ultimate picking exercises - diminished page 1 · ultimate picking exercises - diminished page 1...

Ultimate Picking Exercises - Diminished Page 1

This guide is going to cover all the different possible ways we can work on our picking by using diminished arpeggio and chord shapes in combination with

legato. There are going to be many variations to each example such as reversing the starting pick stroke or reversing from hi to low note and so on. I've

included many possible variations, but I encourage you to seek out others on your own and add them to the ones included. Some of the exercises may jump

out to you as redundant, but keep in mind each was crafted with a purpose in mind. There may be only one pick stroke difference, but think of that small

difference as a butterfly effect, which can help shape your playing in the end. I have also not put this in order of difficulty. There are one string ideas, two

string ideas, 5 string and so on. I feel its important to vary your practice routine so things do not become so routine that you are not focusing anymore on the

task at hand. There are no finger markings for the left hand since most of us play these arpeggios differently. You can use 1 2 3, or 1 3 4 or even 1 2 4. Find

one that suits you, but also try out other fingerings on the left hand. Think of how many exercises you'll have if you do each one with its variations and all

possible fingerings! There are a few ways you can practice these. One is to simple go through a few each day. One is to stay on just a few for awhile putting

them in different keys. In an ideal world where we all have unlimited amounts of time and patience for our practice, we would go through all of them one day

in one key, then all of them another time in another key and so on. I've also placed all of the examples in the same diminished patterns and key through out

the guide for consistency. I'm going to assume most of you know what a diminished chord is and theory behind it if you're looking at this guide, so let's jump

right in and I'll add some extra information as the guide moves along.

The first example I'm going to show you is a basic diminished three string sweep. We play up the first three notes with all down-strokes and then repeating

the top note play back down the sweep all with up-strokes. Then you move up three frets (since everything diminished is symmetrical the same shape can be

moved up or down three frets) to the next chord and repeat. Once you get to the top of the example you should cycle back down through the chords or

practice the big jump. Both are ideal to practice and I have not included the tabs for the cycle back down for space conservation. This is going to happen on

every exercise in this guide so keep in mind that you should be practicing these cycling back down.

This next example is exactly like the first one, except we are reversing our starting point in the arpeggio. For a majority of the exercises I have omitted the

tabs; again, for space reasons. It's also helpful to figure things out on your own, so another note to keep in mind, is to play all these that apply with the

reversing of the starting notes hi or low.

With Example 3 we are going to sweep up the arpeggio and then move up to the next chord and sweep down. Then we move into the next position and

repeat.

Example 4 is simple the reversal of example 3.

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Carrying on with the same idea as the previous exercises, now we introduce one more note to give us a 4 note arpeggio. As with every example you should

pay strict attention to the picking patterns of up and down stroke.

Now we take the exact same idea and add a hammer on in the beginning. This will eliminate that upstroke and give us a more fluid sweep pattern.

You could also start the upstrokes of the arpeggio on the G note on the top string. There will be many examples like this so look out for possible places to add

this combination in.

This next one shows the previous exercise with a doubled note on the top string moving the pattern into 16th notes instead of the sextuplets. Go back

through the previous examples and see if you can play them as both triplet note or straight notes. This should be done for all exercises where it can apply

except where I've provided them for you. One thing to note, is that in order to do this, you may have to change the time signature to fit the example.


This exercise follows up with the previous one by adding a hammer on to the beginning note. All examples will contain either the hammer on or the non

hammer on version. It's very important in developing precise picking to be able to play both. I've included the two variations with most of the exercises, but

keep an eye out in case there is one that could be played with a hammer on. Our observation of what we are playing is almost as important as what we are.

Lets take that same exercise without the hammer on and reverse it's pattern starting on the top string.

Now let's keep the pattern reversed, but add in the legato part, which this time is a pull off.

Let's add a little more legato to this exercise. We are going to add a slide to the top of the arpeggio to put us in position for the next chord. So if you combine

all these techniques, the legato, the slide, and apply them to the previous examples, you can see you have a ton of ideas to work with!


The previous exercise involved a pick stroke, then the slide. Let's remove that pick stroke and add a hammer on to it, then slide. Don't forget you should be

cycling down through the chord shapes also. Here's two more ideas with slides.

This is a nice sequence to get your right hand flowing with two notes on the top string followed by the sweeping motion. You could also do this with two notes

on the 3rd string.

Here is the legato version of the previous exercise.

This example shows the previous one using legato, but also adding in the slides.

You can also mix-match the idea of straight sweeping, using legato, and using slides. Try different combinations to see which ones you like.


Now let's play a 4 note diminished chord with a pull off on the top string. Instead of sliding into the next chord, we are simply going to jump up to it. WE can

also do the reversal by starting on the lower string and using a hammer on.

Here's an idea that uses the hammer on and pull offs combined with the sweeping as we cycle up through our chords.

One thing we have been doing so far is keeping a consistency of note. Now lets add in some different durations. First we are going to play our note then

quickly sweep down. Move up to the next chord three frets up and repeat the idea but going up through the chord.You can also do this by just jumping from

chord to chord.You can also jump around the chord shapes instead of moving up 3 frets each time. Try jumping up 6 back down 3 and repeating.

Here we have the reversal of the previous example and an idea showing us repeating one chord before moving to the next position.


Keeping up with variations on the exercises, this one has us combining the two previous ones so now we start on the low note, then move to the reversed

arpeggio.

We can really push ourselves and our picking if we combine different note durations, legato, and sliding all into one exercise!

For this example, we are going to play our diminished arpeggio but add in a few notes from the diminished scale. Here's two ideas that use alternate picking,

and legato and changing from straight notes to tuplets; again, note the time signature change.


Let's try some three string diminished arpeggios, but lets start in the middle of them. The change of motion with the pick can be awkward at first when moving

from chord to chord, but if you have your trusty metronome going and start out slow, it'll come together quicker than you think.

Now we're going to do some two stringed diminished shapes. The first one shows you a way to play through them using straight economy picking. The next

one involves legato on the way up, and slides on the way back down. Remember to experiment with different economy attacks. Try on the first one using

down-down-up-up-down-up-up (continue with down-up-up).

We can also change the order of some of the arpeggios. Instead of always playing the climbing up the notes of the chord we can play the notes descending

as well. These examples switch between the two.

This is more of a kirk hammett styled lick using repeated pull offs to help achieve a fast repetition of notes. Watch your picking direction on this one. There are

a multitude of ideas for pick strokes you can try out.


These examples show a way of playing through the arpeggios using a different combination of note phrasing. One example is pure economy picking and the

other is utilizing some legato.

Here we have a nice little pattern that climbs up the arpeggio then jumps to the next shape with a repeated note in the middle of each one. This one is great

for helping us develop switching pick stroke mid arpeggio.

Now let's omit some notes from the arpeggio to give us a different shape in the left hand. This is an important ideas because we can go back through all of the

previous examples and try and find different note choices that follow our picking patterns and create a whole new set of ideas!


The first bar of this exercise shows us staying on one arpeggio using legato on the second string. In the net one we move the legato parts to the third string.

Lastly we put them on the fourth string. Make sure you keep in mind all the possible different ways to be playing these and start them from the lower notes

also.

Let's try a different combination of notes now. We're going to apply a sequence to the notes and descend the arpeggio using legato and sweeping combined.

When you get to the bottom of it, move to the next shape and ascend using the reversed pattern.

Here's a couple of great spider or mirrored exercise. This one involves playing a pattern then play its mirrored image and as you move to the next chord shape

reverse the start of the image, then mirror that.


So far we've been only playing on string sets that always use the top most string. Here's an example that will have you only playing on the inner set of

strings. It's a diminished chord arpeggiated with sweep picking cycling through its shapes.

Next, lets take the same idea and combine it with the top 3 string sets. The pattern also reverses in the middle of the exercise so make sure you keep an eye

on that and your picking hand.

This example is similar to what Mattias Eklundh might do with his arpeggios. You sweep up a shape, repeat the top note and sweep back down.

This is another idea that omits certain notes of the chord to give us a different shape. These two examples use the new shapes with sweeping and legato.

You should at this point be able to see the patterns.

These examples are all strictly alternate picking using a scalar idea of playing in 3rds or 4ths and here's two ways of playing it with different note durations.

Again we're going to take a typical way of practicing scales and apply it to these diminished shapes. Here's two ideas using different note durations. At the

end of each example you descend a six string diminished arpeggio.

We haven't at this point used any single string ideas, so let's try some. Here you can see we play the arpeggio involving open strings. The first idea is to use

all alternate picking. The next one we will play the exact same thing but use all legato techniques. Then we will reverse the pattern. And for the last idea, we'll

adjust our notes to give us a different phrasing.

Let's combine all of the previous four ideas into one big exercise.

We can take all of those ideas and change the note duration to tuplets. We're also going to vary the phrasing of the notes to give us something a little bit

different. This one might require a bit more stretching than any of the ones we've worked on so far.


We should also not forget that we can slide these things around. Here's two ideas one involving slides, and the other the same example but now using our

right hand to tap some of the notes.

Diminished stuff tends to leave alot of open space for incorporating bends with a half step. Here's three ideas using sweeping of a diminished arpeggio with a

bend at the end to get you started.

Another really nice sounding spider or mirror exercise but this time I give you two different picking possibilites to work with. Explore and experiment there are

quite a few options with something like this one!

Let's start to wrap this up by mixing phrasing, note duration, and economy picking. This one is best kept to a slow pace because of the 32nd notes. The way

you play the chord changes in the 2nd bar.

Here's the same idea but using tuplets.

We're going to end this with some bigger diminished arpeggios using almost all of the techniques combined, except for the note duration change. So try these

with other note durations. You can practice any of the exercises with 8th notes, 16th notes, triplets, and so on.


Let's start to wrap this up by mixing phrasing, note duration, and economy picking. This one is best kept to a slow pace because of the 32nd notes. The way

you play the chord changes in the 2nd bar.

Here's the same idea but using tuplets.

We're going to end this with some bigger diminished arpeggios using almost all of the techniques combined, except for the note duration change. So try these

with other note durations. You can practice any of the exercises with 8th notes, 16th notes, triplets, and so on.

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