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Little Star Exercise - Explanation

Al Joseph 245 lessons

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Let's face it. We all want to sound better and there's only so much high end gear can do. The beginning of it all starts at the fingers. I find that finger control is the source of why a lot of hard working guitar players out there may come off as sounding quite novice. We're going to correct and perfect this, given you apply that same hard work to this method. But in order to stop hesitation and anticipation in our playing we need to slow down what we play and focus a little bit more on the nuances of our finger tone.

Like I said before we're gonna cycle only the first 7 notes of 'Twinkle twinkle little star' and here are the rules:

1. You get to choose two fingers to play this melody

2. No sliding, slurs, or string talk (noise)

3. Each note has to be held for its complete duration (in this case one quarter note)

The results are simple. But if you continue to work on this, especially when it comes to complicated pivoting in your lines, your tonal awareness will improve.

This isn't just an aural exercise. It's also a motor skill exercise. So the goal here is to connect the movements you plan to make with a higher standard of hearing. In other words, the only way to do this is with a simple melody or line that frees you up to listen back to yourself and make corrections ON THE SPOT. Yes, recording yourself is helpful but this is something you can only do ultimately on the spot anyway.

In the next video we'll play together and you'll notice the difference in your playing...

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