One of the core elements of developing strong lead guitar playing is having a good practice routine. An essential part of that routine is having a well rounded arsenal of finger exercises that while some are musical than others, get the hands in proper working order. Lead guitar playing, as in all guitar playing, is a very physical process. Having a well rounded assortment of finger exercises allows for you to prevent injury and work towards having better playing ability. Here are some examples of different exercises to obtain these skills.

In this section of Rock Guitar Level II we will discuss techniques for practicing and finger exercises. These exercises are important in practice to gain muscle memory, speed, and finger strength so that you can play many a blazing rock solo. Our first lesson covers a concept that some may already know, but is universal and adaptable to your playing level and will consistently aid in coordinating your left and right hands. It utilizes both alternate picking and use of all fingers on your left hand as well as position shifts. Although it includes chromatic movement this ex...

Our next development of the dexterity exercise entails the full chromatic scale.  The full chromatic scale is most simply put: a 12-tone scale utilizing all tones used in western harmony.  You might recognize this scale utilized in more fusion rock styles or as a compositional tool but for our purpose it will be used to practice alternate picking and left hand shifting.  As it utilizes considerably more shifting on the part of the left hand, there are a couple variations on this scale each with their own fingering difficulties. This exercise puts a great deal of focus on...

This funk example demonstrates a couple of different Emi7 to Emi6 movements in various positions around the neck. The minor chord with the major 6th oozes funk. The reality is that a lot of the time a minor tonic chord with a major sixth is actually implying the IV chord.  It ultimately depends on what the bass note is implying -- and in funk you might not be then guy playing the root.  You can hear this type of thing in many Prince songs, Parliament Funkadelic, et cetera.

Our next Rock Guitar Practice concept and perhaps one of the most important is the use of sequences in practicing your scales. You will find that many rock solo’s utilize these sequences in parts and it is an important tool for memorization and development of muscle memory. We will be utilizing the 3-note per-string pattern of the major scale that was reviewed by Douglas Showalter earlier in Chapter 2.

Hammer-ons and Pull-offs have been a staple technique in rock guitar for many years by countless players. The basic concept is fairly simple in theory, a hammer on is most simply put: hammering your finger onto the fret without picking it creating a tone. The pull off is the equal and opposite. Instead of being hammered the fretted note is “pulled-off” of the fret allowing the next note in series to ring out in tandem.

A  very important aspect of any rock guitar solo is rhythmic picking.  It is important to know the basic subdivisions of the beat and be fluent in picking them.  This exercise again utilizes the 3-note per string pattern of the major scale from chapter 2.

Hammer ons and Pull Offs start with a need for finger strength above all else, speed and dexterity will come but to execute this technique well, all our fingers must be adept to this concept and strength should be balanced throughout your hand. This exercise involves working your fingers hammering on and pulling off across the fretboard one finger at a time very much like the way that Jimi Hendrix plays “trills” and then utilizing all your fingers working together in series .

In musical notation the Italian word legato (literally meaning "tied together") indicates that musical notes are played or sung smoothly. That is, in transitioning from note to note, there should be no intervening silence. In this example we will be utilizing the legato technique in tandem with hammer ons (ascending) and pull offs (descending) on the 3-note per string C major scale in a fashion that you will find many a shredder , like Joe Satriani, using on the regular. This technique is for all you speed demons out there!

Our next Exercise is aimed at knowing and recognizing every note on the fretboard by acknowledging the patterns, octaves and relationships between them.  This is important when you are learning scales, songs, and exercises, so that you can transpose them around the neck to the many different positions. 

This funk example demonstrates one of the most important rhythm exercises pertaining to funk guitar: left hand muting and 16th note rhythm with the preferred chord choice of many funkateers: E9. The use of left-handed muting paired with constant 16th notes with the right hand equals an unforgiving rhythm exercise. While in execution it looks very simple, it is very important that 16ths are not swung (initially, swing the 16ths if you can easily execute them straight first) and make sure that the subdivisions are equal (e.g. NOT SWUNG). It is the tendency of many guitar ...

We are now going to look at a method utilizing the “finding the notes” exercise to play the same lick at every position available along the neck.  This gives us many different octave and timbre options in order to most effectively rock and can be using in layering parts or playing 2-parts with another guitar player. 

Likely one of the most prominent usages of the hammer and pull technique in Rock Guitar utilizes the pentatonic scale. In this example we will examine the variance between hammering and pulling with and without picking as well as couple different variations that could be used as exercises or utilized as a solo technique similar to that of Paul Gilbert, no stranger to the pentatonic scale. We will be using B minor pentatonic with the root on the low E string.

Furthering the concept of legato, the use of hammer-ons and pull offs in conjunction with slides and position shifts on a single string can be a very simple and effective tool in Rock Lead Playing. Once again this example can be picked or left completely again to the left hand. This example is in the style of Steve Vai and is in the key of E minor starting at the high A note on the E string will be descending the scale in a 3 note sequence In conclusion the concept of hammer ons and pulloffs can be applied almost universally to almost every lead guitar element in this t...

This funk example demonstrates some inversions of E7 on the top four strings.  Since many funk grooves may be little more than a one chord vamp, these inversions may help you add some spice. Try these inversions over any James Brown hit!

Notes from Joel Van Dijk: Tritones = Funk Juice. The tritone is what makes the dominant chord funky. It was also defined by the church many years back as "diablos en musica" (The Devil in Music). All I have to say in retrospect is that the devil must be funky! I demonstrate a couple of different uses of the tritone based off of E9 with sliding and inverting the tritone in order to create variation.

This funk example demonstrates a concept called Bubble Licks, or single string muted 16th lines. The term bubble lick has been passed along through the session world as well as generations of funkateers. It is most likely called Bubble Licks because it sounds like tiny popping bubbles. The gist of the exercise demonstrates a common type of muted lick that would be commonplace in a rhythm section filling out syncopated 16ths. That being said, bubble licks can span the spectrum from being far simpler with very little actual playing to a consistent rhythm underlying the ent...

Open Strings lend themselves well to hammering on and pulling off. This technique is not equally applicable in all keys but work very well in some very “Rock Guitar” keys like E minor, A minor, G major/minor, C major and likewise is adaptable to many other keys based upon which open strings you choose to utilize. This concept allows you to hammer on and pull off almost anywhere on the guitar neck. This example depicts a bluesy rock lick you might hear in the style of Jimmy Page of Led Zepplin in the key of G minor.

The Dorian (see “Modes”) variation on the blues scale is a very adept pattern to the pull off and hammering technique due to its symmetrical nature on the G, B, and high E strings. This example demonstrates this scale pattern as well as a couple different ways to utilize the symmetrical nature of it. This example is in the style of the late great Dimebag Darrell (triplets are his specialty!). Our example is in the Key of C minor.

This funk example wants your vocabulary to expand to more voicings and embellishments for your epic 30 minute E9 funk jam that you are about embark on. If the collective 30-minute one-chord-wonder persists, you may want to know more ways of playing that magical E9 chord that was funky for at least the first 20 minutes.  Some simple ideas like "play an inversion" or "throw a pinky on that thang" might spiral you into yet another 40 minutes of E9 bliss.  Switch it up! Funk it up! Know when the beat is swung or not! And last but not least, change a key every now and then, ...

This is a way of playing two parts at once (bass & chords), while keeping a steady funk strumming rhythm. This funk example employs our ever-funk-friendly progression of I-IV, in this case I=Em, IV=A7. Some famous funk I-IV movements include Bill Withers' "Use Me", P-Funk's "Flashlight", and Stevie Wonder's "I Wish." This list goes on. The intention of this example was to comp (the tritone) while keeping a moving bassline running throughout.  Watch your muting and note separation on this one!

This funk example demonstrates the use of the 4th interval on the top B and E strings grabbing notes from A major (E mixolydian) to be played against an E9 chord. Fourths have been used a great deal within funk and r&b (see "Sweet Thing" Chaka Khan intro for a cliché example). This example is remniscent of some Prince style funk guitar (Musicology?). Break this example into smaller sections and create your own licks out of the individual pieces.

This funk example puts the spotlight on the 3-note triads and patterns on the top 3 strings.  In the seventies funk took a side route towards Disco utilizing more pop chord arrangements.  This chord progression is a movement in A minor... the progression being:  Am Dm F Em Am G D Dm E7. A similar progression might be Patti Labelle's "I Will Survive," and other songs by artists like Earth Wind and Fire (Al Mckay), Paul Jackson Jr. and so forth.

This funk example demonstrates the use of the 6th interval in the key of D major, utilizing E as our root, so more specifically "E Dorian."  I will say it again, that the 6th is the funkiest interval (if used with optimum funk intention). In this case the double stop lick can be used over Em (add the major 6th to that Em) or A7 for that matter. This example includes some mothership (see "Mothership Connection") enhancing chromaticism. 

A series of 7 lessons showing different finger exercises.

Hammer-on and pull-off demonstrations using the minor pentatonic scale.

Joel Van Dijk demonstrates 10 examples of funky rhythm playing, in the style of P-Funk, Prince, and others.