While teaching students guitar I started noticing how awkward and
uncomfortable most of my students are with using their right hand to
pick the strings. I know from experience that the best way to get
comfortable with something is to do it over and over again. Here in
lies a series of exercises meant to make just about any combination
one might come across in guitar music feel comfortable and easy.
These exercises are written on open strings so the student only has
to concentrate on working the right hand. Some exercises don’t
necessarily have a pretty sound to them as they are not written for
melodic or harmonic purposes. There are many exercises in here that
are very similar to other exercises but with a slight difference.
As I have tried to cover most of the awkward picking patterns I am
sure I have not covered all of them. Students working on the right
hand should use the exercises in this book as warm ups and technical
exercises. Remember to keep the fingers in the right hand close
together while playing these and concentrate on relaxing the fingers
all the way up to the shoulder blade.
