News
– all of these exercises take less than 60 seconds each –
1
Open string arpegios in different patterns. How many variations can you make in 30 seconds?
2
Chromatic exercise at the 5th position thus avoiding stretching the fingers – yet.
3
Simple chord sequence in 1st position: try C major – A minor – D minor – G 7. You don’t know the chords and have been playing for at least a year? Drop everything and make it a priority to catch up.
4
Play the same chord sequence in arpeggio patterns of your invention.
5
Talking of C major: how about the scale of C major in 2 octaves? Start in 1st or 2nd position and move up to 5th position. This is your first left hand “jump” of the day.
6
Time for some slurring (ligado) exercises in 5th position. Try hammers or snaps between the following pairs of fingers: 1 – 2, 1 – 3, 1 – 4, 2 – 3, 2 – 4, 3 – 4; 4 -3, 4 -2, 4 -1, 3 -2, 3 -1, 2 -1. Congratulations, you have just played all the combinations possible between pairs of fingers.
7
Double up on the slurring exercises by playing only the first note of each group and slurring the rest: 1-2-1-2/ 1-3-1-3/ 1-4-1-4/ etc, thus combining hammers and snaps within the same exercise just like in real music.
8
How about a 3 octave chromatic scale starting on the low string E? Repeat ad lib changing right hand fingers free stroke and rest stroke.
9
Back to the C major scale: play the scale harmonised. Place the scale note at the top of the chord and add a 2 or 3 note chord underneath. Harmonise as you wish. Tip: you don´t have to invent a new chord on every note. The notes C and G of the scale could both be harmonised with the chord of C major.
10
Repeat the harmonised scale in arpeggios.
Hope this helps turn the warm-up grind into something enjoyable and challenging. You can extend each exercise for a lot more than 60 seconds (except maybe the slurs). Some of this may be new to you – but is the stuff of music itself, not just technique. The more we can mix them up the better for developing your guitar playing skills.
25th October 2014, Ferrol, Spain