Fast Picking Sequence on 2 Strings
Filed Under (Picking) by admin on 17-06-2010
Ok, I have a nice little lesson for you today… The last few lessons were
mostly geared toward beginners so I thought I would teach something more
advanced today.
I was playing around in the key of C major. The first thing I will mention
is the incredible value of learning a scale (such as C major) EVERYWHERE
on the neck.
One great tool to help you learn your favorite scales all over the neck
in record time is the guitar scale system. You get that tool free when
you join the guitar god club.
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Ok, so anyway, back to the point – I was playing in C major and
I started playing some fast picking licks on the top 2 strings.
I wanted to come up with something cool that could be played fast,
and I came up with a pattern which is “symmetrical” in that
in can be moved up the neck “diatonically” and falls neatly within
a nice grouping of notes.
I am playing only on the B string and high E string for this entire
lesson.
Start off at the 10th fret, where I’m playing 3 notes (A, B, C),
and then 3 notes on the next string (D, E, F).
Straight up the scale, folks.
Then I turn around and go right back down, and go up one more
time… So the basic pattern is like this:
A B C D E F E D C B A B C D E F.
Notice that is 16 notes exactly. That is what I meant by
“falls neatly within a nice grouping of notes”.
Next, you repeat this idea but starting on the next note of
the scale, the B. We are still staying entirely inside the key
of C major. So, the intervals and the frets will change because
we are moving through the scale. In other words, we are not just
repeating the same shape, although we are repeating the same
basic pattern while staying in the scale. That is what I mean
when I say it moves up the neck diatonically.
If this is confusing, just follow the tabs.
We repeat this process two more times, so we are playing a 16-note
pattern starting on the A, then the B, then the C, and finally the D.
To end the lick, we go one fret higher and just play a final note, the
high C, which sounds great because its the root of the scale.
There’s a few tricks here to making this work.
First of all, you need to start on a downstroke and use
strict alternate picking. My personal tendency would be to
sweep from the 3rd note of the lick (a downstroke) into another
downstroke on the 4th note. But if you do that, you end up on the
16th note of the phrase doing a downstroke. And that makes it
extremely difficult to go into the next part of the lick smoothly.
Instead, use strict alternate picking – down, up, down, up, down, up.
That way, you’re playing the 16th note of the phrase with an upstroke
and you can play the next 16 notes exactly the same as the first 16 -
you’re just shifting position.
The key to making this sound musical and not like an exercise is to play
it fast. It’s one of those things that sounds better the faster you play it.
Not everything is like that, but this lick was designed for speed.
And finally, the key to building up your speed is to take it very slow
and accurate at first, and build your speed then. Again, if you don’t mind
me plugging my “guitar scale system” software, its a great way to build
any lick up to warp speed.
The example below is a MIDI file played at 160 bpm. If you can work it up even
faster, like 180 or 190 bpm, it really starts to smoke… Have fun.
I hope you enjoyed the lesson. Thanks for rocking with me.
Have a shreddin’ weekend.
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Hi Claude, I’m interested in the beginners guitar course, you offer it online only? if so, for how long do the students gets access to the lessons?
Thank you, I enjoy your regular emails with tips and lessons but I want to learn from the really basic.
Fredy
THE BEGINNERS COURSE IS AVAILABLE ONLINE OR ON DVDS.
http://www.ultimatebeginnerguitar.com/main.php – CLAUDE
Awesome. Thanks, Claude!
Your the man
YOU THE MAN
Nice stuff.
thanks from your student (and customer!) from Zimbabwe. I will be playing around with these tonight. Jules ps, I enjoy your little pearls of wisdom!
Thank you!
Dude,Great info as always. You or d man.
Hi Claude, after having stopped playing the guitar for a couple of years, I’m all set to start over again. You offer loads of courses, so I am not sure what to start with (I’ve been at it on and off for a few years by now). My heart beats for hard rock and I’ve already had some private lessons some years ago. Also, I have no experience with transferring money abroad, so I would be greatful for your advice. Thank you very much also for the stuff printed above, I’ve been messin’ round with it today, but the speed recommended is a bit fast for me at the moment, but still it’s fun. Greetings from Germany, and thx again, Heide
Thankyou for the piece of guitar music. I really enjoyed playing the guitar and now im taking lessons and im already learning blues/rock.
The 2 string sequence I found really helpful Claude with finger discipline …. although Im not quite that fast!! … (your online playback sounds like a harpsicord)… many thanks
Interesting exercise, I like it. Curious to not that it only stays ’symmetrical’ when starting on the fifth of the scale upto the octaved root, second degree to fifth and it’s different fingering.
Out if interest, do you have any suggestions of what chords would fit underneath this 4bar pattern? C6-G7-C-G7-C? Am-Em6-F-G7-C?
It’s interesting playing it down the neck as well, tho (of course) doesn’t resolve so well down either the minor 6th or the fifth (depending on phrasing) – do you have any suggestions about this?
ATB, Duncan
Hi Duncan,
These are certainly interesting questions. I would have to give it some deep thought and probably some experimenting too,
at least to hear what chords would go under. There is no reason you need to stop on the root, you can play it for as
many bars as you want and start and stop wherever. I just ended on the root to give a sense of resolution
when playing the exercise standalone – CLAUDE
Hi Claude, Interesting about Star Spangled etc., actually, the flat five is a sharp four, to modulate into the dominant key of G. Would it have been easier to write the dots in 3/4 time, the tune sounds that way……..Keep up the cause!!!