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A Math Rock Oriented Technique, Music Theory & Exercise Guidebook

By Stephen Hazel (Let’s Talk About Math Rock)

Hello, Steve here, hope you are doing well. In this guide you will find guitar techniques and
music theory information for math rock guitar stylings and for styles often associated with math
rock. In addition, the content of this guide is beneficial for becoming a better all rounded
musician. It is aimed at those new to the style of math rock guitar, and for those nearing the
intermediate phase. However, no matter where you are in your guitar learning journey, I am
sure you will find this guide useful. Thank you for supporting my work, and for supporting the
continuing creation of this guide. I hope you will find it both useful and engaging.

I have made video examples of each exercise, giving you a visual and auditory reference to help
with understanding. So, if you are stuck with how an exercise is played, you can consult the
video. You will see links for each video beneath each exercise. Each example is played at
75bpm, making it easier to digest. However, if you find this too quick, I recommend slowing the
videos using the playback speed option.

Follow this link to get PDFs and Guitar Pros of all the exercises in this guide.

Best of luck,

Stephen Hazel

Please note that this is all my own approach to teaching math rock and related styles, so there
are likely to be things missing or possibly things that you may or may not agree with. Thank
you.
Focus

Before we begin, I would like to address something I believe to be of great importance to

practicing guitar. That is, focus your attention on what it is you are practicing, and what it is you
are writing. That may sound easy and perhaps obvious, but you will be surprised how much this
helps, and how not focusing hampers your own personal progress. By focusing, I mean being
present in the moment you are playing and/or practicing. By doing this you will not only play
better, but you will notice things you would otherwise miss if your attention were focused in
other places. An hour of focused practice, in which you are paying attention to your hands, how
things feel and sound, the piece you are practicing, or the piece you are writing, is much better
than three or four hours of unfocused regularly interrupted practice. With this in mind, I implore
you to try to focus your attention on your guitar when you are practicing, if you feel your mind
wandering and you feel sleepy this is because your mind is elsewhere. Try to do this with
whatever amount of time you are willing to practice and/or spend on writing. I aim for an hour
every day, and I find this to be quite effective. So, put aside thoughts of things to do, games to
play, friends to chat with, work, and so on, for some focused practice. By doing so, hopefully
you will soon start to notice improvements in your own abilities. Anyway, enough preaching,
let’s get stuck in!
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Contents
Section 1 – Techniques Often Employed in Math Rock
Segment 1.A - Finger Tapping Pgs. 4 – 14
How to Practice 4
What Guitar Techniques Should You Know to Play Math Rock? 4
Finger Tapping Technique Guidance 5
Two Handed Tapping & Alternating Finger Tapping & Exercises 9
Two Handed Finger Tapping Exercises in Context 11
Finger Tapping with Chords & Exercises 12
Finger Tapping with Chords Exercises in Context 14
Segment 1.B – Finger Style Pgs. 14 – 18
Developing Dexterity & Finger Strength & Exercises 15
Finger Picking Patterns & Exercises 15
Finger Control + Plucking Chords & Exercises 16
Finger Picking Exercises in Context 17
Segment 1.C – Hybrid Picking Pgs. 19 - 21
Hybrid Picking Dexterity & Strength Development Exercises 19
Hybrid Picking Dexterity & Strength Development Exercises in Context 21
General Technique 21

Section 2 - Practical Music Theory & Alternative Tunings

Segment 2.A - Understanding Basic Music Theory & Chords Pgs. 22 - 52
What Music Theory Should You Know to Best Learn/Play Math Rock? 22
Music Theory Basics 23
Extended Chords 25
Suspended Chords 35
Major and Minor Six, and Six/Nine Chords 39
Extended Shell Chord Voicings 42
Chord Progressions & Mixing Chord Types 45
Chord Progressions 45
Functional Popular Diatonic Chord Progressions 46
Chord Progressions Containing Borrowed Chords 49

Segment 2.B - Alternative Tunings Pgs. 52 - 75

Alternative Tunings Overview & General Guidance 53
Chords for FACGCE Tuning 57
FACGCE Chord Progressions in Context 60
FACGCE Arpeggios 61
FACGCE Ideas in Context 65
Chords For DAEAC#E Tuning 66
DAEAC#E Chord Progressions in Context 69
DAEAC#E Arpeggios 72
DAEAC#E Ideas in Context 75

Section 3 – Tools for Writing

Segment 3.A – Mastering the Neck Pgs. 76 - 84
Finding Notes Quickly – The Octave Method 76
Visualizing the Neck in Shapes – The Arpeggio Method 78
Major Seven Arpeggio Shapes 78
Minor Seven arpeggio Shapes 80
Dominant Seven Arpeggio Shapes 81
Minor Seven Flat Five Arpeggio Shapes 82
Arpeggios – Examples Riffs & Licks 82
Segment 3.B – Functional Strumming Patterns Pgs. 84 - 89
Functional Math Rock Strumming Patterns in 4/4 Time 84
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Section 1: Guitar Techniques Often Attributed to Math Rock

How to practice
Before we get into the thick of math rock guitar techniques, I want to give what I believe to be
an effective practice strategy. An effective way to approach learning a new technique, or even
to improve a technique you have learnt is by generating as many errors as possible. This may
sound counterintuitive, but this is essentially how we improve at any skill; the brain processes
the errors after each practice session so when you come back to practice the next time, we will
see improvements in that skill. Therefore, you should aim to generate as many repetitions as
possible of the thing you are practicing in the time you dedicate to practicing that skill. In our
case, this would be the technique you are practicing, and the exercises you are using to
improve the given technique. Thinking this way provides another important impetus for why a
metronome should be used; it will force you to generate more repetitions of the exercise,
resulting in the generation of more errors per unit time. I should mention that the metronome,
at first, should be set at a level that you can play comfortably, then gradually increase the
tempo (usually 3bpm at a time) to where you cannot comfortably play the exercise. This is the
optimal level for improvement as you will be generating more errors in your repetitions forcing
your neural plasticity to adapt to this new change, and hopefully by the next practice session
that BPM you were struggling with will now be easier and your technique should be cleaner. In
addition, it does not matter what you focus on when practicing a technique (skill) as long as
there is a specific focus on one thing. For example, you could spend the practice session of a
particular technique focusing on the movement of one of your hands, or you could focus on
the positioning of one of your hands for that practice session, noticing where there is least
resistance, what is most comfortable, etc. This way, you can focus on separate parts of your
technique per each practice session, which will result in a solid overall technique. In sum, I hope
that you will try this practice strategy for the following techniques and given exercises, and after
each practice session just to spend a few minutes doing nothing to give your brain a chance to
reflect on what has just been practiced. Best of luck!

What Guitar Techniques Should You Know to Play Math Rock?

The following guitar techniques are what I believe will assist you in learning & playing math rock
(In no particular order):

• Alternate Picking
• Strumming Techniques
• Legato Techniques: hammer-ons, pull-offs, legato slides, etc
• Bends
• Harmonics: natural, tapped, artificial
• Vibrato
• Muting: palm muting & string muting (this one is important!)
• String Skipping
• Staccato
• Finger Picking
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• Finger Tapping
• Hybrid Picking (to a lesser extent)

The latter three techniques are applied somewhat differently by math rock guitarists and have
become associated with the style. Therefore, these three techniques will be the focus of the
following section. (Please note that I will not be focusing on the other techniques listed as there
are plenty of learning materials that do a better job than I could.)

Also, it is worth knowing that this is just one half of the picture, meaning we also need to learn
the applied music theory of math rock style music (we will tackle this in section 2). In short, one
needs to learn both the techniques and relevant music theory to play/write math rock effectively.

1.A - Finger Tapping

Finger tapping is considered a staple of math rock guitar techniques by many. It is widely
employed in the style, and in similar styles that are often attributed to math rock (emo revival,
Midwest emo, math core, neo soul and so on). The technique is employed somewhat differently
when compared to more conventional forms of finger tapping, and this difference is what
makes it unique to mathy styles of guitar playing.

I can only speculate on its rise in prominence, perhaps it is due to wanting to play rhythm and
lead guitar at the same time, or it could simply just be to look flashy. Either way, it can sound
excellent when done right and look hella (pun intended) impressive too! It has developed into
being as synonymous with the style as much as odd time signatures has come to be.

Here is a list of a few guitarists whom of which regularly employ the technique in their writing
and playing.

Yvette Young (Covet)

Tim Collis (TTNG)

Brock Benzel (Invalids)

Dylan Mattheisen (Tiny Moving Parts)

Marcos Mena (Standards)

Ichika Nito

Nick Reinhart (Tera Melos)

In the following section you will find exercises, technique pointers, and handy tips to get you on
your way to tapping like a mathematical pro!

Finger Tapping Technique Types Explored

- For this segment we will be exploring two handed tapping & tapping with chords.
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Below is a tablature key so you know which hand to be using for tapping in each exercise.

tap with your fretting hand (hammer on from nowhere)

tap with your strumming hand

Finger Tapping Technique (what to watch/pointers)

Evenness of tapping: try to keep volumes even as possible at first (this is particularly challenging
to do!). Later, you can experiment with dynamics in your tapping, but first I recommend trying
to be as dynamically even as possible because this will improve your control.

Developing finger strength balance: I recommend spending more time on your ring and little
fingers (for both hands) to help balance your finger strength better. The exercise below is a
good place to start practicing both evenness and developing finger strength.

For the fifth to eighth frets, tap with your fretting hand, and for the ninth to twelfth use your
strumming hand. Once you are comfortable on one string, try moving up and down all the
strings. Make sure you are tapping each note for the allotted time (an 8th note) and each note is
sounding correctly.

1.A - Evenness in Tapping Exercise

General Finger Strength

Usually, you will find your fretting hand is stronger and feels more developed for tapping than
your strumming hand, this is because it has spent more time on the fretboard. Your finger
strength will improve the more you practice anything that employs the finger tapping
technique, so I would not fret about this too much.

Tip: If you’re like me and you would like to work on finger strength while you’re at work and/or
when traveling, I recommend getting a finger strength trainer like this one:
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Finger Tapping Dexterity Development

Along with general finger strength this is something that will improve the more you practice
finger tapping, however, I recommend the following exercises for developing dexterity and
strength in your fingers. In addition, I use this as a warmup exercise for finger tapping (play at a
slow speed when warming up).

This exercise is adapted from a John Petrucci exercises a guitar teacher shown me years ago. It
has some good stretches and notice how the exercises becomes inverse of itself as it progresses
and arrives back at the original fingering at the beginning of the repeat. I have added which
fingers you should be using next to each note head in the exercise. Here is a key for which
numbers refer to which finger on your fretting hand:

1.B - Finger Tapping Dexterity Stretching Exercise for Fretting Hand

Tip: when tapping, use the underside of your index finger (See picture below) to mute
unwanted string ring (when you’re not using it to tap of course!) by touching strings that could
potentially ring. You are not to push down, just apply a light pressure for it to be enough to
stop unwanted strings from ringing out. This is something you should develop if you have not
already because it will make your tapping sound much cleaner. In addition, when you are
tapping on higher strings, G, B, or E for example, you should lightly rest the palm of your
strumming hand on the lower strings to mute them.
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For the strumming hand, we have the same exercises but higher up the fretboard as this is
more common territory for that hand. It will feel awkward at first, and you will probably hit
some bum notes, nevertheless, persevere, it will get better, trust me!

Once again, I have added which fingers you should be using next to each note head on the tab,
and here is a key for which letter refer to which finger of your strumming hand (think piMac):

1.C - Finger Tapping Dexterity Stretching Exercise for Strumming Hand

Tip: use your other hand to mute unwanted string ring by placing it above your strumming
hand (that is doing the tapping) and touch the strings lightly to mute them.

Tip: for your strumming hand try placing your ring finger on top of your little finger when
tapping with your little finger, you will find this gives it a bit more force and will result in a
cleaner tap.

Hand/Wrist Positioning for Finger Tapping

To mitigate any unnecessary strain to your fingers, hands, or wrists I have a few tips to help!

Try to keep your fretting hand’s wrist straight as possible, it is not always possible but aim to
keep it so. See the picture below for clarification.
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For your strumming hand, try to get your hand in-line with your fretboard (see left picture
below for clarification) so that your hand and fingers are facing towards the nut of your guitar.
You will find this more comfortable and easier to play than having you hand and fingers
perpendicular to the fretboard. I like to anchor my thumb on the top side of the fretboard when
finger tapping for stability, but this is not always an option (see the picture on the right below
for clarification).

If you would like some more clarification, I show some pointers for good finger tapping
technique in this video.

Two Handed Tapping & Alternating Finger Tapping

Two handed tapping mainly consist of alternating tapping (alternating between each hand
when tapping). This is the most prominent version of tapping employed by math rock guitarists.
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However, sometimes you may find yourself tapping notes at the same time with both hands!
And, in my opinion, this is much more challenging to do! For example, try this section to my
cover of Santa Claus is coming to town as an example (exercise 1.d) and reflect on how it feels. I
find it is much harder to get the brain to think about tapping two notes simultaneously. A tip to
make this easier is to learn each part separately, then combine the two.

1.D - Two Handed Tapping at the Same Time Exercise

Tip: as mentioned, with many two-handed tapping parts it may be easier to master each part
individually (left hand part and right hand part) and then combine the two parts.

Below you will find a bunch of exercises aimed at improving your two-handed tapping
technique. In a later section, we will explore chords, arpeggios, and scales to create finger
tapping ideas, but for now let’s concentrate on getting better at the technique.

Exercise 1.E goes easy on the strumming hand and has a small ascending and descending
pattern in it.

1.E - A Two-handed Tapping Exercise to Get You Started

Exercise 1.f is built around a major seven arpeggio. It starts with two notes and adds an extra
note in each bar that follows. This is a good exercise to demonstrate simply how you can break
an arpeggio into parts for tapping ideas.

1.F - A Major 7 Arpeggio Shape Tapping Exercise

Exercise 1.G is based around extended seven chord arpeggios. I have split each arpeggio
between both hands. As each bar progresses a new arpeggio of the major scale is introduced.
Take your time with each bar, then glue it all together when you are comfortable with each
individual arpeggio.