This week’s exercise is a busy, semiquaver-based groove that makes use of the blues scale. It’s also played with the plectrum, and features some awkward string crossing. In the first and third bars you’ll be playing an ascending line using the C blues scale. Because this part is played using a syncopated semiquaver rhythm, you’ll […]

This week’s exercise is a chordal line that features a lot of harmonics. This line is built from chords that are played as a combination of harmonics and fretted bass notes. The opening chord is a B power chord (root-fifth-octave) and is played by fretting the B at the second fret of the A-string, and […]

This week’s line is a busy fingerstyle funk groove that makes use of many decorations such as hammer-ons, slides, and shakes. After sliding into the E at the seventh fret of the A-string from the D two frets below, a melodic phrase is played on the upper two strings. The first three notes of this […]

This week’s exercise is an up-tempo slap groove that makes extensive use of fretting hand slaps. The key to mastering the first bar of the exercise is in learning to play fretting hand slaps in between the pitched notes. To do this, you’ll need to make sure that you are fretting the notes with the […]

This week’s exercise is a semiquaver-based plectrum groove, which sounds great with some additional palm muting. In the first bar, after playing the root note F on the E-string, the majority of the line is played on the D-string. As this line is semiquaver-based, you’ll want to be playing using a consistent down-up-down-up picking motion […]

This week’s exercise is a chordal line that is played at a very slow tempo. This exercise is in the key of C minor and uses some three-note chord voicings for major and minor chords. For the first chord – C minor – fret the C on the E-string with the first finger, and the […]

This week’s exercise is a slow-tempo fingerstyle funk line written in the style of Jaco Pastorius. This exercise should be played with some specific fingerings. After playing the two Bb’s on beat one, you should fret the E at the beginning of the second beat with your third finger. Your fourth finger can then play […]

This week’s exercise is another funk groove that’s played with the plectrum. Much of this exercise is rich in chord tones and strong supporting notes from the D Mixolydian mode. In the first and third bars, the line opens with a hammer-on from C to D (the minor seventh and root note of the implied […]

This week’s exercise is a quirky, up-tempo slap and pop line which was inspired by the playing of Les Claypool, the bassist with Primus. The first bar opens with some power chords, which are played using the strumming technique. To play these chords, flick downwards with all of the fingers of your picking hand, allowing […]

This exercise is a relatively simple, but melodic line in A minor. The opening phrase of bar 1 strongly implies the sound of an Am7 chord. This is because all of the notes from this chord are used here: the opening C is the minor third of the chord, the A is the root, the […]