The Guitar Player's Resource
Hello everyone! Thanks for checking out my lesson. Today we are going to learn some musical examples that will help the coordination between your left and right hands and help develop your speed and accuracy. Most of the examples we will learn are short phrases. First learn them in one location, and then move them around the neck. It is very important to start off playing very slowly at first, then gradually building speed, keeping your left and right hands in sync.The musical examples have tempos on them (190 bpm, 160 bpm, etc.) Work up to these speeds, don't start there! Play the following segments using alternate picking (down, up, down, up). As a variation, also play them with all upstrokes and all downstrokes, and use right hand palm muting. OK, get your metronome or drum machine and let's get started!
Example 1 - Here we have a short musical segment in A major (A, B, C#, D, E, F#, G#). In bar one we have a pedal point, which is used in classical music, and which makes a great pinky exercise..Then we move to an adjacent string, then loop back to the first string. Start this phrase very slowly and then bring it up to tempo. This example is played in 5/4, but it can be played in any time signature. Also, make sure you accent on the downbeats.
MP3 - Example 1 - Slow
MP3 - Example 1 - Fast
Example 1a - Now we will take the same phrase and move it down the neck in the key of A Major. Play this phrase on other strings too. This Kind of practice is great for learning the neck.
MP3 - Example 1a - Slow
MP3 - Example 1a - Fast
Example 2 - In this example we'll use the same phrase, but now we'll introduce string skipping. This adds an interesting twist to the phrase. We are still in A Major. Move this one around the neck and experiment with other scales. Again, don't forget to accent on the downbeats, this will make these examples more effective.
MP3 - Example 2 - Slow
MP3 - Example 2 - Fast
That wraps up Part 1 of our lesson! So remember when practicing, it is really important to start slowly, then gradually build speed. Make sure your left and right hands are in sync. This is how you develop your coordination. Be sure to check out Part 2 of this lesson in January, 2002. Also check out my CDs "Full Circle" and "Total Freedom", and for more information visit www.mikecampese.com. Happy Holidays!
Mike Campese is an all-around music performer, session artist and teacher competent in many musical styles, electric and acoustic. He has studied at G.I.T. (Honors Graduate), and with Paul Gilbert, Norman Brown, Stanley Jordan, Scott Henderson and Keith Wyatt.
