Guitar Techniques for Level One

Hey, guys. So, just before we get into looking at the specific technical exercises for level one, I just wanted to talk to you a little bit about a few techniques and things to bear in mind when you're playing these.

Relaxation

The first thing when you're looking at playing the guitar, whether it's scales or a piece, is to relax.

• It's really easy when you're concentrating to end up tensing up your:
  • Shoulders
  • Neck
  • Arms
  • Wrists
  • Fingers

This tension wastes energy, so just try to become aware of it. You'll usually notice it in your fingers. If you've been really digging into the guitar to play whatever it is you're playing, and you have massive lines in your fingers, you've probably been exerting too much force into the fretboard.

It's amazing how little pressure you actually need to apply. You can experiment with this by picking any note on the guitar.

Example: Note Pressure

• I'm going to pick the seventh fret on the G string.
• If I rest my finger on that string and just start picking:
  • At the moment, it's muted; I'm just touching the string.
  • I'm not pushing down at all.

Very gradually, I'm going to start pushing down harder and harder until I start to hear the note I want.

"And there it is. There's the note."

Now, on a scale of 1 to 10, if 10 was me pushing down as hard as I can possibly push down, and 1 was me pushing down feather light, I would say that note is about a three.

• It's really, really light.

So, something to bear in mind, when you're practicing in general, try fretting a little bit lighter than you are. You'll be amazed at what you can get away with; it allows you to be less tense when you're playing.

Positioning Finger on the Fret

Next is getting your position right within a fret.

• Let's pick a random note:
  • I'm going to go down to the third fret on the G string.
• If I said to you, "play third fret on the G string," you can go anywhere in this space here.

This space is quite large compared to the size of my finger. The best place for us to be is right into the fret, up against the metal, not on top of the metal, just the other side of it.

Benefits

• Placing your finger here requires the least amount of pressure pushing down and gives us the best tone.
• If I move to the back of the fret, I have to work much harder to get the tone.
• If I push down with the same pressure as before, I get a very buzzy sound, which isn't good.

So, always, where possible, try to get right into the frets.

Example: C Major Scale

If we're playing a C major scale:

• I want to start here, right in the fret, not back here.
• Starting back allows for a bad tone.
• If I end up on top of the metal, I encounter a similar problem; the sound is very muted.

"So we just want to be always fretting nice and into the front of the frets, and we'll get a lovely sound."

Moving Forward

With that in mind, let's take a look at the technical exercises themselves.