12-Bar Blues Riffs - Dave Rubin
on one of the shuffle in the book he has all the root notes on the low E so one of the fingering combo's is 5th fret on the low E & 10th fret on the A. I wondering if this is something for a capo or should I keep working on it without the capo. The book indicates you can move the root to the A string but why not write that in the first place. Seems like an awfully long stretch for your average person. Any suggestions?
Except for the possibility of some hand jumping excersize, it seems more logical to go for the G on the 5th fret of the D string.
Jim
This is the classic blues shuffle pattern for a bar chord.
Index (bar) on 5 (A-chord)
Middle and Ring on 7 for the 5th (E) and octave (A)
Pinky stretches to 9 for the 6th (F#)
Pinky stretched to 10 for the 7th (G)
and yes, it's a long way to stretch for some folk.
You could lift your Ring finger to give you the G on the D-string, but I've never seen it done that way.
-Laz
Try to keep working on it without a capo. The thing you've described is the 'classic' guitar shuffle pattern where you have the root and fifth on the 2 bottom strings and then hit the 6th with your pinky. There's other ways to do it (including just hitting the G on the open 3rd string) but the exercise is basically 'about' that stretch.
Just make sure you don't have your index finger all cramped up on that 5th fret, meaning pressing down too hard, curved and unable to rotate a little. For this kind of stretch you can almost have you hand between the lowest and highest fret and then angle the index 'back' toward the root. That leaves your entire hand somewhat between the root and where you have to go. The pinky won't have to stretch so much. But if your index is locked down and straight across the 5th fret (which you'd do in a barre), then the pinky won't be able to reach that far. It's almost like using the pad of your index finger's tip as a pivot; it holds the note but is able to pivot so your hand can move up the neck and hte pinky can hit that higher note.
Try this: reach out and point your fingers down at your desk, hand slightly curved, wrist slightly angled. Then curl up your second and third fingers so only your index and pinky are sticking straight down. Touch them to the desk and then see how wide you can 'comfortably' part them so they're angled outward from each other. That's a pretty good stretch right there. Now imagine your index finger is not immobile and you can tilt it to whatever angle you want - while still keeping contact with the desk. You rotate your hand and the pinky comes off the desk but you can bring it in to keep contact again. Sorta like walking with your feet wider apart than usual.
Then rotate your hand the other way and let the index angle to the side and let the pinky slide so it's still in contact. Some violinists practice stretches by gently spreading different pairs of fingers on the table like that. The thing is not to force it. You select a pair 1-2, 1-3, 1-4, 2-3, 2-4, 3-4, point them down onto the table and press down a little to stretch. When you get done a 5 or 6 fret span won't be a problem.
But getting back to that riff - again, it's all about doing it 'that particular way' and not finding alternative notes. I mean you could find alternatives, but then you'd be missing what the exercise is trying to give you.
Ooops, took to long. Good one Laz!
