Test Your Skills – Perfecting Your Technique (Part 3)

Moving back and forth between pentatonic boxes is not enough to create meaningful solos. In part 1 of this series, I mentioned that stretching is essential for being able to reach the wider frets at the top of the neck and to keep your fingers close to the fretboard so that you have less travel time going note to note. A couple other helpful pieces of advice are play against a metronome when practicing and get yourself a CAN DO Grip Master finger exerciser to build strength in all your fingers. In part 2, I showed you how to use different tricks to make pentatonic scales fit together. In this series, I teach you that the above advice is not the only way to perfect your skills, it also requires techniques like bending and arranging note formations that can be played in different places on the fretboard while still within the same key, but not an octave above.

In the image above, we start on the C note of the G string and, when we get on the E note of the B string, we bend it up half a step to the F note. If you’re not sure what that should exactly sound like first play the E on the B string, then play the F. Do that a few times to train your ear on what it should sound like when you actually bend it. Now, this time, bend the E up to the F. This should be easy enough to bend with your index finger to do the bend. You don’t want the full power of three fingers when you’re only bending the string up half a step (one fret). Play that part two times, then go to the second part. It’s the same finger patter, but starting on the G note of the G string. This time, we’re bending the B note up to the C note.

Another way of learning technique and the fretboard is to play patterns in different positions. Below are three blues patterns. The first two, you’ll notice, are all the same notes, just played in different positions. The third pattern is everything an octave up and along the edge of the neck of the guitar.

Use these techniques in your practice sessions to open your mind to new ways of learning the fretboard. You’ll soon be playing your pentatonic scales in ways you’ve never imagined. You’ll also open your mind to learning new songs that you’ve heard as you may be playing patterns that seem familiar.

Happy New Year 2013

Here’s wishing everyone a Happy New Year in 2013!!

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Simple 12 Bar Blues

Some people feel learning the guitar is difficult, especially to play the blues.  To many, their surprise is that it’s easier than they think.  The best way to start is to learn what’s called the twelve bar blues pattern.

Below is the tablature for a simple twelve bar blues pattern.  Although similar patterns can be played with one finger, this pattern gets your fingers stretching across the fretboard.

You can practice this as a simple, one-verse song, or play it several times as a longer song with a few verses.