Tag: 1234

Day 3. Mastering EAD strings

Fretboard knowledge

I started with repeating the E and A strings results to confirm them. Then moved to the D string.

The D string was kind of tricky one, so I spend 30 tries to master it. Most of them are in videos this time.

In the end I decided to return to E and A strings to practice them a few times again.

1234 on a single fret

I started at 300 bpm but gradually decreased the metronome to 200 bpm as I started to be tired and my fingers slipped the strings a few times.

Summary

3 string mastered, 3 more to go (actually 2, E and e strings are pretty much the same).

I’ll practice 1234 on 240 bpm for a few more days to become consistent. Then I’m going to increase the speed. My closest goal – 5 min at 300 bpm without mistakes.

Day 2. Fretboard and dexterity

Fretboard knowledge

I started to master the E string. After repeating the exercise for 20-25 times I became pretty consistent in finding all 12 notes in 30 seconds or below.

All the same with the A string. 20-25 tries and I got to numbers below 30 seconds, which is pretty decent.

1234 on a single fret

After another one E string fretboard knowledge try I started the 1234 exercise. I set the metronome to 120 bpm and quickly realized it’s too slow. So during this part of practice I increased the speed to 200 bpm.

Working on 1234 alone was quite boring so I decided to try different combinations of fingers starting with 1324 at 100 bpm.

Then I tried 4321 at 100 bpm, which was kind of easy too at this speed.

After realizing there are 24 possible combinations, I decided to practice and master them later in order to increase the 1234 speed. So I went through 240 bpm to 300 bpm but the latter was not too consistent cause I was already tired of this exercise.

Summary

I’m happy with the fretboard knowledge results. The approach I took – to practice strings one by one – is definitely worked out. Looking forward to increase time for other strings.

1234 exercise is fun, will increase the speed and maybe try to do it across the frets to train muscle memory for every position on the neck.