legatto technique

[flying_whale]

Hello everyone.
Steve, i read in an interview in a magazine some while ago that you like legatto a lot, so what exercises do you recommend for developing a solid legatto technique.
And i have some questions about how to play this lick about the fingering
e 14 h15
b 10h11
g
d
a
e

should i do a position shift and play both things with the 1 and 2 fingers or do 1and2 for the notes on the B string and 3 and 4 for the notes on the high e? I really dig this harmonic minor lick i came up with or heard somewhere. I am practicing this lick but i dunno which way to practice it cause i want to be able to play it really fast.

And what exercises would you guys and steve recommend for 3 strings sweeps with legatto notes added. on some strings. I have down arpeggios on 3 strings, major and minor 7ths and some shapes from a page that was posted here a while back. I am stil working on sweeping fast a diminshed shape on 3 strings, g, b and high e.
thanks.
paul

 

[Noumenon]

doing these are great:
9p5h7h9p7p5
8p5h7h8p7p5
7p4h5h7p5p4

The 2nd one is the hardest IMHO, so focus on that one!

 

[JBroll]

Hello everyone.
Steve, i read in an interview in a magazine some while ago that you like legatto a lot, so what exercises do you recommend for developing a solid legatto technique.
And i have some questions about how to play this lick about the fingering
e 14 h15
b 10h11
g
d
a
e

should i do a position shift and play both things with the 1 and 2 fingers or do 1and2 for the notes on the B string and 3 and 4 for the notes on the high e? I really dig this harmonic minor lick i came up with or heard somewhere. I am practicing this lick but i dunno which way to practice it cause i want to be able to play it really fast.

Don't forget that you can play it on the 14th and 15th frets on the G and E strings if you want to play it really fast (and can string skip with any proficiency. That might help a wee bit.

And what exercises would you guys and steve recommend for 3 strings sweeps with legatto notes added. on some strings. I have down arpeggios on 3 strings, major and minor 7ths and some shapes from a page that was posted here a while back. I am stil working on sweeping fast a diminshed shape on 3 strings, g, b and high e.
thanks.
paul

For the diminished shapes it may help you to use your third finger on the G string and your fourth finger when you play the same fret on the E string - sometimes people have trouble using their pinky on the G string and lower and the ring finger isn't always as effective for those three-fret stretches in some areas of the neck on the E string.

Noumenon, those are all based on a three-note pattern 3 1 2 3 2 1 and one of those shapes shouldn't be much harder than any of the other possibilities, what's giving you the problems with that one?

Jeff

 

[Noumenon]

Jeff, my ringfinger vs. pinky
Most ppl are pretty weak in those two together, need more practice!
but still 3 1 2 3 2 1 is great

 

[JBroll]

You tried doing that one with middle and ring fingers?

Real fun exercising those two wimpy fingers would be playing the 2nd one with middle, ring, and pinky. That should fix you right up.

Jeff

 

[Noumenon]

Yeah, but I'm from a school where you should always use your pinky if you can, so it's actually kinda funny that I'm a bit weaker in the ring-pinky

I usually to these for finger strength/independence:
2121212121
3131313131
4141414141
3232323232
4242424242
4343434343

and then back again.

 

[flying_whale]

i'm going all these exercises that you guys recomended, trilling too latelty and some of the exercise satriani recommends in different videos and magazines, but i feel that i'm not getting very far, especiallly when shifting strings or playing very far up the neck on any other string than the 1st and 2nd string (i have problems on the 2nd strings sometimes too).
So what other exercises do you guys recommend?
BTW, Steve did you have a leggatto practice routine ?
thanks!

 

[kmanick]

Richie Kotzen put out a video back in he 80's called "Rock Chops" it's on REH video.
he'got insane Legatto and he shows a ton patterns to practice with all kinds of fingering combinations.
He also has a bunch of Sweep/Tap shapes that he shows as well. GET IT!
it's a great video.
Petruccis Rock discipline has some decent legatto exercises too but IMO
Kotzens video is much better.
If you've never heard Kotzen (I don't kow how old you are)
here's are a couple of clips from that video

YouTube - Guitar Lesson - Richie Kotzen
YouTube - Richie Kotzen - Reh Video Intro

YouTube - Richie Kotzen's Rock Chops - Example 25-26

live solo (sit throught the first 2 minutes of bluesy chops and he let's loose)
YouTube - Richie Kotzen Guitar Solo (Mr. Big, Farewell Live in Japan)

 

[Calamitas1786]

Watching those, who would have thought he'd join Poison?

 

[kmanick]

I know talk about "under utilization of talent"

 

[Zakatron]

Noumenon, right on bro with those exercises... They're are apart of the Ultimate Legato Builder.
To answer to your question lord, if there's one cd-rom.dvd you have to buy that'll help with your overall guitarplaying, it's Rusty Cooley's "Shred Guitar Manifesto". On there is his half hour "Legato Workout" here you work on 2 finger exercises, 3 finger exercises and eventually 4 finger exercises... All of them are in different xombinations (eg. 2 finger exercises, group 1-2, 2-3, 3-4, 1-3, 2-4, 1-4 etc.)... These eventually move on and include straetches over time.
The good thing is you only pick one note when ascending, and not picking any descending (in fretboard position, not pitch)... The other good thing is, you will notice improvment IMMEDIATELY... I can garuntee that.
I always warm up with Rusty's "Legato Workout".
Get it at www.chopsfromhell.com