LogicalLeadGuitar.com Newsletter #5

 

Hey sorry it's been so long since I cranked out another lesson-packed newsletter for you.

 

I've been lost in video-editing land almost non-stop for the past two months…

 

so here's a Logical Lead Guitar course update: I'm nearing completion on this highly-detailed lead guitar course.

 

The course includes nearly four hours of DVD lesson footage, hundreds of musical examples in tablature and notation, hundreds of pages of text, jam tracks – and a lifetime's worth of great guitar instruction! I hope you'll find it the most important tool you've ever experienced – other than just plain old practice and dedication – in advancing your guitar playing skills! I can't wait to let you know when it's finished, I anticipate that day to be by the middle of April! Hey, it's time consuming editing four hours of DVD!!!

 

Anyway, I hope all is running smoothly with the A minor diatonic scale pattern I showed you in newsletter #4. If you've been working on it, you should definitely see how it compares and relates to the basic A minor pentatonic pattern. And hopefully, as you play that diatonic pattern – and start to noodle around with it – you've found some riffs within which you recognize from famous solos – because they are definitely in there! Once again, if anything I show you doesn't make sense, please email me at adam@LogicalLeadGuitar.com and I'll try to answer your questions.

 

 

Now Let's Play!

 

Today I'm going to show you an absolutely essential riff straight out of the middle of the main A minor pentatonic pattern – and then a version of that same essential riff higher on the neck in the area known as "B.B.'s Box," named for B.B. King, who plays in this area extensively. Don’t be fooled by the name, however: Even the heaviest of metal shredders play regularly in "B.B.'s Box" – whether or not they know anything at all about B.B. King. Regardless of the style of music you play, this simple three-note riff is an absolute must. It's at the heart of almost every guitar solo EVER!

 

You MUST Know This Simple Riff

 

Sticking with the A minor pentatonic pattern at the 5th fret, position your third finger on A at the 7th fret on the fourth string. This note should be your home base for almost any solo you take flight on. And if you're playing in a different key, you still want to grab the note in this area of your main pentatonic scale and think of it as the most important note in the pattern. It's the root note of the pattern, and the root note is usually the most audibly "correct" note you can play.

 

After playing that third finger note – A at the 7th fret on the fourth string – use your first finger to play C at the 5th fret on the third string, then your third finger to play D at the 7th fret on the third string. We'll add a bend and release to that D note, then play C, then back to A.

 

Now toy around with this simple riff until you can do it fast and accurate – particularly the bend and release. Work this one until you can play it in your sleep:

 

E|-------------------------|-----

B|-------------------------|-----

G|-----5--7b7r7p5------|-----

D|--7----------------7---|-----

A|------------------------|-----

E|------------------------|-----

 

In case you aren't that fluent reading tablature (tab), the six lines are your six guitar strings; the numbers represent the frets you're supposed to play. The "b" after the "7" means bend – in this case bend the note a whole step (make the note sound two frets higher). The "r" and "p" after the next "7" means you should release the bend so that the pitch sounds like the un-bent D note again, then pull off that D to C at the 5th fret. Finish the riff by playing A on the fourth string again.

 

You'll want to work this bend/release/pull off technique using these exact notes until you really smooth it out. If you remember the classic Foghat version of Muddy Waters' "I Just Want To Make Love To You" – you've heard exactly what this riff should sound like.

 

Now Duplicate the Riff in B.B.'s Box

 

Now we'll move this pattern up one octave and play the exact same thing. The position on the neck will change, as we move to the 10th fret on the second string (A), the 8th fret on the first string (C) and the 10th fret on the first string (D).

 

These are the top three notes of the pentatonic pattern which stretches across all six strings just above our main pentatonic shape. And these top notes of that pattern are known as "B.B.'s Box." So many famous guitar solos have been played using B.B.'s Box it would be impossible to count them all. Once you start fooling around in this area, you'll certainly hear something familiar to you:

 

E|--------8--10b10r10p8-----------

B|--10-----------------------10-----

G|------------------------------------

D|------------------------------------

A|------------------------------------

E|------------------------------------

 

 

Famous Riffs

 

I find over and over with my private students here in the Chicago area that certain solos are perfect for teaching how to go from playing scales, or even exercises, to playing actual lead guitar. And those solos work whether or not they are by a band to which my student regularly listens. Now, I don't try to force my favorite bands down anyone else's throat – I teach plenty of modern rock to my younger students – but there's nothing like the good 'ol blues rock greats of the classic rock era to demonstrate exactly how easy and straight-forward lead guitar playing can be.

 

Take this excerpt from the solo to Lagrange by ZZ Top, for example. Position yourself with your main pentatonic shape at the 8th fret (place your finger at the 8th fret of your sixth string and play the pentatonic shape you know best – that's the one we're talking about.)

 

The first note of the solo is a big bend, at the 11th fret on the second string, bent up to sound like the note C at the 8th fret on the first string.

 

Then guitarist Billy Gibbons runs down the very pentatonic triplets riff I showed you in my first newsletter (write me if you don't have that).

 

Then he fools around with a couple of other notes on the low end of the main pentatonic shape. Most of the rest of the solo is a repeat of what you see in these first four measures – a ha ha ha!

 

 

My Latest Guitar Industry Projects

 

I've recently completed a series of 10 lessons for Guitar Center's GuitarSchool.net lesson site, based on the music of the Allman Brothers. The ABB is a band I'm particularly fond of. In fact, I front an Allman Brothers tribute band in Chicago called the Almost Brothers Band. Please do check us out (or come party with us if you pass through Chicago – we're playing a lot of dates!) at www.AlmostBrothersBand.com.

 

The GuitarSchool.net lessons are not yet live – I'll definitely let you know when they are posted. The fine folks there are teaming up with my friends at GuitarVision.com to shoot these lessons in 3-D motion capture, so you can not only play along with the jam tracks I recorded, follow the sheet music and tab I wrote, but actually watch these riffs played on an animated 3-D fretboard. It's really a fantastic learning tool. I will let you know when the lessons go live!

 

In the meantime…

 

Practice, Practice, PRACTICE!

 

Adam St. James

www.LogicalLeadGuitar.com

 

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