Left hand
- Maintaining an appropriate free left-hand shape which facilitates accurate placement of the fingers
- recognising and playing with secure intonation
- developing speed, strength and flexibility of finger action
- beginning elementary position work, including simple shifts
- beginning to develop various tone colours through hammer-ons and pull-offs on open strings, slides and string bends
Teach learners to play exercises, scales and arpeggios that include left-hand positional changes.
By ear, and from notation, teach learners some pieces that incorporate positional changes.
Demonstrate how a tune can be played using several positions.
Teach some hammer-on and pull-off exercises for the left hand on open strings. Ask learners to experiment with these techniques in familiar tunes, aiming for a steady rhythm and a clear tone.
Show learners how to add slides to a well-known tune so as to embellish the melodic line.
Demonstrate a three-octave pentatonic scale incorporating slides. Ask learners to copy the scale and then use it to improvise over a relevant chord progression.
This is an effective way of achieving position changes fluently and accurately.
Listen to some two- and three-note slides. Devise some exercises that incorporate them. Ask learners to play them, emphasising the need for smoothness and rhythmic accuracy.
An example of a two-note slide occurs in 50’s rock-n-roll ‘Johnny B. Goode’; an example of a three-note slide occurs in ‘So Far Away’ by Dire Straits.
Help learners to learn some riffs that include string bends.
Learners should pay attention to the string gauge during this activity. The G string may need to be lightened to achieve the full tone bend. A ’16’ is recommended, especially for younger learners, otherwise intonation may be a problem.
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