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It must be understood that there is no efficient technical development without a constant intellectual effort on behalf of the student” -Abel Carlevaro
First of all we need to clarify what technique actually is and what the term means. Technique is a word which is constantly brought up whenever we talk about playing an instrument. When we aim to develop great technique then it means that we are striving to get what we want from the guitar in the most, economical, effortless manner.
It is important to understand that exercises need to be practiced correctly as performing them wrongly or without thought to what you are doing can be doing more harm than good.
As a general guideline when asked on the subject of exercises I feel that the most important exercises we can do for maintaining and developing guitar technique are the basic building blocks of:
- Scales (Major, Minor, Chromatic)
- Arpeggios
- Slurs (hammer on and pull off for the folk guitarists)
- Exercises which develop stretch
- Exercises which develop the angle of which we touch the string.
These exercises keep the hands in shape and keep the proper form or hand positions for maximum ease and efficiency of playing.
The great thing about exercises is that they are open ended which means that they are never mastered. There is always room for improvement whether it we wish to acquire more accuracy, speed, agility, stretch etc.
As playing an instrument is very physical, I feel even the most fundamental exercises should be done regularly. Our entire body is made of muscles, tissues and nerves and if exercises are neglected then over time then the brain connection to these nerves and muscles will become weaker and your physical capability for being able to play well will deteriorate. If we think of exercises as the equivalent of a boxer jumping a rope or punching a heavy bag, we can understand that what we are doing is not the actual activity of playing music but it is the preparation that is essential in preparing our bodies to play music with the greatest ease and expression. With this in mind I try to encourage that even as little as 10 to 20 minutes a day of good solid practice on well selected exercises will make huge strides in developing and maintaining your technique.
