Phrasing is something that no one really ever showed me. I just started doing it without realizing it. Then one day someone who was listening to me play said "Cool! nice phrasing there." I stopped and asked, "What's phrasing?" :-)

Phrasing is when you put your own personal timing and inflections into your playing but always stay in groove with the real timing of the music.

I have a phrasing exercise for you today that will get you thinking about this form of expression as well as challenge your speed!

Basically what we're going to do is see how many notes you can squeeze in between beats! My tabs go up to seven notes per beat but you can keep adding a note until you reach your speed limit.

Fire up your metronome or drum machine to 60 beats per minute for these.

Remember, the only timing you absolutely must be accurate with is the first and last notes being on the beat! The timing of the notes in between the first and last notes is where you express yourself and you can't be wrong!

Need help reading tablature?

Tablature

G Regular Major Scale
60 Beats per minute, 4/4 time
The beat numbers are on top.

4 notes per beat
  1                         2
E --------------------------------------------------
B --------------------------------------------------
G --------------------------------------------------
D --------------------------------------------------
A ------------2-----3------5------------------------
E 3-----5-------------------------------------------

  3                         4
E --------------------------------------------------
B --------------------------------------------------
G --------------------------------------------------
D --------------------------------------------------
A 5-----3-----2-------------------------------------
E ------------------5------3------------------------


5 notes per beat
  1                         2
E --------------------------------------------------
B --------------------------------------------------
G --------------------------------------------------
D -------------------------2------------------------
A ----------2----3----5-----------------------------
E 3----5--------------------------------------------

  3                         4
E --------------------------------------------------
B --------------------------------------------------
G --------------------------------------------------
D 2-------------------------------------------------
A ----5----3----2-----------------------------------
E -------------------5-----3------------------------


6 notes per beat
  1                         2
E --------------------------------------------------
B --------------------------------------------------
G --------------------------------------------------
D ---------------------2---4------------------------
A --------2---3---5---------------------------------
E 3---5---------------------------------------------

  3                         4
E --------------------------------------------------
B --------------------------------------------------
G --------------------------------------------------
D 4---2---------------------------------------------
A --------5---3---2---------------------------------
E ---------------------5---3------------------------


7 notes per beat
  1                         2
E --------------------------------------------------
B --------------------------------------------------
G --------------------------------------------------
D -------------------2--4--5------------------------
A --------2--3--5-----------------------------------
E 3--5----------------------------------------------

  3                         4
E --------------------------------------------------
B --------------------------------------------------
G --------------------------------------------------
D 5--4--2-------------------------------------------
A -----------5--3--2--------------------------------
E ----------------------5--3------------------------


Remember, keep adding the next note of this G Ionian scale until you reach your speed limit. If you need to know all the diatonic scales over the entire fretboard this Interacticve Guitar Clinic is for you! :-)

When you get to the point where you can't play all of the notes cleanly, back off a note or two and keep going over it until you're comfortable.

When you get comfortable with that, add another note until you have that one down. This is a great way to develop your speed and accuracy!

Also, be sure to play this phrasing with as many different scales as you can!