Hi, Mr. Tomo,
I really appreciate your enthusiasm for helping your students!
I’m new here—I just subscribed to GM this month.
I’ve been playing in a punk rock band for over 20 years but was always lazy when it came to improving my guitar skills.
Now, I feel ashamed of that laziness, so I’ve decided to start fresh and practice every day from the ground up.
Currently, I’m working on the following exercises:
- Chromatic scale (without a metronome)
- Picking open strings for 30 seconds each, using a metronome at 40 bpm
- C major scale on two strings, following the "FT Learning the Fretboard Without Memorization" method
I have some bad habits with both hands, and my playing tends to be noisy. Because of this, I feel I should focus on these foundational exercises for at least 2 to 3 months before moving on to triads or anything more advanced.
By the way, my band has a gig planned for next August, so I need to practice our setlist.
However, based on your method, it seems best to prioritize fundamental exercises first.
That brings me to my question:
Would it be more effective to stick with only these exercises, or should I mix in other exercises as well?
I feel that focusing solely on these will help me correct my bad habits, but I’d love to hear your thoughts!
Additionally, I'm also struggling with the form of my right hand's thumb.
So if you don't mind, check it out please.
In the first part of the video, I only play each open string a few times since doing it for 30 seconds per string would be too time-consuming.
The latter part of the video, I'm playing chromatic exercises.
Thanks in advance for your advice.
Best
Hi Hiro! Ken, a fellow flat picker here. There’s a thread I started some time back called :Picking to Deep”. You can search for it and find it easily. The video I posted initially in the thread is followed up by several videos that Tomo made specifically addressing the floating picking style that he uses.
You might want to check it out.
Welcome to guitar wisdom! You are in a great space.
Ken, from Northern California
Thanks, Ken!
I've checked out your thread, "Picking Too Deep," several times—it's fantastic!
Tomo's additional videos are incredibly valuable and helpful. I really appreciate you putting this thread!
By the way, this forum is such a great resource, and it motivates me a lot.
Keep up the great work!
Hiro from Japan
You’re welcome. Tomo leaves no stone unturned! Best teacher around with deep passion for his students to learn guitar well!
Thank you Ken for your kind words!
Tomo