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Accelerate Your Guitar Playing (Tomo Fujita)

A guitar text book written by Tomo Fujita

Uploaded by

Junha Kim
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© © All Rights Reserved
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2K views81 pages

Accelerate Your Guitar Playing (Tomo Fujita)

A guitar text book written by Tomo Fujita

Uploaded by

Junha Kim
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF or read online on Scribd
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ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS DyD AGGELERATE: tS DOT isla a Cena e) rs ee ee ed Te a YOU BETTER—FASTER ECU m enn Ce Ae eo CONTENTS INTRODUCTION BEFORE YOU BEGIN exercise 1 exercise 2 exercise Sa exercise Sb exercise 4 exercise 5 exercise 6 exercise 7 igering and Picking Exercise ‘chromatic scales: horizontal movement. 8 chromatic scales: vertical movement ....nne- chromatic scales: 1212 ~ 3212 ~ 9432 - 1234...10 ‘chromatic/1212 ~ $212 ~ 3432 - 1234, widynamics. EE 12 crazy chromatics using two StFNgS..ern.nne4S crazy chromatics using single string ets. Chromatic octaves: simultaneous movement... 16 chromatic Sths: simultaneous movement ann.18 Understanding the Fretboard: Intervals and Ear Training..21 exercise 8a exercise 8b exercise 98 exercise 9b exercise 10a exercise 10b exercise 11 exercise 12 lower octave intervals higher octave intervals i natural notes on the E (6th) string natural notes on the G (3rd) string leaming single note location: entire fretboard... 26 learning phrase location: entire fretboard......27 simple ear training... one note has many colors. PART 3. Rhythm, Muting, and Sight-Reading, 32 exercise 13 le hand muting exercises (quick bar chords change) 33 exercise 14a-c left hand muting (whole/quarter notes) 34 exercise 15a-b left hand muting (quarterleighth notes) 36 exercise 16a _lelt hand muting (eighth-note rhythms) 38 exercise 17a-d _altemate picking: 9 rhythm sun 40 exercise 18a-g__allemate picking: funky rhythm variationSe.....43 PART 4 ‘Blues Changes and One Chord Grooves... exercise 19a-b swing 1-2. exercise 20a-¢ jazz 1-3 exercise 21 shui (i) exercise 22 shuffle chord) ‘exercise 23a-b shuffle 1-2 (bass line) exercise 24a-b RAB 1-2, exercise 25a-¢ funk 1-3 exercise 26a-¢ slap guitar 1-3 DEMONSTRATIONS CONCLUSION. PROFILE CD INFORMATION. INTRODUCTION = =—————SSSS Welcome to my series of videos. | developed this exercise pro- {gram by teaching thousands of students both privately and at Berklee College of Music, as well as through my own experiences as a play- er. Ive learned that no matter what style of music is being played, there are certain skills that are essential for playing with other musi- cians and expressing one's self freely on one’s instrument: a good ‘ar, a strong sense of rhythm, and basic knowledge of music theory. Of course there's a litle more to it than this, and well dig deeper into these topies throughout the video. ‘The point of this video is not to give you a collection of “hot licks” to spice up your playing but to help you understand and master the guitar and become a more complete and professional player. Once you have a solid grasp of the basics, everything becomes easier and more enjoyable—copying songs, leaming and applying new tech- niques, improvising, etc. So while some of these exercises may seem quite simple, they are all very important and will definitely help you improve—my playing and my students’ playing are proot. BEFORE YOU BEGIN, = © Be sure to use very Iitle left hand pressure. Most people don't realize that they'te bending the pitches slighty sharp by fretting too hard, causing them to sound out-oftune. If you have an elec- tronic tuner, ret a note very lightly then fret the same note by pressing down very hard to see what | mean ‘© Unless you're Jimi Hendrix, its a good idea to keep your thumb bbehind the center of the neck lke a classical player. Also, keep your left hand fingers very close to the strings, even when you're not fretting; left hand movement should be smooth and precise and kept to a minimum. Both ofthese things will help Keep your touch light and allow you to move more quickly around the fretboard, © Practice left hand muting to avoid unwanted noise and keep your playing clean. When playing on the 5th string, for example, use the tip of your index finger to mute the 6th string by touching it lightly. ‘At the same time, use the side of your hand (along the pinky) to mute the higher strings (4 through 1). Don't increase the tempo of any exercise until you've mastered this technique. You should be able to perform this technique unconsciously in all your playing, '© Hold your pick very lighty—it should be like is floating between your thumb and index finger. Use as litle right hand movement as Possible when picking © Pay close attention 10 the timing between your hands. Practice everything slowly with a metronome and gradually build up speed. Many people make the mistake of thinking that they can improve: faster by practicing faster, but what they're really doing is creating a bad habit that wil hurt their playing. if you practice too fast, the tm ing between your hands willbe of, which wil cause the duration of the notes to be off. Your hands must move together in sync. Practice everything very slowly at first (J=40-50), until it's pertect, then increase the tempo in increments of 3-5 beats per minute. it you Practice any other way, your playing will become sloppy, and yout hhave to repeat and fix everything later on. Doi ight the fist time © Most of these exercises require strict altemate picking, and itis a technique that you need to master. Keep a down-up-down-up (7-V—P-1)) pattern to follow the beats in a bar: down on 1,2:3,4, ‘and up on the “and” of the upbeats. © Don't look at the neck when playing. So many people are stuck playing the same patterns, box shapes, and tretting-by-the-num- bers. If you want more freedom and expression in your playing, let your ears lead you instead of your eyes. © tis essential that you have a good feel for time in order to play with other musicians. The best way to develop your time is to ‘always practice with a metronome set on the second and fourth beats. For example, if you want to practice something at J = 120, set the metronome at haif that tempo d = 60 and count (1) 2 (3) 4, This is to imitate a snare hit in rock drumming (or hi-hat in jazz), and it wll give you a better feel for the beat. it wil take a litle time and practice to count this way and feel the beat internally, but itis a very valuable skill to develop. | know some of you don't even ‘own a metronome, much less practice regularly with one, but Using one will help you immensely. © Practice everything initially with a very slow tempo, and speed up ‘gradually as you get more comfortable. © In the interest of time, the exercises in this video are demonstrat- €ed in specific keys and positions. Be sure to transpose everything and move all around the neck. ‘@ Add variations of your own to these exercises; get creative with them. There is no end or limit to practicing, and many things can be learned from the simplest exercise @ When you think you've got something nailed, record your per- formance. | guarantee you'll be disappointed with what you hear. ‘The tape will let you know exactly what needs to be fixed © Its better to practice for a shorter period of time with more con- centration than to practice inattentively for twelve solid hours. Practice everything with maximum feeling and energy because what you spend time practicing at home is what's going to come ‘out in your playing onstage. ‘® ‘ifyou feel any pain at all in your hands, wrists, forearms, etc., stop playing! Guitar playing is tke lifting weights or playing sports in that muscles need to be developed gradually. There's no sense in straining yourself or, God forbid, developing something painful ke carpal tunnel syndrome. If you feel pain, itis probably a good indi- cation that you're playing with too much pressure or playing too fast. Itis very important that you practice slowly and smoothly and with a light touch, The exercises in this section will improve your coordination, build strength and dexterity in your left hand fingers, and create smooth, precise right hand picking, The numbers above the music notation are for the left hand fingers—1 (one) being the index finger, etc. ‘The circled numbers represent specific strings, with the high E being ©. In the example, the string is G. ‘The Roman numerals indicate fret positions. For example, Il ‘means start with your 1st (index) finger on the third fret. exercise 1 ‘chromatic scales: horizontal movement tlyaeee ‘© Develop lett hand finger independence and master basic alternate picking, © This exercise will help develop strength and accuracy for begin- ners and is a great warm-up for more advanced players. ‘© Move this pattem up fret by fret, starting with fingers 1-4; when you reach the 12th fret, reverse your finger movement and descend, © Be sure to practice this exercise on all six strings and in different positions on the neck exercise 2 © Like exercise 1, with added movement, © Staying in one position, move from the 6th to the ‘ist string, then ‘come back and move up one position. The fingering pattern is the same as exercise 1 ‘© Keep all of your fingers on the fretboard until you have played the last note with your pinky; then move your fingers together as a group. exercise 3a. chromatic scales: 1212 — 3212 - 3432 — 1234. APR ijezaslig 82 sig! (sais 24) © This is a bit of a complicated fingering pattern to develop more independence. 10 © Leam the pattems before you worry about playing this in tempo. Start with the ascending 1212 - 3212 - 3432 - 1234 pattern before tackling the descending 4343 ~ 2343 ~ 2123 - 4321 pattem, exercise 3b ~~ chromatic/1212 — 3212 - 3432 — 1234, widynamics The score is the same as exercise Sa. © This will help you control dynamics by focusing on your picking, Cees © Add dynamics to the previous exercise. Use a lot of feel and con- ccentrate on creating good tone and volume control. Hear the sound in your head first, and then execute it + Practice exercises 1-3 as quarter notes with a metronome set at 40. Don't count the small subdivisions; instead, feel the continuous motion of the beat. Next, with the metronome still on 40, count every other beat (2 and 4) and play the patterns as half notes. Next, play the patterns as quarter notes and eighth notes with the metronome on 2 and 4. When you feel comfortable, record your performance and make sure that the notes are clean and their durations are correct. | find it is best to practice on a tube amp without reverb or distortion so that you can really hear and control your playing, exercise 4 ~ crazy chromatics using two strings ‘© More independence and smoothness when playing complex chords and passages. This hurts at first, so practice slowly. © Concentrate on the patterns and finger movement at first, espe- ally preparing fingers 2 and 4 to move while fingers 1 and 3 are playing © Use a pick and 2nd finger or thumb and 1st finger to pick two notes. © Use standard picking or pick and middle finger for this exercise, 4 Fe S02e000 pty t SS “Wa ODO0RO®@O © OS O5090 090008908 © Smooth alternate picking between two strings. © This exercise is simply alternate picking of the individual notes in exercise 4, © Each note should sound clearly and individually—only the note that you're picking should be heard. Release your left hand fingers atter picking each note. 15 exercise 6 ‘chromatic octaves: simultaneous movement ‘© This will familiarize your left hand fingers to playing octaves, and give you smoothness and flexibility playing chords and solos. rasa Sate RSVR Sas ccna soe ard fo ahi Ws UG RES HOU GS oo Ta tok siege tia arsenal oeeca sla eee eid iby iis Walaa GW Saelee PERE otk ang seeped 7 exercise 7 ‘arpeggios chromatically © An advanced version of exercise 5 combining Sthvoctave pattems. Weare © Move chromatically and concentrate on playing the pattern correctly, 18 19 PART 2 ~"Understanding the Fretboard: Intervals and Ear Training Since music is an auditory art, itis essential to have a good ear. This section focuses on basic theory, such as note names and under- standing intervals. These exercises will work to develop your recog- nition of the “color” of various pitches. 2 exercise 8a jower octave intervals ERTIES An © Exercises 8a and 8b show different locations of intervals on the fretboard and give you their proper names. © Listen carefully to the harmony between the two notes: lear the sound, feel, and “color” in addition to the interval name and posi- tion exercise 8b © Same as exercise 8a, © Same as exercise 8a. © Here are the locations of tension notes from both the 6th string root and the Sth string root. (See Chart 1) Bost oc oxo ecton ih sting Rooton Sheng 23 exercise 9a ~~ natural notes on the € (6th) string © Exercises 9a and 96 demonstrate note locations on the fretboard. © Pay th C minor sao (10 F'S'A Bjaval ax aig: wile Gaia ts dan ofucNISL Tpaee BM Tose exercise 9b ~~ natural notes on the G (3rd) string © Same as exercise 9a, © Same as exercise 9a Pere '® Here are the locations of all the natural notes on the fretboard. {i CPS tr ae =| 25 exercise 10a learning single note location: entire fretboard ® Learn the same notes in different locations. © ‘Start with open strings, and learn the same notes around the fret- board moving diagonally. © ‘itis more effective to lear different notes on different days eons exercise 10b © Learn one phrase across the fretboard. © Pick three specific notes as a single phrase, and leam it in eight different positions from low to high. Listen to Larry Cariton to hear how changing position can change the tone and add more depth toa phrase. © Create your own phrases. exercise 11 ~~“ simple ear training ® 28 ‘© Develop a good sense of pitch. © Play C, F, G, and C chords and play one note without looking at the fretboard, then guess the note. Check the note to see if you're correct. = Practice developing relative perfect pitch 1) Learn to sing the notes of a C triad, Do Mi So, from memory. 2) Learn Do Re Mi Fa So La Ti Do from memory, from any root. 3) Sing all 12 notes, sharp and fla, like classical solfege. ‘When | was a student at Berklee, | used to play C, F, G, and C tri- ads followed by a random note (exercise 11) on piano and record it. Vd leave a little space atter the random note I'd played and say its ‘name. | would practice with this tape until | could call any pitch. Then, I'd make a new tape. ‘You must practice constantly to develop your ear, but like swim- ming or riding a bike, once you've got it, you don't lose it. | really annoyed the people around me when | practiced solfége and pitch recognition, but all the work paid off From my experience, natural notes (white keys on the piano) are easier to hear than sharp or flat notes, as are chord tones. Practice these first. You should be able to hear notes as clearly and easily as you can recognize colors. exercise 12 note has many colors m7 F789) y(#9,"13) aaa Fat F758) E7(8,11)( 35 eA Md ARAM) dd DD Ni RRAL DY ddd eM dM aD AL RM CAN LADD) NAAM 1 © More complex rhythms than previous exercise. © When you play these examples, your left 8) hand plays 07(9) chord form (shown yy Fight). © As writen, oF add tes between notes, | exercise 15b left-hand muting (quarter/eighth notes) ET BANA MAahD DBAs | ehh ahh hades ohh Bish AcA sh uh Jang ah « ed Peale bd.e na NV DSN eR ABAIRAM doh daha | | ody ol Dae dad dadslh ah er Noha het hia Dod a7 exercise 16a ~~Teft-hand muting (eighth-note rhythms) ———— aw! | |) shit TTT exercise 16b ~ left-hand muting (eighth-note rhythms) ay oT NAT A NT ANT ce MM ATTA THA TT exercise 16¢ ~~Teft-hand muting (eighth-note rhythms) a eT: AT: PT TTT ee hie nn exercise 16d ~“Teft-hand muting (eighth-note rhythms) eh eee ae chiA hehe AR 38 exercise 16e ~~ Teft-hand muting (eighth-note rhythms)

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