Practice Excersizes

[ijustwannastrat]

When I'm practicing, I like to play that clown-song, I think it's called "March of the Clowns"... I actually have no idea.

Anybody have some really good warm-ups/practice pieces that they use and want to share? My clown thing is pretty good IMO, but it has no bends in it.

[ashcatlt]

Usually when I have time to sit down with my guitar, I'm going to either go through the songs I'm playing at the upcoming gig, or I try to learn something new, or I'm trying to figure out how the song I've been writing in my head actually goes.

Sometimes, though, I don't really feel like "getting into it" and just want to make sure I move my fingers. For years, when I have these moments, I've been playing through a set of exercises that I got from an article in an old Guitar Magazine by Alex Skolnic. I never listened to his music, but the exercise is simple to remember, seems to scale well based on skill level, and pretty well covers every move you might want to make on a guitar neck.

It's really simple, but I think the tab just makes it easier to follow:

Each of these patterns starts on any 2 adjacent strings (I usually start with 6 and 5), at the 1st fret. When you have played through it one time, move up a fret and keep going till you get sick of it. I usually stop at the 12th. Then move to the next pair of adjacent strings and continue till you've played it on every pair of strings in every position.

Then start skipping 1 string in between (so 6 and 4 to start) and go through the whole ordeal over again. Now skip 2 strings. Then 3, and finally you're playing on the 2 E strings. Most of the time I don't have a high E, so I never get that far.

I have also adapted these patterns to be played as arpeggios across the strings. I also do them as six string runs by moving to a new pair of strings on each repeat (rather than sliding up).

I've been doing that for years. Lately, though, I've been working with the "Fretboard Logic" thing, trying to improve my improv.

[ashcatlt]

BTW - is that the song people on TV hear when they get bonked on the head? "Doot doot doodleoodle doot doot doo doo..."

How's that go?

[gitpiddler]

I believe Steve Morse had an alternate picking (imagine that) exercise similar to the above using 3-notes on adjacent strings so you were always switching strings in a different direction. Down-picking a note, then jumping over the next string for the up-picked note. That'll get you going.

[sumgai]

One of Joe Satriani's "basic" warm-up exercises goes similar to ash's, above:


e-------------------------4-|-1----------------------|
B-----------------4-----3---|--2-----1---------------|
G--------4-----3-----2------|----3-----2----1--------|
D------3-----2-----1--------|------4-----3----2------|
A----2-----1----------------|--------------4----3----|
E--1------------------------|----------------------4-|

Start at the first fret (so your first finger is hitting F on the 6^th string), and work your way up and back down. Use alternate picking strokes. Move to the second fret, lather, rinse and repeat as necessary. (I usually stop at the octave point.) Each time you move up one fret, start out on the opposite picking stroke from the one you used previously.

I dont recall the name of it right now, but he even made a tune out of this exercise on one of his early albums.

All it's intended to do is warm up your fingers such that they go where you will them, without having to think about it. You should be able to do this not only without looking, but you should be able to record it while you're actually doing something else, such as watching the boob-toob, and that recording should sound no different than when you are paying attention. Or so says The Big Man.

After you've gotten to the point where you can do this with ease at about the 140-160 bpm range, you can start altering the pattern for variety. Yeah, right. I'm lucky to just get any one of the strings all the way to the fretboard before I spaz out!

If you need string bending practice, then you need:

a) Will Ray or Roy Buchanan or Danny Gatton recordings;

b) a way to slow those recordings down about 75% without sounding like a pair of tin cans over a string (I like Best Practice);

c) a bottle of Prozac to keep you from going over the edge as you realize that not only do these cats have it going on, but that you'll never be this good! But keep trying to sound like them anyways, because you know that they copied somebody else when they were starting out.

Good luck!

HTH





sumgai

[cynical1]

Scales...scales....and more scales... They're good for warming up and you have the added benefit of actually learning the fretboard and a bit of muscle memory when switching modes.

[ijustwannastrat]

Ash, those first 2 are almost identical to what I've been given by my uncle. Your third one sounds a little dark, very nice....

And if your "doots" are the same as mine, yes. I will attempt to tab it?

e-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
B-6-5----5---------------------3-2----2--------------------------------------------
G------7----7-6-5--4--3--4--------5---5-4-3--2--1--2---(2)slide4------------
D--------------------------------------------------------------------4-4-3-4-
A--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
E--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
....................................................................................|Twice-------------->|

e-------------------------------------------
B-------------------------------------------
G---------------------5-6-7-8-7--5------
D-----------5-6-7-8----------------------
A-5-6-7-8--------------------------------
E-------------------------------------------

I apologize for my poor tabbing... Sadly, it doesn't get better on paper...


Edit: and Gai, lol. I prefer Jerry Donahue's playing for some reason. Will Ray is still stupidly amazing, though.

[sydsbluesky]

I'm not a huge fan of exercises, personally.

I spend a good deal of my time on my guitar without a pick, and when it comes to this, I have a favorite song.

Bron-Yr-Aur, from Physical Graffiti (not Bron-Yr-Aur Stomp, from Led Zed III.) The instrumental song by Page.

It gets me limbered up and inspired at the same time. I keep an acoustic tuned to it at all times, and It's been my warm-up for five years or so.

A warm up is as much mental as physical. Find something you love. One of those things that inspired you to pick up your guitar in the first place. That's the sort of"exercise" that I would suggest.

That recording still gets me misty eyed and makes my guts churn when I hear it to this day.

[sumgai]

stratty,

I too like JD, but he's a bit more refined than WR, IMHO of course.

There's a reason why Will has been accused of having a bionic hand, while "poor" Jerry only has seven fingers on his! ;D

But the point was not to point out favorite guitar heros so much as to look for obviously insane string-benders that you can try to learn from, in your desire to attain MasterBender status. Any of these cats will get you there, I'm sure.




sumgai

[spudler]

for reply # 4 I have seen that exercise listed as " The Spider" I started doing that and I really likethat one for warmups. I also do all of the modes. then I have a few more I will have to figure out how to tab on here or I can save my pre made tabs as .jpg an dpost them for ya.