Practice Archives - GUITARHABITS

Effective One-Octave Major Scales and Why! Part I

September 25, 2020 By Klaus Crow 11 Comments

When you learn your first scales you usually start with two-octave scales, because they span all six strings of the guitar. You play from the Low E-string all the way up to the high e-string.

That’s great! It’s important you learn the two-octave scales inside out, but one-octave scales have their own effective purpose that will serve your playing in a different and complementary way.

Why You Want to Learn One Octave Scales

One of the reasons you want to learn one-octave scales is because of their simplicity. By using only one octave it’s easier to see the shape and structure of the scale, the notes within the scale, and the intervals. The scale is more user-friendly, easier to play, memorize and apply around the fretboard.

There’s another great benefit to learning one-octave scales. Once you got them under your fingers it’s only a matter of connecting the dots to lay out two octave and three-octave scales, since they are made up of one-octave scales.

Note: This post is part of a small series where you will learn one-octave major scale shapes across the entire guitar neck that will help you understand and own the major scale landscape.

Starting from the Root Note on the Low E-string

Today we’re learning three major scale shape/patterns with the first (root) note starting on the Low E-string (6th string).

Tip: For this lesson learn and memorize the notes on the low E-string so you know and recognize the key of the scale when you want to move the scale up or down the fretboard.

Major Scale Fingering

For the major scale examples and tablature below I’ve notated the left hand fingering (for right handed players). The numbers next to the notes on the note staff right above the tablature indicates the left hand fingers:

1 = index
2 = middle finger
3 = ring finger
4 = pinky

The numbers in the yellow neck diagrams also indicate the fingers. The neck diagrams also clearly show what the shape or pattern looks like. Learn to visualize and memorize the shape of each pattern.

How to Simplify Your Guitar Process

September 10, 2020 By Klaus Crow 12 Comments

Sometimes the hardest part of practicing is starting. It’s the “thought” of having to practice that gets in the way, not practicing itself. Feelings of resistance arise and you trying to justify the art of not practicing translates in words like “I am too busy”, “I am too tired”, or “it’s too late” or “it’s too much now” and the list goes on and on.

We say there are more important things that have to be done before we can play guitar, but isn’t that always the case. There is always something more important, something more urgent, but in reality it’s nothing more than an excuse of the mind. There is time, if you want it.

EASY TIME TO PRACTICE

If you really think about it, there is 5 minutes of time to steal in every corner of the day, and 5 minutes of practice add up over time. There are 5 minutes before breakfast, 5 minutes during lunch or 5 minutes after dinner. 5 minutes before you go to school or just 5 minutes after you come back home from work.

You can also cut out the trivial stuff in your life and practice instead. What about 5 minutes less Netflix and 5 minutes less checking your email, Whatsapp or Instagram. You could wake up 5 minutes earlier or shorten the time you need to get the important things done.

You can surely find 5 minutes if you really care about playing guitar. Even if you have only 5 minutes a day, those 5 minutes add up over a week, over a month and over 6 months, especially if you practice with a goal and focus on the task at hand.

The only thing you have to do is stop allowing the thought that gets in the way of picking up your guitar right now. Just grab your guitar and practice.

So now we got that out of the way it’s important to make that practice process as simple and easy as possible, so you won’t have to think about that either.

Effective Speed Building Guitar Licks Exercises

July 28, 2020 By Klaus Crow 7 Comments

Practicing speed building exercises on your guitar will improve your technique tremendously. The speed exercises will not just make you play faster, but also your dexterity will advance. Dexterity will create flow, easiness and flexibility on all fronts of your guitar playing.

When you practice the exercises for a while you will find that your fingers will feel lighter and move more fluently across the strings and fretboard as you solo or switch between chords. Guitar playing becomes more effortless.

The exercises in this post all have their own challenges that will develop and improve different parts of your technique. Exercise #1 and #5 are your typical 3 notes-per-string super fast lick that sound really awesome once you get them up to speed, but they’re just as nice to practice slowly or at mid tempo, exercise #4 is a nice blues lick, and others will serve different purposes to enhance your skills. Just try each one of them and explore.

Take it easy, take your time, and as always, enjoy the process!

SPEED BUILDING EXERCISE #1 ( A minor )

Below is a nice fast A minor lick scale run that you can play over an A minor chord or harmony / progression (Am – Bdim – C – D – Em – F – G – Am). Start slow, play every single note clean and clear and only increase your speed when you feel comfortable playing at a slow tempo.

Improve Your Guitar Skills Anywhere and Anytime

June 18, 2020 By Klaus Crow 6 Comments

We all have tons of excuses to justify the times we don’t practice. We need to work, maintain our relationships, play with our kids, finish up tasks, exercise, eat and sleep. How in the world is there any time left?

How can you improve your skills amidst all of this, stay motivated and keep learning and growing when there are times when you can’t pick up the guitar?

Well, there are many places and times throughout the day where you can do some really valuable exercises to make huge changes in your guitar playing. I’ll first show you WHAT you can do, and then HOW and WHEN can you get better at playing guitar everyday, anywhere and anytime! Let’s check it out.

Learning to Know the Notes on The Guitar

You can start by learning the notes on the guitar. Memorize where every note (all 12) are located on the guitar neck on every string. Start by memorizing all the “F” notes on all strings. Say out loud: The F note is located on the Low E-string, 1st fret | F on the A-string, 8th fret | F on the D-string, 3rd fret | F on the G-string, 10th fret | F on the B-string, 6th fret | F on the high e-string, 1st fret. Try to visualize where the note is located on the neck while you’re naming the fret and string. Then pick another random note and repeat the exercise. Keep doing that until you know all 12 notes from the top of your head.

Next, learn to name all the scale notes of each key out loud. Start with the C major scale: C – D – E – F – G – A – B – C, then the G major scale: G – A – B – C – D – E – F# – G, next the F major scale: F – G – A – Bb – C – D – E – F and so on. Just pick any key in random order, until you’ve gone through all 12 keys. You can also do this with the natural minor scale, and every other scale. Just like the first exercise try to visualize where the notes of each scale are located on the strings.

You can also memorize all the chords you can derive from each major scale in every key. C major scale chords = C – Dm – Em – F – G – Am – Bdim , F major scale chords are: F – Gm – Am – Bb – C – Dm – Edim, G major scale chords: G – Am – Bm – C – D – Em – F#dim, and so on.