#1

playing descending scales

in PB Guitarstudio FORUMS Wed Jan 11, 2012 8:58 am
by Case • 68 Posts

First of all, a big thanks to Pebber for continuing to upload lessons on youtube to make us suck less! I know he is super-busy and this is a problem I think a lot of guys encountered at the beginning of their guitar studies, so I thought I would post the question here.

While practicing scales I noticed that my technique sucks MORE when I play the descending parts. This applies both to picking the notes on one string and to jumping from a string to the lower adjacent one. It seems to me the first problem can only be helped by a lot of practice. The second I’m not sure about. I noticed that my thumb tends to stay in the same position while the rest of the fingers are moving back (toward the headstock) and down (toward the lower strings, that is upwards physically). Maybe there is a little pivoting motion as well. So apart from making sure I DO move the thumb and of course keep practicing, is there anything else I should watch out for/avoid/do? In short, any ideas in general as to how I can improve my technique when playing descending scales on more than one strings? Thanks in advance!

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#2

RE: playing descending scales

in PB Guitarstudio FORUMS Sat Jan 14, 2012 11:58 am
by dave86uk • 34 Posts

Heres two exercises that I feel have helped me improve my decending practice them everyday, slowly at first, to a metronome hope this helps


http://www.pbguitarstudio.com/pdf_files/...g%20Pattern.pdf

http://www.pbguitarstudio.com/pdf_files/...%20Patterns.pdf


Last edited Sat Jan 14, 2012 11:58 am | Scroll up

#3

RE: playing descending scales

in PB Guitarstudio FORUMS Sun Jan 15, 2012 9:32 am
by Case • 68 Posts

Cheers! I'm going to practice these! :)

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#4

RE: playing descending scales

in PB Guitarstudio FORUMS Mon Jan 16, 2012 8:21 pm
by pebberbrown • 926 Posts

Well you just answered your own dilemma. If you suck more descending, then work only on descending until you dont.

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#5

RE: playing descending scales

in PB Guitarstudio FORUMS Wed Jan 18, 2012 2:49 am
by Case • 68 Posts

Makes sense. I guess I overcomplicate things sometimes, though I thought I'd better ask before I pick up some bad habits ;) Cheers Pebber!

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#6

RE: playing descending scales

in PB Guitarstudio FORUMS Wed Jan 18, 2012 7:11 pm
by pebberbrown • 926 Posts

Just isolate what is a problem for you and NAIL It! When I was 16 I practiced position 1 of teh G Major scale over and over and over until I realized that the 3rd string to the 2nd string had 3 notes and 2 notes per string so I sat down and just practiced ghoing back an dforth on the 2nd and 3rd string for many many days and hours before I let myself do the whole scale again. Thats how you do it. If you "suck" at something there is only ONE way to fix it - right?

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#7

RE: playing descending scales

in PB Guitarstudio FORUMS Thu Jan 19, 2012 2:26 am
by Case • 68 Posts

Yep, I'll do that! Thanks Pebber! This may sound trivial but I also noticed that it helps if I go through a particular movement in my head before I even lift a finger. For me it tends to be the case that the first mistakes I make when learning something on the guitar become internalised, so when I mess something up I usually mess it up the same way. This practice helps re-training my brain.

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#8

RE: playing descending scales

in PB Guitarstudio FORUMS Thu Jan 19, 2012 11:17 am
by pebberbrown • 926 Posts

You just figured out the secret. Its ALL in your head. You just have to make your hands comply.

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