Hey Friend,

One of the keys to clean guitar playing is learning to synchronize your hands. While they will often work independently of each other, there are many techniques that also require your hands to work as if they’re glued together.

When one finger goes down on a string, the other hand strikes the string with a pick. Or you go through a series of chord changes and need to pick through arpeggios. 

These actions are repeated hundreds of times in each song you play, and if you don’t bring a certain level of precision to the game, your playing will be very sloppy.

The difference between a good guitar player and a great one is often a matter of tiny measures of precision and accuracy in the picking technique.

A very easy exercise to help you start training your hands to work together like peanut butter and jelly is to clap.

Clap? 

How is that supposed to help, you ask?

Well, part of developing tight precision is to develop your timing.

Timing is all about how well you keep to the beat. 

Some of us have a good sense of timing and rhythm. Some of us do not! 

Whether you do or don’t, you can practice to improve your timing, and at the same time sharpen both your two-hand independence AND synchronization.

To do this exercise, you only need a metronome and your two hands.

Pick a free online metronome from here if you don't have one. You can also get metronome apps on your phone...

Set the metronome to 4/4 time (four beats per measure/each beat is a quarter note) at a tempo of 80 beats per minute (BPM). If you’re using the online metronome, it’s already set to 4/4 time.

Start it up.

Now, clap your hands to each beat. Make sure your clap occurs EXACTLY on the beat. You want to be so accurate that your clap masks the click of the metronome.

Easy, right? 

Yup, easy, but not simple. 

We’re not “precision” creatures by nature. We have to work at machine-like accuracy. 

Practice this technique for five minutes and you’ll start to notice how inconsistent you can be, even with a good sense of rhythm. 

Hey, knowing is half the battle, right?

I’ll have to come back to this tomorrow - just felt the tug on the chain to the j.o.b. Give this a try, and have a good one!

Peace~

Dave