LogicalLeadGuitar.com
Newsletter #3
I hope you've gotten comfortable with the C-shaped arpeggio I showed you in my last newsletter. In case you haven't discovered it yet, that shape is responsible for a lot of great solos and melodies by many legends of rock. One that comes to mind right now is the song "Jessica," by the Allman Brothers (see tab example in "Famous Riffs" below). If you missed any of the previous newsletters, let me know and I'll re-send it to you. Once again, if anything doesn't make sense, please email me at adam@LogicalLeadGuitar.com and I'll try to answer your questions.
In the meantime, I've been hard at work on the complete Logical Lead Guitar course, and I’m getting very excited as I see it come together. I've shot all the video, and we're in the editing phase now. So far I've got nearly an hour-long section on just the pentatonics almost fully edited – with so much more to come. You're going to learn so much useful info and great riffs from that hour alone – but the full course will include somewhere between three and four hours of video! I'll keep you updated on the progress of the course, and let you know when it officially becomes available!
Now Let's Play!
You can’t play lead guitar one-handed – at least not without looking like a circus monkey, so in this newsletter, I’ll show you a couple of pick-hand exercises you should be working on.
Must Know Techniques: The Basics of Alternate Picking
To move beyond beginner guitar technique, you must use alternate picking. Alternate picking means you play a down stroke, followed by an upstroke – then repeat. Try this exercise on your low open E string: strum down, up, down, up. Then move to your open fifth string (A) and repeat. Move this alternate picking pattern across all six strings in order.
As with most other things you practice on the guitar – perhaps even more so – it will help you greatly if you do this exercise with a metronome. Though we're talking about your picking hand for this exericise, here is the tab for the exercise:
E|--------------------------------------------------------------0--0--0--0-----
B|--------------------------------------------------0--0--0--0-----------------
G|--------------------------------------0--0--0--0-----------------------------
D|--------------------------0--0--0--0-----------------------------------------
A|--------------0--0--0--0-----------------------------------------------------
E|--0--0--0--0-----------------------------------------------------------------
Double 'em Up
Now let's double-time it and apply the alternate picking to a scale. Play your basic pentatonic scale at the 5th fret (A minor) and pick each note two times before moving to the next note in the scale. Each note should be picked with a down stroke, then an up stroke. That leaves you ready to play a down-stroke for the next note in the scale. Progress up the scale and across the whole neck this way, then descend the scale while continuing to double each note.
Once you get the hang of this, speed it up. Then try doing each note in the scale four times (down-up-down-up). This is often referred to as tremolo picking, something you may have heard Eddie Van Halen do quite a bit of (come back to us Eddie, come back!)
E|--------------------------------------------------------------5--5--8--8-----
B|--------------------------------------------------5--5--8--8-----------------
G|--------------------------------------5--5--7--7-----------------------------
D|--------------------------5--5--7--7-----------------------------------------
A|--------------5--5--7--7-----------------------------------------------------
E|--5--5--8--8-----------------------------------------------------------------
Famous Riffs
Here's another cool scale lesson in the form of an excerpt from a well-known solo. The point is not really the particular song shown (though it's an awesome song and you oughta try to learn the whole thing!), but the use of the scale to create a memorable solo.
Since I mentioned the Allman Brothers "Jessica" at the top of this newsletter, it made sense to show you exactly how Dickey Betts used the top end of the C-shaped arpeggio (though in the key of A major) to play this classic melody. And while I'm only showing a brief segment of this melody here, and Bett's only uses part of the arpeggio in this section, he does use the full C-shape arpeggio (as shown in newsletter #2) in "Jessica." Remember, he's doing this in the key of A major (not C – but you should recognize that the arpeggio looks just like an open-stringed C chord, just moved way up the neck.)
E|---------9--10--10b10r-9--------|--------------------|---------9--10--9--------------------------|
B|-----10--------------------10------|-------------------|-----10------------10----------------------|
G|--9----------------------------9---|----------------9--|--9--------------------9---------------9----|
D|------------------------------------|--12-11-12-------|--------------------------12--11--12------|
A|------------------------------------|--------------------|-----------------------------------------12-|
E|------------------------------------|--------------------|----------------------------------------------|
My Latest Guitar
Industry Projects
I've just done an interview with singer/songwriter Mindy Smith for Frets magazine, which you'll be able to read when the next issue hits the streets (or on the Frets website). I'll also have a lesson in that issue in which I'll talk about extra notes you can play around with while strumming or picking an open-string G chord – stuff you've certainly heard in songs such as "Tequila Sunrise" by the Eagles and "Reunion" by Collective Soul, among thousands of others.
Also, the NAMM show -- the major trade show of the National Association of Music Merchandisers -- is coming up in January at the Anaheim Convention Center. I've been attending this event since the mid-80s and can't tell you how cool it is: all the musical instrument manufacturers showing off their newest gear, hundreds of celebrities and virtuoso musicians demonstrating products or playing private party concerts (which you can get into if you schmooze the right manufacturer's rep early in the day), and tens of thousands of music industry folks, retailers, and just plain ol' musicians. If you're anywhere near Southern California January 18 through 22, you've got to try to get into this show. Alas, it's not open to the general public, but if you're a smooth talker...
In the meantime…
Practice, Practice, PRACTICE!
Adam St. James