"Chromatic Picking Drills" -by Drew Peterson Chromatic picking excersizes are a staple of every shred guitarist's warmup and practice routine. They build fretting-hand strength and accuracy, picking accuracy and speed, and improve coordination between your two hands. Also, they may not sound terribly "musical," but that doesn't mean you can't make music with them; my friend devin used the first example below (starting from the 5th fret, i believe) as part of a composition for his music theory final with considerable sucess; to a non-guitarist, it's a pretty cool run because you skip every 5th note in the chromatic scale. To a guitarist, though, it's just laughable (I still tease him about that). As the above anecdote suggests, this first example isn't a true "chromatic" run. (The chromatic scale, by the way, is all 12 tones in the western musical system. Each note is one half step above the next). However, it's an excellent picking workout. play this with straight alternate picking- a downstroke, then an upstroke, then a downstroke, etc. Take this very slowly and gradually increase your tempo- remember, the emphasis here is on accuracy, not speed. The speed will come easier once you get the accuracy down. Also, play with a light touch and concentrate on keeping your arms and hands relaxed. |-----------------------------------------1-2-3-4-5-4-3-2-| |---------------------------------1-2-3-4-----------------| |-------------------------1-2-3-4-------------------------| |-----------------1-2-3-4---------------------------------| |---------1-2-3-4-----------------------------------------| |-1-2-3-4-------------------------------------------------| |---------------------------------------------------------| |-5-4-3-2-------------------------------------------------| |---------5-4-3-2-----------------------------------------| |-----------------5-4-3-2---------------------------------| |-------------------------5-4-3-2-----------------3-4-5-6-| |---------------------------------5-4-3-2-3-4-5-6---------| etc... use all four fingers on this one- in the first run up the neck, use your index finger on the first fret, your middle on the second, your ring on the third, and your pinkie on the 4th. When you get to the high E string and have to reach for the note on the 5th fret, shift your whole hand up and reach for it with your pinkie, at which point the fingering becomes pinkie on 5th, ring on 4th, middle on 3rd, and index on 2nd. Repeat this all the way up the neck, and reverse it to descend. It can also be useful to work on the ascending and descending fingering individually, like this: Ascending (same on the way up) |--------...-1-2-3-4------------------------------------------------| |--------...---------2-3-4-5----------------------------------------| |--------...-----------------2-3-4-5--------------------------------| |--------...-------------------------2-3-4-5------------------------| |--------...---------------------------------2-3-4-5--------3-4-5-6-| |1-2-3-4-...-----------------------------------------2-3-4-5--------| Descending (same on the way down) |-----------------------------------------4-3-2-1---------...-----------------| |---------------------------------4-3-2-1---------5-4-3-2-...-----------------| |-------------------------4-3-2-1-------------------------...-----------------| |-----------------4-3-2-1---------------------------------...-----------------| |---------4-3-2-1-----------------------------------------...---------6-5-4-3-| |-4-3-2-1-------------------------------------------------...-5-4-3-2---------| There are countless variations you can do on this basic excersize. The example below is what my friend devin was doing for a while to work on his string skipping. As you can see, it's a variation on the one above; the note order is the same, but you play on non-adjacent strings. |---------------------------------------------------------| |-----------------------------------------1-2-3-4---------| |-------------------------1-2-3-4-----------------1-2-3-4-| |---------1-2-3-4-----------------1-2-3-4-----------------| |-----------------1-2-3-4---------------------------------| |-1-2-3-4-------------------------------------------------| |-1-2-3-4---------------------------------------------------------| |-----------------2-3-4-5-----------------------------------------| |---------2-3-4-5-----------------2-3-4-5-------------------------| |-------------------------2-3-4-5-----------------2-3-4-5---------| |-----------------------------------------2-3-4-5-----------------| |---------------------------------------------------------3-4-5-6-| etc. This time, we're going to vary the note order along each string. |-----------------------------------------1-3-2-4---------| |---------------------------------1-3-2-4---------2-4-3-5-| |-------------------------1-3-2-4-------------------------| |-----------------1-3-2-4---------------------------------| |---------1-3-2-4-----------------------------------------| |-1-3-2-4-------------------------------------------------| |-----------------------------------------| |-----------------------------------------| |-2-4-3-5---------------------------------| |---------2-4-3-5-------------------------| |-----------------2-4-3-5---------3-5-4-6-| |-------------------------2-4-3-5---------| etc. This variation makes a great string-skipping workout, and actually sounds moderately cool, in an angular sort of way- basically, you're playing a lot of flatted 5th intervals (except for the section on the G and B strings, but ignore that). It looks pretty scary, but once you get the feel for the pattern it goes pretty well. |-----------------------------------2---4-------------------------| |---------------------------2---4-1---3-----3---5-----------------| |-------------------2---4-1---3-----------2---4-----3---5---------| |-----------2---4-1---3---------------------------2---4-----3---5-| |---2---4-1---3-------------------------------------------2---4---| |-1---3-----------------------------------------------------------| |-------------------------| |-------------------------| |-------------------4---6-| |-----------4---6-3---5---| |---3---5-3---5-----------| |-2---4-------------------| etc. This one takes the last one up a degree, in terms of skipping: |-----------------------4-------------------------------6-| |---------------4---2-----------5---------------6---4-----| |-------4---2---------3-----3-----------5---4---------5---| |---2---------3---1-----------4-----3---------5---3-------| |-----3---1---------------2-----------4---3---------------| |-1-------------------------------2-----------------------| etc. And these two can be done as either sweeping or alternate picking drills. |-----------------------4-------------------------| |---------------4-----3---------5---------------6-| |-------4-----3-----2---------4---------5-----5---| |-----3-----2-----1---------3---------4-----4-----| |---2-----1---------------2---------3-----3-------| |-1-------------------------------2---------------| etc. -or- |-1-------------------------------2---------------| |---2-----1---------------2---------3-----3-------| |-----3-----2-----1---------3---------4-----4-----| |-------4-----3-----2---------4---------5-----5---| |---------------4-----3---------5---------------6-| |-----------------------4-------------------------| etc. Now on to real chromatic scales. This is probably the easiest fingering for a chromatic scale on the neck of a guitar. |-----------------------------------------0-1-2-3-4-3-2-1-----------------| |---------------------------------1-2-3-4-----------------5-4-3-2---------| |-------------------------1-2-3-4---------------------------------5-4-3-2-| |-----------------2-3-4-5-------------------------------------------------| |---------3-4-5-6---------------------------------------------------------| |-4-5-6-7-----------------------------------------------------------------| |-----------------------------------------------------------------5-4-3-2-| |---------------------------------------------------------6-5-4-3---------| |-------------------------------------------------6-5-4-3-----------------| |-6-5-4-3---------------------------------7-6-5-4-------------------------| |---------7-6-5-4-----------------8-7-6-5---------------------------------| |-----------------8-7-6-5-6-7-8-9-----------------------------------------| etc. * At the point marked with the star above, you could simply move down one fret to the G# you started on and have played 3 complete octaves of a chromatic scale from G# to G#. However, if you keep going, you have a picking drill that takes you all over the fretboard and is loaded with half-step position shifts (on all strings except from the G to B and from the B to G). Alternately, you could do something like this on a single string: |---------------------------------------------------------------------| |---------------------------------------------------------------------| |---------------------------------------------------------------------| |---------------------------------------------------------------------| |---------------------------------------------------------------------| |-1-2-3-4-3-2-2-3-4-5-4-3-3-4-5-6-5-4-4-5-6-7-6-5-5-6-7-8-7-6-6-7-8-9-| Once again, this pattern looks a lot more daunting than it really is; go up 3 frets above where you started, go back down 2, then shift your index finger up one fret (hence the repeated note every 7 notes) and repeat the pattern. The problem with these drills is they aren't terribly musical, and, John Petrucci aside, you're not likely to be doing long chromatic runs in any of your solos. However, they're a great workout, and they'll help your playing immensely. Good luck, practice these carefully, and enjoy. :o)