O E ERTT

D

T B

AYS

C SH OP

51

➧ ➧

B Y M A T T B L A C K E T T

ant to be a better player? Of

course—we all do. That’s

why we practice. So why

does it seem like all that practice time isn’t pay-

ing off? It could be because you’re not prac-

ticing the right stuff. ■ Guitarists tend to as-

sociate the term “chops” with playing fast. And

while technical proficiency is definitely part of

the equation, there’s a lot more to chops than

just burning through scales. To really grab a

W

➧P U M P U P Y O U R T E C H N I Q U E W I T H T H E S E

E S S E N T I A L E X E R C I S E S

76 GUITAR PLAYER APRIL 1999

➧ ➧

=======================TAB

& # 44 {..

{..

ö ö ö ö ö ö ö ö ö ö ö ö ö ö ö ö ö ö ö ö ú15

15 15 12

12 12 12 14 14

14 14 14

12 12

12 12

14 15

12 12 12

3 3 1

1 1 2 3

3 1 1 3

4 1

1 Alternate PickingYOU CAN BUILD ALTERNATE-PICKINGchops by running scales up and down the fret-board. Play scales using intervals, however, and

you’ll get more musical results. Featuring minorand major thirds, EExx.. 11aa makes a great warm-up and sounds cool—in a quasi-classical kind

of way. Apply this “two notes down, one noteup” concept to a pentatonic scale and you getEExx.. 11bb. Simple, but effective.

===================================TAB

& # 44 {..

ö ö ö ö ö ö ö ö ö ö ö ö ö ö ö ö ö ö ö ö ö ö ö ö ö ö ö ö ö ö ö ö w {..

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

15 12 14 15

12 12 13 15 13

14 12

12 14 11 12 14

³ ³² ² etc.

11 12 14

15 12

14 15 12 14 15

12 14 15 12 14 10 12

3 3 1 2

2 1 1 3

3 1 2 2 4 4 1

1 3

3 4

1 1

3

Here are some cool ways to get even more mileage out of these exercises: But Wait, There’s More...

listener’s attention you’ve got to play with con-fidence and conviction. You need accuracy, dex-terity, and a solid sense of time. The good newsis that if you strive for all these things, the speedwill come.

The following exercises are designed to breakyou out of the stereotypical chops mentality—they should strengthen your groove and your ear,as well as your fingers. To really benefit from theseexercises, use a drum machine or a metronomewhen you practice. Trust me—15 minutes witha drum machine is the equivalent of one hourwithout it. It’s not only the fastest way to improve

your timing, it’s also a great way to chart progress.If last week you could barely play a lick at 100 beatsper minute, but this week you’re burning throughit at 115 bpm, that’s improvement!

I’ve included left- and right-hand fingeringswhere I thought they might help, but they’remerely suggestions. Always use the fingeringsthat keep you relaxed and playing in time.

There are no tempo indications. Each ofthese exercises should be played at a variety oftempos. To really know a pattern, you should beable to groove with it at a slow crawl and atbreakneck speeds. The slow tempos help to etch

the rhythms and fingerings into your soul andgive you solid time. The fast ones give you theability to stay with the groove when you’re blaz-ing away. You need both.

Obviously, this is not an all-inclusive regi-men. Each example is simply a jumping-offpoint to your own exercises and licks. And youdon’t have to tackle these drills all at once, either.Pick and choose based on your own needs. Se-lect a few areas of study, get your drum machinegoing, and hit it for 15 minutes a day. In 15 days’time you will see dramatic improvement in yourplaying—guaranteed.

• Move them to other keys.

• Mess with the phrasing—if it’s picked, try slurring, or vice-versa.

• Mess with the timing. For example, see what happens if you start

the lick one beat earlier or later.

• Try out different grooves. If a lick is written as a blues shuffle, try it

over a hip-hop beat.

• If you really want to supercharge your licks (and don’t have

problems with your tendons), try these exercises on an

acoustic guitar. The heavier strings will work your hands that

much harder.

• To make any exercise sound more musical, throw in rests, slides,

and bends.

Ex. 1a

Ex. 1b

APRIL 1999 GUITAR PLAYER 77

===================================TAB

& # 44 ö. ö ö ö ö ö ö ö3 3

ö ö ö ö ö ö ö ö3

3 ö ö ö ö ö ö3 ö ö ö ö ö ö ö ö3

3

w~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

**

*

Am

5 5 5 8

7 7 5 5

7 7 5

5 5 5 7 7

8 5 7 7

5 5

³ ³ ³ ³² ² ² ² ² ² ² ² - - - - -

* Hammer-on w/out picking.

7 7 5

5 5 5

8 7 7

² ²³ ³ ²- - - - - -

1 1 3 3

3 1

1 3 1

4

³

===============================TAB

& # 44 {..

{..

úúú úúú úúúú úúúúööö öö öö ö ööö öö öö öö öö öö öö öö öö öö>

>7 7 7

7 7 7

7 7 7

7

7

8

9 9

7 7 7

7

7

8

9

5 5 5 0

5 5 5 0

5 5

8 7

5 5 7

7 5 5 7

7

5 5

2

3

1 1 1

4 3

3 3 4

4 1 1 1 3

==================================TAB

& 44 ö ö ö3 ö ö ö3 ö ö ö3 ö ö ö3 > > >

> ö ö ö ö ö ö3

> ú ö ö ö ö ö ö>

ö ö ö~~~~~~~~~~

~~~~~~~~~~ö ö ö3 ö ö ö3 ú3

> ö ö ö

7 8 10 7 8 10

7 10 9 7 10 9

8 10 12 15 8 10 12 12 10 8

12 10 8 10 9 7

10 9 7 10 7 8

10 7 8 8

1 2 4

4 4

4 3 1

1 1

2 3

1 1 2

2 4

4 4

============TAB

& 44 {..

{..

ö ö ö ö ö ö ö ö ö ö3

3 3

Amaj9### 4 3 2 1 2 4

7 6

5 4 4 5 7

5 6

7

³ ³² ²- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

2

THE HENDRIX-INSPIRED LICKS OFEExx.. 33aa give your weaker fingers a great work-out, and they animate what might otherwisebe boring, normal chords. Try to pick only the

first and last notes of bar 4.Just want to fly through scale patterns? No

problem. EExx.. 33bb is an easy, symmetrical shapetaken from the B Locrian mode. If you get

your fingerings down, you’ll only need onepick-stroke between the first note of bar 3 andthe end. Take it slow, and try to keep thephrase fluid and lyrical.

Sweep PickingHERE ARE A COUPLE OF SIMPLE LICKSthat not only improve sweeping chops and pickcontrol, but sound great at the same time.Sweeping is similar to strumming: As you pickone string, your pick comes to rest on the next.

Sweep across the strings in one smooth motion.EExx.. 22aa combines sweep picking with ham-

mer-ons and pull-offs in a cool pentatonic lickthat creates the illusion of cleanly picking everynote. EExx.. 22bb incorporates alternate picking and

sweeps to create a lounge-lizard flourish. Don’trush the sweeps—make sure all the notes areof equal length.

Hammer-Ons & Pull-Offs

Ex. 2a

Ex. 2b

Ex. 3a

Ex. 3b

3

78 GUITAR PLAYER APRIL 1999

➧ ➧

TAKEN FROM OUR OLD FRIENDthe pentatonic scale, EExx.. 44aa takes two notesand then plays them in reverse, one octavehigher. To reach the high D in bar 2, slidewith your 1st finger to change positionson the and of beat three.

Want to inject some space into yoursoloing, improve your knowledge of thefretboard, and sound badass and funky,all at once? Try EExx.. 44bb. The muted notesbuy you just enough time to make theposition shifts. Attitude is more impor-tant than intonation on the high-C bendin bar 2, so do it with no fear. Who everthought just a couple of notes could beso hard to play and sound so cool?

4

HERE’S SOMETHING TO HELP YOU FAKEyour way through tunes by Paul Simon, JamesTaylor, and a host of others. You can nail this pat-tern using only your picking-hand thumb (p)

and index finger (i), but for a more flexible tech-nique, try including your middle (m) and ring(a) fingers as shown. Don’t short-change thequarter-notes on beats one and four—it’s their

sustain that gives this pattern its rolling quality.If EExx.. 55aa sounds too corny for you, try EExx.. 55bb fora more dungeonistic vibe.

5

===========================TAB

& # 44 {..

{..

öö ö ö ö ö ö {

..{..

öö ö ö ö ö ö {..

{..

öö ö ö ö ö ölet chords ring

G C D

3

3

0 0

0

0 0

0

3 2

0

3

1 0

a p

p p p i p i

p

p a p

a p p i p

p

2

2 2 3 3

0 0

3

2 m 4 2

3

1

m m

2 1

3

==================TAB

& 44 {..

{..

Am add9öö ö ö ö ö ö {..

{..

öö ö ö ö ö öDm add9

let chords ring

0

0 0

0 0

7 7 7 7

5

5 6

5

5

a p

p

p

p i p p

p i a p

3 1

m m

3 4 1

========================TAB

& 44 {..

{..

ö ö ö À ö ö ö À ö ö ö À ö ö öJ ö öJ ú( ) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

ÃAm

3 5 5 X

5 7 7 X

8 10 10 X 17 15 17 17 (20) 15

B

1 3

3 1

1 3 2 1

Fingerpicking

String Skipping

==================TAB

& 44 {..

{..

ö ö ö ö ö ö ö ö ö ö ö ö ö ö ö öAm

5

5

5

5 7

7 7

8

5 7

5 8

5 7

10 8

1

1

4 3

3

3

1

1 1

1

3

3 4 2

Ex. 4a

Ex. 4b

Ex. 5a

Ex. 5b

APRIL 1999 GUITAR PLAYER 79

TWO NOTES PLAYED TOGETHER, THESEnifty little diads are good for a lot more than justplaying the intro to “Johnny B. Goode.” Working

with double-stops will improve your coordination,expand your knowledge of harmony, and get youto think outside the blues box. Double-stops are

also just the thing for soloing on an acoustic orclean-toned electric. Once you can really flythrough EExx.. 66aa, slide into EExx.. 66bb’s slinky licks.

6

7

==============================TAB

& 44 {..

{..

## öö öö öö öö öö öö öö öö öö öö öö öö öö öö öö öö1 1

2 3

2 3

1 1

1 1

2 3

2 3

3 3

1 2

1 2

1 2

1 2 1

2 1 2

1 2 1

2

7 7

8 9

10 11

12 12

14 14

15 16

17 18

19 19

14 15

12 14

10 12

9 10

7 8

5 7 5

2 3

3

===================================TAB

& 44 öööö öööö öööö öööö öööö öööö öööö öööö

5

5 4

3

6 5

5 7

7

7

8

9 9

10

10 8

12

12 10

10

13 12

12 14

14

14

15

15 15 17

17 16

or öööö öööö öööö öööö

12

12 10

10

13 12

12 14

öööö öööö öööö öööö öööö öööö öööö öööö12 12 12 10

10 10 10 9

13 12

12 14

12

12 10

10

10

10 9

8

8 7

7 7

6 5

5

5

5 4

3

4 2 3 1

2 1

1 3

2 1

1 3

4 2 3 1

4 1

1

3

2 1

1 3

3 1

1 2

4 2 3 1

3 3 3 1

3 3 3 1

10 10 10 9

12 12 12 10 9

Fmaj7Em7

Dm7Cmaj7Bm7 5b Am7

G7Cmaj7Bm7 5b

Am7G7Cmaj7

Dm7Em7

Fmaj7G7

Am7Bm7 5b

Cmaj7

===================================TAB

& 44 öööö öööö öööö ööööCmaj7

Em7Dm7

Fmaj7

öööö öööö öööö öööö öööö öööö öööö öööö öööö öööö öööö öööö öööö öööö öööö öööö öööö öööö öööö öööö wwwwEm7 Fmaj7

Am7G7G7

Bm7 5Am7

Cmaj7b Bm7 5bG7

Am7Fmaj7

G7Em7

Fmaj7Dm7

Em7Cmaj7

Dm7Bm7 5b Cmaj7

5

5 4

3

7

7

8

9

6 5

5 7

9 10

10 8

7

7

8

9

12

12 10

10

9 10

10 8

13 12

12 14

12

12 10

10

13 12

12 14

14

14

15

15

12

12 10

10

13 12

12 14

9 10

10 8

12

12 10

10

8 7

7

9 10

10 8

7

6 5

5

8 7

7

5

5 4

3

5

5 4

3 7

6 5

5

3

3 2

2

10 10 10 9

12 12 12 10 9 9

=================================TAB

& ## 44 ö ö ö ö ö ö ö ö ö ö ö ö ö ö ö öö öö öö ö ww2 1 2 2 2 2

2 3

1 2

1 2

ö 1

1 3

1 1 1 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~15 15

14 14 14

12 12

10 12 10 10 10

9 9 10 11

12 12

8 9

10 11

7 7

3

THIS IS BASIC, DIATONIC HARMONY101 stuff, but plenty of us can use a refreshercourse. Take a C major scale, play every othernote (C-E-G-B), then move each note up to thenext higher scale tone. What was a Cmaj7 be-

comes a Dm7 (D-F-A-C), then an Em7 (E-G-B-D), and so on. Zillions of tunes are built onthese simple moves, so understanding themwill come in handy. Work with the drum ma-chine—chords won’t do you any good if you

don’t hit them right on time. Get so you cancruise through EExxaammpplleess 77aa and 77bb, then watchhow much harder you groove the next time youget a progression thrown at you.

Chord Scales

Double-Stops

Ex. 6a

Ex. 6b

Ex. 7a

Ex. 7b