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About the Author
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Will Landrum is a guitarist and composer from Virginia who dabbles in heavy rock Instrumentals with blues and neo-classical influences.
His latest CD is entitled Living Digits, which features eight compositions produced by Landrum and Michael Fath.
Send comments or questions to Will Landrum.
© Will Landrum
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Phrasing is something that no one really ever showed me. I
just started doing it without realizing it. Then one day
someone who was listening to me play said "Cool! nice
phrasing there." I stopped and asked, "What's phrasing?"
Phrasing is when you put your own personal timing and
inflections into your playing but always stay in groove with
the real timing of the music.
I have a phrasing exercise for you today that will get you
thinking about this form of expression as well as challenge
your speed.
Basically what we're going to do is see how many notes you
can squeeze in between beats! My tabs go up to seven notes
per beat but you can keep adding a note until you reach your
speed limit.
Fire up your metronome or drum machine to 60 beats per minute
for these.
Remember, the only timing you absolutely must be accurate with
is the first and last notes being on the beat. The timing of
the notes in between the first and last notes is where you
express yourself and you can't be wrong!
Need help reading tablature? Click here.
Tablature
G Regular Major Scale
60 Beats per minute, 4/4 time
The beat numbers are on top.
4 notes per beat
1 2
E --------------------------------------------------
B --------------------------------------------------
G --------------------------------------------------
D --------------------------------------------------
A ------------2-----3------5------------------------
E 3-----5-------------------------------------------
3 4
E --------------------------------------------------
B --------------------------------------------------
G --------------------------------------------------
D --------------------------------------------------
A 5-----3-----2-------------------------------------
E ------------------5------3------------------------
5 notes per beat
1 2
E --------------------------------------------------
B --------------------------------------------------
G --------------------------------------------------
D -------------------------2------------------------
A ----------2----3----5-----------------------------
E 3----5--------------------------------------------
3 4
E --------------------------------------------------
B --------------------------------------------------
G --------------------------------------------------
D 2-------------------------------------------------
A ----5----3----2-----------------------------------
E -------------------5-----3------------------------
6 notes per beat
1 2
E --------------------------------------------------
B --------------------------------------------------
G --------------------------------------------------
D ---------------------2---4------------------------
A --------2---3---5---------------------------------
E 3---5---------------------------------------------
3 4
E --------------------------------------------------
B --------------------------------------------------
G --------------------------------------------------
D 4---2---------------------------------------------
A --------5---3---2---------------------------------
E ---------------------5---3------------------------
7 notes per beat
1 2
E --------------------------------------------------
B --------------------------------------------------
G --------------------------------------------------
D -------------------2--4--5------------------------
A --------2--3--5-----------------------------------
E 3--5----------------------------------------------
3 4
E --------------------------------------------------
B --------------------------------------------------
G --------------------------------------------------
D 5--4--2-------------------------------------------
A -----------5--3--2--------------------------------
E ----------------------5--3------------------------
Remember, keep adding the next note of this G Ionian scale
until you reach your speed limit. When you get to the
point where you can't play all of the notes cleanly,
back off a note or two and keep going over it until
you're comfortable.
When you get comfortable with that, add another note until you
have that one down. This is a great way to develop your speed
and accuracy!
Also, be sure to play this phrasing with as many different scales
as you can.
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