The virtues of studying planting.

The study of planting is the most productive way to improve right hand accuracy and speed in my opinion. It is the equivalent of getting into the habit of leaving 10 minutes earlier to go to places. You arrive there much earlier without having to drive over the speed limit and take unnecessary risks along the way. It gives you more time to prepare yourself for what is to be done once you arrive. Though the act of planting is not always usable in performance, diligent study of it will definitely produce results in the both speed and tone production. So that the definition of planting is known to anyone reading this, I will describe a simple sequence that would be a good starting point to employing this invaluable tool.

p - will play 4th string
i - plays 3rd
m - plays 2nd
a - plays 1st

Step 1 - As p plays a free stroke on the 4th string, i is PLANTED on 3rd string
Step 2 - As i plays a free stroke on the 3rd string, m is planted on 2nd string
Step 3 - As m plays a free stroke on the 2nd string, a is planted on the 1st string
Step 4 - As a plays a free stroke on the 1st string, m is planted on the 2nd string
Step 5 - As m plays a free stroke on the 2nd string, i is planted on the 3rd string
Step 6 - As i plays a free stroke on the 3rd string, p is planted on the 4th string
Step 7 - Start again on step 1 and repeat this for countless hours or you fall asleep.

I would suggest using a chord voicing in the left hand to make this sound more musical. The second inversion of G6 which is produced by playing the bottom 4 stings is not the most pleasing thing to hear for hours at a time. Maybe an Am....doesn't really matter. Once the student is fully aware of the meaning of planting and has grasped it's application using the above sequence, it should be translated to right hand studies of Giuliani's Op 1 or other RH based studies. If this is practiced, a dramatic improvement in speed and control will soon follow.

Rowdy Carlton