DEVELOP YOUR GUITAR TECHNIQUES

Playing the guitar is not just about learning a few notes. Based in Glenrothes, Ron's Guitar Tuition provides comprehensive tuition to students of all ages and abilities.

I use a system of short daily exercises to develop accuracy, stamina, and finger agility on the guitar, separate from learning music. This allows my students to have the ability to play each piece in place before starting to work on applying these techniques to learning each piece of music.

Each exercise has several levels to progress through before getting an achievement award. Each exercise has a target duration from 30 seconds to 2 minutes. If you manage the level below this target, you should progress. If it takes longer, then you are working at the correct level. This keeps you constantly in the development zone and not just doing an exercise for the sake of it.

Each exercise has award levels, with bronze to gold for most guitarists playing for fun, and platinum and diamond for those going beyond and into performing or recording guitarist levels.

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CHORD WHEELS 1 AND 2

Used to develop basic chords and progress to barre chords, less common barre chords, and the ability to play any song without changing position on the guitar neck.

Chord wheel 1 is 12 common chords, and chord wheel 2 has 12 less common variations of those chords.

Bronze – Open chords
Silver – Common barre shapes
Gold – Uncommon barre shapes

There is no platinum or diamond level, as the chord knowledge progresses to creating own chord shapes, based on a bit of chord theory and understanding of chord naming.

STRUMMING

Develop robust and flexible strumming that has accurate timekeeping. An essential technique to master on the guitar which looks so effortless, yet challenging to master. Focus is on the strumming hand to recognise rhythm patterns and instinctively know how they sound and should be played.

Bronze – Developed strumming movement and strumming hand muting
Silver – Developed fretting hand muting
Gold – Integrated rests into previous strumming techniques
Platinum – Developed triplet strumming of the previous techniques
Diamond – Applied 16th note strumming of all the previous techniques

Close shot of teenage boy's hands playing and electric guitar with selective focus. Image

BARRE RUN 1-3

Developing finger independence while doing chord changes. Barre run 1 develops moving fingers 2 and 4 together, barre run 2 develops moving fingers 3 and 4, and barre run 3 develops moving fingers 2 and 3. A focused technique to improve chord change fluidity.

Bronze – Developed finger movement.
Silver –Position changing along with the finger movement
Gold – Increased chord shape difficulty
Platinum – Increased chord shape difficulty
Diamond – Speed doubled by adding opposite direction movements

CHROMATIC RUNS

Develop fretting hand fingers in coordination with picking hand movement and finger independence These are done with a plectrum or finger style. The Chromatic run sets the basic movements.

Chromatic run 2 is a more advanced version. Fret Hops are a variation where we introduce open strings to the patterns. This develops more picking accuracy and coordination and ensures our fretting hand movements are accurate.

The Satriani Chromatic runs are based on Joe Satriani’s variations using six notes instead of four.

Bronze – Developed finger movement
Silver – Increased picking hand accuracy
Gold – Decreased fretting hand movement
Platinum – Increased synchronisation between hands
Diamond – Increased speed

Male hands playing electric guitar on maple fretboard closeup photo

FINGER ROLLING 1-3

To develop string changing techniques starting with string changes and clean string changing for melodic sequences. Finger rolling 2 develops the coordination required to change frets and string at the same time. Finger rolling 3 combines both together.

Bronze – Developed finger movement
Silver – Increased difficulty
Gold – Increased synchronisation
Platinum – Increased synchronisation and difficulty
Diamond – Doubled speed

LEARN NEW GUITAR TECHNIQUES AND IMPROVE YOUR PLAYING, WITH RON'S GUITAR TUITION

For sessions in Glenrothes, WhatsApp me today on 07736 551514.