I hope you have been practicing the picking lines that I gave you last lesson. Today we are going to learn some musical examples that will help the coordination between your left and right hands, and help develop speed and accuracy. Most of the examples we will learn are short phrases; learn them in one location, then move them around the neck. It’s important to start off playing very slowly at first, and then gradually begin to build speed while keeping your left and right hands in sync.

The examples have tempos on them, but work up to those speeds, don't start there. Try playing the segments with alternate picking, then play them with all upstrokes, then all downstrokes. And don’t forget palm muting. It’s time to get your metronome out and get started.

Example 1
Here we have a short segment in A major (A,B,C#,D,E,F#,G#). In bar one we have a pedal point, which is used in classical music and makes a great pinky exercise. Next we move to an adjacent string, looping back to the first. Remember to start this phrase slowly, and then bring it up to tempo. This is played in 5/4, but it can be played in any time signature. Also, be sure to accent the downbeats.

Example 1a
Now we will take the same phrase and move it down the neck in the key of A major. Playing this phrase on the other strings is a great exercise for learning the neck.

Example 2
In this example we will use the same phrase, still in A major, but now employing string skipping, adding an interesting twist to the phrase. Move this one around the neck and experiment with other scales. Again, don’t forget to accent the downbeats, making these exercises more effective.

Example 3 This two-string phrase is great for developing coordination. This one is in E minor (E,F#,G,A,B,C,D) and features 16th note triplets. Repeat the main phrase over and over and then move down in key. Again, strive for accuracy, gradually building speed.

That wraps up our lesson! Remember, it is really important to start slowly and then gradually build up speed. Making sure your left and right hands are in sync is a great way to develop coordination. For more info, please visit mikecampese.com.