to go to workout section! But read it all ONCE!
2). If you are now working the 5 Pentatonic Boxes, Click Here!
You should ALTERNATE daily between 1 the Workout Section and 2 Penta Section!
Picking Technique Workshop
Part 2
V-Picks Home Page
Get some V-Picks!
Do Not Use a flimsy, flexible PICK!
They create a ton of wasted motion!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Here we go!...
As with all workshop, you have to do some reading . . . the FIRST time
through! Once you do all of these once, and read it all, next session you will
click a link at the very TOP of the page, and go right to the DRILL TRACKS!
FYI: There will be much less text once you get past the beginning of this page.
Objective: Be able to play all tracks, to the end, without much,
if any difficulty! Smoothly, accurately!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~ When you mess up, STOP! Start the track again. ~
~ Do this for each track, 3 times - JUST TILL YOU MESS UP! ~
~
DO NOT PRACTICE SLOPPY! Just go as far as you can, accurately!
Unlike other workshop drills, in this one, you play ALL drill tracks. But
as all workshops, stop when you start messing up. So you'll be playing "some"
of each track! Even the ones that are too fast now. You'll get farther in time!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
OK, shorten up that "firm" pick, and let's get playin' !
There are many types of guitar picking techniques.
Alternate Picking: Involves alternating between down and up strokes.
Economy Picking: Maximizes efficiency combining alternate & sweep picking.
Finger Picking: Using fingers to pluck the strings.
Flat Picking: A common technique for beginners.
Hybrid Picking: A combination of using a pick and fingers.
Sweep Picking: Playing arpeggios smoothly, sweeping across multiple strings.
Travis Picking: A fingerstyle technique that plays a bass line
Tremolo Picking: Alternate picking, a single string is picked repeatedly.
This workshop stems from requests by players who are currently working one
of my newer workshops. Pentatonic Master Class Workshop. Asking how some of
the drills should be picked. So we're going to focus on only the ones used
in that workshop.
But the good news is ... they are the ones most of you will use the most,
anyway! If you are a Country player or use a lot of finger picking styles,
this workshop won't help you much, unless you're trying to improve on these.
We'll be focusing on Alternate, Economy and Sweep picking.
Here are a few issues you'll have in the beginning.
1). Your hands and fingers might not yet be stretched to the point where
you don't need to shift your elbow to get high or low notes. That will
improve in time . . . as long as you stay aware! It would be a benefit
if you did the finger exercises outlined in my "Do This First" workshop.
A dozen exercises that build hand and finger strength, and muscle memory.
Just like ALL pros do to warm up before a show. Because these few short
exercises incorporate every combination of 4 fingers. That's why we do them!
You should do these EVERY DAY before you do anything else! Every day!
Do This First
2). Is your thumb behind the neck, centered between fingers 2 and 3?
You can't do these properly using a "Blues" grip. If your thumb is not
between fingers 2 and 3, your "stretch" is reduced!!!
Check out this Quik Read short tutorial! . . .
Extending Your Reach - Eliminating PAIN! . . . The Thumb!
Extending Your Reach - Eliminating PAIN! ~ Click Here !
3). If you're not holding the guitar with the body "straight", if it's on an
angle, not parallel with your body - as in, you're "tipping" the guitar so
you can see the strings easier, that puts all kinds of tension on your
wrist, arm . . . and causes the elbow to compensate.
If your fretting wrist is not 100% straight, in line with your arm,
if it's BENT, your fingers will tighten up! You cannot spread your fingers
totally unles your wrist is NOT bent!
4). Do you play, and practice standing or sitting? If you play sitting, get
the guitar off of your lap! Use a strap, set properly, so the guitar is in the
correct playing position. To play leads with any level of accurace and speed,
your guitar must be in the correct position. It should be in the same
position as when you're standing!
It's a process!
The following exercises will get you playing Alternate, and Economy picking,
and a teeny bit of sweeping. You will use these when we get into the Pentatonic
drills below! So work these drills before trying to master the Pentatonics.
Part 1: The Warm Up . . . D UDU D D ~ U DUD U U
This is both a warm up, and a learning exercise. Mostly Alternate
Picking, but starting with a DOWN stroke, sometimes, an UP stroke
sometimes. And a little bit of sweeping for each one.
In the picture below, when you see the D D at the end, or U U at the
end of a phrase, you SWEEP that 2nd D or U!
You can play this on the 2nd fret, 3rd, 4th & 5th strings, or the 7th, on
strings 4, 5 and 6. No "fingering" required. You can move your fingers if
you prefer, or just bar the 3 strings. It's the PICKING HAND we're working.
[E_EEE_E_A ~ E_EEE_E_B] 2X Strum Em 1x
[D UDU D D ~ U DUD U U] 2X Strum Em 3x
Then reverses the A and Bs. and Us and Ds.
[E_EEE_E_B ~ E_EEE_E_A] 2X Strum Em 1x
[U DUD U U ~ D UDU D D] 2X Strum Em 3x
Sounds Like . . .
Your Turn!
Economy picking . . . DDU
Here's a short, easy exercize to work on. Just to get the feel of
picking DDU DDU REPEATEDLY. You gotta get this!
Learn it going UP . . .
Learn it going DOWN . . .
Learn it going UP and DOWN . . .
You literally play this DDU DDU the entire way down, Then you play 1 UP,
1 DOWN, then UUD on all strings. This is Economy Picking! Using this
technuque, you eliminate 1/3rd of the picking to play the same notes!
It only works for 3 notes per string scales. So we either don't use it some-
times, OR we sometimes add a note or two to a scale so the MATH works!
Go as far as you can accurately, then STOP, start over - 3 times
Learn it going UP . . .
Learn it going DOWN . . .
Learn it going UP and DOWN . . .
Slow UP . . .
Slow DOWN . . .
Slow Up and DOWN . . .
Med UP . . .
Med DOWN . . .
Med UP and DOWN . . .
Fast UP . . .
Fast DOWN . . .
Fast UP and DOWN . . .
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
OK, we're gonna take a basic Box 1 Am Pentatonic scale, and turn it into
a 3 note per string scale. 2 ways to do this. One involves a hand stretch
you're most likely not ready for. Your 4 fingers cover 5 or 6 frets, instead of 4.
But the other technique just involves adding a couple notes to the scale!
Let's add notes for the math . . . Maintaining the DDU Econ picking!
This is a really cool sounding scale. Might sound a bit weird at first, while
playing it slow. But it gets cooler and cooler as you play it faster!
Play the 1st 2 notes on 6th string D U. Then it's DDU from that point on!
Then coming back up, you pick 1 U, 1D, then it's UUD the rest of the way.
UP . . .
DOWN . . .
UP and DOWN . . .
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Part 2: Working the Pentatonic Boxes!
So, why do we learn the Pentatonic scales, or any other scale? It's NOT
so we can play the scales as a solo! We learn them so we know what notes
are available to us, and what fingering we can use. What phrases we can
create from the scales, and play them in a solo.
We practice them to develop muscle memory! So we can "hear" a phrase in
our head, and our fingers will automatically start playing the phrases!
Here's a short, 12-bar Blues progression. Just one verse! The 1st 4 bars is
simply an Am Pentatonic scale, with the added tritone. The BLUE note! The
remaining 8 bars are the SAME NOTES, broken into some phrases! Same notes!
Am Pentatonic
NOTE: The following 5 Boxes are all 2 note per string scales. So, the
picking pattern will be straight Alternat Picking. All Down Up. Be sure
your pick is short, (As in, the amount sticking out past your thumb!) And
on each UP stroke be sure to slightly twist your wrist so the pick ends up
ABOVE the strings, not stuck between them! So the pick is slightly pointing
UP. And you can go straight to the next string without having to lift th pick!
If you have any problems playing the following 5 exercises, you can skip
the rest of THIS workshop, and go directly to the Pentatonic Master Class
Workshop. They are all explained, and clear instructions are there for these
scales. That workshop focuses on these 5 boxes. AND how to use them in your
solos and improvisation. As in, practical application!
Pentatonic Master Class Workshop!
Pentatonic Master Class Workshop! ~ Click Here !
Track 1: 1 AmP5P Drills POS 1 A 6m3s.MP3
THE PATTERNS! Position 1 is:
THE PATTERNS! Position 2 is:
Play Position 3 exactly the same way! But there's a half step
THE PATTERNS! Position 4 is:
THE PATTERNS! Position 5 is:
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Fingers 1 4, 1 3, 1 3, 1 3, 1 4, 1 4.
1st finger on fret 5. USE FINGERS 1 2 3 4! 6th string, going UP!
6 A C - 5 D E - 4 G A - 3 C D - 2 E G - 1 A C - 1 A HOLD 1 2 3 4
THEN BACK DOWN . . .
1 C A - 2 G E - 3 D C - 4 A G - 2 E D - 1 C A - 1 A HOLD 1 2 3 4.
Play the full scale up, then back down. Then repeat the same scale faster.
Count-In 1 2 1234 ~ Count-In between repeats 1234 Do them all like this!
Go as far as you can accurately, then STOP, start over - 3 times
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Track 2: 2 AmP5P Drills POS 2 C 6m3s.MP3
Fingers 2 4, 1 4, 1 4, 1 3, 2 4, 2 4.
Position 2, 1st finger on fret 7. USE FINGERS 1 2 3 4!
C D E G A C D E G A C D C HOLD 1 2 3 4 THEN BACK DOWN . . .
D C A G E D C A G E D C C HOLD 1 2 3 4.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Track 3: 3 AmP5P Drills POS 3 D 6m3s.MP3
SHIFT when you get to the 2nd string!
THE PATTERNS! Position 3 is:
Fingers 2 4, 2 4, 2 4, 1 4, SHIFT UP 1 4, 1 3.
Position 3, 1st finger on fret 9. USE FINGERS 1 2 3 4!
D E G A C D E G A C D E D HOLD 1 2 3 4 THEN BACK DOWN . . .
E D C A G E D C A G E D D HOLD 1 2 3 4.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Track 4: 4 AmP5P Drills POS 4 E 6m3s.MP3
Fingers 1 4, 1 4, 1 3, 1 3, 2 4, 1 4.
Position 4, 1st finger on fret 12. USE FINGERS 1 2 3 4!
E G A C D E G A C D E G E HOLD 1 2 3 4 THEN BACK DOWN . . .
G E D C A G E D C A G E E HOLD 1 2 3 4.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Track 5: 5 AmP5P Drills POS 5 G 6m3s.MP3
Fingers 2 4, 2 4, 1 4, 1 4, 2 4, 2 4.
Position 5, 1st finger on fret 14. USE FINGERS 1 2 3 4!
G A C D E G A C D E G A G HOLD 1 2 3 4 THEN BACK DOWN . . .
A G E D C A G E D C A G G HOLD 1 2 3 4.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Stay on Part 2 until you can play each position fairly easily. Not fast,
but until you can play each one cleanly, and smoothly. If any one (or more)
position are an issue, work on those more than 3 times each until you get
them down!
When you have each position fairly smooth . . . if you want to be able to
apply each box into your playing skills, I suggest working the Pentatonic
Master Class Workshop! You'll FLY through Part 1! Then start putting it all
together in Part 2. And Part 3 will knock your socks off!
The Master Class has audio drills designed to get you playing over the
entire fretboard. And play creatively, and . . . FAST!
Like this one . . .
Pentatonic Master Class Workshop! ~ Click Here !
Contact me any time! Got a question? Ask me! Or request a workshop topic!
Email me any time! ~/~
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