I'm always looking for new and challenging ways to make my practicing and playing more fun and creative — and in the process, dig down deep to discover something new about the guitar and...
I'm always looking for new and challenging ways to make my practicing and playing more fun and creative — and in the process, dig down deep to discover something new about the guitar and myself.
In this lesson, I will discuss and demonstrate my first finger twister, a combination of a major and minor scale and arpeggios across the fretboard.
In the first example, we have an ascending major scale. Remember these scales are moveable; but for this particular example, we will use G major. Nothing special and ordinary, right? But once we get to the top note on the high E string, we descend as a major arpeggio.
It's a very challenging exercise for your mind and fingers for a few reasons. Firstly, we will be using strict alternate picking of every note going up the scale, then skipping notes on the way down the arpeggio playing only the first, third, fifth and seventh notes respectively.
Secondly, there will be a rhythm change on the way down, too, in which we will be pulling off the first two notes of the descending arpeggio. You will have to be able to switch mental and physical gears quickly. As with all the exercises I write about and play, I suggest playing with a metronome starting at about 100 bpm and gradually accelerating the tempo as you get more comfortable.
In the second example, we will do the same with a G natural minor scale ascending across the neck with strict alternate picking also. Remember these scales are moveable! But then we will descend with a minor arpeggio.
To make this even more rhythmically challenging, we will pull off the first two notes of the minor arpeggio on the way down. A quick warning: Switching from the ascending