Tomo Fujita Guitar Wisdom

Great work Scott!
You are getting it. It is so challenging.
Thank you for sharing!
Kurt

Good job Scott! I was surprised at how well you muted! Let's keep going!

Hi Scott, getting better every time! Well done and keep at it.

A few minutes every day will get you there Scott. Keeping R37 in check is a must. All kinds of progress to be achieved on this exercise and the list is long. Always good reminders and tips all around, ears wide open. Get on the groove for more in 2026!! You got this, :) - johno

Hi Tomo , I got the question when you play blues with the metronome set for beats 2 and 4, do you emphasize those beats? I can hear that you play a strong downstroke on the chord for 2 and 4, and use a muted upstroke. Do you pressing harder on the upstroke? Thank you and kind regards Wojciech from Poland

My pleasure! Your post is so inspiring to all of us! Thanks so much! Yes! So much fun!

Tomo

Hah! That's most of us Scott! Good stuff - keep at it.

I need that shirt too. I tend to go way to fast. I am destructive like that. Well done Scott

Thank you Tomo so much for these bonus lessons!
I learn something every time.
Guess what?
This is #150 on the Guitar Wisdom Supplemental Video Playlist!
You've shared so much Guitar Wisdom with us. WE're up to #152 already. Going to be a great New Year!
Please keep going :-)
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLENaipLZZvuSe09K52-fo1VPMLrWfJa46
Kurt

Thanks for the playlist Kurt!
That is really helpful.
Saved it.

Thank you Tomo. Let's keep going.

Hi Tomo,

Happy New Year.

Question, are you avoiding hitting the B and high E string? I am having a hard time muting those strings and they tend to ring out.

Keith, I think the B and High E are supposed to be muted by your forefinger. It helps me to place it at an angle. I always have to keep that high E in check.

My pleasure jh! I am so glad to be helpful! You got it! Slow tempo but fast & wide strum!

Tomo

Yes! Still super fast arpeggios! I think you should not use a metronome so that you can play as slow as you can. Plus you can focus on that beat / down beat / ONE SHOT! You should do only Bb7 for a while (until you can catch this topic clearly) This technique is very hard! Move your body more and no metronome so you can focus on both hand timing.

Good job! I am very happy that what you are doing! I teach this part so deeply when I am teaching via tape lessons. I keep same topics for a long time! More than a year!

While you count or feel a tempo, you need to move your body and move your arm as if you are already playing that part. Your arm not moving while you are counting and right before your first beat, your arm not moving wide enough.

Tomo

Ok.
I’ll practice just Bb.
No metronome.
Concentrate on just the down beat and make sure it’s all one sound.
Make sure that my arm is moving wide enough.
This is something like the fifth time you’ve told me I need to move my body more so I guess I better actually start doing it lol.
Thanks for the honest feedback Tomo.
I’d rather know when something is wrong than to think I’m doing it right when it’s actually wrong.

It sounds so great! But when you think about this R 3 7 Swing Groove details.... that's my honesty! The Musicmaster Bass amp is so good! Happy New Year! 2026 will be so special for everyone!

Tomo

This is actually pretty awesome, I think.
The music is the truth, and honesty is the result.

Rich, I think Tomo is saying make your right hand strum faster?
It does sound like a fast arpeggio.

Johno you are right!
Just a few minutes a day, ...I thought I am going a little nuts when I first tried this last month. Because I thought it is easy.

But it is deep, in my humble opinion as a beginner, just like Tomo said earlier.

Thank you for lighting up this dark night, twisty mountain road Scott, right behind you. The view from the top must be amazing man!

Thanks Johno.
Thanks for even listening.
R37 swing at this tempo can be very boring.
I m digging that amp as a practice amp.
You really do hear every detail so it’s forcing me to use good technique.
Happy New Year!

Richard, I love your wide strumming up and down. Really good. Nice muting technique, too. Great work. Very inspiring to me. I always have to start out adjusting everything until I get the right technique down, then it comes together. Let's keep going together!

Sounds like a good strum to me Rich, in my most humble opinion.

That's kind of where I'm at too.
Seems easier for me when I stand up, The body movement and more muting seems to come with the keith richards elbow swing thing Tomo mentioned, seems easier to relax my shoulders as well (shoulder tension is a problem i work on for me).

Great job Rich! That's fast enough so you can start practicing with slow tempo and groove it! Please don't use a metronome for a while so you can focus on slow tempo and fast strumming. And great tone from your guitar and amp!

Tomo

Thank you Tomo.
Happy New Year.
I am resolved to taking all these practice foundations even slower this year. (Chromatics, R37, and triads).
I am putting complete faith in your teaching expertise in hopes that I will truly build a strong foundation that will no longer crumble.

I love your commitment Richard. Feels too fast to me still and perhaps you are hitting too hard or pressing too hard on your fingers. Keep it up. I have been here but the holidays kicked my butt. Cheers 2026

Thank you Tomo!

It's almost 8pm here on the west coast.
Raining all day. Went to see part two of the wizard of oz movie with our girls.
(good actually, highly recommended)
I have a chest cold and was lying in bed.
But when I saw your video, I got up to try again! I want to get this down, looks fun! (and I want to do that funk rhythm stuff you are doing eventually, so cool!!)

It is a deep exercise.
"So many ways to hold the frets"...I am starting to understand only after trying this exercise a little bit every day.

Man, I am super grateful to be alive and fortunate enough to have my fingers, hands, arms and body working, and to have these amazing amps, guitars.

Super grateful to practice now slowly with you all. We are learning together like Kazafumi says! Thank you Tomo, for your kind and patient instruction and making this place with George and Sammi.

Alright, I have to hit send and turn on my amps now, haha!

You're very welcome Sunil! I would love to work on foundations in 2026! Hope you feel better! Having a good health is number one priority in life. I need to workout more often in 2026! Thanks so much! I am so grateful! Good job!

Tomo

Thank you Tomo, I am well! I have a little asthma, when I get a cold that stays, it becomes bronchitis. I have an inhaler that helps a little until my immune system overcomes the cold virus until recovery.
I agree about health!
Actually I started walking after seeing your 'have a great day' videos on utbe around same time I re-commited to guitar wisdom and practice oct/nov. Now I am walking up to 4.5 miles a day. I need a belt, or new pants now too haha.
We have a friend in Somerville, near Boston. Went to their place for thanksgiving one year. On the way to her house from the airport, I was surprise to see people running at dawn in the snow! I feel like my head freezes solid if it's below 55F, haha.
Tomo you have to get a treadmill or some weights for circuit training (light weights, high reps...3x/day, like guitar during winter! I think Sammi will know what ct is) for whole year workouts. Over here, in Pleasanton it gets super hot in the summers. Hoping to go walking at dawn then.
All I know is I tend to feel better physically and mentally, with a little bit of moving around everyday. Makes so much sense. Human history is only 8000 years. But human beings have been around about three hundred thousand years.
I think most of human history is written in our genes and how we evolved in this biosphere, this ball we live on.
Great thoughts and action, inspired by Guitar Wisdom! Thank you Tomo. Thank you TFGW fam for making this place fun to keep learning together.
Also foundations is the key! I think haha.
Committing to foundations practice.
Ok...already broke my less words resolution... :)

Being sensitive with asthma.. you need to take care of yourself good. Thanks for sharing. Walking is very good! I do it very often. I would like to work on "streatching" my body more. I have a treadmill here. Thank you so much! A lot of inspiration from Guitar Wisdom myself. Yes! Foundation is very important! Thank you!

Tomo

I've heard yoga is excellent for stretching and health.

My dad had a funny story about yoga.

When he immigrated here in 1961 from Kerala, India where ayurvedic medicine and yoga are the culture, he said he went to an Indian "gathering" but soon found out it was a Native American tribal gathering open to the public. He had mentioned yoga to someone there.
And there response was that it was "devil worship". Fast forward to 2010 Oakland-Berkeley, California...when we told this story, yoga was super-hip, and still is. It was so funny the way he told it.

But my exposure to yoga was walking into his room as a kid, early mornings hanging out while he got ready for work.
I would often find him standing on his head, and I enjoyed the conversations we had while I talked to his head where his feet usually were. :)

I have heard Tomo say that the movement of the pick is normal, and it should correct itself with the next upstroke. I have innately started holding my pick with my thumb and middle fingers and resting my index finger on the outside edge of the pick to stabilize it. I saw a video where James Hetfield does it that way, but I don’t know if that is considered the correct way.

Thank you Andrew for encouragement! This thing is very deep! The door for my Just Funky! My pleasure! I really appreciate Scott and Rich for their passion.

Very subtle yet that both hand timing is so important. Fast down stroke that can strum all the 6 strings at once (almost!)

Yes! A pick is supposed to moving back and forth so you should not hold it too tight. This technique is very hard! Not easy at all.

Happy New Year!

Tomo

It's a good question Andrew.

I think you have feel it out each practice session. Deep, to me as another student trying this too, means incremental changes that may not be subjectively perceivable, until there are a large accumulation of changes. Like watching grains added to a heap of sand, there will be no movement, then avalanche, and this pattern kind of repeats like that, as long as grains are added.

In every video of Tomo I have examined at gw and utbe, it seems he makes minor adjustments to bring the pick back to the first joint of the rh index finger (that is what I suspect by trying to do this myself over some weeks).

Tomo also mentions things like keeping a line of picks on the table near him. Then when he drops a pick, he just quickly gets another one. Handy to have many of the same pick.

In another video, I remember Tomo talking about how the pick moves, like twists left and right in the plane it sits in as it is held between thumb and index finger.

Andrew I have wondered the same. But I don't know as well, which ok. (Please see Tomo's axioms, also consider things like "faith" or doing without expectation, that is helping me a lot... :))

I am trying to see if my strums can somehow wiggle the puck back into place but not worrying about it too much.

I also get the feeling, as I'm strumming, standing, chicken-winging...that it's all a bit like juggling. A lot of moving parts for something that looks soooo simple, hahaha!

The thing is, I am starting to love that there are no answers. Just me and you, and Tomo, everyone trying to figure stuff out...at vastly different scales, but always learning together.

Keep going man!
Let's keep learning together.
You are making progress, even if you don't see it everyday.
I believe that is the power of foundation practice ✊🏾

I find myself holding smaller picks like this. With the middle finger and the pointer securing it.

LaVoy that is so interesting to me!
Scott said something similar I think above.

I tried to avoid picks my whole life.
It never occurred to me use the middle and index finger.

But I love the sound of the koto, sitar, veena, the chinese zithers guqin, guzheng, banjo and classical(/spanish/moorish?) and electric guitar. I know there are so many more but I am not sure how they fit together historically, in terms of development...must have been a lot of people on the old trade routes taking and playing these on their travels.

The electric guitar seems to be pick-optional, but of all the instruments above it has the least restrictive pick, it seems.

Interesting (but probably not helpful here 😅) to consider history of the pick.

That is awesome Tomo. Thank you.
12 min video so much greater than the werdz. Interaction is key. I am learning.

I didn't see your micro-adjustments after several strums in this video. But now, I realize I gotta twist the wrist slightly.

(I can hear Jeff telling me to make videos, I will, you are right maaan! :))

My pleasure Sunil! Good job! Glad to be helpful~

Tomo

Happy New Year jh! My pleasure! I love this place!

Tomo

Great job! Sounds so good! Yes! Correct way now. You fixed it. Be careful that do not move your wrist that much.

Now it's time to practice slower and a little softer.

Tomo

Ok. Thank you.