Essential Modules Guitar

The idea here is that you complete the five "Foundation" stages which will give you all the basic techniques and skills you need to start work on the Style Modules, where you will put all those skills into practice! The reason being that I guess everybody wants to start working on different things at this level, not everyone wants to do jazz or thrash metal! So this way, you get the skill set and then apply it to styles you like.

Many of the lesson here are things that are already around the site but I know many of you struggle with getting the order right (and I would have too!!) the the big deal here is giving you some structure to the huge amount of things there are to learn on on our beautiful instruments!

There will also be some "Essential Development Modules" that you can check out at any time, during the Foundation, or during the Style Modules - up to you - they are kinda independent of other stuff, but no less important.

Once you have finished five or more of the Style Modules you should be a "Player" and ready to to really fully explore any style that you wish to! Remember that there is never an end to learning, you just have to chose where it is you want to go and then figure out how to get there!

Pretty much everyone needs to develop their technique in order to execute the music that they wish to perform. It is no good having a great idea in your head and not be able to get it out, and you will probably find that there are many songs that you want to play but are not physically capable of yet.

Technique development is the physical development of your hands (and to some extent your body) so that you can play things that you want to play.

For demanding styles (like jazz and fast metal) it is essential to develop your technique to a high level, and then maintain it. Even if this is not your thing, it is a good idea to get your technical ability higher than you need it - so that it will sound easy and smooth when you play.

1/ The Spider :

The Spider is, I think, the ultimate alternate cross string picking exercise. Prepare to become arachnophobic because this is a nasty little alternate picking exercise. It is very difficult and will take a lot of practise to get smooth and fast, even for a fairly experienced player. It works the alternate picking to the max making it cross strings and jump about in many combinations. A real helper if you need to develop your picking for playing arpeggios too!

This exercise is NOT for beginners. I think it is a great essential exercise but wait until you have been playing your major scales and need to start pushing your technique. It is a hard exercise, but if it just seems impossible, then maybe give it a rest and come back to it later.

Make sure you start off very slowly, there is a very obvious pattern to the notes, I think of it like a diagonal line moving across the fingerboard. It helps to think that some of the fingers are starting on invisible strings off the fingerboard, and the “line” moves across one string at a time. Follow the TAB in Ex.1 carefully and get it correct from the start, try not to learn it the wrong way. Get the fretting hand fingering perfect and to memory before you think about the alternate picking aspect of the exercise.

Once you have the pattern down really focus on the picking, you should not have to look at your left hand, so you should devote all your attention to your picking hand. Try to make the pick move as little as possible.

Keep to a tempo where you can play in time, without stumbling, tripping up, or slowing down for the "harder bits".

Once you can play it at a consistent (slow) tempo, start to use a metronome, but do not be in a hurry to start pushing the speed up. Get very comfortable with the tempo before you even think about speeding up. This is important because practicing the wrong movement is worse than not practicing at all!

Make sure that you alternate your picking, starting each time with a down pick. The last note in the sequence should be an up pick.

Advanced Variations :

A good trick once you get the basic idea is to start down at the 1st fret, and work your way from the thinnest string, down to the thickest. Then move up one fret and now go from the thickest to the thinnest, then up another fret and so on… You will find that it feels different once you start moving it around the neck.

See Ex.2 to see how to move it up the neck, but only the first three frets of the exercise are shown, you should continue up the neck. It gets very hard past the 12th fret, so only get up that far when you are comfortable with the exercise up to that point, or if you do a lot of playing up the “dusty end” ;).

Those that are really adventurous might like to try starting with an up pick, but save that until you have mastered the original exercise. It is quite a lot harder, and somewhat unnatural as we usually use a down pick on the beat.

Another alternative is to play the “diagonal” the other way, starting with the 4th finger. This can be good for the , but adds no benefit to the picking because it remains the same as the exercise shown. I don’t recommend this version anymore (it used to be part of the original exercise) - except as a fretting hand exercise!

Good luck, you'll need it :)

2/ Scale Picking :

One of the standard ways of developing your speed and technique is to practice scales with a metronome and gradually increase the speed. Beginners should start very, very slowly, and not aim to build up the speed too much - but simply to get used to playing in time with a metronome.

Lesson : 

1. I would recommend starting with Position 1 of the major scale (in G Major , start with your second finger on the 6th string root, at 3rd fret). See the Major Scale Patterns if you are unsure about this. Remember that most of your early work with scales should be just around Position 1 until you can use it well!

2. Aim to get your note well synchronised with the metronome click, don’t let yourself rush. Rushing is common in beginners so try and relax and play with it. Don’t fight against the click of the metronome - you won’t win!

3. Try and tap your foot too to help develop your internal metronome.

4. If you are new to technique exercises then you should start at something like 1 note per metronome click at around 60bpm (Beats Per Minute). Better to start very slowly and get it right. Aim for clarity in every note, don't let any notes smudge or be muffled. And make sure that you are using your finger tips. See Example 1.

5. Only when you can do a scale PERFECTLY 4 times consecutively (in a row) should you move the speed up. You might want to start by moving the metronome up by 10bpm at a time to start but as you get closer to your maximum speed you should slow the increments, maybe just going up by 5 or even 2 bpm at a time.

6. Once you get to 160bpm, move on to 2 notes per click at 80bpm (eighth notes). This means that you will play one note with the click and one note in-between. This is great practice for your alternate picking too because the down pick will always be with the beat and the up pick will be between the clicks! See Example 2.

7. Once you get up to 160bpm again, then move to doing 4 notes per metronome click. This is called playing 16th notes. See Example 3.

8. Get up to a reasonable speed in Position 1 (like 16th notes at 120bpm) before moving onto the other scale positions.

9. A really fast speed is 4 notes per metronome click at 160bpm. A good target speed for general playing is 140bpm, only speed metal rockers will need to play much faster than that.

10. Make sure that you monitor your technique. I would suggest getting a private lesson or two to check you are picking correctly and that your hand position is good. Remember not to let your wrist bend too much. Ask around among good players and get a teacher recommended.

11. One thing to check as you get faster is that the pick is not moving too much. Remember that you need to make small movements to achieve the best speed. If you find that your pick is moving much more than a few mm from the string then slow down and do some work very slowly and make sure that the pick stays close to the strings.

12. Another common issue is the angle of the pick, check out the lesson on this. Remember it should be at an angle of around 10-15 degrees to the string.

Posted in: MODE guitar