something i picked up from frisell
Like I mentioned in previous posts, I put a lot of energy into developing the right tone to go with my playing. While I use both styles of playing described here, I watched a video of Bill Frisell where he discusses his tone. An exercise he suggests is to play scales but only pick the first note on each string and then slide your finger to the other notes without picking again. This creates a nice slurred sound, and some great whole round tones. Once you get used to playing scales this way, you start to integrate this into your lead play. Combine this way of playing with picking more notes and you achieve some difference in tone and the same lines take on new life each time through as you focus on certain notes and then on the movement of the tone to the other notes.