June Moris

Guitar – How To Hold The Guitar Pick

As soon as we grab something there is pressure involved to hold the object in our hand or between our fingers. The wrist will be locked to help and this is exactly what we want to avoid. Playing any musical intrument requires flexible wrists therefor at all times we must be focussed on relaxing them.

Why? Because they need to make very subtle and fast movements while playing. On holding the guitar pick you want to apply as little pressure as possible holding it to keep a flexible wrist.

The main rule is: Don’t ‘grab’ the pick because you need to press on it in order to not drop it. Instead you will take the pick and lay it on your index finger the tip facing your finger tip Put it slightly further than you finger tip. Lay your thump vertically on top of the pick. This way the pick will stay between thump and index finger with the least amount of pressure when playing.

WRONG

On the picture above the person is holding at the most half the pick between the fingers and thus has to use more pressure in order not to lose the pick when playing.

RIGHT

As you can see only the tip is exposed and this is the only part that plays the string so the rest can be hekd beween he fingers. Holding the pick like this needs only the least amount of pressure.

Jim Dunlop Stubby

Of all picks these are my favorites as they produce
the best tone especially when playing solo. Its tip is sharp and thin. I started off using he small ones(on the right) and later switched to the Big thick Stubby. My taste has changed a bit in the past years and now I use the middle size of he Big Stubby(the middle one on the left picture).

Fine Tuning

Introduction.

Even with so many tuners on the market you might still find yourself sometimes with no tuner around or one that doesn’t work or the batteries ran out. Tuners are not always a 100% reliable eather. You tuned the guitar and it’s still not in tune. I double check my guitar by checking harmonics and I sometimes need to do some extra adjustment. I do this without any gear and is the final touch to a perfectly tuned guitar.

Rough tuning.

The following are steps to fine tuning. Before we get to this we need to roughly tune each string
to its pitch. It won’t work if the open G string plays F instead of G. Tune it up first as close
as possible towards G. You don’t need absolute pitch to fine tune and the guitar will surely be in tune. Also you need to make sure that string 6 has correct pitch in order to properly hear the harmonic on the fifth fret and because all other strings will be adjusted to it.

Fine tuning.

Frets 5 and 7 on 2 consecutive strings(not string 2 and 3)both produce the same harmonic. On checking both harmonics you should hear one tone.

Example: The harmonic on the low E-String fret 5 produces an E two octaves higher and the same pitch as the open highest string. The harmonic on fret 7 of the A-string produces the same harmonic.

When these 2 harmonics are not the same you will hear a pulse. Its frequency is the difference between the frequencies of both harmonics. So if harmonic in tune is 800hz and the other 810 you will hear a pulse of 10hz. The faster the pulse the bigger the difference in pitch between the two strings. Adjust the next string to the one in tune. The pulse will slow down until you will hear only one tone on playing both harmonics.
Then both strings are in tune and you can move on to he next string. Now you base yourself on string 5 as the one in tune. Play the harmonic on the fifth fret and play the harmonic on the seventh fret of string four.

Note: I actually find it easier to hear the pulse when playing the harmonic of the string that needs to be tuned first.

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The Action Of The Guitar

Introduction.

The action is the distance between the strings and the fret board and plays an-IMO- important part in the tone. A low action makes the tone sound thin while a higher action gives a more ful and warmer tone. A high action gives more quality to the tone while playing faster is easier with a lower action. The action is fairly setup in the factory to give the guitar a nice tone and playing faster is not difficult either. With enough practice.

Reasons why players change the action are to play faster or to adjust the tone to their own taste.

The action and the bridge are setup this way that the harmonic on fret twelve produces the note E. This note has to be identical to the pith of the open string. If that isn’t the case the guitar cannot be tuned properly. If the action of a string is changed than the position of the bridge has to be adjusted to correct the pitch of the harmonic.

Why is that?

If the action is changed the tension on that string will change too which will result in a pith change. A higher action will increase the tension and the pitch. A lower action will decrease tension and pitch. The tension can again be increased/decreased by repositioning the bridge.
This is done using a special key delivered with the guitar. Turning it clockwise will pull the bridge back and pull on the string and raise the pitch. Turn it counter clockwise to position the bridge forward and to decrease the pitch.

As a beginner it’s best to leave the action as is because it’s precision works and not easy to get it right.

To change the action:

For experienced players who don’t know how to properly adjust the action read on.

Every brand builds their guitars slighlly different and especially the bridge may be constructed different. On Fender guitars(left picure) the action is adjusted on top of the bridge. At the back there is a regular screw to adjust he position of he bridge. On the picture on he right you see a different brand. There is a piece between he pickup and the end where the string is attached. On the op are 2 srews on each side to change the action.

These instructions here count for Fender guitars. Use the special key that comes with the guitar to adjust the 2 screws ON TOP of the bridge. Make identical changes to both the screws. Otherwise the bridge will be uneven. If you lowered the action check that the string doesn’t buzz. If it does the action is too low because on vibrating the string touches at least one fret. Once you have your preferred action you can adjust the bridge AT THE BACK with a regular screw driver. Again if you lowered the action you will have to increase the tension on the string here. You do this by changing the position of the bridge. Turning the screw clockwise will pull the bridge back pulling also the string. Adjusting the bridge at the back changes the physical length of the string.

Don’t overdo things. This is precision work and the slightest change will change the pitch.

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Jumping the Fretboard – Part 1.

Introduction.

Do you play mostly at the top of the neck in the same position?
How many different positions do you know for the chords C, E or G?

Maybe you’ve tried this :

With your band you’re playing a song that has this one really nice chord somewhere around the tenth fret. The problem is you can’t get it to sound good because you’re always late as the chord right before this one needs to be played at the top of the neck. By the time you manage to play the chord some strings give no more than a muted sound.

If you know this scenario I have a nice exercise for you. It will use a technique that will speed up your progress like you never imagined. The benefits are endless. Not only will you easily control the fretboard, the creative possibilities you gain will never exhaust and your music will sound so much richer. Your music will be so much better.

Stop being late.

Let’s say your song has a new chord every new bar. If you start focusing on playing the chord every new bar you will always be late because that is the time you should be playing the chord. The solution is to prepare yourself for every chord you play by knowing exactly its position, fingering, duration and dynamic before its playing time. When exactly you should prepare depends on how much ahead you can workout in your mind. At the latest you should start at the moment you are playing the chord right before because your mind then has nothing else to do.

Even though you don’t need to know a ton of chords to get started, it’s a very good idea to start expanding your chord memory. It will make things so much easier as you work on mastering the technique.

Exercise 1 : Reduce the distance between chords.

The exercise is to practice moving from one position on the fret board to any other position. The purpose is to keep the time to cross the distance between two chords to a minimum no matter how big the distance. Since it’s most difficult to cross a big distance that will be exactly what we’re going to practice. This way crossing any smaller distance will be easy.

For this exercise we will play two chords E and A. The picture below shows you the position for each chord. You will play A at the 12th fret.

At this point there is no time signature. We will play E first and than A. The main focus is on knowing exactly where to put each finger of the second chord before releasing the first chord.

Play E now by strumming or picking the strings. While you are playing E you can start focusing on the next chord(A). Look at its position already at fret 12. You should know exactly where to put each finger. This is very important because then your hand and fingers will automatically get into position as you arrive without hesitating.

!Common mistake: You’re looking at your hand while it’s moving and searching for the right position. You should keep your eyes on the next position. Your hand will follow.

As the hand moves towards the second chord it remains relaxed. Don’t play the next chord already in the air putting your fingers in position. Release E, relax the hand and move it fast towards to the next position. Play the chord A.

Repeat this until you can comfortably play the 2 chords.

Exercise 2 : Reduce the distance between chords.

In this exercise we will play first A and then E. Use the same positions as
before(hit the back button to come back to this page) and follow the same procedure as above.
Again repeat the exercise until your hand finds the second position without searching across the board. To go one step further now play E first followed by A followed by E. Here we have our first chord progression. We can consider the first chord as the first chord of the scale E. Than A will be the fourth chord so we’ll have a simple I-IV-I progression in the key of E.

Exercise 3 : Including time signature.

In this part we will focus on playing using time signature. Being an advanced player it is assumed that you are already familiar with the concept of time signature.

You’re pretty comfortable switching chords and crossing the distance on the fret board. Now you will do this in time. How does that work. To keep it simple we are playing in 4/4 . The chord progression is I-IV-I or E-A-E. We’ll play one chord per bar so every chord has 4 counts. Every chord is played on the one count or the first beat. Start with E and everything is fine so far. As soon as you play E you will focus on A. Look on the fret board at its position and know exactly where to put each finger.

!You have to know all this BEFORE A’s time is up in this case before the one. A is 3 to 4 beats away which will give you plenty of time. Again don’t play fast yet. Use a tempo in which you can comfortably play each chord without being late while counting as you play. Later you can speed up.

Part two will cover the different positions of one chord.

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Guitar Technique – Articulation

Walking the fretboard.

There are a ton of books full of exercises on guitar technique but the technique itself doesn’t involve that many things. It always comes down to a few basic principles that should be put into practice at all times.
It’s all about what the fingers, the hands and the arms should do. How to hold them while they play and how to hold them while they’re not playing. How to move and how to keep them relaxed. Being relaxed is always part of playing.

In this article I will talk about the left hand only. I will teach you to literally walk the fretboard with your fingers. While one or two fingers are on the fretboard the other fingers float right above it. Relaxed. The wrist should never ever be locked. Playing fingers should use minimal pressure to prevent the wrist from being locked.

Prevent sloppyness.

One basic principle deals with playing accurate. On the path of learning and improvement at one time speed comes along. We can’t wait to play fast but as the music gets more complicated every note being played still needs to be heard clear, bright and crisp no matter how quiet or how loud
we play.
Otherwise as soon as the tempo increases the music will sound sloppy and messy and will no longer be enjoyable for the listener. To prevent sloppiness and inaccurate playing one needs to articulate every single note that’s being played.
Articulating must be learned from the very beginning because it is part of and will determine the playing technique. Whomever does not articulate plays with a minor technique which must be adjusted later on which is quite annoying and time consuming.

Pentatonic Minor Scale.

To explain the principle I will describe an exercise which uses the pentatonic scale in position 1.

For those who do not understand the picture above the image represents 6 frets of the fretboard.
The top line is the highest string number, the bottom line is the lowest string. The left side is the top side of the neck. The dots represent the notes of the pentatonic scale.
The lowest note-the left dot on string 6- is the root note of the scale. The next note will be the note on the right on string 6. The third note of the scale is the first dot on the left of string 5. Note 4 is the
dot on the right. The last note of the scale is the dot on the left of string 4. The next dot is again the root note etc.

Exercise on Articulation.

For now you will play the scale ascending only. The exercise is played extremely slow and you will understand why. Because it is difficult and impossible to do it right if you start playing fast already.
Every note has the same duration and all notes have the same dynamics.
Keep the pressure to a minimum. Just enough to play every note firmly. Too little pressure leads to uneven dynamics and insecure playing. A particular position of a scale usually covers four frets, five at the most.
A good rule of thump is that every finger has its own fret. Finger 1 or the index finger always plays the first fret of the position. While one finger is playing, every other finger floats above its fret so it will be ready to play when its turn comes.

I will give the lowest note of the scale number one, the highest note number 5.The pentatonic scale has only five notes.

Play note one on the sixth string. Keep the finger on the fret while you play note 2 on the same string.
Right AFTER you played 2 release note 1(note that when you play the second note 2 fingers are on 1 fret each) and move it to the next string(5) to play note 3.

While you do this, the finger on note 2 remains on its fret. Right after you played note 3 release note 2 and move all fingers to float above string 5. Play note 4 on string 5. Finger note 3 remains on its fret until note 4 is played. Both fingers are now on the fret board. Then release 3 and move to the next string(4) to play note 5 while again finger note 4 remains on the fret. AFTER you played note 5 release 4 and move to string 4 to play note 1-this time an octave higher-again.

Work the same way as I explained until you reach the last note on the top string which is note 2 played by the little finger.

Practise SLOW!

If this is the first time you do this exercise do it REAL SLOW so your muscles can memorize the movements of your finger. You will find out it is very difficult to do. When your fingers can walk on the fret board smoothly without having to think about each note you can start speeding up however do this with very small steps using a metronome.
As you work on the speed you must remain focused on and be aware of every move of every finger.
It will take you quite some time before you can play fast but the good thing is you will be able to play really fast and every note will be crystal clear.

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