Left and Right Hand Synchronization

My youngest son’s friend wanted an exercise to synchronize his left and right hands.  He told my son that he had difficulty with his current regimen.  When I asked my son what kind of exercise his friend does, I found out that his friend was doing chromatic scales from one string down or up to the next.  I believe it’s the shift to another string that’s hindering his progress and distracting him from accomplishing what he sought to do, which is to synchronize his left and right hands.

This exercise below will definitely improve synchronization. I tried to post an ASCII tab, but because of this page’s formatting, the tab won’t come out the way it’s supposed to. I decided to write it this way instead:

ASCENDING (first measure):

E string:  |—-1-2-3-4-5-4-3-2-3-4-5-6-7-6-5-4—-| … 14th fret

DESCENDING (first measure):

E string:  |—-14-13-12-11-10-11-12-13-12-11-10-9-8-9-10-11—-| … 1st fret

Left hand fingering:  1  2  3  4  4  3  2  1  1  2  3  4  4  3  2  1

The notes above are in 16th notes.

Next, try the same pattern, this time using three fingers and three notes played in 16th note triplets.

So for the first measure, play

E string:  |—-1-2-3-4-3-2-3-4-5-6-5-4-5-6-7-8-7-6-7-8-9-10-9-8—-|

The left hand fingering pattern is

1 2 3 3 2 1 1 2 3 3 2 1 1 2 3 3 2 1 1 2 3 3 2 1

and if you want to develop your left hand at the same time, you can play the pattern this way:

2 3 4 4 3 2 2 3 4 4 3 2 2 3 4 4 3 2 2 3 4 4 3 2

Then descend like so:

E string:  |—-14-13-12-11-12-13-12-11-10-9-10-11-10-9-8-7-8-9-8-7-6-5-6-7—-|

Strictly do alternate picking, start with a downstroke.  Next time around, start with an upstroke. Then play the exercise on the next string until you reach the 1st string.  Play the same pattern up until it takes you back to the 6th string.  This will not only help with synchronization but will also teach your right hand to adapt to a slightly new position (playing on the 5th string, playing on the 4th string, and so on).

Use a metronome, start with a speed you’re comfortable with, and make sure you play each note clearly.  Then speed up gradually.  It’s up to you how much faster you want to shift to the next gear, but the increase in beats per minute should be noticeable.  This forces you to speed up, but make sure you do things cleanly, without distortion first, then with distortion to make sure you’re not making unnecessary noises.  Also try this exercise with palm muting.  Remember to relax your right hand and keep your left hand fingers as low as possible.  Well, if you’re left handed, you know what to do.

I must caution you that as your left and right hands synchronize, you will play so fast you’ll feel like a shred god and you won’t want to stop.  It’s addicting!