Here we will be using the entire acronym to get you acquainted with all usage of each picking finger.
For our first member-only beginner exercise, we’re going to take a series of open chords and barre chords and play as directed on the PIMA legend:
The Rundown:
This will be an E chord based exercise. Here is the open E, followed by the barred E chord (4th fret):
I’ve chosen this barred version, which is the 3rd voicing for the E barre chord, because it provides a lower bass note and also omits at least one interior string. The low note played here is the A string note, placed on the 4th fret.
PIMA Legend
Here is your guide to this exercise.
At a slow 60 bpm, here are the two versions of the E chord from above, in tablature format. The first bar, which is to be played twice, is just a simple PIMA run using both open and the 3rd voicings. The second bar is played using low melody notes. Note that you will begin the first and second measures using the standard PIMA format, where you are able to play two “P’s” for either the Low E and A or A and D. However, the end of the first measure and the end of the second measure are not played the same way.
This is to ease the transition into the next series of measures, starting with the same formula for PIMA in the third measure. You then add the “E” (4th finger) at the beginning of the fourth measure.
Play It!
Download This PTB File
Download This PDF File
Video
The Exercise
By looking at the third measure (second bar) above you can see that we have two low melody notes in each measure. The third measure shows a low melody note open on the Low E string. Notice that it is played using a half note. Two halves make a whole, so this measure needs two half notes to bring the measure to a ‘close.’
Without the eighth note rest on the low melody half notes, the song wouldn’t play the same. It would look like this:
We’ve lost the actual USAGE of the low melody note. The tablature directly above (which is incorrect) would have you playing the low melody note in unison with the first open E chord played. You would then play the open E all the way through, striking the low melody note on the next to last open E chord. That doesn’t seperate the low melody notes, does it? (No. It doesn’t.)
That is why it is imperative that we understand low melody notes. You won’t always have a reference midi-based tablature to see if you are right or wrong when playing a passage like you do with the PTB files, so we must know what works and doesn’t work. (I’ve included the WRONG version on the PTB file as well so that you can hear what I am referring to.)
The same applies with the next measure, so keep that in mind as well.
Next: Beginner Exercise 2