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bad habits!!

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(@jaguar)
Active Member
Joined: 15 years ago
Posts: 9
Topic starter  

hey, i was wondering if anyone had any sugestions on finger exersises or exersises in general that have help with there playing and also scales that they use the most, ive been playing for four years but i feel my im getting in bad habbits and i need to train myself to get back into good ones and i only know one scale but when i learn new ones i dont really seem to stick to practicing them and then forget them cos i dont really use them. i need to kick myself in the but! haha
chears dan :)


   
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(@jersey-jack)
Estimable Member
Joined: 16 years ago
Posts: 189
 

Well, I know how you feel, Dan, but if the problem is that you don't keep with the new scales/exercises you learn, then I'm not sure how new scales/exercises will do much good! In other words, your worst habit seems more to do with follow-through on your practicing, not with technical aspects of guitar playing.

I think a new year's resolution would be just the thing! Resolve to learn a new scale and then stick with it until it's as familiar as the first one. Rinse and repeat! And again!

The key to nailing these scales is to use them---either through some extended soloing over backing tracks or, more radically, through using them to write a song or two. 8)

Good Luck!


   
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(@almann1979)
Noble Member
Joined: 16 years ago
Posts: 1281
 

To be honest i only know a very small number of scales - basic major, minor, their pentatonics and the blues scale. In fact at the minute i dont want to know anymore, i want to become as fluent as possible with those scales i know and be able to use them/switch between them with ease. i expect this to take years.

"I like to play that guitar. I have to stare at it while I'm playing it because I'm not very good at playing it."
Noel Gallagher (who took the words right out of my mouth)


   
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(@alangreen)
Member
Joined: 22 years ago
Posts: 5342
 

Well, once you know one major scale, you know all of them - it's just a case of moving them up and down the neck. Likewise the minor scales, pentatonics and blues scales. And the modes. The only real adjustment you have to do is to play three octave scales of E to F# - after F# a pattern kicks back in. My guitar doesn't have a 2-octave neck, so I don't have to worry about 4-octave scales.

Just practicing scales is a thankless task (unless you can call back the notes as you play them at speed). I can play two octave major, harmonic and melodic minor scales in every key, and 3 octaves of E to A. Likewise major, minor, dominant and diminished arpeggios. All to a metronome. But why should I? It makes for decent warmup material, but apart from the fact that I had to play them for my Grades, they don't get a lot of use other than warmup.

Far better, methinks, that you know the base patterns but learn how to fit them over chords so you can pull a solo out of the hat when you need it. Sweep arpeggios are popular amongst the metallers these days, so there's something to be said for being able to do them at speed, but again you're limited to the virtuoso parts of your song when a solo or vocal-free section is called for.

A :-)

"Be good at what you can do" - Fingerbanger"
I have always felt that it is better to do what is beautiful than what is 'right'" - Eliot Fisk
Wedding music and guitar lessons in Essex. Listen at: http://www.rollmopmusic.co.uk


   
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(@dylan-schwartz)
Eminent Member
Joined: 15 years ago
Posts: 26
 

Hey Dan,

Let me see if I can offer you a few worthwhile thoughts:

First, Listen to Jersey Jack about the need to practice consistently. One of the things I see over and over with my students is that they are willing to put in just enough time to waste their time. Let me repeat myself there -

" They are willing to put in just enough time to waste their time."

When you learn something you either learn it to the point where you can do something useful with it or don't bother learning it at all. If you learn it just enough to kinda, sorta, maybe, a little bit-ish 'get it' what you've really done is taken away time from your day that could have been spent hiking in the woods or making new friends or wasting goblins on your X-Box and that is time you'll never get back.

Harsh, I know, but it has to be said.

Secondly, the topic of exercises.

1) Use exercises that emphasis coordinating your picking hand and ALL FOUR LEFT HAND FINGERS. There are many of these but they generally will involve playing a pattern like 1 2 3 4 [Fret AND Finger numbers] on the first string, then second string, then third string and on and on. The next exercise would be a variation on that pattern like 1 3 2 4. There are 24 of these variations but just pick a few to work each day or get a good book to provide all of the exercises you need. This one looked promising when I went through it last week:

http://www.amazon.com/Terrifying-Technique-Guitar-Carl-Culpepper/dp/0793551641/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1231030790&sr=8-1

2) Practice exercises that are variations on running scales - playing scales in groupings if 3's or 4's is a good example. This type of exercise has the added benefit of getting those scale patterns securely underneath your fingers.

Use the above bullet points to begin your technique practice each day. After that's done focus on learning guitar solos and licks from players you admire so that you can see how the scales are actually used in songs. This brings us to the next section:

FIND YOURSELF SOME GUITAR HEROES AND FOCUS ON LEARNING THE SCALES THAT THEY USE.

I literally know hundreds of scales. I know them because I was required to learn them if I wanted to graduate from college. Some are still useful to me (like sweet, delicious Lydian) but many are gone because they are no longer useful (like Ab Super Locrian). Most people only need a small handful. Does Clapton need to know his symmetrical augmented scales in every position? Of course not! Does Ben Monder? Of course yes!

The scales you choose to learn, at least at the beginning of the process, should be the same scales that you hear your heroes using. Save the other stuff for the future when you can already tear through the basic scales and make them sing.

To figure out what scales your heroes use you could either read tons of interviews, scour the internet for tabs and lessons, or take a few lessons with a teach who can tell you exactly what a player is doing and how it works on the guitar. I would personally choose the last option because, if the teacher is quality, it will save you a TON of time and effort.

Now that you know what scales your heroes use, shed them mercilessly until you have them burned into your finger tips. Then learn solos or parts of solos from your favorite songs. That's the real learning. We call it 'application' and it is what makes scales become music.

Hope that helps. I would strongly recommend getting a teacher who can help you set goals and whip you into shape [or phone conference/video conference with one of the guys on the forum] but you'll have to decide that one for yourself.

Regards,

Dylan Schwartz [Guitar Teacher in Chicago]

blog.stillstrings.com
http://www.stillstrings.com
http://www.myspace.com/buddhajones

Chicago Guitar, Bass, and Improvisation Teacher
blog.stillstrings.com
www.stillstrings.com
http://www.myspace.com/buddhajones


   
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(@jersey-jack)
Estimable Member
Joined: 16 years ago
Posts: 189
 

Great post, Dylan! :D Lost of wisdom here. I looked at the book you recommended on Amazon---it seemed great, but most of the reviews referred to shredding. That's not me, I'm afraid, as my guitar heroes include the likes of Clarence White and James Burton rather than EVH or Yngwie. I assume that technical exercises are not tightly linked to playing style, so that I might be able to use these exercises even to develop country chops, right? The book covers tapping, which is certainly not on my agenda, but the rest of the stuff should still be useful, I think. Is this correct?

Thanks again for the advice!


   
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(@jaguar)
Active Member
Joined: 15 years ago
Posts: 9
Topic starter  

thanks for your advice everyone that has definatly set me on the right track :D . id love to have a guitar teacher agian but i live in a small town and the one i did have left and the only other one isnt good haha. i checked out that book and it looks like it would be very usefull il have to order it in for next time i go to the city

chears for your help
Dan


   
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(@jeffster1)
Reputable Member
Joined: 17 years ago
Posts: 231
 

I'd also recommend learning the 3 note per string major scale shape as well as the modes. This shape is great for practice because it uses all of your fingers and requires some reach.

I typically start all my practice sessions with a bunch of runs of the 3 note per string G major scale, as well as the natural minor. This works as a stretch exercise, as well as a speed/memory exercise.


   
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(@mrjonesey)
Honorable Member
Joined: 18 years ago
Posts: 470
 

Try mixing up what you do with the scales. For example, play with a metronome hitting exactly on the beat with 1/4, 1/2, 1/16 or triplets (with a rest thrown in here and there). then mix it up so ever other string is a different note. Then create patterns so you are playing just every other string. Maybe one string you play the scale forward and then the next is backward. Then practice changing the key or position or both on the neck. Try playing two different scales in the same position back to back. Use the metronome and count the beats. Try to find little patterns or riffs within each scale...then just start jamming.

Here's something... look at the relationship of the minor pentatonic sclae and the major pentatonic scale... you can use the exact same pattern and only have to move a couple of frets. Makes it easy to add a little major flavor to a blues solo.

Nothing ground breaking here, but this is what I do sometimes.

"There won't be any money. But when you die, on your death bed, you will receive total conciousness. So, I got that going for me. Which is nice." - Bill Murray, Caddyshack ~~ Michigan Music Dojo - http://michiganmusicdojo.com ~~


   
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(@jaguar)
Active Member
Joined: 15 years ago
Posts: 9
Topic starter  

yeah thanks man! i tryed looking in the lessons section and on google but i cant seem to find a good website with any scales on it does anyone have a link? :D


   
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(@jeffster1)
Reputable Member
Joined: 17 years ago
Posts: 231
 

http://www.cyberfret.com/scales/major-3-notes-per-string/page2.php

Here's the major scale, 3 note per string, and which fingerings to use. Also, click through the pages for all the modes of the major scale.

This is probably one of the most (if not the most) important lesson to learn for lead guitar theory and speed.


   
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(@dylan-schwartz)
Eminent Member
Joined: 15 years ago
Posts: 26
 

Great post, Dylan! :D Lost of wisdom here. I looked at the book you recommended on Amazon---it seemed great, but most of the reviews referred to shredding. That's not me, I'm afraid, as my guitar heroes include the likes of Clarence White and James Burton rather than EVH or Yngwie. I assume that technical exercises are not tightly linked to playing style, so that I might be able to use these exercises even to develop country chops, right? The book covers tapping, which is certainly not on my agenda, but the rest of the stuff should still be useful, I think. Is this correct?

Thanks again for the advice!

Hey Man,

Sorry for the extended response time but I didn't want to respond until I had the book in front of me.

The book is great. I've actually begun using it to expand my chops. I'm not a shredder but I tend to look up to those types of players for insight into raw technique. It has been my experience that, once I reach a new level in my technical skills, every style of music I play gets better. Alternate picking is alternate picking. If I can do it on a Deep Purple song I can do it on a bluegrass song or a jazz song. Now, of course, my note choice and phrasing will differ drastically depending on the style of the moment, but the technique supporting my playing tends to remain very similar.

As for how I'm using this book, I just play through it until I find something that's difficult for me, get out the metronome, and go to town. Wash, rinse, repeat. I would never recommend this approach for a beginner [they should have a teacher guiding them to specific exercises] but I've been playing for 16 years or so and feel that I can take more liberties with my practice regimen at this point.

You take what you can and you leave the rest. There's plenty in there for anyone still looking to gain greater facility.

Peace,

Dylan Schwartz
http://www.myspace.com/buddhajones

P.S. Dan, I feel for you not being able to find a solid guitar teacher. There are many good teachers out there but also a legion of bad ones. If you want to get some personal advice I would try to head to a nearby city once or twice a month to see a real teacher. You can also feel free to message me if you have a question every now and then that you need answered.

Chicago Guitar, Bass, and Improvisation Teacher
blog.stillstrings.com
www.stillstrings.com
http://www.myspace.com/buddhajones


   
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