LogicalLeadGuitar.com
Newsletter #1
Hello and thanks again for opting in to receive my free guitar lesson newsletter. With each issue of this newsletter I'll make every attempt to show you cool and useful guitar playing tips in a LOGICAL fashion – but if anything doesn't make sense, please email me at adam@LogicalLeadGuitar.com.
Let's get to some
guitar playing right now!
Here is a simple scale exercise you should be working on to prepare yourself for your great lead guitar playing to come. I consider this exercise to be a basic and required skill, so don't skip it. This “exercise” is actually used in many famous rock solos.
Pentatonic Triplets
Start with the lowest note in your main pentatonic pattern (or any scale pattern for that matter), play that note and the next two notes in the pattern. Then back up and start over, this time on the second note of the pattern. Play up three notes from there and stop. Then do it again starting on the third note of the pattern, and keep doing this until you've reached the top note in the pattern.
E|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------5-------5--8-----
B|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------5-------5--8----5--8-------8---------
G|------------------------------------------------------5-------5--7----5--7-------7-------------------------------
D|-------------------------------5-------5--7----5--7-------7-----------------------------------------------------
A|--------5-------5--7----5--7-------7---------------------------------------------------------------------------
E|--5--8-------8---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
You'll want to do this with a "triplet" feel, counted 1-trip-let, 2-trip-let, 3-trip-let, 4-trip-let – with the first note of each three-note group played on the "1" (or 2, 3, or 4, accordingly), the second note played on the "trip," and the third note of each three-note group played on the "let."
Use a metronome if you have one – the triplet feel is very important to master, especially if you're playing rock or blues. In fact, a huge percentage of all the riffs the late, great Stevie Ray Vaughan (not to mention countless others) ever played were in a triplet feel.
Practice this over and over, speeding it up a bit each time – but make sure each group of three is nice and even, and each note equal in length. You'll get the feel for it over time.
Great, Now Do It Backwards!
Now turn it around and start with the highest note in the pattern, play that and the next two notes down the scale, then stop. Next, play the second to highest note in the pattern, and the next two notes downward, and stop. Get the idea?
E|--8--5-------5---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
B|--------8-------8--5----8--5-------5----------------------------------------------------------------------------
G|------------------------------7-------7--5----7--5-------5------------------------------------------------------
D|----------------------------------------------------7-------7--5----7--5-------5--------------------------------
A|--------------------------------------------------------------------------7-------7--5----7--5-------5----------
E|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------8-------8--5-----
TIP: You can use pull-offs on this downward pattern. As soon as you get this one up to speed (and try to get it going really fast – after you've got the hang of it) I'm absolutely certain that you will recognize this as a technique used in many famous guitar solos. But practice it right: You've got to get the notes in even groups of three – triplets – for it to sound right.
Famous Riffs
I've found that certain songs (and certain leads) are just perfect for teaching my private students how to solo – not just to learn that song, but actually how to go from scales and arpeggios to actually sounding good while playing lead guitar. Largely I’m talking about playing "phrases." And it's all really just mix and match, brother – that's what all your rock heroes have been doing for decades: learning a bunch of phrases from their heroes' solos, then mixing up the pieces and putting them together in a different order.
Here's some riffs you'll want to know if you're a Led Zeppelin fan – or if you want to be able to play anything resembling great blues rock lead guitar. Jimmy Page borrowed a few common blues licks to put together this memorable middle solo in "Whole Lotta Love." I hope you can see the pentatonic patterns these are taken from as you're playing them. If not, stay tuned. (Disclaimer: This example is close, but isn't 100 percent note-for-note, so please cut me a little slack, my friend. I'm doin' this one on the cheap, remember:)
E|-------------12---------------------------------|------15--17b15------15------|----19b-17---------------|---------------------------19--------
B|---------12------15p12----15--12--15b15--|--17-------------17------17---|-17---------20--20--17--|--17—19-b19-b19-b19------17-
G|--14b------------------------------------------|---------------------------------|-----------------------------|------------------------------
D|------------------------------------------------|----------------------------------|-----------------------------|------------------------------
A|------------------------------------------------|----------------------------------|-----------------------------|------------------------------
E|------------------------------------------------|----------------------------------|-----------------------------|------------------------------
My Latest Guitar
Industry Projects
If you've picked up the current (August 29th street date) issue of the quarterly Frets magazine, check out my feature interview with rootsy rocker Edwin McCain, and don't miss the short piece I wrote on Iranian classical guitarist and Memphis University professor Lily Afshar. The "fretlets" she's added to her guitar are too cool!
I've also been working on some fun music industry projects of late, including a whole bunch of video shoots at OzzFest – the majority of which will appear on the websites for D'Addario strings, Planet Waves guitar accessories, and Evans drum heads in the near future. Also, some of these interviews will probably end up on Guitar.com as well. I'll let you know when they're posted.
In the meantime…
Practice, Practice, PRACTICE!
Adam St. James