Subject: Training Your Fingers
You are getting this e-mail because you subscribed to it on www.learn-to-play-rock-guitar.com. If you don't want to receive these e-mails any longer, go to the bottom of this message and click on "unsubscribe." Hey there Friend, I was sorting through the mail bag the other day and saw a couple recurring themes... barre chords, sore hands, rhythm...I'll come back to these in future messages, but today I'd like to talk about a question of building speed. I received a message from Austin. In it, he asks: "How do I train my fingers to play really fast like (Eddie) Van Halen?" Many guitarists have the dream of being able to burn up the fingerboard with lightening fingers. While I don't happen to be one of them, I'm as impressed by a well-executed solo as anyone. There's just something about being able to clearly make out the emotional energy in every note that blazes by. We're talking passion! The topic of Austin's question is fairly common. We all want to play faster. But Austin is really smart in how he's asking this question. He didn't say "How do I play really fast..." He said "How do I train my fingers to..." And that difference makes all the difference. You see, learning guitar is a study in patterns. We have scale patterns, chord patterns, common progressions, strum patterns, and so on. As you work on learning each of these patterns, you're not just memorizing in your brain, you're also memorizing in your muscles. Over time, our fingers and hands form a "memory" around all these different patterns we use. You could think of it in terms of any other routine that we perform on a daily basis. I'll bet if you think about it, you'll realize when you brush your teeth, you always start brushing on the same side. We form these habits and they become ingrained in our muscle memory. We do them without thinking about them. We also do this as we learn things on guitar (or piano, or any other instrument). We form habits in how we hold the guitar, how we press the strings down, how we hold the pick, etc. Technique That's why it's important to learn proper technique - so you form these habits in a way that ensures you learn the most efficient way to do things. It's so hard to try and go back later to break a muscle memory - it is as if you need to exert twice the amount of willpower to overcome a habit you've created with a new one. So learn the patterns (like really memorize them) using the most efficient fingering and technique - that's the first thing you can do train your fingers to do anything you want them to do. This is when I do the shameless plug for getting a guitar instructor. Sure, you can find instructional videos on Youtube for any technique, but it may take viewing a few different ones to get the right camera angle and explanation. Having a live instructor (local or Skype) can shave hours off your learning curve each week. Slow Down The second thing (and this ties into the first) to do is slow down. I've said it before - in order to get fast, you have to start slow. We have a tendency to learn a new pattern or riff and immediately try to play it faster on each pass. We'll start it slowly to get the fingers moving and then within 20 seconds we're trying to play it like we imagine Eddie Van Halen might play it. The right way to do it is to first learn the piece. If it's a full song or a long solo, break it down into each measure and learn them one-by-one. Then you piece them together by playing the first and second measure until you have it mastered. The add the third, and so on. Play the music slowly until you have learned it. Then gradually speed up to the proper tempo. if you're working on a scale pattern or just technique, use a metronome to keep you in time. There are a number of ways you can slow material down. A great tool for this is Song Surgeon. I've used this software many times to slow an MP3 down so I could learn riffs. It's a tool that will help you figure out what's going on with a song or riff. You must properly learn each technique before you can begin to master it. If you learn it incorrectly, you'll build in a bad habit that could ultimately stop you from reaching your goals. Bad habits create frustration because you will have a very difficult growing your skills. Frustration leads to putting your guitar down, and we all know where that leads... Discipline The third thing I'll put out there is to develop the discipline to pick up your guitar every day. Another reader by the name of Mick says: "I never seem to be able to get into regular practise sessions." I developed the Daily 5 Guitar Habit to help you with that. The goal of the daily email is not necessarily to learn a skill (which you will), but to get you to sit down for 5 minutes with your guitar (even if you're just holding it in your lap). You cannot build your skill if you don't carve out time to sit down with your guitar. It helps if you can keep to a regularly scheduled time, but even if you can't manage that, at least take a few minutes and show your guitar some love. You may not get a lot of quality practice time in, but you will begin a foundation of making sure you do something every day. We all have to start somewhere! So to recap:
After that point, once you've mastered the fundamentals, you'll be able to start growing in new directions. You'll have created "your sound." And that's when things really start to get fun... Peace~ Dave Dave "Eddie" Vance is a rock guitar enthusiast and gear nut. He has been playing guitar for over 30 years and enjoys tormenting the neighbors every chance he gets. When he's not slaving for the man, you can find him rocking out with his B.C. Rich Bich guitar, a cold beer and some sweet tunes. He also runs Learn-To-Play-Rock-Guitar.com, but you knew that already! Follow Learn To Play Rock Guitar:I welcome your feedback! Did you like today's message? What other topics would you like to see covered in my e-mails? Please let me know at: dave@learn-to-play-rock-guitar.com As always, please feel free to forward this email to a friend! I review products before recommending them. If you buy a product based on my recommendation, I will receive a commission. However, my emails also contain links that don’t require any investment on your part and are jam-packed with "juicy, guitar learnin' tastiness". We don't rent or share your name with anybody. Feel free to forward this issue to any friends you think would enjoy its contents. They will thank you. So will I.
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