It was only a small bear—about 50
pounds—but a bear nonetheless. This
is just one more reason to keep your eyes
open if you happen to be in the jungles
of Borneo. The digestion process is what
interests me as a guitarist: Can I bite off
a giant arpeggio and digest it in one bear-sized
piece? Or will I get better results from
dividing up the arpeggio into smaller segments
I can digest gradually over time?
There is something appealing about
the former. I certainly admire the snake as
it lazily lounges for 10 weeks with a large
lump in its middle and not a care in the
world. On the other hand, there are those
of us who scramble and search daily for
small mouthfuls of sustenance.
What I’ve discovered from playing and
teaching is that a bear-sized arpeggio is
nearly impossible to digest in one mighty
bite. The python can do it. I can’t. I must
scramble for my small mouthfuls. But if I’m
willing to do it, I can build an arpeggio of
just about any size.
Our first bite, shown as
Bite 1, is thankfully
a small one. It’s a simple A minor triad
lick comprising just three notes. Your left
hand is going to gobble this right down.
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But let’s not ignore the right hand. The
secret is to not pick every note. Let me
rephrase that in a positive and more specific
way. Pick the first note. Do not pick
the second note. Pick the third note. Your
choice of upstrokes and downstrokes are
going to be crucial, as this lick gets larger.
We will use an upstroke for the E and a
downstroke for the A. Loop the lick around
a few times to get the hang of it.
This is a good time to remember that we
are not pythons and that we should spend
some time digesting. How to do it? Start
tapping your foot and playing along. I suggest
a 16th-note feel. As you loop the lick,
make sure to observe the small rest every
time. In
Bite 2, we’ll extend this idea over
three octaves.
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I’m sure you’ve noticed that the position
shifting and string jumping is the
challenge for this lick. I want to encourage
you first by saying that the position shifts
are easy if you think about them the right
way. Your hand is shifting from the 8th to
the 5th to the 3rd position. For a moment,
try to forget that you’re playing single
notes and just think of moving power
chords to these positions. Suddenly, the
position shifts become no more challenging
than a Ramones song (although I don’t
want to understate the power and majesty
of the Ramones).
To further digest the string jumping,
let’s focus on the pinky and what it has to
do. It’s playing the E note in three octaves.
And it has to jump around in order to do
it. Let’s play
Bite 3 and listen to what the
pinky is doing just by itself.
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With a little bit of practice … digested!
Now, let’s do the obvious and turn
the lick around. The left-hand fingerings
are going to be exactly the same as
above, but the picking pattern is different.
We are ascending this time, so the
low note (A) will come first. Start with
a downstroke on the A and then use an
upstroke on the C. Check out
Bite 4 and
all will be revealed. As you could have
probably guessed, it’s time to expand to
three octaves using our familiar fingering
for
Bite 5. Please notice that I’ve added
an upstroke on the very last E note. This
syncs right up to our original descending
triad phrase, so we can now attach the two
together for
Bite 6.
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or download example audio
or download example audio
I’d say a python would think twice
before taking a bite of that arpeggio. So I
suggest some practice and mental digestion
before moving on.
This next variation uses the same A
minor triad notes, but has some interesting
changes in direction. The resulting lick in
Bite 7 sounds less like an exercise and more
like a purposeful melodic phrase. The secret
is in the fingering. I found a place to sneak
in an A note that we haven’t used before.
This new A note requires less position
shifting (that’s the good news), but a little
more string skipping. You can do it!
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I recommend practicing and digesting these
to a similar comfort level as you feel when you
play “Sheena is a Punk Rocker.” You can wear
your guitar a little higher, but not too much.
Now it’s time to reverse the whole pattern for
Bite 8 and play it in G Major.
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I’m now going to use a word I’ve never
actually spoken out loud: etude. I’ve seen
this word written plenty of times, and I
know what it means, but somehow I hesitate
to speak it. Not that I have ever had
any street cred, but it would certainly go
the way of the dodo if anyone heard me say
“etude.” You can check out this finger-buster below.
It’s a bear.
or download example audio
Pythons we are not. Small bites are
the key.
Paul Gilbert purposefully began playing guitar
at age 9, formed the guitar-driven bands
Racer X and Mr. Big, and then accidentally
had a No. 1 hit with an acoustic song called
“To Be with You.” Paul began teaching at
GIT at the age of 18, has released countless
albums and guitar instructional DVDs, and
will remembered as “the guy who got the drill
stuck in his hair.” For more information, visit
paulgilbert.com.