SizzlinShred
The Guitar

Practise like an experiment.

Change one variable at a time. Measure. Repeat daily. Most guitarists stall because they practise everything at once and so can't tell what is improving. The method here is the opposite: shrink the problem until it is easy, then grow it on purpose.

I · The Path

One string, then two, then the whole neck.

Three phases, in order. Don't move on until the current phase is boring.

  1. PHASE I

    The Monochord

    Linear mastery. Play the C major scale up and down a single string. On one string the guitar becomes a ruler: a whole step is two frets, a half step is one. You learn the scale as a shape in distance before you learn it as a box.

    Done when: you can play C major on every string, up and down, without looking, at 80 BPM in eighth notes.

    Exercise: Monochord on low E →
  2. PHASE II

    The Connector

    Interval logic. Add a second string. Play 3rds, 4ths, 5ths and 6ths as pairs of notes. Intervals are the atoms of harmony: every chord is a stack of them, and each one has a sound you can learn to name.

    Done when: you can play diatonic 3rds and 6ths in C on any adjacent string pair, including across the G–B pair.

    Exercise: 6ths on G and E →
  3. PHASE III

    Fluid Dynamics

    Freedom. Combine horizontal movement (along a string) with vertical movement (across strings). Improvise with triads that you move across the whole neck, not one fixed box.

    Done when: you can follow a two-chord vamp anywhere on the neck using only its triads.

    Exercise: triad pairs →

Fact vs. analogy. Intervals really are frequency ratios, for example 3:2 for a pure fifth. A guitar fretted in equal temperament plays approximations of those ratios: its fifth is about 2 cents narrow and its major third about 14 cents wide. See the Science page for why.

II · The Lab

Four constraint experiments.

A constraint forces discovery. Each experiment takes something away so you notice something new.

EXPERIMENT 1

Mini-positions

Improvise for five minutes using only two adjacent strings. With so few notes available, you have to make phrases out of rhythm, repetition and dynamics instead of running scales.

EXPERIMENT 2

Modal vamps

Start a drone on low E. Play only the notes of C major (no sharps or flats). You are now playing E Phrygian. Hear how the F, a half step above the drone, darkens everything. Move the drone to D and the same notes become D Dorian.

Open the drone →
EXPERIMENT 3

Polychords

Play a G major triad (G B D) over a C bass. Measured from C, those notes are the 5th, major 7th and 9th, so the result is a C major 9 sound with no 3rd. Simple parts make a complex whole.

EXPERIMENT 4

Temporal mechanics

Superimpose 3 against 4. Group straight eighth notes in threes over a 4/4 pulse. The accent drifts across the bar line and only realigns with beat 1 after three bars (24 eighths, the lowest common multiple of 3 and 8).

Exercise: 3 over 4 →
III · The Daily Ritual

Thirty minutes. Every day.

Consistency beats intensity. Thirty focused minutes a day does more than a three-hour session once a week, because skills are consolidated between sessions. Start the timer and it walks you through the blocks, with a soft chime at each change.

  1. 00–05
    Monochord warm-up. C major up and down one string, index finger only. Change string each day.
  2. 05–15
    Interval study. Diatonic 6ths on the G and high E strings. Then the same on D and B.
  3. 15–25
    Triad pairs. Alternate C and D major triads over a C drone. That is the Lydian sound.
  4. 25–30
    3 against 4. Eighth notes accenting every third note, metronome on quarters.
Ritual timer

Ready: Monochord warm-up

30:00

When you finish, the session is saved to your log automatically. Stopping early logs the minutes you actually played.

IV · The Armory

Exercises, written out.

Tab reads from the top line (high E) down to the bottom line (low E). Numbers are frets. Start every exercise slower than feels necessary.

WARM-UP

Chromatic spider walk

Start at 60 BPM, eighth notes
e|------------------------------------1-2-3-4-|
B|----------------------------1-2-3-4---------|
G|--------------------1-2-3-4-----------------|
D|------------1-2-3-4-------------------------|
A|----1-2-3-4---------------------------------|
E|1-2-3-4-------------------------------------|
  1 2 3 4  (fingers)
  • One finger per fret, and keep each finger down until it's needed elsewhere.
  • Then come back down. Then move the whole thing up one fret and repeat.
  • Goal: fingers hover close to the strings. Efficiency is the skill.
PHASE I

Monochord: C major on low E

60–80 BPM, quarter notes
E|-0--1--3--5--7--8--10--12--13--15--17--19--20-|
   E  F  G  A  B  C  D   E   F   G   A   B   C
  • Index finger only, so you feel every distance with your arm.
  • Say the note names aloud. Notice where the half steps are: E–F and B–C, one fret apart.
  • Then do it on all six strings. No sharps, no flats.
PHASE II

Diatonic 6ths on G and high E

60 BPM, half notes, let them ring
e|-0---1---3---5---7---8---10--12--|
B|---------------------------------|
G|-0---2---4---5---7---9---10--12--|
   E   F   G   A   B   C   D   E    (top)
   G   A   B   C   D   E   F   G    (bottom)
  • Pick the G string with your pick and the high E with your middle finger (hybrid picking), or mute the B string with the underside of your fretting finger.
  • Same fret = major 6th. One fret lower on top = minor 6th. Hear the difference: the major 6ths are G–E, C–A, D–B and F–D.
  • The G–B trap: every adjacent string pair is tuned a 4th apart except G and B, which are a major 3rd apart. That is why shapes shift by one fret when they cross that pair.
PHASE III

Triad pair: C and D over C

Drone on C, slow and even
e|-3---5---3---5---|
B|-5---7---5---7---|
G|-5---7---5---7---|
   C   D   C   D
  • Over a C drone, C major (C E G) plus D major (D F♯ A) gives six of the seven notes of C Lydian. The F♯ is the bright, floating raised 4th.
  • Arpeggiate them, then improvise using only these six notes.

Correction to the old version of this page: F and G triads over C were described as Lydian. They aren't. F contains F natural, the ordinary 4th, so F + G over C is the plain major (Ionian) sound. For Lydian you need the raised 4th (F♯), which the D triad supplies.

RHYTHM

Polyrhythmic accents: 3 over 4

Metronome on quarters, 70 BPM
Bar:    | 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & | 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & | 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & |
Accent: | >     >     >   |   >     >     > |     >     >     |
Count:  | 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 | 3 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 | 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3 |
  • Play steady eighth notes on one note and accent every third one.
  • It takes three bars (24 eighth notes) for the accent to land on beat 1 again.
  • Then do it on a scale: the accents make a melody of their own.
Open the metronome →
MODES

Dorian: the symmetrical minor

Over a D drone

Dorian's formula is 1 2 ♭3 4 5 6 ♭7. Its pattern of steps, W H W W W H W, reads the same forwards and backwards, which is why it is called symmetrical. It is a minor scale with a major 6th, which gives it its bittersweet, not tragic, colour.

D Dorian uses the same notes as C major, starting from D. See and hear it on the neck:

Open D Dorian on the fretboard
V · Your log

What gets measured gets practised.

Stored only in this browser. Nothing is sent anywhere.

Streak
0 days
This week
0 min
All time
0 min
Sessions
0

Recent sessions

  • No sessions yet. Start the ritual timer above.