Development of Technique

UNT Masterclass Jan 28th 2005

by Noel Johnston

Warm-ups without the guitar; Preventing injuries.

Stretch before you start playing.
If you experience pain while playing, dont immediately stretch let your muscles relax or deflate. If you
stretch while you are tense, you may do damage because you are pulling tendons through inflamed tissue.
1. Arm stretches:
Stretch arms out front; keep shoulders down:

2. Arm circles:
Make circles with your arms; clockwise and counter-clockwise:

Stretch arms to the side; reach far.

3. Hand stretches:

Warm-ups on the guitar; digital patterns; coordination.

To sync up Left hand/Right hand:

Note: This exercise focuses on the weakest finger (4th); dont let fingers flail

Digital Patterns
24 possibilities from 4 fingers:

1234
1243
1324
1342
1423
1432

2341
2431
2413
2134
2314
2143

3412
3124
3241
3421
3142
3214

4123
4312
4132
4213
4231
4321

Be creative with these invent your own exercises find your weakness(es)
Keep an idea book.

Star-Trek Shifters (brainless stuff you can do while watching TV)

1234 (slide up) 4321 (slide up) 1234 etc.

4321 (slide down) 1234 (slide down) 4321 etc.

1234 (go down a string) 1234 etc.

1234 (go up a string) 1234 etc.

4321 (go down a string) 4321 etc

4321 (go up a string) 4321 etc

Cross-string stuff:
You can apply the digital patterns across strings:
For example, the 1234 pattern across strings would be this:

Or, you could do any other pattern across strings, like 1243:

Another variation using the 1234 pattern:

Try this one

Hybrid pattern 1324-3142 and across strings:

Scales:
Dont neglect scales/modes. Keep practicing them. Also, try to change up the pattern when practicing them.
For example: instead of just: 1-2-3-4-5-6-7
Try: 1-3-2-4-3-5-4-6-5-7 etc.
Or: 1-2-3-1-2-3-4-2-3-4-5-3 etc.
Also: try practicing scales up one string, or two strings, or three strings.
1-3-2-4- etc. up & down

1-2-3-1-2-3-4-2- etc. up & down:

3. Speed:
The best way to get faster, cleaner technique is to work at it. There are no shortcuts. Focus on your
weaknesses be your own teacher.
Setting goals for yourself is a good thing to do:
Like: scales at 16th notes @ 160 by August Or playing that transcription of Countdown by the end of
summer.

4. Different ways of practicing with the metronome

Get out of the habit of practicing with the metronome on beats 1-2-3-4 this does you little good as it
merely spoon-feeds the time to you.
You want the groove to come from within you - the metronome should check your time, not make you lazy.
Not only should you practice with the metronome on 2 & 4, but there are other things you can try:
Set it to whole notes starting on beat 4
Set it to half-notes starting on the and of one (swing or straight)
Set it to half notes starting on the a of 2
Set it to dotted half notes
Set it to dotted quarters or eighths
Use you imagination theres plenty you can do other than 2 & 4.

5. Picking; swing
Heres an arpeggio exercise that has helped me. It uses sweep picking and it focuses on the 4th finger
playing adjacent strings. It has tripped me up in the past, so I invented an exercise to strengthen it.

This pattern can also be applied to other arpeggios and their inversions

Swing feel:
A lot of guitar players dont know to accent up-beats or they dont know how.
If you play swing feel and accent down-beats youll sound like youre playing bluegrass, rockabilly or
country not Jazz.
You can help your swing feel in several ways:
Start and end phrases on up-beats.
when playing 8th note passages, ghost the downbeats and accent the upbeats
Change strings on up-beats instead of downbeats
Make it a habit to alternate pick, so that the ghosting/accenting is a consistent part of your body
movement.
Accenting vs. ghosting can come from:
1. Difference in pick tension i.e. how hard/soft your thumb grips the pick.
2. Left hand or right hand muting
3. Picking vs. Hammering on, Pulling off, or sliding to a note.
Try practicing scales with these swing accents:

Do this either by ghosting/accenting with the pick, or by legato phrasing: