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Today We’ll Cover:
This Is New: using a metronome (aka Metronome Boot Camp)
This Is Review: natural notes on the first string
Metronome Boot Camp: bury the click
Jam Section: soloing on the first string
This Is Review
Start now by working your way up the first string, moving one fret between E & F and B & C; two frets between the rest of the natural notes.
This should be getting a bit easier now.
Can you do them out of order yet? Where’s the A? Where’s the C?
The E?
B?
G?
D?
F?
Nice work.
This Is New: Metronome Bootcamp
I can’t stress enough how important it is to have good time and good feel. These are absolutely essential if you intend to make good music.
So each day, we’ll have a little section called METRONOME BOOT CAMP. With it, we’re going to make you a metronome expert and get your time & feel really happening.
Today’s Metronome Boot Camp is nice & easy: our metronome is set to click out quarter notes at 80 beats per minute.
We’ll get into playing music with this soon enough, but for today we’re going to do one of my favorite exercises to develop a good sense of time: bury the click.
- Mute all 6 strings by lightly laying your fretting hand on them, then strum with your picking hand. Should make a nice percussive sound.
- Set the volume of this video so that the sound of your percussive strum is louder than the click of the metronome.
- Now try to “bury” the click with your strum. When you’re right on top of the click, it’ll disappear under your strum, but if you’re the slightest bit off you’ll be able to hear the click.
See how long you can keep the click buried. Annnnddd… go!
[ONE MINUTE OF METRONOME TIME]
Jam Section
Ok! Now you’re going to solo for five straight minutes, using only the natural notes on your first string. I set up the jam track so all those natural notes you’ve been memorizing are going to sound sweet.
For at least a full minute, solo with only one finger, saying OUT LOUD the name of each note you’re playing.
Some suggestions here: if you’re feeling bored or unnaturally constrained, add some slides, hammer ons and pull offs in your solo.
And if you’re going to bend the string, bend up to the next natural note: is it one or two frets away?
Daily Checklist
Did you:
- use your Cue-Routine-Reward habit loop?
- start the lesson with guitar in lap?
- review natural notes on the first string?
- complete Metronome Boot Camp?
- solo over the track?
See you out there,
Josh
ps. If you prefer your jam tracks in iTunes/WMP instead of on YouTube, you can find mp3s here.
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