Guitar legato exercises

[rbarata]

I need a lot of legato exercises for guitar. Anyone knows a book, dvd, whatever?
I'm tired of collecting things from the internet.

Thanks

[jancivil]

I always devised my own, when I couldn't manage something I make up an exercise to dig into that.

Are you on an electric, nylon string, steel string acoustic, what action? I may have specific advise for apecific troubles. I was, years ago a performing classical player, and my approach to electric is legato-dependent.

[rbarata]

Hi jancivil

I'm playing electric guitar. I'm having some difficulties in mutting the strings which are not being played. Sometimes I think the best is to not think about it...the technique will come without notice.

[jancivil]

I'd have to think on that a minute; do you mean when you pull off it sets a lower string in motion?

[Dean Aka Nekro]

Although i dislike the guys playing style, Michael Anegelo Batio's Speed Kills DVD has some great legato exersises and also John Petrucci's instrutional stuff is great also. Paul Gilbert is my fave by far and if you youtube him you will find instructional stuff

Hope that helps some

Dean

Edit: all the above will help with the string muting issues you mention also FWIW, its all about delicacy using palm mutes and also at what point near or further away from the bridge, the different the results/tones

If this is the sort of thing you are aiming for:

http://www.mediafire.com/?yo4eownjzuz
http://www.mediafire.com/?jjy3zynz2kv

[kbaccki]

I'm playing electric guitar. I'm having some difficulties in mutting the strings which are not being played. Sometimes I think the best is to not think about it...the technique will come without notice.

No, actually, you need to specifically work on perfecting the muting... it will not just "come without notice"... in fact, you'll either get to a point where a.) you're totally frustrated with all the extra ringing nonsense going on that you consider giving up guitar 'cuz it sounds like crap, or b.) you tune out the extra ringing nonsense in your own head, but your solos sound like crap to others because of it... Muting is one of those must-have skills that you need to work into your exercises from the start. Find a good resource on how to do the muting, then go back to square one with your scales and stuff and SLOOOOOOOOOW EVERYYYYYYTHIIIIIIIIING DOOOOOOOWN until you can get clean and purposeful tones no matter what exercise/riff/whatever you're playing... It'll only be much much harder to tackle string muting later...

To force yourself into perfecting your muting, do some scale/exercise practice using very high gain settings (like in software or on a pedal)... the ringing is unnavoidable and unbearable, so you're kinda forced to clean everything up... at lower gains it's less noticeable, so easier to ignore...

[jancivil]

To force yourself into perfecting your muting, do some scale/exercise practice using very high gain settings (like in software or on a pedal)... the ringing is unnavoidable and unbearable, so you're kinda forced to clean everything up... at lower gains it's less noticeable, so easier to ignore...

+1

[rbarata]

If this is the sort of thing you are aiming for:

http://www.mediafire.com/?yo4eownjzuz
http://www.mediafire.com/?jjy3zynz2kv

Well....no. I really don't appreciate this kind of playing. In my oppinion, while the technical side of this kind of playing is impressive, musically it doesn't says nothing to me. It's so fast that it loses all the musicalitty...it's just a pure technical display, not music!!!!

do you mean when you pull off it sets a lower string in motion?

Not exactly, that problem is solved. See details right bellow.

To force yourself into perfecting your muting, do some scale/exercise practice using very high gain settings (like in software or on a pedal)... the ringing is unnavoidable and unbearable, so you're kinda forced to clean everything up... at lower gains it's less noticeable, so easier to ignore...

Yes, I already noticed that. I was playing the exercises with medium gain settings and I tought the muting was solved. When I tried to play with high gain, a few problems remain. When I make pull-off's, going from lower E string to A string, for example, when I'm already palying the A string I mute the E by keeping my "fixed" finger touching it. When I finish paying the A string, going to the D, my E string always rings when I change the "muting finger". My technique is to palm mute the E string when I have to change the finger.
The result is more or less acceptable at 140 bmp but I cannot say the same for 100 or 80 bpm. It should be the opposite, don't you think?

[alexfalcao]

Besides this book is for classical guitar, it has lots of excellent exercises.
Unfortunately the book four is not available in English.
http://www.amazon.com/Guitar-School-The ... 0936186577
http://www.editionsorphee.com/store/ind ... oductId=36
http://www.editionsorphee.com/store/ind ... oductId=79

[kbaccki]

My technique is to palm mute the E string when I have to change the finger.

Yes, that's what makes it so tricky to get comfortable with it and make it effective without affecting your tone, style, efficiency, etc... both hands need to work together very closely... one hand for fretting+muting the other for picking+muting... so a little wrench thrown into the whole "pluck a string and make a noise" thing...

The result is more or less acceptable at 140 bmp but I cannot say the same for 100 or 80 bpm. It should be the opposite, don't you think?

That's why you need to go back and focus on scales/exercises at slow BPM. And I mean start with 40-50BPM. Seriously. Then ramp up from there.

If you're having trouble with muting at 80BPM then you're doing something wrong... and whatever that wrong thing is is being covered up by just playing faster. Get the muting sound good and clean and consistent at 50BPM, then bump it up to 60, 70, 80,etc.

It's easy to totally discount very low BPMs as "useless" from a pracical perspective... but whatever instrument you're learning, if you can't keep solid time or execute certain skills (like string muting) at very low BPM, then you're not doing it right. Players should hit physical skill walls (timing, cleanliness, endurance, etc.) at higher BPMs, not lower BPMs.

Here's a good exercise for alt picking, muting, finger dexterity... it's called "crosses", but it might go by other names as well:

You're going to alt pick the A, D, G, and B strings in order, then reverse... The frettig will will start on some low fret, say 3... depends on how much stretching you want to do... play 4 frets in order while picking across A, D, G, B, then starting again on the 3rd fret play the strings backward. Then move up to the 4th fret and do it again... looks like this:

Code: Select all

|-----------------|-----------------|------|
|-------6-3-------|-------7-4-------|------|
|-----5-----4-----|-----6-----5-----|------|
|---4---------5---|---5---------6---|-etc.-|
|-3-------------6-|-4-------------7-|------|
|-----------------|-----------------|------|

So at each set of 4 frets your fingers make a cross pattern across the neck. Good for alt picking across strings, finger stretching, hitting notes cleanly, string muting since you're playing across string, etc.

Go up 8 or 9 frets, then come back down the neck... when you're coming back down reverse the fingering...

Code: Select all

|-----------------|-----------------|------|
|-------7-10------|-------6-9-------|------|
|-----8-----9-----|-----7-----8-----|------|
|---9---------8---|---8---------7---|-etc.-|
|-10------------7-|-9-------------6-|------|
|-----------------|-----------------|------|

It's a tricky exercise at first, with so many things going on at the same time... so you really need to start slowy, like 40BPM. That may sound dumb and really just Not Cool, but once you get all the parts working together and sounding clean and consistent you'll get into a groove and be able to bump up the BPM in no time. Consistency is your goal above anything else.

It's also a good exercise for throwing in staccatos in place of long notes... or mix and match long notes and staccatos... For staccatos you lif your finger slightly to deaden the note. An added dimension to an already tricky exercise.

[rbarata]

I've been practicing a similar exercise: using the four fingers you start in the Low E, first fret, then second finger in the second fret, third finger in the third fret, fourth finger in the fourth fret. You play this using hammer-ons.
Then you go to the next string and repeat until you reach the high E.

Then you go up one fret and play the reverse sequence, going up from the high E to the low E but instead of hammer-on's you play it using pull-offs.

I will try to post here a recording of my performance at 100 bpm (or lower) and at 140 or 160 bpm so that people can give me their oppinion.

When you say that having a best result at high speeds than lower indicates that there is some mistake....well, please remember that in this kind of exercise that I posted, playing at lower speeds creates a lot more of tension in your fingers because you'll have a lot more effort on them, for a longer time. So you get tired much, much sooner.

[bugs]

Just out of curiosity, what does guitar playing have to do with music theory?

[rbarata]

Just out of curiosity, what does guitar playing have to do with music theory?

Taken from "What is KVR Audio"?, in this site: "KVR Audio is the Internet's number one news and information resource for open standard audio plugins. "

So, what does Music Theory has to do with audio plug-ins? When you find the answer, it applies to guitar playing too.

[Dean Aka Nekro]

My technique is to palm mute the E string when I have to change the finger.

Yes, that's what makes it so tricky to get comfortable with it and make it effective without affecting your tone, style, efficiency, etc... both hands need to work together very closely... one hand for fretting+muting the other for picking+muting... so a little wrench thrown into the whole "pluck a string and make a noise" thing...

The result is more or less acceptable at 140 bmp but I cannot say the same for 100 or 80 bpm. It should be the opposite, don't you think?

That's why you need to go back and focus on scales/exercises at slow BPM. And I mean start with 40-50BPM. Seriously. Then ramp up from there.

If you're having trouble with muting at 80BPM then you're doing something wrong... and whatever that wrong thing is is being covered up by just playing faster. Get the muting sound good and clean and consistent at 50BPM, then bump it up to 60, 70, 80,etc.

It's easy to totally discount very low BPMs as "useless" from a pracical perspective... but whatever instrument you're learning, if you can't keep solid time or execute certain skills (like string muting) at very low BPM, then you're not doing it right. Players should hit physical skill walls (timing, cleanliness, endurance, etc.) at higher BPMs, not lower BPMs.

Here's a good exercise for alt picking, muting, finger dexterity... it's called "crosses", but it might go by other names as well:

You're going to alt pick the A, D, G, and B strings in order, then reverse... The frettig will will start on some low fret, say 3... depends on how much stretching you want to do... play 4 frets in order while picking across A, D, G, B, then starting again on the 3rd fret play the strings backward. Then move up to the 4th fret and do it again... looks like this:

Code: Select all

|-----------------|-----------------|------|
|-------6-3-------|-------7-4-------|------|
|-----5-----4-----|-----6-----5-----|------|
|---4---------5---|---5---------6---|-etc.-|
|-3-------------6-|-4-------------7-|------|
|-----------------|-----------------|------|

So at each set of 4 frets your fingers make a cross pattern across the neck. Good for alt picking across strings, finger stretching, hitting notes cleanly, string muting since you're playing across string, etc.

Go up 8 or 9 frets, then come back down the neck... when you're coming back down reverse the fingering...

Code: Select all

|-----------------|-----------------|------|
|-------7-10------|-------6-9-------|------|
|-----8-----9-----|-----7-----8-----|------|
|---9---------8---|---8---------7---|-etc.-|
|-10------------7-|-9-------------6-|------|
|-----------------|-----------------|------|

It's a tricky exercise at first, with so many things going on at the same time... so you really need to start slowy, like 40BPM. That may sound dumb and really just Not Cool, but once you get all the parts working together and sounding clean and consistent you'll get into a groove and be able to bump up the BPM in no time. Consistency is your goal above anything else.

It's also a good exercise for throwing in staccatos in place of long notes... or mix and match long notes and staccatos... For staccatos you lif your finger slightly to deaden the note. An added dimension to an already tricky exercise.

Extremely sage advice. I do the 'widdle, widdle' stuff without taking it with any seriousness but it still needs to be praticed seriously if you no what im saying, alot of the time i practice with a clean amp sound as any weak areas or areas i feel need more attention stick out for me this way but i can see where using a high gain sound would work in same manner. All the best

Dean aka Nekro

Edit: Also will aid in sweep picking if you get into that sort of thing for say flamenco style playing not just 'shredding'

[rbarata]

alot of the time i practice with a clean amp sound as any weak areas or areas i feel need more attention stick out for me this way but i can see where using a high gain sound would work in same manner.

In the last two weeks I've been using high gains and clean sounds. Once in a while I use distortion just to see the result.