Hey Friend,
Alright, another great response to last week’s email!
Sounds like almost everyone is interested in ways to add a little more structure into practice time.
Here’s a beautiful idea for you:
You can literally create a laser-focused, customized practice routine for yourself if you’ll do one thing…
Observe.
Simply observe how you play through something.
How does it sound?
How does it feel?
Are you happy with your execution.
Is it as good as it can be?
If you’re like most people, you look at those questions and immediately think about what your fretting hand (the one pressing the strings on the fingerboard) is doing.
Are my fingers fast enough?
Am I hitting the right frets?
Am I pressing hard enough?
Does it sound clear or muddy?
All good and valid questions. And these should be explored further.
But for today, have you considered your strumming hand? The second half of the equation?
What About the Other Hand?
For me, my right hand was often an afterthought. I didn’t think about picking or strumming, about dynamics and attack, or about efficiency.
Sure, speed has always been that one metric that I thought was important, but what about accuracy and timing? What about execution?
If you think about it, your strumming/picking hand is the one that is responsible for producing the sound! It has to connect to the correct strings at the correct angle to produce the sound you want. It also has to be where you want it at the right time, so economy of motion becomes a factor the faster you play.
Kind of like computers, your picking hand operates in binary - there’s really only up or down when it comes to picking and strumming!
I think it deserves some attention.
So here’s the first practice prompt:
This is going to be very simple, but it will help create a solid picking hand foundation for you.
Don’t discount it because of its simplicity - the simplest exercises have a compounding effect and can transform your playing.
Set up your metronome to 4/4 time, 80 beats per minute (BPM) and start it.
Now pick a note on the sixth string (that's the thickest one) - any note. Open string, or finger a fret up the neck, it’s up to you.
Start plucking that note with down-strokes in time with the metronome.
Forget what your fretting hand is doing. Only pay attention to the pick hitting the string.
Observe the motion of your hand, the angle of attack of the pick, the sound of the pick scraping the string, the amount of force you’re using to pluck…
Just keep playing that one note.
As you observe, change something about how you are plucking that note.
You could pluck the string harder or softer.
You could angle the pick differently.
You might focus on how you’re holding your pick, or how much of the pick is used for hitting the string.
Do this exercise for five minutes.
WARNING: Your mind IS going to start wandering. Resist that and really force yourself to pay attention to the pick hitting the string.
It’s tedious, but there’s value in holding your attention on the task at hand!
For example, lately I’ve been adjusting how I hold the pick to see if it has an affect on speed and accuracy.
True confessions: it’s tough to change how you hold a pick!
It’s a completely different angle for me, it’s awkward and I don’t like it - because I'm unfamiliar with it.
But pro guitar players adjust their picking technique based on need, and the more you practice, the easier it becomes. So I soldier on...
Habits, Yo...
As you practice, your mind and body make connections and create muscle memories.
Like any other type of exercise, the more you repeat it, the stronger it becomes. You want to make sure you are creating good physical memories and reinforcing them by consistently practicing.
Once a habit is formed, the only way to supplant it is to replace it with another habit, so if you’re not getting the results you want with an existing habit or technique, you probably need to look at changing it up a bit and forming some new habits.
This little exercise will help with the following:
Develop an awareness of dynamics (how loud or soft the note sounds when you pluck it).
Help you develop your individual tone (every pro guitar player will tell you tone is in the fingers, not the hardware).
Improve your timing and accuracy as you play along with the metronome
Help improve your hearing for the subtle differences in your execution (also helps with tone).
If you’ll try this exercise and do it for five minutes a day (even a minute a day after you get comfortable with it), your picking technique will start tightening up and the muscle memory solidify within a couple weeks.
As my drill sergeants used to love to yell, “Don’t cheat your body!"
I know it’s not exciting -- even boring -- but so is getting stuck in a playing rut.
Just do it…
Peace~
Dave
P.S. Sometimes one tiny shift is all we need to break out of a rut or take us off in a new, exciting direction. Try this exercise out and see what it does for you. You might surprised...
Think of it like meditation. I know, that can be like wrangling cats, but try it anyway.
Let me know what epiphanies you start realizing...
| 
