Are you having trouble with Sweep Picking? Does the technique not seem to be going very well for you? If so, you're not alone. Developing this guitar picking technique is challenging. However, with time and patience you can break down the limitations of learning this technique and eventually integrate it into your own guitar playing...
The training involved with performing smooth and accurate sounding sweep picking technique is centered around making several perfect hand movements combined with the most highly correct picking movements possible. Each of these movements across the guitar strings needs to occur perfectly between the left and right hand. Plus, they have to be fully synchronized. Each movement made (from each fret-board hand's finger) needs to be perfectly aligned with the location of the guitar pick to the guitar string of where the picking hand's finger is situated. if we don't have this, we won't have a good sounding sweep pick as an end result. So, on this episode of the Guitar Blog Insider, I'm going to dispel three myths that surround getting a nice clear sounding sweep pick technique on guitar. WATCH THE VIDEO:
MYTH #1). ITS ALL IN MY PICKING: A lot of guitarists buy into the idea that sweep picking is all about the picking hand. The first and foremost thing that has to be realized - is that sweep picking primarily has to do with synchronization between the hands. This technique isn't a technical idea that's isolated to the picking hand only. That said, in getting started with this technique, you'll want to make sure to spend time generating a smooth rake movement across the strings in time with a metronome click-track. Here's a good study that you can begin working on to help you get trained up on the initial pick-hand skills for developing the hand movement across the strings. It won't take long to achieve success here, and as soon as you do, be sure to move on to synchronization...
Example #1).
MYTH #2). Chord SOUND? WHAT Chord SOUND? There are some players who either don't bother, or perhaps don't realize that they need to focus on the sound of the sweep as it occurs across the chord or the arpeggio pattern being studied. It really is quite important to understand that the sound of the individual notes does in fact matter when you sweep across a collection of tones. When you're practicing your sweep picking training, be sure to quickly lift off the fretting hand fingers from the notes that you're playing so that each note sounds clearly. Let's do some work with this concept using another three string sweep idea. But, this time instead of covering up the notes, we'll perform them, making sure that each note sounds on its own, (without any bleed over from one note to the next). Remember, we want individual clarity when it comes to each note. Not a wash of notes "ringing out" as if the sweep pick was a chord being strummed...
Example #2).
MYTH #3). Bah... WHO NEEDS A METRONOME! The final factor that guitar players will often leave out when it comes to sweep picking practice is using a metronome to slowly and incrementally perfect their timing and to build speed and skill for the sweep study being practiced. I suppose that perhaps "some players" have had "some success" with sweep picking practice done without the use of a metronome. But, I'd wager on it that most guitarists who've really nailed down their skills for sweep picking have done it by way of using a metronome for hours and hours on end. One of the guitarists, that I've actually seen up close, who has truly mastered sweep picking is "Tony MacAlpine." His ability with this technique is incredible. And, yes he spent hours working with a metronome... Here's a final sweep picking drill that you can work on with a metronome for perfecting the ascending and descending sweep picking technique...
Example #3).
CONCLUSION: Sweep picking isn't exactly an "easy" technique to develop. And, that's probably why a lot of guitar players try studying it for awhile, but then many will unfortunately just give up on it. And, for anyone who's into instant gratification, sweep picking probably won't end up becoming a part of a person like that's skill set. This technique just simply takes a lot of hours dedicated to reach a level of perfecting the ascending and the descending movements. And, it's not a technique that everyone is drawn to. But, if you are interested in sweep picking, take into consideration the points I've covered here, along with the myths I've broken down in this discussion. With practice, you might be able to hold your own, and maintain your discipline to be able to eventually nail down what it takes to become successful at performing the sweep picking maneuver.
I'd like to end the discussion by saying, thanks for joining me... If you want to learn more about what I do as an online guitar teacher, then head over to my website at creativeguitarstudio.com and sign up your FREE lifetime membership. When you want more, you can always upgrade to either a Basic, or a Premium lesson package and start studying the guitar courses I've organized for the members of my website. Also, I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on all of this in the comment section below... if you enjoyed this lesson and the video on YouTube, give it a thumbs up and subscribe for more. Thanks again and we'll catch up next week , for another episode of the, "Guitar Blog Insider."
Welcome to the new QwikSongs video lesson series. Lesson two covers the song, Empire by Queensrÿche... The Qwik-Songs videos are available in the members area. Includes PDF handout!
QwikSongs are available to members at Creative Guitar Studio.com. Lessons in the QwikSongs Series run through the structure of popular songs. This will include topics such as; harmonies, scales, song sections and guitar solos...
Section one discusses the two-note chords in the main riff structure and how the part operates around a 5 measure layout with a turnaround using 3/4 time.
Section two explores the harmony and keys used to create the more laid-back feel of the riffs applied in, "Empire's" Verse and Breakdown sections.
Section three examines what intervals are applied to the harmony that is used from the song's intro. section. The two-part guitar harmony while simple, sounds strong with the addition of the harmonized guitar parts.
Sign into the website (or create your free members account) to join the members site. Sign up for the Basic Monthly or Premium (annual) membership to download the PDF handout for this lesson and study all of the other classes available on the website.
Become a FREE member of the website, sign up today!
Have you tried to learn your scales, but sadly had next to no success? Or, have you only limited success, learning only a few patterns but still not gaining skill at using scales all across the neck?
Good news... You're in luck! In this lesson, I'm going to explain how you can approach your scale practice differently. You'll learn about a system you can apply to help you organize a routine that will allow you to get much better at your scales - especially for when you want to apply them musically...
STUDY WITH A PLAN: This system will help you as you go on to learn new melodies by ear, or when you'll use scales to perform improvisation. The principles that I'll be covering are some of the same concepts that I teach in my private classes, group workshops and during my Skype lessons. APPLY A STUDY PLAN THAT WORKS! These ideas work, and I know that, (not only from form teaching them to hundreds of guitar players, but because), I've been using them myself for many years to get better at applying scales to create hundreds of songs and lesson plans for all of the students involved with Creative Guitar Studio.
GETTING ORGANIZED: Since there's an incredible amount of time and effort required to develop scales on guitar you'll need away to set out a routine to get organized. However, your approach cannot just be "thrown together." The plan that you implement will have to accomplish two very important things for you... Number one, your plan has to help you remain active with your scale practice. You'll need to spend a lot of hours on the scales that you're studying - working on them almost every day! Number two, you will have get into and maintain a routine so that the scales will slowly become more and more committed to memory. Plus, having a steady routine in place will help you become more technically proficient. Without an organized plan like this, and a routine to implement, your scale study will likely fizzle out and die. And, that sucks, because any work that you start investing, will just end up fading away from your memory.
ESTABLISH A DAILY CYCLE: Your plan should involve a daily cycle. That cycle should also be done as a numbered cycle instead of using days of the week. Having a numbered cycle will allow you to jump back into the routine at any point. Being able to jump in and out of the routine is helpful for when you take a day or two off. Or, if you maybe take a vacation, head to the lake, etc... When you return, you can simply pick up again from where you left off and keep going. Below is an example of one of my own practice plans. This is the real deal, the actual plan that I used over the years to study scales myself.
LOG YOUR STUDIES: Once you have a plan in place, be sure that you are keeping a log book. Make notes about what you're doing with the scales. Notate what tempos you're able to play them at. And, make reference about other technical ideas you're applying. Include things like; scale sequencing, three note per string patterns that you're working on, legato ideas, licks you're inventing, etc. There's a lot of sub-categories of work that correspond with learning scales and it's a good idea to have a process in place that will organize and keep track of these.
SCALE APPLICATION(The Key to Success): The next area I want to touch on has to do with application. In all of the time that I've spent working with students to help them develop their ability to use scales, I've noticed that this is an area that's generally severally lacking. All too often, a devoted guitar student will spend a lot of time learning to; play scale shapes, learning the fingerings, and how to build-up some speed (with performing the scales up to faster tempos). However, there are far too many times when I'll meet a new student, and they'll tell me that they've been studying scales for weeks or even months - yet they're not applying the scales within a context where the scales will be used to create a melody. Obviously, that's not good. Below is a demo chord progression in the key of "E Minor." You can record this and begin trying to invent some melody over it using the "E Minor" scale shapes that you know, or any "E Minor" ideas that you are learning right now. JAM-TRACK PROGRESSION:
Once you've established your chord progression that is locked into a key center, (like this example I've provided for you in, "E Minor"), you'll want to start working toward the application of your scale. The, "shapes and patterns" of scales, are being studied for creating melody. And, that's exactly what you'll want to do with them (as soon as possible). Take the chord changes that you've decided upon, and record your progression in some way. Record it in your computer or smart-phone, or get it into a sequencer, or into a looper pedal - (basically whatever you have for being able to play back those chords)...
Work at being able to create melody over the jam tracks. And, don't just randomly improvise. Compose a lot of phrases at first. Those composed ideas will start to become your future personal guitar licks. Below is an example of a melodic idea for over those "E Minor" chord changes. Use it as a spring-board to invent more melodies of your own.
VISIT THE WEB-SITE: Thanks for joining me, If you'd like to Find Out What You Should Learn Next on Guitar - take a look at the courses over on my website at CreativeGuitarStudio.com. My step-by-step; Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced courses will cover what you need to know, along with how to be able to move forward and become the best player that you can be. I've worked on these courses since 1992 and I feel that all together they're the best guitar program you'll ever find. The courses will help you learn to identify what's required to get you up to the next level of guitar playing, in a very organized way, that makes sense. I look forward to helping you further at CreativeGuitarStudio.com ...Until next time - take care and we'll catch up again on the next video. Bye for now!
Is there such a thing as "Perfect Melody?" ...Maybe not "one single melody" that is perfect for every person on Earth, but we can work at creating melody lines that flow well, are exceptionally well balanced and that have a sense of resolution. And, there's one style of music that does this exceptionally well - Classical...
Back in the 18th century a German physicist named "Ernest Chladni" (who is by the way, sometimes also labeled as the father of acoustics), studied how sound affected matter. And, he did this in a very interesting way. Chladni spread a light coat of sand on steel disks and he noticed that when a violin played certain notes it caused the discs to vibrate and form geometrical shapes. This was also studied by other researchers and they discovered the same thing using; liquids, metals and powders.
For musicians, it's interesting because it teaches us that the more balance we can learn to add to our study of both melody and sound, the better geometry that we can ultimately produce with the sound-waves of our music. In this episode of the Guitar Blog Insider, I'm going to discuss ways to practice music, that focus on the creation of, "Balanced Melody." WATCH THE VIDEO:
When it comes down to working on ways that will train us to maintain more balance across a melody, one of the important principles we need to focus on is learning to compose passages that flow with very connected melodic impressions.
And, one of the music styles that achieves this very well is Classical music. Melodies in Classical style can often be more anticipated (than say perhaps Jazz). And, Classical melody can be judged by a listener as to where where the flow of its lines will turn or resolve. Classical listeners will often be able to predict where the melody will travel next.
By spending time working and studying at composing "classical sounding" melody, a music student start to learn how to tap into this "directional impression" of melodic flow. Here's an example of doing some work like this...
Example Melody #1).
In the melodic example above, there is a strong connection to how one melodic idea flows smoothly into the next. In fact, the musical flow is so well connected, that the music listener, can start anticipating what the next musical statement will be.
At this point, the listener experiences a satisfaction for comprehending where and when the musical line ends up arriving in that general direction they anticipated.
SATISFYING LISTENER IMPRESSION: That result of satisfying the listeners' impression is valuable to learn. The other thing that happens is at the end of the phrase, the melodic contour moves through a resolution which helps the listener connect strongly with an ending. These ideas are excellent to study on your instrument. And, when you learn to produce them, all of your other melodic ideas start to become stronger and much more connected. Especially when you're improvising. Let's study another melody line, and try expanding on these principles. Example Melody #2).
Melodic example two, once again opens up with a very connected and impressionable recurring melodic theme. However, the latter half of the melody shifted to the use of ascending and descending arpeggios. This 'arpeggio sound' of example melody two occurred within the key center and it used a collection of tones that were all diatonic to the key. When this approach is applied, the listener once again is made to feel like they will be able to anticipate what the upcoming notes will be. The end result is one of making the listener feel more tuned into the piece as the passage unfolds.
Let's study one more melodic passage. This time with a change to the time signature, having the melody function as a triple meter idea in 3/8 time.
Example Melody #3).
In the 3/8 time example shown above, the melodic flow is very impressionable. The way that each statement is applied makes it relatively easy for the listener to anticipate how the next upcoming melodic part will arrive in the piece. The main difference with melody three however, is how the rhythmic push occurs. In this (last example), the feel is in 3/8 time. Pushing the phrases with their accents differently. The meter of 3/8 time is creating a different impression of where the "rhythmic balance" of the melody flows from. The concept of timing is another area that musicians in training will often overlook. But, when students of music can focus on rhythmic elements, their level of skill with composing music will start to reach new plateaus of ability. Something that is really fantastic happens during this part of the learning curve for both composing and for improvising.
CONCLUSION: When students of music study how to get better at the; application of melody, at scales, and at using arpeggios, a musicians recognition and control over what they perceive as sound patterns starts hitting some pretty significant breakthrough levels. The trick to expanding our skills for the creation of melodic ideas are strongly based in wave forms and there's a visual geometric representation to this. Much like those scientists had spent long hours studying the connection between sound and forms, we need to establish a similar way to pursue this on our instruments. Learning scale and arpeggio patterns is only the beginning. Those elements are just the building blocks. It's the music we compose that's the reflection of the vibrations overall. That's what ends up determining how greatly our music affects others. That's the power we have as composers. The ability to make our listeners feel a certain way. To bring their mood up, to bring them down, or to make them restless. Whatever the emotional effect may be.
VISIT THE WEB-SITE: Well, I'd like to end the discussion by saying, thanks for joining me. If you want to learn more about what I do as an online guitar teacher, then head over to my website at creativeguitarstudio.com and sign up your FREE lifetime membership. When you want more, you can always upgrade to either a Basic, or a Premium lesson package and start studying the guitar courses I've organized for the members of my website.
Also, I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on all of this in the comment section below, if you enjoyed this video on YouTube, give it a thumbs up and subscribe for more.
Thanks again and we'll catch up next week , for another episode of the, "Guitar Blog Insider."
NEW The lesson plans of "Rhythm Guitar" have started. This new Creative Guitar Studio course will break down the finest details surrounding rhythm skills. The focus will be on creating the best rhythm guitar ability possible.
Rhythm Guitar topics will include developing a feel for time, a complete understanding of the beat, strum patterns for different for every popular duration, new chord shapes and a whole lot more.
Lesson one breaks down four rhythmic meter studies covering rhythm and strum patterns for; half, quarter and eighth-note values.
Members can watch both video lessons and download all of the handouts, along with the MP3 play-a-long tracks...
Join the member's area to download the PDF handout and MP3's. Study all of the examples with full access to both video lessons. Be sure to spend some additional time on learning the "Rhythm Jam Challenge" piece that I performed at the start of the lesson in the "Part One" video...
PART ONE:In example one, the feel for developing a recurring strum pattern applies both quarter and eighth-notes. Chords from the open position of; "C, G, Am and Em," will be applied to the strumming groove example.
Example two offers a new "mixed" beat pattern. This example is applying a mixed quarter and eighth-note groove. The meter occurs with a "mirror-like" effect in each measure. Take notice of the two down-strum attacks that occur on beats two and three.
PART TWO:
In example three, the rhythm part operates as a blended 2-bar form. The 2-bar groove is combined with unique strumming that incorporates attacks directed at the low and high register string sets.
A unique separated sound is produced from the hits being made between low and high register. The end result is a more targeted sound that is colored off of the separation of the low and high string sets.
Example four, completes the lesson with a varied rhythmic groove. In this varied rhythmic example, the meter changes as the measures flow along.
Learn how to take one melodic idea and move that idea along the neck from one fret-board region of the guitar, across to another, and then over to yet one more after that. Scales, arpeggios and chords can be performed all over the neck. Don't delay, start developing this skill today...
Once you learn how this concept works, (and you begin using it to re-locate guitar melody lines, guitar solos, and guitar licks), the whole neck will start opening up for you. Then, over time no matter what key you're in, the entire neck will start feeling like one big friendly place when you're playing anything.
GETTING STARTED: The first thing players need to understand is that the guitar is (in general) five frets long. We can break down any melodic idea, or (chord progression for that matter), so that it functions within a five fret span on the neck. Below is an example of this with an "A Minor Pentatonic Scale." For example, here's a one octave "A Minor" Pentatonic scale in the open to 5th fret region. Open to 5th Position:
Now here it is again (the exact same scale tones) re-located between the 5th to 10th fret region of the neck. 5th to 10th Position:
And now here it is again ...up between the 10th to the 15th fret region. 10th to 15th Position:
NOTE: Once you start learning small segments of scales in these three regions of the neck, you'll be able to start re-organizing ANY guitar idea in each of the regions as well. HOW TO PRACTICE SCALES: If you're still learning your scales on the neck, then be sure to watch my YouTube lesson titled, "How to Practice Scales." Also, make sure that you download that lessons handout and the lessons jam-track.
GUITAR LICKS and the 3 REGIONS: Let's test this "3 region neck principle" using a collection of guitar lick examples. Here's our first play through of an example melody with the part performed up between the 10th to 15th frets...
Lick #1).10th to 15th frets
click the image above to enlarge full-screen
Next, we'll re-organize the "lick one" melodic guitar line down the neck using the exact same notes. But this time, I'll show you how to perform this part between the 5th to 10th frets. Here's how it sits on the neck in this "5th to 10th" region.
Lick #2).5th to 10th frets
click the image above to enlarge full-screen
As you are starting to realize, this type of work is absolutely fantastic for not only getting better at understanding how notes and licks are sitting on the neck. But, by doing this type of work, you'll start getting a better handle on how to control where you choose to play a guitar part. Rather than being stuck /locked into performing a guitar part in only one location, (generally, that's quite often the location that you first learned the idea in), you can re-locate guitar ideas anywhere along the fingerboard. But, we're not finished yet, this guitar lick that we're jammin' on can still be played in one more fretting area. That would be between the open to 5th fret region.
Lick #3). Open to 5th fret region
click the image above to enlarge full-screen
CONCLUSION: This idea (of learning licks and melody lines across the guitar fingerboard in a "5-fret span"), is an excellent approach for getting your chord progressions and melody lines to function in more than just one playing region. Plus, this "regional approach on the neck" is also excellent for determining more than one fretting area for any given guitar part. The only drawback might be if you haven't ever studied scales on the neck. If that is the case, you'll need to spend some time learning the patterns for scales on the fingerboard, (so you can comprehend how scales function across multiple fret-board regions). Once you learn these principles, (and you're able to perform parts in these three areas), you'll have an excellent level of control for playing guitar ideas anyplace on the neck. Especially when it comes to performing improvised guitar solos!
VISIT THE WEB-SITE: Thanks for joining me, If you'd like to Find Out What You Should Learn Next on Guitar - take a look at the courses over on my website at CreativeGuitarStudio.com. My step-by-step; Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced courses will cover what you need to know, along with how to be able to move forward and become the best player that you can be. I've worked on these courses since 1992 and I feel that all together they're the best guitar program that you'll ever find. The courses will help you learn to identify what's required to get you up to the next level of guitar playing, in a very organized way, that makes sense. I look forward to helping you further at CreativeGuitarStudio.com ...Until next time - take care and we'll catch up again on the next lesson post. Bye for now!