The 7 essentials to playing guitar are all laid out and are ideal for beginners to intermediates. If you have any questions visit www.g4guitarmethod.com.au
Picking Technique (Refer to Daily Practice sheet for exercises)
• Brace your right hand. • Hold the pick firm at 90 degrees to the guitar. • Begin in slow motion until you have the picking action correct. • Medium to Hard picks are preferable. No soft picks.
Picking exercises
Ex.1. 6 6 Ex.2. 6 5 Ex.3. 6 5 Ex.4. 6 5 Ex.5. 5 6 D U U D U D D D U U Note: The top number refers to the string and the letters refer to the direction you are picking D =Down U = Up. Remember
• Try to spend a portion of every practice session on improving your picking technique. By focusing on a good picking technique your overall sound and confidence will improve.
• ACCURACY FIRST. Speed without accuracy is messy. Accuracy comes from practicing slowly. Get control of the pick before attempting to play fast. Playing fast is only worthwhile if it’s accurate. You must be able to keep time with a metronome.
• Evenness is the most important element to good picking. The upstrokes should sound like the downstrokes.
• Refer to the Daily Practice sheet. Focus on one exercise per week.
• Use metronome. Begin at 70 bpm and gradually increase speed until hand begins to tense.
• Find a riff (favourite song) and focus on the picking pattern. (forget the lefthand).
• Pair up with someone and pick in time together.
Listening
• Checkout Joe Satriani’s ‘Satch Boogie’
• Police (Sting) ‘Every breath you take’
• John Petrucci -Dream Theatre (Heavy Rock).
• Frank Gambale (Jazz) – he will amaze you. A Picking master.
• Evanescence, Tommy Emmanuel, Steve Morse, Metallica, George Benson
Last words…
Picking is probably the most neglected area of guitar playing yet it is perhaps the most important. In the early stages (1st 12 months) of learning about 50% of your focus should be on picking. If you can’t pick properly you will not advance very far. Make picking a permanent part of your daily practice routine.
Technique • Use the tips of your fingers to hold strings down. • Place fingers close to the fret. • Thumb should support the fingers. • Play each string one at a time to ensure every note is clear.
Remember • Learning chords is about creating a reflex action. Practice it until you no longer need to think about the fretting hand. This will take 1000’s of repetitions. Be patient.
• ACCURACY FIRST. There is no point in having a reflex action that plays a poor or inaccurate sounding chord. Start slowly and take the time to make the chord sound clear. Chords are a huge part of guitar playing. Take the time to get them right.
Exercises
• Beginner: Learn the 3 string versions of C and G7.
• Intermediate: Aim to memorise the essential chords (Majors, minors & 7ths) • Advanced: Begin on Chord construction • ALL STUDENTS to play chord progression to ‘Song of Joy’ (PGM 1 Page 16)
Listening You can’t beat solo acoustic guitar in a folk style for easy chord listening but jazz players are the masters if you want to hear chords at their best. Look for solo guitar artists. Eg, Joe Pass
Introductory Chords. • Senior students should attempt to learn all of the following chords during the first 15 weeks.
• Junior students should focus on the first 4 only. C, G7, G and D7.
Arpeggios (The notes of a chord played in succession either ascending or descending)
• Keep LH finger tips close to the fret board at all times.
• Refer to Chords & LH Technique Week 1.
Remember
• Practicing scales will improve your technique, reading, speed, improvisation and aural skills.
• Evenness is the most important element to practicing scales.
• Make sure you stay aware of your picking technique as you practice the scale. Exercises…
• Beginner—Start on the first string notes E,F & G.
• Intermediate - Break down a scale into 2 or 3 note sequences at a time. Work on crossing strings. Press the notes in harder then you really need to build strength and to toughen the tips of your fingers. Your LH should be sore after you practice just like exercising at the gym.
• Advanced—Explore modes.
Understanding Scales in Notation and Guitar Tab
Guitar tab and is very useful for guitar players as it accurately describes the string and fret location for each note. Below are examples of how we will present scales to you in notation and guitar tab. The lines represent the strings and the numbers represent the fret numbers. For a better understanding please discuss with your teacher.
• Right arm should move from the elbow (Wrist action will come later).
• Usually down on the beat and up off the beat. (exceptions to this will be explained later)
• Strum in one smooth quick motion. Strum up on the same path as down.
• Start as if in slow motion. Get the swinging action of the arm correct before actually strumming with a metronome.
•
Remember
• To take time working on your strumming action. Listen to the sound you are creating. Does it sound clean and even?
• ACCURACY FIRST. Do not try to go fast in the first few months.
• An Even sound is the most important element to good strumming. The upstrokes should sound like the downstrokes.
Strumming exercise. • Begin by moving through the swing action of the right arm in VERY SLOW Motion. Do this for several minutes.
• Strum down and up continuously for 2 minutes using the metronome at 60 bpm.
Rhythm exercises Beginner: Please use the following 3 steps;
1. Tap or clap out the exercise
2. While muting the strings on your guitar strum through the exercise
3. Using a chord play the rhythm but remember to mute the strings on the rests.
Intermediate: As above but use a challenging chord progression.
Advanced: Using the Syncopation book try working with accents in as many ways as possible. If your really serious take up a percussion instrument or drums to help you to focus on rhythm.
Final words… If you want to be a solid rhythm guitarist PRACTICE WITH THE METRONOME. Guitarists in general are poor in the area of rhythm. This often comes as a shock when they try to play in a duo, band etc. If you can play to a metronome then you will have very few problems when it comes to playing in a group. The G4 Guitar Method puts a strong emphasis on rhythm to avoid problems in the future. Please note that we have quality Metronomes for sale.
NOTE: We recommend the Progressive Guitar Method Book available from almost anymusic store. There are many reasons for learning to read music but for our purpose the goal is to learn to sight read. This means you should NOT try to memorise the exercises. This will not help you in the long run. As the songs get longer and more difficult you will fall behind.
Lines—Memorise Every Good Boy Deserves Fruit ( And Chocolate)
Spaces— Spell the word F A C E F A C E
*DO NOT WRITE THE NOTE NAMES ON THE MUSIC.
*Begin with scale practice before attempting reading practice
4 Steps 1. LISTEN • Listen to the CD to get familiar with the melody. Is the melody going up, down or staying the
same?
2. RHYTHM • Start by clapping out the rhythm slowly and evenly with the metronome
3. MELODY • Sing the note names in time with the CD then play the notes on the guitar slowly. 4. COMBINE • When you have mastered the above steps combine the rhythm with the melody slowly until you
can play in time with the CD.
Now its time to PERFORM... • Once you feel confident perform the song for an audience (Family, friends, at school/work,
whoever will listen).
REMEMBER
• Reading music is both a requirement of the G4 course and the AMEB exam
• 5 to 10 minutes each day is all you need to keep improving in the first 6 months
• Keeps your eyes on the music, NOT your hands.
• Make sure you follow the 4 steps each time. It really works!
For more Reading exercises visit our website www.g4guitarmethod.com.au
