Here’s the latest from my practice sessions — an arrangement of the standard “I Can’t Give You Anything But Love” for guitar, using block chords. Block Chords are chords that move in rhythmic unison. This technique is pretty common among… Continue Reading
Players like Frank Gambale, who base their playing largely on economy (sweep) picking, often reconfigure common left hand fingerings to accommodate right hand sweeping. This requires an odd number of notes per string when moving in one direction, and an even… Continue Reading
One of the most essential skills for a working musician is the ability to play over a ii-V chord progression. Here is an arpeggio sequence which begins by outlining Am7 and D7 (a ii-V in G major), then moves downward… Continue Reading
I was working on ways of practicing arpeggios through moving harmonies, and came up with this drill. It uses three different arpeggio patterns, based on the e-form, a-form, and c-form fingerings. Some reversals of direction enable each arpeggio to fit… Continue Reading
I just completed a marathon practice session, wherein I focused mainly on alternate picking. Here’s one of several patterns I worked on which combines slurs with outside picking: Here is what it sounds like at a decent speed. (Play 16th-note… Continue Reading
The problem with arpeggios on the guitar is they generally require sweeping or awkward string skips. If you keep two notes per string, you can set up patterns like this, which are generally pretty easy on the right hand: Try… Continue Reading
In his fantastic book of technical exercises, Sheets of Sound for Guitar, Jack Zucker presents an exercise utilizing this pattern: I love the hemiola that occurs when I repeat this pattern using regular eighth notes against a 4/4 pulse. A… Continue Reading
Most descending licks tend to move from string to string scale-wise. My thing lately is coming up with sequences that move upward on one string, then down to the next string by a large interval. Specifically, sequences like this: Here,… Continue Reading
Today’s exercise is a long run consisting of two parts. I got the idea while studying Joe Satriani’s “Crushing Day,” but my exercise shouldn’t resemble any specific part of the piece — it was only loosely inspired. The first part… Continue Reading
Here’s another little something from a recent practice session. Try this lick in a Bb7 context: Now let’s make an exercise of it. Try repeating this a few times: Here’s an alternate articulation that adds a touch of soul: And… Continue Reading