I’ve seen it so many times I’ve lost count. I’ve seen it in magazines, on websites, even in private lessons (when I used to take private lessons). It may be the single most detrimental assumption to improving your guitar technique, yet it still exists today as one of the main components of conventional guitar wisdom.

What is “it”? “It” is the idea that there is some sort of magic contained within certain exercises such that the mere act of playing certain notes in a certain order will help you to play faster, more accurately, etc. Not only is this wrong, but following this line of thinking can actually make you worse instead of better.

Let’s look at a non-musical example of why this approach to improvement is seriously flawed. Let’s say I love baseball and I want to be a pitcher. I find myself a coach to help me get better at pitching. My coach’s entire improvement regimen consists of setting up a series of targets for me to hit with my pitches. Never once does my coach talk to me about my throwing mechanics, balance, fluidity of motion, weight training, or anything besides hitting those targets.

So this pitching coach… he’s awful, right? How can he claim to be an expert when all he does is focus on the end result of what I’ll be able to do AFTER I’VE ALREADY LEARNED TO PITCH (hit all those targets) instead of helping me to learn HOW to throw properly? In fact, if no one teaches me HOW to throw, I will almost certainly develop poor throwing mechanics and as a result will never be able to consistently hit those targets. I may even injure myself.
The above example is analogous to what happens when you focus on WHAT you’re practicing instead of HOW you’re practicing. When it comes to improving your technique, the notes you’re playing are very close to irrelevant.

Let’s look at one example of an exercise that I’ve seen recommended countless times by top guitarists and respected publications:
1-2-1-2-3-2-3-4-3-4-3-4-3-2-3-2-1-2

This repeating finger pattern is supposed to be played with hammer ons and pull offs over and over again across all strings and starting on all frets from one to whenever your left hand falls off.

So what’s the problem? Aside from being far too complex for most beginning to intermediate players who want to improve their technique, there is usually no mention whatsoever of how to move and how those movements should feel. The assumption is that simply playing this pattern, however you have to muscle your way through it, will result in better technique. The reality is that unless you teach your fingers how to move properly, doing exercises like this will help you become a tense, inaccurate, rhythimcally poor player… just what we all want to be, right?
So what should you do instead? Break this exercise down into its smallest component parts. For example, get out your metronome and just practice hammer-ons from your first finger to your second. Pick the first note and then try to land the hammer on a click. Then do the same for second-to-first finger pull-offs, once again working to get each pull-off on a click. The tempo doesn’t matter, nor do you have to get a hammer-on or pull-off on every single click. The piont is to teach your body to move when you want it to move by focusing on one movement at a time. When you’re done with your first and second fingers, move on to your first and third fingers, then your first and fourth, and so on.
Now that you’re working on a single motion at a time you can also begin to focus on what that motion should feel like. Your motions should be free and fluid. Your body likes motions that are large and free flowing. These motions are easier for your body to remember. Your body does not like motions that are tiny and tense. If you practice technique with tiny, tense movements your body may only remember a big ball of tension, which will ultimately get you nowhere. Yes, it’s true that as you get faster your motions will get smaller, but your body will do this automatically as a result of you training your fingers to move freely.

As you practice, focus on coordination and effortlessness instead of speed. Make adjustments to your hand position and movements based on ease of motion rather than speed. Effortlessness at slower speeds will get you where you want to go. Excess tension and inconsistency at higher speeds will take you backwards.

So the bad news is that there is no single magic bullet exercise that will make your technique better. The good news is that improving your technique isn’t all that complex if you just think about it logically. You’ve got four fingers on your fretting hand. Work towards effortless motion using each possible combination of two fingers. You’ve got two basic motions with your picking hand, downstrokes and upstrokes. Work towards effortless motion of each. Once these foundational mechanics are in place, start adding complexity bit by bit. Work on combinations of three left hand fingers. Work on alternate picking with your right hand. If you start getting tense and inconsistent, stop. Something’s wrong. Figure out what it is and fix it.
The name of the game is coordinated and effortless. It’s not what you practice, it’s how you practice.

About the author:
Dan Vuksanovich received his Master of Music degree in classical guitar performance from the Peabody Conservatory of The Johns Hopkins University in 1999. He currently teaches and blogs about how to get better at guitar via his website, www.whyisuckatguitar.com.

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