Sunday, September 20, 2009
Learning the Guitar's Neck by Using Zones
Lately I've been engaged in a little experiment to help me better learn my guitar's neck. Basically, I've divided the neck into three zones, and limit myself to playing in only one of these zones for a period of time. The three zones are as follows:
1. Open strings up to the eighth fret (Zone one)
2. The ninth fret to the twelfth fret (Zone two)
3. The thirteenth fret and above (Zone three)
Lately I've been focusing on the first zone. I put a small piece of white tape across my ninth fret under the strings and don't allow myself to play any licks or runs that touch this fret or any frets above it. In a few more months I plan to put small pieces of tape on the eighth and frets and limit myself to this zone. Finally, I'll do the same with the fret and above. Of course, my three zones are arbitrary, and you could divide your neck into four zones or however else you see fit.
I've been using this approach for about six weeks now, and I am finding that it works wonders for helping me learn all the positions for a given chord/harmony in a given zone. For example, I'm working on several Django tunes in G major (Confessin', Djangology, I Can't Give You Anything But Love, etc.), and I now know G major, D dominant seven, E dominant seven positions, and so on all over the neck between the open string up to the eighth fret.
I believe in breaking major tasks (learning harmonic areas all over the guitar's neck) into smaller, more manageable ones (the zone approach). Also, this approach is more challenging in that you are forced to do more with less. If you are finding learning positions on the neck overwhelming, try this zone approach for a while and see what happens.
1. Open strings up to the eighth fret (Zone one)
2. The ninth fret to the twelfth fret (Zone two)
3. The thirteenth fret and above (Zone three)
Lately I've been focusing on the first zone. I put a small piece of white tape across my ninth fret under the strings and don't allow myself to play any licks or runs that touch this fret or any frets above it. In a few more months I plan to put small pieces of tape on the eighth and frets and limit myself to this zone. Finally, I'll do the same with the fret and above. Of course, my three zones are arbitrary, and you could divide your neck into four zones or however else you see fit.
I've been using this approach for about six weeks now, and I am finding that it works wonders for helping me learn all the positions for a given chord/harmony in a given zone. For example, I'm working on several Django tunes in G major (Confessin', Djangology, I Can't Give You Anything But Love, etc.), and I now know G major, D dominant seven, E dominant seven positions, and so on all over the neck between the open string up to the eighth fret.
I believe in breaking major tasks (learning harmonic areas all over the guitar's neck) into smaller, more manageable ones (the zone approach). Also, this approach is more challenging in that you are forced to do more with less. If you are finding learning positions on the neck overwhelming, try this zone approach for a while and see what happens.
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