"Playing With Feeling" (a study in phrasing)
by Michael Fath

If you've ever wanted to just "play what you feel", without regard to an exactly pre-arranged or constructed solo, the following phrasing study will greatly enhance your ability to "squeeze" notes, and just basically play what's in your heart, and not in your head!

There is a reason why Yngwie and Eddie, Steve and Joe play these note groupings that are not standard "3's" (triplets), "4's" (sixteenth notes), "6's" (sextuplets), etc. Almost anyone can play pre-arranged 1/6th notes if they practice a particular melody long enough.

The trick is to be able to go from "point A to point B" in one fell swoop, or in other words to just technically get from one place of the fretboard to another evenly, with rhythmic flow and melodic impact!

This is actually quite simple in concept, but much more difficult than it looks, and I can say that every one of my private students has greatly benefited from going through this study.

The idea is to keep the same metronome setting (say quarter note = 60 beats per minute) while adding just one more note to each phrase.

I've penned the music and tablature for these examples. You can see them and this entire article at:
<http://www.rockguitarschool.com/playingwithfeeling1.html>

Ok...

Example #1 is the C major scale, but with just three notes per beat (triplets). It's very important to concentrate on the even flow from beat to beat, while technically maintaining the same alternate picking approach. This should be practiced with slurring technique (hammer-ons and pull-offs) as well. Now this may seem too easy for you at first, but by the time you are playing 11 an 12 notes per beat, you will see what I mean, and how impressive this will sound!

Example #2 adds one more note to create four notes per beat (sixteenths). Be careful to play these exactly evenly.

Example #3 has you playing five notes per beat, which is very hard to articulate, but very effective as an "odd-beat" phrase. Remember to concentrate on the melody. It is very possible to learn how to "hear" 5, 7, 9, 11 (etc.) note melodies, once you can effectively play them. Soon enough you will find yourself improvising more and pre-arranging less!

Look for an arpeggio phrasing study in the very near future, and best of luck!