miele

Welcome to this first lesson dedicated to lead playing. I will try to show you some techniques that will learn you to become a better guitarplayer. Don't expect that you will play "Satriani"-solos tomorrow. Guitarplaying takes time and some dedication.


In this first lesson, i don't want you to pick up the guitar right away. First i'm going to learn you "how" to practice, as i see that still many young guitarists learn in a wrong way.


PRACTICING


I will give you some pointers first on how to practice the licks and exercises i will give you in further lessons.


1. Slow down
Playing fast and sloppy is easy, playing fast and accurate is something else. Play as fast as your fingers let you without making mistakes. In other words, play slow at first and gradually play faster. Practicing with a metronome helps a lot.


If you practice something too fast and play the exercise too fast, you'll only be teaching your fingers the wrong things...


If you practice slow, and "show" your fingers how the exercise is really done; your fingers will "remember" where to go.


2. Avoid mental blocks
Don't play with too much pressure. If you have been trying something for 10 times without success, and you are thinking: "i have to play it this time", you'll just get frustrated. If you get in this situation, put your guitar down for 10 minutes and then try again.


Practicing in a stress-situation is not good.


3. Don't practice the same exercise too long
Don't play something over and over for too long. If you do this, your
practicing will get worse over time. Play something different now and then, and then go back to the initial exercise. A sportsman has to rest now and then too...


If your hand, or something else starts hurting during an exercise, stop
immediately. It's not necessary to damage your muscles.


Voila, these are my practicing tips. You don't have to follow them, but i strongly advise you to. You'll get better a lot faster if you follow these tips. I surely did...


Exercise 1: FINGER INDEPENDENCE


This is a pretty important exercise to learn solo-guitar. For a advanced
guitarplayer this is pretty easy, but for beginner's it's a must to learn. Without your left fingers and right hand being able to play together, you'll never play solos.


Important in this exercise is ACCURACY and NOT SPEED!! So practice this slow and without making mistakes.


Concentrate on: - Keep your fingers close to the strings (distance means time!)
- Fret the strings right just before a fret
- Fret with your fingertips
- Lift each finger as the next comes down


Pick the first note on a string and hammer the next ones. (H is hammer-on, P pull-off)


Make sure you use ALL 4 fingers. Index, middle, ringfinger and pinky.


----------------------------------------------------------------------------1-H-2-H-3-H-4----
-------------------------------------------------------------1-H-2-H-3-H-4-------------------
----------------------------------------------1-H-2-H-3-H-4----------------------------------
-------------------------------1-H-2-H-3-H-4-------------------------------------------------
----------------1-H-2-H-3-H-4----------------------------------------------------------------
-1-H-2-H-3-H-4-------------------------------------------------------------------------------



-5-P-4-P-3-P-2-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------5-P-4-P-3-P-2----------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------5-P-4-P-3-P-2-------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------4-----------5-P-4-P-3-P-2----------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------5-P-4-P-3-P-2-------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------------5-P-4-P-3-P-2----



-3-H-4-H-5-H-6-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------3-H-4-H-5-H-6----------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------3-H-4-H-5-H-6-------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------3-H-4-H-5-H-6----------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------3-H-4-H-5-H-6-------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------------3-H-4-H-5-H-6----



-7-P-6-P-5-P-4-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------7-P-6-P-5-P-4----------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------7-P-6-P-5-P-4-------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------7-P-6-P-5-P-4----------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------7-P-6-P-5-P-4-------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------------7-P-6-P-5-P-4----


and so on...


You can try this exercise in other variations too. For example
hammer-ons/pull-offs with the first, second and fourth finger (leaving the 3rd out). I'm sure you can find much more.

I hope i could help you out a bit.
More lessons to come when i have the time...
You can always beg me for more...maybe it will help

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benjmc

Really great idea...I now have a desire to come to the beginner's forum cos I'm sure I'll learn something helpful...so yea...keep 'em coming

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FuzzyBear

hey this could be the dumbest question of time, but whats a metronome, ive heard the word used in quite a few online lessons but have no idea what it means

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