Guitar Licks from The Guitar Channel

In my search for interesting music / guitar specific websites, I came upon The Guitar Channel and spent some time reading through their blog to see what they had to offer.  One post that caught my attention was called ‘Guitar Licks’. The following seven guitar licks are from The Guitar Channel Blogsite and need to be shared with as many guitarists as possible so  take your time to go over them one-by-one.

Lick #7 - Brett Garsed Lick

This one is pretty tough. It's a Brett Garsed line in E Dorian from his solo on the Planet X song "Kingdom Of Dreams" from the Quantum album. It sounds to me like he plays this line in free-time (floating over the beat), so you should take the rhythm notation with a grain of salt. This is a textbook example of a typical Garsed hybrid-picking line. There's a couple of spots here where the fingering is 4 notes-per-string, and one spot in the third bar where you will do a right-hand hybrid-picking pattern of downstroke > middle finger > ring finger > pinky. Blending that pattern smoothly with the rest of the run was the toughest part for me. This line occurs 3:35 into the song.

Click here to listen to Lick #7 slow
Click here to listen to Lick #7 at full speed

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Lick #6 - C Minor Pentatonic Pattern

This is more of a pattern than a lick. It's based on a Brett Garsed hybrid-picking idea and uses a variety of techniques all mixed together. The entire sequence comes from the C Minor pentatonic scale. The first note of the pattern is played with a downstroke, and the next three are fingerpicked with the middle, ring, and pinky fingers. Then, after a legato pattern on the first string, you descend through the first 3 notes of the sequence using sweep-picking, and shift down to the next position. You can sweep it both ways, or fingerpick it both ways. I use the fingerpick/sweep combination because I can't fingerpick descending patterns very well, and it sounds better to me that just sweeping the whole thing.

Click here to listen to Lick #6 slow
Click here to listen to Lick #6 at full speed

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Lick #5 - Jimmy Herring Lick

This great line comes from Jimmy Herring's solo on "Raging Torrent" from the Project Z album. On this tune, Jimmy solos in a general Dm tonality with a lot of outside lines. This particular line starts out with a bent G note at the 15th fret. I had a hard time notating that part; basically it's a pre-bent note that you bring down for the second note of the line. He then goes into a little chromatic idea, before descending through the Gm blues scale. After going back up using a small diminished scale fragment, he descends through the Dm blues scale. I left out the picking instructions on purpose, since I have no idea how he does it. When I play it, I pick most of the notes, with some pull-offs and slides mixed in. I probably do it a little different each time I play it. I'm sure the fingering is different from what Jimmy does, but I'm confident the notes themselves are accurate. This line occurs about 1:29 into the tune.

Click here to listen to Lick #5 slow
Click here to listen to Lick #5 at full speed

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Lick #4 - B Minor Pentatonic Hybridpicking

Here's a fairly simple pentatonic box sequence in B minor that uses a combination of fingerpicking, downstrokes, and pulloffs. Some people call this technique "Hybridpicking". It's all done in the standard pentatonic box shape. All fingerpicked notes are plucked with the 2nd (middle) finger of the right hand (notated as 'M' in the tab above). Since this sequence uses a lot of string-skips for wide intervals, the hybridpicking method makes it easier to play than using a pick alone. For the left hand, I'm using the 1st finger for the 7th fret notes, the 3rd finger for the 9th fret notes, and the 4th finger for the 10th fret notes. This one sounds good if you mute the lower strings a little. The notes are grouped in threes, but I prefer to play this in even sixteenth notes, to give it an off kilter 3-against-4 sound.

Click here to listen to Lick #4 slow
Click here to listen to Lick #4 at full speed

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Lick #3 - Country/Bluegrass line

This one is a bluegrass line. This will work over the last 3 bars of a typical bluegrass progression in A.

Click here to listen to Lick #3 slow
Click here to listen to Lick #3 at full speed

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Lick #2 - B Minor Pentatonic run

This is a longer pentatonic run in B Minor. All alternate-picked using 3-note-per-string pentatonic fingerings. Again, there are lots of "inside" string crosses.

Click here to listen to Lick #2 slow
Click here to listen to Lick #2 at full speed

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Lick #1 - C# Minor Pentatonic

Here's a pentatonic alternate-picking lick. Notice when you change from the B string to the G string, you will be picking "inside" the strings. That is to say, a downstroke on the B string is followed by an upstroke on the G string.

Click here to listen to Lick #1 slow
Click here to listen to Lick #1 at full speed

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I believe you’ll really pick up a lot by following and learning these guitar licks by heart so I will continue to publish them as often as The Guitar Channel publishes their new licks.  I know I’ll be working on them myself so I can expand my guitar lick repertoire. That’s what develops a good guitarist into a great guitarist.

Well, until next time;

Musician By Night . . .

My Weekend Workout ~ Rhythm & Grooves

It’s been a few weeks since my last Weekend Workout Session, so I thought today would be a good day to cover another session for all of you new guitarists that may be following me.  This session is very interesting and is something that if you learn will help you in every aspect of your guitar playing skill.  I picked this up from the article I read below in the PremierGuitar Magazine.

Rhythm & Grooves: Spin the Wheel, Map the Fretboard

by Andy Ellis

Learning to name the notes on the fretboard is a big deal. The goal is to be able to press any string to any fret and immediately identify the resulting note.

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We began tracking progressions on the Circle of Fourths and Fifths in our previous lesson [“Running in Circles,”September 2011]. If you missed that installment of Rhythm & Grooves—or simply want to brush up on the theory behind the cycle chart—take a moment to check it out online at premierguitar.com.
The cycle chart is an invaluable tool: As we saw last time around, it’s our secret weapon for mastering all 12 keys on the guitar. The simple diagram offers us a disciplined and thorough way to map essential progressions in keys we guitarists often avoid—Eb, Db, and Ab, for instance.
But the cycle chart has many other uses, and we’ll look at several of these right now. So you won’t have to move back and forth between this month’s and last month’s lesson, we’ve again included this handy diagram. (But in a new color, just for variety. It looks pretty in pink, doesn’t it?) Okay, let’s get busy.

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Learning to name the notes on the fretboard is a big deal. The goal is to be able to press any string to any fret and immediately identify the resulting note. Quick: 5th string, 11th fret is what? Or 3rd string, 8th fret? Or 2nd string, 14th fret? If you can name these pitches, especially without a guitar in your hand, well done. If not, it’s a great skill to acquire because it allows you to communicate with musicians who play other instruments than guitar. A saxophonist won’t know what to make of “play the note on the 3rd string, 10th fret.” Yet “play F” gets the point across. To fluently speak this universal language, however, you need to know where every F is located ... along with each instance of the Western music system’s other 11 notes.
One excellent way to learn all the note names—even those lurking in little-used nooks and crannies of the fretboard—is to play two-octave patterns up and down the fretboard and on various string sets. Fig. 1illustrates how to use the cycle chart to map out a series of two-octave patterns while moving in fifths around the wheel.
or Download Example Audio

We begin with C octaves, then take one step clockwise (CW) to G, then another CW step to D, to A, etc. Because the octave pairs alternately ascend and descend, we get a complete workout shifting back and forth across the strings, as well as up and down the fretboard. You’ll notice we’ve added a half-step approach into the last note of each two-octave figure. This chromatic approach tone gives us four beats in each figure and also provides an opportunity to identify yet another note as we play the “name the octaves” game.
For space considerations, Fig. 1 ends halfway around the wheel at F#, but if you’re up for the challenge, move CW completely around the wheel until you return to C. For variety, begin with a descending figure or try launching this exercise from a different note (F, for example) and then cycle CW around the wheel.
Want more variations? You can place the half-step approach tone before the middle octave note or even before the first one. Also, you can move your two-octave pattern counterclockwise (CCW) around the circle in fourths. Practicing different versions of this simple routine will pay huge dividends in terms of learning the notes on the fretboard.
Fig. 2 has us zigzagging CW between major triads (represented by the letters on the outside of the circle) and minor triads (shown inside the circle). In this triad-mapping exercise, we’re playing only eight chords, but if you continue around the wheel until you reach your starting point, you’ll hit 12 chords.
or Download Example Audio

By staying on one string set—as we’ve done here—you’re forced to move up and down the fretboard as you navigate the wheel. Great, that’s one type of workout. Another excellent option is to restrict yourself to a five-fret location and find the triads on a variety of string sets. Both approaches force you to think about triad inversions, and that’s the point.
Fig. 3 is all about stacking fifths to create quintal harmony—a cool, impressionistic sound. If you scrutinize the notation, you’ll see that each note is located one CW “click” from its predecessor. Play slowly and observe the let ring markings to create three-note quintal voicings: C–G–D, A–E–B, Gb–Db–Ab, and Eb–Bb–F. Once again, you can generate variations by simply starting on a note other than C.
or Download Example Audio

For a real brainteaser, try Fig. 4. Starting on Bb, we’re moving CCW in fourths, mixing arpeggios (composed of single notes spaced a fourth apart) with four-note quartal clusters and fourth intervals. Whether we’re plucking notes one at a time (as in the arpeggios and intervals) or in a cluster (the half-note voicings), every note is spaced one click away from its immediate neighbors. By the time you’ve reached the end of this exercise, you will have crawled CCW two-and-a-half times around the wheel.
or Download Example Audio

Compared to typical songs with their keys and diatonic chords, an exercise like this can sound alien. But it’s good to stretch your ears in the privacy of a practice session. (And if you like this edgy sound, be sure to check out these Rhythm& Grooves lessons on premierguitar.com:“Exploring Quartal Harmony,” April 2011;“Crazy Quartal Comping,” May 2011; and“Stealth Quartal Colors,” June 2011.)
If you put your mind to it, there are virtually endless ways to use the cycle chart as a practice tool. For instance, take any scale you know and play it CW or CCW around the wheel. As you work through each scale, name every note out loud. Another idea: Take your favorite blues licks and move them around the wheel. You’ll have to change octaves in the process, but exploring a familiar pattern in a new register is an excellent way to expand your improvisational bag of tricks.

The cycle chart is a demanding mistress—perfect for generating ideas that force you into unfamiliar areas of the fretboard. What are the odds you’d do this on your own? Have fun spinning the wheel!

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Andy Ellis is a veteran guitar journalist and Senior Editor at PG. Based in Nashville, Andy backs singer-songwriters on the baritone guitar, and also hosts The Guitar Show, a weekly on-air and online broadcast. For the schedule, links to the stations’ streams, archived audio interviews with inspiring players, and more, visit theguitarshow.com.

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I hope you like this session, it is quite interesting if you really take the time to use it.  Enjoy the rest of your weekend and remember to take time with your kids and give them a hug to show them that you love them.

Until next time;

Musician By Night . . .

Weekend Workout / Weeks 1,2 & 3 in Review;

As a standard practice, I’ll be publishing three weekend posts of New Lesson Plans followed by a 'One Week in Review' Post.  Then I’ll start the whole process all over again.  I'm not trying to push this lesson plan along in a rushed fashion because I believe every bit a time devoted to the Scales, Modes and Arpeggio’s will make each of us far better guitarists than we hoped we could be.  Remember this too, always practice with the guitar through a clean channel, no distortion or effects should be used while working on your scales, etc.  The key to becoming a top-notch lead guitarist is first to learn how to play your scales, note for note, using a clean sound so you can’t blur the notes into one another as what is done in some rock solos.

So let’s get started with Week One in review;

Week No. 1: The Major Scale (Ionian Mode) in Review;

This week I’m starting with the First Mode of the Major Scale: The Ionian Mode, working on the Standard, 3-Notes/String and the lmaj7 Arpeggio in all seven patterns. I’m using Guy’s Scales Modes and Arpeggios (see photo below) lesson plan which is very easy to follow but is also a complete comprehensive presentation that leverages a very similar grid structure in the context of scales that we’ll see in Guy’s Grids (see photo below) in a later post when we cover chords and chord patterns.

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EXAMPLE: First Mode of the Major Scale

This is a quick view of what the typical instruction page looks like in this lesson plan. It is very easy to read and follow no matter what your skill level may be.

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The 1st weekend I chose the intro to the ZZ Top song “La Grange”. That guitar intro is one of the most well known guitar pieces in Rock-n’-Roll history and I wanted to learn how to play it correctly, and I did.  I also learned some of the guitar parts throughout the song, so that made me very happy.

I recommend you do the same; it was time well spent.

 

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Week No. 2: The Blues Scale (Box’s 1-5) in Review:

I’ve often had questions regarding what are commonly called “the modes”. These refer to the Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, Aeolian and Locrian modes of the traditional diatonic major scale. If this makes no sense to you, it probably doesn’t have to. Modes are actually very simply, and mostly on a guitar they tend to serve as nothing more than “boxes” for the diatonic scale.

As it turns out, if you combine the major and minor pentatonic scales, without the blue notes involved, you’ll get the notes in the mixolydian mode. The mixolydian mode is the mode you always want to use over 7th chords, which are the main chords in a blues song. So you’re already playing modes and didn’t even know it, if you’re familiar with the major modes listed above.

Once you add the blue notes to the pentatonic scales, thus turning them into “blues scales”, you’ve also added the blues notes to the mixolydian mode and there really isn’t any more to it. Sorry if you are disappointed.

You’ll sometimes see this scale called the “composite blues scale” on the internet. it’s nothing you don’t already know, just a name that has caught on through the web. And again, it’s just a mixolydian mode with the blue notes, which is just the major and minor blues scales (boxes 1 and 2) put together. Once again, nothing you don’t already know, right ?

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Sunday, August 7th, 2011

Beyond Blues: The Composite Blues Scale

by Jeff McErlain

As we know, a standard blues progression is made up of three dominant-7th chords—the I, IV, and V. This month, we’re going to look at some cool ways to spice up the I chord. To make things easier, we’ll stick to the key of A, so our I chord will be A7. A quick and simple way to spice up that chord is by mixing two very familiar scales, the major and minor blues scales. If we were to look at the formula for this scale it would be root–b3–4–b5–5–b7.

What makes this scale very cool is the added b5 or “blue note.” The b5 adds some chromaticism to the scale, which it doesn’t have otherwise. A great sound is to really play up the chromaticism in a lick. I really love the rub and tension those notes can add to a line. If you haven’t spent some quality time with the blues scale, I suggest you do!

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An A7 chord is spelled A–C#–E–G or root–3–5–b7. If we look at our minor blues scale we can see that it does not contain a very important note of the chord, the natural 3rd or C#. Although the scale sounds great, it does have some room to expand. A simple option to play over the A7 chord is the A major blues scale. This scale consists of A–B–C–C#–E–F# and its formula is root–2–b3–3–4–6. This scale now includes the natural 3rd (C#).

Fig. 1 is called the composite blues scale; 

That’s a lot of notes to think about. Here we have A–B–C–C#–D–Eb–E–F#–G, or root–2–b3–3–4–b5–5–6–b7. That’s nine notes.

Before you get overloaded, let’s take a closer look at all the harmonic goodness going on inside here. First, we have a series of half-steps that go from B to E, and that’s where the fun lies as we can see in Fig. 2. We can use this same technique to create a classic-sounding blues turnaround, as shown in Fig. 3. To get a jazzier sound, I used all the half-steps found in this scale to create a classic bop lick with a bluesy twist as seen in Fig. 4.

Download Example 2 Audio...

Download Example 3 Audio...

Download Example 4 Audio...

As you can see, the composite blues scale has many exciting possibilities, and I have only scratched the surface here. The thing to remember—and the key to breaking this down—is that all you are doing is mixing the major and minor blues scales, nothing more! So if you are feeling overwhelmed at the many options and sounds, start with something as simple as adding one new note to your minor blues scale. The first note I’d suggest is the natural 3rd (C#), which will put you on the right track. Remember, we can use these licks on the I chord of the blues, but be careful of that C# against the IV chord (D7)—it can really clash. What to do? Just don’t play it.

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Week No. 3: The Major or Dorian Scale in Review;

The Second Mode of the Major Scale: The Dorian Mode, still working on the Standard, 3-Notes/String and the imaj7 Arpeggio in all seven patterns. Remember, I’m using Guy’s Scales Modes and Arpeggios (see photo #1) lesson plan which is very easy to follow but is also a complete comprehensive presentation that leverages a very similar grid structure in the context of scales that we’ll see in Guy’s Grids (see photo #2) in a later post when we cover chords and chord patterns.

                  Photo #1                                              Photo #2

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The Dorian Scale is outlined on Page 14 of Guy’s Scales, Modes & Arpeggios. I suggest you order the program so you have it to follow along with me; it is a fabulous lesson plan for us guitarists. Concentrate your efforts on the 3-Notes/String and the im7 Arpeggio’s. Play them over and over while you continue to play the Week One and Two Lesson Plan’s. I suggest you take one key and learn the Ionian Scale, then learn the Dorian Scale in the same key. Then practice tying both scales together and play them against a song recorded on CD.

I hope you follow along with me and keep working these scales. I know for a fact that learning the scales and identifying with the fingerboard are the two most important issues when training to become a professional guitarist. I’ll never stop practicing the major scales, of that I am sure.

Hope your Sunday evening is great and don’t forget to give your kids a hug. I have a few good post’s coming up that I’ve been working on so until next time.

Don’t be blue . . . . .

Musician By Night

My Weekend Workout / Week Three:

In this third week of the program, the concentration is going to remain on the major scales, but we’re moving on to the second mode and more focus will be given to all the arpeggios.  Learning the Second Mode of the Major Scale; Dorian Mode or (Dorian Scale) and then concentrating on the im7 Arpeggio’s will help build our fingerboard vocabulary.  Please remember, I’m taking this rather slow because I want to drill it into me.  If you are bored with my plan, don’t knock it; just move on to another lesson plan that best fits your skill level.

Let’s get started;

Week No. 3: The Major Scale (Dorian Mode or Dorian Scale)

The Second Mode of the Major Scale: The Dorian Mode, still working on the Standard, 3-Notes/String and the imaj7 Arpeggio in all seven patterns.  Remember, I’m using Guy’s Scales Modes and Arpeggios (see photo #1) lesson plan which is very easy to follow but is also a complete comprehensive presentation that leverages a very similar grid structure in the context of scales that we’ll see in Guy’s Grids (see photo #2) in a later post when we cover chords and chord patterns.

                 Photo #1                                                  Photo #2

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The Dorian Scale is outlined on Page 14 of Guy’s Scales, Modes & Arpeggios.  I suggest you order the program so you have it to follow along with me; it is a fabulous lesson plan for us guitarists. Concentrate your efforts on the 3-Notes/String and the im7 Arpeggio’s.  Play them over and over while you continue to play the Week One and Two Lesson Plan’s.  I suggest you take one key and learn the Ionian Scale, then learn the Dorian Scale in the same key.  Then practice tying both scales together and play them against a song recorded on CD.

I hope you follow along with me and keep working these scales.  I know for a fact that learning the scales and identifying with the fingerboard are the two most important issues when training to become a professional guitarist.  I’ll never stop practicing the major scales, I know that for a fact.

Have a great evening and don’t forget to give your kids a hug.  I have a few good post’s coming up that I’ve been working on so until next time. 

Bob . . . . .