by admin on August 1, 2009
Have you been practicing the same old guitar scales over and over again?
If you’ve already mastered your current training routine, it’s time to break out of the rut and push yourself out of your comfort zone – you won’t get any better without a variety of different exercises.
One DVD I constantly use till this day is Frank Gambale’s Chop Builder. It’s like a workout/training video that gets you practicing a moutain of licks and scales over and over. Each lick is played an average of 7 times then it switches to the next one.
The DVD is a “play-along” format, and the feeling you get is like working out along to an aerobics video, difference is you’re doing it with a guitar instead. It runs through quite a few customized licks and all the scales like the Major, Minors, Dorians etc..
I find it really good in my practice routines ’cause focuses plenty on repition and building stamina. The whole workout session runs for about 1 hour and by the end of it, you’ll definitely feel fatigued in your picking hand. I definitely feel the “strength” in my picking when I do this workout 3 times a week.
For you absolute beginners, you might want to skip this guitar DVD as it’s a bit too advanced. I think Amazon.com still stocks this title, it’s a bit old but there’s nothing else like it on the market.
Tags:
frank gambale,
guitar training dvd,
scales practice
by admin on June 22, 2009
” How should I practice guitar scales? ” is one of the most common questions asked by beginners who are learning to play guitar.
One of the keys to playing good lead guitar is knowing your scales back to front. You should know the major and minor scales by heart and every other scale in between. The only way to become proficient with scales is massive repetition, till it becomes second nature and your muscle memory takes over.
After you’ve done enough practice, you will naturally start to remember the sounds of each of the notes that belong to a certain scale, and you will start to develop the ability to visualize the scales across your guitar fretboard.
When I first started practicing my scale runs, it seemed to me almost like an impossible task to memorize the entire set of scales in every key across the guitar neck, and I wondered if I would ever be able to do it. But remember, most of us are able to memorize the entire times table, through repetition at school, so this is no different. It will happen!
What I found helped me with my scale practice was to picture the notes of each scale as dots across the fretboard, and I would do this on a daily basis. Just a little visualization practice each day is sufficient.
As you develop the ability to visualize, you must also have your fingers develop the muscle memory to play the scales. How I did it was to sit in front of my television and play the scales up and down whilst watching my favorite tv program, so I wouldn’t get bored.
Try not to think about it too much whilst doing this and let your mind wander while your fingers do the moving.
Finally, you will want to practice scales in an improvisation situation as well. Start with something easy like a G major guitar scale and play along to a song in the same key, trying to add some of your own personal style to the song the best you can.
Tags:
Guitar Scales,
lead guitar lessons,
major scale
by admin on June 13, 2009
Slash is one of the biggest users of pentatonic minor scales
Why Is the Pentatonic Minor So Important?
The pentatonic minor scale is so frequently used in Blues, Rock, Metal and Folk music. As a beginner to playing lead guitar and improvisation, it is best you start by learning the pentatonic scales first as opposed to learning the regular major or minor scales. The pentatonic scale only has 5 notes and it is much easier to visualise, remember, as well as play..when compared to the major scales.
The best thing about pentatonic minor is that it will sound great on almost all your rock songs, and there will rarely ever be an off note.
Just a thing to note – The Blues scale is actually the same as the pentatonic but with only 1 note difference between them. The Blues scale will be covered in a different section.
Tags:
pentatonic minor scale
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