Using walking basses is a common technique used to write worship songs. You see this in songs like ‘As A Deer’.  You can also use this technique to make a song arrangement. I show some examples in our Music Theory Course of how to take a song and make many different arrangements of it. In the video below is a video showing how to find the walking basses in three different keys.

There are examples in the key of ‘C’, ‘D’, and ‘G’. In the key of ‘C’ there are no sharps or flats, so the notes of the descending scale are C, B, A, G, F, E D and the back to C. In the video below you learn that the descending scale often moves to the ‘V’ or ‘V7′ chord between the last two notes, or last two chords.

In the picture you can see one example using the chords ‘C’, ‘C/B’, ‘Am7′, Am7/G’, ‘F’, ‘F/E’, ‘G7′, then ‘C’. The note underneath a slash ‘/’ is always the bass note. In the video the chord should have been called ‘Am7/G’ instead of ‘Am/G’. It’s actually the chord in the picture.

In the key of ‘D’ the bass notes are ‘D’, ‘C#’, ‘B’, ‘A’, ‘G’, ‘F#’, ‘E’, ‘A’ (which is the V), and ‘D’. In the key of ‘G’ the descending bass notes are ‘G’, ‘F#’, ‘E’, ‘D’, ‘C’, ‘B’, ‘A’, ‘D’ (the V), and ‘D’.

As a Christian, I have always recommended starting any practice session with prayer. Paul says to do everything to God’s glory. I remember reading Brother Lawrence’s book years ago. He was a monk from the 1600’s who’s letters have become the book ‘Practicing The Presence of God.’ He talked about peeling potatoes to God’s glory.

The first tip in practicing your guitar is to start with a prayer. The Scriptures also say that you have not because you ask not. You can actually make your practice a time of worship. Thank God for His many wonderful attributes and ask Him for help with keeping focused on Him and with learning the guitar.

You can worship with instrumental music, too. I remember hearing Christopher Parkening, a classical guitarist, say that his motivation for playing the guitar had changed from playing to make money to playing for God’s glory, after he became a Christian.

Warm-up with Finger Exercises

Once your heart is focused on our loving God, then I suggest warming up with some finger exercises. This may be as simple as practicing changing between chords. Eventually I think it’s great to do some guitar scales or this little guitar exercise shown in a previous post.

Be Consistent

If you are going through a program like our worship guitar class program, I suggest staying on one lesson for about a week, or until it becomes easier. It does not need to be perfect because playing is cumulative. As you continue to play the guitar over time, your playing should improve.

Try to spend from 20 minutes to an hour as many days of the week as you can. I know people can be very busy, but the benefits to making time for these worship/practice sessions can make it worth the extra effort to find the time. Even if all you have is 5 or 10 minutes, it’s worth it!

Slow Down and Work on Small Sections

Prayer, warmup, then play the specific songs you want to learn to play. If there is a chord change that is difficult for you, slow it down to a snail’s pace. You can isolate the problem spots and as you are playing watch where your fingers will be moving to. You can also break a chord change down by shifting to on a few fingers of the new chord and add fingers as the change gets easier.

Get a Metronome

Down the road, it also quite a good idea to get a metronome to make sure you are playing in a good rhythm.

God bless!

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This video compares three guitar supports. When sitting, guitar supports can be extremely helpful for playing with good posture. Foot stools work, but can put too much stress on your lower back. I used to experience both lower back pain and neck pain when playing the guitar for extended times.

The A-frame was my favorite guitar support for many years, but just a week ago or so, I was introduced to the ErgoPlay Guitar Support. It’s currently my favorite support. There is even a model for left-handed guitar players.

]]> http://www.jeanwelles.com/400/guitar-supports/feed/ 0 http://www.jeanwelles.com/257/guitar-scales-tips/ http://www.jeanwelles.com/257/guitar-scales-tips/#comments Tue, 15 Jun 2010 18:12:53 +0000 admin http://www.jeanwelles.com/?p=257 Would you like to improve your guitar playing? Practicing with guitar scales is a fruitful and beneficial practice. Here are 4 tips that can help you play scales excellently.

1. The first tip is practicing. You need to spent time with the instrument to improve your playing. Use scales to begin you time of practice. It helps you to focus on just the technique of playing.
2. Speaking of focus. That’s the next tip. Sometimes people play the guitar, but just play things they already know. To get better, it takes concentration and focus. I know a concert guitar player who plays a difficult section of a piece 100 times perfectly. If he messes up on #89, he starts over again from #1. We aren’t all ‘concert guitar players’ but I think focusing will benefit all players.
3. Start the scales by playing them slowly. Try moving both hands at exactly the same time. In other words, hold down the note and strike the string at the same time. This will help you play faster down the road.
4. Using a metronome is an excellent practice. You can use it to gradually increase the speed and it will also help you achieve an more accurate sense of tempo.

For an easy scale to play, there is a video at the website of Guitar Scales.

1. Memorize the chord forms in the worship song you are trying to learn.

2. Practice changing the chords by themselves, without singing the song.

3. If the chord is difficult, break it down into smaller units. For example, change to just a portion of the new chord. If the chord requires four fingers, change to 2 fingers of the chord, then 3 fingers of the chord, then the entire chord.

4. When you are practicing the chord changes, watch where your fingers will be moving too, not on the current chord. This is especially important for chords that are in different positions on the fingerboard.

5. When you are playing your worship song, look at the next chords coming up in your peripheral vision.  You’ll change to the chords much faster if you are already thinking ahead before it’s time to play them.

6. Pick a strumming tempo that you can play and don’t slow it down for any chord change. Even if you aren’t quite on the new chord, this will train your hands to change faster.

7. How well you play is very connected to your mental attitude too. Be quick to ‘forgive’ yourself for any mistakes and decide that you can be a wonderful guitarist.

Of course, the very best way to start every practice session is with prayer. God can help us accomplish wonderful things to His Glory!