Every normal practice day I usually start off with stuff like scales, tech, reading, ear training etc as I find it easier to keep my motivation up if I get that kind of stuff done early.
On a "rest" day I skip all that. Maybe I will just jam chords and riffs for an hour (which could end up being a song), or else maybe learn a new song or play through my repertoire.
Then after that I'll probably mess around with a looper and end up soloing for a while.
Basically the fun stuff, but it keeps you ticking over.
Hi guys. My schedule suddenly got a lot tighter over the last few weeks, and I'm trying to make my time as effective as possibly. I usually start off with trills and picking exercises on one string, but only after warming up by jamming around for about 15/20 mins.
Does anyone here have a tips or methods for warming up quickly?
If you practice bass for one hour a night, then that is one hour less that you will have to practice guitar. In the LONG RUN, learning bass WILL help to reinforce your knowledge of harmony and the fretboard, and maybe improve your awareness of rhythm if you play with a drummer regularly.
If you are just starting out, then yes, it will help to develop strength and co-ordination in your left hand (if you are right-handed) for guitar. But once you have reached a very basic level of technique it won't really help so much any more. It definitely wont help improve your legato playing, picking, bending, sweeping, improvisation, chord playing, scale knowledge etc
Also, you're ignoring the fact that right hand technique for bass is 100% different from guitar, and will take up a lot of your time to develop.
I'm currently teaching myself bass from books and from listening to records that I like, as some friends asked me to play bass for their band back in October. I've made decent progress but it has definitely eaten into my guitar time, and I can't really say that it has improved my guitar playing. In fact I definitely do a lot less improv and transcribing for guitar than I would like to be doing.
That said, I think that I have been able to learn bass very quickly because I already played guitar to a semi-decent level, ie knew my scales and modes intuitively in the CAGED system and had spent years transcribing music and playing in bands.
That's my experience anyway, so take what you want from it. Although if you are just starting to learn guitar I wouldn't recommend attempting bass at the same time, as it could be a very long time before you see results on either.
Haha that's good to know. I've played guitar from aged 15 (back in 2000) until now without paying any attention to my fourth finger. I started working on it properly when I realised that I would never be able to play any of the Jazz that I had become interested in. At least I know these exercises got you out of the same hole that I'm in, Pebber.
If you have a camera maybe record yourself playing trills and get some feedback. The guys in this forum critiqued my technique a month or two back and their advice helped A LOT.
If I ever meet any of you guys I'm buying you a drink!
I also found taking a balanced approach helped in a big way. Use all of the spiders and ladders that isolate the pinky as well as working the trills. Also, it was pointed out to me that you need to apply this stuff to your normal playing straight away. I think this helped too.
I have no idea what level you are at, but I did an hour a day of trills, followed by an hour of trills focusing specifically on my pinky. If you do that you will improve fast. I noticed a difference after a week. After a month my hand felt far more limber, strong and accurate. I still have a very long way to go, but to me the difference is astounding. After banging my head against a wall for a long time, I now feel excited about my guitar playing again.
Guys, thanks for all the advice, this is really really helpful. I think I'm just going to print off this thread and try work at this stuff in front of the mirror for the day.
Just to clarify one thing - for now I should emphasise the movement of the finger to build strength, but ultimately I should be using my forearm as my main point of motion?
FraKh, I think I will be using Pebber's routine as my guide over the next couple of years, but as you can see my 4th finger trills are pretty poor right now. Do you think it would be a good idea to concentrate on these for a few weeks, or maybe a month or two until they catch up with the other fingers? I still find time every day to do some reading and ear-training, as well as practising with a band.
Thanks for the tips. My third finger is ok so I've just been concentrating on my fourth finger for now.
I've also started doing 2 finger trills on all sets that use my fourth finger. 2-4 and 3-4 are brutally slow and uncoordinated for now. If I try to do about 1 hour on each set will this help out my technique?
I just want to see what you guys think so I know I'm not wasting my time.
Hi everyone. Firstly, I just wanna say that the Pebber Brown YouTube channel and this forum are an awesome resource, and it's nice to meet you all.
I've been working through some of the left hand technique videos for the last few weeks, and they have really helped a lot. I hadn't practised properly for a couple of years, and prior to that I was just a ropey blues rock player anyway. The trills, spiders and ladders etc have really given me the kick up the ass I needed, and I've been practising my reading, ear-training, improv and scales/harmony too. I've been trying to take a balanced approach, and after putting in a lot of work since August I can really see an improvement, but I can also see what is it that is holding me back.
My fourth finger is an idiot.
Now while it has improved somewhat, it's definitely a big problem for me. I spent years just playing Clapton and Hendrix licks, and as such never developed much strength or co-ordination. I particularly have a problem with trill exercises starting on the 2nd and 3rd finger.
In practical terms this stops me from playing diatonic scales with proper technique, at any kind of reasonable speed. I also find chromatic exercises fall apart pretty quickly as I speed them up.
Can you recommend any particular exercises or methods? I can see which of the trills and and ladders I struggle with the most - If I develop co-ordination with them will it help my regular playing?
I had been thinking about simplifying my practise routine for a few weeks and just concentrating on my 4th finger trills untill they catch up with the rest? Would you recommend this approach?
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