Guitar Exercises For Dummies

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Jon Chappell. Guitar Exercises For Dummies

Guitar Exercises For Dummies® To view this book's Cheat Sheet, simply go to www.dummies.com and search for “Guitar Exercises For Dummies Cheat Sheet” in the Search box. Table of Contents

List of Illustrations

Guide

Pages

Introduction

About This Book

Conventions We Use in This Book

What You’re Not to Read

Foolish Assumptions

How This Book Is Organized

Part 1: Preparing to Practice

Part 2: Scales and Scale Sequences

Part 3: Arpeggios and Arpeggio Sequences

Part 4: Chords and Additional Exercises

Part 5: The Part of Tens

Icons Used in This Book

Where to Go from Here

Preparing to Practice

Reviewing Guitar Fundamentals

Perfecting Your Practice Posture

Brushing Up On Guitar Notation

Decoding tablature

Comprehending chord diagrams

Interpreting neck diagrams

Recognizing rhythm slashes

Warming Up for Your Practice Sessions

Preparing Your Body and Mind to Play

Limbering up your fingers

Reflecting on your breathing, relaxation, and focus

Concentrating on your breathing

Keeping tension at bay with some relaxation

Maintaining your focus

Waking Up Your Fingers with Some Practice Exercises

Single-note exercises

Chord exercises

Scales and Scale Sequences

Putting the Major Scales to Use in Your Playing

Practicing Five Major Scale Patterns

Major scale pattern #1

Major scale pattern #2

Major scale pattern #3

Major scale pattern #4

Major scale pattern #5

Applying Your Scale Work to Actual Pieces of Music

“The First Noël”

Bach’s “Minuet in G”

Adding Major Scale Sequences to Your Repertoire

Practicing Major Scale Sequences

Major scale sequences using pattern #1

Major scale sequences using pattern #2

Major scale sequences using pattern #3

Major scale sequences using pattern #4

Major scale sequences using pattern #5

Putting Your Sequence Skills to Work with a Few Songs

“Oh, Them Golden Slippers”

“We Wish You a Merry Christmas”

Tackling the Three Minor Scales

Familiarizing Yourself with Natural Minor Scales

Natural minor scale pattern #1

Natural minor scale pattern #2

Natural minor scale pattern #3

Natural minor scale pattern #4

Natural minor scale pattern #5

Raising the Bar with Melodic Minor Scales

Melodic minor scale pattern #1

Melodic minor scale pattern #2

Melodic minor scale pattern #3

Melodic minor scale pattern #4

Melodic minor scale pattern #5

Harmonizing with Harmonic Minor Scales

Harmonic minor scale pattern #1

Harmonic minor scale pattern #2

Harmonic minor scale pattern #3

Harmonic minor scale pattern #4

Harmonic minor scale pattern #5

Playing Pieces Using the Three Minor Scales

“God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen”

Handel’s “Allegro”

“The Three Ravens”

Examining Minor Scale Sequences

It’s Only Natural: Practicing Natural Minor Scale Sequences

Natural minor scale sequences using pattern #1

Natural minor scale sequences using pattern #2

Natural minor scale sequences using pattern #3

Natural minor scale sequences using pattern #4

Natural minor scale sequences using pattern #5

Up and Down the Scale: Practicing Melodic Minor Scale Sequences

Melodic minor scale sequences using pattern #1

Melodic minor scale sequences using pattern #2

Melodic minor scale sequences using pattern #3

Melodic minor scale sequences using pattern #4

Melodic minor scale sequences using pattern #5

Discovering a More Intense Sound with Harmonic Minor Scale Sequences

Harmonic minor scale sequences using pattern #1

Harmonic minor scale sequences using pattern #2

Harmonic minor scale sequences using pattern #3

Harmonic minor scale sequences using pattern #4

Harmonic minor scale sequences using pattern #5

Practicing Some Pieces Using Minor Scale Sequences

“To Work upon the Railroad”

Bach’s “Bourrée in E Minor”

“The Full Little Jug”

Arpeggios and Arpeggio Sequences

Breaking Out with Major Arpeggios

Preparing Yourself for Major Chords by Practicing Major Arpeggios

Major arpeggio pattern #1

Major arpeggio pattern #2

Major arpeggio pattern #3

Major arpeggio pattern #4

Major arpeggio pattern #5

Applying Your Skills: Performing Pieces Using Major Arpeggios

“To the Colors”

“Retreat”

Discovering How to Play Major Arpeggio Sequences

Picking Up On Major Arpeggio Sequences

Major arpeggio sequences using pattern #1

Major arpeggio sequences using pattern #2

Major arpeggio sequences using pattern #3

Major arpeggio sequences using pattern #4

Major arpeggio sequences using pattern #5

Playing Pieces That Feature Major Arpeggio Sequences

“Blues Riff in B”

“Doo-Wop Groove in A”

Getting to Know Minor Arpeggios

Working On Minor Arpeggios

Minor arpeggio pattern #1

Minor arpeggio pattern #2

Minor arpeggio pattern #3

Minor arpeggio pattern #4

Minor arpeggio pattern #5

Playing Pieces with Minor Arpeggios

“Wolfgang’s Whistle”

“Amadeus’s Air”

Looking at Minor Arpeggio Sequences

Adding Minor Arpeggio Sequences to Your Practice Sessions

Minor arpeggio sequences using pattern #1

Minor arpeggio sequences using pattern #2

Minor arpeggio sequences using pattern #3

Minor arpeggio sequences using pattern #4

Minor arpeggio sequences using pattern #5

Tackling a Few Pieces Composed of Minor Arpeggio Sequences

“Mozart’s Motif”

Schumann’s “The Wild Horseman”

Enhancing Your Playing with Seventh Chord Arpeggios

Practicing Dominant Seventh Chord Arpeggios

Dominant seventh chord arpeggio pattern #1

Dominant seventh chord arpeggio pattern #2

Dominant seventh chord arpeggio pattern #3

Dominant seventh chord arpeggio pattern #4

Dominant seventh chord arpeggio pattern #5

Putting Your Fingers to Work with Minor Seventh Chord Arpeggios

Minor seventh chord arpeggio pattern #1

Minor seventh chord arpeggio pattern #2

Minor seventh chord arpeggio pattern #3

Minor seventh chord arpeggio pattern #4

Minor seventh chord arpeggio pattern #5

Running Through the Major Seventh Chord Arpeggios

Major seventh chord arpeggio pattern #1

Major seventh chord arpeggio pattern #2

Major seventh chord arpeggio pattern #3

Major seventh chord arpeggio pattern #4

Major seventh chord arpeggio pattern #5

Applying Seventh Chord Arpeggios to Some Famous Pieces

Schubert’s “Ave Maria”

Fauré’s “Pavane”

Trying Your Hand at Seventh Chord Arpeggio Sequences

Taking On Dominant Seventh Chord Arpeggio Sequences

Dominant seventh chord arpeggio sequence using pattern #1

Dominant seventh chord arpeggio sequence using pattern #2

Dominant seventh chord arpeggio sequence using pattern #3

Dominant seventh chord arpeggio sequence using pattern #4

Dominant seventh chord arpeggio sequence using pattern #5

Adding Minor Seventh Chord Arpeggio Sequences to Your Collection

Minor seventh chord arpeggio sequence using pattern #1

Minor seventh chord arpeggio sequence using pattern #2

Minor seventh chord arpeggio sequence using pattern #3

Minor seventh chord arpeggio sequence using pattern #4

Minor seventh chord arpeggio sequence using pattern #5

Practicing Major Seventh Chord Arpeggio Sequences

Major seventh chord arpeggio sequence using pattern #1

Major seventh chord arpeggio sequence using pattern #2

Major seventh chord arpeggio sequence using pattern #3

Major seventh chord arpeggio sequence using pattern #4

Major seventh chord arpeggio sequence using pattern #5

Playing Pieces with Seventh Chord Arpeggio Sequences

Liszt’s “Liebestraum”

Bach and Gounod’s “Ave Maria”

Chords and Additional Exercises

Building Finger Independence with Chord Exercises

Practicing Inversion Patterns

Patterns using outside chords

Patterns using inside chords

Playing Chord Progressions

Progressions using outside chords

Progressions using inside chords

Practicing Pieces That Use Chord Progressions

Putting outside chords to use with “Danny Boy”

Playing inside chords in “Look for the Silver Lining”

Developing Strength and Speed by Playing Single-Note Exercises

Moving Across the Neck

Stepping up and down on one string

Skipping around on one string

Jumping around on different strings

Moving Along the Neck

Climbing up and down the strings

Ascending and descending with diagonals

The Part of Tens

Ten Tips for Maximizing Your Practice Time

Establish Your Practice Place

Define Your Practice Time (and Stick to It)

Establish Objectives for Your Practice Sessions

Keep Your Accessories Handy

Get Your Head in the Game

Warm Up Your Hands and Fingers

Start Slow and Work Your Way Up

Isolate Difficult Passages

Play Different Guitars

Join the Club

Ten Ways to Improve Your Musicianship

Get with the Rhythm

Familiarize Yourself with Pitch

Discover Harmony

Perform Live for a Crowd

Compose Your Own Melody and Improvise a Bit

Train Your Ear to Hear

Polish Your Playing with Expression

Listen to Lots of Music

Watch a Performer’s Body Language

Test Yourself by Teaching Someone Else

How to Use the Website

Relating the Text to the Website

Cueing up

Count-offs, tuning, and metronome beats

Stereo separation

Using the Website

Tracks on the Website

Troubleshooting

About the Authors

Dedication

Authors’ Acknowledgments

WILEY END USER LICENSE AGREEMENT

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Playing guitar is an activity that has so many terrific qualities. It’s artistic, expressive, inspiring, therapeutic, and even cathartic. Nothing beats the blues like playing the blues. Guitar playing is an effective and natural means for relieving stress. But it’s like sports, games, and any other physical endeavors requiring strength, speed, stamina, and coordination: The more you practice, the better you become at it. And the better you are at guitar playing, the more successful your music making efforts will be.

One of the best ways to become more accomplished in the purely physical aspects of playing guitar is to exercise your fingers — the main agents of guitar playing — to get them conditioned. And that’s what Guitar Exercises For Dummies focuses on. By picking up this book, you’ve agreed to send your digits off to spring training. After going through the pages of Guitar Exercises For Dummies, your fingers will come out faster, nimbler, stronger, and more confident, and they’ll be better team players as well. And because music involves the mind as well as the body, we give you tips and advice that will get you thinking. As Yogi Berra said, “Ninety percent of the game is half mental,” so we work on strengthening your gray matter, too.

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We organize the bulk of this book into three distinct aspects of playing the guitar: scales, arpeggios, and chords. Within each main category is a subcategory, which we call sequences for scales and arpeggios, and chord progressions for chords. Each of these pairs of activities (for example, scales and scale sequences) constitute a part, with the individual major and minor scales and their corresponding sequences breaking down into individual chapters. The following sections describe further what you find in each part.

In this part, we review the skills you need to play through the book. Some material we present will no doubt be familiar to you (if you’ve played before). However, we also cover aspects of notation that may be new to even experienced players. So even if you don’t need advice on standing or sitting with the guitar, you should check out the notation definitions in Chapter 1, especially the section on tab and rhythm slashes. In Chapter 2, we offer ways to warm up, get your head in a good place for practicing, and bolster the complementary skills of relaxation and focus.

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