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    40 views12 pages

    New 10 Hour Workout

    Uploaded by

    Nikko Nobleza

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF or read online from Scribd
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    of 12
    Steve Vai's Bera to Virtuoso Enlightenment’ y 1 “How to Destroy Your Pop Career in One Easy Le taal heel iN CCL mesa an ee eta n 1990 I sat down with Guitar World for an interview, from which my 10-Hour Guitar Workout was extracted. When GW recently asked me to revise the workout, I decided to rewrite the program entirely in order to incorporate more of the wisdom I've gathered over the years. Imust have accumulated a lot of wisdom in 14 years, because what [have responded with is my new 30-Hour Guitar Workout. Compared with its predecessor, this program provides a more complete overview of elements that may help to balance a player's focus. FROM MY EXPERIENCE, I've found | Linear/Alternate Picking Exercises there are, in general, three types of | pune Rede guitarists: casual players who may use the the guitar solely as a vehicle to write | pase "Vm Ve songs: working musicians who are relatively accomplished and dedicated toalife withthe instrument; and players ‘who are intensely driven and relentless in theie pursuit eo accomplish brilliant and historical acts onthe instrument by discovering their unique abilities and talentsand, eventually, presenting them effortlessly, with no apparent hounds, ‘Chances are good you fino the first ‘orsecond profile I've deseribed, Infact, if there is any question as to whether you should pursue the direction of the third profile, then my suggestion Would ve,Donot;its reserved forthose | AaURE2, intense. There is no question in the = = Se Seas pes Please note: I'm not implying that one ‘ofthese groups is beter than another or represents players who have a deeper love of music than those in the other groups. I'm simply cresting groups based on the desires and goals of distinct types of players. Although the following ‘workout is intended primarily for the third group of people, elements fromthe rogimen may be incorporated into any ally practice routine. In that respect, ny guitarist can benefit from aspects of the workout. ‘own voice, while simultaneously helping them become ‘thoroughly balanced musical beings. WORKOUT PHILOSOPHY 1 should note that the workout is geared for people I'VE ALWAYS BELIEVED that everyone | that love the challenge of a disciplined curriculum has the ability to discover and cultivate | and eruly want to master the instrument. The concept his or her own unique voice on an_| behind doing so is easy: start by playing something a instrument; doing so requires that one | bend, a riff, a scale, a song—very slowly; if you make a listen to one’s inner voice and thea find | art over; do this over and aver, until you can, the courage to express it. To that end, | playitflawlessly—and Ido mean lawlessly-mary times the following esson is not meanttosteer | ina row. Next, gradually increase the tempo, Eventually students into sounding liesomeone else | you'l be flailing about like a madman, but co equip them with some ofthe tools |” Thisdoesn’tnecessarily mean you wll become agreat that are essential to discovering their | musician or songwriter, Those are talents that can't be ‘aught; you're either horn with them or need to discover them within yourself BEFORE YOU BEGIN 4 TUNE YOUR GUITAR. Never play aut of tune unless for a desired effect, such as working on a quartertone seale..or playing alternative rock music for pop Fadia consumption Focus. This is the most important clement in this program. The way you mentally approach this or any other 24 currancesenos elements that re more appropriate for the style of musie you're interested in. Ifyou decide you don’t want to learn conventional things, you may choose to replace one or more ofthese categories with something you're more comforeable with. You'llhave to come up with them, though, One last note: When Twas a young practicing musician, I would keep a lox ofall the time I spent on the instrument, witha specifiebreakdown af everything Aid. guess was ust anal that way. While this approach worked for me, it may not Yea be for everybody. Ie does, however, help you to chart your progress. POURED ont u HOURS 1, 11 AND 21: FINGER Envepingdemrty and conte When perfor tem, pace Youre witha ee retomt atari rtalaneba eta ery slowly. Tr might help To iagine over and over, an ehey he way you hear tem Sound exact in your head. 1 used to do this, and its a great way to gain control over your playing, I would also experiment with different pick positions, dynamies, and ouRe 7 s000n. Whatever you do, be sure to focus neverysingl note you play: Tea’ t stress enough the importance ofthis. ‘There are literally chowsands of finger exercises, and they can all help i you achieve different objectives. Ip this workout, explain the follwing categories of finger exercises POURED saees _pstees Myer ihe oes een cies reed | ye * Angular = ¢ Heammer-ons and Pullofs {alternate Fingers “Tapping mE) = sweeping + Muleple Picking 1 would advise you to tailor your exercises around the syle you're most Interested in Te ides sto find thine that are swlowatd to play and then work exercise is more important than putting 2. atuse theories ‘onthem slowly, until you ean play them in the hours and going through the tating perfectly. Ultimately, you want your motions It is tremendously important | _ In addition, I've arranged these categories into | playing to be a reflection of what you that you gear up mentally for practice, three I0-hogr-per-day sessions. Rear in ind that the | hearin your head fig, rehearsal, songwriting--wwhatever | amount of time and focasyou pu into the program wil $ou're going co do, Understand thatthe | bedireetyrefleted in your plying attitude and frame of mind you have | 1 feel these categories provide a good mix of the LINEAR EXERCISES ‘when entering int sfocused endeavor is | various elements that go into becoming thoroughly | FIGUREXDEPICTS A BASIC lines finger fone ofthe few things you dohave within | rounded musician. Note, however, that I will only | exercise. 1¢ follows an_ascending Your power. Remember: 1 el in the | be outlining concepts here; ts up to you to research | pattern we'll simply call "1-2-3-4; ‘rind! Youcanbasicaliyconvinceyourself| and discover more on your own, Thete are plenty of | as this refers to the order én which Cf anything and make happen instuetional hooks, CDs and DVDs on the market, | the fretchand fingers (index, middle, andmany schools offerhome-study courses thst teach | ring, pinkie) are placed on each string youll types offinger exercises, chords scales, theory | (Fretchand fingerings are indicated CATEGORIES and so on, In addition, guitar-related information is | below the tablature). FIGURE presents PVE DIVIDED THE 30-Hour Workout | plentiful on the internet. Ofcourse, Lencoursge you | an alternating variation on this drill into eight categories: to explore ather categories, ideas and concepts not | The fingering pattern follows the 1 Exercises ‘mentioned here. That's one ofthe great things about | repeating sequence -2-3-4, 2-3-4 2 Scales playing the guitar—there are essentially no rules,and | 1, 3-4-1-2, 4-1-2-3. The alternating 3 chords a person's ability to be unique is only limited by their fingering idea can also be played on 4 Ear training ‘courage and imagination. a single string, as demonstrated in 5 Sight-reading Although the following workout is geared toward a FIGURE3. I find this drill to be a great 6. Composingy/songewritng rock stleof playing, you may want to substitute various | exercise in position shifting. GUITAR LEGENDS 25 The nest step is to exhaust all other permutations ofthe 2-3-4 combination, Suchas--5-21,4-2-8-,1632-4-whatever Tour-note sequence you find awkward— tnd practice them ina similar manner If we apply this fingering approach {othree-note-per-string combinations, for example 1-3-4, che result would be the three exercises shown in FIGURES “6. OF course, two-note-per-string patterns could also be used for lines Picking exercises, as demonstrated in FIGURES 7and.. The exercise shown in FIGURE 7 will he beneficial to those of you who may have problems switching strings with the same fretting finger. Roll the finget over the strings as you switeh from one to the next to keep the notes from bleeding (ringing) into each other | Angular/Economy Picking Exercises | ounes nym a Ven SHS eee ee ANGULAR EXERCISES AN EFFECTIVE WAY to improve your string-erossing technique sta perform ‘what I call “angular” exercises, FIGURE ‘9 exemplifies what Um talking about ‘The general idea isto take a fingering pattern, in this ease 4-3-2-1, and ‘work it across the strings in a single Position, assigning one finger perstring and using sweep oF economy picking (Consecutive downstrokes or upstrokes fon adjacent strings) wherever possible. [veincluded picking strokes above the {ablature inthis exercise to guide you. Each sweep (indicated by an upstroke or cownstroke symbol followed by a broken horizontal line and a bracket) should be performed as a single pick stroke, with the pick being dragged across the strings in a continuous movement, Since there are only three «groups of four adjacent strings (1-4, 2-Sand 3-8), theentire angular pattern doesn’t manifest itself until it’s played ‘on one of these string groups. ‘When performing FIGURE 9, 1 find ic helpful to visualize three imaginary Strings om either side of the neck, as this provides a point of reference for Fingering the firs sic and last six notes ofthis exercise. With this approach, the progression of notes seems very natural When L fret the first note) with my index finger, I'm thinking in terms of the complete 4-3-2-1 pattern, with the other three Fingers (43-2) being on the imaginary strings. Thus, only the First Finger is used. As the pattern moves across the strings, all four fingers are eventually broughe ino play. Likewise, as youtrun out of strings in bar all fingers ihuc the fourth move off the neek onto Imaginary strings. FIGURE o is an angular exercise based ‘onal-2-3-4 fingering pattern Again, ve ‘neluded picking strokes and tret-hand fingerings shove and below thetablature touide you Using the “imaginary. strings approach should make i¢a litle easier tw devise exercises based on other cones Hine DY Veo mv. WV ney neers ¥ neces Vomit Yoni Re ¥ x === == 2 or ey L t Legato Exercises ouRe 2 26 surtan vecenns ouRe 6 ‘Tapping Exercises oune 17 aU 1 A St = t co a roure fingering patterns, For example, an angular exercise based on a 1+ fingering pattern would b high & string and go 4, 2-4 4,8 demonstrated in FIGURE m, Allocate the first 30 minutes of your practice session to linear exercises fnd the next 30 minutes to angular exercises, Try to come up with your fown exercises that suit your purposes and use them interchangeably. Due to ‘the mathematical ature af these types lf exercises, they're more easily worked on pape thaninyour head (mote on Goss Hea) Sweep Picking Foune21 " a) w rn HAMMER-ONS AND PULL-OFFS: “THE HAMMER-ON IS A rechnique whereby you pick a note (either freted or open) then sound a higher note ‘onthe same stringby using one of your fretting fingers totap the string like a hammer. The pull-off involves Pickinga note, then sounding a lower note (ether fretted ‘or open) an the same string by releasing the first note’s fretting finger, pulling the string lightly in toward your palin as you let go of tin order to keep it vibrating Hammer-ons and pull-offs seem to happen naturally when playing single-note lines, but there are particularly effective ways to isolate and strengthen these techniques. One efficient way to do this isto practice performing tills. rll isa rapid, continuous alternation between two notes on the ‘same string, performed using hammer- ‘ons and pull-offs in combination, ‘An effective way to isolate and perfect your hammer-on and pull-off techniques istopractice playingerilsforanextended period oftime, suchas a minute Begin by tilling between any two notes that are half step (one fret) apart, using your fretting hand’sindex and middle fingers, a6 demonstrated in FIGURE v2. Now do the same thing, but adda fret between the owo fingers (ee FIGURE). The next step would be to inerease the distance hetween the fingers by another fret, as shown in FIGURE va, Now go back and play FIGURES 1-44 again, this time using your index and ing fing then till between , your index finger and pinkie (and 4). | Of course, you could exhaust all other | finger combinations (2-3, 2-4, 3-4) and | | try to put as many frets between the Fingers as possible (wiehoue hurting yourself), Each time you go back £0 these trill drill, ery adding some time to each exercise (maybe another 10 seconds or 30). || ALTERNATING FINGERS. “ray PLAYING HAMER-ONS and pull sf in various combinations, using ‘ifferent Fingers, asin FIGURES 3-47. The ‘goal in each ease is make all the notes Sound even and clear and maintain a seamless legato fel, TAPPING 1 YOU'RE INTERESTED in two-hand tapping, incorporate this into your hharamer-on and pull-off practice time. | ‘The techniques are essentially che same for either hand, the only difference being | that when you pull-off from a tapped rote (a note hammered with one of the fingers ofthe picking hand), you flick the string slightly sideways, away from sour chin. Use yoarimagination to ereate tapping techniques that suit your style, and ny incorporating all the fingers of ‘your picking hand on the neck FIGURES 8-10 are examples of apping ‘exercises co get you started, FIGURE 38 isa simple drill designed to help you master the basic technique of tapping on ‘one string, while lOURES 19 and 20 require that you crossstrings, resulting longer ‘nd more challenging patterns in each of these later wo exercises, the key is to ave the fingers of your fretting hand quickly from string to string in time to Play cleanly the notes pulled off rom the tapping finger ‘SWEEP PICKING AS STATED EARLIER, sweep picking is a technigue whereby you play one note and then another on an adjacent stringin a single upstroke or downstroke, When learning to sweep pick you have to start SUITARLESENCS 27 very slowly and make sure you can hear every single note clearly (unless che effect you're going for isa sloppy one), then gradually bring the speed up. The key isto let go of each note with your fretting hand immediately after you've Picked itin order to keep it rem ringing into the next note, Create exercises that ‘outline various chord shapes that you can ‘Sweep across. FIGURES 24-23 are examples of sweep pickingto get you sarted. oul find thac it's easier to sweep across an arpeagi shape and not have it sound like a strummed chord if you ean finger cach string individually with a diferent fingertip and avoid barring strings with your fingers, which makes it mare Aificue to mute the notes immediately ater you've played them MULTIPLE PICKING AS I MENTIONED EARLIER, the best way to develop superhuman chops is to find things thot are difficule and ‘even awkward to play and then perform them slowly and perfectly. As an ‘exercise, try playing any given lick or phrase first by alternate picking, then using only downstrokes and, last, using only upstroke You can also devise your own drills where you do any ofthe fallowing: * Double picking (picking each * Triple picking. three times) + Quadruple picking (.. four times) * Quintuple picking (. five times) une a9 oune 23 Scale Exercises FPQURE 24 Theseven modesof the G major sale(G AB EDEFE) ie eae Ra FOURE 25 G major saline HOURS 2, 12 AND 22: SCALES PRACTICINGSCALES HAS many benefits, butthe main focus ofthis activity should be on memorizing the sound ofa seale and the mood or atmosphere it eeates Sing the notes you play to help internalize the tonality of the scale, and try 0 painea mental pieture of what the scale's tonality sounds ike to you. This isone ofthe chinge you might draw upon ‘when you goto writeo Beware, however, that when the time comes to take an improvised slo and all youtdois ail up and downascale paern ‘because you know the notes will work withthe chord, you'l most likely sound Tike an idiot. ‘Learn and play as many sales as you can, in every key and position, in one octave, two octaves oF three octaves. Start from any note on the ow E string, then the A string, ete. Make sure you play each scale forward and backward (ascending and descending) FIGURE2g illustrates fretboard patterns for the G major seale (GA BCD EF) and its seven relative modes all of whieh ‘comprise the same seven nates, The only difference in each ease is the orientation ‘of the notes around a different tonal Practice an given seale/mode slowly provisernsic stfistand makesureit'sperfect-Ifyoumakeamistake, | There are countless variations on start over. Gradually increase the tempo asyoucomplete | these kinds of melodic and harmonic a cycle. Listen carefully co each note and focus on interval paterns that you can practice. fone. Before moving to faster speed, you should be | For example, you could take the pattern able o run scale up and down without fudging any | of ascending diatonic fiths from ICURE notes. Dont cheat yourself ind itbeneficial watch | ay and switch the order of every other my fingers in che mircor and try to get them to move | pair of notes to create a different and sracefully, elegantly, effortlessly or in whatever way’ | more interesting melodie contour, as Tooks and feels good demonstrated in FIGURE 3. Considering There are many things you can do with a scale and | all the different scales, modes, keys, mode other than just run it across the fretboard. For | positions intervals and melodie patterns, ‘example, you can play tin intervals,either melodically, | the possibilities are immense 1s demonstrated in FIGURES 25-27, or up and down the | It also helpful to record yourself neck on two strings at the same time, as depicted in| practicing scales and then listen FIGURES 28-30. These first three exercises are great for critically to your efforts. This will building technique in both hands, while the second | enable you to mold your playing in the three help you learn the scale on each string and gain | direction you want. (I never wanted ear-training wisdom by hearing it played in harmony. | to sound too polished, snd I actually Toget twice the mileage out ofthese pattems, be sure | worked om trying to sound gritty and ‘orun them in reverse order as well on-the-edge) 28 curan vesenos FIGURE 90 G major cle fifths up he neck f= SSS URE 2K minor pea = Eb ay @-Emaane lon ele (EG A BD) bo patterns ae Sa FIGURE. minor bes cle (E.G Bb BD box pteras = ay ae @ Emam ‘This is obviously alot to think about when practicing a simple scale, but you don't have to do it all a once, Focus fn different elements individually ‘Bventually they will merge and become part of your second nature, "EU ‘THE FIVE-NOTE minor pentatonic scale and its derivative, the six-note minor blues scale, form the foundation of the vocabulary of rock lead guitar playing The minor pentatonic scale is spelled root, minor 3,4, minor 7.” The minor blues seales made up ofthese same five notes, plus the diminished or "latted” Fifth Coot, minor 3,4, flat, 5, minor 7). FIGURES 52 and 3 illustrate, inthe key of. minor, che standard “box” patterns for these two seaesthat every ock guitarist, should knove "The minor pentatonic seale and the minor bles scale have a relative rior that comprises the same set of notes: the only difference is that the notes are oriented around a different root, In tach case, the second note of the scale, the minor third, becomes the new root note in FIGURES 32 and 33, this new root rote would be G. When played over 2G bass note, the E minor pentatonic scale bbecomes the G major pentatoniescale (6 ABD). Likewise, the E minor blues seale becomes the G major blues eae (G ABs BD E) when played over 2 G bass Try putting the minor and major pentatonic and blues seales through the same paces as the G major seale we looked at earlier by playing them in various interval patteras across the fretboard and up and down the neck re” ate” OTHER SCALES ASCALE CAN contain from two to 12 notes, with the 12-tone chromatic scale encompassing every note within an octave, Thereare numerous scales to choose from, and each has a distinctive sound and color, 1 hhave a blast with seale reference books, Some people enjoy first-class trips to Tahiti butjust give me a good Seale and I'm in paradise. (Hove pathete is that!) But Seriously, the reason I'm so intrigued by scales is that the nique tonality of any given seale has the power to transport me, A.couple of years ago decided t record alive album ‘ofcompositions I wrote and performed wih my band in different parts ofthe world. As [began this endeavor, which culminated in my CD Alive in an Ultra World, [set out to compose material reminiscent of music indigenous tothe cultures ofthe countries I would be visiting As partofmy research, I studied the folk music ‘ofeach country and figured out thescale(s) upon which rach ofthe native musi was based. I then used the scales to compose aset of orginal pieces. While Ibased these compositions on individual sales, I took great pains not to meander upand down thesealeaimlesslyin ‘ny melodies and improvisetions. Instead, Lemphasized the aura and flavor ofthe scales within the melody and the chords, SYNTHETIC SCALES ASYNTHETIC SCALE is one you make up or thet does not fll nto particular defined cateyory. Fr instance, could make up ascale that contains four notes and is spelled 1,4, lat 5, 7.1 have never seen this scale, but it may have & name already, Whatever the case, I could build chords on this scale, create a melody and figure fut how to improvise a solo with it Furthermore, | could modulateitto different keys and create harmonic textures by using the modes from thisseale. Ultimately, if were to stay within the parameters ofthe notes of this sale, I guarantee ic would create a unique aura The more well-known “other” scales include the melodic minor, harmonic minor, whole tone, diminished and augmented scales. Geta good scale book and have a pare! HOURS 3, 13 AND 23: CHORDS VE DIVIDED CHORD practice into three areas |. Memorization 2, Strumming techniques 3. improvising i You can dedicate 20 minutes to eac category farallthreedaysof the workout, forjustfocus on one different eategoy fr an hour each day. MEMORIZATION LEARN CHORDS! GO buy a book that hrasall the basic chords as well a all the weird ones. Then setagoal.Forinstance, cide youll learn and memorize five new chords a day. Listen closely and thoughtfully tothe sound of a chord as ‘yo play the notes it comprises, and try to pieture an image that it evokes. Take yor time and memorize its sound. Learn a type of chord quality such 2s major, minor, major seven, dominant seven, minor seven-inasmany positions snd voieings as you possibly ean, Sing the notes ss youplay then to help internalize the sound of the chard. Figure out and lunderstand why a chord is called what irs called, What seale degrees does the chord contain? You will need to ‘understand chord theory for ths. (That ‘will ome later inthe “theory” section) In addition, strum chords cleanly, sgently, harshly, tenderly, brutally and so ~ fn, t0 geta sense of how they sound with every possible style of playing \ You don't need toknow a ton ofchords| bby name in order to be a great musician ‘or songwriter, Ihave heard that peoplel like Jeff Beck, Allan Holdsworth and ‘many others may notbe familiar withthe ramesorthe theory behindall the chords they play, but they have such tremendoust ears that, upon hearing a chord, their} ‘minds open up and they know just what! ta do on their guitars. I happen to find reat satisfaction in having 8 complete Understanding ofthe theory bebinditall ‘Then again, I've always wanted ial STRUMMING THERE ARE MANY strumming techniques, and numerous hooks and records can be used for study of as reference sources for these techniques. ‘The most important thing to keep in mind when srummingisto groove! Aer you've chosen a particular strumming patcern to work on, practice i endlessly with a drum machine of a drummer. A ist, it will be alittle awkward and sloppy. Focus on making it cleaner with every strum: it wil ger better. Next isten carefully to the groove and try to stay’Tocked in with it You will not be able to groove orlockin withthe beat unless you can play’ the material cleanly for without thinking about the ebanges. Inaddition, you must be abe ta separate yourself a bie from what you're doingand GUITARLEGENDS 29 just listen tothe beat By doing this while you're playing, you ean really focus on locking in with a drummer: Once you're locked in, heep trying to lock tighter and tighter: You'll kn n you're locked in with the groove because it willstartt fel really ood. Once you gett thi experiment by making the groove sound stif and mechanical, and loose and warm. You ean als ty to playin front of the best, behind the beat and soon, ‘When you're playing along with ametroname or a drum machine, try to“hury" the elick track. By this I mean get right onthe bea, when you do, the click will sound as ifs disappeared, since your ntacks wil /ncon” that theyll cover the clicks Beingable to Tock withthe ne of the most reward ‘hrough them cleanly and lock nto them. Ply each acrossa full range of tempos, from very slow to very fast ITMPROVISATION/EXPERIMENTATION I's ALWAYS COOL to create Your own unique chord library, The followin niques that ean help + Play conventional or familia chord, hen startalternating one note ata time by movingi up or down fret. When you comeacross achord you like, add itto your personal chord library. ‘Take numbers from aseries (a telephone number, for instance) and use them as eale degrees fora chord sThink of an emotion,a color or a scene from a movie and foo! round with the notes in a chord until it sounds like what you're thinkingaf sUseupen si fretted with with all of chese things to come up with unique chords wide inger stretches, natural harmonics, note Fingers on the picking hand and so on, Experiment HOURS 4, 14 AND 2 IF YOU 70SS ASIDE everything your ears isthe mos imp EAR TRAINING Jse in this workout, keep this section. Train ane practice in making the erucial connection between your imagination and your Most people spend very lite time developing their ears, but the payofis from doing so are extraordinary. Some peopleare born with a natural eat for music, while others need to W ‘edious and time consuming, but its very rew ome exerelses for taining * Improvise and sing what ou play. A goad voice sn’enecessary. butyou do need to get the pitches aecurste-Ifyou cant singthe nates perfectly in piteh, work on it until you can, + Sing a note and then try to play it by using the previous note asa reference. This is a challenging drill that takes a tremendous amount of discipline. Just imagine, though, how much your ears willimprove when you can do this, hharmony to notes you're playing Start with something Fifth, then move toa fourth, a major thd, a minor ‘hid, 4 major sixth and so on, until you'e able to sing a harmony part (lke a minor second) perfectly to an improvised atonal sol, Understand that this ability could take years to develop + Memorize the sound of different intervals. One way todo this {sto record yourself playing an interval and, after a few seconds of silence, speaking ts name. Fill up aone-hour tape, then listen ‘back and try to name each interval inthe silence that follows the notes. You'll know if you're right when your voice comes in and ‘names it properly + Perform this last exercise with chords. Record yourself slowly plucking each note of a chord, and allow a few seconds of space between the notes. After a moment of silence, announce the chord and its component intervals, * Transeribe everything, from simpleguita solos to complex jazz sax solos, * Carry manuseripe paper with you, and when you have some free time away from your instrument, write melodies using only your ears to guide you. Carry songbooks with you and sing the melodies. + Make up your own ear training exercises and keep a log of your progress HOURS 5, 15 AND 25: READING MUSIC ‘THERE ARE A LOT OF advantages to reading music. Some of the perks include: = Learning to play songs you otherwise wouldn't have been able toplay * Being able to transeribe your compositions + Expanding your masieal palate When I was a student at Berklee College of Music in Boston, I Aecided I5wanted to be the bes sight-reader inthe world. Ispent an ‘entire summer doing nothing but sight-reading almost every waking ‘moment. remember leaving the apartment only two times for social ‘events the entire summer. | attempted to sight-read everything ‘could get my hands on~clarine studies, piano pieces, John Coltrane s2x solos, Joe Pass chord charts and even phone books. At the end ‘of the summer was mediocre sight-reader at best [believe the guitar isthe most difficult instrument on which to sight-read because there are limitations and many variables involved, Having said that, ean provide some pointers, “The two most important elements in learning to read music well are being able to identify patterns and to Took ahead as you're playing. Work on these principles and things will eventually fll nto place. Beyond these tips, I recommend you do the following + Buy beginner guitar reading books to get the ida of where the notes fll onthe instrument, [havenever been afan of eadingguitar tab Although itcan give you a bird's-eye overview of how to playa particular piece, | fel that ic eventually becomes limiting 1 Take a song (classical, jae oF whatever you like) and read it through every day until you can play it perfectly. Sight-reading is realy about identifying patterns, so this will help. Once you have completely mastered a song and you're capable of playing it flawlessly and with great feling, go ahead and play ie many more times and watch what happens. Build a repertoire of songsand play ‘through each one every day, or on aregular basis at east. Jn-reada litle bit of somethinggnew and tereifying every day “This wil aid your ability to look ahead. it's been proven that the most effective way to improve your sight-reading ability isto attempt to sight-read something ata strict tempo, such as sith a metronome or drum machine. The key is to proceed without stopping or slowing down. IFyox miss a note, oh ‘well Keep going, as if you were giving a recital with other musicians Dor'tstop and dell on the now) you missed unl you've finished the entire piece, then go back and see what you missed. Practice sight-reading apiece of music you're working on ata tempo that's not goingtomake you mess up every two measures. You'll be amazed at how your sight-reading ability will improve by forcing yourself ‘ot to slow down when you come toa tricky spat. In addition, read music for instruments other than guitar asthe clarinet, lute and piano. Also, get ajazz "ake" bookand through the chord changes. HOURS 6, 16 AND 26: WRITING MUSIC \WRITINGSONGS ORinstrumtental pieces soneofthe most rewarding ‘things about being a musician, There are many ways you can go about building a catalog of original material. When I was a high School freshman | had an incredible music theory teacher named Bill Westeot, He was tough! One of my assignments was to come in every day with anewly writen piece of original musiethache could play onthe piano had to be completely notated and not just show chord symbols and melody, and ithad tobe written specifically for the piano, Having him play the musi for me was not only a treat but sremendously educational you're interested i learning how to notate musie properly, the best reference book on the subject is Music Notation by Gardner Read. [es anexceptionsl bok, nie outlines all he essential “do's and “don'ts.” You may be abe to find itby calling the bookstore at Berklee College of Music in Boston, ere are some recommendations for songwriting/composing: * Turnona tape recorder and bang out your idea. I cant tell You how important tis is if you want tobe a songwriter. Moments of inspiration are sometimes few and far between, and they an hityou atthe most unlikely times. Yow need to he ready to capture them ‘when they present themselves. + Write songs outin lead sheet format, with a melody on the staff and chord changes written above the melody. There are books, such {Music Notation, thatoutine the imitations and proper notation for ‘various instruments inthe orchestra as well as more unconventional instruments, Get some manuseript orseore paper and try composing ‘music for instruments other than the guitar. Study the range, tone, timbre, limitations and notation for one inserument at atime, be itviolin, harp or harmonica played through a Marshal stack (or a Carvin Legacy stac + Find another musician that you can “gel with” asa cowriter. deally, he or she may be someone who possesses certain skill that youre lacking. Ifyou have the right chemistry, creating music with Another person can be avery rewarding experience. + While Iving in bed at night, try to make up an endless melody ‘that contsins a variety of instruments. Doing this is traly liberating, ‘because you're creatinginstantaneously, and there arena limitations to where you can go or whatit can sound like Remember that people write songs based on anything from events in their life to social commentary to fantasy. When aperson taps into that creative portion oftheir brain, they usually gravitate to things that stimulate them the most, HOURS 7, 17 AND 27: MUSIC THEORY PVEALWAYSBEEN fascinated by music theory Although knowledge oft is noca prerequisite for being great guitar player or musician, Teel that if you're going to learn to speak lanzunge, it helps it you know how to read and write it. Many people are intimidated by theory, but it's not chat difficult, reallys the system is actually very logieal and straightforward, What confuses lt of people, 1 think, i having to struggle with thinking in unfamiliar keys, ach a8 Aflat or F sharp, Bill Westeot taught me masie theoryin high school, but it wasn't ‘until I tok guitar lessons from Joa Satriani that I learned how to apply alot of i to my instrament. There are many books thet teach music theory bases, including notation, time signatures, key signatures, thecircleof fits chord theory and modes, ecomménd that you take everything you learn in a theory book and figure out hhow it applies to the guitar and how you ean incorporate i into your own syle HOURS 8-10, 18-20, 28-30: JAMMING IN THIS SECTION, I'l explain methods to help you find your unique voice as a guitarist and explain techniques that can aid your ‘expression on the instrument. These latter items include vibrato, bent notes, harmonies, whammy bae stants and dynamics, Everything I've tld you thus far will help you in your quest to become an accomplished guitar player; However all the exercises, scales, theory and whatnot are just devices that ean help you expres yourself more freely on your instrument. Be careful mot toget hangup ‘on how fascinating isto be alec pay sales really fast, or to shred ourself into a coma, Use this stufas a tol, nota prison. Sitingand GUITAR LEGENDS 31 ingthe instrument expressively and with controls the go These days, don't practice all of the material Fve mentioned, batt hasalllbcen crucial co my development and tomking my ears, fingers and soul work together in expressing the musi Ihave in my head. Telieve that well have the ability tobe uniqueon ourinstruments The trick is being able t identify with that uniqueness and then cultivate tino stimulating presentation (or maybe even abistorical statement). have found thar listening to my inner ear isthe best way (ogettotheheartofthe matter. I'sasometimes subtle, elusive voice, hut e's there, and there are conerete ways to tune int it When I sit down to play now, I ususlly build jam tracks” to improvise over and write to, There are numerous ways this. One way isto learn the basics of home recording and invest in simple rig with which youcan record your own tacks o jam ove You ean also purchase prerecorded jam tracks on CD. and some electronic devices, like Korg's Pandora, feature built-in vamps you can play with. (Inever travel without my Pandora.) Focusing intensely on anything is a form of med such, thas the potential to increase 10, and artiste abilities at any ae tion and, os he problem is it for many of us (including yours truly) to keep the mind focused on anything fora long period of time. This, however, i results, You need to meditate on what you'r when the mind begins a wander, you need to ry top itback To that end, Vd like ta present various techniques for you to practice while jamming with a tape or a band, oF just siting in Your room, Firs, however, I would like to make the following * Urea variety of vamps th keys and time signatures. By setting up specific parameters (whether rhythmie in nature), you'll push yourself to encompass diferent genres grooves, discover different ways of approaching various techniques. This will Delp youidentify who you really are on the instrument because youl forced to reach deep inside yourself and find the things that push nu musical buttons * When doingany of the following technique exercises, use them o express the Way various emotions feel f0 You: anger, compassion, melancholy, paranoia, euphoriawhatever. Each of these emotions has an audible counterpart, Beware, however, that to successfully -ansmit these emotions fram your psyche to your fingers, you may need to immerse yoursel in the emotion itself This alone can take tremendous facts, but it can also be incredibly revealing, Ifyou fel compelled to foes more on negative emotion try to keep things balanced afterall, you are what you play, and wherever You take your mind may not only ditate the type ofart you reatebutalsomsay brainwash you intohecoming tha typeof person, Ieseasy tobe miserableand intense, butthis exercise can help you to build vourselfinto the kind of musician and person you want tab Ie’salso helpfil when you find yourself in a particular funk ue to theups and downs of -an help strengthen the mental tools you may need to pull yourselfin a particular direction + With ench of chose exercises, try to push things that you have never done or heard bs imagining them before attempting them. | would even venture to say that if you really want co develop a unique style, you must re. You can also try ourself playing something conventional + Record yourself playing, then listen back to identify the coo, interesting stuff chats mixed in alongside the crap. The minute you hear yourself doing something different or interest ver th n exercise out of it. Continue to pull yourself in this new direction that accentuates your uniqueness. I's 82 GurTaR Lecenos like finding litle thread and pallingit into enough material knit asweater,or a whole wardrobe, for that matter! ‘With allthis in mind, here are some techniques to focus on VIBRATO ‘VIBRATOIS AN EXPRESSION ofthe soul and a Gometimes painfully ‘bvious) indicator of the amount of contral you have over your instrument. There are several different kinds of vibrato that can be used as tools to express your ideas, “Try fretting a note with your index finger and hold it fora few minutes while eftectinga vibrato that morphs from extremely slow to fas to violent and brutal. Make sute your intonation is good ot youll sound like whack. Try different oscillations, fom a subtle rise and fallin pitch toa very wide modulation, and don't let your finger slip off the string, Exaggerate all of your actions "Now do the same thing with each finger of your fretting hand Next, hold twonoces ata time and shake them in asimilar manner ‘Then ty doing this with three notes, then four and so on Apply vibrato toa note that you've already bent upward a half step, awhole stepor two whole steps. Many players lee they can be more expressive with vibrato by appyingit toa note that's already bent, for the simple reason that it ean go below the main pitch 2s well as above it ‘Try doing this with every finger on every fret of the guitar. Doing so will texch you to take a different approach and grip ¢o apply vibrato to notes on different stringy in different areas ofthe fretboard. You'll find that as you move away from the 12th fret (the midpoint between your guitar's bridge and nut, the strings feel stiffer and are harder to wigal, any string with your fretting hand at various points along the string and picking it. + Sound “artificial” harmonies by fretting a note with the left hand and picking the string with a downstroke while also “pinching” ic ‘between the pik and righ thumb, Move the pick along the string in ‘the area over the pickups as you do this to find various “sweet spots. ‘Try tapping notes over certain frets while freting a note + Be adventurous and try to discover different techniques for soundingharmonics. Playing with distortion and using your guitar's bridge pickup helps bring out harmonies) WHAMMY BAR STUNTS ‘THE WHAMMY naRis my favoriteerutch.” fyourguitars whammy baris secu anything like mine, ou can pull upon it to make notes igo sharp af well as push down an itto make notes turn into sheer, Dlubber. can abuse the hell out of my whammy bar and it usually comes right back in une. The setup is very important. Try the following experiments + Play melodies by fingering only one note and using the whammy bar to raise and lower is pitch * Play varius kinds of harmonics and experiment with polling and pushing the whammy to produce “outer space” sounds. + Try to create everything from nice, subtle vibrato on single notes and fll chords to violent sonic brutality and sheer warbling cacophony. (I seem to have made a career out of doing this.) could go on forever, but I encourage you to create your own techniques. Your only real guideline here is to do whammy bar ‘things exclusively for along peri of time without stopping. Sooner ‘oF Tater you'll eam across litle treasures. BENDING NOTES BENDING STRINGS WELL IS an art unto itself, one that requires ‘high degree of aural and tactile sensitivity, mental and physical «iscipline and technical control over your instrument. Few things Sound worse than a guitar player that has no control over his pitch ‘when bending notes; i's ssi someone is singing off-key. Yet, when executed well, a bent note on the guitar isone ofthe most musically expressive sounds one that enraprures the listenerand causes goose bumps. Abbent note just has so much more attitude and feeling than its unbent counterpart Sitfor anhour and do nothingbutbend notes Bend them upas er as you lke, but make sure you zero in on the “target note” that you ‘want to hit Listen carefully and critically to your pitch and strive for impeccable intonation, (This is comparable to what a violinist, Singer trombonist or slide guitar player must do al the time) Practicing unison bends isan effective way to train your Fingers andears to work together tobend in tune, To play aunison bend, fret ‘anoteon the Bstring with your index finger whileplacingyor rin Finger onthe G string two frets higher. Strum both stings together, then quickly push the G string note away from your pall to raise its pitch up awholestep so that itperfectly matches the pitch of the unbent note on che B string In addition: + Try bending two strings at the same time (double-stop bending). "Start witha note ina bent position and bringit either down or up. or up and then down. Push yourself to try different things. ‘Play bent aotes together with unbent noteson different strings This isa very slick country guitar technique that developed outofa desire by players to emulate the weeping sound ofthe pedal steel, * Make sure to practice bending as much in the upper register and on the high strings &s you do inthe lower register and on the low strings. Can you bend an F note a the second fret on the high E-string up to A? Maybe if you're Zakk Wylde! HARMONICS DO NOTHING BUT FOCUS on playing harmonies for an hour. Experiment with different types and techniques, including the following: + Play open-string, or “natural,” harmonies by lightly touching DYNAMICS ONE OF THE THINGS that make the guitar such an expressive) instruments its wide dynamic (volume) range. Few people utilize the full dynamic range of the instrument, You can hit the thing] ‘extremely hard and forcefully, and then immediately switeh toa style that is caressing and tender. Not many'players ean do both ‘ofthese things effectively in the period of three seconds, so try to become one ofthe few who an Here are a few ways to practice: * Gradually go from soft co hard, and then back again. * Create strumming pattern thats sharp bits, ight strums and medium rhythmic things al in one or two bars. “+ Playas loud and as hard as you possibly ean without stopping fora long as youre able to, Then do the exact opposite. Again, {could go on forever, but I think you get the point ‘To close out this section on Jamming, 've pulled together a number of ways you ean set up parameters to foree you into making new discoveries on the guitar. Try ta do each of the fallowing for an hour without stopping” + Solon one stringonly + Solowithdouble-stopsonly (twonotes played together), then ry Aoingthe same thing with three, four, five- and six-note chords. * Solo on wo adjacent strings only, then solo on two strings that hhave one, two, three or Four idle strings between ther, ‘ Rocord a vamp that has a single bass note repeating under it, then improvise over the vamp while limiting yourself to one particular mode or synthetic sale * Play a chord, listen to it, then close your eyes and imagine scene that the chor evokes, This can be done with a melody Tine, too. * Piek one note and play its many different ways as you ean foranhour. ‘Make sound like music. + Come up with a leas one new thing a day that you've never played before * Improvise with only one hand (your fretting hand), using only hammer-ons and pull-offs to articulate notes. Make sure the notes sound good and clear, and not sloppy: * Play as fast and as cleanly as you can without stopping. «Play a slowly and tenderly 38 you can, «Try fooling around with alternate tunings. Include radically GUITAR LEGENDS 33

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