Category Archives: guitar zen

Alternate Picking

January 18, 2012 — Leave a Comment

Let´s start, for those of you who do not know what Alternate Picking is…
It is a guitar playing technique that employs strictly alternating downward and upward picking strokes in a continuous run, it is just as simple as that. (Thanks Wikipedia!)

But now, playing this technique is a completely different thing. If you are having problems with it, this is what you can do:

The main problem with alternate picking comes when you are picking a note in the opposite direction of the next string that you’re going to play. For instance, if your last note was a down stroke on the G string, and your next note is an upstroke on the D string, then your pick has to travel a more complicated path than if you are picking up on G and down on D. What to do?

Some people just refuse to let their picking hand do the more difficult move, by trying to put a hammer on or a pull off to time the direction of the pick to a more favorable direction. Others might just be using the pick to start the string in motion, but are doing all hammer or pull offs other than the first note on a string.

But let’s concentrate on what to do if you are using the versatile alternate picking method. Since we don’t want to limit the note choices, or string choices, in any way, we have to just get good at dealing with the problem.

Practice going back and forth between two strings picking in the opposite direction. For example, play a C on the 3rd string (5th fret) with a downstroke followed by an E on the 4th string (2nd fret)with an upstroke. Repeat the C and E one more time.

Next, bring the C down to a B (1 fret) on the 3rd string with a downstroke, followed by the same E on the 4th with an upstroke. Repeat the B and E. Just to make a slightly musical pattern, do the same thing, but change the B down to an A, doing the same pattern. To make the pattern symmetrical, return the A back up to a B and play B,E,B,E, just like the second pattern.

It will take a lot less time to play this than to read about it, so try to muddle through this explanation to get to the actual notes, it’s not hard to play this as long as you don’t try to play it too fast.

As with all exercises, do it slowly and as accurately as possible at first. Doing this exercise addresses one of the most important points about practicing and improvements.

If you have some free time, check out this video which is an extract from Paul Gilbert´s instructional DVD “Get Out Of My Yard” – It is insane what you can do when getting this technique right! Check it out:

Good luck with your practice. See you next week!

Posted by Moses Robbins.

Posted in acoustic guitars, Artists, Electric Guitars, guitar strings, learning, Uncategorized | Tagged , ,

To Warm up or not to Warm up, that’s the question!

November 24, 2011 — 1 Comment

If you have ever played any sports you will know about the importance of warming up. It is important to stretch your muscles and ligaments before you take part in any strenuous exercise. Playing the guitar is no exception to this rule.warmingup 106x300 To Warm up or not to Warm up, thats the question!

When you play the guitar you can put a lot of strain on your hands, fingers and forearms. It is important to warm up your fingers before you start playing. The reason this is important is that it can prevent overuse injuries, which will hurt your playing.

If your hands start to hurt then it is time to stop playing. Stop playing and identify the pain and assess how serious you think it is. If you have a severe aching pain in your hands or wrists you should take some time off and rest your hands. And next time you play remember to WARM UP PROPERLY.

The most common way that people warm up is by playing scales. The best way to do this is pick a simple scale and run up and down it a few times. You should do this slowly at first and build up to full speed. It is also a good idea to warm up with some slow chord changes before you get into playing as hard as you can. Try and slowly build up your repertoire of warm up chord changes.

This is not totally related to warming up but when you are playing or warming up try and maintain good hand and body position. This will make a big difference to your playing and reduce the chance of you having any problems with pain from playing.

Warm up and practice hard and enjoy your playing but play safe.

Posted by Ben Edwards

Posted in learning, music, Uncategorized | Tagged , , ,

What Is Pick Sliding?

November 10, 2011 — Leave a Comment

newsletter17 how to pick sliding 266x300 What Is Pick Sliding?Pick Sliding is a guitar technique most often used in the rock, punk or metal music genres. The technique is executed by holding the edge of the pick against any of the three or four wound strings and moving it along the string. Simple isn’t it?

It is so simple that many guitarists use to add variety to their music. It is especially common in metal guitar to emphasize a change or add a little spice. First take a loud heavily distorted guitar, then get your pick and press it down on the bottom E string (thickest), and whilst maintaining pressure on the string slide it up the neck.

Try experimenting with different speeds and pressure until you get a good sound. This technique may not sound that crash hot by itself but if you use it to transition different parts of a song.

Go try it, I am sure you will get it right very quick.

Here is a video from Youtube user retn858 on how to do it and how it sounds, check it out!

Good luck with your practice.

Posted by Moses Robbins

Posted in learning, Rock | Tagged , ,

7 Tips for Positive Practice Habits

November 5, 2011 — Leave a Comment

As we all know, learning an instrument can be hard work. It is important to make sure you have solid self discipline and apply yourself.

Because a lot of your practice will be away from your teacher you need to develop strategies for maintaining a good work ethic. Here are seven habits that will help you in your journey learning your instrument.
7 practice habits jam blog2 300x300 7 Tips for Positive Practice Habits

1) Don’t procrastinate. There are always a set number of tasks you have to do when you are practicing. It is easy to put off playing until tomorrow, but you shouldn’t do this. Practice is important; you should get into it as soon as possible.

2) Keep in touch with other musicians. If you are constantly in contact with your friends who also play then you will boun off and motivate each other.

3) Keep moving. Don’t get stuck in a rut, it is important to keep on learning new skills and developing your playing.

4) Use your time properly. Without a regular practice time it becomes difficult to maintain consistency. You should make a regular time to practice so you can fully develop as a musician.

5) Practice in a good work environment. It is important to have a good place for you to practice. You need an environment that is clean and quite so you can fully concentrate on what you are doing.

6) Be comprehensive. You should always be trying to become a complete musician. For this reason, it can be a good idea to keep a list of all the things you need to do to become a complete musician.

7) Know your own work habits. Each person has their own individual way of learning. For this reason it is important to adjust your practice so you can maintain it.

We hope these tips help you with your practice. Keeping your self discipline is a matter of good planning and goal setting.

Posted by Moses Robbins

Posted in Announcements, learning | Tagged

Listening & guitar I

October 23, 2009 — Leave a Comment

Which is the right way to learn?

With the explosion of the internet and the vast cornucopia of you tube videos, tablature sites and other resources available online it’s easy to forget that one of the key skills for any musician is the ability to listen. Before the internet came along most of us learnt from records – through attempts to emulate or approximate the playing of artists we enjoyed listening to. Not from the internet but through learning songs from records and playing along with them.

Eric Clapton, no fool when it comes selecting his musical sources, has consistently reiterated that he listened and learnt his trade from artists such as Freddie, B.B. and Albert King for example. He didn’t use tabs – he learned by listening. Nuances come across in listening: listening cannot be written down; and while tablature can be a fast shortcut to playing a piece of music there is an invaluable experiential quality to be gained from using your ears.

Because listening is exactly what you`ll be doing when you’re playing along with a group or in the studio it’s a very highly valuable exercise for any guitarist. The particular qualities of any high calibre guitarist cannot be expressed in tablature form. What makes a guitarist exceptional is the  combination of technique, timing, phrasing and tonal quality that they bring to their playing – facets that your ear alone can pick up.

It takes a long time but its worth taking the time to train your ear through replicating the sounds that you hear on records. To begin with you`ll struggle and find it difficult, but over time the process will become easier.

GiantBabyEarClean Listening & guitar I

Being an imitator is the first step along the road to becoming a creator but there are ways of imitation. Looking up the tab on the internet is the fast easy way, but if you really want to develop then use your ears as well. Remember though the sound you`re really looking to find is the sound of yourself.

Remember if you have purchased Jamorama you’ll also have the GUITEARIT ear training software specifically designed for guitarists and it’s a great place to start training your ear in preparation for rocking out to your favourite songs and records. Groovy.

Cheers,

Jake Edwards

Posted in learning | Tagged , , ,
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