Practice Guide for Lesson 2
Can anyone tell I am a Hendrix fan?
The first thing Stonedragon covers in Lesson 2 is..
THEORY!!!
YUCK...How could you Stone! Just when things were going so well!!
(Don't worry, a well rounded scope on guitar is what you are after really, there is hope)
First of all...don't forget to Tune that thing...But..why is tuning so important?
Because you need to get your ears used to hearing what "in-tune" is...sadly there is no pill for this, and unfortunately biologists discovered that we learn via repeated exposure best...SO...
Always expose your ears to an "in-tune" guitar!!!
Ok...enough on this tuning thing...I think you get the picture.
Anyways...
The first part of lesson 2 is about
Realizing that the notes are the same within the first 12 frets (including the open notes) as the notes in frets 12 and above. Remember that friend I talked about that introduced me to the power chords in San Jose from MrSamson's guitar background page? Well, when he read this concept from Stone's lesson, which is no big secret really, he imediately emailed me stating that it was new information for him. Hahahaha. That was a trip for me, because I realized I had passed him up skill wise playing the guitar.
Navigating your guitar via Octaves. Stonedragdon does an excellent job describing this...so I am not going to try and perfect it. It may seem odd now, but it becomes a REAL tool down the road...consider it a secret that is meant to be on your side. You will be using it in the future, perhaps even without thinking about it.
Ok, moving on to the Left-hand technique of lesson 2, Stonedragon covers an EXCELLENT finger movement drill that I STILL use today as a part of my personal daily practice routine to this day. I love it. It really gets the fingers moving.
I firmly believe in using exercises like this, it is excellent for finger independence and strength, especially for beginners. In fact, I am going to take this a step further and explicity describe what I do for other exercises...
Here is MrSamson's
recommendation for finger excersises:
I HIGHLY recommend the following book...
Guitar Fitness: An Exercise Handbook by
Josquin Des Pres, 80 pages. ISBN
#0-7935-1697-8
Copyright 1992
Here is the front of the book...
Here is the Table of Contents of the book...
Here are the directions for the exercises in the book...
I believe this book to be excellent, and I used this book from day one. At first, the exercises were extremely hard, but eventually they became easier, and with the help of a metronome, I was able to really increase speed with accuracy while doing these exercises. The earlier you can get started with using a metronome, the better, but you know from my Lesson 1 Practice Guide how I feel about using a metronome. But still, do not hesitate to use these exercises, even without a metronome, which is what I did, they are invaluable.
I am still using these exercises that I began using the second month I was playing guitar. My finger strength and finger independence went throuhg the roof!! I still use it to this day, and use the first 62 pages daily in my guitar practice regimine.
The following is a quote from Stonedragon's Left-hand
technique of lesson 2 page...
"Eventually you will be able to take this exercise
all the way up to the 12th fret and back without stopping. You
could try adding an extra fret or two every few days but don't
try to rush your progress. It's important to let the left hand
develop at it's own pace or you may begin to suffer tedonitis
(personal experience). There's no need to hurry."
This is very true...
In the beginning while doing this exercises, my hand would begin to literally kill me...just take a break, stretch out your hand, and when you are ready, hit it again.
Eventually, your hand will build up indurance to where you can do all of them without interrupt or break...stick with it!!
Stonedragon again addresses Alternate Picking in the Right-hand technique of lesson 2, again, from my Lesson 1 Practice Guide I address my feelings on Alternate Picking. My views do not change here. I believe that this concept of Alternate Picking between two strings was most realized for me when I used it in songs that required it...
Try the rhythm section of Pipeline for this technique...It is an excellent song to practice it.
Click here to hear MrSamson riding the pipeline.
Ok, finally in Lesson 2, Stonedragon provides music examples appropriate for a beginner's skill level.
It is here that he first introduces the the almighty
POWER CHORD!!
You can really get a lot of mileage out these power chords. I say, as a beginner, use them religiously without shame...the skills you build at this point trying to go between different power chords lays the foundation for being able to switch between barre chords, or any chords for that matter, in the future.
Here is MrSamson's
experience in working with power chords:
Bands like Nirvana and Green Day used these power chords
religiously within their songs...I would look into these bands'
songs for applying the power chords to real life songs.
Learning other artist's songs breathes FUN into practice...Go for it!!
That is enough said about Lesson 2 I believe
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