Guitar Technique
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
| Q | I've been playing guitar for quite a few years and have a decent
technique, pretty fast but with some seemingly insurmountable flaws at top speed. Besides a drop in accuracy, these flaws include excess tension and fatigue. I used to want to play like Yngwie, but my right hand just never got there. Anyway, I've got other musical goals these days and a solid, relaxed picking hand is one them. I got your Right Hand Technique book because it looks like just the thing to do it. I just have a couple questions to make sure I'm on the right track before investing the time to overhaul 15+ years of picking habits.
My understanding is that the motion to be going for is not a strict side-to-side of the wrist, but rather a rotation of the hand without any wrist motion at all. The hand is actually pronating and supinating in very small, alternating movements. Moving between strings uses the elbow, and the hand is completely free-floating. Is that it? If so, then you're right, it is awkward. But if it works, I'll spend the time on it. Which leads to the next question: When you changed picking techniques, did you put all your playing on hold until the new technique was up to speed, or did you continue with the old technique while working on the new one until it was ready to take over? Thank you for your help and thank you for the amazing series of books you've written. I wish I'd come across them sooner. |
| A | It seems like you have a good grasp of the right hand technique movements. You might want to consider buying the e-book Guitar Technique so you can see video clips and pictures of both right and left hand movements. This will insure that you understand the techniques presented in the "Right Hand Technique" book.
When I worked on changing my technique I resorted back to the old technique for gigs for a while. Sooner or later though you just have to force yourself only to play with the new technique. I can remember a couple of pretty embarrassing gigs. The consistency and accuracy you gain with this new movement along with a wrist that doesn't hurt is the payoff for a few shaky performances and some development time. I should also mention something that is not in the "Right Hand Technique" book but is something that you should consider about your musical ability and whether this is affecting your physical ability to play the guitar. I along with may others believe that when you improvise or play a written part you have to be able to hear this improvisation or written part in your head. If you don't you will automatically cause tension to build which will distribute itself in your body in various places. A couple of common places are your hands or your shoulders. So even if you use this new technique you will have less fatigue in your right arm because you are using your muscles in a more ergonomic way but if you are unable to hear what you play you will never get to where you want to be. There are two sides to hearing what you play. There is the rhythm and there are the pitches. If either of these are not functioning right in your head you are going to have problems. Now on the other hand I should mention that I've had students who could play amazingly fast but really had no idea what they were hearing. How could this be? What was happening with these students was they had an almost total disconnect in their brain as far as how to actually transfer their fast technique into playing real music. In other words it was a totally physical act. Of course when you played with them it was like your weren't even in the same room, they would just start moving their hands real fast because it was just a physical act with nothing coming from the musical side of their mind. You've probably run into a few of these types; they hang out in music stores and usually play by themselves because that's they way they sound the best. For most normal people who are trying to express the music they have inside of them this is where insufficient internal processing of sound can cause tension problems which in turn cause physical pain and surely mental anguish if nothing else. This is what you get for caring about what you play and being honest with yourself I guess. So what can you do about this? I think the first thing to do is check if you sing what you play. Take anything you feel you really know on the guitar, play the first note of it or give yourself the key center and see if you can just sing it in time. Record this on a tape player and play it back. If it sounds like a dog howling at the moon, then you need to work on developing your inner processing of music through ear training. Let me know if you feel you need help with this and I'll recommend some books and some other techniques to get you on the right path |
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| Q | Thank you for your reply. You helped me immensely. The video clips for the e-book Guitar Technique were a Revelation. My right hand has tension, but my left has had recurring pain since the beginning. I'm looking forward to really applying these principles and doing what should have been done years ago. You may have saved my guitar-playing butt.
By the way, are you familiar with Kenny Werner's book "Effortless Mastery"? It's seems like it would fit in well with what I gather of your philosophy of playing. The book is probably responsible for getting me to finally confront my own unnecessary and detrimental musical tensions (physical and mental) and let to getting your book. |
| A | I'm glad the Guitar Technique e-book is helping you to use both hands properly I certainly am familiar with Kenny Werner's book "Effortless Mastery." I think he has many valid points about playing and being a musician.
I do feel that the book could shed more light on how one gets to the artistic levels he describes. When you get down to the nuts and bolts of how you should be hearing music, there's no substitute for direct application and practice in order to reach the physical and mental freedom you strive for. The following is an outline of the major areas of study I believe one needs to attain this freedom: 1. Ear training: A system that refines and develops your sense of key along with developing your internal (used in the process of composition, without an instrument) and external (when interacting with others, for example) recognition of sound. 2. Sight Singing (Rhythm and melody) to improve your visual recognition of sound which helps you: a. Express music without an instrument. b. Be more in touch with the notes you hear in your head when you improvise. c. Help you hear which notes you are hearing when composing. d. Develop your macro and micro understanding of phrasing and embellishment. See #3 and #4. e. Improve your sight reading abilities. 3. Knowledge of your overall phrasing of melodies (hearing the music you play on a macro level) 4. Knowledge of the internal phrasing of melodies (dissecting melodies and deciding how you are embellishing (or not) embellishing each note. (hearing the music you play on a micro level) Internal phrasing of melodies is something that also can have a huge impact on your physical ability to play a melody. It is also one of the main components that goes into a melody sounding like music and not just a bunch of notes. 5. The study improvisational techniques i.e. scales, arpeggios, approach notes, superimposition, intervallics etc. |
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| Q | I am studying your "Right Hand Technique For Guitar". My question is whether or not my right forearm should be resting on the face of the guitar while I am using your technique? I play a Fender Strat. If I keep my forearm off the face of the guitar it creates some tension in my shoulder and the freedom of motion in my forearm is harder to control. If I rest it on the face of the guitar, sometimes I feel a stickiness as my forearm slides across the face. This throws off my elbow generated sweep timing. Please advise. |
| A | You should rest your forearm on the guitar. The stickiness could be caused by build up of body oils on the guitar face. Try cleaning the guitar and/or putting talcum powder on the part of your forearm that touches the guitar. |
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| Q | My questions:
What exercises would you suggest to better develop both accuracy and speed in the right hand? Should I begin with the single preparation exercises, or should I start with the numbered exercises? Which ranges of speeds should I be able to develop? |
| A | It's hard for me to give you exact advice because I'm not there to hear and see how you are doing. In general I would say that any exercise you work with in the Right Hand Technique book should be done slowly with the smallest omount of movement and with the lightest picking you can do. As you speed up the metronome try to maintain this small movement and relax light feel. There is no limit to how fast you should play but you should a least get up to around 16th notes at 160. I would of course think of it as thirty seconds notes at 80 because you always want to think a larger unit of time when you can. Remember really any exercise can develop accuracy and speed it's all in your concentration and devotion to keep concentrated and relaxed. And of course playing with the right physical movements. |
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| Q | I have benefited a lot from your Right Hand Technique book. I take care with posture and right hand position. I no longer brace my right hand at all and I focus a lot on tension spots or tension buildup during right hand exercises. Now I am trying to increase my speed while picking once per string. Alternate picking is important to me because I am pretty much using position 5 to play everything. I figure that the left hand problem is complicated enough without having to memorize a specific hammer-on/off picking sequence for every arpeggio in every key in position 5. Some of my exercises require triplets across three strings at 130 bpm which means 390 beats per minute which is much faster than I can go. So I have been doing the following 6 days a week:
I start the metronome at 180 bpm and use down strokes only on the open strings across, back and across. Then I do the same at the 3rd fret, 6th fret, 9th fret and 12th fret. I repeat this whole sequence using only up strokes, then up/down and finally down/up. Then I repeat that whole sequence for each of the following metronome settings, 210, 230, 250, 260, 270, 280 and 290. Above 270 I start making inconsistent errors. Sometimes the picking sequences are perfect and sometimes I blow it. At 300 many more mistakes. Does this seem like a good way to go about this? My goal is to get solid up to 390 bpm. |
| A | Well there are a couple of problems with your practice schedule. First you need to slow the metronome down. For instance rather than starting at 180 start at 92. The reasoning behind this is the faster the metronome the faster your mind tends to think. Your mind can only think so fast so as you increase the metronome you will reach a limit where you start to make massive mistakes because you brain can't think that fast. Therefore lower the metronome speed usually helps people to play faster because their mind is thinking slower even though they are playing just as many notes. This is called point to point playing and is one of those secrets that most people don't know. So in general I would never use a metronome speed past 120 and usually only up to 100. As soon as you get to 100 put the metronome down to 50 play the same exercise at the same speed as you did at 100 but now you are "feeling/thinking" it half a fast.
The other important thing to remember is economy of motion. As you get faster and faster your range of motion has to get smaller and smaller. I recommend playing really slow and limiting you range of motion drastically. You will find from doing this even for a couple of days that you will have bursts of very fast speed. It seems weird but practicing very slow with limited motion makes it so you can play fast. You are correct in taking an exercise and speeding it up slowly but there is also other ways to gain speed. There is another point to point exercise that works incredibly well for gaining speed. 1. Choose a easy pattern to use for demonstration. A C major scale one beat using 16th notes. Start on C and play 5 notes. C,D,E,F,G. C is the starting beat and G is played on beat 2. You will notice that we are playing a group of 5 notes starting on beat one of a measure and ending on beat two of a measure. Put the metronome at a slow speed like 60 and play the C on the first beat of the metronome and G on the second beat of the metronome. Try to hear to other notes (D,E,F) that should be there in your head as you are only playing the C and the G. As you get to the point were you can aurally hear those other notes (you can also try singing them to help you hear them) in your head try adding in the missing notes. As you add in the missing notes still think only the C to the G but add in the misiing (D,E,F) Keep doing the process of playing the point to point (C to G) and adding the notes in after you can hear them in your head until you get to 120. Now it's time for the next step. We are playing a C scale again this time it's 9 notes. C,D,E,F,G,A,B,C,D. So C will happen on the first beat and D will happen on the second beat. Put the metronome on 50. Play the C on the first beat and the D on the second beat of the metronome. Try to hear the other notes in between the C and D (Remember singing them with help). When you can hear them try adding them into your playing. (Remember you are still mostly thinking the C to D as you add in these notes). When you can do this start speeding up the metronome. You will see your speed at this point is getting outrageous. The important thing to remember with this whole exercise is that the point to point playing i.e. C to G or C to D is the important thing to think and practice. You should practice the C to G or C to D 4 times as much as you practice adding in the notes. The last exercise may seem crazy but it works extremely well and is used by some of greatest musicians that have ever lived. It's mental practicing. To show you how this works I want you to write out or find a 1 bar phrase of music to learn. You don't want to play this phrase on the guitar at all to start with you just want to learn it in your head. Therefore you will have to work out the following: 1. The fingering and picking for both hands in your head 2. Learn to sing the notes in rhythm (this is where your ear training comes into play) 3. Imagine both hand using the smallest possible movement. 4. Practice fingering, singing and thinking this phrase everyday 4 times a day for 10 minutes. 5 After a week pick up your guitar and play this line. You will find it's the fastest cleanest thing you can play and you will remember it longer that any other musical phrase you know. This is a lot of stuff but if you follow this information your going to be a blazing guitarist. |
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| Q | I Bought the Technique E-Book, and I am very interested in trying this new picking technique. Right now I have pretty good chops, and have worked a long time to develop them. I have been working on your new technique for a about a week, and it still feels odd. I still can't play very fast yet. Do you have any specific guidelines as to how long I should work on this everyday, and about how long it should take to develop professional chops with this new technique? One thing I am pretty proud of is the speed of my alternate picking. I work on a lot of tremolo studies. Will I be able to build on this with your technique too? I guess since I have picked the same way for over 20 years, I am a little hesitant to change now, but if you think this will improve my accuracy and speed, I will surely go for it! |
| A | As far as the right hand technique goes, the technique presented in my book is what I use. If you have never had any physical pain problems with your current method of picking then you are welcome to stay with that. It usually takes at least 6 months for people to switch over and sometimes much longer. Most people switch because of chronic repetitive stress problems that can crop up with picking from the wrist. |
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| Q | There is but one draw back of your right hand technique (that I can see):
Open strings ring out (especially when using distortion). How does one combat this problem (without buying tons of noise gates and noise suppressors?). I even have this problem when playing clean or on my acoustic!! You have mentioned a couple of times that your approach is based on a lot of wide intervals and string skipping, does that mean your right hand approach is only good for players who want to play like you? My style requires more scalar type runs going up and down in groups of 2,3,4,5,6,7, etc. at speeds well over 16 notes per second with strict alternate picking, so basically 16ths at 240 bpm-340 bpm. At the moment I'm around ten notes per second with this new approach(not bad for three days work) but if this approach is not designed for stress free speed playing it's not gonna cut it for me. |
| A | First, why don't you go to arnoldjazz.com and listen to some of my music so you realize how I play. I think that will help you understand more of what I'm doing. Second I think you need to think more creatively about how you will solve your "ringing" problem. Because ringing is almost always related to specific situations, check into right and left hand mutings, changing how you play a particular passage etc.. Third you should investigate via videos and live performances just how many great guitarist are playing with a free hand position. Most everyone I know of the elite NYC crowd use this technique. Fourth keep in mind that great musicians are not measured by their speed but by their creativity and ability to find and develop new directions in music. |
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| Q | I have been confused about economy picking for quit some time. I originally practiced some arpeggio based licks using this technique until I plateaued. Then I tried alternate picking only to find that I was able to quickly play them faster and cleaner using this technique. Yet I have still not been able to get them as fast as I would like.
Do you have any advice that can give me some insight into economy picking? |
| A | I think the first thing to keep in mind is that economy picking i.e. 3 notes per string [down, up, down] or [up, down, up] or for arpeggios [down, down, etc] or [up, up, etc] can be very effective but by it's very nature only works well for a limited number of musical phrases. The reason for this of course is that not all melodies work on the guitar using 3 notes per string or constant similar motion with the pick. Alternate picking on the other hand will work with any musical phrase but isn't always the best choice. Basically over time and with experience you choose which type of picking will be better for each situation and sometimes it's a combination of the two. The important thing with either type of picking is to keep your movements relaxed and as small as possible. By adhering to these two variables you will see that your picking technique will become faster and cleaner. I'm not sure if you have checked out my Guitar Technique ebook which would give you the information through pictures and videos on what I recommend for physical movement on the guitar. Also, the Right Hand Technique book will give you a bunch of fretboard exercises to improve right hand technique. The correct type of physical movement of course has a lot to do with your progress so it might help in your situation. Overall I would say that most technical problems that I've noticed with students comes from either improper technique, excessive physical movement or the build up of tension as the speed increases. Unfortunately I'm not there to see you play so I can't tell which thing is your problem. |
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| Q | I have a question regarding right hand technique.
I have come across your book regarding this subject, and am now in the process of switching my right hand technique to this method. When I pick using the forearm motion, I find that the fleshy part of the palm that sort of connects to the thumb and is kind of right under it rubs across the strings when picking (it happens when i am playing the top 4 strings, not when playing the A, or Low E string). My palm does not rest on the bridge or on the strings, my hand is free-floating. But this one part of my palm rubs against the strings. My question is: Is this occuring because i am doing something wrong as far my right hand position is concerned? Or is this natural, and i should just work through it to a point where it just feels normal. I can't say whether this gets in the way of speed or other techniques or not, because i have just recently started to work on this method of the right hand. But i just wanted to find out about this early on, so i can get on the right track. |
| A | Well it doesn't happen to me nor has anyone else reported this but I'd say off hand it's not a great idea to have the fleshy part of your hand brushing the strings. This could cause strings to start ringing particularly if you are using distortion. The fleshy part of my hand does come very close to the strings but doesn't touch. You might try using more of the pick to help you gain some distance from the strings this should make your hand slightly higher and therefore not hit the strings. Give it a try and let me know if it works for you. |
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| Q | Based on your experience when you first started out with this technique (using the foerarm to pick, rather then the wrist), and based on the response of some of your students, is it normal for the forarm to feel sore and a bit stiff when first practicing this technique. I have just recently begun working on this technique, after years of a different, inefficient one.
In the lower forearm just above the wrist is where i feel sore and a little bit of stiffness. (It happens mostly when playing, so usually I either slow the pace of my practice down, or stop). Using common sense, I would guess this is normal because I am utilizing muscles for the first time that I previously have not used as far as the guitar is concerned. But I just wanted to find out for sure, so that this time I can get my technique right. |
| A | You shouldn't have pain or stiffness. If you think about the motion you are making with your forearm, it's just like the motion you use when you drink a glass of water or turn a screw driver. This is a natural motion and even with long periods of moving your forearm correctly in this manner you shouldn't feel pain. Now for for the good news. Your problem is fairly common amoung people starting with this technique. The hard thing is figuring out exactly what you are doing to cause tension in your wrist which in turn is making the muscles above your wrist sore. This pain is not from moving your wrist but more than likely from your mind concentrating on the muscles in your wrist either because of a previous habit or because it's trying to limit the size of the motion of your pick by tensing up your wrist. These are some of the more common reasons for the pain. Let me give you a couple of things to try. When you do this forearm picking technique I need you to concentrate your mind on the source of the movement which is right below your elbow. Start picking slow and just concentrate on those muscles above your forearm and try to gain the feeling of relaxation all through your arm and hand. Don't worry right now if your pick is all over the place just try to memorize that feeling in your arm of relaxation. You will need this memory as you refine the technique because that is exactly how your arm/hand should always feel.
Try this for a couple of weeks 3 to 4 times a day for 10 to 20 minutes and let me know your progress. You can also do this without the guitar. Later you can also try what I call "the simmer," where you move your arm extremely quick like a tremor. But remember this has to come from the muscles right below your elbow. |
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| Q | I find that when i am trying to limit my movement with my right hand technique the sound is very soft. Do you have any suggestions on ways that I can still play with this limited movement so that gradually speed will come, but also get a decent attack of volume?
Also I find that when changing strings, instead of my elbow doing all the work of moving me across the strings, I find that my wrist sometimes moves slightly and my hand sort of bounces (this is probably caused by using too much of the pick, although when i look at my pick, i am using as little as possible). Do you have any suggestions for how I can correct these problems? |
| A | When you start with this technique you want your picking to be whisper soft. Later when you gain more contral you can attack harder. Actually one of the secrets of super fast technique is to use extremely small movement and attack as little of the string as possible.
When you change strings, you can either use your elbow for larger movements or just make a wider arc with your forearm if you just changing one of two strings. Remember: your wrist moves, you just don't move from your wrist. Also your wrist needs to be relaxed. |
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| Q | I am thinking also of ordering the Right Hand techniques book, but after looking at the downloadable example of 'exercise 1' I was wondering why there are not upstroke and downstroke markings on the music. I'm not sure I would understand how to use the book. |
| A | The right hand music exercises in the Right Hand Technique have picking markings for the technique building exercises. The back of the book has exercises that develop your muscles rhythmic sense. These exercises do not have the picking marked because it is a repeating pattern. For example the first exercise you play one note on each string moving up then down. The picking would be all down strokes as you go up in pitch and all up strokes as you go down is pitch. Hopefully you have also downloaded a copy of the Guitar Technique ebook which gives you pictures and videos on proper technique for both hands. |
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| Q | I have purchased the E book 'Guitar Technique' and it has helped me understand how to play scales without strectching. But one issue I am having on my warm up excercises is the movemnet of my pinky. For example, if I play a basic 6 string 1->2->3->4 down excercise and then 4->3->2->1 back up moving to the next 4 frets (2->3->4->5), I notice on the 4->3->2->1 my pinky has the tendency to move away from the fretboard. I have started to ground my fingers on a higher or lower string to keep them in one place to get more control, but then I was thinking maybe I am putting too much stress on the fingers and they should just hover over the note played. Essentially I would like your take on a warmup excercise like this and how I should treat the fingers that 1) are playing the current note 2) just played the last note and 3) will play the next note. Since I am dedicating the appropriate time to warming up I want to make sure that I am doing it correct and not actually hurting myself or gaining bad habits. |
| A | First let me say I'm not a big fan of that exercise but I've seen many of famous guitarist doing it in the dressing room. My approach is to practice more musical things like a scale or arpeggio but in the long run if we are just talking technique, either will do.
Usually I find that the biggest problem for guitarists is not letting the pinky jerk up as they are playing down a scale or pattern. Most of the time this is caused by an old habit carried over from reaching and stretching with their fingers rather than just sliding the hand down and letting the fingers fall onto the notes as your hand is passing over the fret. You shouldn't approach correcting your problems by grounding or forcing your hand/fingers to keep in the proper position, this can only cause problems. You want to slow down to a point where you can just be relaxed and let your fingers raise and lower to the string without excessive movement. This is not easy and takes concentration and patience on your part. Your muscles have to relearn how to approach the guitar fretboard and this can take time. Actually the longer you have played, the long this can take. For me it was about 4 years until I gained back the technique I had before. But now I play with no pain and can play light years faster and more accurate with no overall growing stress on my hands. Remember to watch your hand in a mirror or even video tape it so you can take a serious look at what is happening. Watch closely for any reaching that you might do with your first finger or your pinky. This is a common problem for people that have played with a stretched hand. Also realize it usually takes a stretched hand a month or two before it comes back from the deformation caused by stretching. Lastly remember that it takes time to perceive relaxation and even longer to sustain this through a performance. I also should mention that this type of playing technique does not work in every situation. You should think of this relaxed unstretched hand as your basic position and that as you play other factors such as 4 and 5 fret trills, bending and other factors will change this basic technique momentarily. But if you can always come back to this relaxed state you will find great things happening with your playing. |
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| Q | I am 42 years, always I 've dreamt to have the ability to play guitar, not as a professional, or the way to make my money, but who knows? I am very interested in doing things right, I am reading some theory music books, which I have become very involved with.
I started 3 months ago in a music academy taking guitar classes. Nevertheless I am a BIGINNER and have been interested in your books. I have bought Guitar Technique: A Beginners Guide to Speed, Accuracy and Fluid Performance. I have downloaded some of the video, but I can not play it. Are they compressed? Sorry just that I am not a computer expert. Other question, is it a piano that you play on the exercise? If yes, would you please let me know reasons? Which of your books do you recommend to beginners? |
| A | Sorry to hear you are having problems with the videos for Guitar Technique. Many people have problems with downloading files from the internet. We have included directions for downloading at the bottom of the page containing the video files. The most important thing to remember is these files are Stuffed (compressed) so you need the free program "Stuffit" in order to first unstuff the files before they will play with your browser or quicktime application.
Stuffit can be found at: http://www.stuffit.com/expander/ We also have a technical document you can download from the website to help you understand the process of downloading files. This document can be found at: http://www.muse-eek.com/books/techFAQ.pdf You will need adobe acrobat in order to read this file. Most computers already have this free application on their harddrive but if you don't you can download this program at: http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html The information below may also help you: Please download these files to your computers harddrive. Below is step by step instructions to properly download files to your computer. This is an easy process once you have done it a few times. If you need to print this page so you can follow the instructions more closely do so now. DOWNLOAD FILE INSTRUCTIONS: 1. Click and hold the mouse down on the file you want. 2. A new menu will pop up on your computer screen 3. You be given a series of menu choices. 4. Choose "save this link as" 5. A dialog box will open. This will allow you to save the file to your hard drive. 6. Notice next to the word "Dialog" you are given a choice between "text" or "source" 7. CHOOSE SOURCE 8. If you want, pick a specific location on your hard drive to save the file or just press SAVE 9. You now can play the audio file anytime you want and you don't have to be connected to the internet. 10 If your file is a midifile it is best to play it with the midifile player which you can download from the muse-eek.com website or you also can play it with your browser i.e. Netscape or Explorer. 11. If your file is a mp3/photo or video it will play with Quicktime which is available free from apple: Get Quicktime Player NOTE: Quicktime will also play midifiles but won't be the best choice for some midifiles. There a hundreds of other programs that will play Midifiles, mp3's, photos and videos. You can use whatever program works best for you. Most midi files found on the muse-eek.com website use a piano sound mostly because the guitar doesn't sample well and therefore isn't the best choice for midifiles. There are plenty of other files that do use a guitar sound but these are audio files (MP3). You will find that in the next couple of months many of our books will have the addition of these MP3 files all of which were recorded personally by Mr. Arnold. If you have any further questions let us know. |
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| Q | What would be the proper way to hold your fretting hand when playing in the upper registers (chords and single lines)? My main concern is the use of my pinky and bending my wrist.
With my pinky I'm not able to use it on the E and A strings without bending my wrist and then rotating my palm up. What do you recommend technically? |
| A | Your main considerations when playing anywhere on the fretboard is to try and keep your wrist within about 10 degrees of it's overall possible movement. This would be for the up and down as well as side to side wrist movement. All fingers should stay as close to the fretboard at all times. With that said there are certain musical phrases, guitar fretboards and physical characteristics that make these previous stated parameters impossible. In these cases you do your best to adhere to these ideal positions as you possibly can. There are also some things that you can do to help yourself. One would be to change the height of the guitar in relationship to your body. Usually higher is better. Using a guitar with a cutaway of course helps with higher positions. Without seeing your situation it's very hard for me to make specific recommendations. If you have a few digital pictures you can send me that might help. |
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| Q | Mr. Arnold, I need your help. Have been working on the electric bass guitar for about 10 months, using the following books - mostly yours. The asterisks denote those from which I'm working at this time:
* Ear Training One Note Complete Method (I have both volumes) * Single String Studies for Bass Guitar * Comping Styles for Bass Funk Jazz and Blues Bass Lines Harmonic Colours for Bass by David Gross The Gig Bag Book of Bass Scales Amsco Publications. I also every day do a series of physical exercises for strength and endurance from Mr. Gross' older book. Progress is frustrating but acceptably slow, in all areas but one where I see no success at all: speed. For example, working on your F Minor Blues at the moment, I have to play the notes from the page so slowly (using a metronome), that I can't hear the rhythm; I just count the 16th notes: one two three four... Here I can't get beyond the feeling that I'm over my head. Can your offer a series of exercises that is specifically designed to develop speed? |
| A | Thanks for contacting me. I have a very different approach to physically playing the guitar or bass. I would suggest you take a look at Guitar Technique e-book to see what I'm talking about. Basically I don't believe in stretching out your left hand in order to cover larger numbers of frets unless it's a specific musical passage that requires this stretch. Overall I try to develop a "resting" position that most of your playing will conform to in order to keep your hand relaxed as much as possible. A relaxed hand can move much faster than a stretched out hand. Try it out for yourself. Spread your fingers out as far as you can and try to move them, then try the same thing with your hand relaxed. I think it's pretty obvious which one is better. Of course a relaxed hand also helps you so you don't get any repetitive stress injuries. So this is the physical side and, if you think this will work for you, check out the e-book and get back to me and we will develop a practice regimen.
Next there is the mental side of learning to play fast and accurate. This can vary from person to person but overall I have found that you need to hear what you want to play or have a mental image of it. This first starts with the ear training which you are working on. I would also recommend Fanatic's Guide to Sight Singing and Ear Training to speed up this process. You also need to improve your music theory knowledge so that notes become more of a natural language for you and help you get away from music being a bunch of fingering patterns. For this I would recommend Music Theory Workbook for Guitar Volume One. This book is in treble clef and does have guitar fretboard diagrams but it can be applied to the bass guitar with very few changes. You also need to envision time on large levels. I have advanced books to deal with that i.e. The Big Metronome and the Do'in Time series. For now I think it's better that you just apply a very small part of these books to your scale playing. To do this I want you to go to www.brucearnold.com and then to the Music Workshop. Download all the scales from the scale section. These exercises are written for guitar but you can apply them to the bass by just using the 4 bottom strings of each exercise. Of course you first need to develop proper technique as mentioned earlier and then memorize the notes and degrees and not play just memorizing patterns. Patterns are OK once you know the notes. To test yourself you should be able to stop on any note and say within one second what note you are playing and it's relationship to the key i.e. 4th, 5th etc... Once you get so you know the notes and degrees of each scale position you want to set the metronome slow and play the scale as 16th notes. This means you want to set the metronome around 40 for a quarter and play 16th notes. By doing this you are developing a larger grouping of time in your mind which will cause your mind to relax more and make playing faster easier. This is a lot of stuff but there isn't an easy answer to playing fluid and musical with great precision and speed. I can help you organize this whole thing but first you need to take a look at the Guitar Technique e-book. Once you get the book contact me and I'll explain some rather bizarre but useful things you can do right away to get going correctly. |
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| Q | I have previously studied classical guitar, especially Spanish master's pieces by Tarrega, Torres and Segovia, and some Brazilians like Villalobos, obviously as an interpreter. Needless to say, in a pretty much mechanistic way since I feel my knowledge in music theory is rather too modest, not to say mediocre.
I've read outstanding reviews about your accomplished musicianship and teaching approaches and therefore I would like to get some advise from you; I am planning to purchase some of your publications and in face of your prolific editorial production I would like to count on your proficient advise to choose the right ones for me. As I said before, I have some background, I don't have huge playing limitations, in terms of my playing skills I would rank myself as an intermediate-to-advanced amateur player. I am looking forward to getting an in-depth understanding of basics in chord construction, classification and terminology, intervals and scales over chords concepts. Needless to say, exercises on modes and scales are always welcome as well as other concepts not mentioned above. |
| A | I would recommend the following books for you.
Music Theory Workbook for Guitar Volumes One and Two Chord Workbook for Guitar Volumes One and Two Ear Training One Note Complete Fanatic's Guide to Sight Singing and Ear Training Guitar Technique Ebook If you let me know the amount of time you have to practice I will help you with a practice schedule. If you want me to do this also let me know when throughout the day you might have 10 to 15 minutes of down time that you could do ear training exercises with a discman. You need to go to www.arnoldjazz.com and the music workshop and download the 19 scales. You want to learn a new scale each week. You are going to first work your way through all the C modes so first C major all positions then C dorian positions etc. Remember we are learning note names and degrees here not just fingering positions. I would pay close attention to your technique and look in a mirror to check out your hand. Reference the Guitar Technique book and be anal about this because the more relaxed and close to the neck your hand is the better you are going to play. You also want to spend time playing/improvising with these scales. Use the midifiles and progressions connected to the book or create your own. Download the applying music theory article from the member's area this will give you other ideas on sequencing scales. PS Guitar Clinic would also be a good book because the back of the book contains information on 3 very important concepts of improvisation. |
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| Q | Hi, recently I've been having a lot of problems in my picking hand when I play. When I strum or if I am just picking, my index finger, ring finger, and pinky have been building up tension to the point where it causes pain and I have no idea what started it. At first I thought the problem would just go away but it persisted and now it's become a pretty big problem whenever I pick up my guitar. I can never get comfortable anymore, and I have a feeling that it could be because of poor technique, where I might have changed something without even knowing it. I'm not sure if you have heard of any problems like this before but any help to fix it would be greatly appreciated. I've been playing for about 7 years now but I was never really serious for the first 5. The problem I think is that I used to play way up on the edge of the neck, like right where my last fret is, up until about 3 months ago. I never took lessons so that's just how I learned to play and it seemed to fit my style (funk rock-ish, primus, old incubus, stuff like that). I've always been incredibly sloppy so my friend showed me where I really should be picking and I've been working for the last few months on keeping my arm back. I've gotten used to that but its been just recently that whatever I pick, no matter what style, my index finger and sometimes my pinky act up and screws up my playing. I try to pick with my forearm, though no matter what I play my hand stays a little uncomfortable. I've had the same fender strat all my years of playing. It might be I just need to relax my hand more but I'm not sure. |
| A | Thanks for the information. I would recommend you check out the ebook Guitar Technique. This will cover what I recommend for right and left-hand technique. The book also has links to pictures and videos so you can see proper technique in action. If you have other questions let me know. |
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| Q | I own your 1st Steps book as well as a couple of others... I am a bass player (well sort of) and I was told to learn how to play guitar. Fingering almost any chord (other than a simple two-finger one like Em) is impossible. There is no way that on a G chord the middle finger does not touch the string next to it with the strings so close together. (The entire width of the neck is only 1 11/16 of an inch!) And every other chord has the same problem. All the books say don't do it, but they really don't say how. If my fingers were as long and thin as Jimi Hendrix, maybe. But I have normal sized hands and it is impossible.
There must be some secret magic real guitarists are not telling the rest of us. OK, just tell me ... what is the secret ... ? |
| A | Playing chords so each note sounds correctly is a frustrating process that many beginners go through. The most common problem is that your fingers are not curved properly. I'm sure you have checked out the videos and pictures in the book and website so I have a few questions to help find the problem.
1st Do you feel you are applying all the correct playing techniques I show in the book and website? 2nd Do you find that chords like Am and D major are also hard? If so, why? 3rd If you have a digital camera and can take a shot of your hand and attach it that would be the best. |
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| Q | Hello, I am a student at Harvard College, though I am taking this year off to pursue other interests. High on my list is Jazz guitar. The reason I'm contacting you is to ask your advice. I've been playing guitar for many years. I've also played bass and classical piano. I have a fairly strong background in music, that is, my ear, manual dexterity, and basic musical knowledge (with the addition of a few Music Theory courses) is present. Still with Jazz, it's spotty, as I've never had a teacher for guitar. I've learned what I could from books and listening, and I've come a long way in this respect. I've reached a point where I very much want to solidify my groundings in Jazz theory. I have the enthusiasm, passion, work-ethic and ambition, but I lack direction. Can you recommend a way that I can get to the level appropriate to show up to a jam session and be on the same page as other Jazz musicians? Should I go straight to lessons? Should I enroll in a jazz theory course? Or would I be wasting my time and money with both of these, when I could make a lot of progress on my own (following a book you might recommend, perhaps one of your books and your website)? |
| A | I'm going to make a leap of faith here and figure that you have a decent knowledge of scales but probably haven't organized them well or know them like you need to know them in every key. Furthermore I'm figuring you know the name of any note on the guitar fretboard if I pointed to a note. I'm also figuring you know your basic barre chords with the root on the low E or A string. Let me know if I'm not correct.
Given that this information is close to correct I think we need to first completely organize your knowledge of the fretboard in regards to scales. To do this you to need to go to www.arnoldjazz.com and the music workshop and download the 19 scales. You want to learn/review these scales. Using the fingering suggested on the downloaded sheets I want you to first work your way through all the C modes so first C major all positions then C dorian positions etc. Remember we are learning note names and degrees here not just fingering positions. I would pay close attention to your technique and look in a mirror to check out your hand. I'd recommend you buy the Guitar Technique ebook and check out how I recommend you play the guitar. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00006J9UF/museeekpublishin Be anal about this because the more relaxed and close to the neck your hand is the better you are going to play. You also want to spend time playing/improvising with these scales. Use the midifiles and progressions connected to Music Theory Workbook Volume Two or make up your own. You can find the Music Theory Workbook files under the book title on the muse-eek.com website. Also download the applying music theory article from the member's area. This will give you other ideas on sequencing scales. So to review: For scale study download the scales and get Music Theory Workbook for Guitar Volume Two and the Guitar Technique ebook. Nothing you do on the guitar is going to be worth anything if you can't hear correctly so get the following books. Ear Training One Note Complete. Try to listen to the Ear Training One Note CD 5 to 10 times a day for 5 to 10 minutes. Make sure to go to www.muse-eek.com and read all the FAQs. This can help you think of this practice correctly. Also get the book Fanatic's Guide to Sight Singing and Ear Training and start working on the first assignment in the book. There are also a few suggested lessons in the muse-eek.com member's area for the Fanatic's Guide. You can join the member's are for free after buying the books. http://www.muse-eek.com/books/members/members1.html We are also going to review and apply all your chords with the root on the 5th and 6th string. I want you to start learning the chord progressions in the back of the book. Learn both versions of each progression. By this I mean learn the chords using the chord symbols but also look in the very back of the book and learn the progressions by just looking at the actual notes. If you find chords you don't know look them up in the book. You also need to read the section of Chord Reharmonization which precedes the chord progressions. This information is extremely important to help you understand how to analyze, create and alter chord progressions. We are also going to use this information to superimpose melodic lines later on. You should try to learn at least a couple of progressions per week. There are mp3 files up on the muse-eek.com website for these progressions. Look under the title and you will see a folder on the left side called mp3. |
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| Q | I have a few questions relating to technique. First off, in the inside flap of the Right Hand Technique book you mentioned that many of the students that came to you had to quit completely because of pain before they came to you. In order to help them get a healthy hand again, did you pretty much have them do the exercises exactly spelled out in the book from the very beginning (strumming exercises, etc ...)? Also, when did you decide was a good time for them to move to the next exercise (whenever it could be done with as little stress and tension as possible, or when they seemed to be sorta getting it)?
When you switched techniques, how did you go about it? I know you mention these are the techniques you used, but how would you organize your practice schedule to efficiently and intensely practice these exercises? About how long did it take you to feel you that had successfully switched over? You can probably see from all these questions that I have some hand troubles, and am working very hard to switch over techniques. I have been working for a while (6 months), but I am getting so much better about understanding how I interface with guitar and about how to control my muscles from tensions and things like that. |
| A | I wrote the Right Hand Technique as I was going through the change in Right Hand Technique so most of the exercises are either ones that I personally did or others that I have given students. I don't think there is a preferred sequence to go through the book, you could jump around to different exercises based on your style and ability. For instance reading the long exercises in the back of the book is very important because it develops a sense of rhythm in your forearm but for some people just the reading part is very difficult so if this is the case I would wait longer before tackling those exercises. The most important thing is to be conscious of your body when you are doing any of these exercises so you pay close attention to your movement and/or stress.
I would highly recommend you get the Guitar Technique ebook because that helps you with both hands and has pictures and videos to help you see each movement. |
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| Q | I have obtained the following books:
Guitar technique (thanks for the email version) Guitar clinic Music Theory Workbook for Guitar Vol 2 ET one note complete Fanatic's Guide to Sight Singing and Ear Training Rhythm primer Rhythms Vol 1 Single String Studies Vol 1 Chord Workbook Vol 1 Rhythm primer: started working assignments on page xxi. These are not difficult for me, but the faster tempos (whole note = much above 60) seem excessive in that by that point I think I have gotten what I need out of the exercise from a reading standpoint. ET one note: I read through the book and understand what you are saying. I was on the road in the car a lot this week with the first CD on random play. What a blast! I get more than 80% right overall, but have particular problems with b5, b7 and the highest register for some unknown reason. I'm working on it. Fanatic's guide: I can sing 1, 3 and 5 in all keys and am working on the other diatonic tones. Let me also say that I am deeply impressed by your scholarship and dedication. I have been teaching and studying for years and have never seen such a comprehensive and well-thought-out method. I could use some guidance through this vast forest of material. What next? |
| A | The reason for the faster tempos in Rhythm Primer is to get your eye moving quickly across measures of music. Don't underestimate the importance of this. You should also check out the file on beat reading found in the member's area. This is closely related to training your eye to move ahead of the music which is key to sight reading.
As far as the other books first check out the modal sequencing information found in the Guitar Clinic and the Applying music theory in the member's area. As mentioned before I want you get all 19 scales listed on the www.arnoldjazz.com music workshop website down in all keys from every degree. Remember we are just doing an introduction to all these scales they don't have to be fast but they need to be consistent and Gb major should be as strong as C major. We are working towards using the 19 modes as a warm up everyday. So you might for instance run through all 19 modes in one key from every degree for a warm up. This will take time to reach that point but sooner or later you should be able to do this in 20 to 30 minutes. But for now you want to make sure you know all of these scales by playing all of them in every key. You can also use flash cards to test yourself. Make the following flash cards: 1 set with list of all 19 scales 1 set with degress 1-7 1 set with all keys. Flip over one card from each set and play the scale. Along with these technical ways of working on the scales complete the exercises in Music Theory for Guitar Volume Two and play along with the vamps that are suggested for each scale type. Remember there are midifiles of these progressions on line at: http://www.muse-eek.com/books/mtwbforguit2/midi.html For sight reading you want to do this for 1 hour a day. Do 10 minutes out of each of the following books: Rhythm primer: try to do these as fast as possible Rhythms Vol 1: metronome on 2 and 4 read with a swing feel if you tap your foot do it on 1 or 1 and 3. Single String Studies Vol 1: One page a day move through the book by string. So first low E string in C major then A string in C major, D string in C major etc. Chord Workbook Vol 1: Learn one new chord progression a week. You can also find examples of me playing these progressions at: http://www.muse-eek.com/books/chord1/mp3.html Augment this time with reading out of books check out of the library or other sources. Remember to read as many types of music and manuscripts as you can find. Ear training continue as you have described, seems like your on the right track. If you have more questions let me know. I would like to move on past scales in a few months so try to get all the scales together. Study the concepts of modal sequencing and rhythmic variation that I have set forth in the member's area files and Guitar Clinic. |
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| Q | I'm waiting to receive Guitar Workbooks that I ordered from Amazon. This being said, there is another side of guitar playing I'm a bit frustrated with, and it's my right hand. I indeed feel awfully clumsy as soon as I have to skip strings, or play chords in an arpeggio way, mostly because to sound good, an arpeggio often requires to skip strings, to go from down to up, etc... At this game, I often miss the desired target, mainly, I think, because if not looking at the strings, I'm not aware enough of the exact place where the strings are under my pick.
So, I would like to get some more information about one of your books, Right Hand Technique, to know if it's a book that I will benefit with by ordering or not. The summary of this book (available on your site) seems not to be the right one, (theory, chord construction, available tensions... seems a bit off-topic, tell me if I'm wrong) so it makes it difficult to really determine if the content will meet my needs. More, the given excerpts on the site are also very short)... Well, with this I am under the global impression that this book is rather health-oriented, like how to avoid pain, problems later, etc. than playing technique oriented. What I really am looking for, is simply a book focused on how to build a good picking technique (mainly for single note soloing, arpeggios, and, less importantly - but, why not - strumming). So the themes I'd like to see covered might be: - Picking Basics: exercises to get a strong feeling about where the strings are, (as you say in your Guitar technique e-book). In order: * to avoid missing one string when skipping one or more strings. * to pick single notes (or arpeggios) when ascending the strings as easily as in when descending them * to develop speed and accuracy - Principles and developments of alternate picking, like tricks to combine picking and hammer-ons/pull-offs to improve efficiency and speed of play. - Introduction to sweeping technique... Well, I hope this will help you see what my quest is, and so can you tell me if Right Hand Technique can satisfy these needs or not? |
| A | I'm not sure where you got the information that the Right Hand Technique book was about theory, chord construction, available tensions. If you could send me the link possibly there is a mistake on the website. I looked but couldn't find the quote you gave. I would recommend two books for you. Right Hand Technique, which has exercises for all the techniques that you mentioned. I would also recommend the ebook Guitar Technique because that will show you with pictures and videos exactly what you should be doing with both hands. Right Hand Technique only deals with the right hand and does include a written description on how to pick with your right hand but a picture or video is worth a thousand words so this is why I recommend both books. |
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| Q | Thank you very much for your offer to help. Here are photos of me fingering G and D chords. |
| A | Thanks for the pictures. That helped me see your situation. First you need to stand up when you play and practice and have the guitar up high enough so when you play the G chord you don't bend your wrist. Second you need to alter the place where the string touches your finger(s). For example, try having the middle finger for the G chord touch further into the finger. This will help you to not dampen the sound of the B on the A string. In general it usually takes people a while to adjust their hands and fingers to find the best combination to make chords sound correctly so keep moving your fingers around and you will find the right combination. Also the guitar you are using has a pretty thin neck so you might go to a music store and try a guitar with a wider neck, this would also help your situation. |
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| Q | I'd like a little advice on what books to purchase. Right now, I am a beginner. I am working through Hal Leonard's Play Guitar Today series which basically teaches the user to read in 1st position, a little in 5th position, delves into chords a bit, technique, and a bit on theory (scales, etc). After I complete those books, I want to keep up my studies. I've been looking at Leavitt's Modern method for guitar, David Oakes's music reading for guitar, Leavitt's Reading studies for guitar, and of course your books. What I want to do is to keep developing my ability to read music on the guitar but to further my knowledge in theory as well. I want to know how (and to recognize when) to read in different positions, recognize things like different keys, develop my knowledge of scales, things of that nature. Single String studies piqued my interest. Will this book teach me reading, position changing, how to transpose, things like that? What about proper rhythm, time signature and music notation? Does SSS cover these things? How far up the fretboard will SSS take me? |
| A | Thanks for contacting me. I've given you a pretty comprehensive look at studying guitar. I'm sure it will be overwhelming but take some time and study what I've said. Most importantly, if you do decide to get serious about this and start working from my recommendations, build up your practice time slowly over a few months. Don't just jump in and overwhelm yourself.
Throughout this email I'll make some recommendations for books that will help you: 1. Learn read music on the guitar 2. Learn to read in different positions, 3. Recognize things like different keys 4. Develop your knowledge of scales 5. Include additional suggestions and assignments I'll first make some comments of the books you mentioned. I'm not familiar with David Oakes's book. Leavitt's Modern Method and his sight reading books I both learned out of when I was at Berklee and taught from when I taught at Berklee. I have to say I'm not totally in love with these books and that's one of the main reasons I wrote my own methods. I would say in general it is good to own and have worked through Leavitt's books because it does show you how to develop reading in one position and gives you little reading exercises, shows you the 5 position scales. On the other hand: 1. I don't believe reading in position is always the best thing to do. As a professional guitarist most music I play is not stay in one diatonic key so the position play is a hindrance rather than a help. Of course if all you every play is diatonic music position playing is fine. 2. I think learning scales in only 5 positions isn't the total picture. I teach scales starting in all 7 positions with 3 notes on every string. I find this method helps to open up the guitar fretboard in a more linear fashion. You can download my scales for free at http://www.arnoldjazz.com/workshop/wslinks.html#SCALES 3. Leavitt's book does teach you about scales, chords and music theory. But honestly, just because you read something in a book doesn't mean you know it the way you will need to use it. It's kind of like if you read a book about speaking French and it explained all the words and how they are put together into sentences. You still wouldn't be able to speak French because you need to apply and use the information. This is were the Leavitt books fall short because once your at Berklee College they give you the exercises to help you apply the information. I guess they feel if they include this information in book form students wouldn't have any need to go to the school. This of course would be short sighted because Berklee can add so much more to your education but most students don't think that deeply. So this brings me to what I would recommend. I'm going to give you a rather large list here so don't think I'm just trying to get you to buy a million books I just want to set out a course of study for you over the next few years so you can develop into a great guitarist. The amount of this that you can work through at any given time will depend of how much time you have to practice everyday. To develop yourself I think you need to explore the following things: 1. Make sure your guitar technique is correct so you don't go off learning a bunch of stuff only to find later that your technique was flawed and have to start over. 2. Develop you ability to play any chord and read through chord charts that either give you chord voicings or chord symbols 3. Develop your music theory in relation to understanding all commonly used chords and scales and have a working knowledge of this information on the guitar fretboard. 4. Develop your knowledge of the fretboard in conjunction with reading music in time. 5. Develop your overall sight reading skills. 6. Develop an ability to play and apply all the scales you need for improvising which will also help with your overall technique and sight reading skills. Now here are the books I would recommend for each of the points above. I've also given you a more detailed explanation below. These books would be what I would begin with: 1. Guitar Technique ebook 2. Chord Workbook for Guitar Volume One 3. Music Theory Workbook for Guitar Volume One and Two 4. Single String Studies for Guitar Volume One 5. LINES Sight Reading and Sight Singing Exercises 6. Rhythm Primer Here is a more detailed explanation with practice tips: 1. Get Guitar Technique ebook so you can see how to play correctly with both hands. 2. Get Chord Workbook for Guitar Volume One. Start learning the chords cycle 5 as suggested in the book and as soon as possible start learning the chord progressions in the back of the book. You want to learn both the chord symbol and chord voicing examples for each exercise. You can also find examples of me playing these progressions at: http://www.muse-eek.com/books/chord1/mp3.html 3. I would recommend working through both Music Theory Workbook for Guitar Volumes One and Two. I'd do a page out of each book a day if possible. This course of study will take you about a year but you will know all chord types everywhere on the guitar and all of the important scales used in music 4. Single String Studies will help you develop your knowledge of the fretboard in conjunction with reading music in time. Keep in mind that this book is hard and will take you some time before you can play any of the exercises completely correct. Most students find they have to work through this book at least two times before things start to click so be patient. Start with metronome on 60 and give yourself two clicks for each note. The first exercises are all on one string. I would recommend going through the book as follows: C major low E string exercise C major A string C major D string C major G string C major B string C major high E string Then start the process over in the key of F. Do the all strings study after completing all single string studies. Try to work towards not looking at the fretboard but feeling where each note is. 5. LINES would be a good book to get you reading in all keys. Read first four pages of each key as fast as possible. Half equals 132 would be a good place to start. Once you work through the book start reading the 2 note examples at a slower tempo like quarter equals 60. I would work on these two exercises through all keys in this book. Try to do one key a week. 6. Rhythm Books First you need to understand how rhythms are written out. There is a file in the member's area which explains the basic of rhythm and how to write out various types of rhythm. You need to develop your recognition of rhythms written on a page and also learn and internalize what they sound like. I would recommend you start working through the rhythm series of books in order to gain this ability. The rhythm books have midi files with them so you can play along with a file. This will help you know if you are playing the rhythms correctly. Start with Rhythm Primer and follow the directions given in the book. Overtime you want to work through the following rhythm books to fully develop your sight reading skills. The books are in order: Rhythm Primer Rhythms Volume One Rhythms Volume Two Odd Meters Rhythms Volume Three Contemporary Rhythms Volume One Contemporary Rhythms Volume Two Scales Remember we are just doing an introduction to all these scales they don't have to be fast but they need to be consistent and Gb major should be as strong as C major. You need to go to www.arnoldjazz.com and the music workshop and download the 19 scales. You want to learn a new scale each week. You are going to first work your way through all the C modes so first C major all positions then C dorian positions etc. Remember we are learning note names and degrees here not just fingering positions. I would pay close attention to your technique and look in a mirror to check out your hand. Reference the Guitar Technique book and be anal about this because the more relaxed and close to the neck your hand is the better you are going to play. You also want to spend time playing/improvising with thes scales. Use the midifiles and progressions connected to the book or create your own. Download the applying music theory article from the member's area this will give you other ideas on sequencing scales. You can also use the midifile from the 2nd Music Theory book which are downloadable at: http://www.muse-eek.com/books/mtwbforguit2/midi.html You can also use flash cards to test yourself. Make the following flash cards: 1 set with list of all 19 scales. 1 set with degrees 1-7. 1 set with all keys. SIDE NOTE: Augment reading out of these recommended books with books that you check out of your local library or other sources. Remember to read as many types of music and manuscripts as you can find. SOME ADDITIONAL INFORMATION If at some point you want to study reading like a freshman majoring in music here is the assignments and books given for any student entering NYU as a jazz guitar major: 1. Go to the member's area and download the file 'beat reading.' Find some music at home or from a local library and do the beat reading 10 minutes a day. 2. Rhythm Primer: start with first pages. You want to work these exercises up to a very fast tempo. I'm talking like 120 bpm for a measure (so a whole measure goes by in one beat of the metronome). Obviously your not going to start there but start where your comfortable and speed up the exercise each day. Read from this book for 5 minutes then move on. Just one page a week. 3. Rhythms Volume One: Three pages a week. First read through the 3 pages. Over time you want to start using the metronome on beats 2 and 4 rather than every beat or 1 and 3. Isolate the measures you have problem with after reading all the way through and work on them. Do this for 10 minutes. 4. Rhythms Volume Two is the same as Volume One except you will use the metronome on every beat. 5. Single String Studies for Guitar Volume One can drive ya nuts so be patient with this book. One page a week, don't look at the fretboard, use the midifiles on the muse-eek.com website to let you know if you are correct or not. Start REAL slow. Don't worry if you make a lot of mistakes this will improve overtime. Make sure you're standing when you work with this book. This should be 5 to 10 minutes of practice. You want to move through the book by keys so first do low E string in C then A string in C, etc.. 6. LINES will be one key a week (10 pages). Obviously you will be able to read through the first 4 pages much easier than the pages with double stops etc. If you have to play the multiple note chords really slow that's totally cool. You'll see over time you'll just start to remember the shapes. Should be about 10 minutes of practice. 7. As you get better with the reading you also want to add in reading just any kind of music you can find and vary it as much as you can. I'm working on a new section of the website with downloadable pdfs of music to sight read but this may be awhile. EVEN MORE INFORMATION This is the assignment sent out to NYU guitar students to prepare for entry into NYU Assignments: Suggested Work for entry into NYU performance program You want to read one hour a day. 10 minutes or so from each of these books. If you have time left over read classical music, transcribed solos and any other music you can find. It is good to look at lots of different types of scores to train your eye to deal with multiple manuscript styles. 1. Chord Workbook for Guitar Volume: learn one chord progression starting on page 107 a week (use a swing/blues feel). Use metronome markings from book but make them half notes rather than quarters so the progression on page 107 would be a half note equals 80. Put the metronome on 2 and 4. You will be expected to play the progression by yourself and also solo over these changes while someone else comps for you. Learn to read chord voicings for this chord progression which is located on page 131. We usually do the reading of the actually chord voicings slower so say half note equals 60. You should go to the address below to hear me playing these progressions so you know what I'm looking for: http://www.muse-eek.com/books/chord1/mp3.html 2. Rhythms Volume #1 Read 3 pages a day, play rhythms on one note at half equals 80, metronome will be on 2 and 4. This will be with a swing feel. You can hear some examples at: http://www.muse-eek.com/books/rhythm1/mp3.html We are shooting for a half note equals 120 with this book. Start where you are comfortable but always have the metronome on 2 and 4. If you are going to tap your foot tap it on 1 and 3 or not at all. 3. Rhythms Volume #2: 3 pages a day, play rhythms on one note. We are shooting for quarter equals 120 with this book. Start where you are comfortable. Metronome should be quarter notes. You should tap your foot with the quarters or not at all. 4. Single String Studies for Guitar Volume #1: Read one page a week and be patient with yourself this is a hard book, play exercise on one string, start somewhere at around quarter equals 50 with the metronome on each beat. Try not to look at the neck to find notes. You can find audio files to help you make sure you are playing correctly at: http://www.muse-eek.com/books/sst1/midi.html 5. Rhythm Primer Pages 3 Pages a day. These are easier rhythms so the idea is to get your eye moving through music quicker so shoot for a whole note equals 200 on the first 6 pages or so. Once you get into the eight note studies slow the metronome down to around a half equals 120. 6. LINES: Read first four pages of each key as fast as possible. Half equals 132 would be a good place to start. If that is fine then start reading the 2 note examples at a slower tempo like quarter equals 60. I would work on these two exercises through all keys in this book. Try to do one key a week. ********************* Jury requirements: I'd like you to get through the 19 most commonly used scales in improvising. You can find a list with fingerings at: http://www.arnoldjazz.com/workshop/wslinks.html#SCALES All keys all degrees. Learn it by the notes not the patterns. Technique is extremely important here so if you can send a video before starting that would be great. I would learn the scales all in one key and then move to another so. C major then C dorian then C phrygian. etc... The learn them all in F, Bb, Eb, Ab, Db, Gb, B, E, A, D, G. Use flash cards to check yourself so: 7 cards for degrees of scale (there are 6 and 8 notes in some of the scales but just use 7 cards) 12 cards for the keys 19 cards for the modes You turn over a degree card it says 5th You turn over a key card and it says Gb You turn over a mode card and it says Dorian b2 So you play a Gb Dorian b2 scale from the 5th. These scales do not have to be fast but should be played consistently from beginning to end without stopping. ************************* Ear Training: Get: Ear Training One Note Complete Fanatic's Guide to Ear Training Follow the concepts laid out in the book. Go to the muse-eek.com website and read the FAQs. http://www.muse-eek.com/books/ET_1_note_complete/eartrngfaq.html http://www.muse-eek.com/books/fanaticsguide/lower.html Try to do work out of both of these books about 5 times a day for about 10 minutes. It would actually be a great idea to get these two books soon. The ear training process takes quite a while. Email me if you have questions. If you can get a head start on this stuff it's going to make a major difference in your ability and your work-load at NYU. As I'm sure you know it's hard to find time to practice when you are in school so getting some of this basic stuff together before hand will help us concentrate on the hipper stuff. |
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| Q | I had multiple tendonitis, and other muscle inflammation in arms, neck, back and shoulders, and some nerve damage (from prolonged compression). So it was a multi-dimensional problem coming not just from bad guitar technique, but many other areas such as bad posture in daily life, bad diet, not enough water, stress, computer use, other uses of the hand that contributed to it. But bad guitar technique was definitely one of them. Over the 6-7 months that I was not able to touch the guitar, I eliminated most of my bad habits such as those mentioned above and it really has made a big difference along with getting physical therapy.
My old technique was as follows: right hand wrist rested on bridge with all movement coming from wrist, and left hand wrist was bent much more than it should have been. Also, I pressed down with the left hand fingers much harder than is needed. Shoulders were also shrugged. But I have taken all this into consideration and worked with my therapist on correct technique and posture. By the way, she was very delighted to read your right hand technique book, especially for the fact that someone actually described how to move the arm and hand, not just say 'use alternate picking and practice slowly.' My main confusion is just where to start in getting back to playing. I am feeling much better now and am OK'd by the doctor to start playing again, but I just don't know where my focus should be. Unfortunately, it seems like coming back from injury puts one at rank beginner, if even that, because the risk of injury coming back is so great. One more thing I should mention is that about a year before this all started I really picked up the amount of time spent practicing to about 5-6 hours daily. So I'm sure going through 5-6 hours of practice with bad technique pushed things over the edge. So that's where I am as of now. By the way, I just wanted to say that I really, really appreciate you willing to help me out on this. Not only are your books great, but the fact that one can get in contact with you about questions is quite wonderful. |
| A | I would recommend the follow path to get back up and running.
Start with the Right Hand Technique book and do the beginning exercises for proper elbow movement and then work into the exercises for proper forearm movement. I would start off with shorter practice sessions so that you can make them very concentrated and secondly because many students notice pain after they stop practicing and not while they are practicing. You probably will only need a week or two on the elbow movement because this is just used to get you across the strings while the forearm movement is for actually picking the strings. Once you work up to it I would spend 1/2 hour a day on just right hand technique. You can also use the Rhythm Series of books to help develop your right hand technique. Start with Rhythm Primer and Rhythms Volume One. Remember that when you are changing your technique you are actually changing where your mind sends it's 'rhythm' signals so you need to work on a rhythm method to develop your rhythm in the new muscle groups. After a few weeks of forearm movement exercises I would add in the left hand. I would start with the scales found at: http://www.arnoldjazz.com/workshop/wslinks.html#SCALES Work 3 notes per string and use the techniques found in the Guitar Technique Ebook http://www.muse-eek.com/books/guitartech/lower.html To start the scales I want you to do an exercise to develop a light feel on the neck. I want you to start with the C major scale starting on the F on the low E string. Press on the F and pick 10 times as you slowly push the string onto the fret. On the 10th time the note F should sound out clearly. Continue up and down the scale in this manner. It will take forever to finish the scale but will help you develop a very light feel because you will know exactly how hard you need to push on each note to make it sound. I would spend a few weeks on this before moving on to playing the scales in a regular fashion. Once again develop this slowly with short practice sessions (10 to 15 minutes). You actually can put in as many 10 to 15 minute sessions as you want just so you wait an hour or so between sessions. Over time you can lengthen your sessions up to 20 minutes but I would make it a habit of taking at least a few minutes for break after 20 minutes as a general rule. When you feel up to it I would begin working with some chord exercises. I would start with the chord progressions found in the Chord Workbook for Guitar Volume One. Try to learn one progression a week. It you find you are pressing too hard with the chords, use the same scale/note pressing technique on the chords. |
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| Q | I unfortunately do not have the ability to videotape. For the last few days, however, I have been spending LOTS of time just trying to find the 'exact' position for me in terms of holding the guitar. The classical position is uncomfortable for me so far, but I am experimenting with it and am starting to get closer to an exact position for me. Sitting the casual style with the guitar on the right leg simply does not work for me, everything gets thrown off whack, and so sitting in classical style is something I will have to get used to. This leads to one last question regarding the subject of technique. Well not so much a question, but just I want to get my understanding correct. I will below describe my understanding of the technique of both hands based on what I gathered from the Guitar Technique E-Book, Right Hand Technique, and some other stuff you have at arnoldjazz.com. Could you let me know if I have the correct ideas?
Left Hand - The idea is to sort of keep a rested position for the hand. So, the wrist is in neutral position most of the time and fingers are not spread out, but just sort of relaxed, and only in special situations (large interval trills, certain chord voicings, etc...) does the left hand come out of this neutral or rested position. Second, great attention should be paid to make sure one is only pressing the minimum amount when pressing notes with the left hand. Right Hand - The area right below the elbow, or upper forearm area, is the only place where the arm touches the guitar, and the rest is free floating. And there should be no movement from the wrist, but the wrist should be kept relaxed, so the wrist moves, but I just do not move FROM the wrist. The motion for picking is almost like how one would turn a car key to start the engine, or like you said, turning a doorknob. This forearm movement turns the hand, which then moves the pick back and forth. And string to string playing comes from the elbow, or if between 2 strings, perhaps a larger arc from the forearm. And pick should only be held tight enough so it doesn't fall out of the hand. I guess most of this stuff seems like common sense, but I just wanted to make sure I understood everything from your books as best as possible, as I certainly am not looking to injure myself again. |
| A | I think you got everything correct except I think you should stand when you play and practice. I actually had a lot of problems with my shoulder until I started standing when I played and practiced. Standing makes sense from many perspectives especially because this is the usual way you will perform so why not practice that way too. |
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| Q | I've been looking through the guitar technique eBook I bought this week, I feel it addresses many concerns I had. Once I figure out some sort of schedule of practice I will start. I do have trouble figuring out what would be best to practice each day and how often. I also will probably purchase some of the ear training books, but am not sure how much to dedicate to those. Also, I helped my brother buy a bass guitar, which he is very interested in. He's had it for a year, and I find the direction your books give that address subtle details not obvious to a self-learned musician would be beneficial applied to the bass guitar as well. Would any of your current bass guitar books have advice similar to the examples in the Guitar Technique eBook, but applied to the differences in playing bass? My brother is fairly beginner, he has had no previous ear training (like me), knows only very basic theory, and he mostly just practices playing and making up bass lines. Maybe some novel practice ideas that are often neglected in other books and instructor courses could help improve more effectively. I'm also interested in singing which would be another good use for the ear training texts. But thank you for your time. This approach to books and teaching ideas in music, this whole correspondence setup is very uplifting. |
| A | I would suggest that you start applying the guitar techniques that I mention first to simple scales. Go to the member's area and look under the scales folder to find scales to practice. To start I would work through all positions of the major scales paying close attention to your technique and watching the videos and comparing them to your technique using a mirror. Don't worry about speed to start with just try to develop good technique, speed will then come over time. Continue working through all the modes in one key. I suggest you do this in conjunction with the Music Theory Workbook for Guitar Volume Two which will have you write out scales and most importantly apply those scales to chord progressions.
It's great that you are getting the Ear Training books too. This is a very important part of developing your musicianship. For your brother I would recommend the guitar technique book too. This goes against the teachings of most bass instructors but I believe as a basic technique it will greatly help any bass player to play without injury. It is just important to understand that the technique I teach in the Guitar Technique book is your "base" technique and there will be certain types of musical phrases that will require you to alter this technique. For instance if you are hammering on and pulling off an F, G and A on the low E string 1st, 3rd and 5th fret. The only way this can be done is to stretch out your fingers. So you can see that there will be places were you alter the technique momentarily. Unfortunately I haven't put out books like Music Theory Workbook for Guitar Volumes One and Two for the bass guitar. Some bassists use them anyway because of course the bottom 4 strings of the guitar are the same as the bass. Other than working within those constraints I would also recommend Single String Studies for Bass Guitar Volume One. This is an extremely challenging book so I wouldn't have him work out of it unless he really has patience. |
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| Q | I figured out what was happening. I already have Adobe reader, but Adobe somehow thinks I need another copy. I just used my regular copy and it proceeded to open all 3 files. (It was seeming like all of the files were requiring an unlock code.) Sorry to trouble you. |
| A | Glad you could figure it out. We get multiple complaints from customers about e-books. We have complained to amazon and to Lightning Source the distributors. Doesn't seem to do any good. If you also complain it could help others in the future.
cust.service03@amazon.com PublicRelations@lightningsource.com If you need any help with the material in the books make sure to contact Mr. Arnold at FAQ@muse-eek.com We are currently adding adding videos for the essentials book so check back in the member's area over the next couple of weeks. The Chord Progressions in the Chord Velocity book are the same as the 1st Steps for a Beginning Guitarist. We have added a huge quantity of videos and mp3 for these progressions. Check in the member's area under "Help files for Chords" then either In 1st Steps Slow MP3 Files or 1st Steps Alternate Chord Progressions you will find tons of video and audio files for the Chord Velocity Book. Also for the Guitar Technique check out the Video Scale Files in the "Help files for Scales" to see example of how each scale should be played. |
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| Q | Are there more pics and videos available with the guitar technique ebook. I already have the currents pics and videos downloaded to hard drive(from 1st steps). |
| A | There aren't any more videos specifically for the Guitar Technique book but I would recommend looking at the Scale Videos in the Help files for Music Theory Workbook for Guitar Volume Two in the member's area. This will allow you to see a lot of scales played with the correct technique. If there are specific questions you have about the guitar technique let me know and we may make videos covering those concerns. |
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| Q | I have been learning the major, major pentatonic and minor pentatonic scales and am trying to use them to improvise. However, I'm not sure how to switch between the different positions in a given scale. For example, if I'm playing a major pentatonic in the position that starts on the 6th degree of the scale on the sixth string, I would easily get lost if I tried to move to a different position like up one position to the position starting with the root. Or even worse, sliding up or down a step in the middle of a position. Is the only solution to keep track in your mind at all times what position you're in? Or am I supposed to know what note/degree of the scale I am playing at all times? Also, do the lead positions come into play in linking the different scale positions? I'm guessing musicians can also know where they are in a scale by ear and that must help tremendously in playing but I do not have that ability right now. There must be some kind of method to this. I only ask because when I study solos written by other artists, I can recognize the notes and position of the scale they are using, but then they start switching/linking positions and I wonder how they know how to do that (other than having it pre-written before playing). I imagine that eventually I would think of the whole scale at one time on the fret board and just selecting to the play the available notes, but it is too early for that. |
| A | This is a common problem that students have. In general you should think of your knowledge of music and the guitar fretboard as if it was a language like english. If you don't know all the words and you need to make a coherent statement then you aren't going to be understood. So the next question is how do you get fluent with a language like music so that you can just play and not have to think about (or think very little about) what you are doing. The answer is you need to know three things:
1. Music Theory so that you understand the structure of let's say the pentatonic scale. By this I don't mean you can kinda say the notes of the scale if given a minute or so I mean you say the notes quickly of any scale in any key and find those notes of the guitar in any position either across the neck or up and down each string quickly. 2. Aural recognition by working with an ear training method that will teach you how to hear notes against a chord progression so that you not only know what notes you are playing but know what they sound like. 3. Technique so that you can easily express yourself on your instrument without your hands hindering your progress. So how do you go about doing this? I've written 3 books that will help you with gaining this ability. Music Theory Workbook for Guitar Volume One for chords and Volume Two for Scales Ear Training One Note Complete Guitar Technique (an ebook see: http://www.muse-eek.com/books/guitartech/lower.html Basically these books give you 100's of exercises to ingrain the aforementioned information into your brain so that it becomes second nature. You may ask "well I'm sure many guitarists haven't used your books and they seem to be able to play OK" This is true and it's because they spent many years working through the same information on their fretboard until they knew how to play. I'm just trying to speed up your ability by giving you concentrated exercises. So this is what I see as your problem and the above books are what I recommend. Most of this work is not fun but it will give you the ability you seek. If you end up getting the books write back and I'll give you a practice schedule. |