I'm going to start this page off with a drill or an exercise if you will. Throughout my years of teaching experience, I've found that every student eventually hits a wall in the development of their technique...

LEFT AND RIGHT HAND COMMUNICATION.

Seems simple enough. After all, that's what guitar playing's all about physically. BUT, if your hands and fingers aren't communicating properly, all those nifty bits you're trying to play are gonna sound sloppy.

First, we have to figure out exactly where the problems are. How can we fix something we don't know is broken? We need to pinpoint the trouble spots and that's where this little exercise comes in handy.

Start with your first finger on the 3rd string at the 5th fret, your second finger on the 6th fret, third finger on the 7th and little finger on the 8th so they're lined up nice and neat in a straight line on one string.

At a moderate tempo, say 60 beats per minute, try picking eighth notes one at a time starting from your first finger.

Gradually increase your pick and finger speed evenly while trying to keep each note clear and defined. Here's eighths at about 120 bpm (depending on your browser).

As you go faster you'll probably reach a level at which you lose control and that's the magic point right there! There's your wall. Now let's figure out precisely what went wrong.

Is there a problem with your picking?

Keep your first finger on the starting fret and without changing the note, get your pick hand to duplicate the speed at which the exercise fell apart. You should be able to pick in pulses of four, smoothly and with definition. If this is a problem, well at least we've identified it and that's the point! To help increase control, make sure your pick and thumb are angled slightly downward towards the floor, otherwise you're flatpicking and fighting the string. Pick more from your wrist, instead of your elbow and locate the pick closer to the bridge where the strings are more resilient. Once again, try picking fluidly until you reach the tempo at which things collapsed. If this seems to be working fine, we'll move on.

Fingering!

This tends to be the real trouble spot. Let's see if they're doing what they should be doing.

Start again with your first finger on the first note and with one pick stroke, try to roll the rest of your fingers through the notes as if you were using hammer-ons. Each note should come out clearly and if not, once again we have the opportunity to identify a problem. I'll even go so far as to bet the trouble is with the notes under your third and fourth fingers! This is a very common problem with fret hand articulation. So, how do we fix it?

Concentrate on getting that third finger down with enough force to match the previous notes. Get some good extension on your little finger so it rides the edge of the 8th fret. In fact, it's generally a good idea to keep all your fingers close to the frets because this produces the maximum amount of sound with the least bit of effort.

Remember, control is the key. Now try this rolling effect again, starting out slowly, gradually increasing speed until you reach the original rate at which you crashed.

Once you reach that point, it's time to get both hands working together.

This is where East meets West, each pick stroke has to instantly react with a fretted note. So essentially the name of the game is co-ordination.

With this exercise, you should see a marked improvement in your overall technique and if you don't, don't worry about it. These things take time. See if you can keep up with the animation. (Unfortunately, different browsers produce different speeds so I couldn't clock it accurately - sorry about that).

Once you gain confidence with this drill, try playing it in reverse leading with your little finger. The mechanics are essentially the same except you use a series of rolling pull-offs.

Now try forwards and backwards.

And how about a little twist.

I have to say I hit that same wall years ago. I was totally frustrated so I went about trying to get around it, not through it. I reasoned I should first detect where the problems were so I could fix them. That's where this exercise came in useful. It's one of the best tools I know of for determining a weakness in your basic technique.

My last comment is on mental attitude. I found from my own experience, the drill was all well and good but I still couldn't get over that last hurdle. Then I told myself to relax. Finally!, everything worked. I had the control and dexterity I'd been striving for. I hope the same works for you.