LogicalLeadGuitar.com
Newsletter #2
How is that Pentatonic Triplet exercise I showed you in my last newsletter going? By now I hope you've smoothed it out and are using it in actual guitar solos with your band or at your local jam night. Once again, if anything doesn't make sense, please email me at adam@LogicalLeadGuitar.com and I'll try to answer your questions.
Now Let's Play!
Let's jump into some fun and useful arpeggio drills. Arpeggios are the notes of a chord played one note at a time (as in a single note lead guitar riff, as opposed to strumming them like a rhythm guitar part). Don't be scared of these things, they only look funny until you work them out a bit, and after awhile you'll realize you can't live without them.
The C-Shape
Arpeggio
In my soloing I touch on arpeggios all the time. And unlike you might expect, I'm not always playing these as straight arpeggios – it's actually more common that I just hit an arpeggio note (or "chord tone" as you should also think of them) during a phrase that is more scale-like in nature. And as you work with them and follow the lessons to come in future issues of this newsletter, you'll come to see why.
For a number of reasons, one of the most important arpeggios I use is the one shaped like your good old-fashioned C chord – the chord you probably learned in some of your first guitar lessons, before you even attempted a barre chord or scale pattern.
Now don't be alarmed when I show you this arpeggio up two frets from where you would play an open-string C chord (which makes it a D arpeggio). I'm doing this because I don't want you to have to deal with open strings (like the open third string in the C chord) as you learn this arpeggio:
E|--------------2--5-----
B|-----------3-----------
G|--------2--------------
D|-----4-----------------
A|--5--------------------
E|-----------------------
Play this arpeggio using your 4th finger at the 5th fret on the fifth string, your 3rd finger at the 4th fret on the fourth string, your 1st finger playing the 2nd fret on the third string, your 2nd finger on the 3rd fret of the second string, and then your 1st finger at the 2nd fret and your 4th finger at the 5th fret of the first string. You might eventually want to barre your 1st finger across the top three strings to speed up your licks.
Practice this one a bunch of times until it feels somewhat comfortable – and don't forget to go backwards too, from the high note to the low note. Then try these examples as a means of understanding how the arpeggio might fit into a melodic (lead guitar) part:
Star Spangled
Banner
E|---------------------|--2-----------------|--------2------------|--------------------------
B|-----------------3--|-----5--3-----------|-----------5--3--2--|-----2--3--3--------------
G|--2-----------2----|--------------1--2--|--2--2---------------|--4-----------2-----------
D|-----4-----4-------|-----------4--------|----------------------|-----------------4--------
A|--------5----------|---------------------|----------------------|--------------------5-----
E|--------------------|---------------------|----------------------|--------------------------
Dixie
E|----------------------------------------|------------------------------|--2-----------------------------
B|----------------------------------------|-------------------2--3--5--|-----3-----3---------------------
G|--2-----------------------2--2--2-----|--4--4--4--2--4------------|--------2-----2-----2----------
D|-----4-----------2--4--5-----------4-|------------------------------|-----------------4-----2-2-4----
A|--------5--5--5-----------------------|------------------------------|------------------------------5---
E|----------------------------------------|------------------------------|----------------------------------
Hopefully upon playing these two examples, you recognize the C-shape, right? Now consider this – just like any good barre chord or simple pentatonic scale pattern, you can slide this shape (and these exact melodies) up any number of frets and the fingering will still work – it'll still result in your playing the correct melody.
Now I don't make a habit of playing "Dixie" or the "Star Spangled Banner" in the middle of a guitar solo (hey, that might be cool!) but I do use these arpeggio shapes and chord tones all the time in melodies (guitar solos) of my own creation. In fact, I've become so comfortable with this C-chord arpeggio shape, that it's a major staple of my lead guitar playing. You should make it part of yours as well.
Famous Riffs
Continuing on with our next installment of "Famous Riffs," please understand that these are approximations of the solo the artist played, and are shown not to teach the specific song, but to show simple examples of how some artists use the very scales the Logical Lead Guitar course will help you master.
David Gilmour's excellent solo in Pink Floyd's classic "Money" is one of my favorites for this purpose. Hopefully you'll also notice the similarities between the pentatonic patterns Gilmour uses in this solo and the patterns Jimmy Page uses in the Led Zeppelin "Whole Lotta Love" solo I touched on in my last newsletter. If you don't see the patterns just popping out at you, stay tuned. Here's some "Money":
E|------------|------------------------|---------10------|----------12b-12r-p10------|-------------------
B|------------|--10b--7--10---------|--/12------12---|--12--12----------------12--|-------------------
G|--9b--7---|----------------9b--7--|------------------|-------------------------------|--9b--7--9--------
D|------------|------------------------|------------------|-------------------------------|-------------9-----
A|------------|------------------------|------------------|-------------------------------|-------------------
E|------------|------------------------|------------------|-------------------------------|-------------------
My Latest Guitar
Industry Projects
If you've discovered the new national guitar magazine Guitar Edge, be sure to investigate my regular column "Workin' Band," which appears in every issue. I'm learning so much from these local guys who are out there making great money playing the music they love – originals and covers – and I know you'll be inspired by them too. Thanks to Chicago's 7th Heaven, Buffalo's Tommy Z, Cleveland's 1988, and Indianapolis' The Flying Toasters for their great advice to readers and musicians so far! Look for Guitar Edge on newsstands everywhere.
In the meantime…
Practice, Practice, PRACTICE!
Adam St. James