KW Guitar Tip #7 – Improving Your Playing With Chromatic Scales

In my last post I mentioned that I will be writing about chromatic scales.  That post was a couple of weeks ago and I am thankful for  guest authors Mariette  and Bob.  In the meantime I was practicing my chromatic scales everyday!

One of the aspects of playing the guitar I find most difficult is staying in top form.  That is, the feeling that I am on top of my game and my fingers feel strong and loose.  Well, that is what a couple of weeks of playing chromatic scales did for me!

At slow tempos, chromatic scales teach all your fingers to move independently by strengthening each finger.  At  fast speeds something totally different and amazing happens – but lets talk about slow tempos first.

Practice the above scale slowly at first, exaggerating  the movements with all of your fingers.  Always use a metronome and slowly speed the tempo up, until you reach a point where you are making mistakes.  That tempo marking is your saturation point.  Memorize or write the marking down and see if you can beat it in your next practice session.

Several important aspects are helping you develop your technique:

1. chromatic scales improve your finger strength.

2. chromatic scales develop elasticity in your fingers.

3. at slow tempos they develop finger coordination and independence.

At higher tempos chromatic scales develop incredible efficiency in hand positions because your hand starts to work as a single unit, rather than 4 separate parts.  For me, this meant I could play faster and more accurately because all my fingers were staying closer to the frets!

Give it a try for seven days and let me know how it goes.

Stephen Zurakowsky

Artistic Director

KW Guitar Society