Guitar Exercises

One of the things I've been doing on my quest to become a better guitar player is to spend more time playing scales and exercises. Here is one that I've put together from learning the major scale. What you do is play the major scale in one key in one position, but in three different fingers. Then, slide up a half note and repeat the process.

A couple of things to keep in mind. First, no legato...pick everything. Also, use alternate picking (up and down, not just down strokes). Also, pick each note cleanly, let it ring. Speed is not as important here as one might think. I know I didn't play this on a clean channel or play it flawlessly, but that's what's best.

One surprising benefit has been an increase in ability to hear the difference in notes that are close together! That's some sweet action right there!

Here is the tab for the three patterns in A. Play all three patterns simultaneously without pause. And remember, after playing all three you slide your hand up one fret, and repeat the whole thing.

Pattern 1:

--------------------------2-4-5--5-4-2----------------------------------------
----------------------3-5--------------5-3--------------------------------------
----------------2-4-6----------------------6-4-2------------------------------
----------2-4-6---------------------------------6-4-2-------------------------
----2-4-5--------------------------------------------5-4-2--------------------
--5----------------------------------------------------------5-------------------

Pattern 2:

----------------------------4-5-7--7-5-4-------------------------------------
------------------------5-3--------------5-3---------------------------------
------------------4-6-7----------------------7-6-4---------------------------
------------4-6-7----------------------------------7-6-4---------------------
------4-5-7----------------------------------------------7-5-4---------------
--5-7----------------------------------------------------------7-5-----------

Pattern 3:

--------------------------------7-8-10--10-8-7-------------------------------
-------------------------7-8-10----------------10-8-7------------------------
-------------------6-7-9------------------------------9-7-6------------------
-------------6-7-9------------------------------------------9-7-6------------
-------5-7-9------------------------------------------------------9-7-5------
-5-7-9------------------------------------------------------------------9-7-5

Here's the video: