-
O E ERTT
D
T BAYS
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
coursewe all do. Thats
why we practice. So why
does it seem like all that practice time isnt pay-
ing off? It could be because youre not prac-
ticing the right stuff. n Guitarists tend to as-
sociate the term chops with playing fast. And
while technical proficiency is definitely part of
the equation, theres 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 {..
{..
15
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
youll get more musical results. Featuring minorand major thirds,
EExx.. 11aa makes a great warm-up and sounds coolin 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 {..
w {..
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
15 12 14 15
12 12 13 15 13
14 12
12 14 11 12 14
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, Theres More...
listeners attention youve 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 mentalitythey 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 me15 minutes witha drum machine is the equivalent of one
hourwithout it. Its not only the fastest way to improve
your timing, its also a great way to chart progress.If last week
you could barely play a lick at 100 beatsper minute, but this week
youre burning throughit at 115 bpm, thats improvement!
Ive included left- and right-hand fingeringswhere I thought they
might help, but theyremerely 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 youre 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
youdont 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
daystime you will see dramatic improvement in
yourplayingguaranteed.
Move them to other keys.
Mess with the phrasingif its 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 dont 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 .
3 3
3 3
3 3
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
- - - - - * Hammer-on w/out picking.
7 7 5
5 5 5
8 7 7
- - - - - - 1 1 3 3
3 1
1 3 1 4
===============================TAB
& # 44 {..
{..
> >
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 3 3 3
3 > > >>
3
> >
~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~ 3 3 3
>
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 {..
{..
3
3 3
Amaj9### 4 3 2 1 2 4
7 6
5 4 4 5 7
5 6
7
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
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, youll 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. Dontrush the
sweepsmake 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
HERES 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. Dont
short-change thequarter-notes on beats one and fourits 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 {..
{..
{
..{..
{..
{..
let 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 add9 {..
{..
Dm 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 {..
{..
J J ( ) ~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~
Am
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 {..
{..
Am
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.. 66bbs slinky licks.
6
7
==============================TAB
& 44 {..
{..
## 1 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
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
12 12 10 10
13 12 12 14
12 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 5bAm7G7Cmaj7Dm7 Em7 Fmaj7 G7 Am7
Bm7 5b Cmaj7
===================================TAB
& 44
Cmaj7Em7
Dm7Fmaj7
wwwwEm7 Fmaj7
Am7G7G7
Bm7 5Am7
Cmaj7b Bm7 5bG7 Am7Fmaj7G7 Em7 Fmaj7Dm7 Em7Cmaj7Dm7Bm7 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 ww2 1 2 2 2 2 2 3 1 2 1 2 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-chinechords wont do
you any good if you
dont 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
