Unless you go straight to work when you get up. Then, it’s “get home and pick up the guitar instead of taking a shower and laying down.” If you haven’t guessed already, yes, I’m an American.🤠
Congrats on the new studio. Of course we want a tour. And thanks for the awesome reminders on warm ups techniques. love the spider. learned it as an alternating picking exercise but with a variation moving one finger down and then replaying the fingers left on the previous string at a time. Tough at first but very good for improving dexterity and great for moving from ⬇️ to ⬆️ picking in alternating finger situations. Great stuff as always. Cheers.
For looping, my RC-5 has a drum kit built into it that really helps with keeping that rhythm. I tend to have a hard time following a flashing LED metronome, but an audible one I find easier to follow
My loop pedal waits until it gets a signal. Which is great, but I have a habit of centring myself in the groove by moving my hand up and down the guitar before I start playing - so in fact what you recommend is what I should do anyway...
Hi. I have been trying the first exercise for some time now. My pinky finger won't stick towards the fret and suspend in the air. Is there anyway to get control over it?
I really struggle to move my ring finger separately from the others, am I doomed on the spider exercise or is it possible for me to eventually negate that weird joint problem with practice?
I play mostly at the office 'cause it's where I spend most of my day. I know I'm lucky in a way, but I'd prefer to be free to pursue my interests in peace without having to have a job. A girl can dream, right?
@@paulmartins9291 Oh dude you should ! You can find a good one used or go for Harlen Benton from Thomann, best guitars for the price ! Yamaha THR10 are incredible amps for practicing, the C model you can find for not a lot of money new or used. The electric guitar feels easier to play because the strings are thin and doesn't hurt as much as the acoustic ones do. Caution : playing very clean is difficult since the amp reacts to every little vibration. I play the guitar for 10 years now and have several guitars of each type and MAN. The electric is the thing ! I really feel free to express myself through the whole neck. Clean mellow sound to powerfull overdrive. The acoustic guitar as a very pleasant sound and you should train at it, but I always felt frustrated because it is way more difficult to play
I finally found you! The only guitar teacher on RUclips so far that I can listen to longer than 5 seconds. Wonderfully unagitated, humorous, calm and authentic. What a gift, what a pleasure to learn from you. Thank you!
@@colins9559 nah I feel him. I've been playing 23 years. Done tours and albums, played the likes of Steve Vai in my younger year and I can't do it 😂 I sold all my gear and haven't touched one for 2 years though so I have an excuse haha. It will come back.
Haha, I thought only I have problem with a spider 😂 I took me half an hour to go through one, as my ring finger refused to move when others were on fretboard 😂
@@colins9559 not true :) I can blaze up and down the neck no problem (been playing for 30 years) but never practiced the spider before and yes it's challenging simply because I've never done the spider before. That is the whole point of the exercise - to refine technique.
That spider exercise hits me right in the heart of my own measlyness. Usually taking off most of the rest of my hand to avoid accidently muting the current note. Paul, of course, makes even that exercise sound like Rock'n Roll.
The last exercise is so awesome in particular. Developing that internal clock is so important and most non-drummers kind of neglect this. Thanks for the video!
Jim C you’re supposed to keep the time going by yourself when there’s no track playing. The only way you can do this is if you can hear/feel the time properly. Even though practicing with a metronome is good, it’s kind of like training wheels on a bike. Your brain can subtlety adjust to the metronome and you could be getting away with bad time and not even notice it. With this exercise though, the longer the drums/timekeeping source are gone, the longer you have to depend on your own time. If you slow down or speed up, it will be extremely obvious that you did so because you won’t come back in on the downbeat properly. Does that make sense?
Hello! I'm Brazilian and I'm using the translator, I hope you can understand ... lol ... Paul, I didn't find any video of you talking about Peter Green, I leave here my request / suggestion. A video about this great guitarist. Big hug to all!
@@sarakramer4080 try messing around with your thumb position behind the neck. Try pointing it up, towards the headstock. Also, as you practice, try to press the strings down less, just barely enough that the note rings out. When your hand is more relaxed, your fingers will move independently, more easily. We often squeeze the neck a bit too much while playing. It takes some practice, but it's a great addition to Paul's spider crawl idea. Go slowly, and only press your fingers down, just enough, to get the note to ring out. Good luck!
I love how your warm up exercises involve musical creativity. That first one, I've been teaching my students for over a decade - I got it from an old jazz teacher I had many years ago...
I’ve been wracking my brain, even holding it down, trying to keep that wild and crazy pinky of mine from lifting up! Oh thanks so much. Also, thanks Paul for offering a little something for all levels. I’m no where near ready to think about looping, but I sure did enjoy your playing!
Thank you for such a variety of exercise types. That's what it's all about: stick to the basics. The Spider exercise is not that easy if you really want to make it accurately. Thank you for your good teaching advises and courses. Can't wait to see the studio tour when the room is finalized!
Yes please, do the tour! BTW: I recently started learning theory and I was able to get to the triads (the first three) myself.. woohoo. Achievement unlocked!
I hate the spider exercise because it's so difficult to do without cheating but naming and playing the triads is fun to do. Don't plan on doing any looping anytime soon but now I know what not to do just in case.
Looping is the single most useful new resource for guitar practice. If you don’t use a looper extensively in your practices you aren’t making best use of your time. IMHO of course.
@@reitairue2073 I’ve been using loopers for about 8-9 years, so I haven’t ignored them. 10 years is new in guitar practice history, irrespective of my age. Why are you being such a dick over this?
Not that this matters a lot but I have all my students do the triads and similar exercises through the circle of 4ths. C, F, Bb, etc. I do this because chord progressions often move in this way - especially in jazz. Thoughts, Paul?
I'm a percussionist going to university, and my professor had me doing this on marimba. He had me doing it with major scales, major, minor, and augmented triads, fully diminished chords, and finally, major and dominant seventh chords (the dom7 resolves counter-clockwise into the next key, as you were saying). It's a great exercise, although quite tedious. It helped me learn to get around the instrument more efficiently, but also helped me relate that theory to the instrument, which in turn helped me internalize it.
Hi Paul, I tried "your" spider exercise several times. I have trouble moving my ring finger to the next higher string without moving my pinky finger with it (feels impossible). Any solutions or recommendations to help my ring finger move independently from pinky finger during that exercise? Is that important to develop? Thanks.
I've also been practicing the spider exercise and have the exact same problem. I was looking online for this same solution but nothing specific fixing this. Most just say practice and it'll come together, but I also don't want to practice wrong and build bad habits. Hopefully this gets answered somewhere.
Finger independence does take time to develop (for most except the lucky ones who developed it at a young age, when it is a lot faster to rewire the brain). The ring finger and pinkie naturally want to move together. The trick to lifting the ring finger independently is to counteract the effect on your pinkie. Feel the muscle in your palm that tenses when you push your pinkie down. When I lift my ring finger, that muscle tenses just a little more to keep the pinkie in place. Try some exercises that don't involve the guitar, so that you can do them any time, and get into the habit of doing them whenever you can: - If you are at a desk or table, place your hands on the table as if it were a keyboard, and one by one lift each individual finger off the table without any of the others leaving the surface (you can do both hands simultaneously). - Or, just arch your fingers together as if you are hatching an evil plan, and one by one move each pair of fingers apart while the others all still touch.
that spider literally killed my ring finger, I just dont understand how you make it seems so easy! great exercise, just love how you are teaching us, thank you!
@@TimLoveguitar I don't know about you but i like to be able to leave my house during a "lockdown". Now just imagine for a second that it became a new norm and at some point they can automatically detect who leaves and when. 5g is not for us, not to mention it will single handedly come for most people's jobs with enough time. They already have self driving cars and etc, not trying to be that guy but come on man think about it.
For my birthday I was gonna go to an open Mic in Brooklyn and play my heart out. Well... everything's closed thanks to COVID-19. So instead ill be at home watching these videos and practicing the damn spider. Thank you for these videos. Maybe I can become a better guitarist now so I won't suck too much when things open back up.
thank you for the exercises. On the first one, i can barely move the ring finger while having the pinky finger pressing the upper string......it looks like a long process to get there. The backing track available has your guitar on it btw.(edit:: thanks for the change)
I'm trying to learn how to play guitar properly after years of playing the bass and it's frustrating trying to do the spiderwalk the correct way because when i switch to the higher string, my pinky keeps muting that string because it's angled and not perpendicular to the strings. I have the ability to use the pinky but not in a way that it's not touching the other strings.
Loved the demonstration of the final challenge. On the thee-bar silence, you sped up a bit, but found a musical way to compensate and stay on beat. Rubato is a difficult, but important concept in being expressive and musical.
For the spider one, I can never get my pinky to go straight onto the fret board, no matter what I do, my pinky pivots to the ring finger. When I try to make it go sideways, it just rotates vertically. Why?
Thanks for the vids Paul! I've been watching you over the past year after an 8 year break from music to work. You have been the biggest help, I couldn't do it without you. Thank you for what you do.
Love all of the content. I’m going have to get Next Level Playing so I can get good enough to post anything to instagram with confidence. I appreciate you, congrats on the new studio.
I just had to concentrate THE HARDEST IVE EVER HAD TO CONCENTRATE IN MY LIFE in order to get my ring finger to stay down for the spider and then command it to move. I did it. It's progress. I still need practice
@@ista7 how’s your picking hand it’s been a month if you still need work I recommend alternate picking routines where u skip strings slowly build with a metronome it works
@@lil-hashbrown6938 Yep Metronome. I haven’t done all month maybe only 2 weeks but the first time I started I realized how bad I was with picking. The spider cage is a beginner one but it’s still difficult not lifting your pinkie finger. Once my pinkie finger stopped lifting, my middle finger started. The ring finger is hard to move horizontally because it is connected to the middle.
@@lil-hashbrown6938 When I say the spider thing is hard. I mean in. Maybe not for you but I had a hard time keeping my fingers at a low level and there is still improvement. I can’t do it as fast as he did but it’s gotten faster and better. If you dedicate an hour a day for a week or month you can improve dramatically on your alternate picking exercises and whatever you desire. Might not be such a help, but I’m trying to help in any way
Paul, these videos are absolutely amazing. The 5th exercise blew my mind. After, making my way through your LearnPracticePlay course I am convinced that timing is the main reason why people stay stuck at the beginner level for decades. This really clicked on your "Highway to Hell" video. It sounds like such a simple chord progression but even experienced guitar players get it wrong. These are really great insights. Also, love the new studio. I'm glad that your hard work is paying off.
In the Spider exercise, I can't help that my pinky is muting the next string up. The only way I have been able to avoid that was to hold the neck of my guitar in a vertical position (in the same manner as Slash does). Any suggestion?
Hi! I loved the last rhythm exercise, but I found it too simple because I could still hear your perfect playing and it kept me on track, maybe just including the drumloop with you DANCING would make it more challenging! Just a tip though!
How high is the action on your guitar Paul? I have been trying the "maximum efficiency" exercise and I realised that when I play the low E string, I have a problem with my pinkie touching and muting the A string below. I'm not sure if the A string is too high or my pinkie is just not long enough to reach around it. I have tried everything to lower my action a little and experimented with various levels of neck relief and bridge height, but it seems I am at the limit of how low the action can go on my Telecaster without hearing fret buzz. So that just leaves my physical proportions, which unfortunately I can't change. It is really demotivating to hit up against something that seems physically impossible to do with my hands.
I have a positive update on this! I increased my string gauge (from 9s to 10s) and was able to lower the action a little, making it easier to fret those low strings without touching the others. Why is this? When I bought my first set of strings as a beginner, I was led to believe that a lighter gauge would be easier to play because it takes less force to bend. So I bought a pack of Super Slinky and have stuck with them since. What I hadn't considered until now was that heavier strings are tuned to a higher tension, so they vibrate with less displacement and are less prone to buzzing against the fret. We need to get the message out and challenge the conventional wisdom being handed out to beginners in guitar shops! If anything, lighter gauges are harder to play because it takes more finesse to control the bending.
Was the same for me. I had it BAD. It will move by itself though. You just have to slow it down and force it. Crazy hard for me but it gave my pinky and ring finger some independence. Never enough though!
Yeah just to earn off the youtube algorithm since quarantine is all over the world rn anything that has to do with staying at home , isolation will get suggested. Just youtuber tricks
Hey Paul, thank you so much for this exercise. Especially the Spider I love. I took lessons as a little boy and stopped playing for about 15 years. But now I love the guitar again and am so sad that my coordination and dexterity has gone almost to zero, compared to my childhood days. I truly appreciate your work and wish you all the best to get through this time. And maybe when I move back to Germany I can take some lessons from you. Keep up the good work. Cheers, Daniel
Paul, I have to tell you, that was the most unique and useful video. You address commonly taught issues (theory, phrasing, technique), with a perspective that is engaging, challenging and fun. I’m looking forward to making them a part of my routine. Thanks.
As a civil engineer, please include in the tour (yes, I assume you'll abide to the claims - Wich BTW you just confirmed) some of your wiring tricks, solution on ventilation and stuff like that. A behind the scenes of sort. Go full property brothers if you may hahahah... Cheers!
You can make the spider exercise even harder by moving the fingers in the opposite order, starting with the pinky, then the ring finger...and so on. Thank you Paul for all your advices!
Will try to learn the vanilla version first though. Looks so easy when Paul does it. Btw. : You bring an awesome one to this channel of beard lovers! :-)
![Tee Grizzley - Blow for Blow (feat. J. Cole) [Official Video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/wNLN5xsx5dc/mqdefault.jpg)
The C# chord doesent have a e double sharp
Ah, dang it. It even felt wrong saying it haha, it's C# - E# - G#, of course.
god, im such a noob
@@PaulDavids I feel like there's something I'm not getting here hmmmmmmmm..
@@PaulDavids Nice E# minor chord you got there Paul :)
@@PaulDavids C# triad: C - E# - G#? I'd rather say C# - E# - G#?
@@PaulDavids omg you replyed hahahahah i am not trying to be a smartass i just wanted to corect you in a not mean way
first challenge is to get out of bed and pick up the guitar
for me it's get off that home office desk and pick up the guitar atm. 😣
@@gitarald-neu i feel you man.. been there in that position for so long
@@gitarald-neu I wish I could work at home you lucky bastard xP
… then you go to play…. and first thing, you do, is break a string.😭
Unless you go straight to work when you get up. Then, it’s “get home and pick up the guitar instead of taking a shower and laying down.”
If you haven’t guessed already, yes, I’m an American.🤠
This video have been on my recommend page every time I open YT in recent days. Great motivation to tell me to start practice guitar.
Congrats on the new studio. Of course we want a tour. And thanks for the awesome reminders on warm ups techniques. love the spider. learned it as an alternating picking exercise but with a variation moving one finger down and then replaying the fingers left on the previous string at a time. Tough at first but very good for improving dexterity and great for moving from ⬇️ to ⬆️ picking in alternating finger situations. Great stuff as always. Cheers.
The old looking fretboard is SO sexy
Agree. I wonder if it left the factory looking like this or if it's a relic kind of thing
@@jayhoffman8168 It's relic. I.e. it's like that from the factory.
Jay Hoffman relic means it did leave the factory like that though
It's lame because it's not real wear and just hipster bullshit
Mike Justice just like pre ripped jeans
For looping, my RC-5 has a drum kit built into it that really helps with keeping that rhythm. I tend to have a hard time following a flashing LED metronome, but an audible one I find easier to follow
Now these are challenges! Sick!
Loved the exercise of the triads! Got a new vision of the fretboard
I like your new place. I’d love to take a tour. Inside and out. Thanks for all your videos. You’re an inspiration.
Awesome. Yes post the tour.
Cool stuff man, cool studio
My loop pedal waits until it gets a signal. Which is great, but I have a habit of centring myself in the groove by moving my hand up and down the guitar before I start playing - so in fact what you recommend is what I should do anyway...
Well done! Thanks sharing.
Good lecture thank you!~
Excelente el trabajo solo que podrías poner subtítulos en español en los vídeos en vista que no se ingles muchas gracias
Obi wan kenobi we need a studio tour NOOOOOOOOOW you're our only hope
you make the spider look WAY too easy!
nice guitar face lol, nice vid!
Hi. I have been trying the first exercise for some time now. My pinky finger won't stick towards the fret and suspend in the air. Is there anyway to get control over it?
I really struggle to move my ring finger separately from the others, am I doomed on the spider exercise or is it possible for me to eventually negate that weird joint problem with practice?
If your place still needs a lot of work, you should see my studio. It probably needs to be bulldozed!
Loved it!!!… Cheers…
Exercises:
0:28 : The Spider
2:23 : Triads
5:18 : Looping
8:00 : First Take
9:01 : Missing the Beat
bless up
Arigato gozaimsu
You're a legend
Thanks!
Thank you tryna be good
Most people don’t play their guitar anywhere except home lol
I am my number one fan!!!
Tell me about it. I play the guitar for my desk and closet
I like your picture lmao iTS PAUL
I play mostly at the office 'cause it's where I spend most of my day. I know I'm lucky in a way, but I'd prefer to be free to pursue my interests in peace without having to have a job. A girl can dream, right?
@@charlesduzzie9811 I think the point was that the RUclips comments isn’t generally full of “the greats” lol
I see a thinline tele and challenge myself not to spend the rent money on one
I bought a acoustic Guitar and an Affordable beginner Keyboard, now I'm wondering if I should get a Electric Guitar
@@paulmartins9291 Oh dude you should ! You can find a good one used or go for Harlen Benton from Thomann, best guitars for the price ! Yamaha THR10 are incredible amps for practicing, the C model you can find for not a lot of money new or used.
The electric guitar feels easier to play because the strings are thin and doesn't hurt as much as the acoustic ones do. Caution : playing very clean is difficult since the amp reacts to every little vibration.
I play the guitar for 10 years now and have several guitars of each type and MAN. The electric is the thing ! I really feel free to express myself through the whole neck. Clean mellow sound to powerfull overdrive.
The acoustic guitar as a very pleasant sound and you should train at it, but I always felt frustrated because it is way more difficult to play
Are you kidding?! Of course we want a full and extensive tour of the new studio! Thanks for all your videos!
Haha, THIS! Are you even asking? We're all waiting to see the new crib pimp daddy!
4
O7k
Definitely
Me seeing the spider: WTF why is that a warm up thats going to be so easy
My fingers trying to do the spider: WRONG lol
Doesn't help that my pinkie finger bends inwards towards my ring finger, it's a struggle for sure.
Exactly my situation, Melon
Trust me, one you get the hang of it, it's a very fun exercise to do :)
@@mrplut0 I really hope so, 'cause I just tried for the first time and my fingers feel like they're someone else's
I can do it!!!! With 25 BPM :D :D I think I will improve to 35 in about a year or so...
Can we take a moment to talk about how good his hair looks? Seriously, my mans looking slick
The beard is trimmed crisply, the socks too, mans is fashionable
Everything about this man is sharp.
No
My bald ass is in awe every time lol
He is Chad irl
A studio tour man !!
Yeah
I finally found you! The only guitar teacher on RUclips so far that I can listen to longer than 5 seconds. Wonderfully unagitated, humorous, calm and authentic. What a gift, what a pleasure to learn from you. Thank you!
Obi wan teaching music!
@@exult1on true haha
Shut Up And Play is great too.
🤣🤣🤣🤣 Soooo true!!!
Bob Ross of music
15 years on a guitar and I can't do the spider. Thanks for making my life miserable again xD
What 15 years of looking at a guitar? 😂 ahah just messing with you but you would be able to do this if you’ve seriously been playing for that long
@@colins9559 nah I feel him. I've been playing 23 years. Done tours and albums, played the likes of Steve Vai in my younger year and I can't do it 😂 I sold all my gear and haven't touched one for 2 years though so I have an excuse haha. It will come back.
Haha, I thought only I have problem with a spider 😂 I took me half an hour to go through one, as my ring finger refused to move when others were on fretboard 😂
As a noob i can say i am playing for a half and one month and i can do it
@@colins9559 not true :) I can blaze up and down the neck no problem (been playing for 30 years) but never practiced the spider before and yes it's challenging simply because I've never done the spider before. That is the whole point of the exercise - to refine technique.
That spider exercise hits me right in the heart of my own measlyness. Usually taking off most of the rest of my hand to avoid accidently muting the current note. Paul, of course, makes even that exercise sound like Rock'n Roll.
The last exercise is so awesome in particular. Developing that internal clock is so important and most non-drummers kind of neglect this. Thanks for the video!
Jamsville I didn’t understand what the the concept of that exercise was? What was he trying to do?
Jim C you’re supposed to keep the time going by yourself when there’s no track playing. The only way you can do this is if you can hear/feel the time properly.
Even though practicing with a metronome is good, it’s kind of like training wheels on a bike. Your brain can subtlety adjust to the metronome and you could be getting away with bad time and not even notice it. With this exercise though, the longer the drums/timekeeping source are gone, the longer you have to depend on your own time. If you slow down or speed up, it will be extremely obvious that you did so because you won’t come back in on the downbeat properly.
Does that make sense?
Best guitar playing tip I've ever got was tap your feet.
2 things I learned from this video:
1. How to play a guitar.
2. How to edit videos.
M mnbbb most ioinn bcvvvbbpllkjp
8:32 blink-182 - what's my age again
the secret of playin' guitar is to step on the pedal with funny socks
Got me laughing nicely 😂
😆🤣
Everytime I watch one of your videos I just want to spend the whole day playing.
i want studio tour, not gon lie
Digging the studio, looks like a pleasant place to play.
anyone else super jealous of those finger marks on those frets?? i pray to play that much on one guitar lol
Hello! I'm Brazilian and I'm using the translator, I hope you can understand ... lol ... Paul, I didn't find any video of you talking about Peter Green, I leave here my request / suggestion. A video about this great guitarist. Big hug to all!
lol i cant move my ring finger with the others pressed down
That’s the toughest part for me too...I just stare at my ring finger until it moves. Then if it doesn’t move, I yell at it.😀
Same here, I thought how could that be, Holy crap my ring finger will NOT cooperate! Lol
@@sarakramer4080 try messing around with your thumb position behind the neck. Try pointing it up, towards the headstock. Also, as you practice, try to press the strings down less, just barely enough that the note rings out. When your hand is more relaxed, your fingers will move independently, more easily. We often squeeze the neck a bit too much while playing. It takes some practice, but it's a great addition to Paul's spider crawl idea. Go slowly, and only press your fingers down, just enough, to get the note to ring out. Good luck!
It's not easy when you first try, but after a few attempts you should be able to. A big part of this exercise is to enhance your finger dexterity.
Just try, try and try. It will soon move.
Why did he write “( you can do at home )”
Obviously where else would you do that
It’s guitar
Cuz if you're legit you're doing it in the streets. Perfect time to work on your busking craft with no one watching
Because you don't need a teacher or a band or anything these things you can just sit down and do
Because you better can't do these on stage.
I think he means while we're all confined to our homes
In the park
Man that triad exercise got my head hurting to understand lmao
I love how your warm up exercises involve musical creativity. That first one, I've been teaching my students for over a decade - I got it from an old jazz teacher I had many years ago...
Blacksmith:
"How sharp Paul?"
Paul:
*y e s*
Watching this video while lying in bed and my guitar beside me🤣
The "bars of silence" exercise is the absolute best. It is amazing at improving you internal rhythm really quickly!
Thanks Paul.
I’ve been wracking my brain, even holding it down, trying to keep that wild and crazy pinky of mine from lifting up! Oh thanks so much. Also, thanks Paul for offering a little something for all levels. I’m no where near ready to think about looping, but I sure did enjoy your playing!
Thank you for that, I thought I was the only one with the crazy pinky 🤣
I feel like when i have my other 3 fingers down i cant move my pinky anywhere. It also stay up and i cant press it down
It's funny that RUclips runs ads for other guitar lessons on your channel
Thank you for such a variety of exercise types. That's what it's all about: stick to the basics. The Spider exercise is not that easy if you really want to make it accurately. Thank you for your good teaching advises and courses. Can't wait to see the studio tour when the room is finalized!
Yes please, do the tour! BTW: I recently started learning theory and I was able to get to the triads (the first three) myself.. woohoo. Achievement unlocked!
I hate the spider exercise because it's so difficult to do without cheating but naming and playing the triads is fun to do. Don't plan on doing any looping anytime soon but now I know what not to do just in case.
Looping is the single most useful new resource for guitar practice. If you don’t use a looper extensively in your practices you aren’t making best use of your time. IMHO of course.
@@asarcadyn2414 "new", when loopers have been around for well over a decade at least lol
@@reitairue2073 I’m 72. That’s new.
@@asarcadyn2414 No you missed the technology/ignored it. You being old doesn't make old things new lol.
@@reitairue2073 I’ve been using loopers for about 8-9 years, so I haven’t ignored them. 10 years is new in guitar practice history, irrespective of my age. Why are you being such a dick over this?
Not that this matters a lot but I have all my students do the triads and similar exercises through the circle of 4ths. C, F, Bb, etc. I do this because chord progressions often move in this way - especially in jazz. Thoughts, Paul?
I'm a percussionist going to university, and my professor had me doing this on marimba. He had me doing it with major scales, major, minor, and augmented triads, fully diminished chords, and finally, major and dominant seventh chords (the dom7 resolves counter-clockwise into the next key, as you were saying). It's a great exercise, although quite tedious. It helped me learn to get around the instrument more efficiently, but also helped me relate that theory to the instrument, which in turn helped me internalize it.
Hi Paul, I tried "your" spider exercise several times. I have trouble moving my ring finger to the next higher string without moving my pinky finger with it (feels impossible). Any solutions or recommendations to help my ring finger move independently from pinky finger during that exercise? Is that important to develop? Thanks.
I've also been practicing the spider exercise and have the exact same problem. I was looking online for this same solution but nothing specific fixing this. Most just say practice and it'll come together, but I also don't want to practice wrong and build bad habits. Hopefully this gets answered somewhere.
Finger independence does take time to develop (for most except the lucky ones who developed it at a young age, when it is a lot faster to rewire the brain).
The ring finger and pinkie naturally want to move together. The trick to lifting the ring finger independently is to counteract the effect on your pinkie. Feel the muscle in your palm that tenses when you push your pinkie down. When I lift my ring finger, that muscle tenses just a little more to keep the pinkie in place.
Try some exercises that don't involve the guitar, so that you can do them any time, and get into the habit of doing them whenever you can:
- If you are at a desk or table, place your hands on the table as if it were a keyboard, and one by one lift each individual finger off the table without any of the others leaving the surface (you can do both hands simultaneously).
- Or, just arch your fingers together as if you are hatching an evil plan, and one by one move each pair of fingers apart while the others all still touch.
Thanks for your great videos. Your videos help me grow my channel.
that spider literally killed my ring finger, I just dont understand how you make it seems so easy! great exercise, just love how you are teaching us, thank you!
I can kind of relate. My pinky on the 6th string keeps muting the fingers on the 5th string
It is hard to do but .....
E double sharp??? Isnt it just E sharp?
C E G
C# E# G#
E## enharmonically is F# which is a forth above C#
Love the new studio. Stay safe mate
Jupp, sometimes I stop thinking when recording a video. I'm sorry for the spread of this horrible misinformation :(;(
@@PaulDavids I do it all the time. 😀 At it's not Flat earth or 5G conspiracies
Thanks again and stay safe
@@TimLoveguitar I don't know about you but i like to be able to leave my house during a "lockdown". Now just imagine for a second that it became a new norm and at some point they can automatically detect who leaves and when. 5g is not for us, not to mention it will single handedly come for most people's jobs with enough time. They already have self driving cars and etc, not trying to be that guy but come on man think about it.
@@aCraig1890 I've no idea what you're talking about. But good luck to you.
For my birthday I was gonna go to an open Mic in Brooklyn and play my heart out. Well... everything's closed thanks to COVID-19. So instead ill be at home watching these videos and practicing the damn spider. Thank you for these videos. Maybe I can become a better guitarist now so I won't suck too much when things open back up.
thank you for the exercises. On the first one, i can barely move the ring finger while having the pinky finger pressing the upper string......it looks like a long process to get there.
The backing track available has your guitar on it btw.(edit:: thanks for the change)
Leaving a big like before the video begins because, oh come on you and I know this will be a sick one as usual ❤️
I can do this from home?! Never before had I thought playing my guitar at home was possible. 😂
Studio looks great! Good job! ✌🏼
The spider is a personal favorite exercise. I'm still trying to wrap my fingers around the triad one. Fun stuff!
A quick studio tour would be amazing. Great content as always.!!
I'm trying to learn how to play guitar properly after years of playing the bass and it's frustrating trying to do the spiderwalk the correct way because when i switch to the higher string, my pinky keeps muting that string because it's angled and not perpendicular to the strings. I have the ability to use the pinky but not in a way that it's not touching the other strings.
I love how you are actually teaching like a music teacher and not dumbing it down. It reminds me of piano or percussion.
nothing about that looping segment was an exercise though lol
"...you can do from home."
_Oh wait so I can do it outside of my room?_
Yeah like the park Or a titty bar
"if you want to see a studio tour" ... REALLY ??? reaaaallyyyy???? of courrrrseeeeee !!! PLEEEEASE Paul !
Loved the demonstration of the final challenge. On the thee-bar silence, you sped up a bit, but found a musical way to compensate and stay on beat. Rubato is a difficult, but important concept in being expressive and musical.
Perfect timing. Thanks for the advice. Now i got something to do while I'm on quarantine. Stay safe everyone.
For the spider one, I can never get my pinky to go straight onto the fret board, no matter what I do, my pinky pivots to the ring finger. When I try to make it go sideways, it just rotates vertically. Why?
Thanks for the vids Paul! I've been watching you over the past year after an 8 year break from music to work. You have been the biggest help, I couldn't do it without you. Thank you for what you do.
Noob question: those triads. I'm having a hard time seeing your fingering. Were those cords?
Love all of the content. I’m going have to get Next Level Playing so I can get good enough to post anything to instagram with confidence. I appreciate you, congrats on the new studio.
Man, that's a AMERICAN ORIGINAL '60S TELECASTER® THINLINE !
Your have such a nice tone with that Tele. Sounds like a harp almost.
I just had to concentrate THE HARDEST IVE EVER HAD TO CONCENTRATE IN MY LIFE in order to get my ring finger to stay down for the spider and then command it to move. I did it. It's progress. I still need practice
Me too I need practice with my picking 😂
@@ista7 how’s your picking hand it’s been a month if you still need work I recommend alternate picking routines where u skip strings slowly build with a metronome it works
@@lil-hashbrown6938 Yep Metronome. I haven’t done all month maybe only 2 weeks but the first time I started I realized how bad I was with picking. The spider cage is a beginner one but it’s still difficult not lifting your pinkie finger. Once my pinkie finger stopped lifting, my middle finger started. The ring finger is hard to move horizontally because it is connected to the middle.
@@lil-hashbrown6938 When I say the spider thing is hard. I mean in. Maybe not for you but I had a hard time keeping my fingers at a low level and there is still improvement. I can’t do it as fast as he did but it’s gotten faster and better. If you dedicate an hour a day for a week or month you can improve dramatically on your alternate picking exercises and whatever you desire. Might not be such a help, but I’m trying to help in any way
@@lil-hashbrown6938 Yep. Alternate picking is great. Skipping one string or two string when play is hard but effective
Paul, these videos are absolutely amazing. The 5th exercise blew my mind. After, making my way through your LearnPracticePlay course I am convinced that timing is the main reason why people stay stuck at the beginner level for decades. This really clicked on your "Highway to Hell" video. It sounds like such a simple chord progression but even experienced guitar players get it wrong. These are really great insights.
Also, love the new studio. I'm glad that your hard work is paying off.
In the Spider exercise, I can't help that my pinky is muting the next string up. The only way I have been able to avoid that was to hold the neck of my guitar in a vertical position (in the same manner as Slash does). Any suggestion?
same here. got so frustrated i ended my practise early
I learned the first challenge from kiko's channel, hands down one of the best exercises I know... haven't gone back since 💯
Who is Kiko?
Megadeth's lead guitarist
Christopher Wilson
can you give us link?
@@mhitc.4975 I think he's talking about the guitarist from Megadeth. No idea which video though but possibly the one from 2 weeks ago. 🤔
@@mhitc.4975 here's the specific vid its actually from 2 years ago
ruclips.net/video/qtLjNh__KSo/видео.html
Had I have an electric guitar, I would have certainly practiced the suggested. Thank you for sharing.
A tour would be amazing! Thanks for the lesson!
Hi! I loved the last rhythm exercise, but I found it too simple because I could still hear your perfect playing and it kept me on track, maybe just including the drumloop with you DANCING would make it more challenging! Just a tip though!
Yes, I would love to get a tour of your new studio and how you've built it. Thanks!
How high is the action on your guitar Paul? I have been trying the "maximum efficiency" exercise and I realised that when I play the low E string, I have a problem with my pinkie touching and muting the A string below. I'm not sure if the A string is too high or my pinkie is just not long enough to reach around it. I have tried everything to lower my action a little and experimented with various levels of neck relief and bridge height, but it seems I am at the limit of how low the action can go on my Telecaster without hearing fret buzz. So that just leaves my physical proportions, which unfortunately I can't change. It is really demotivating to hit up against something that seems physically impossible to do with my hands.
I have a positive update on this! I increased my string gauge (from 9s to 10s) and was able to lower the action a little, making it easier to fret those low strings without touching the others.
Why is this? When I bought my first set of strings as a beginner, I was led to believe that a lighter gauge would be easier to play because it takes less force to bend. So I bought a pack of Super Slinky and have stuck with them since. What I hadn't considered until now was that heavier strings are tuned to a higher tension, so they vibrate with less displacement and are less prone to buzzing against the fret.
We need to get the message out and challenge the conventional wisdom being handed out to beginners in guitar shops! If anything, lighter gauges are harder to play because it takes more finesse to control the bending.
The last one is incredible, its a good trainning for live situations.
So I did the "Spider" exercise and I made a progress. I found out that my ring finger just won't MOVE! LOL
Was the same for me. I had it BAD. It will move by itself though. You just have to slow it down and force it. Crazy hard for me but it gave my pinky and ring finger some independence. Never enough though!
Hell yeah Paul Davids renovations! Great exercises man!
Why the words "from home" in the title? It's not like I go to the park to practice.
due to lockdown maybe?
Yeah just to earn off the youtube algorithm since quarantine is all over the world rn anything that has to do with staying at home , isolation will get suggested. Just youtuber tricks
Hey Paul, thank you so much for this exercise. Especially the Spider I love. I took lessons as a little boy and stopped playing for about 15 years. But now I love the guitar again and am so sad that my coordination and dexterity has gone almost to zero, compared to my childhood days. I truly appreciate your work and wish you all the best to get through this time. And maybe when I move back to Germany I can take some lessons from you. Keep up the good work. Cheers, Daniel
Paul, I have to tell you, that was the most unique and useful video. You address commonly taught issues (theory, phrasing, technique), with a perspective that is engaging, challenging and fun. I’m looking forward to making them a part of my routine. Thanks.
*I'm pretty good at playing that silent part btw...*
As a civil engineer, please include in the tour (yes, I assume you'll abide to the claims - Wich BTW you just confirmed) some of your wiring tricks, solution on ventilation and stuff like that. A behind the scenes of sort. Go full property brothers if you may hahahah...
Cheers!
xWhat was the song from the "1st take challenge? "
Is it blink 182?
Yep, whats my age again by blink 182
Stay safe, Paul! You rock, and thank you for your work amidst this isolation period!
But those .... fenders
You can make the spider exercise even harder by moving the fingers in the opposite order, starting with the pinky, then the ring finger...and so on.
Thank you Paul for all your advices!
Will try to learn the vanilla version first though. Looks so easy when Paul does it. Btw. : You bring an awesome one to this channel of beard lovers! :-)
Holy crap, I'm digesting so much information from this video.