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Developing muscle memory! The Routine!
There are 4 sections to The Routine. It’s more like a workshop
than a tutorial. This is a hands on group of exercises that will
propel you ahead of where you are right now, to about 2 years
from now . . . but in only 90 days!
The sections are: Finger Exercises, Open Chord Exercises, Open
Chord Drills and Barre Chord Drills.
All the reasons WHY are answered in the previous tutorial,
Practice THIS! So, we’re just going to get right into it!
NOTE: Before you begin this, you will need to make a commitment!
You need to do the routine DAILY for 4 weeks! And any days possible,
you need to do it 2 or 3 times! It take very little time! You’re setting
up the ground work for something that is going to change your
life! You’re going to see dramatic improvements, IF you take the
4 weeks required to prepare you for greatness!
Seriously! If you cannot do this daily, but can only do it at your regular
practice time, less than daily, IT WILL STILL YIELD RESUILTS!
But instead of taking 4 weeks, it will take some months.
Keep track of your practice sessions, and after each 7 sessions, move
on to the next week in the routine!
:Building Muscle Memory and Hand/Finger Strength
The following finger exercises should be done daily, if possible.
They only take a few minutes. On days when you spend time
practicing, do these FIRST as a warm up. On days when you don’t
have a practice session, do these anyway! At least for WEEK 1 at
the very minimum! You need to give this a solid week’s work to
get it all started!
4 fingers, 1 2 3 4. 4 frets, 1 2 3 4. Put them together in every possible
combination. When you can play these simple 12 combinations, and
play them WELL, there is no scale, riff, solo, or chord you can’t
play!
NOTE: There are some scales and a handful of chord shapes that
require more of a stretch! You generally use 4 fingers to cover 4 frets.
And that covers most of the gamut. This Routine covers the “norm”.
We’ll save the stretches for another series. Most of you won’t be
playing chords or scales that require more than a 4 fret spread.
The whole set of exercises is all done the same way. Each week
the routine changes slightly, but only for the 1st few weeks!
So here is the first one to work on. Each one is done the same way.
From this minute on, you will be IN THE ROUTINE! You will
do the entire thing at the BEGINNING of EVERY practice session!
There are only so many combinations of 4. We’re going to play ALL
of the combos, systematically. The combos are . . .
2 finger combos:
12, 13, 14, 23, 24, 34
3 finger combos:
123, 124, 234
Then there is 1 2 3 4. We can break up 1 2 3 4 in a variety of ways!
1 3 2 4, 1 4 2 3, etc.
Every possible scale is made up of the above combinations! So if you can
play them all well, you simply need to know what finger combos are
played in a particular scale to know how to play the scale. More on this
in a bit!
We’ll start by playing the Chromatic Scale. That simply means, we’ll
play a scale that contains ALL of the notes! This is our first warm up!
WEEK 1: Play these every day for a week! Ideally 2 to 3 times a day!
Trust me. As Monk used to say . . . You’ll thank me later!
You’re going to play each string, starting from the low E. Place your
fingers above the 1st 4 frets. One finger over one fret.
For all of these exercises, it’s critically important to use fingers 1 2 3 4
to play frets 1 2 3 4! Do not play fret 3 with finger 4, etc!
You’re simply going to pick the low E string OPEN, then play fret 1,
then fret 2, then 3 then 4. One note at a time. And count Open 1 2 3 4
as you play each note.
Go SLOWLY! Each note needs to be clear, clean. Don’t press too
hard. Just hard enough to get the note to sound clearly.
Pick up and down, alternately. D U D U D
Each time you play finger/fret 4, you move to the next string. Play
open A 1 2 3 4. Then open D 1 2 3 4 Open G 1 2 3 4 Open B 1 2 3 4
Open high E 1 2 3 4
Then play it in reverse. Just come back down. Play 4 3 2 1 open,
then move back to the B string, open 4 3 2 1, and continue until
you play low E open 4 3 2 1.
Do this THREE TIMES! Slowly. THEN . . . move on to the combos
as follows. This was your warm up!
The count is 1 2 3 4 5 because there are 5 notes played per string.
The audio uses a 5 count before you start playing.
Also, the audio playes 5 times, not 3. Up to you!
Each time it plays, it gets slightly faster.
You can listen online, or click the 3 vertical dots
on the audio player, right side, then select download.
Click the play button below to play a sample O1234 MP3.
~ 2 Finger Combos: 1&2 Play frets 1 & 2 using fingers 1 & 2 on each string, starting on low E. Count 12 A string) 12 D 12 G 12 B12 high E 12. Then come back down. High E 21 B 21 G 21 D 21 A 21 low E 21 Do this 3 times! Then move to combo 2. 2&3. ~ Shake out your left hand. Get it loose again! Now play 1 & 3! Same way! From low E, play fingers/frets 13 on each string going up. Then revere it and play 31 on each string. ~ Shake out your left hand. Get it loose again! Now do the same with 1 & 4. Play 14 on each string going up, and 41 playing back down! ~ Shake out your left hand. Get it loose again! Now we do the finger 2 combos! We already did 1 & 2. So . . . Play fingers 2 & 3 on frets 2 & 3. E 23 A 23 D 23 G 23 B 23 high E 23 Then play it in reverse as above. High E 32 B 32 G 32 D 32 A 32 low E 32 ~ Shake out your left hand. Get it loose again! Play fingers 2 & 4, same way! ~ Shake out your left hand. Get it loose again! Last, play 3 & 4 the same way! DO ALL OF THESE 3 TIMES! ~ Now we’ll do the 3 finger combos! Starting with 123. Play 123 on each string going up, then 321 coming back down. Play 1 2 4 the same way. Then 234. Shake out your left hand. Get it loose again! Now the last one. This is similar to the warm up Chromatic Scale exercise. But this time, no open strings! Just play 1234 on each string going up, then 4321 coming back down! DONE There is a downloadable Routine Sheet you’ll have to follow. But to review, you played . . . Open 1 2 3 4 on each string going up, 4 3 2 1 open coming back down. Then combos 12, 13, 14, 23, 24, 34 . . . 123 124 234 And 1234. You need to do these once or twice (ideally 3) times a day for about a week or so. You’re going to start feeling muscles you didn’t know you had! When your hand tightens up, just shake it loose. Not HARD. Just shake it and get it loose. But you NEED to do this a BUNCH of times in a 1 week period of time! Get the motion down! Get the notes clean! Keep playing this SLOWLY! Week 2: You’re going to do the same identical exercise, with ONE exception! There is ONE added step, at the very beginning! Your fingers should start toughening up by now. Maybe still a bit tender! NOTE: If your fingers are more than a bit sore, if they burn a bit, then just continue exactly as you did in week one! By the next week, you’ll notice a big difference! Then move on to WEEK 2! One extra step added to WEEK 2. Do this before you start the routine! Just do the 1234 exercise FIRST, but like this! Go a bit more slowly! And press a little harder for each note, and hold it for a count of a slow 3. 1 – 2 – 3. Then release and go to the next note. Don’t press hard! Just a bit harder, firmer than usual Play this on each string, up and down, 3 times. Then, shake it off! And start the routine from the beginning as usual! When you finished, do the press one again, just one more time, up and down! WEEKs 3&4: This week is just like the last. Start with the “press” exercise, 3 times. Do the rest of the routine. And end with the press, one more time! OK, now we’re going to step it up! But first you must make an honest self- evaluation! You must determine whether or not you have improved noticeably! Are you able to get through the entire routine noticeably more easily than when you started? Can you play each note, all of them, clearly and cleanly? If not, then repeat week 2! Take one more week. Then move on to WEEK 3. This is why it’s important for the 1st 4 weeks to play these DAILY! After that, you’ll just be playing the routine before each regular practice session! OK, WEEK 3 is a bit different. By now, your fingers are getting a bit tougher, AND stronger! You can do the whole routine fairly well. And it takes you less time than when you started. Keep in mind, each time we add more to the routine, it adds a little time. But after several sessions, that time just “goes away!” After several sessions, you’ll get through the entire routine in much less time! OK, now we get to work. You do WEEK 3 the same way, as in, each string, up, then in reverse back down. But now it’s gonna start preparing you for something you’ve wanted for a long time. To become a better player! Each exercise, you do the same thing with one addition! You start with the 1st 4 frets as usual. But each time you get back to the low E string, and play that string, you move up ONE fret, and do the same exercise again! And continue doing that up to the 7th fret. So, now you’re not doing each one 3 times! Only once. On each string! But you’re doing each exercise on more frets! After you do the regular “press” warm up, you do the 12 as usual. On frets 1 and 2. Then, when you finish, just one time, slide up one fret, and play it again on frets 2 and 3! Then up again, play it on frets 3 and 4! Then 4 and 5. 5 and 6. 6 and 7. Then finally, 7 and 8. THEN . . . back down, playing in reverse! Play frets 87, 76, 65, 54, 43, 32 and 21. PLAY THEM ON EACH STRING ONCE! Go on to the next one. 13. All strings, up to fret 7, back down! Do all of the exercises the same way. Give this one TWO weeks! Do it the same way every day! Now you’re going to start seeing results DAILY! IMPROVEMENTS in your picking, articulation! The notes will start to sound cleaner, clearer! Probably not perfect! But it will be in time! Week 5 is going to make it all start working on AUTO-PILOT! WEEK 5 (I guess it’s really week 5!) The only difference in week 5 is, instead of moving up to the 7th fret, you’re going to play all frets, up to the 12th fret! No other changes! After this week, go back one day and do it like you did in week 1. Evaluate! Are you able to play it much more easily now? YES! Does it sound better, cleaner and clearer? YES! Did it take a LOT LESS TIME to play it than when you started? YES! By now the routine, well, THIS part of the routine has become, well, routine! You do it on auto-pilot. And THIS will always be the 1st part of every practice session! When you first started on week 1, this seemed like drudgery! Brutal. Just getting through the warm up was tough! But guess what? The whole thing is now . . . your warm up! From today, until forever! OK, that’s it for Part 1. The finger exercises! Now some magic starts! Because not only have your fingers toughened up, and gotten stronger, your picking has improved! Your fingers find each fret more easily! AND your pick is hitting the sweet spot more often! This will improve EVERYTHING you do on guitar. But once you add the 1st chord exercises to your routine . . . HOLY SMOKES! Wait until you’ve done them for just ONE WEEK! Here’s the download link for the text copy of just the actual routine, and ALL of the audio files. It's a ZIP file. Download it to a folder that's handy! You'll be in the folder a lot! Until you have the routine down pat, and don't need the files! LINK LINK LINK
~ 2 Finger Combos: 1&2 Play frets 1 & 2 using fingers 1 & 2 on each string, starting on low E. Count 12 A string) 12 D 12 G 12 B12 high E 12. Then come back down. High E 21 B 21 G 21 D 21 A 21 low E 21 Do this 3 times! Then move to combo 2. 2&3. ~ Shake out your left hand. Get it loose again! Now play 1 & 3! Same way! From low E, play fingers/frets 13 on each string going up. Then revere it and play 31 on each string. ~ Shake out your left hand. Get it loose again! Now do the same with 1 & 4. Play 14 on each string going up, and 41 playing back down! ~ Shake out your left hand. Get it loose again! Now we do the finger 2 combos! We already did 1 & 2. So . . . Play fingers 2 & 3 on frets 2 & 3. E 23 A 23 D 23 G 23 B 23 high E 23 Then play it in reverse as above. High E 32 B 32 G 32 D 32 A 32 low E 32 ~ Shake out your left hand. Get it loose again! Play fingers 2 & 4, same way! ~ Shake out your left hand. Get it loose again! Last, play 3 & 4 the same way! DO ALL OF THESE 3 TIMES! ~ Now we’ll do the 3 finger combos! Starting with 123. Play 123 on each string going up, then 321 coming back down. Play 1 2 4 the same way. Then 234. Shake out your left hand. Get it loose again! Now the last one. This is similar to the warm up Chromatic Scale exercise. But this time, no open strings! Just play 1234 on each string going up, then 4321 coming back down! DONE There is a downloadable Routine Sheet you’ll have to follow. But to review, you played . . . Open 1 2 3 4 on each string going up, 4 3 2 1 open coming back down. Then combos 12, 13, 14, 23, 24, 34 . . . 123 124 234 And 1234. You need to do these once or twice (ideally 3) times a day for about a week or so. You’re going to start feeling muscles you didn’t know you had! When your hand tightens up, just shake it loose. Not HARD. Just shake it and get it loose. But you NEED to do this a BUNCH of times in a 1 week period of time! Get the motion down! Get the notes clean! Keep playing this SLOWLY! Week 2: You’re going to do the same identical exercise, with ONE exception! There is ONE added step, at the very beginning! Your fingers should start toughening up by now. Maybe still a bit tender! NOTE: If your fingers are more than a bit sore, if they burn a bit, then just continue exactly as you did in week one! By the next week, you’ll notice a big difference! Then move on to WEEK 2! One extra step added to WEEK 2. Do this before you start the routine! Just do the 1234 exercise FIRST, but like this! Go a bit more slowly! And press a little harder for each note, and hold it for a count of a slow 3. 1 – 2 – 3. Then release and go to the next note. Don’t press hard! Just a bit harder, firmer than usual Play this on each string, up and down, 3 times. Then, shake it off! And start the routine from the beginning as usual! When you finished, do the press one again, just one more time, up and down! WEEKs 3&4: This week is just like the last. Start with the “press” exercise, 3 times. Do the rest of the routine. And end with the press, one more time! OK, now we’re going to step it up! But first you must make an honest self- evaluation! You must determine whether or not you have improved noticeably! Are you able to get through the entire routine noticeably more easily than when you started? Can you play each note, all of them, clearly and cleanly? If not, then repeat week 2! Take one more week. Then move on to WEEK 3. This is why it’s important for the 1st 4 weeks to play these DAILY! After that, you’ll just be playing the routine before each regular practice session! OK, WEEK 3 is a bit different. By now, your fingers are getting a bit tougher, AND stronger! You can do the whole routine fairly well. And it takes you less time than when you started. Keep in mind, each time we add more to the routine, it adds a little time. But after several sessions, that time just “goes away!” After several sessions, you’ll get through the entire routine in much less time! OK, now we get to work. You do WEEK 3 the same way, as in, each string, up, then in reverse back down. But now it’s gonna start preparing you for something you’ve wanted for a long time. To become a better player! Each exercise, you do the same thing with one addition! You start with the 1st 4 frets as usual. But each time you get back to the low E string, and play that string, you move up ONE fret, and do the same exercise again! And continue doing that up to the 7th fret. So, now you’re not doing each one 3 times! Only once. On each string! But you’re doing each exercise on more frets! After you do the regular “press” warm up, you do the 12 as usual. On frets 1 and 2. Then, when you finish, just one time, slide up one fret, and play it again on frets 2 and 3! Then up again, play it on frets 3 and 4! Then 4 and 5. 5 and 6. 6 and 7. Then finally, 7 and 8. THEN . . . back down, playing in reverse! Play frets 87, 76, 65, 54, 43, 32 and 21. PLAY THEM ON EACH STRING ONCE! Go on to the next one. 13. All strings, up to fret 7, back down! Do all of the exercises the same way. Give this one TWO weeks! Do it the same way every day! Now you’re going to start seeing results DAILY! IMPROVEMENTS in your picking, articulation! The notes will start to sound cleaner, clearer! Probably not perfect! But it will be in time! Week 5 is going to make it all start working on AUTO-PILOT! WEEK 5 (I guess it’s really week 5!) The only difference in week 5 is, instead of moving up to the 7th fret, you’re going to play all frets, up to the 12th fret! No other changes! After this week, go back one day and do it like you did in week 1. Evaluate! Are you able to play it much more easily now? YES! Does it sound better, cleaner and clearer? YES! Did it take a LOT LESS TIME to play it than when you started? YES! By now the routine, well, THIS part of the routine has become, well, routine! You do it on auto-pilot. And THIS will always be the 1st part of every practice session! When you first started on week 1, this seemed like drudgery! Brutal. Just getting through the warm up was tough! But guess what? The whole thing is now . . . your warm up! From today, until forever! OK, that’s it for Part 1. The finger exercises! Now some magic starts! Because not only have your fingers toughened up, and gotten stronger, your picking has improved! Your fingers find each fret more easily! AND your pick is hitting the sweet spot more often! This will improve EVERYTHING you do on guitar. But once you add the 1st chord exercises to your routine . . . HOLY SMOKES! Wait until you’ve done them for just ONE WEEK! Here’s the download link for the text copy of just the actual routine, and ALL of the audio files. It's a ZIP file. Download it to a folder that's handy! You'll be in the folder a lot! Until you have the routine down pat, and don't need the files! LINK LINK LINK
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