Guitar Finger Gym

If you’re like me, then you’ll constantly be sending yourself “back to basics” to perfect you guitar technique. Even though it’s challenging (not to mention: fun!) to play fast alternate picking, or six string sweeps every so often it’s helpful to go back and iron out any possible “bad habits” that you might have picked up. Nobody -yes, NOBODY- has perfect technique 100% of the time.

Legato Technique

Trust me, bad technique habits are very easy to pick up, and nearly impossible to break out of! So what I’ve done this week is: started with a legato exercise and set my metronome on about 80bpm. Then- instead of slowly speeding up- I’m going to gradually slow the exercise down to about 60bpm…and maybe even slower…

…and to make things even slower, I’m only going to be playing one note per click!

Finger Strength

Because- just like lifting weights at the gym- form (or, in this case, the position of your hand and fingers) is everything. It doesn’t require more power to play slower! Think about it: your fingers aren’t doing any more work, they’re only hitting the string against the fret enough to cause it to ring out. If you slow down this process, then your fingers are only working more slowly- but (importantly!) it’s exactly the same action at a different speed.

So why slow down? Well, you might notice when you try this that it actually becomes more difficult the slower you try to play. If this happens then it means that you’re relying on momentum (or even the movement of your hand) at higher speeds. You shouldn’t be.

That’s right: all the power needed for hammer-on’s should come from your fingers- NOT your hands or arm! Also: all the “pulling” strength from pull-offs should come from your fingers- NOT from pulling your hand away!

Guitar Form and Technique Challenge

The idea is, by slowing down it forces you to pay more attention to the way your fingers are moving- and helps you to build up just the right muscles. If you see that your hand is physically “pulling” away from the string when you do a pull-off, then it needs correcting!

The challenge is: how slow can you go without resorting to moving your hand? Also (as if that wasn’t hard enough), you’re not allowed to get more tense as you slow down because- just as I explained before- you’re still applying the same force, but slower. Why add extra tension and stress when you (logically) don’t need it?

As I said, this is what I’m working on (or- technically- revising) at the moment, because it’s never a bad thing to go back and “iron out” your technique. Of course, once I’m happy with my hand position and technique at the slowest speed, I’m going to go back to practicing normally (and you can too!).

So, why not try it? No matter how good a guitar player you are, you’re never “above the law” (that is, the law of having perfect guitar technique! ). A bit of “revision” now and then can’t hurt, you might even surprise yourself!

If you like my blog, please don’t forget to subscribe…oh and keep practicing!
Rob.

April 26, 2010 at 2:37 pm | Guitar Technique and Exercises, Practicing and Practice Routine | No comments