Technical Exercises in Music

Introduction
Alright then, guys. So, what do we mean by technical exercises? By that, we're talking about:

• Scales
• Arpeggios
• Chords

These are incredibly useful tools that you use all the time, whether you realize it or not, in your day-to-day playing.

Importance of Technical Exercises
Now, these exercises may not be quite as fun as the pieces to pick up initially, but once you've cracked them, there's absolutely no end to what they allow you to do. They are really useful creative tools that you're going to have great fun using. You've got to get them down first in this kind of rudimentary format.

Future Applications
We will look at some more creative applications of these exercises later on, in terms of using them within songs to play solos and using them to improvise with.

Demonstration Overview
For now, I'm going to demonstrate them as required for your grade. Before I do that, there are a couple of things worthy of note:

• The demonstrations I'm going to play are what's written in your book.
• If you read the preamble before the technical exercises, you'll notice that you are required to play the scales in very specific keys.

It might say to play exercises A and B in keys A, B, and C or something like that. We will have just given you one.

Preparation for Exams
Please do read the information; that's really important if you're planning on taking the exam. Ensure that you have prepared the exercises in the right keys.

Fingerings and Key Changes
I'm just going to show you the ones demonstrated in your book so you can see the fingerings that I use. All you need to do to move the exercises into a different key is take the same shape and move it to the starting note you want to begin on.

We will find out later on, in the more creative sections, why this is going to be useful. But here's a hint: it's going to allow you to play some pretty awesome solos.

Riff Exercise
One further thing: I'm not going to demonstrate the riff exercise. If you're comfortable with the scales and arpeggios, the riffs are based around these shapes and exercises. It should be just one step further for you to work out what these riffs will be.

It's a really useful skill for you to work out on your own.

Stylistic Techniques
We will also look at the stylistic studies in a section called Stylistic Techniques. This will involve examining the techniques within those studies and how to use them.

Ready for the Demos
Alright then, here we go with the demos of the technical exercises for your grade. They are all played at the correct tempo for your gradebook.