TECHNIQUES
Alternate Picking
Alternate Picking: Level 1
Intro to Alternate Picking (1:15)
- In order to play faster, you need new techniques. Good to learn this from the start
Alternate Picking Technique
- Diff players angle their picks diff ways
- Some hold thumb and middle finger, etc.
- Experiment and see what works for you
- Use your wrist. Small, effective movements so you don’t get tired.
Alternate Picking Exercise #1: 8 Times Each String
- Just pick 8 times up and down on each string. You can open strings or mute them. Slow tempo.
- Shoot for even spacing/rhythm.
Alternate Picking Exercise #2: Fretting Notes Too (1:07)
- Do the same thing as before, now with chromatic scale going up four half steps and then switch to the next string.
- Develops motor skills for advanced picking.
Alternate Picking: Level 2
Alternate Picking: Level 2 Intro
- Will talk about different ways to pick
Same Notes, Different Sound
- You can mute by placing your RH palm on the back near the bridge. You can pick closer or farther from the bridge.
- Practice all your picking exercises in different ways (as listed in above bullet)
Alternate Picking Exercise #1: Double Up Chromatic
- Practice with a metronome!
- Play each note twice: down, up. Go up the scale chromatically, then go back down.
Alternate Picking Exercise #2: Back & Forth (0:53)
- Start on open E, pick once, then go chromatic up to the pinky, then back down. E-F-F#-G-G#-G-F#-F
- Then do the same on each string.
Alternate Picking Exercise #3: Where’s My Dexterity?
- Play E-F-E-F, then F-F#-F-F#, then so on and so forth with all four fingers on all of the strings.
Conclusion
- Practice all these exercise BOTH with palm muting, without palm muting, close to bridge, far from bridge, and WITH metronome!
Bending – Country
String Bending
Tips for String Bending (1:35)
- Put your middle finger down on the fret before the fret you’re bending with the ring finger, to give more control
- Use index finger to block the other strings, put pinky on the note right next to it
String Bending Lesson 1 (1:33)
String Bending Lesson 2
String Bending Lesson 3
String Bending Lesson 4
String Bending Lesson 5
String Bending Lesson 6
String Bending Lesson 7
String Bending Lesson 8
String Bending Lesson 9
String Bending Lesson 10
String Bending Lesson 11
String Bending Lesson 12
String Bending Lesson 13
String Bending Lesson 14
String Bending Lesson 15
String Bending Lesson 16
Useful Tips On 2nd String Bend Positions
B-Bender Guitar
Prebending Strings
Prebending Strings: Using This Trick in Licks
Bending – Rock
Boost Your Rock Bending!
Bending & Vibrato
Bending & Vibrato in Rock
Tools of Emotion: Tried & True Techniques
Finger Picking
Travis Picking Simplified
Travis Picking Simplified: Introduction (2:20)
- Travis picking is in blues, jazz, country, folk, ragtime
- Alternating bass, (rotating thumb) 2 bass notes for each chord is the key to the travis picking
Travis Picking Simplified: Gear & Tone (0:36)
- Works on any kind of guitar
Beginner Orientation & Terminology (1:52)
- 6th string = lowest, bottom string. Numbered sequentially from there.
- Using four fingers, not pinky, but pinky will NOT rest on guitar.
Physical Hand Positions (2:03)
- The Position is the holy grail of finger picking
- Rest thumb (slightly bent, higher up/closer to fret than the other fingers) on 6th string, first finger on third string, second finger on second string, third finger on first string. Fourth finger hanging out next to third finger not doing anything
- You get a natural egg/oval shape
Basic Simplified Picking Pattern (8:33)
- Focus just on RH not LH so brain gets clear clean info to learn faster
- 6,5,4 strings are our bass notes
- We are going to practice: 6th string with thumb, 2nd string with 2nd finger, 4th string with thumb, then 3rd string with 1st finger, and repeat that pattern.
- Think: thumb-2-thumb-1 or 6-2-4-3
- NTS: 3rd (ring) finger is resting against its string but not plucking
- Middle Travis Pattern: Now practice with the 5th string as the bass.
- High Travis: Then practice with bass note on the 4th string
- Keep your hand in the SAME POSITION, move your first (index) finger away, and pick the high notes with the third (ring) and second fingers!
- These three positions will cover virtually every chord you know!
Counting Rhythm (2:23)
- Counting is least taught subject. But important. 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and.
Simple Right-Hand Exercise (4:35)
- Build muscle memory. 2 bars of low, then middle, then high, then back down.
- Feed it into your brain slowly and ACCURATELY. STAY IN POSITION. Mind your breathing, people tend to stop breathing when using brain hard.
- Play this a thousand times, accurate and clean to build muscle memory. Actually 1000 times!
Hazards and Warnings: Tension (4:45)
- People tend to build tension when using small muscles of hand.
- Speed and accuracy come from relaxation.
- A claw is a symptom of tension. Don’t PULL the string. Watch out for paddle fingers too (joints are not curved)
- Another bad sign is “teacup pinky” where pinky is sticking out straight. Stay loose. Keep an eye on shape of the hand to watch out for these. If you’re making mistakes, you’re playing too fast or in tension.
- When your hand gets tired, it tries to recruit larger muscle groups. Don’t let it do that, take a break.
- Keep breathing while you play!
* Exercises With Chords: Three Keys (11:53)
- 14571 progression in three keys
- First, two bars of G, C, G, D7, start over
- Then D, G, D, A7
- Songwriters, this can affect what key you choose to play, as the chords are high or low depending on where they are on the guitar
- Now start with E, A, E, B7
- To be a better picker, you need a clean LH
Getting Up To Speed (5:00)
- Practice the 3 positions back and forth
- Speed is a function of relaxation! Breathe!
- Breathe, and as you exhale, speed up. Speed up when you RELAX.
- Every time you do this you can hit faster speeds. Shoot for accurate, clean, even.
Acoustic Fingerstyle Blues, Step-by-Step
*
Fingerpicking Instrumental: Rainy Spring Day
Acoustic Fingerpicking Step-by-Step, Level 2
Acoustic Fingerpicking Step-by-Step, Level 1C
Acoustic Fingerpicking Step-by-Step, Level 1B
Acoustic Fingerpicking Step-by-Step, Level 1A
Getting Started: The Four-Step Pattern (4:06)
- Only using thumb and 1st and 2nd finger, plant the last two fingers on the wood of guitar.
- You can buy a finger pick to mimic a fingernail
- Use the Travis pick pattern, don’t use different fingerings
Changing Chords, with the 4-Step Pattern (4:07)
- Practice the pattern with chords that have different bass notes
2-Chord Practice Drill #1 (5:30)
- Alternate between am and em
- Start slow and speed up. When you start to lose it, go back to slow.
2-Chord Practice Drill #2 (5:22)
- Now alternate DM and AM
3-Chord Practice Drill (5:15)
- GM, CM, and DM = practice all 3 bass notes
All the Pretty Little Horses (song to play!) (4:37)
- am, em, and GM. Only one measure per chord as you go through.
Simple Gifts (song to play!) (4:55)
- GM and DM
Build Your Speed: Practice Drill #3 (5:14)
- CM and FM7
- FM7 is the CM shape, moving the two lower notes over one string each.
- Just keep doing this and increase speed slowly
Build Your Speed: Practice Drill #4 (6:09)
- am, CM, em, am
- Note: never move the third finger. For the em, use the index finger to play the second to last string
The Wabash Cannonball: Prep & Practice (4:41)
- DM, GM, A7
Wabash Cannonball (song to play!) (4:53)
- Same as above
Let’s Slant the Rhythm! (2:11)
- GM Dotted rhythm (syncopation)
- Practice on a CM, then a FM, then any other chords
Play it Folky (3:48)
- D7 and A7, with syncopated R
Play it Jazzy (4:54)
- AM7, DM7
- Play it doubles (2 measures each) then singles (1 measure each)
Play it Bluesy (5:05)
- EM, A7, B7
Hush Little Baby (song to play!) (3:25)
- DM, AM, DM, that’s it
Build Your Speed: Practice Drill #5 (3:42)
- am, em = great chord shape relationship, easy to chord change so you can focus on speed. 2 measures each, then singles (1 measure each) as you increase speed.
Build Your Speed: Practice Drill #6 (4:53)
- GM, CM, GM, DM, syncopated. This will give you practice with all 3 bass notes
Freight Train Blues (song to play!) (4:32)
- EM, A7, EM, B7, EM = standard 12 bar blues pattern
Hammer-ons and Pull-offs
Hammer-Ons & Pull-Offs in Rock
Hammer-Ons & Pull Offs
Harmonics – Pinch and Natural
Harp Harmonics
Introduction to Pinch Harmonics
Harmonics: Pinch & Natural
Hybrid Picking
Hybrid Picking Primer
Basic Hybrid Picking Exercises
Hybrid Picking Progression in A
Hybrid Picking Exercises: One Finger
Left Hand
Left Hand Technique for Absolute Beginners
Left Hand Training
Legato
Legato and Staccato: Musical Articulation
Palm Muting
In the Palm of My Hands
Palm Muting: Improve Your Right Hand
Back for More: The Return of Palm Muting
Slapping
Slapping Techniques for Guitar
Slide – Bottleneck
Blues Slide Guitar Techniques
Blues Tone: Odds and Ends
Strumming – Basic
Strumming Technique
Strumming in Rock
Acoustic Strumming Step-by-Step, Level 1
Basic Strumming in 3/4 Time
Better Strumming
Basic Strumming in 4/4 Time
Strumming – Boom-Chick
This Cowboy Rides Again
Boom Chick Fingerpicking
Boom Chick Blues
Boom Chick Blues II
Sweep Picking
Introduction to Sweep Picking
Sweep Picking Series 1: The Basics
Sweep Picking Series 2: Expanding the Sweep
Sweep Picking Series 3: Basic Applications
Sweep Picking Series 4: More Applications
Sweep Picking Series 6: More Advanced Applications
Advanced Sweep Picking 1
Tapping
Tapping: Level 1
Tapping: Level 2
Tapping: Level 3
Tapping: Level 4
Touch Technique
Stanley Jordan Style Touch Technique
Touch Technique 2
Trills
Trills
Trill Drills
Vibrato
Blues Vibrato
Playing with Feel in Blues
Whammy Bar
Whammy Bar from the Beginning
3 Whammy Bar Blues Tricks
PRACTICE
Beginner
Warmup Stretches
Building Pinky Strength & Dexterity
Exercises
Spider Legs Warm-Ups: Great Finger Exercises!
7 Great Warm-up Exercises
Chord Change Drills in 6 Must-Know Keys
Scalar Exercises
Rock
Finger and Picking Technique Exercises
Speed Building
Finger Exercises
Speedy Ideas Series 1: Building Speed
Country
Walking Into Chords
Un-CAGE the Chops: CAGED System Technique Exercise
Basic Hybrid Picking Exercises
Hybrid Picking Exercises: One Finger
Blues
Bread and Butter Blues Licks Series 1
Blues Workouts
Sequences and Practice Techniques
Pentatonic Major Scale Exercises
Pentatonic Minor Scale Exercises
Metal
Metal Rhythm Workout
Metal Rhythm Workout II
Metal Rhythm Workout III
Classical
Classical Single String Exercises
Basic Chord Exercises
CHORDS & SCALES
Beginner Scales and Chords
C Major Scale for Beginners
A Minor Scale for Beginners
C Minor Scale Exercises for Beginners
Simple Chords Group 1: Intro to C Major & G Major
Simple Chords Group 2: Intro to A Minor & E Major
Introduction to Barre Chords for Beginners
Seamless Chord Changes for Beginners
Full Chords Group 1: A, D, and E
Full Chords Group 2: C, F, and G
Full Chords Group 4: A, D, and E Minor
Scales
The Major Scale
Pentatonic Scales: Boxes & Frameworks
The Blues Scale
Breakin’ in the Blues Scale
Major Scale Patterns Series 1
Minor Scale Patterns Series 1
Scales Into Solos: Minor Pentatonic
Scales Into Solos: Major Pentatonic
Practicing Major Modes
Exotic Scales
Chords
Extracting the Power!
Two-Note Chords
Double Stops: How They Work
Open Chords: Rhythm and Embellishments
Campfire Chords With Character
Introduction to Minor 7th Chords
Walking Into Chords
Introduction to Dominant 7th Chords
Alternative Chord Voicings
Beyond Power Chords
Barre Into Jazz Chords
The All Chords Exercise
Arpeggios
10 Ways to Play Arpeggios
Triads, Inversions, Arpeggios, and Extensions
The Connecting Game
Arpeggiation in Rock
Combining Scales Chords
Scales and Chords Relationships
Using Scales to Connect Chords Exercise 1
Using Scales to Connect Chords Exercise 2
Introduction to Improvisation for Beginners
Improvisation in a Major Key
Improvisation in a Minor Key