-Down-Up-Down
9. Up
10. Down
Etc.
Notice how the second set of two bars begins with an up-stroke, so you get practice strumming (or picking) in both directions. I wonder why he never adds more "speed blasts" to his 4/4 bars as you do.
Thanks for this -- I'll use it.
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I'm glad Kojo asked that (and that you answered.) I was confused too. Originally Posted by JonnyPac
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Here's a 2nd part of exercises to help with technique...
This one is use of Major scale are arpeggios and all versions of or as referred to sometimes all modes, not to be mixed up with modal playing.
You should take the time to write out all the studies which will help internalize the material... This is the 1st real part and is the easy one, but you really need to have down before moving on. The rest all relate to these simple scales and arpeggios... Reg
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This is something I've worked up for myself and my students...
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Nice JP... now you need to get together with Frank and notate out all the scales, all or at least a bunch of patterns similar to the one you did. There are three basic scales, natural, melodic and harmonic minors and all the modes of each,(or scale starting on each scale degree). At least 20 basic patterns to cover basic techniques. That's the scales, 21 times 20 basic patterns, that equals 420 exercises. Now do the same with arpeggios, well usually with arpeggios you only need to cover, triads, 7th chords and complete arpeggios... you could add probable a few patterns... but they tend to be personal choices. There are only a few Harmonic maj scales really used that much... but there are the symmetrical and synthetic scales... Big job... no wonder no one does it and what about different keys... When I was young I just notated out the basics and mechanically went through patterns, different day different pattern... of problem areas. That turns into only 5 or 6 pages... with notes. Reg
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