Free Bass Lessons Learn!
Monday, January 25, 2010
I have designed these three exercises to help you to improve your bass guitar picking speed. Before we start, you WILL need a METRONOME! If you don't have one, get one as soon as possible. A metronome is an absolute MUST for the serious bass guitar player. The beginning tempo for this exercise is 60 beats per minute.
You need to use alternate picking in all of these exercises. In case you don't know, "alternate picking" means that you pick one note DOWN and the next note UP. If you try to do the exercises using only "DOWN" picking, you will be wasting half of your picking motion and the result will be that you will play HALF AS FAST as if you use alternate picking.
Helpful hints:
**Before you begin to play the exercises, you might want to set your metronome at 60 and practice clapping each rhythm--2 notes per beat, 3 notes per beat, 4 notes per beat and 6 notes per beat.
**If 60 seems very slow for the eighth notes, leave it there until you try the other three rhythms. Three, Four, and six notes per beat might be faster than you think. Here are the exercises:
1. Eighth Notes: Play a scale ( "pentatonic minor" is a good one to start with, but you can choose any scale that you want to practice) using eighth notes--2 notes per metronome beat. Repeat this part of the exercise until it becomes easy.
2. Triplets: For this exercise, you will play 3 notes per metronome beat. The first note of each triplet must be accented (played a little louder). This exercise is challenging because the triplets will begin with alternating picking directions. That is, the first one will begin with a down stroke, the second with an up stroke and so on. Practice these triplets until you can play them smoothly and evenly.
3. 16th notes: This one requires that you play 4 notes per metronome beat. Because of the increased speed of the notes, your method of holding the pick becomes extremely important at this point. Hint: Hold the pick so that just a small portion of it extends beyond your fingers. Then, instead of holding it at a 90 degree angle to the string, try a 45 degree angle. If you hold the pick at a 90 degree angle, it will get "stuck" (as you have probably experienced). Holding it at a 45 degree angle and then sort of "sawing" just the tip of the pick across the string will greatly improve your speed.
4. 16th note triplets: This means that you are going to play 6 notes per metronome beat. It helps to count "1 2 3 1 2 3" instead of "1 2 3 4 5 6". If 60 bpm is too fast, SLOW IT DOWN. It is important to practice at a speed which you can play PERFECTLY. More...
You need to use alternate picking in all of these exercises. In case you don't know, "alternate picking" means that you pick one note DOWN and the next note UP. If you try to do the exercises using only "DOWN" picking, you will be wasting half of your picking motion and the result will be that you will play HALF AS FAST as if you use alternate picking.
Helpful hints:
**Before you begin to play the exercises, you might want to set your metronome at 60 and practice clapping each rhythm--2 notes per beat, 3 notes per beat, 4 notes per beat and 6 notes per beat.
**If 60 seems very slow for the eighth notes, leave it there until you try the other three rhythms. Three, Four, and six notes per beat might be faster than you think. Here are the exercises:
1. Eighth Notes: Play a scale ( "pentatonic minor" is a good one to start with, but you can choose any scale that you want to practice) using eighth notes--2 notes per metronome beat. Repeat this part of the exercise until it becomes easy.
2. Triplets: For this exercise, you will play 3 notes per metronome beat. The first note of each triplet must be accented (played a little louder). This exercise is challenging because the triplets will begin with alternating picking directions. That is, the first one will begin with a down stroke, the second with an up stroke and so on. Practice these triplets until you can play them smoothly and evenly.
3. 16th notes: This one requires that you play 4 notes per metronome beat. Because of the increased speed of the notes, your method of holding the pick becomes extremely important at this point. Hint: Hold the pick so that just a small portion of it extends beyond your fingers. Then, instead of holding it at a 90 degree angle to the string, try a 45 degree angle. If you hold the pick at a 90 degree angle, it will get "stuck" (as you have probably experienced). Holding it at a 45 degree angle and then sort of "sawing" just the tip of the pick across the string will greatly improve your speed.
4. 16th note triplets: This means that you are going to play 6 notes per metronome beat. It helps to count "1 2 3 1 2 3" instead of "1 2 3 4 5 6". If 60 bpm is too fast, SLOW IT DOWN. It is important to practice at a speed which you can play PERFECTLY. More...
0 comments:
Post a Comment