Welcome to the final part of my Guitar Practicing Workout ©! After all that talk in the previous articles, this time I would like to focus on giving you some actual exercises to work on. Please remember that these aren’t the ultimate master exercises, they’re just examples of what you can do. And if you haven’t already, don’t forget to check out The Workout – Part 1 and The Workout – Part 2.

These are just some random exercises and some of them might look familiar. Hopefully, some of them are new to you. I will also include an etude I’ve written, to give you an idea of how to write those yourself.

So, let’s jump right in!

Chromatic exercises

First, let’s focus on some basic 1-2-3-4 exercises, as I like to call them. They’re rather boring but they’re a great tool for developing speed and accuracy in your alternative picking playing.

So, here’s the first simple 1-2-3-4 exercise, and then two variations:

This next one is a real brain-twister. It’s included in Steve Vai’s workout, but I think it’s so helpful it’s worth including here as well. Start really, really slow and try to understand the pattern. Do all this without a metronome. When you finally realize what’s going on, take out the metronome again and try to get it up to speed.

One other variation is two different kinds string-skipping. The first one is rather easy and is the regular 1-2-3-4, only you jump between strings. The other one skips string between every note and is a little bit trickier to play.

These are by no means the only possible 1-2-3-4 exercises you can do. If you experiment and use your imagination, there’s no limit to what you can do! You can reverse the exercises, you can play them with stretches (1-2-3-5, 1-3-4-5, etc) and much more. You can literally spend hours playing these exercises!

However, they all do sound really dull and it can get boring playing just these and nothing else. So make sure you only play as much as you think you can handle over a longer period of time. Don’t play all of them – focus on some of them and throw in other, more musical exercises. The practice session should be fun! Vary it with some easy open chords-based songs and sing your heart out!

Thrilling legato

Here is a real endurance-test! Not for the faint hearted. (Or perhaps light-fingered?) I call this the 6-minute thrill exercise and it’s supposed to train the strength, accuracy and articulation in your left hand – three really, really important things when playing legato. For the beginner, these might seem really hard at first so take it easy and do it really slow.

Here it is:

The concept is actually pretty easy. Take an alarm clock or something similar and put it to one minute. Now, put your index finger at the 5th fret on the high E-string. Start the timer and start to hammer on and pull back on the 6th fret with your middle finger. Do it at whatever tempo that feels the most comfortable to you, but here’s the catch: you have to keep an even tempo for one minute, and you should try to make sure that the notes are ringing just as clearly as if you were playing them with a pick. You will most likely start out too fast and it will quickly become like a torture test or something! Start out slowly – this isn’t the Olympics!

After one minute, keep your index finger on the fifth fret but start using the ring finger on the 7th fret. Hammer away for one more minute. After that, do the same with the pinky on the 8th fret.

Now, our first 3 minutes are over, it’s time to give the index finger a rest. Put the middle finger on the 6th fret, and start hammering using your ringer finger on the 7th fret, for one minute of course. Now, do the same with the pinky on the 8th fret, while still keeping the middle finger on the 6th fret.

Now comes the final minute and the toughest part of it all: put your ringer finger on the 7th fret and hammer on the 8th fret with the pinky. Quite tough, ey?

Do this exercise once each practice session and after a few weeks, you should see some pretty amazing results. One cool benefit of this exercise is that it really helps you relax your left hand. Just make sure to take it easy and don’t hurt yourself! If any of this hurts, stop and take a break.

Scales patterns

Time for some pattern exercises! I’m going to show you a couple of ways you can practice scales by using patterns. Let’s use an A Major scale as a reference and let’s get going!

The first pattern I want to show you is the “Move up 3, back down 2″ sequence. Think of it like this: 1-2-3-4, 2-3-4-5, 3-4-5-6, etc. The notes in this case would be A-B-C#-D, B-C#-D-E, C#-D-E-F#. And you would play it like this (I’m showing it both up and down the freatboard):

Okay, let’s try the “Move up 2, back down 1″ approach, playing it in triplets. It goes like this: 1-2-3, 2-3-4, 3-4-5 or A-B-C#, B-C#-D, C#-D-E and so on. This is how you would play it:

There is a lot of other variations you could try! Try different keys and scales, play them both up and down, and try to think of different patterns yourself. This stuff can keep you really occupied for a while and is really musical in comparision to the chromatic stuff.

Remember, vary yourself! The more you know, it easier it will be to adjust to different situations. It will make you into a more complete guitar player.

Etudes

It really is a lot more fun playing scales rather than chromatic exercises. But what can you do if not even that can keep your attention? You write an etude!

Etudes are short musical pieces that are focused around the technique that you are currently working on. Let’s say for instance you want to work on legato playing across different strings – you write a short song incooperating that very technique, and then you practice that until you can play it in your sleep.

The first one I’m gonna show you is focused around the “inside picking”-technique. You know how when you’re playing a fast run, it might seem easier starting with an upstroke when going from the B-string to the high E-string? It’s because the motion is much more smooth, otherwise you’re kind of “trapped” between two strings. I don’t want to have the limitation of having to use a certain kind of pick-stroke when going between strings, so I went and wrote a little tune to practice on, and here it is! Remember – start with an downstroke, otherwise the whole exercise will lose its point!

Download the PDF
Download the MIDI

Conclusion

All right, that’s it! This turned out to be longer than I expected, but there is very, very much to this subject. And it’s all very subjective! What works for me doesn’t neccesarly works for everybody. So remember to try and keep it personal. Keep an open mind.

I hoped you enjoyed the whole thing, thank’s for watching. Remember to subscribe via the email form to the top right if you want to be notified when there’s new stuff up.

Introduction

All right, I’m back with the promised part 2 of my Guitar Workout ©! (Well, it wasn’t really promised, but more like implied, what with the “part 1″ tagged on it and all. But I digress…) Don’t forget to check out The Workout – Part 1 if you haven’t already.

This time, I want to focus on things that are maybe less obvious, but equally important parts in your practicing schedule. Stuff like ear training, transcribing, fretboard navigation and playing etudes. We don’t want to get bored, now do we?

But I also want to point out one important thing (and yes, I know I’m repeating myself here, but this is my article, so I’m allowed to do that): this guitar workout is supposed to be about YOU! Just because I include certain exercises and topics doesn’t mean that you have to. No one can play everything in the entire world; you have to have some kind of focus.

Just for shits and giggles, let’s include a list of topics that you could work on, in theory: alternative picking, sweep picking, tapping, legato, bending, vibrating, economy picking, classical playing, sight reading, flamenco, finger-picking, polyrhythms, exotic scales, whammy bar playing, acoustic playing, jazzy playing, chord soloing, other styles of music (like reggea, polka, latin, country), etc, etc ETC!

As you can see, there’s a looooot of stuff you can do in your practicing time! If you were to include all of this in one single practice session, it would have to be very, very long. That’s why it’s so important to choose some topics and work on those for a while.  Don’t go for it all at once!

And even more important: work on stuff that YOU want to learn. It has to be interesting, even inspiring, to go into practice mode.

It can be frustrating to listen to the latest Dream Theater-record and hear John Petrucci play 16th notes at 200 BPM while you yourself can barely make it to 120 BPM. But instead of being discouraged, view it as a goal! Imagine yourself being up there on stage, playing that same riff at the same speed. Try to think positive!

Now, as Marvin Gaye would have said: Let’s get it on!

Ear training

Ear training is something that many musicians develop naturally over the years as they keep playing. Some people are born with a great sense of music and rhythm. But that doesn’t mean that it isn’t something you can work on!

One very basic exercise involves this: pick a note, for example a D. Now, try to sing a melody using that note as a reference. (And don’t tell me you can’t sing – if you can play a guitar, you can at least hum a melody! ) And now, try to play it! Don’t worry about fingering, just work towards getting that exact melody under your fingers. Doing this exercise will eventually enable you to sing things as you play them. Jordan Rudess, the keyboardist from Dream Theater, do this a lot – singing along as he improvises melodies and chords.

A more obvious exercise is to take a song and try to transcribe it. Play some of the melodies, even if they’re just the vocal melodies. Try to play the rhythm that the drums are playing, using muted sounds. This will improve your hearing and may also give you some new ideas, as vocalists often employ intervals that guitarists not always do.

Also, try to play famous melodies that you know by heart but haven’t played before, like a Christmas carol or something. Once you have that, try to harmonize it. Play the bass notes. Try to figure out the chords.

If all of this feels boring, try to think of it like this: in the end it will enable you to think of a melody and sit down and get it out on your instrument immediatly. Or, if you don’t have a guitar with you, you can picture how to play it in your head, and that will make it easier to remember once you actually sit down with a guitar.

All of these are rather basic exercises to help you get started. The obvious one, playing what you’re hearing on the record, leads us into our second topic…

Transcribing

After all of those technical stuff, it might feel nice to get to do something that doesn’t neccesarly has to involve a ticking metronome! The most basic way to go about transcribing is simply to listen to a MP3 or a CD and write down the chords and melodies by hand.

However, there are many tools to make this process much easier. Simple audio software can loop a part or slow it down to make it easier to distinguish what’s going on in the music.

However, my favorite kind of programs are those that allow the user to write down stuff and play it back to you. If you’re going to write in TAB format (which is the tool most of us guitar players would use) then there are three cool programs to use. Guitar Pro is expensive but has many features, allowing you to transcribe and compose using several instruments and effects. PowerTab (PC only) is free but lacks many features and works best for only guitar and bass. Tux Guitar is also free and has many features, but I never found the workflow to work that well. Granted, I haven’t used it that much, so try it out yourself and see if it fits you.

Now, just try it. Pick up your guitar and try to find the notes you hear on the record. Write them down, play them back to you. Do they sound right, or is something off?

Also, try to think of it in terms of musiciansship as well. Try different fingering combinations until you’ve found one you feel most comfortable with.

Don’t just go for guitar stuff either – how about that cool bass line you’ve always liked? Or perhaps other types of instruments entirally, like orchestra stuff. Also, try to transcribe other type of music. For example, how about video game music? Themes from TV shows? Let nothing stop you from reaching the transcribing nirvana!

Fretboard navigation

Let’s ignore the weird ending to that other topic and keep going, shall we? It’s important to feel really at home with your fretboard. If I asked you to play a D on the E-string, how long would it take you before figuring out where it was and actually play it?

There are (of course) exercises to be had here. Pick a note and try to play that note all over the fretboard. On all strings even! Do the same with chords – try to play an D# major in different positions. (Is it just me, or did that sound kind of sexy?)

Now, pick a scale, and descend it using only the E and B-string. Do it with other scales, other keys and/or other strings.

Experiment! Get a feel for what you need to work on and practice away!

Etudes

I know it’s really easy to get bored playing the same static exercise, over and over and over until the metronome drives you nuts! Rather than smashing the metronome with a hammer, there are ways to make the practice session a lot more fun and rewarding – etudes!

So, what are etudes? Well, etudes are little songs, based off certain exercises you’re working on. Let’s say you’re working on sweep picking – try to make a song, going through all those different chords and do something musical with it. You’re much more likely to pay attention if the goal is something more defined, like writing and learning a short song, rather than “getting better at tapping”.

Making up an etude will also not only help you with that particular technique, but it’s also great practice for writing songs. It requires both creativity and some music theory knowledge.

The bonus is that if the etude sounds good (and isn’t ripping anyone off) you can even use it in any of your own songs.

Conclusion

So as you can see, there are lots of stuff you can do that are maybe less obvious than “metronoming” that exercise. Being a good guitar player requires a lot more than being able to play 16th notes at 200 BPM. It’s about being a musician and having a sense of the music. And believe it or not, you can work that up, just like anything else!

Practice away!

Wow, am I for real? Am I really diving into this topic that has caused so much heated arguments on the internet? I’m going into this headfirst because I have much to say about this. You may not agree with it all, but that’s the beauty of opinions – everybody is allowed to have one!

For many people, when they hear the word technique in the context of guitar playing, immediatly starts thinking about someone who spends long hours alternative picking, sweep picking, tapping, etc, working their fingers to perfection until they’re able to play at a machine-like speed. And with no more feeling than a robot.

On the other hand, when someone is thinking about someone playing with feeling, most people think of a deeply emotional man, sitting in a room trying to express his sorrow with his guitar lying in his lap. An old blues man that has felt every hardship that life has to offer and now turns that into a musical passage that cuts deep into the hearts of every living soul that hears it.

Or at least something like this. But what’s more important? Both! I’m not saying everybody should have the chops that Yngwie Malmsteen has, nor should everybody play like David Gilmour. However, I do think that every aspiring guitarist should be able to play however they feel. Technique and feeling are both equally important and neither should be ignored. While listening to someone like Steve Vai, you really get the sense that you’re listening to someone who has no constraints in regards to technique, and all his playing comes from feeling. He uses his abilities to deliver the emotion that he needs to, and there’s nothing holding him back in his technique. Listening to someone like David Gilmour, you get the same sense. Everything he plays is equally effortless, and he spends his energy making those long notes sounds as good as possible.

How do you learn this? Well, everybody feels some kind of emotion, right? A piece of news on the TV, an article in the newspaper or a good book that you’re reading – all of this is enough to get your creative juices flowing! All you need to do is harness that emotion and let that become a part of your music. And this is where your technique comes into play – it must be at a point where you’re not thinking about scales, chords and modes. There is a very clear difference between practicing and actually playing! You must always be able to put those practice sessions into actual real-life situations. It’s no different from any other line of work, really. Imagine you’re a programmer, making programs and applications. When you’re sitting there, writing your code, you can’t always think about the syntax for writing this or looking up every single object you have to use – you have to be somewhat fluent in what you do. It’s the same with the guitar – if you know by heart that a fast run always sounds better if you end it with a sick bend, it will eventually latch onto your brain and you will do it without thinking.

The point that I’m trying to make is this: you can’t have one without the other. Someone who plays flawlessly is someone who can spend his time putting as much emotion into his notes, rather than worrying about whether that bend is out of tune, or that fast line had some misses. Your practice schedule should always contain stuff that you’re going to use in actual live situations. Envision yourself on stage, playing that same run that you’re practicing perfect and without mistakes. That’s your goal, isn’t it? Work towards it!

Be fluent. Be emotional. And don’t over think.

As opposed to my other articles here, this one is aimed at giving you information on how to take care of your guitar and other equipment you might have. Please notice that this is a “players approach” to the topic and thus I won’t be going into the very technical stuff.

I am not extremely picky about my gear. I don’t clean my guitar after every practice session or something like that. I know some people want their guitar to have that old rock ‘n’ roll-look look. That’s all fine and good but I don’t think it makes sense to have your gear falling apart in front of your very eyes!

This ritual that I will describe here is something that I go through every month or so. It’s nothing overly complicated but it’s all of those little things that makes your guitar last longer.

Intonation

The first thing I’m doing is checking the intonation of the guitar. The intonation tends to get lost after a while so it’s a good idea to check it every now and then. I do it like this:

1. I tune the guitar as perfect as I can.
2. I check the tuning of the guitar by hitting a natural harmonic on the 12th fret and then I fret the actual note at the 12th fret and compare them. The pitch of the notes should be exactly the same. (Use a tuner.)

If the notes are not the same, you need to adjust the length of the string. You do that by adjusting the saddle (the piece of metal that the strings lays on at the bridge). If the fretted note is flat you have to shorten the length by moving the saddle towards the headstock. If the note is sharp you increase the length of the string by moving the saddle the other way.

Here is a vintage-style tremolo:

Each string rests on a saddle that is tightened to the rest of the bridge with screws. You can move the saddle by turning those screws.

Here is a Floyd Rose-licensed bridge:

These are harder to adjust because you have to detune the string first. You can move the saddle by loosening the screws. After you loosened them you can move the saddle back and forth. Don’t forget to detune the string; otherwise it will pull the saddle towards the headstock! This is a pretty picky job that takes a while. No surprises there, most things are more complicated on these kinds of guitars…

Finally, here is a guitar with a fixed bridge:

It works the same way as vintage type ones. Just turn the screws to adjust the length.

When you’re checking the pitch, be sure to hold the guitar as if you were playing it. Don’t lay the guitar on a table or something; the fretted note will have a different pitch.

Cleaning and putting on strings

The next step is to take off the old strings. Before I do that though, I tighten the screws that connect the neck to the body (if they are off separate wood). Don’t tighten them too much though.
I also check the tuners. They often get loose over time which leads to tuning problems.

All right, time to clean up! To begin with, take off the strings. If you have a Floyd Rose-bridge, it’s a good idea to use some kind of blocker behind the bridge, to prevent it from going inside the guitar. I use two bottle corks.

Then, I use a toothbrush and wipe off the dirt off the bridge/vibrato system. I also try to clean the area between the fretboard and the frets.

Next, I take some lime oil. You can buy those from your nearest guitar shop. Apply it to a piece of cloth and use that to clean the wood between the fretwires. A LOT of dirt gets there, so be thorough! The oil will not only clean the wood, it also adds moisture. That prevents the wood from becoming too dry. If it becomes too dry it might crack and that is NOT a good thing!

Wipe away all the remaining oil with the cloth and then use a second piece of cloth to clean of the rest of the body and the headstock. Put on a new set of strings.

Now, there are some things that are good to keep in mind when putting on new strings so they’ll last longer and stay better in tune. First, don’t wind the end of the string around the tuning post too often. I myself only do it once.

When you’re done putting on the string, pull the string. It will most likely get out of tune so tune it back and then pull it again. Repeat until it doesn’t affect the tuning. Don’t pull to hard though! You might break the string or otherwise damage something. Last, do some crazy shredding and a lot of bends and vibratos across the neck. Does the tuning survive that? If not, tune it then repeat! If you have a Floyd Rose-style system, you can now close the locking-nut, use the whammy bar and recheck the tuning.

All the small things

There are a lot of small things to keep in mind that will help protect your precious. First of all, I really, really recommend a good guitar case. (Oh yes, I myself am really bad at this, so don’t go there!) A good case offers good protection against temperature changes. Remember though – it isn’t extremely hot or cold weather that’s bad for your guitar – it’s the speed at which the temperature changes! That means that if your guitar case is in the trunk of a cold car, it won’t damage the guitar. But if you take it inside and immediately pack it up, that’s a whole different story. It’s better to let the guitar acclimatize by having the guitar remain in the case for a little while before taking it out.

The same is true for amps, especially tube amps. At the end of a show, when the tubes are still hot, you shouldn’t take them outside right away. Turn them off and let them cool off for a while. Otherwise, the tubes might crack!

I also really recommend a good guitar stand. The lean the guitar against the amp, it might fall.

Here are some other random tips to bear in mind:

• Get good cables. I know some of them can be expensive but I think they’re worth it. Some people claims they make a world of difference to the sound. I wouldn’t go that far but it doesn’t make much sense to buy a ridicoulos Mesa Boogie amp, an expensive Ibanez and then hook them up using a cheap cable you found at the grocery store! A good cable also lasts much longer.
• Keep spare parts around! That includes cables, picks, batteries, various wrenches and screwdrivers, etc. I always have those things in my guitar case even when I practice with my band. That way, you are always prepared in case of an emergency.
  Pro-tip: if you’re using a wireless system live, be sure to bring spare cables anyway, just to be safe.
• Use a stomp box tuner live. The magnetic field of power units might alter the way the tuner works, so putting it on top of the amp is not a good idea. I use a multi-effect unit that has a tuner built in.

I’m sure there is other stuff I could mention, but I’ll just stop here. These are just basic advice. If you want to, you can dig even deeper into the subject. Don’t mistreat your guitar! It’s your darling (or lover) that we are talking about. Don’t abuse her! Treat her with care and she will scream for you just the way you want her to.

You are not utilizing all of your potential! I am here to PUMP! YOU! UP! And make you into the guitar player you are destined to be! All it takes is determination and a realization of your inner potential.

Whew, that sounded cheesy enough. But it got your attention, didn’t it? And it’s not all stupid slogans – this article’s goal is to show you how to create a complete guitar work-out for yourself, customized to your playing abilities, your level, your style and the time you’re able to invest into it.

There is no “ultimate guitar workout”. There is no exercise that will improve each and every player out there. I can’t stress it enough – it’s really important to shape it to you and yourself. Many has probably seen Steve Vai’s “10 hour workout”, and he stressed the very same thing when explaining it. It worked for him, but it won’t work for everyone.

With that out of the way, let’s get going!

Some important points

• First of all, a complete workout is not for everyone. Some people develop best when they just pick up the guitar whenever they feel like it and only practice what they feel like. Others need a more disciplined way of playing to be able to improve as a musician. This article is, obviously, intended for the latter group of people.
• As I said, don’t take my exercises out and practice them without thinking. It’s supposed to be personalized for you. Take out the exercises that don’t work for you, change the ones that don’t feel slightly right, add ones that you feel are missing. Remember – IT’S ALL ABOUT YOU!
• Don’t forget to change it around every now and then. Don’t practice only stuff you know inside out. Don’t be afraid to dive into more unknown areas. Don’t ignore your problems – work on them!
• Try to be realistic. If you don’t have four hours to spend each day, create a schedule that works in the amount of time needed. Separate your time into blocks. Each block should be dedicated to a certain aspect of your playing.
• Combine both regular, “boring” exercises and new, exciting ones. Keep it fresh and interesting.

Now, let’s get started!

Warm-up

I hope I’m forgiven here, but I’m going to list some exercises I stole from one of my biggest idols – mr John Petrucci. In his instruction video Rock Discipline, he shows a variety of warm-up exercises that I found so helpful I immediately started to incooperate into my own playing routine. And here they are, in all their glory.

Left hand:

This is aimed at stretching your left hand. The way you pick the notes doesn’t matter at all here. You can pick them individually, play them as chords, etc. Only make sure that every note is ringing out loud and clear. Try to make up some variations as well, stretching your fingers even more!

Right hand

Time for some serious string-skipping arpeggios. Do it really slow, every note has to be clear and precise. Do the exercise starting off with both an up-stroke and a down-stroke. You can also vary it by playing each note twice, three times or four times even.

I usually do these entirely without an metronome. This is because I’d rather focus on getting my hands warmed up and thus, I am not that concerned with it being in time. It’s more important to focus on just getting clean notes.

Alternate picking

I’ve already got some articles up on the subject of Alternative Picking, and I’m planning on publishing some more. Check out for example Finger Dexterity or Picking Your Notes – Part 1.

I usually start out with some chromatic exercises. I always, always use a metronome for these kinds of practices. It’s not only a good tool for developing precision and a sense of timing; it’s a great tool for measuring your current level. I’m going to repost some of the exercises from the Finger Dexterity series.

Set the metronome to something like 80, 90 BPM (off course, depending on your current level) and just run it up the fretboard to the 12th fret. Once you’ve done that, there is variations to be done!

Up the fretboard, shift positions up one step, same thing down again and repeat. You know the drill. Also, I have to point out – do all of these exercises starting with both downstrokes and upstrokes.

All of these are four notes per string, which gives you plenty of time to switch strings. How about doing only three notes per string? This time – let’s make it more musical! Take your regular major scale, and play it in the key of G. Three notes per string should result in this pattern:

How about doing only two notes per string? The pentatonic scale is excellent for these kinds of exercises so let’s apply it! This is in the key of F# minor:

Feel free to build your own exercises. In fact, I highy encourage it! Now, let’s move on to…

Legato

Actually, I’m not going to write that much here. You can use all of the previous exercises and do them legato-style, using hammer-ons and pull-offs. You can also customize your own exercises that focus on your needs.

The one thing I’m going to give away is the six minute-exercise. You need a clock for this one, so take out your cell phone/whatever and set a timer for sex minutes. Now, you are going to focus on one finger for one minute at a time before switching it up. Here’s how you do it:

Place all of your four fingers on fret 5, 6, 7 and 8. This is your starting point; your fingers aren’t going to use any other frets. Now, remove all but the two first fingers, so you’re left with the index finger and the middle finger at frets 5 and 6. Now, for one straight minute, you are going to do hammer-on’s and pull-off’s using only your middle finger. Don’t do it with all your strength and might – one minute is plenty more than you might think! Don’t hurt yourself.

As soon as the minute is up, remove the middle finger and replace it with the ringer finger at the 7th fret. Do the same thing using that finger for one minute. Again, conserve your strength! And after that, remove the finger and do the same thing using your pinky.

Okay, so what now? We have three minutes left, let’s make use of ‘em! Remove the index finger from the 5th fret and replace it with the index on the 6th fret. Then, add the ring finger on the 7th fret and start over. After that, replace the ring finger with the pinky once again and repeat.

And now you’ve got the last step – put your ringer finger on the 7th fret and do hammer-on’s and pull-off’s with your pinky on the 8th fret. No doubt the hardest part of the whole exercise!

Scales and patterns

Memorizing scales and learning to apply them is also an important part of your work-out. Just playing a scale up and down won’t cut it – you want to be able to make licks and sequences from it, among other things. So how do you practice that?

That’s easy! Let us take one of the most basic scales out there – the pentatonic! Everybody has played it at one point or another. Let’s play it in the key of A minor, like this:

You play that scale up and down a few times and then you move on, right?

Wrong!

There is still plenty of stuff you can do with it. You want to know the pattern inside out, right?

Let’s start with a few sequences. This is a regular “2 down, 1 back up” type of pattern. Look at the tab and play through it a few times. It is really easy to understand and apply to scales once you’ve got the basics down.

Aaaaaaand back up!

Now it’s time for 3 down, 2 back up.

Back up:

But…why??

The scale will be a lot easier to play if you practice it like this. Instead of just going up and down a few times, this will make it easier to make up licks and cool runs from it. Your hands will know their way around the scale much, much better.

It’s really like reading a book. Let’s say you’re reading a really old book, with a lot of unusual words and strange phrases. If you wanted to you could rush through the book. You will still understand it but you won’t understand every single word of it. You get the story and how they get from point A to point B.

However! By reading it with a dictionary at hand, you can look up every word that you don’t quite understand. Or you can re-read the sentences that don’t make sense to you until they do. This way, you will understand every little nuance of the story and will probably get a lot more enjoyment out of it.

I’m not saying this works for everybody but it makes sense. You don’t practice the scale to know the scale – you practice it so you can play the shit out of it! All those previous examples I showed you, they can be played using 8th notes, triplets, a combination of the two or any other way you could think off.

There are a whole lot of sequences and patterns to learn and maybe someday I’ll make an article of it. For now, just practice these and you will be fine.

Chords and arpeggios

This topic is a bit overlooked by up-and-coming shredders. (And I’m not talking about the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles kind!) A cool solo is nothing if the underlying chords aren’t interesting. It’s also cool to be able to whip out a few arpeggios to accompany the underlying rhythm.

There’s lot of books and online lessons on the subject so I’m just going to list a couple of exercises that I’ve been using.

1. Pick any note as the root, for example a G. From that one note, play all triads as arpeggios. (Gmaj, Gmin, Gdim, Gsus2, Gsus4, etc…)
2. Next, focus on inversions. Based on the first exercise, I’d take for example the Gmaj triad and play it in several different areas of the neck. (G – B – D, B – G – D, G – D – B, etc…)
3. Next, take triad arpeggios and play a chord scale ascending on two adjacent strings. For example, the G major scale on the B- and E-string:
   

These are just a couple of exercises that I have used in the past. One tip that a friend of mine gave me is to take a key, for example the E major, and focus on only that key for an entire week.

Other than that, try to keep some variety and cover lots of different chords. The triads are your first priority. After that you can focus on its different inversions and shapes.

Conclusion

Whew, that turned out be quite long. But there’s a lot to the subject and I might return to it in the future, hence the Part 1 tag. (Think of this as my Metropolis Part 1 article.)

I hope it gave you some ideas and will be helpful to you. Remember what I said in the beginning – don’t use the exercises straight off! Include your own and change what’s already there. The work-out is supposed to be all about you, not me.

I felt while writing my previous article Picking Your Notes that I needed to go back to basics and go over the one thing that many, many guitarists seems to overlook – how to make that one note sound good! It’s that one note that separates players like Paul Gilbert, Steve Vai and John Petrucci from the bedroom/YouTube guys.

The way you pick, the way you bend and vibrate strings, etc, is an integral part of your tone. Although there are many different types of vibrato, you can very often recognize a certain player by the way they vibrate a tone.

So, let’s talk about it!

The technique

Both vibrato and bending are based on the same technique. That technique is simply to pluck a note and then bend the string, either up or down. Here is a picture that might explain this in better detail:

This technique allows you to raise the pitch of a note. You don’t have to bend it up either – you can bend it down as well, with the same result. Most people bend the low E-, A- and D-notes down, and the high G-, B- and E-notes up.

The two most common ways to bend a note is either a half-step or a whole-step. It basically means bending either up to the next tone or the one after that.

One problem everybody has in the beginning is raising the pitch in tune. It has to be close to perfect, because otherwise it will sound bad and very amateurish. There are many ways to practice this and I’m going to give you a good exercise to work on.

A couple of exercises

First, let’s say you want to work on whole-step bends. Pick a start note, for example the F# note, 7th fret on the B string. The note you want to reach is the G#, at the 9th fret of the B-string.

Start off by doing doing the bend and then compare it to the note you want to reach, until you’re really sure of how much you need to bend. That’s the technique you need to practice.

HOWEVER, I want you to be able to reach it not only by technique, but also be feeling! This is how you practice this: just pluck that G# note one time before you begin, and try to memorize it. Now, don’t play it again but use only the F# to try to bend it there. Don’t play the note at all, just bend it. Now, when you think that you’re in the right spot, play the note!

Did you miss the note? Try again! Play the target-note and then bend it there, without actually playing it until you’re there. This way, you’re forced to actually hear the note.

Do this all over the fretboard, using both whole-step bends and half-step bends. You’ll quickly notice that you have to bend differently on different parts of the neck. Don’t worry, you’ll get used to it!

Bend it like Vai

I even have a special exercise for you. It’s taken out of a song I wrote for my band Arcane Reality and it’s called Frustrate. It’s in the first guitar solo where I’m using a technique I stole (borrowed…) from Steve Vai. It’s pretty much the same thing as the one I just showed you, only a bit more musical.

Here is a short sample of the solo.

The bar that I’m talking about is where I’m switching between an A-note and a Bb-note on the B-string, only I’m bending the A up to an Bb. So I’m switching between a bended Bb and a regular Bb, giving the run an unusual character. Here it is in tab-form:

The way that I’m playing is by putting my middle finger on the A-note, and the index finger as a support behind it. Then I’ll bend up the note before going up to the Bb-note with my ring-finger. Start out doing it slow, then speed it up.

Taking it further

Although I’m only talking about half and whole-step bends here, you can bend it much further than that. You can bend up a minor or major third, something Paul Gilbert sometimes uses to finish his insanely fast runs, which sounds really cool.

You can bend even further if you dare…or even less. One way to spice up your runs is to do microscopic bends. You can achieve a certain type of oriental sound this way. Blues players tend to do this as way, which gives their playing a more dirty type of sound.

You might get tired in your fingers after a while. However, if you keep practising this you will develop strength. Also, one way to make the bends easier is to keep your other fingers as a support. For instance, if you bend a note with your middle finger, use your index finger as a support on the same string.

Screaming bend

Oh yes, a favorite technique of mine. Many of my favorite old-school guitarists use it, from Ace Frehley to Gary Moore.

Now, what is the “screaming bend”? A screaming bend is when you play two notes at the same time and only bend one of them. I’m sure you’ve heard it many times. I use it to kick off my solos in Frustrate and Disillusioned Soldier. I’ve combined the two into one file for you to listen to:

Let’s use the first one as the example here. I play a Gb on the G string (11 freth) and a B on the B string (12th fret) and I bend the lower Gb into a Ab without bending the B note! In tab form, it looks like this:

It takes a bit of practice to only bend the G-string but it should come naturally after a while.

Unision bend

Another old-school technique Ace Frehley taught me – the unision bend. It’s similar to the screaming bend in that you play two notes and bend the lower one. The difference here is that you bend the note into the top one so you play the same note on two strings. Here is a tab of it:

Here, I play a F on the G-string and a G on the B-string. As I bend the F, it becomes a G as well. This gives it a kind of dirty sound. It’s also easy to practice as it will sound horrible when you play it wrong.

Muting techniques

One important aspect of bending tones is cutting out the noise! Especially when playing through an amplifier with lots of distortion, you will undoubtley end up with a lot of noise from the other strings. So, how do we work on that?

Well, first off, I should warn you – there are several ways to do this, so I’m only going to tell you how I personally do this.

My technique is like this: with the right hand, I mute every string above the string I’m playing and with the left hand I’m muting all the strings below I’m playing. Easy enough, eh?

Let’s say you’re playing a E note on the fifth fret of the B-string. With my left hand, I’m muting the high E-string and with my right hand I’m muting the G, D, A and E-strings.

With the right hand, I mute it by placing my right hand’s palm on the strings. Doesn’t have to be very heavy, just lightly enough that it feels natural and dampens the strings enough.

With the left hand, it’s a bit harder to explain. Basically, I mute it with whatever finger is avaliable, placing it lightly on the strings in a fashion similar to the right hand.

My advice is to experiment until you’ve found something that works for you. It’s very important that it feels natural and doesn’t disrupt the flow when you’re playing.

Vibe it to death

Yeah, sounds kinda brutal doesn’t it? I’ve talked so much about bending technique’s, I almost forgot about vibrating tones! It’s very similar to the bending technique.

It works like this – you bend the tone you want to apply vibrato to. Then you bend it back to the original position. Keep doing it and you have a tone that vibrates.

A basic exercise to practice on would to just take a note and start bending it up and down. Try to get a feel for the technique and vary the tempo. Listen to what sounds good and does not.

Now, switch on the metronome and try to synch your vibrato to it. Some people think it sounds better when synched, but I think it depends on the context. If the vibrato is still controlled, an unsynched vibrato can add a kind of “dirty” and anxious feeling to a note. But first off, make sure to practice it to a metrome.

Also, try to experiment with different kinds of vibrato. Fast and wide, slow and wide, fast and narrow, etc. You will find out that you can get a lot of character out of your tone just by applying different sorts of vibrato to it.

Now, here’s some important points to remember:

• The vibrato technique is an integral part of every players voice and tone. It’s also one of the most basic technique’s, so be sure to work on it. Your personal and individual tone will come automatically.
• Most players apply vibrato without even thinking about it, and so will yours. It just takes time.
• Don’t overdo it! Just because you’ve learned how to do a really wide and fat vibrato doesn’t mean you have to start using it everywhere. Context is key.
• One good starting point when working with long tones – hit the tone and then slowly start apply the vibrato, adding more and more. This is similar to the way a singer would go about doing it and you should take this as a hint: listen to how singers are doing it. And I don’t mean just singers like Bruce Dickinson – listen to all kinds of singers.
• Experiment, experiment, experiment! Try to find your unique voice.

Putting it all together

So, this is it! I could’ve written a lot longer since this is a very big topic. I tried to give you a little introduction. Now it’s your turn. Practice and experiment!

I also think it’s important not to get lost in technical details here. This is, in the end, all about you and your unique voice.

To ensure that your guitar playing is constantly improving, you need to spend time working on improving the things that are holding you back. This may seem like common sense, but many players seems to prefer working on their strengths only, leaving their faults and mistakes alone and exposed.

By working on your weaknesses effectively, you can eliminate them entirely. All it takes is determination and knowledge.

Locating the problem

What do you call two guitarists playing in unison?
Counterpoint.

Guitar players always have opinions of other players and yet they can be very oblivious to their own playing. Next time you sit down and practice, try recording yourself playing a tune, an etude or an exercise. Listen back to it, and try to be really self-critical. Really listen to what’s going on, as if it were another player entirely. What is your honest opinion?

Recording yourself is a great tool if used correctly. I would even put it on the same pedestal as the metronome. It’s much harder to ignore the mistakes when you listen back to yourself.

So, what did you think? Any mistakes? Anything that made you cringe? That’s great! That means you know what to work on.

Now, go back to the section that contained the biggest mistake. Play it through to get a feel for exactly where it went wrong. I might be something simple as a pick stroke, it might be the fingering, etc. Whatever it was – find it and isolate it!

Isolate it and experiment with it

Try playing that particular section the exact way as you would if you would play the whole song. That means you have to use the same fingering, starting on the same upstroke, etc.

Now, experiment with your approach to that section – try altering various aspects of your technique to see what provides the best results. This may include fingerings, hand position, angles, etc. Sometimes, you may need to change your approach to the preceding section to make the current one work. For example, you may have to use a different fingering to wind up with the fingers in the place you want them to be when you get to that particular section. Be sure to try it out in a larger context to see if the new approach is going to work in the song.

It’s really important that you do all this really slowly, so you can see, hear and understand everything that’s going on and exactly where the problem, and ultimately the solution lies. However, you need to speed up to the song’s speed again to make sure that your new approach is going to work.

Some people, both beginners and veterans, have trouble starting at a phrase in the middle of a song without playing from the very beginning. However, it makes sense to practice the ability to jump in at any given moment into a song. I mean, why waste time playing things you already know inside out? This ability is also really beneficial in the rehearsal room, where the band might need to go over a section again and again. It will also help you get a broader understanding of the song itself.

Practice

Repetition is a really important tool for practice. Through repetition, the muscles in your fingers begin to memorize the series of movements (also known as “muscle memory”). So if you play something over and over, eventually you will be able to play it comfortably and effortless without having to put too much concentration into how to move individual fingers. This means you can pay attention to other fingers, like dynamics, tone and articulation.

All movements will be memorized. This means both the bad ones as well as the good ones. If you play a mistake over and over, it will be very difficult to unlearn it. For this reason, it’s important that before you begin your “muscle memory learning”, every aspect of your playing has to be as perfect as possible. Consider everything – dynamics, technique, posture, etc. Make sure your entire body is relaxed.

In order to get as close to perfection as you can, you need to practice it really, REALLY slowly at first. Take your time and make sure that it sounds as good as possible. Now, try speeding it up a little.

However, it is fully possible that you just can’t get it sound good even at lower speeds. What to do then?

I learned a few years back a nice method – try playing only the first three or four notes, and make them sound good! Play them as if they’re the only notes you are allowed to use. And when you’re satisfied with that you’re doing – add some more notes. It’s the same idea as practicing with a metronome. Continue doing this until you’re entirely satisfied. And now, you may up the tempo again!

Applying it back to the song

Now, try playing a couple of bars before that section and continue a couple of bars after it. You may have to do this slowly at first. Concentrate on moving between the sections. Do this until you’re confident that you’ve solved the problem.

Now, it is really important that you’re being honest with yourself here. Record yourself yet again and listen back to it. Are you absolutely certain that you’ve solved all problems? If not, go back and practice again!

By the way, it is really important when you practice this kind of stuff to take breaks! I can’t stress this enough. When you’re doing this repetition practice, your fingers can begin to feel really tired and your tension will slowly increase. It’s better to practice twenty minutes every day of a week than straight four hours for a day.

Pay attention to your body and don’t play when you’re feeling any kind of discomfort. If your left hand is feeling tired, try working on your right hand for a moment. If you’re feeling really tired, put away the guitar entirely! You don’t have to fix the problem in one session, you know! Which brings me to my next point…

Do it again another session

You shouldn’t expect to perfect everything in the space of one hour or something. Sometimes it may take days, weeks and even months to get something to the standard you want. It also has to do with how long you’ve been playing. You shouldn’t expect to master six-string sweeping techniques in one session. These things takes time. Know your limits and try to push them!

Also, if you improve on something during one session and then don’t look back on it for several weeks, chances are you’re going to go back and redo the same mistake. Try to check back at least after a couple of days to see if you can still play it at the level you want. Most likely, you will have to go over it again with a metronome. But don’t worry; it won’t take nearly as much time this time around.

One last tip – be sure to keep your practice sessions interesting and fun! If you begin feeling bored by the repetition practice, play something else. Whip out a tune or two and begin working on that instead. And then come back.

Guitar playing is supposed to be fun!

Alternate picking is one of the most basic but also one of the most important technique for guitar players. What´s even more important, it’s the basic building block of many other techniques, such as economy and sweep picking.

That means that you should make sure that your alternate picking works before you attempt to delve into all those other techniques. Picking is a great way to work on synchronizing your hands and building speed, which is an elemental thing for stuff like sweeping etc.

So, let´s work on alternate picking!

Left hand

Yup, I’m going to start with the hand that actually frets the notes. This hand is equally important to your picking technique as your right hand. It doesn’t matter how fast you can pick your notes, if your left hand can’t keep up it won’t sound very good.

First thing to notice is that you must not use more strength with your left hand than necessary! Remember, this isn’t legato picking – all the noise has to come out of your right hand. Your fingers should only gently touch the frets, just as much as is needed. The keyword is relax. I promise, it really does only take a light touch!

One other important thing is to minimize your left hand movement. Many guitar players move around their fingers too much when playing, which is just waste of energy. The less movement required, the more notes you will be able to pick. And how do you work on that? I’m glad you asked…

Supportive fingering

Supportive fingering is a certain kind of left hand exercises that you should do for at least a few minutes every day. It’s really tough to keep up supportive fingering at high speeds but if you practice it on a regular base, it will help you to minimize left hand movements.

I briefly touched on this in my article Finger Dexterity. We’re going to use the regular 1-2-3-4 exercise that I posted there. With the supportive fingering-method, you fret the first note with your left hand. Then you fret the second with your middle finger of the left hand, while the index finger remains in place at the first fret.

Next, you place your ring-finger at the third fret while the first two fingers stay in place. Then you fret the last note on that string, thus having all your fingers placed on the fretboard. Got it?

Now, let’s continue to the A-string. You move only, and only, your index finger to fret the note at the first fret. Now, leave the finger there and continue with the middle finger. You now have two fingers on the E-string and two on the A-string.

Continue with the other fingers and do the whole 1-2-3-4 exercise this way. It feels awkward at first but if you do those kind of exercises, your left hand will eventually start to move way more economically.

So, how do you descend with supportive fingering? To start off, put ALL your fingers on the string (4-3-2-1). Now, slowly remove one finger at a time, and be careful not to move the fingers that don’t need to be moved. Once you’re done with a string, proceed by once again putting all your fingers in place at once on the next string. Proceed as before.

A side-effect to this exercise is that you’re forced to be really accurate with the fretting, especially when you’re fretting two strings at once. This might or might not be a problem to you, depeding on your muting technique.

Right hand

Right, let’s get down to business! First thing I want to talk about is the importance of the metronome! Seriously, I can’t stress this enough. Nothing you will ever play is worth a dime if it ain’t in time. (Hey, that rhymes!)

Having the right attitude about it helps too. Set yourself some small-term goals. For example, try to get that lick up to 100 BPM in one practice session. The next day, try to take it up to 110. Try to motivate yourself and set some realistic goals. It’s an incredibly rewarding feeling when you’re able to play that lick clean, articulate and in time.

Increase the tempo in small steps and if you feel you’re stuck on a certain tempo, go nuts with the metronome! Turn it up about 50 BPM and try playing along. Most likely, you will fail at doing so. Now, back it down again and you might be able to push it a little bit more.

Exercises

All right, I’m going to start off with some simple one-string exercises. Practice these with a metronome! Also remember that there’s is always variations to be had on every exercise I give. Try them backwards, start with an upstroke, switch strings, etc. Try those variations, but always pay attention accuracy and to get a clean note. Slow down if something doesn’t sound right and try to find the problem area. Work on it sepatately.

When practising, don’t overdo it! Take breaks in between and put away the guitar for a few minutes. Take a piss, watch some TV and then come back. These exercises works best when practising in short runs. It’s always best to practise a few minutes every day rather than several hours once a month.

Anyway, here they are…

Start these off at a really low tempo, like 60 BPM or something. Focus on the notes sounding clean, articulate and in time. Slowly work your way up, adding 3 BPM when you feel you’ve mastered that tempo.

I’m only going to give you one more exercise that focuses on basic string switching. Paul Gilbert uses this kind of lick all the time in his playing. Use it with supportive fingering and practice until your fingers fall off!

All right, see you next time! Don’t be afraid to comment should you have any questions.

How to work up the strength and fluency in your fingers and the synchronization between your hands. Don’t forget to read Part 1!

Yes, here it is again. More “boring” chromatic exercises. Yes, I know. But they’re important and can do wonders for your technique. The important thing is to mix them up with more melodic exercises and complete songs.

Anyway, I’m going to start of with a couple of exercises that I’m sure you’ll recognize.

Fig 1:

E||-----------------|-----------------|-----------------|
B||-----------------|-----------------|-----------------|
G||-----------------|-----------------|-----------------|
D||-----------------|-----------------|--1---2---4---3--|
A||-----------------|--1---2---4---3--|-----------------|
E||--1---2---4---3--|-----------------|-----------------|

-----------------|-----------------|--1---2---4---3--||
-----------------|--1---2---4---3--|-----------------||
--1---2---4---3--|-----------------|-----------------||
-----------------|-----------------|-----------------||
-----------------|-----------------|-----------------||
-----------------|-----------------|-----------------||

Fig 2:

E||--5---4---2---3--|-----------------|-----------------|
B||-----------------|--5---4---2---3--|-----------------|
G||-----------------|-----------------|--5---4---2---3--|
D||-----------------|-----------------|-----------------|
A||-----------------|-----------------|-----------------|
E||-----------------|-----------------|-----------------|

-----------------|-----------------|-----------------||
-----------------|-----------------|-----------------||
-----------------|-----------------|-----------------||
--5---4---2---3--|-----------------|-----------------||
-----------------|--5---4---2---3--|-----------------||
-----------------|-----------------|--5---4---2---3--||

I’m sure you recognize the pattern. Just like the other exercises, they feel kinda odd at first. Start out slow with a metronome and work your way up.

And now it’s time for the string skipping one!

Fig 3:

E||-----------------|-----------------|-----------------|
B||-----------------|-----------------|-----------------|
G||-----------------|-----------------|-----------------|
D||-----------------|--1---2---3---4--|-----------------|
A||-----------------|-----------------|--1---2---3---4--|
E||--1---2---3---4--|-----------------|-----------------|

-----------------|-----------------|-----------------|
-----------------|-----------------|--1---2---3---4--|
--1---2---3---4--|-----------------|-----------------|
-----------------|--1---2---3---4--|-----------------|
-----------------|-----------------|-----------------|
-----------------|-----------------|-----------------|

-----------------|--1---2---3---4--||
-----------------|-----------------||
--1---2---3---4--|-----------------||
-----------------|-----------------||
-----------------|-----------------||
-----------------|-----------------||

Exciting, huh? Now, let’s mix it up a bit.

Fig 4:

E||-----------------|-----------------|-----------------|
B||-----------------|-----------------|-----------------|
G||-----------------|-----------------|-----------------|
D||-----------------|-----------------|------2---3------|
A||------2---3------|--1-----------4--|--1-----------4--|
E||--1-----------4--|------2---3------|-----------------|

-----------------|-----------------|-----------------|
-----------------|-----------------|-----------------|
-----------------|------2---3------|--1-----------4--|
--1-----------4--|--1-----------4--|------2---3------|
------2---3------|-----------------|-----------------|
-----------------|-----------------|-----------------|

-----------------|--1-----------4--||
------2---3------|------2---3------||
--1-----------4--|-----------------||
-----------------|-----------------||
-----------------|-----------------||
-----------------|-----------------||

Aaaaaand down!

Fig 5:

E||--5-----------2--|------4---3------|-----------------|
B||------4---3------|--5-----------2--|--5-----------2--|
G||-----------------|-----------------|------4---3------|
D||-----------------|-----------------|-----------------|
A||-----------------|-----------------|-----------------|
E||-----------------|-----------------|-----------------|

-----------------|-----------------|-----------------|
------4---3------|-----------------|-----------------|
--5-----------2--|--5-----------2--|------4---3------|
-----------------|------4---3------|--5-----------2--|
-----------------|-----------------|-----------------|
-----------------|-----------------|-----------------|

-----------------|-----------------||
-----------------|-----------------||
-----------------|-----------------||
--5-----------2--|-----------------||
------4---3------|------4---3------||
-----------------|--5-----------2--||

Final word

As I said in the beginning – don’t overdo it! Be sure to mix it up by playing more melodic stuff. It’s important to never, ever get tired of the exercise you’re doing. You’ve got to be focused on the actual stuff you’re playing.

If you ever feel your mind wandering, take a break! Play something else or stop playing entirally. Turn on the TV, check your Facebook, anything to take your mind of the guitar for a few seconds. Then come back and do it again. Even just a few weeks with these exercises will do wonders for your picking technique.

The most basic chord is called a triad. All of the open chords contained in the previous article Introduction to Chords are built upon triads. By utilizing any regular scale, you can build them yourself.

Triads get their name from the fact that they only contain three notes, and also because you build them by stacking thirds. Now, what does stacking thirds mean?

Stacking thirds

We are going to use a simple E minor scale for this exercise. The E minor scale have these notes:

E – F# – G – A – B – C – D

Let’s build a chord using the E note. Start with the E, and travel up the scale to take every third note! Remember, use only three notes. If you didn’t count wrong, you will end up with:

E – G – B

And there you have an E minor triad. Simple enough, yes? Only one question remaining – how did I know it was a minor chord and not major? Well, other than the fact that I could hear it while playing it, let me break it down for you.

The difference between major and minor

Let’s look at the E minor scale again.

I’ve marked out the notes of the E minor triad. Now, I want you to look at the distance between the notes. It may sound strange, but it’s the distance between the notes that gives a chord its feeling. It’s called intervals and it’s a whole subject for another article.

But anyway, if you look at the distance between the E and G, you see that it’s two notes in between. That makes the G a minor third.

Now, let’s say you built a chord from the G instead. You will come up with the notes G, B and D and it will look like this:

This time, the distance between the first note and the second (the G and B) is one step greater! There are three notes in between instead! That makes the second note, the B, a major third, instead of the B note from the previous example, which was a minor third.

It’s this that separates the two chords – the second note of the triad. It’s either a major third or a minor third. And what separates the two is the distance from the root note.

Bringing it all together

Now, how do these triad thingy’s relate to regular open chords? I’m glad you asked! (Well, technically you didn’t…but you should have!)

A regular open chord is built upon these triads but extends them with the same notes once again! Now, let’s look at the E minor triad as an example yet again. As we learned earlier in this lesson, it contains these notes:

E – G – B

And let’s look at the notes of a regular open chord E minor, starting with the low E-string and to the high E-string:

E – B – E – G – B – E

See? It’s still only three notes! They’re only repeated. And that’s basically what regular major and minor chords are all about – triads!