Pentatonic Lick

E|------------9h10p9--------------------------------------------------
B|-------10-----------10-------10p12h10-------------------------------
G|--11--------------------11---------------11p9----------9/11h14p11---
D|-------------------------------------------------12-----------------
A|--------------------------------------------------------------------
E|--------------------------------------------------------------------

Natural Minor Arpeggio Ideas

E|--9----7--------------10-----9-----9-----7------------------0----
B|--7---------10/12-----12-----------7-----------10-----------0----
G|--7-------------------11-----------7------------------7-----6----
D|--7-------------------12-----------7------------------------7----
A|--0--------------------------------0------------------------9----
E|--0--------------------------------0------------------------7----

E|--7----7---2----2h3p2------------5-----3-----2-----
B|--5--------3------------2--------3-----------3-----
G|--5--------4----------------3----4-----------4-----
D|--5--------5---------------------4-----------5-----
A|--0------------------------------------------------
E|--0------------------------------------------------

Natural Minor: Scale / Arpeggio

Taking a break from pentatonic and moving on to some Natural Minor.
It isn’t as big a leap as I had anticipated, as the bones are the same.

Here is the current exercise routine:

• Starting in one position of a key, locate roots, play root-to-root ascending and descending.
• Play expanded box position ascending and descending.
• Play expanded box position quadruplet sequencing ascending/descending.
• Play expanded box position using legato, one pick per string ascending/descending.
• Play arpeggio  correlating to position (okay to venture out a little).
• Repeat for other positions across fretboard.
• Repeat for other keys.

Would like to further incorporate somehow / needs further emphasis:

• Move out of box positions, incorporate more horizontal movement.
• More readily identify relative root locations across positions.
• Readily identify 3rd and 5th degrees in addition to the root.
• Triads.

Effortless Fun

A neat little exercise that targets a few points simultaneously while allowing you to work in short bursts as opposed to moving across the entire neck. Very pleasant.

• Randomly put a finger on any note of the neck.
• Identify the note.
• Play linear scale sequence (alternate forward / backward from tonic).
• Play entire scale position.
• Some dexterity / picking / speed exercise in that position.
• A little noodling while emphasizing tonics.
• Identify location of that note across fretboard.
• Repeat.

Pentatonic Minor Scale Exercises

I’ve fallen into the routine of doing this exercise for Pent Min scale:

• Pick a key (random).
• Play every root across neck (octaves).
• Pick a root somewhere, and play a linear sequence root-to-root, placing emphasis on the tonic.
• Repeat this if the position allows for more than one run within the box (i.e. A shape; Position 1).
• Then play the scale position, while identifying which positions share a particular tonic.
• Picking/dexterity exercise in the same position.
• Move onto next root and repeat across entire neck.
• Repeat entire process for other keys at random.

In the very near future:

• Disregard box shapes entirely and just proceed with root-to-root sequences along the neck.
• Play scale along limited strings (i.e. only 6&5 or 3&1 etc.).
• Figure out an exercise to memorizing all notes on fretboard.

Fretboard Tinkering 9/21/16

While box positions are certainly easily accessible and convenient, I’ve noticed that spending too much time in boxland can be overkill, as well as stifle improvisation creativity. So, I’m focusing more on playing scales (minor pent) from root to root in various positions across the neck.

While doing this it soon becomes very clear how one might transition quite easily from  minor pentatonic to major pentatonic, simply be recognizing where the scale lives in relation to the root.

Current routine as of the moment:

• Dexterity warm-up exercises
• Finding all of the same notes across fretboard (octave exercises)
• Play box positions up and down fretboard
• Picking and dexterity exercises within boxes
• Play scale starting and ending on root from various positions in different keys

Moving forward, the immediate goal would look something like:

• Transition from root-to-root to 3rd-to-3rd and 5th-to-5th (pentatonic minor)
• Being able to identify root, 3rd, and 5th across fretboard and their relevant minor pent scales
• Learn major pent around roots as with minor, and recognize their relative positions

お久しぶりです。

Okay, let’s try this again.

In an attempt to rid my fingers of some of the rust that has developed and to re-familiarize myself with the fretboard, I have start doing the following before bed:

• 4 consecutive frets per string, ascending & descending, up and down the fretboard (alternate picking)
• 1-3-2-4 ascending & descending, up and down the fretboard (alternate picking)
• Minor Pentatonic (in B)
• Some improvising over some earmade chords looped with BR-80

Rather than dive right into another rigorous routine, I’ve decided to let one manifest itself organically as the rust clears.

Less over-complicating, more doing.

While it is important to constantly re-evaluate where you are and what you should be doing to move forward, don’t overwhelm yourself by constantly trying to design and carry out the “perfect routine”. Such worrying will leave you with the impression that if you aren’t doing something that has been meticulously tailored to produce maximum efficiency, then it isn’t worth doing. You will actually end up doing less, dismissing doing X or Y as “not optimal and therefore shouldn’t be done”. We cannot always be doing what is most rigorous.

You’ll come to realize that, doing what is most “optimal” is usually also the most taxing on your concentration and over-use of such routines could easily lead to burnout. It is better to do a whole lot of something, anything really, as opposed to short concentrated spurts of awesome. Even ignoring that i+1 concept that you’ve been longing to digest and running through familiar routines is still a step in the right direction. It is the lack of doing that will set you back, like trying to boil water but constantly turning off the heat.

You don’t have to cycle 4-finger tapping min7b5 arpeggios up and down the fretboard through the circle of 5ths on two guitars while simultaneously trying to tune a piano with your pinky toe to be productive. Relax and play through some modes, or just one, in a single position, or on a single string. Develop some well-trodden neural pathways. Take your fingers for a little walk.

If you are constantly trying to leap, you are setting yourself up for burnout.
Consistent hopping or even crawling is orders of magnitude more “efficient” than the sporadic and dogmatic adherence to over-complicated utopian fretboard marathons.

Leap where you can and when it is painless to do so, but make sure you are crawling in between. Kick, kick, coast.

Fingerpicking ideas

Some fingerpicking ideas. Chords presented in order of convenience, not in the order in which they should be played.

Mostly fingerpicking each string individually with some two-finger squeezing on 1&6 and 2&5, emphasis on open high and low E strings to ring out when plucked. Some tapping between transitions.

Add some hammers and pull-offs on strings 5, 2, and 1.

3-finger trem picking on high E.

Pretty disorganized for now.

E|–0—0—0—2—0–
B|–3—0—3—3—3–
G|–4—4—0—0—0–
D|–2—2—4—4—4–
A|–3—3—2—2—2–
E|–0—0—0—0—3–

E|–2—3—0–
B|–0—0—3–
G|–2—2—0–
D|–1—1—2–
A|–2—2—1–
E|–0—0—0–

E|——————7——–
B|—3—5—7—7—10—
G|—3—5—7—9—7—-
D|—2—3—5—9—9—-
A|—3—5—7—7—9—-
E|——————8——–

E|—2—-7—-
B|—3—-8—-
G|—4—-9—-
D|—5—-10—
A|—————
E|—————

E|—10—7—–7——7—7—5—3—2—2—
B|—0—–0—-10—–5—5—3—3—0—3—
G|—9—–9—–9——7—7—0—0—0—4—
D|—10—10—10—-5—4——————5—
A|——————————————————-
E|——————————————————-

Epiphany #4

While it is certainly a useful and interesting exercise, constructing chords is like scaffolding.
You should be able to make a Cmaj9 chord on the spot, not because the 1st, 3rd, 5th, 7th, and 9th notes are arranged a particular way, but simply because it is a Cmaj9 chord. Your fingers are forming that shape on the fretboard because that shape is where Cmaj9 lives. He hangs out there, it is his personal place in the universe. You can visit him anytime, because he will always be there.

Try thinking about constructing chords and “seeing” chord shapes within scales, as a means to stop seeing them.