Well, it's 2006. We've got the holidays behind us. Time to get back to learning to play this thing! A great New Year's resolution would be to allow yourself time every day to practice. This is a "resolution" that can actually be fun. You will be surprised how much picking can do to alleviate stress!

It's hard to really focus on practice with all the events that go on during the holidays, but in order to stay sharp, and keep all your skills polished, you've got to get right back to playing and learning as much as you can. Even if it's just 30 minutes per day, any practice is better than none. You will be surprised just how much a little picking each day will help you in keeping the instrument feeling familiar.

This month I want to talk about "building speed". Unlike most fretted instruments where you have several left-hand fingers available to play licks, the resonator guitarists have only one "digit"- the bar. That's why it is so important to be able to play with speed in order to compensate for the space you must cover between the picked notes. Consider the weight of the bar as an extra burden as you'll constantly be dealing with the basic physics of inertia of rest and inertia of motion.

Years ago, I learned a trick from the master himself, Jerry Douglas- that really helped me to increase my speed. Jerry once told me that in order to increase your speed you should limit the height that you raise your bar from the strings between notes. Since that conversation, I have paid close attention to making certain that I played low to the strings. You won't believe just how much speed this technical consideration will add to your playing, as well as making your playing smoother with less string noise. When I practice, I try to always focus on "playing low". It even adds more snap to your playing.

Here is an exercise for building left-hand speed that I use when warming up:

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 T     I   T   I   T   I   T   I   T   M   I     M       REPEAT

When working to build speed, you can't forget your right hand. You need speed in your right hand just as much as in the left. The best exercise to increase right-hand speed is to practice forward rolls. I've used this same tab before in this column, but here it is again. In my opinion this is one of the most important tabs in playing a resonator guitar. The forward roll is very important to learn in itself, but also for use in building speed. Try repeating this roll several times, progressively increasing your speed. The trick here is to keep the roll sounding "seamless" and clean.

Timing is very important. It is far and away best to play the roll clean and flowing at a slower tempo rather than trying to play it too fast, sounding uneven and cluttered. The idea is to start slow and build speed as you progress. Trying to play too fast right away is not the purpose of this roll exercise. Rather you should become so comfortable playing it that the motion becomes almost automatic. That is the key. Once you can play the roll so it sounds smooth and even, then increase your speed. You will notice that your speed will increase the more you focus on playing smoothly and cleanly.

Here is another great warm up exercise. Play it as often as you can each time you practice.

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 T   I   M   T   I   M   T   I   M   T   I   M                                

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 T   I   M   T   I   M   T   I   M   T   I   M                                

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 T   I   M   T   I   M   T   I   M   T   I   M                                

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 T   I   M   T   I   M   T   I   M   T   I   M

If you really work on these two exercises, you will notice a great improvement in your playing; more than anything, you'll play cleaner and faster. These are some of the little tricks that help good players develop into great players.

See you next month with more tricks to learning this fun instrument!

Wishing the best to each and every one of you in 2006!

Phil