Chords for Dominic Miller Guest Lesson

I mean there's a few golden rules with left hand.
I mean it's a lot of it is to do with,
I mean certainly playing acoustic.
If you're gonna play sitting down,
you're already at an advantage
because your arm isn't down here.
So you're not gonna have problems.
That's why rock stars tend to go like that,
throw shapes, it's really because they're struggling
to get there.
That's why they look like, you know,
kind of having a fit or something.
And I'm guilty of that as well.
But I mean it's sort of fun to get down.
I mean that's why you will tend to use your thumb a lot.
[Gbm] You know, [F] if it's down here.
But really if your arm is,
if your elbow is in the good position,
you've got no excuse but to get a good technique going.
And my golden rule is really the,
it's so much down to the thumb,
what's happening with your thumb.
Is where is your thumb?
Is it there?
Is it there?
Is it there?
It should be right in the middle of the weight.
It should be the kind of pivot of all the weight.
So really I could show you,
let's do it backwards for a second.
[B] You know, like a [E] _
_ [Am] awesome bar.
_ _ [F] _ _
_ _ _ [E] _ _ [D] _ _ [E] _
_ [A] So it's always just [C] finding the right spot
so that everything's comfortable.
And I think it's quite important not to get your thumb
creeping over right here.
Because then you're going to get into problems.
Especially if you're trying to get notes.
See if I want to do some big [F] stretches,
like a, [C] you know, if [G] _
I wanted to do that
[Am] and my thumb was there, I could never do it.
[A] No [G] way.
But if my thumb is here, I can do it easily.
See what I'm saying?
But I have a few [E] kind of exercises
that I used to play a lot.
And I sometimes do actually, with the left hand.
Which is one of my favorites,
is the chromatic scale in octaves.
Which is, _ _ _ _
_ _ _ [C] _ _ [D] _ _ [Em] _
it's a beautiful, simple scale.
But the point of it is,
it's just to use the least amount of energy possible.
You don't have to go, [B] I'm not [Ab] going like that.
I'm just trying to keep it,
[G] this finger's only going to stay on this fret.
[E] They're just going to stay on each other's frets.
So it's like, keep it, _
_ _ _ [Bb] _ _ [B] _ _ [Db] _
_ _ _ _ _ _ et cetera.
_ _ _ [Gm] _ _ [Bb] _ _ [Gb] _
[E] Or you could try that in fifths if you like.
Which would be like, _ _ _ _
_ _ _ [F] _ _ [A] _ _ [Bb] _
[Ab] _ [B] et cetera.
I like that exercise.
But also, there again, the music of Bach has all of this.
That I, you know, everything I want for the left hand.
But really the rule with the left hand
is just to try and be as economical as you can
with your energy.
So try and keep your fingers close to the [G] fretboard.
None of this kind of moving around stuff.
I mean, you don't [E] need to do that. _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ Like, there's very little energy going on.
[G] I'm trying to minimize the amount of energy
that's being put out.
And I want it to look easy.
I don't want it to look difficult.
I want it to feel, I mean, if you look at a great guitarist,
you know, like all the great guitarists,
like Pat Metheny, I mean, even John McLaughlin.
And Martin Taylor, we were talking about him.
When you watch what they're actually doing
with the left hand, it looks like, is that all it is?
But these guys have been working a long time
to be able to do that.
And they do practice.
There's no way they don't practice.
I know they do.
I can tell by watching that hours goes into this.
But you can practice for five or six hours a day
and go nowhere if you're just trying to play
fast scales or fast runs all the time.
If you don't do them slowly, there again,
I'm repeating myself.
But I don't mind repeating myself.
If you don't do it slowly, you're not going anywhere.
You have to do it slowly.
I mean, when you're at home and you're practicing,
you're not performing, so no one's listening to you.
Do it slowly.
There's nothing wrong with it.
It's not a crime to play slowly.
You know, it's a huge discipline,
especially with a metronome.
But I would recommend also with left-hand technique
and right-hand technique is getting some simple
_ grade five guitar pieces.
A composer like Fernando Sor or Tarrega
or even Jean-Sebastien Bach.
You know, just pick some easy pieces.
You know, go to a music store, pick easy guitar pieces
for classical guitar and just play them slowly.
Work them out.
If it's on tablature, work them out that way
or in dots, whatever.
But just work them out and you'll think,
oh, that's too easy.
No, it's not.
It's not too easy.
Doesn't matter how [E] stupid it is, you know,
or your kid's music book.
Maybe it's just a simple scale, you know,
or a simple, simple tune, you know.
It's worth learning it and just do that.
And again, it's very meditational as well, you know,
meditative.
So I mean, that's all I've got for the left hand.
I mean, just a few golden rules.
I mean, my number one is position of the thumb _
and the second rule I've got is to try and be
as economical as you can with your finger positions
[G] without, you know, elaborate kind of finger movements
because they don't really mean anything.
And I'm still guilty of that.
I still do it, but on acoustic guitar,
I would definitely say that's the thing,
is to practice slowly, some easy pieces
and then you'll find, and then just have a cup of tea
and