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Advanced Guitar Lessons

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5:06 Soldering - Introduction and Tools Needed Instructor: Lucas Fowler Level: Advanced Topic: Theory Style: Any Style Hey guys! This month we're going to talk about basic soldering for electric guitar players. This will be a really simple crash course to get you into how to do easy things like repairing jacks, cables, changing pickups, etc. Go slow and practic...
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5:58 Soldering - Tinning and Splicing Wires Instructor: Lucas Fowler Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Any Style In this section, we'll cover how to "tin" the wire in order to prepare it for splicing or attaching to a pot, jack, terminal, etc. We will also look at how to "splice" wires, which is simply connecting to open wire ends to each other. This can be ve...
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Soldering - Prepping and Soldering to Pots Instructor: Lucas Fowler Level: Advanced Topic: Theory Style: Any Style In the final section, we'll cover how to prepping pots for soldering, how to use solder wick to remove excess solder and how to cleanly connect wires to different points on a pot.
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8:52 Finger Separation Exercise Instructor: Lucas Fowler Level: Advanced Topic: Exercises Style: Any Style Hey everyone! In this lesson we're going to tackle a simple, but effective exercise to build strength in your fingers and help you coordinate separating them when necessary. Remember to start slow and not to worry too much about picking, this is...
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5:37 Licks ala Eric Johnson: Intro & Lick 1 Instructor: Mike Salow Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Rock Hi all! Back with another tutorial! This time we'll be looking at three licks in the style of Eric Johnson. All of these licks will be focused around sixteenth note E minor pentatonic runs. The licks will include some alternate picking as well ...
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3:46 Licks ala Eric Johnson: Lick 2 Instructor: Mike Salow Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Rock The second lick is almost a continuation of the first lick. It starts off the b7 (D) of the E minor pentatonic scale which is in the G position of the caged system. It quickly shifts into the E position of the pentatonic scale and ascends in 5 note ...
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4:04 Licks ala Eric Johnson: Lick 3 & Outro Instructor: Mike Salow Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Rock The final lick explores the other postions of the pentatonic slightly more than the first and second. We start at the top of the Gm position of the CAGED system and dscend into the Am position. The "turn around" of this lick happens right at the beg...
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5:14 Rhythmic Displacement in Metal: Playthrough & Intro Instructor: Mike Salow Level: Advanced Topic: Rhythm Style: Metal Hi all! Welcome back to another tutorial. This time around we'll be discussing rhythmic displacement within metal guitar riffs. The first thing I need to point out is that we will be using a dropped D tuning. Now, as you may know, the ...
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2:05 Rhythmic Displacement in Metal: Original Rhythm Instructor: Mike Salow Level: Advanced Topic: Rhythm Style: Metal First, we will take a look at the original rhythm in which our example stems from. This rhythm fits perfectly within one measure in 4/4 but soon we will throw it all off with our displacement. If we talk about this rhythm with numbers we will ...
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4:15 Rhythmic Displacement in Metal: Breakdown Instructor: Mike Salow Level: Advanced Topic: Rhythm Style: Metal Moving onto the breakdown of the example riff. As I mentioned in the previous videos and verbally within this video, we will add a 16th note rest to the original rhythm creating the displacement. Is this necessary? Not exactly, but it gives u...
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0:24 Rhythmic Displacement in Metal Riffs: Backing Track Instructor: Mike Salow Level: Advanced Topic: Rhythm Style: Metal Use this backing track to aid in your practice.
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1:40 Artificial Harmonics: Performance & Intro Instructor: Mike Salow Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Any Style Hi all! Back once again with another Infinite Guitar tutorial. This time I thought it might be fun to discuss artificial harmonics. I was first interested in this technique when I saw Tommy Emanuel play. Tommy is a fantastic player who you...
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3:23 Artificial Harmonics: Basic Technique Instructor: Mike Salow Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Any Style So in this video we will talk about the basic technique surrounding artificial harmonics. The easiest way to explain this is to say, whatever note is fretted with the left hand will need to be plucked exactly an octave up on the same string. So, if...
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3:01 Artificial Harmonics: Full Technique Instructor: Mike Salow Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Any Style Now that we've figured out the basics of artificial harmonics, we can now move onto the full technique as heard from players like Tommy Emanuel. This technique will utilize not only artificial harmonics put regular picked nots as well. The ke...
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5:10 Artificial Harmonics: Chord Shapes Instructor: Mike Salow Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Any Style The chords that are used in this example are the following: Bmin7add4 Bbmaj7#4 Cmaj69 C7b5 The voicings used within this example are not typical outside of this technique although they do have theoretical relevance. The main thing to note...
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0:39 Artificial Harmonics: Backing Track Instructor: Mike Salow Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Any Style Please use this backing track when practicing the examples. Enjoy!
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0:59 "Road Signs" - Playthrough Instructor: Mike Salow Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Fusion Hi Guys! Welcome to the tutorial! This time around we'll be breaking down the meoldy from my tune "Road Signs". Proceed to the following videos and we will begin the learning!
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1:24 "Road Signs" - Intro Instructor: Mike Salow Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Fusion So I thought I'd fill you guys in a little bit on the back story of this tune. The thought process behind it was inspired specifically by three different players and two specific tunes. I originally came up with the beginning of the melody after se...
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3:43 "Road Signs" - Breakdown Part 1 Instructor: Mike Salow Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Fusion We'll start off the breakdown by discussing the first two bars of this melody. It starts off with the stacked 5th idea that originally took from Scott Henderson. This first part is outlining an Amin11 chord. You can see this in the first 6 notes. Th...
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2:21 "Road Signs" - Breakdown Part 2 Instructor: Mike Salow Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Fusion Now we will move onto the next two bars of the main melody. Here we are outling a Dmin7 chord with some added extensions. I'm starting with the same type of stacked 5ths idea that leads into further arpeggiations. At this point we've learned half o...
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2:50 "Road Signs" - Breakdown Part 3 Instructor: Mike Salow Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Fusion At this point we are at what sounds like a repeat but actually it is a variation on the main idea. What I've done is added an odd time signature of 3/4 to the first half and then changed the melody slightly on the second half. The main thing to not...
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4:25 "Road Signs" - Breakdown Part 4 Instructor: Mike Salow Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Fusion Now we'll move on to what I guess you could call the B section of this tune. It's a simllar idea, seeing that there are still the continuous 8th notes happening during the melody, but now we'll modulate to the key of Bb Lydian. The first run outlin...
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5:01 "Road Signs" - Breakdown Part 5 Instructor: Mike Salow Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Fusion The final runs are the funnest part! We'll start of with a triplet run through the Dm7b5 arpeggio. After that, moving onto an F dorian run and finally leading into an E augmented run that emphasises the E7 alt chord that is taking place. ...
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0:57 "Road Signs" - Backing Track Instructor: Mike Salow Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Fusion And here we have the full backing track. Hope you enjoy! Full tab below.
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2:13 Sweeps a la Frank Gambale: Intro Instructor: Mike Salow Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Fusion Hello again! In this tutorial I'll be showing you how to approach a Frank Gambale style sweep using 4th voicings (please reference my tutorial on 4th voicings). We'll be playing in the key of g major while focusing more on the relative A Dorian ton...
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3:33 Sweeps a la Frank Gambale: Breakdown Instructor: Mike Salow Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Fusion As I said earlier we are basing these shapes off of the 4th voicing shapes I taught in one of my previous tutorials. Just to recap a little bit, 4ths voicing are stacked 4th intervals as opposed to stacked thirds that we would see in triads or 7th c...
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1:50 Sweeps a la Frank Gambale: Final Thought Instructor: Mike Salow Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Fusion I'd like to leave you with another way to approach using this type of sweep. In the final example we will view the notes as being related to the (A minor) pentatonic scale rather than thinking of them as 4th voicings. When we approach it this way w...
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1:56 Out In The Open - Intro and "Fatherland" Lick Instructor: Al Joseph Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Rock The Recut of my solo record "Out In The Open" will be out soon and ready for tour in the coming months. I thought now would be a great opportunity to give you a taste of what's to come! In this tutorial you'll find three licks that will keep yo...
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0:54 Out In The Open - "Exile" Lick Instructor: Al Joseph Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Rock For Lick No.2, we'll be learning a section from the song entitled "Exile". Pay close attention to the tablature and practice slowly. Keep the legato clean! The Recut of my solo record "Out In The Open" will be out soon and ready for tour in the...
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1:31 Out In The Open - "Desperate Times" Lick & Wrap Up Instructor: Al Joseph Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Rock For Lick No.3, we'll be learning a section from the song entitled "Desperate Times". Pay close attention to the tablature and practice slowly. Keep the legato clean! The Recut of my solo record "Out In The Open" will be out soon and ready for t...
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1:20 Out In The Open - "Fatherland" Backing Instructor: Al Joseph Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Rock Here we have the backing track to my song entitled "Fatherland".
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2:02 Out In The Open - "Exile" Backing Instructor: Al Joseph Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Rock Here we have the backing track to my song entitled "Exile".
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1:22 Out In The Open - "Desperate Times" Backing Instructor: Al Joseph Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Rock Here we have the backing track to my song entitled "Desperate Times".
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4:36 Odd Meters - 5/4 Part 1 (Take 5 example). Instructor: Nick Granville Level: Advanced Topic: Rhythm Style: Any Style In this lesson I show how to approach playing in 5/4. Odd meters are not as scary as most people think if you have some kind of concept. This idea of this lesson is to give you that concept. I use the classic tune take 5 as an example and also my arr...
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4:55 Odd Meters - 5/4 Part 2 (Dindi Example). Instructor: Nick Granville Level: Advanced Topic: Rhythm Style: Any Style In this lesson I show how to play my arrangement of Dindi in 5/4. The idea of this arrangement is to take a classic latin tune and make it into a 5/4 groove without using the Take 5 rhythm. This is acheived by reversing the pattern of take 5 e.g &nbs...
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1:21 Richie Kotzen Style Legato: Intro Instructor: Mike Salow Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Rock Hello hello! I hope everyone is well! This time around I thought I'd talk a little about legato playing, specifically some Richie Kotzen patterns I learned a long time ago that I still use in my playing today. Each pattern is meant to be more of an...
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3:39 Richie Kotzen Style Legato: Pattern 1 Instructor: Mike Salow Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Rock Alright this first pattern might be the most recognizable if you are familiar with Richie's playing, especially from the 1980's era Kotzen. This is the 6 note pattern I had mentioned in the last video. As you can see in the tab this can be approache...
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2:56 Richie Kotzen Style Legato: Pattern 2 Instructor: Mike Salow Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Rock This next pattern is a little trickier to feel. Since it is a group of 5 notes you'll be tempted and more likely to play this with a 5 notes per beat feel rather than the written 16th note feel. I recommend putting a metronome on 80 and really tryin...
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1:11 Half Step Bends - Intro Instructor: Mike Salow Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Any Style Hello all! This time around we will be talking about the use of the half step bend. This is a very easy and tasteful tool that is commonly looked over by players but I highly recommend taking some time to learn how to utilize the half step bend. Li...
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3:04 Half Step Bends - Explanation Instructor: Mike Salow Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Any Style Now one of the easiest and fastest ways to learn to use these bends is by using the two string symmetrical scale. The two string symmetrical scale is commonly taught and is extremely useful when visualizing the fret board. It can help with seeing o...
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2:52 Half Step Bends - Explanation (continued) Instructor: Mike Salow Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Any Style Now let's discuss they actual convenience of the two string symmetrical shape when we are learning where are half steps exist within a key. You may have to refer back to the tab so I've included it again at the bottom. As you can see the half...
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2:29 Half Step Bends - Examples Instructor: Mike Salow Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Any Style So I thought it best to go ahead and leave you guys with a few lick examples sort of in the style of Guthrie Govan, Steve Vai, or Shawn Lane. The first example is sort of an east Indian/middle eastern vibe to it. The key with this lick is to be quic...
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3:06 Chromatic Line Test - Descending Instructor: Nick Granville Level: Advanced Topic: Chords Style: Jazz In this lesson I show a way to move through chord progessions (II, V, I, VI in this case) while keeping a descending chromatic line on the top. This is not easy and will encourage you to find new voicings and ultimately be able to play advanced chord...
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2:53 Chromatic Line Test - Ascending. Instructor: Nick Granville Level: Advanced Topic: Chords Style: Jazz In this lesson I show a way to move through chord progessions (II, V, I, VI in this case) while keeping an ascending chromatic line on the top. This lesson builds on the previous one so if you have not watched that, then do that first. Next st...
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1:46 Oblivion - Progressive Metal Etude Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal Hi everyone out there in Infinite Guitar land! In this tutorial we're going to learn a piece I wrote called "Oblivion". One thing I'd like to emphasize in the beginning is that I don't ever want you to just "learn a piece" and then leave it at that....
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2:22 Oblivion - Guitars Only and Slowed Tempo Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal In this video I played the song at a slower tempo (90bpm as opposed to the original 123bpm). I also took out the other instrumentation so you can hear the guitars more clearly. Below I'll paste the section by section analyisis from the previous page...
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1:45 Oblivion - Backing Track (123bpm) Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal Here we have the backing track! Now, even if you're an advanced player, I'd still recommend starting with the slowed-down backing track on the next page. Get everything memorized with clean technique before you try playing it up to speed.
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2:22 Oblivion - Backing Track (90bpm) Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal On this page you'll find the backing track at a slowed-down tempo of 90bpm. I hope you have fun learning this song!
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2:35 4th Voicings - Introduction Instructor: Mike Salow Level: Advanced Topic: Chords Style: Any Style Hello again IG! Here's something I've been wanting to share with you guys for a while but for some reason or another I just decided to discuss other topics. The 4th voicing! Oh how simple it is! But wait! It can be a hard concept to use within you...
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1:27 4th Voicings - String Set 3-2-1 Instructor: Mike Salow Level: Advanced Topic: Chords Style: Any Style One thing I'd like to point out right way is that in the examples I've excluded the voicings based on string set 3-4-5 and set 4-5-6. I've done this for two reasons: #1. I think one of the most important things for any student to do is to be able to...
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1:50 4th Voicings - String Set 4-3-2 Instructor: Mike Salow Level: Advanced Topic: Chords Style: Any Style On to the next set of strings! For my personal taste, this is almost to the point of being muddy but it's still very useable. You'll notice that we once again have 5 repeated shapes and 2 "odd men out". These shapes aren't exactly the same as the o...
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1:23 Modern Metal Solo Breakdown: Intro Instructor: Mike Salow Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal Hello again! This is the 4th and final lesson on Modern Metal! If you're new to this series, check out the first tutorial here. We're finally to the guitar solo! We'll be breaking this solo down into 3 sections. 1. The first section is the first pe...
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2:24 Modern Metal Solo Breakdown: Part 1 Instructor: Mike Salow Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal Onto the first set of ideas. I'm a big fan of solos that build into a climactic ending whilst still maintaining some nice technical lines throughout, so I started this solo with a short melody followed by a pentatonic/blues oriented lick. This was ...
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1:32 Modern Metal Solo Breakdown: Part 2 Instructor: Mike Salow Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal The second part of the solo is very similar to the first part and together the two of them almost act as a call and response (minus the rest that would usually accrue between the two ideas in a call and response). I start again with some simple melo...
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3:34 Modern Metal Solo Breakdown: Part 3 Instructor: Mike Salow Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal Now onto the final lick. This lick can be very hard to master because of the mix of techniques and phrasing so take your time and go sloooowwww. It starts with a 9th (fret) position F# diminished 7 arpeggio that is played ascending in groups of fou...
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1:08 Triplet Fun! - Introduction Instructor: Chris Feener Level: Advanced Topic: Rhythm Style: Any Style Hey everyone! This month, we're taking a look at triplets. Triplets (like any other tuplet) offer a very distinct rhythmic sound. The focus of this month's tutorial is taking our triplet runs to the next level; creating sub-divisions within a triplet...
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0:36 Triplet Fun! - Threes, Fours and Fives Instructor: Chris Feener Level: Advanced Topic: Rhythm Style: Any Style Threes For the first exercise, we're just descending in groups of three - down three, up one, down three, up one, etc. This is a fairly common descending approach to scalar passages. Fours Here, we get our first taste of "playing over the bar line...
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0:37 Triplet Fun! - Sixes, Sevens and Nines Instructor: Chris Feener Level: Advanced Topic: Rhythm Style: Any Style Sixes Groups of sixes in a triplet feel should feel and sound rather natural due to it being a mutiple of three. The lick itself is a tad tricky due to the quick "back and forth" motion, but keep in mind that we're descending from the highest note/d...
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0:33 Triplet Fun! - Backing Track Instructor: Chris Feener Level: Advanced Topic: Rhythm Style: Any Style Here's the backing track, folks. Have fun with this!
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2:42 Modern Metal Rhythm Guitar - Intro Instructor: Mike Salow Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal Hello once again! We'll finally be breaking down the riffs in the "modern metal" tune I've written for you guys! It's about time! I know! :) First off, you'll need to tune your guitar to dropped C: C - G - C - F - A - D In this tune we have 4 mai...
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4:33 Modern Metal Rhythm Guitar - Riff 1 Instructor: Mike Salow Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal The first riff is what I call my "groove riff". Now this is not your typical groove riff because we don't have much rhythmic variation. In this case, we have a tremelo picked riff that has an underlying half-time double kick part. The half-time feel ...
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4:22 Modern Metal Rhythm Guitar - Riff 2 Instructor: Mike Salow Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal The second riff in this tune is what I'd call a "thrash" riff. In my mind, the main thing that describes a thrash riff is the back and forth interplay between the kick and snare (again, it's subjective, you might use a different descriptive word). M...
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2:38 Modern Metal Rhythm Guitar - Riff 3 Instructor: Mike Salow Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal The third riff is just a variation of the second riff. Nothing too crazy. All I'm doing here is taking the main phrase and repeating it as to build into the next section. This, accompanied by a blast beat, helps to build into the next section of the ...
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3:35 Modern Metal Rhythm Guitar - Riff 4 Instructor: Mike Salow Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal Riff 4 is what I call a chordal riff. It's obvious why I give it that name. This is a very simple right hand pattern of straight alternate picking. The left hand chordal shapes can be a little difficult so be sure to stretch and not strain too much...
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1:00 Modern Metal Rhythm Guitar - Outro Riff Instructor: Mike Salow Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal The outro riff is a recap of the main thrash riff. One of my favorite things to do when I'm composing is to bring back ideas that were previously heard in the song. Keep it thematic people! :) Sometimes even if it's just a small chunk of a riff it c...
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1:26 Modern Metal Rhythm Guitar - Backing Track Instructor: Mike Salow Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal I've made a backing track that excludes all of the rhythm guitar parts. Have fun!
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1:38 Hybrid Riffing - Introduction Instructor: Chris Feener Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal Hey everyone! This tutorial is based around a technique that I've found becoming more and more predominant in my rhythm playing, and I've had a few questions regarding the use of this technique - that technique being hybrid picking (incorporatin...
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0:27 Hybrid Riffing - Riff 1 Instructor: Chris Feener Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal RIFF 1 contains a whole bunch of hybrid picking and legato. This approach offers a rather "robotic" sound, as many of the notes lack having a defined "beginning", ie., a pick stroke. Focus heavily on the notated legato, pick-hand middle finger use as...
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0:31 Hybrid Riffing - Riff 2 Instructor: Chris Feener Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal RIFF 2 contains more of a "call and answer" approach, as far as technique goes. It begins with a more pick-heavy riff, and is then followed by a hybrid/legato descending lick. Here, we'll get a clearer understanding of how having this weapon in our a...
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0:33 Hybrid Riffing - Backing Track Instructor: Chris Feener Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal The tempo of this etude is 140BPM. Start slow, as demonstrated, and make sure you build up to the official tempo using all the necessary techniques while maintaining cleanliness.
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1:25 Pick-Stroke Uniformity - Introduction Instructor: Chris Feener Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Any Style Hey everyone! This month we're taking a close look at our pick-stroke. Maintaining a uniformity with regards to pick-stroke dynamics (regardless of which direction our pick strokes each string) will open many windows of opportunity to mix scalar and ...
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0:18 Pick-Stroke Uniformity - Lick 2 Instructor: Chris Feener Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Any Style Lick 2 consists of two bars of contrasting technique - the first, we're ascending through a fairly common three-note-per string passage with alternate, before descending through an E minor arpeggio sequence in bar two. Again, the focus of these exerc...
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0:18 Pick-Stroke Uniformity - Lick 3 Instructor: Chris Feener Level: Advanced Topic: Exercises Style: Any Style Lick 3 is a little more "mixed up" as far as pick directions are concerned. Much like lick 1, we begin with alternate picking but are soon met with an ascending Dmaj7 arpeggio from the A to G strings. The most effective method of practicing this lick...
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0:18 Pick-Stroke Uniformity - Lick 4 Instructor: Chris Feener Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Any Style Finally, lick 4 kinda mixes things up. This exercise begins with an up-stroke to allow for our economy to "reset" before hitting the alternate picked measure in bar 2 with a down stroke. Practice bar 1, first, to a metronome, before moving forward. W...
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2:34 The Half Whole Diminished Scale - Intro/Shapes Instructor: Mike Salow Level: Advanced Topic: Scales Style: Fusion Hello again! This month we'll be talking about the half whole diminished scale. I've been exploring this scale a little further as of late and have found a few new ideas I hadn't considered before. So I thought I'd share with you not on...
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2:56 The Half Whole Diminished Scale - Chord Situations Instructor: Mike Salow Level: Advanced Topic: Scales Style: Fusion When is the best time to use this scale? The truth is, there are many situations where this scale could be useful but we will talk about my favorite situations. First off, let’s consider what scale degrees we have available. In the Half whole ...
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2:37 The Half Whole Diminished Scale - Creating Lines Instructor: Mike Salow Level: Advanced Topic: Scales Style: Fusion The two ideas I've chosen to discuss in this tutorial are the major triads that exist within the scale as well as the dominant 7b5 arpeggios that exist. Starting with the major triads... Due to the series of half steps and whole steps in this scale...
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1:37 The Half Whole Diminished Scale - Licks! Instructor: Mike Salow Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Fusion The following licks will utilize the dominant 7b5 arpeggios and will resolve to an A blues sound. Pay close attention to the tabs. These licks do not start on a downbeat. Lick 1 will begin on the "and" of 1 and Lick 2 on the "and" of 4. These licks...
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4:09 The Half Whole Diminished Scale - Backing Track Instructor: Mike Salow Level: Advanced Topic: Improvising Style: Fusion Please enjoy this backing track to practice using the half whole diminished scale.
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1:59 More Legato Licks! - Intro and Lick 1 Instructor: Al Joseph Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Rock HAPPY NEW YEAR! Welcome to my first tutorial of 2014. This month I want to share 5 short but very useful licks with you. Make sure to read through the text and study the tab carefully to get the most from this tutorial. Good luck guys. Let's have fu...
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0:42 More Legato Licks! - Lick 2 Instructor: Al Joseph Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Rock This is my most played and favorite shape to use when shredding fusion-styled lines. I really abuse this lick so I had to throw it in here for yah! :) It'll be quite a stretch for most but it's pretty playable. HELPFUL HINT: Just take your time and...
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0:56 More Legato Licks! - Lick 3 Instructor: Al Joseph Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Rock I love this lick so I had to do it. A lot of you have seen this one already. C minor pentatonic, second position, GO!!! Remember to relax, sit with good posture and make mental notes of how these shapes relate to the intervallic structure of the sca...
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0:54 More Legato Licks! - Lick 4 Instructor: Al Joseph Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Rock This one is definitely a "Marco Sfogli" lick for sure. When visualizing this one, try thinking within the C minor pentatonic scale. Remember to relax, sit with good posture and make mental notes of how these shapes relate to the intervallic structur...
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1:18 More Legato Licks! - Lick 5 and Outro Instructor: Al Joseph Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Rock So in this lick, we're using the same shape in the right hand as before. Only this time we're adding our tapping finger. Remember to relax, sit with good posture and make mental notes of how these shapes relate to the intervallic structure of the sc...
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4:16 More Legato Licks! - C Minor Backing Track Instructor: Al Joseph Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Rock Practice hard with the backing track folks! All 5 licks are tabbed out below.
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1:15 Happy METAL Birthday - Performance Instructor: Chris Feener Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal Looking for that special way to say "Happy Birthday" this year? What better way than with what you do best - sweep arpeggios at 200BPM? We begin with the good ol' fashion "Happy Birthday To You" melody line before ripping into an arpeggio sequence se...
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0:24 Happy METAL Birthday - Melody Instructor: Chris Feener Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal We begin with an "acapella" style guitar section consisting of three-part harmony, with us leading the way with the main melody. Pay attention to rhythm - playing this melody over a thrash beat while trucking along at 200BPM can prove to be a bit of ...
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0:42 Happy METAL Birthday - Arpeggio Sequence Instructor: Chris Feener Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal The second half is where things get a little tricky. We're dealing (almost) exclusively with 5-string arpeggios, so it's basically a matter of mastering our left and right hand technique playing any one of these arpeggios, at the given tempo - then i...
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0:45 Happy METAL Birthday - Backing Track Instructor: Chris Feener Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal Have fun with the backing track! Be sure to utilize the IG metronome to practice at slower speeds.
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2:50 Jazz Blues with Walking Bass Line: Form Instructor: Mike Salow Level: Advanced Topic: Chords Style: Jazz Hello again and Happy New Year! I hope all of you spent your holidays with good company! Why not make your new year’s resolution to learn something different than usual? Maybe some jazz blues comping! ;) In this lesson we'll be covering how ...
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2:15 Jazz Blues with Walking Bass Line: Adding Bass Instructor: Mike Salow Level: Advanced Topic: Chords Style: Jazz Now that we've got the chords down it's time to add our bass line. In this part of the tutorial we will cover some rules to adding a bass line while comping chords. There are two main rules to follow. Rule #1: All bass notes should be quarter note...
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1:32 Jazz Blues with Walking Bass Line: Playthrough Instructor: Mike Salow Level: Advanced Topic: Chords Style: Jazz Onto the real thing! Make sure that all bass notes are played with the thumb or pick. The rest of the chord tones should be played with fingers 1, 2, and 3. If using a pick you'd use fingers 2, 3, and 4. Also keep in mind that the eight notes are ...
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1:32 "Desperate Measures" Solo - Intro & Demonstration Instructor: Al Joseph Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal Hey all! In this tutorial we're going to learn a solo section from my song "Desperate Times". I'm going to play it up to speed, then play it slow, then well break it all down with some in-depth explanation at the end. Remember to remain as relaxed a...
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0:43 "Desperate Measures" Solo - Slow Version Instructor: Al Joseph Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal In this video, I'm demonstrating the solo at 100bpm, as opposed to the original 130bpm version. When you're ready, let's get in-depth in the next video and analyze this thing!
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5:54 "Desperate Measures" Solo - Let's Analyze Instructor: Al Joseph Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal Okay folks, so here are some things to keep in mind: 1. Chord Progression: Now these are technically slash chords, but I'm going to simplify them to how they're being used in the solo. DM - Gm - Adim(or F#dim) - Cm - Repeat DM - Gm - BbM -...
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0:35 "Desperate Measures" Solo - Backing Track (130bpm) Instructor: Al Joseph Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal Have fun with the backing track! This one is full speed at 130bpm.
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0:46 "Desperate Measures" Solo - Backing Track (100bpm) Instructor: Al Joseph Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal This is a slowed-down version at 100bpm.
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1:01 Licking Up the Modes: Mixolydian - Intro Instructor: Mike Salow Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Country Hi guys! Again, we will continue with the "Licking Up the Modes" series. We are now on to the 5th mode, otherwise known as Mixolydian or Mixo for short. Mixolydian is based of the 5th degree of a major scale and contains the following scale degree...
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1:18 Licking Up the Modes: Mixolydian - Lick 1 Instructor: Mike Salow Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Country This first lick uses notes only out of the C mixolydian scale. It starts with a C7 arpeggio decending from the 3rd which moves into an Em7b5 arpeggio. The C7 arp includes all the essential chord tone while the Em7b5 excludes the root and util...
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2:06 Licking Up the Modes: Mixolydian - Lick 2 Instructor: Mike Salow Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Country In lick number two you can start hearing the country flare that I threw in there. Licks 3 and 4 will also have more of a country vibe. I will admit, I did not stick to strictly notes from mixoloydian in this one. The same goes for the next two licks...
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1:30 Licking Up the Modes: Mixolydian - Lick 3 Instructor: Mike Salow Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Country Lick three is a typical country lick. Players lick Brad Paisley, Johnny Hiland, and others use this same type of idea. It's basically playing 3rd intervals on the G and B strings. They descend diatonically through C mixolyidan, starting on C major.&...
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2:22 Licking Up the Modes: Mixolydian - Lick 4 Instructor: Mike Salow Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Country The final lick utilizes even more notes that are not within mixolydian. Specifically notes out of the C minor blues scale. This is common for country and blues. It helps with the ambiguity that exists within the 12 bar blues progression by incorporat...
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1:21 Technical Basics Pt.3 - Tapping Arpeggios: Intro Instructor: Al Joseph Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Rock Welcome to Part 3 of my Technical Basics Series! For this tutorial, we're going to be exploring tapping arpeggios. For today, just think on the following: 1. Relaxed hands and shoulders. 2. Try practicing to a stopwatch (no metronome) for muscle m...
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2:12 Technical Basics Pt.3 - Tapping Arpeggios: Walk-Through Instructor: Al Joseph Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Rock Like I said in the video: 1. Taking any scale or lick you study in a diatonic method helps. 2. We are breaking down the 4 patterns and training our hands to tap multiple arpeggios simultaneously. 3. We're learning a little theory as well. Pretty ...
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0:42 Technical Basics Pt.3 - Tapping Arpeggios: Lick 1 Instructor: Al Joseph Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Rock This lick is in GMajor Lydian and is an arpeggio with tensions 9, #11 and 13 thrown in. But to simplify things, just think of it as a G Lydian scale with really high intervals tapped at the top. Got in down? Go to the next page for Lick #2!
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0:40 Technical Basics Pt.3 - Tapping Arpeggios: Lick 2 Instructor: Al Joseph Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Rock This lick is in Bminor Dorian and is simply, Bminor7 to DMajor7. Or, you can think of it as a Bminor7 going to Bminor7(add9). There's no root to emphasize the Dorian sound. I prefer looking at it both ways as it helps me visualize and train my ear in...
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0:39 Licking Up the Modes: Lydian - Intro Instructor: Mike Salow Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Fusion It's back!!! "Licking Up the Modes" has shown itself once again! Finally moving onto Lydian! Like the rest of the licking up the modes series, we'll be using C as our starting note so as to see the differences in each mode. (Parallel modes) ...
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1:58 Licking Up the Modes: Lydian - Lick 1 Instructor: Mike Salow Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Fusion LICK #1 This lick uses two arpeggios that accentuate different tensions within Lydian. The first is an Emin9 arp which includes the 3 - 5 - 7 - 9 - #11. The second arp is a Gmaj7 arp which includes the 5 - 7 - 9 - #11. As you can see, they are ba...
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1:55 Licking Up the Modes: Lydian - Lick 2 Instructor: Mike Salow Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Fusion LICK #2 This lick is another that utilizes a couple arpeggios within C Lydian to accentuate various tensions. The first arpeggio is a Cmaj9, which is comprised of scale degrees 1 - 3 - 5 - 7 - 9 Obviously this arpeggio is outlining the tonic chord...
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1:40 Licking Up the Modes: Lydian - Lick 3 Instructor: Mike Salow Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Fusion LICK #3 Onto a triplet lick! Again we will use the Cmaj9 arpeggio but this time we'll be using a slightly different shape, still in the same area of the neck. This lick uses some intervallic ideas within the middle of the lick and ends with an F#m...
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0:59 "Up & Up" - Performance Instructor: Mike Salow Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Fusion Hi guys! For this tutorial I thought it would be fun to teach you my tune "Up & Up". I won't be covering the full song in this tutorial, just the main melody of the A & B sections. By request, I would gladly go over the rest of the song in a...
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2:16 "Up & Up" - A Section Breakdown - Part 1 Instructor: Mike Salow Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Fusion We'll start by breaking down the "A" section melody. I see this as being the "main" melody of Up & Up. This melody is in Em and is mainly based around an Em7 arpeggio and Em pentatonic. Other than notes directly from an Em7 arp or the Em pentat...
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3:00 "Up & Up" - A Section Breakdown - Part 2 Instructor: Mike Salow Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Fusion Now onto the rest of the "A" section melody! The chord progression for this section is E9 for three bars, and then on the 4th bar we have a syncopated progression of: G/A - F/G - Ab/Bb - Bb/C Each time these chords appear in the A section the melo...
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2:34 "Up & Up" - B Section Breakdown Instructor: Mike Salow Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Fusion Now onto the "B" section! The chord progression of this section is the same as every 4th bar of the A section, with a few added chords at the end of each phrase to accentuate the melody. Again that is: G/A - F/G - Ab/Bb - Bb/C - C/D - Db/Eb - D/E (...
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1:03 "Up & Up" - Backing Track Instructor: Mike Salow Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Fusion Have fun with the backing track guys! Practice hard!
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0:48 Soloing in the Style of Mike Stern: Solo Instructor: Mike Salow Level: Advanced Topic: Improvising Style: Jazz Hi Guys! For this tutorial I've done something a little different and gone with a bebop solo transcription. The backing track you hear is actually a minor 24 bar blues: i(1) Am - Am - Am - Am Am - Am - Am - Am iv(4) &...
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1:49 Soloing in the Style of Mike Stern: Breakdown Part 1 Instructor: Mike Salow Level: Advanced Topic: Improvising Style: Jazz In part 1 of the break down I've focused mainly on three licks that happen within the first 12 bars of the solo. #1. The first lick is a simple dissention down the A Dorian scale. The important thing to note here is the phrasing (including t...
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2:26 Soloing in the Style of Mike Stern: Breakdown Part 2 Instructor: Mike Salow Level: Advanced Topic: Improvising Style: Jazz For part 2 of the break down we'll be covering two long licks that happen bars 16 - 30 (last 8 bars of the 1st time through the form, into the 1st 6 bars of the 2nd time through the form). #1. The first lick is over the F7 to E7alt progressi...
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2:18 Soloing in the Style of Mike Stern: Breakdown Part 3 Instructor: Mike Salow Level: Advanced Topic: Improvising Style: Jazz Part 3 of the breakdown goes over the last 2 big/important riffs. #1. Here is another lick that is intended to imply a tonicization of the IV(4) chord, Dm. This time we take a different approach and play the A altered scale (Bb melodic mino...
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3:49 Soloing in the Style of Mike Stern: Backing Track Instructor: Mike Salow Level: Advanced Topic: Improvising Style: Jazz I've included the chord progression as well as suggested scales. Am - Am - Am - Am - Am - Am - Am - Am A Dorian. Over the last 1 or 2 bars you can use D Harmonic Minor or Bb Melodic Minor to lead to the Dm. Dm - Dm - Dm - Dm ...
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1:43 Riff like Lamb of God - Performance Instructor: Chris Feener Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal Hey fellow IGers! This past month I've been on a bit of a Lamb Of God kick, so I decided to break down and analyze some of the band's thrashy riffing and dark harmonic qualities. The band usually tunes to drop C, but for this tutorial, let's just sti...
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0:56 Riff like Lamb of God - Intro Instructor: Chris Feener Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal For the opening riff, I decided to break out with a classic Lamb Of God-style thrash riff which occurs in two parts. Measures one through eight consisting of mostly low D chugging (with higher single notes on the A string to break up t...
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1:12 Riff like Lamb of God - Verse/Chorus Instructor: Chris Feener Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal So here's our verse riff. As you can tell, it consists of a whole ton of eighth note "chugging". There are many downstrokes, but keep an eye on the accents as they form the over-all shape of the riff. NOTE: The extended 1-bar verse tag on ...
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0:40 Riff like Lamb of God - Bridge Instructor: Chris Feener Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal And lastly, the segway/bridge riff. Meant as more of a musical-break, the guitars have free reign for craziness; so that's what we're doing. With lots of palm mutes, legato, and sustained chord tones coming at you, it's bound to serve as a decen...
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1:43 Riff like Lamb of God - Backing Track (190BPM) Instructor: Chris Feener Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal Here's the backing track at 190bpm. If it's too fast for you, head on over to the next page to access the backing at 120bpm.
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2:36 Riff like Lamb of God - Backing Track (120BPM) Instructor: Chris Feener Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal Here's the backing track at 120bpm. Have fun and practice hard!
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1:06 Arp Symmetry - Introduction Instructor: Chris Feener Level: Advanced Topic: Exercises Style: Any Style Hey guys! This tutorial is focused on highlighting and "correcting" an issue with many of the common five and six string arpeggio sequences we see. We'll be applying a "no pick stroke missed" approach where we would normally visit our trusty pull-off...
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2:13 Arp Symmetry - Part 1 Instructor: Chris Feener Level: Advanced Topic: Exercises Style: Any Style The first arpeggio highlights one of the most common five-string patterns. To apply our distinct economy-style pick approach to this, however, we'll have to make some modifications - beginning with the second note. To eliminate the usual hammer-on we...
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2:45 Arp Symmetry - Part 2 Instructor: Chris Feener Level: Advanced Topic: Exercises Style: Any Style The next bar contains two repetitions of a six-string E minor arpeggio. The thing to focus on before getting too deep into this one, however, is how we transition into it. From the A minor, the final note was on the 15th fret of the A string - from t...
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1:11 Arp Symmetry - Part 3 Instructor: Chris Feener Level: Advanced Topic: Exercises Style: Any Style In measure 4, we see another five-string arpeggio. This time, a dominant 7 instead of a natural minor. The picking is identical to that of the A minor arpeggio, but the fingering is a little tanglier.
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0:56 Arp Symmetry - Part 4 Instructor: Chris Feener Level: Advanced Topic: Exercises Style: Any Style Last, but not least, we're back to another six-string arpeggio, and instead of minor, we're major. Much like the transition between the two five-string arps, this is the same. The picking pattern is identical to that of the E minor and D minor arpegg...
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1:30 Greg Howe Arpeggio Idea: Intro Instructor: Mike Salow Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Fusion Hello again! In this tutorial, we'll be going over a Greg Howe style arpeggio idea that I like to use. For this example, we will be using Diminished 7 arpeggios, that way we can expand further by moving each position over in minor 3rds. (3 frets) T...
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1:30 Greg Howe Arpeggio Idea: Lick Instructor: Mike Salow Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Fusion On to the lick! I'm hoping you've taken the time to master the actual arpeggio as it stands! If you have, you'll be ready to tackle this lick. Pay close attention to the tab. There are specific spots where the hybrid picking takes place. As you can...
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1:17 Greg Howe Arpeggio Idea: Expanding on the Idea Instructor: Mike Salow Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Fusion Now let's expand on this idea! The easiest route to expanding this idea into something much larger is to slide the position around in minor 3rd. (3 frets) Now if you decide to use this same idea with a Major 7 arpeggio or basically any other arpegg...
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1:20 Frank Gambale 7th Chord Arps Round 2: Intro Instructor: Mike Salow Level: Advanced Topic: Scales Style: Fusion Hello again! In this tutorial we'll be learning another Frank Gambale sweep. A few months back I covered a sweep idea in the style of Frank and this month we'll be talking about an arpeggio shape that you may have seen him use before. Like always ...
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1:52 Frank Gambale 7th Chord Arps Round 2: Amaj7 Instructor: Mike Salow Level: Advanced Topic: Scales Style: Fusion Our first arpeggio is of course A major 7! As mentioned earlier pay close attention to the time to get the right hand picking down correctly. Also, pay close attention to the fingering on the left hand. It stays pretty consistent up until the last ...
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2:05 Frank Gambale 7th Chord Arps Round 2: Bmin7 & C#min7 Instructor: Mike Salow Level: Advanced Topic: Scales Style: Fusion Our 2nd and 3rd arpeggios happen to be the exact same shape. As mentioned in the video make sure, when barring, to "role" your finger over each note to avoid notes bleeding into each other.
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2:51 Frank Gambale 7th Chord Arps Round 2: Dmaj7 & E7 Instructor: Mike Salow Level: Advanced Topic: Scales Style: Fusion Onto our 4th and 5th arpeggio! The D major will be the exact same fingering as our first A major arp so nothing too new there. Our E7 arpeggio will be a new shape. Make sure that you still use the same left hand fingering as the major 7 arpe...
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3:04 Frank Gambale 7th Chord Arps Round 2: F#min7 & G#min7b5 Instructor: Mike Salow Level: Advanced Topic: Scales Style: Fusion The final 2 arpeggios! The F#minor7 is nothing new shape wise, so no explanation needed there. The G#minor7b5 arpeggio will use a different fingering in the left hand. Every other arpeggio we have started with our third finger but in this case it ...
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1:34 Descending Sus4 Arpeggios: Intro Instructor: Mike Salow Level: Advanced Topic: Scales Style: Any Style Hi guys! In this tutorial we'll be discussing a descending sus4 arpeggio idea that I use a lot in my playing! Like a lot of ideas, I like to run through them diatonically and expand them into other tonalities so that we aren't just playing a major ...
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1:34 Descending Sus4 Arpeggios: Gmaj - Cmaj Instructor: Mike Salow Level: Advanced Topic: Scales Style: Any Style To our first four arpeggios! G Major (Ionian) (5 - 4 - 3 - 1) A Minor (Dorian) (5 - 4 - b3 - 1) B Minor (Phrygian) (5 - 4 - b3 - 1) C Major (Lydian) (5 - #4 - 3 - 1) As you can see our two mi...
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1:15 Descending Sus4 Arpeggios: Dmaj - F#dim Instructor: Mike Salow Level: Advanced Topic: Scales Style: Any Style The other three arpeggios! D Major (Mixolydian) (5 - 4 - 3 - 1) E Minor (Aeolian) (5 - 4 - b3 - 1) F# Diminished (Locrian) (b5 - 4 - b3 - 1) As you may have noticed our D Major is the same shape as our G maj...
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1:12 Descending Sus4 Arpeggios: Outro Instructor: Mike Salow Level: Advanced Topic: Scales Style: Any Style I've found that this approach to learning has really helped me to visualize the fretboard. The process of taking an idea and spreading throughout different qualities and around the fretboard. I'll leave you with a quick lick that just adds a little...
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3:55 Triads - Creating Lines and Solos Instructor: Al Joseph Level: Advanced Topic: Exercises Style: Metal Knowing The Harmony As a soloist it’s important to be both creative and thorough with your lines. One method I use to accomplish this is to explore the harmony of what I’m soloing over. Every song possesses harmony, whether it’s wr...
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0:40 Triads - "Cybertron" Solo Demonstration Instructor: Al Joseph Level: Advanced Topic: Exercises Style: Metal Transcribe Solos It’s important to “transcribe” (learn) solos in order to learn your instrument and develop you vocabulary as a soloist. So I chose a section of a tune I wrote to give you an example of how I use the elements of wha...
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2:23 Triads - "Cybertron" Solo Breakdown Instructor: Al Joseph Level: Advanced Topic: Exercises Style: Metal In this video, I'll give you somewhat of a step-by-step analysis of the solo. Learn each part slowly until it's very comfortable in your fingers. Don't forget to make mental notes of how you can apply these ideas into your own solos!
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2:31 Triads - Recap Instructor: Al Joseph Level: Advanced Topic: Exercises Style: Metal I hope this tutorial was both fun and insightful for you. Remember that this is a process. Please continue to review this lesson and make sure you’ve gathered as much of the main viewpoints as possible. Also, make sure you check out the backin...
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0:38 Triads - "Cybertron" Solo Backing Track Instructor: Al Joseph Level: Advanced Topic: Exercises Style: Metal Here's the backing track to "The Shores of Cybertron". Have fun! For the looped version, continue on to the next page.
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2:20 Triads - "Cybertron" Looped Backing Track Instructor: Al Joseph Level: Advanced Topic: Exercises Style: Metal Here is the backing track looped. Expand on the original solo and come up with your own ideas. Remember, harmony and rhythm are the key ingredients to creating successful lines and solos!
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3:07 Intervallic Approach - Breakdown Instructor: Chris Feener Level: Advanced Topic: Scales Style: Any Style Hey everyone! Welcome back. This month I wanted to focus on something a little more "intervallic". What I mean by that is focusing more on accentuating each passing chord to really make the progression "pop". We'll examine six different arpeggio...
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1:03 Intervallic Approach - Etude Instructor: Chris Feener Level: Advanced Topic: Scales Style: Any Style So let's make some music while experimenting with these arpeggio shapes. We'll be bouncing between several different octaves of each and incorporating all kinds of wacky techniques - so keep a firm eye on the tablature. Be sure to download the backin...
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1:03 Intervallic Approach - Backing Track Instructor: Chris Feener Level: Advanced Topic: Scales Style: Any Style Have fun with the backing track! First we have it at normal speed, then slow speed.
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1:15 Tapping with Pentatonics: Intro Instructor: Mike Salow Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Rock Hi guys! In this tutorial, we'll be talking about three different ways to tap out pentatonics! We will be in the key of E minor and will be using three different pentatonic boxes. I suggest you familiarize yourself with the pentatonic shapes below,...
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1:28 Tapping with Pentatonics: Lick 1 Instructor: Mike Salow Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Rock Lick 1! In the first lick we'll be using the first two pentatonic shapes that were discussed. This lick is kind of in the style of Greg Howe or maybe even Michael Romeo of Symphony X. We'll be using two fingers from the left hand and one tapping f...
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1:15 Tapping with Pentatonics: Lick 2 Instructor: Mike Salow Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Rock Lick 2! This one is very much using the Van Halen style of tapping. Leading with the tapping finger in the right hand. Again, three notes to each string but this time we'll be climbing up the strings in groups of three. This makes more sense when v...
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0:48 Tapping with Pentatonics: Lick 3 Instructor: Mike Salow Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Rock The final lick/style of tapping pentatonics! This final lick was inspired by Guthrie Govan's approach to tapping 7th chord arpeggios but in our case, we'll be using pentatonics. We finally will add in our third pentatonic shape, making our li...
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1:36 Free Licks in the Style of Guthrie Govan: Intro & Lick 1 Instructor: Mike Salow Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Rock Hey guys! Thought I'd throw out another "Licks in the Style of..." tutorial! This time we're covering the amazing Guthrie Govan! Personally, Guthrie is a huge influence on my playing and I had a lot of fun making this tutorial. One thing that is v...
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1:01 Free Licks in the Style of Guthrie Govan: Lick 2 Instructor: Mike Salow Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Fusion Lick 2! This is a fast one! I actually use this lick a lot in live situations. The way I'm thinking of this lick is being based around three pentatonic shapes to which I've added either chromatics, the blues note, or notes from dorian. Make sure t...
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0:23 Abusing The Blues - Introduction Instructor: Chris Feener Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Blues Welcome back IGers! This month, I wanted to break down and analyze a few of my "go-to" licks within the blues scale. But before we do, let's expand our harmonic spectrum of the blues scale, to spice things up. First, let's play through the regular o...
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0:49 Abusing The Blues - Lick 1 Instructor: Chris Feener Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Blues So this first lick is pretty "twisty" in that it highlights a fair portion of the first position A minor pentatonic scale while adding hints of the major third (C#) through out. This is a great mechanism for adding a more "Down South" kinda vibe to y...
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0:51 Abusing The Blues - Lick 2 Instructor: Chris Feener Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Blues In much the same descending motion, this lick makes use of the second and third position pentatonic scale. Again, be sure to keep an eye on the techniques involved and execute the lick as cleanly as possible.
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0:43 Abusing The Blues - Lick 3 Instructor: Chris Feener Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Blues Lick 3 approaches the blues scale from an ascending perspective. With three notes per string, our intervals are spread up to six frets apart. The main "purpose" of this lick is to highlight the #4 (D#) in a pretty blatant way. Be sure to note that th...
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0:53 Abusing The Blues - Lick 4 Instructor: Chris Feener Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Blues And last but not least, lick 4. This one is very "pentatonicy" in the sense that we see a ton of two-note-per-string-ness. Note the heavy use, again, of the major third interval (C#) on both the D and B strings. I hope you enjoyed playing through th...
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1:31 Licks in the Style of Greg Howe: Intro & Lick 1 Instructor: Mike Salow Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Fusion Hi guys! In this tutorial we'll be covering licks in the style of the great fusion guitarist, Greg Howe. Each of these licks uses some of Greg's most often used techniques like hybrid picking, hammer ons from no where, and tapping, just to name a...
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0:55 Licks in the Style of Greg Howe: Lick 2 Instructor: Mike Salow Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Fusion Lick 2! This second lick is not only in the style of Greg Howe, I've heard Greg use a version of this lick many times. The first half of this lick uses the pick, middle, and 3rd finger (right hand). This lick also uses the famous Greg Howe slide v...
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0:57 Licks in the Style of Greg Howe: Lick 3 Instructor: Mike Salow Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Fusion Lick 3! I transcribed this lick straight out of a Greg Howe solo. Note that the theoretical explanation I give for this lick might not be how Greg sees the lick. This lick is also considered an "outside lick", meaning that some of the ...
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1:04 Licks in the Style of Greg Howe: Lick 4 Instructor: Mike Salow Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Fusion The fourth and final lick! This lick is a pentatonic tapping lick that uses a lot of hammer ons from no where. It is also very repetitive, playing the same basic idea on each string. Also notice that each string switch starts with a hammer on from...
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10:06 Licks in the Style of Greg Howe: Backing Track Instructor: Mike Salow Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Fusion
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1:27 Mayones/Seymour Duncan Contest Entry - Performance Instructor: Chris Feener Level: Advanced Topic: Reference Style: Metal Hey guys! This month's lesson will be focused around analyzing the solo I did for Keith Merrow's solo competition in parternship with Mayones Guitars and Seymour Duncan Pickups. I've had an overwhelming number of requests for a transcription of the s...
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0:25 Mayones/Seymour Duncan Contest Entry - Part I Instructor: Chris Feener Level: Advanced Topic: Reference Style: Metal Bars 1-9 The first four measures of this solo feature some robotic 16th note tapped runs which implement string-skipping. Here are a few notes with regards to maintaining cleanliness: 1) Keep your right wrist readily available for muting strings af...
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0:34 Mayones/Seymour Duncan Contest Entry - Part II Instructor: Chris Feener Level: Advanced Topic: Reference Style: Metal Bars 10-21 The notable part in this section begins at bar 16. Actually, it begins with the last two 16th notes in bar 15. Knowing this is imparitive to nailing this lick and achieving the rhythmic approach originally intended. Make use of your right...
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0:23 Mayones/Seymour Duncan Contest Entry - Part III Instructor: Chris Feener Level: Advanced Topic: Reference Style: Metal Bars 22-29 Much like the last section, understanding the starting point ot the lick beginning in measure 22 is very, very important. If practicing to a quarter beat metronome, understand that the lick actually begins between beat one and two. Other ...
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0:32 Mayones/Seymour Duncan Contest Entry - Part IV Instructor: Chris Feener Level: Advanced Topic: Reference Style: Metal Bars 30-39 The outro is a bit of a finger-twister. This Japanese-sounding ascend/descend (repeat) run is fairly simplistic with regards to execution, but you'll quickly find that as you increase in BPM, it gets tangly. Thanks for checking out the s...
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1:18 Mayones/Seymour Duncan Contest Entry - Backing Track Instructor: Chris Feener Level: Advanced Topic: Reference Style: Metal Thanks for checking out the lesson! Here's the backing track, compliments of Keith Merrow. Be sure to check out Keith's stuff below! http://www.keithmerrow.com/home.cfm http://www.youtube.com/user/diobolic5150
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1:49 Tapping 7th Chord Arpeggios like Guthrie Govan: Intro Instructor: Mike Salow Level: Advanced Topic: Scales Style: Fusion Hello again guys! In this tutorial we'll be discussing tapped arpeggios ala Guthrie Govan. Tapping 7th chord arpeggios this way can give your line a very unique sound. Keep in mind that all of these arpeggios are being played in 3rd inversion with...
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2:45 Tapping 7th Chord Arpeggios like Guthrie Govan: Cmaj7, Fmaj7 Instructor: Mike Salow Level: Advanced Topic: Scales Style: Fusion So onto our first 4 arpeggios diatonic to C major. They again are Cmaj7 - Dm7 - Em7 - Fmaj7. ( I - ii - iii - IV ) Again these will all be played in 3rd inversion so: Cmaj7 - BCEG Dm7 - CDFA Em7 - DEGB Fmaj7 - EFAC Make sure to play all of the...
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2:53 Tapping 7th Chord Arpeggios like Guthrie Govan: G7 - Bm7b5 Instructor: Mike Salow Level: Advanced Topic: Scales Style: Fusion Now onto our other 3 arpeggios within C major. G7 - Am7 - Bm7b5. Again, in 3rd inversion. G7 - FGBD Am7 - GACE Bm7b5 - ABDF Same goes for these arpeggios, slow and dynamically even between each note!
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2:50 Tapping 7th Chord Arpeggios like Guthrie Govan: Licks Instructor: Mike Salow Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Fusion These licks are nothing special but I thought it would be a quick easy way to start using these arpeggios. Remember to start slow and gradually speed up. Also, focus on keeping the taps, hammer ons, and pull offs dynamically equal!
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1:33 A Chet-Style Rudolph - Performance Instructor: Chris Feener Level: Advanced Topic: Exercises Style: Holiday Hey fellow IGers! T'is the season once again so let's sink our teeth into another good ol' holiday classic. This month's lesson is comprised of a Chet Atkins-esque finger style arrangement of Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer. The most important thing t...
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0:24 A Chet-Style Rudolph - Part 1 Instructor: Chris Feener Level: Advanced Topic: Exercises Style: Holiday Alright so let's get started with the main "Rudolph" verse melody. Most people who exist on planet earth know this melody to some extent, so that part should be rather straight-forward. Just keep in mind, as formentioned, how "both" parts function to...
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0:24 A Chet-Style Rudolph - Part 2 Instructor: Chris Feener Level: Advanced Topic: Exercises Style: Holiday So onto the bridge section. This part begins with three descending bar chords, but the structure is much the same; two "bouncing" bass notes with an overlaying melody. Be sure to fret the barre chords with every ounce strength to produce the cleanest...
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0:15 A Chet-Style Rudolph - Part 3 Instructor: Chris Feener Level: Advanced Topic: Exercises Style: Holiday So after the bridge, we're right back to the main verse melody. Reference part one if you're having issues with that section of the tablature. I'll demonstrate the final eight bars of the song in this section. The fingering in measure 53 gets a tad "...
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1:05 A Chet-Style Rudolph - Backing Track Instructor: Chris Feener Level: Advanced Topic: Exercises Style: Holiday Have fun with the backing track!
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2:15 Threat Signal - "Uncensored" Solo Instructor: Travis Montgomery Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal I was listening to a lot of Born of Osiris at the time of writing the solo and ending lick to “Uncensored”. I went for a really Jason Richardson type sound, but still with my style of writing mixed in. The solo to this song is spli...
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2:06 Chronic Xorn - Mercy Solo Instructor: Travis Montgomery Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal Here's a lick that I used in a guest solo for the band Chronic Xorn. The song is called "Mercy". I was going for a Paul Gilbert-esque string skipping type feel. This lick uses quite a bit of hammer-ons, pull-offs, tapping, and a bit of alternate...
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2:15 The Second Surface - Performance Instructor: Chris Feener Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Rock For this song tutorial, I wanted to break down a few of the key sections in an original track of mine entitled "The Second Surface". Complete with all kinds of funky rhythms, dorian and phrygian melodies, pentatonic goodness and string skipped, tappe...
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0:38 The Second Surface - Intro/Verse Instructor: Chris Feener Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Rock So we open with a few measures of odd time. Make sure the rhythmic distinction between "on" and "off" is adheared to. Meaning, to give the rhythm the most amount of punch, avoid noise during the rests at all possible cost. The verse itself is just a ...
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0:26 The Second Surface - Pre-Chorus I Instructor: Chris Feener Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Rock The melody line in the pre-chorus is pretty straight forward, the reason I isolated this section is due to measures 17 and 18. Here, we see a run that rhythmically, seems rather... sloppy, in a sense. It's intention is to "float" over the beat, simpl...
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0:46 The Second Surface - Pre-Chorus II/Chorus Instructor: Chris Feener Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Rock The "trademark" of this tune is in this Ghost Busters-esque pentatonic section. Although we're playing a total of 4 or 5 notes in a rather familiar section of the fretboard, there can be hiccups with regards to execution due to fast position changes....
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0:54 The Second Surface - Tappin' & Sweepin' Instructor: Chris Feener Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Rock Alright, so let's finish this off with some utter chaos! Through bars 39-42, the rhythm contains 16th note triplets. The catch is, however, that the starting point of each arpeggio doesn't begin perfectly on a quarter note. This will throw a monkey w...
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2:00 The Second Surface - Backing Track Instructor: Chris Feener Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Rock Download the backing track and get busy!
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1:47 Licking Up the Modes: Phrygian - Lick 1 Instructor: Mike Salow Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Fusion So our first lick is a 16th note run. The tempo I'm working with is 105bpm so these 16ths are a little slower. Note that this lick does not start on a down beat but rather on the "a" of 2. (1 -e -& - a - 2 - e - & - a - 3 - e - etc...) ...
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2:08 Licking Up the Modes: Phrygian - Lick 2 Instructor: Mike Salow Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Fusion The second lick is somewhat similar to the first lick except this time we are starting on the "e" of 1 (1 - e - & - a - 2 - e- & - a - 3 - e - etc...). It is also a 16th note run just liike the first one. Also note that this lick does not en...
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1:26 Licking Up the Modes: Phrygian - Lick 3 Instructor: Mike Salow Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Fusion Alright, this is our first lick utilizing 16th note triplets. This one, like the others, is using a lot of different techniques like sliding, legato, and string skipping (sort of). Pay close attention to the phrasing and work this one up to speed. S...
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1:33 Licking Up the Modes: Phrygian - Lick 4 Instructor: Mike Salow Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Fusion Another 16th note triplet run! This one also using some different triad shapes but rolls off the fingers nicely once worked up to speed!
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2:05 Licking Up the Modes: Phrygian - Lick 5 Instructor: Mike Salow Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Fusion So our final lick utilizing some "Frank Gambale" style sweeping. If you've checked out last months tutorial you should have a head start at this lick. Pay close attention to the tab and work on getting the right and left hand synced up.
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0:40 Licking Up the Modes: Phrygian - Outro / Demonstration Instructor: Mike Salow Level: Advanced Topic: Improvising Style: Fusion Alright guys! Have fun with these licks! Remember to start slow and work your way up to speed. There's no rush! Phrasing is key! :) Until next time, farewell!
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1:34 Mystifying Your Rhythm - Part I Instructor: Chris Feener Level: Advanced Topic: Improvising Style: Any Style Mystify Your Rhythm PART I: Hey fellow IGers! This month's lesson is kind of a throw back to an earlier tutorial of mine entitled "Creating Your Own Pulse". I wanted to approach something that tends to evade many people when approaching thr...
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2:31 Mystifying Your Rhythm - Part II Instructor: Chris Feener Level: Advanced Topic: Improvising Style: Any Style PART II: Ex. 2 - "9 Within 3" - 1: So let's put this new feel to use. This lick is intended to be played over a 4/4 groove. If you'll notice, however, it's written in 3/4 first, and 4/4 second. The purpose for this is so that we can understa...
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1:22 Mystifying Your Rhythm - Part III Instructor: Chris Feener Level: Advanced Topic: Improvising Style: Any Style PART III: So, in keeping with the "staying away from the index finger establishing the down beat" format, let's try "Ex. 4 - Back To The Basics"; a more stuccato, straight sixteenth approach. Here is a lick with a very defined beginning and ...
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2:14 Threat Signal - "Trust In None" Outro Instructor: Travis Montgomery Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal Hey everyone! Today we're going to learn part of the outro to Threat Signal's song "Trust In None" from our self-titled album. It was aiming to create an almost whammy pedal effect, but without the use of a whammy pedal. This lick was actually writt...
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1:07 Threat Signal - "Trust In None" Outro - Backing Track Instructor: Travis Montgomery Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal Here's the backing track folks, have fun and practice hard!
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1:10 Frank Gambale Sweep Idea: Intro Instructor: Mike Salow Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Any Style So I decided to take a break from "Licking Up the Modes" this time around. I apologize if you were looking forward to Phrygian, but I promise we'll pick up where we left off in the next tutorial. I thought it'd be fun to talk about this Frank ...
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1:54 Frank Gambale Sweep Idea: Major 7 Arpeggios Instructor: Mike Salow Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Any Style Alright, so here is the sweep "idea" applied to our two major 7 arpeggios diatonic to the key of C major; Cmaj7 and Fmaj7. Note that these shapes are exactly the same, just played at different parts of the fretboard. Basically, this lick is an eigh...
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1:33 Frank Gambale Sweep Idea: Minor 7 Arpeggios Instructor: Mike Salow Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Any Style This is the exact same thing, just applied to our three minor 7 arpeggios this time. Dm7 - Em7 - Am7. No barring this time, but we'll have to use all four fingers on our left hand. Again, all three shapes are exactly the same but just at different ...
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0:53 Frank Gambale Sweep Idea: dom7 and min7b5 Arps Instructor: Mike Salow Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Any Style Alright instead of doing separate videos for the last two, I decided to put them together, since there is only one of each. So again, the same thing as before. There will be some barring in the G7 arpeggio but none in the Bm7b5.
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1:21 Frank Gambale Sweep Idea: Outro/Arpeggio Exercise Instructor: Mike Salow Level: Advanced Topic: Exercises Style: Any Style Alright guys, I hope you find this useful! Here's an exercise that will really help you to start utilizing this sweep idea. All we're doing is playing through each arpeggio in order. Don't be afraid to mix it up by jumping around each shape ...
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1:27 Skippin' Strings - Scale Fragments Instructor: Chris Feener Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Any Style String skipping is an approach that involves a lot of different techniques. Most of these techniques, you'll quickly come to find, are ones that involve keeping the "skipped" strings quiet. The purpose of string skipping is often times to cover more ...
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1:35 Skippin' Strings - Arpeggios & Etude Instructor: Chris Feener Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Any Style String skipped arpeggios are a staple in neo-classical shred and have been since the 80's. This approach is very ala Paul Gilbert. It offers a way to access a wide array of cool arpeggios without the "sloppy" effect of sweeping. We'll begin by breaki...
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1:31 Skippin' Strings - Hybrid Technique Instructor: Chris Feener Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Any Style A "cheap way out" (as I like to call it) to string skipping, is incorporating hybrid picking. Hybrid picking drastically decreases the amount of right hand movement as the need to shift the pick across numerous strings is now depleted. We hover...
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1:48 Threat Signal - "Fallen Disciples" Solo Instructor: Travis Montgomery Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal “Fallen Disciples” was one of the first songs written on the self-titled Threat Signal album. I was listening to a lot of Nevermore at the time, so the song and solo have quite a big Jeff Loomis sound to them. Overall the solo isn’t...
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1:03 Threat Signal - "Fallen Disciples" Solo (Slow) Instructor: Travis Montgomery Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal Here is the slowed down version of the solo. Keep it clean folks!
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3:11 Licking Up the Modes: Dorian - Lick 1 Instructor: Mike Salow Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Fusion When I wrote this lick I was thinking about large interval jumps so it starts with some minor 6ths. This lick is self explainitory but the last short bend is really what needs attention. Make sure to get the phrasing correct for that bend.
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2:05 Licking Up the Modes: Dorian - Lick 2 Instructor: Mike Salow Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Fusion Here is the first 16th note run. I use licks like this a lot. I bassically just travel down the dorian scale in this specific pattern (a pattern that I use a lot). There is a blues note added in this but otherwise it's only dorian notes. That minor b...
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3:36 Licking Up the Modes: Dorian - Lick 3 Instructor: Mike Salow Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Fusion This 16th note run starts off very similar to lick 2. This pattern is something I do a lot and it bound to show itself in my licks. This lick has three different patterns happening that need close attention. It starts with a scale run (that I do a lo...
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3:25 Licking Up the Modes: Dorian - Lick 4 Instructor: Mike Salow Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Fusion This lick is a 16th note run kind of inspired by Tom Quayle's playing. Starts off with a scale run and uses some Cm pentatonic ideas into an Am7b5 arpeggio. Feel free to end this lick however you'd like. I chose to hit a few pentatonic notes using qu...
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3:12 Licking Up the Modes: Dorian - Lick 5 Instructor: Mike Salow Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Fusion Here's another 16th note run that ascends in groupings of four notes. Each set of four is a different arpeggio. Pay attention to the notation / tab for this lick. I do a lot of hybrid picking in this lick and that is marked in the notation (not the t...
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0:45 Licking Up the Modes: Dorian - Lick Demonstration Instructor: Mike Salow Level: Advanced Topic: Improvising Style: Fusion Here is a demonstration of each lick with a little buit of improv involved. Adding simple bluesy endings to your licks can help to connect your ideas.
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0:33 Intro to Alternate Picking - Exercise 4 Instructor: Travis Montgomery Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Any Style Lick 4 is a scale run up the neck. Scales are great for practicing alternate picking. They get you used to changing strings, and the licks can easily be reversed so you can practice descending as well. In my opinion, doing ascending alternate pick...
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0:46 Intro to Alternate Picking - Exercise 5 (Etude) Instructor: Travis Montgomery Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Any Style Lick 5 is an expanded version of Lick 1. In this one you’ll be staying on one string, but changing positions of a scale. The end result is a cool neo-classical sounding lick. Focus on hitting that downstroke at the beginning of the pattern ...
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2:54 Licking Up the Modes: Ionian - Lick 1 Instructor: Mike Salow Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Fusion This first lick starts off with a C Major triad with a added 4 that resolves to the 3. It then moves to some string skipping intervallic jumps. Pay attention to the tab to see how it is picked.
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2:04 Licking Up the Modes: Ionian - Lick 2 Instructor: Mike Salow Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Fusion Lick 2 starts with some string skipping 6th intervals and then moves into A min7 land. The string skipping at the beggining can be hybrid picked but also works with an upstroke.
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2:12 Licking Up the Modes: Ionian - Lick 3 Instructor: Mike Salow Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Fusion We're hitting some more advanced territory with this 3rd lick. It is specifically designed to utilize your middle and ring finger for hybrid picking. Pay attention to the triplets that take place. Phrasing on this one can be tricky.
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0:57 Licking Up the Modes: Ionian - Demo Instructor: Mike Salow Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Fusion Here is the demo where I demonstrate all the licks over the backing track.
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0:40 Shred Licks III - Lick 1 Instructor: Travis Montgomery Level: Advanced Topic: Exercises Style: Any Style This lick involves some Petrucci-esque pedal tone licks, and some Paul Gilbert-esque string skipping shapes. Really focus on your muting while doing the string skipping. The shapes are moving fast and there’s a lot of room for extra string nois...
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1:08 Shred Licks III - Lick 2 Instructor: Travis Montgomery Level: Advanced Topic: Exercises Style: Any Style Here’s a little sweeping thing that I wrote a few years ago. I was very influenced by Jason Becker and Jeff Loomis at the time. The difficult part about this lick is how a few of the arpeggios descend three strings, then change positions and st...
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0:45 Fusion Rock Solo over 7/8 Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Fusion In this lesson, we're going to learn a solo from a song I recently finished. The solo floats over a 7/8 time signature. If you aren't familiar with time signatures, you can check out a basic introduction here, or for an in-depth analysis check out th...
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0:34 Fusion Rock Solo over 7/8 - Backing Track (142bpm) Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Fusion Here is the backing track at the original speed of 142bpm. If you'd rather practice at a slower speed, head on over to the next page to access the backing at 92bpm.
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1:24 Shred Licks II - Lick 1 Instructor: Travis Montgomery Level: Advanced Topic: Exercises Style: Any Style Here are a few challenging licks that involve a few techniques. These licks deal with finger tapping, legato, alternate picking, and sweep picking. Have fun with them, and take them slow! Lick 1 is a melodic tapping sequence that I wrote a few years...
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0:53 Free Melodic Solo Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Rock Hey folks! In this lesson, we're going to learn a short melodic solo taken from a song I wrote recently. Very fun to play. Very melodic. We have a lot of different techniques squeezed into a short amount of time, so go through the solo very slowly a...
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0:28 Free Melodic Solo - Backing Track (136bpm) Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Rock Here is the backing track at normal speed, 136 bpm. If this is a bit too fast for you, head on over to the next page to get the backing at 90bpm. Have fun!
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3:42 Hybrid Metal 101 - Harmonic Minor Instructor: Chris Feener Level: Advanced Topic: Exercises Style: Metal Hey guys! This two-part tutorial will be covering a technique that I've been asked to examine quite a few times (especially with my latest Youtube video release of an instrumental I wrote entitled "The Second Surface"). Incorporating hybrid picking i...
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2:50 Hybrid Metal 101 - Arpeggios Instructor: Chris Feener Level: Advanced Topic: Exercises Style: Metal So let's spread it out and get to the meat and potatoes of what this technique is really about. Hybrid picking is fantastic way of covering wide intervals without making any drastic right hand movements. EXERCISE 1: This exercise highlights a minor ...
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1:13 Melodic Lead over Djent Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Rock Hey everyone! In this tutorial, we're going to learn how to play a melodic lead section from a song I'm writing. To me, this is one of those licks that once you learn, it's pretty fun to play over and over! It's entertaining to the ear, and also a go...
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1:26 Melodic Lead over Djent - Backing Track (187bpm) Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal Here is the backing tracked looped at 187bpm. Rhythm guitars are included. If this is too fast for you, head on over to the next page to practice with the 90bpm backing track. Have fun!
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1:31 Shred Licks - Intro & Lick 1 Instructor: Travis Montgomery Level: Advanced Topic: Exercises Style: Any Style Intro I’m going to start my lessons off here at Infinite Guitar with a few licks. These licks are meant to work on at least 2-3 different techniques at once. You’ll be doing a bit of alternate picking, legato, finger tapping, and...
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1:43 "Hypnoustic Groove" Acoustic Demo Instructor: David Soltany Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Acoustic Hey Guys, welcome to this song tutorial! We're going to be checking out some advanced techniques in order to familiarize yourself with modern percussive-style playing. This demo was made by a sample company called Orange Tree samples. They have ...
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1:58 "Hypnoustic Groove" Acoustic Demo - Part 1 Instructor: David Soltany Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Acoustic Part 1 is the main groove of the song but only the percussion part. Be sure to work slowly, and be aware about keeping your first right/left hand's tom percussion hits smooth.
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1:54 "Hypnoustic Groove" Acoustic Demo - Part 2 Instructor: David Soltany Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Acoustic Part 2 is about the percussion groove plus the main theme. Be careful when hitting notes with your left hand, it's quite tricky to target it right when your hand is over the neck and playing upside down. The slide part should be focused on getting ...
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2:02 "Hypnoustic Groove" Acoustic Demo - Part 3 Instructor: David Soltany Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Acoustic Now we'll move on to the arpeggio part. Be careful of the transition between Part 2 and Part 3. You have very limited time to hit harmonics and go back to normal (your left hand playing under the neck and your right hand getting back to picking). ...
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4:00 "Hypnoustic Groove" Acoustic Demo - Part 4 Instructor: David Soltany Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Acoustic The last part is the same as Part 2 except you have to play it with your left hand in a standard position, hitting ghost notes (simplified Hi-hat) with your third finger. Two tricky parts are the fast hammer-on/pull-off line that starts at the same ...
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1:58 Feen's Trick Bag! - Intro & Lick 1 Instructor: Chris Feener Level: Advanced Topic: Exercises Style: Any Style Welcome back IG-ers! For this tutorial, let's dive into three licks that will be sure to challenge you in three different ways.Let this lesson serve as an avenue for exploring some techniques that can help achieve the note choices you want...
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1:07 Feen's Trick Bag! - Lick 2 Instructor: Chris Feener Level: Advanced Topic: Exercises Style: Any Style Lick 2: This one will cause some tangliness with the right hand. I decided to devise a pattern that works flawlessly for economy picking. Again, another way to achieve a series of notes while using an alternate approach - in this case, using a stacc...
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0:52 Feen's Trick Bag! - Lick 3 Instructor: Chris Feener Level: Advanced Topic: Exercises Style: Any Style Lick 3 So, keeping with the theme of spreading out intervals - here's one that involves a bunch of wacky-sounding arpeggios played in non-conventional ways. Incorporating some economy picking and legato, we achieve a sound that works against the rhy...
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0:38 Infinite Endurance - Introduction Instructor: Chris Feener Level: Advanced Topic: Exercises Style: Any Style I always receive questions along the lines of "How did you develop your technique?", "What is your practice regimen?", "How did you get so fast?". For one, I never really had a practice regimen and more-or-less played for the love of playing, but the...
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4:29 Infinite Endurance - Part 1: Pick Hand Instructor: Chris Feener Level: Advanced Topic: Exercises Style: Any Style Very ala Petrucci/Gilbert, let's get our pick hand fired up by blowing through each and every mode of G major. With each full ascend (occupying 5 bars) we see the same "up-down-up" pattern. After each of these ascends, however, we're faced with a qu...
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3:17 Infinite Endurance - Part 2: Fret Hand Instructor: Chris Feener Level: Advanced Topic: Exercises Style: Any Style So let's take the exact same "up and down" scalar motion, and put our fret hand to work. I've always found that the most efficient way of warming up the fret hand is by playing things that are slightly uncomfortable. What I mean by this is, involvin...
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1:16 Megadeth Riffage! - Performance Instructor: Chris Feener Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal Hey guys! For this tutorial, I decided to break down a bunch of Megadeth-esque riffs in an attempt to unlock a few of the many techniques associated with this style of playing. From finger-twisting "spider chords", to thrash beats to straight up low...
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0:37 Megadeth Riffage! - Riff 1 (Intro) Instructor: Chris Feener Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal And we're off! With a blazing thrash beat and tons of intricate pick strokes - reminiscent of something from Megadeth's "Rust In Peace". The first six bars are very much the same sort of "fast picking call" with a "two-chord answer" throughout, howe...
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0:22 Megadeth Riffage! - Riff 2 (Segue) Instructor: Chris Feener Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal Like riff 1, this riff is again, very much centered around the low E string. Serving as a segue between the intro and the first verse, it offers more of an eerie-type "Youthansia" groove - with all the phrygian, harmonic minor and chromatic reference...
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0:38 Megadeth Riffage! - Riff 3 (Verse) Instructor: Chris Feener Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal Continuing with a similar vibe as the segway riff, the rhythm is broken up and we add "space" for Dave's snarls. Note: The last eighth note in bar 18 and the first in 19 are tied, and then followed by a series of low E pick strokes beginning with an...
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0:40 Megadeth Riffage! - Riff 4 (Chorus) Instructor: Chris Feener Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal Let's clue up with a "Crypric Writing"-esque chorus. Again, with tons of room for a more melodic chorus as uniformly demonstrated on most Megadeth albums - we see groupings of four eighth notes in the second half off each bar. Play each chord "shot" ...
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1:18 Megadeth Riffage! - Backing Track (Full Speed) Instructor: Chris Feener Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal Here is the backing track at 190BPM (Full Speed).
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2:00 Megadeth Riffage! - Backing Track (Slow) Instructor: Chris Feener Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal Here is the backing track at 120BPM (Slow).
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0:42 The Lens of Clarity - Part 4 Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal This is definitely the most challenging part of the song. When I hear it I think it has a big Symphony X vibe. You'll be using a lot of legato here, including both hammer-ons and pull-offs. It might be tempting to cheat a little bit and get lazy wit...
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1:55 Djent Series Part 2 - 16th Note Offset Instructor: Chris Feener Level: Advanced Topic: Rhythm Style: Metal Let's take this whole rhythmic concept into awkward territory by playing a riff which holds a pulse of 17/16. So let's analyze what is happening... We'll be playing a meter of 17/16 over four measures of 4/4. Due to the seventeen 16th notes, we'...
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0:50 Djent Series Part 2 - Rhythmic Displacement Backing Track Instructor: Chris Feener Level: Advanced Topic: Rhythm Style: Metal Check out the backing track for "Rhythmic Displacement" The tempos are 80BPM - and then up to 120BPM.
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0:51 Djent Series - Part 2 - 16th Note Offset Backing Track Instructor: Chris Feener Level: Advanced Topic: Rhythm Style: Metal Check out the backing track for "16th Note Offset" The tempos are 80BPM - and then up to 120BPM.
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0:32 Djent Series Part 1 - Introduction Instructor: Chris Feener Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal Hey guys, This is part one in an upcoming series of lessons I'll be doing on the rhythmic concept of "djent". Derrived from a word "invented" by members of Meshuggah, and popularized by Periphery song-writer Misha Mansoor, the term has become synony...
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2:22 Djent Series Part 1 - Technique Instructor: Chris Feener Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Metal Let's examine some beneficial techniques involved in this distinct style of rhythm playing. Right Hand The right hand is enormously important in acquiring the percussiveness and cleanliness we'll need to execute the following riffs. Make sure the p...
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3:44 Djent Series Part 1 - "Even-Odd" Pulses Instructor: Chris Feener Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal So let's start out with the basic concept of polymeters. I've addressed this concept in a previous tutorial regarding creating pulses in your lead playing, so let's apply that to riffing, and learn how we can use these odd rhythmic pulses to create s...
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2:25 Djent Series Part 1 - The Pattern Approach Instructor: Chris Feener Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal Here's another common technique, alike the "Even-Odd" rhythm approach, we'll be playing meters within meters, except this time, meters within meters within meters. Confused yet? Don't be. Here's what's happening: The pattern is One... One-Two... On...
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0:43 Djent Series Part 1 - Backing Track - Pulse of 9 Instructor: Chris Feener Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal Check out this drum backing track and play along to the exercises under "Even-Odd", exercise: "Pulse of 9". The drum track plays first at 150BPM, then at 150BPM with added groupings for the riff demonstration, and then again for the r...
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0:21 Djent Series Part 1 - Backing Track - Pattern Approach Instructor: Chris Feener Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal Check out this drum backing track and play along to the exercise: "Pattern Approach". The drum track plays at 200BPM.
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0:33 From Scales to Chords - Part 3 Instructor: Chris Feener Level: Advanced Topic: Theory Style: Any Style 1) Let's try a different chord structure. Rather than layering the chord in the "root - fifth" format, let's try harmonizing the root directly and solely with it's 3rd. 2) From here, it's very simple to add other harmony other than a perfect 5th. In...
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0:28 Shawn Lane Lines - Part 1 Instructor: Richard Lundmark Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Rock Hello stringslingers! In this "lick & line" lesson we'll look at a hybrid legato pattern, that is usually played in triplets. However, we will do it in 32nd notes AND do it in the style of the late, great Shawn Lane and his "falling down the sta...
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0:35 Shawn Lane Lines - Part 2 Instructor: Richard Lundmark Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Rock OK! In the second "Lane Line", we'll use a whole-tone scale, descending diagonally in the opposite direction. Whilst the first line descended in the opposite direction, we only moved approximately 1 octave in range, while we here will move more than...
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1:09 Country Mechanics - Major Key Diads Instructor: Chris Feener Level: Advanced Topic: Scales Style: Country So to start, a really important and often overlooked approach is to play in "diads". Diads are any grouping of two notes within a key. We'll be sticking to the key of G major for the time being so we can understand how things operate across the board...
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1:24 Intervallic Fusion lick in B Dorian Instructor: Steve Hubbard Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Fusion Hey folks! Here's a fun little lick I came up with. Hope you enjoy! This lead lick falls into the key of B minor / B Dorian, with most of the notes coming from the minor pentatonic box. I tried to play the lick with a 'swing' feel, but feel free to...
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3:57 Tapped Arpeggios - Technique and Note Break-Down Instructor: Chris Feener Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Any Style This tutorial comes after receiving quite a few requests to tackle the subject: tapped arpeggios. We'll be analyzing the note sequences which will best highlight chord voicings, primarily focusing on major, minor, diminished and augmented for part 1....
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5:09 Tapped Arpeggios - 3 Octave Exercises Instructor: Chris Feener Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Any Style In the transcription below, we see tons and tons of notes. Be aware, however, there's really only three exercises here. We'll just be demonstrating the actual patterns in four different arpeggio shapes (minor, major, diminished and augmented). ...
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0:22 Tapped Arpeggios - Etude in F Major Instructor: Chris Feener Level: Advanced Topic: Exercises Style: Any Style So let's throw together some of these arpeggios into a musical context. We'll be highlighting a 6 1 5 4 progression in F. So, the chords are as follows: Dm, F, C, BbThe progression then concludes with a D diminished run. Now, let's take this ...
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0:28 Tapped Arpeggios - Descending Minor Inversions Instructor: Chris Feener Level: Advanced Topic: Exercises Style: Any Style Alright, to conclude, here's some food for thought. I've taken a simple A minor arpeggio and arranged it in a descending fashion with alternating inversions. We'll be playing nothing more than A, C and E, but in a way that'll have your brain twistin...
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1:09 Tapped Arpeggios - Etude in F Major Backing Track (Fast) Instructor: Chris Feener Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Metal Download the Etude in F Major Backing Track (Fast) at 150BPM
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1:34 Tapped Arpeggios - Etude in F Major Backing Track (Slow) Instructor: Chris Feener Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Metal Download the Etude in F Major Backing Track (Slow) at 105BPM
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0:57 Hybrid Lick Extensions - Intro and Playthrough Instructor: Richard Lundmark Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Fusion Welcome to this short ”lick-based” tutorial. This time we’re going to have a look at a Hybrid Picking lick or ”line”. This line was something I came up with in improvisation over an A Dorian groove. Thus, the lick is pri...
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2:42 Hybrid Lick Extensions - Isolation Exercises Instructor: Richard Lundmark Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Fusion In this part we’ll first look at the lick slowed down, and then some isolation exercises derived from the lick. I want to note here that I have not notated the isolation exercises to conform to any kind of bar-lengths, that is say 16 notes over...
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3:00 3-Note-Per-String Pentatonics - Introduction Instructor: Chris Feener Level: Advanced Topic: Scales Style: Any Style Hey guys, For this tutorial, I wanted to focus on something that I frequently practice and incorporate into my lead playing - stretching the pentatonic scale out over three notes per-string. What we get in doing so, is a pattern which includes notes...
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1:42 3-Note-Per-String Pentatonics - Playing in Octaves Instructor: Chris Feener Level: Advanced Topic: Scales Style: Any Style So let's start in A minor. The A minor pentatonic consists of 5 notes, obviously, but we'll be playing in groupings of 6 which will cover all 5 pentatonic notes. This isn't overly "conventional" in the sense that we aren't sticking to an ascend of on...
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0:38 3-Note-Per-String Pentatonics - Exercise 1 Instructor: Chris Feener Level: Advanced Topic: Exercises Style: Any Style So let's dive right into some "practical" context stuff and examine how we can use this technique to inspire some awesome licks based on notes we already know. Exercise 1 is completely full of position shifts and literally covers notes in every pent...
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0:42 3-Note-Per-String Pentatonics - Exercise 2 Instructor: Chris Feener Level: Advanced Topic: Exercises Style: Any Style This next exercise is based in C minor. We'll be covering the first two minor pentatonic positions while descending in groups of 5. Sticking to notes strictly related to the pentatonic scale, you'll begin to hear some very flavorful, interesting and ...
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0:49 3-Note-Per-String Pentatonics - Exercise 3 Instructor: Chris Feener Level: Advanced Topic: Exercises Style: Any Style To finish, let's try a descending lick that warrants a more linear voicing, with less position-shifting. I very often hear from students, and have experienced myself, the greater difficulty in descending vs. ascending scale patterns, or vice versa, s...
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1:35 Vanilla Funk Sundae! - Performance Instructor: Chris Feener Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Funk Hey once again, shredders! For this tutorial, I chose to break down a track that was (structurally) written by myself and a drummer friend of mine, Brandon Hopkins, with some super funky bass lines and keyboard tracks done by Tony Dickinson. (www.to...
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1:34 Vanilla Funk Sundae! - Part I Instructor: Chris Feener Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Funk As I mentioned in the introduction, here's where the "groove" aspect of your playing should be in full-force. Learn the notes, analyze the demonstration video to ensure your 8th shuffle feel is in line with the original, and have fun. A quick pointe...
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0:58 Vanilla Funk Sundae! - Part II Instructor: Chris Feener Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Funk Here's where we're introduced to our first "Guthrie" influenced lead. It highlights an F#m9, Dmaj7 and Bm7 progression and floats in and out of notes diatonic to the key to offer a very "accidental" sound. Focus on all the techniques used, including...
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0:53 Vanilla Funk Sundae! - Part III Instructor: Chris Feener Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Funk This riff predominantly consists of three notes, F#, E and A. Still keeping with our shuffle-feel, the note groupings offer a polymetric sound that extends four bars. In bar 36, the meter resets resulting in a "speeding up" effect that helps the...
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1:06 Vanilla Funk Sundae! - Part IV Instructor: Chris Feener Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Funk At last, the guitar solo! Again, within the F#m blues scale, the scale slips in and out of different modes hinting at all kinds of different flavours. Bar 60 through 61 consists of, yet again, another tapping lick - and like before - the rhythm is ...
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1:37 Vanilla Funk Sundae! - Backing Track Instructor: Chris Feener Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Funk Download the Backing Track here and have fun!
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0:36 Sweep Picking as a Tool - Example 3 Instructor: Steve Hubbard Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Fusion This example uses legato, with sweep picking at the end. The lick uses a E7 arpeggio, and is heavily inspired by Greg Howe.
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0:18 Sweep Picking as a Tool - Example 4 Instructor: Steve Hubbard Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Fusion Now we're into the realm of licks that require a bit more technical skill. Try your best to keep this clean, and accurate! Keep in mind that you can use the same pattern, with a number of different arpeggios and shapes. For this example, I've chosen...
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0:26 Sweep Picking as a Tool - Example 5 Instructor: Steve Hubbard Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Fusion This example is inspired by a commonly played Zakk Wylde lick. For years, I had been playing this lick using alternate picking, and one day discovered that it is much easier for me to play, if swept! As in some of the other examples, legato is used. ...
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0:29 Sweep Picking as a Tool - Example 6 Instructor: Steve Hubbard Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Fusion This example is more of a textural lick, at least, when played in repetition. I like to use hybrid picking for the G# note on the 9th fret of the B string, but feel free to use sweeping / legato, or whatever feels best. Works well over C# dominant ...
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0:28 Sweep Picking as a Tool - Example 7 Instructor: Steve Hubbard Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Rock For the final example, we have a textural diminished arpeggio run! Now, you may be thinking.. Doesn't this go against the whole focus of this tutorial? Well, somewhat.. but like I said, there is nothing wrong with 'sweep runs.' I'm mainly trying to h...
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0:22 Tim Miller Substitution Idea - Example 3 Instructor: Martin Miller Level: Advanced Topic: Improvising Style: Fusion Here’s a little twist I added myself. My initial idea was to add more notes to the F# triad without compromising too much of its distinct sound (like a scale would do), so I expanded the triad with the notes D#/Eb and G#/Ab giving us a F#maj or...
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0:12 Tim Miller Substitution Idea - Example 4 Instructor: Martin Miller Level: Advanced Topic: Improvising Style: Fusion And to round things off, here’s a nice little example combining the concepts discussed in this tutorial and my last tutorial, Eric Johnson Style Triads. As always, be sure to ask anything that’s on your mind regarding this material. See ...
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1:14 Riff Like Threat Signal - Performance Instructor: Chris Feener Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal Hey guys! This month, due to being heavily involved in the writing process of the new Threat Signal record, I decided to break down the mechanics of this interesting rhythm-style, in hopes that you can incorporate it into your own compositions. We'll...
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0:38 Riff Like Threat Signal - Intro & Verse Instructor: Chris Feener Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal Intro: Make the distinction between rests and longer note durations, for instance; the Bb note on the third fret in bar 1 is a held 8th beat, wheras the two 16ths that follow are short 16ths followed by a rest. Palm muting is imparitive and it's im...
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0:50 Riff Like Threat Signal - Pre-Chorus & Chorus Instructor: Chris Feener Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal Pre-Chorus The pre-chorus riff is very Vigilance-esque. Pay close attention to how the riff "resets" near the end of bar 7. The note sequence will be much easier to grasp by not biting off more than you can chew, or in other words, memorize the patt...
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0:26 Riff Like Threat Signal - Post-Chorus Instructor: Chris Feener Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal Post-Chorus This riff serves as the common "heavy riff after the chorus" segment which usually ties the chorus back to a verse. Rhythmically, it's a bit of a finger-twister. Each bar starts the same, and ends a little differently. Please recognize ...
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1:14 Riff Like Threat Signal - Backing Track (Full Tempo) Instructor: Chris Feener Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal Download the backing track at Full Tempo (122BPM)
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1:46 Riff Like Threat Signal - Backing Track (Reduced Tempo) Instructor: Chris Feener Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal Download the backing track at a Reduced Tempo (85BPM)
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0:52 Eric Johnson Triads - Lick 3 Instructor: Martin Miller Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Rock This last example shows how to incorporate these shapes into a more straight-forward shredding context. Like the first lick, it utilizes a few substitutions and some very tricky string skips, so it is bound to get your alternate picking up to shape. ...
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0:54 The Eccentric Hillbilly - Performance Instructor: Chris Feener Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Rock Hi guys, for this tutorial I wanted to break down an original of mine entitled "The Eccentric Hillbilly". After writing this track in late 2007, I decided to enter it into Guitar Idol 2008, it got me through to the finals in London, England and it's ...
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0:58 The Eccentric Hillbilly - Gettin' Fired Up Instructor: Chris Feener Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Rock To get started, we'll see some quick licks, most incorporating "chicken pickin'" , which is commonly referred to as "hybrid picking" (a technique incorporating both the pick and fingers of the right hand). The number 2 will be seen written throughout...
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0:18 The Eccentric Hillbilly - Slappin' n' Poppin' Instructor: Chris Feener Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Rock Here's where things get really interesting: incorporating common bass technique. Slapping and popping in this context is rarely seen, but when demonstrated effectively, can produce a very interesting and innovative sound. Harmonically, we're playing...
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0:39 The Eccentric Hillbilly - A 'lil More Modern Instructor: Chris Feener Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Rock To conclude, we play the chorus, and a 3-bar tapping lick which brings us to verse 2 (another time!). The main thing to keep in mind, with regards to the chorus, is the nuances in phrasing. The bends, vibrato and legato demonstrated effectively will ...
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1:01 The Eccentric Hillbilly - Backing Track Instructor: Chris Feener Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Rock Download the backing track at full tempo.
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1:07 The Eccentric Hillbilly - Backing Track (Slow) Instructor: Chris Feener Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Rock Download the backing track at a reduced tempo.
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1:40 Code Seven - Performance Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal Hey everyone, and welcome to this song tutorial! This is a piece taken from a pretty heavy tune I wrote a while back. You can hear the full version on my profile page if you'd like. Make sure you turn your amp up to 11 for this one! And do not be al...
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0:33 Code Seven - Part 1 Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal This first riff is going to be somewhat floating over the 4/4 time signature. I like incorporating riffs over 4/4 drum grooves that don't always perfectly line up within the 4/4 structure. For example, bar 4 is in 4/4 time, however depending on how y...
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0:33 Code Seven - Part 2 Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal This part is an extension of Part 1, except it's a lot more aggressive with the palm muting and we're also now perfectly aligned with the drums in 4/4 time. Make sure your palm muting spans across all three bottom strings to really get that crunch s...
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1:04 Code Seven - Part 3 Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal This part will definitely test your picking hand's stamina. There is a massive amount of "galloping triplets" on the sixth string. You'll need to concentrate on making sure everything stays in perfect sync with both hands. Practice this part very slo...
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1:04 Code Seven - Part 4 Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal This part has a cool call and answer section. In bars 29-30, we have a heavy rhythm creating the "call", then in bars 31-32 we have the guitar's melody "answering the call". Then the same thing happens in bars 33-36. "Call and answers" are very fun ...
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1:04 Code Seven - Part 5 Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal The last part is the easiest section of the piece, involving some solid strumming of power chords. Again, make sure the rests are dead silent. For this riff in particular, it's very important that the riff breathes between the chords to give it that ...
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1:39 Code Seven - Backing Track (Full Tempo - 192bpm) Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal Here is the backing track at full tempo, 192bpm. If this is too fast for you right now, go to the next page to access the backing track at 150bpm.
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2:07 Code Seven - Backing Track (Slow Tempo - 150bpm) Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal Here is the backing track slowed down to 150bpm. Practice hard and have fun!
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6:07 Santa's Knuckle Busters - Grinch Level Instructor: Richard Lundmark Level: Advanced Topic: Exercises Style: Holiday Ahh, the Grinch, the furry little green devil of Christmas that just won't leave us alone! But, in the spirit of his genial personality and insanity, I've devised a special treat for all you Grinches out there. If you've studied any of my tutorials,...
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2:09 Santa's Knuckle Busters - Grinch Backing Instructor: Richard Lundmark Level: Advanced Topic: Exercises Style: Holiday Here is a backing track where you'll hear the triplet rhythm pattern from the Grinch example, now looped. You can play along with this to make sure you are keeping the rhythm and then try it over any pattern or sequence you might know. Then, you sho...
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1:40 In the Style of John Petrucci - Performance Instructor: Chris Feener Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal Hey guys, I've been on a classic John Petrucci kick lately so I decided to piece together a solo which captures the essence of Mr. Petrucci as best as possible. The solo is comprised of two sections, the first covering his blues-esque Steve Morse in...
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2:11 In the Style of John Petrucci - Part 1 Instructor: Chris Feener Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal This first 16 bars of the solo move in and out of the blues scale; from a natural Bm scale to F# dorian. Based mostly around simple pentatonic positions and "box" scales, it portrays Petrucci's ability to take elements of blues/classic rock and combi...
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1:57 In the Style of John Petrucci - Part 2 Instructor: Chris Feener Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal The second half of the solo, as mentioned in the introductory video, contains more linear and minor sounding licks. It opens with some tricky scale fragments that should be treated "loosely" as opposed to being locked in completely to the 16th note n...
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0:44 In the Style of John Petrucci - Backing Track Instructor: Chris Feener Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal Here is the backing track at full tempo. If you need to start slower, go to the next page to practice along with the 150bpm version. Enjoy and practice hard!
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0:56 In the Style of John Petrucci - Backing Track (Slow) Instructor: Chris Feener Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal Here is the backing track slowed down to 150bpm. It includes rhythm guitars along with a metronome. Have fun!
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1:10 Alternate Picking Workout - Exercises 7 & 8 Instructor: Martin Miller Level: Advanced Topic: Exercises Style: Any Style Exercise #7: It’s getting tougher. Here’s a minor arpeggio sequence utilizing a 1-note-per-string pattern, which is a huge challenge to play even at slow to mid-paced tempos. Exercise #8: Now we’re talking. This Steve Morse inspire...
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0:39 Rhythm Changes - Introduction Instructor: Martin Miller Level: Advanced Topic: Improvising Style: Jazz Hello and welcome to my first IG tutorial! I'm really excited to share some of my knowledge and experience with you guys. So let's dig right in, shall we? So this tutorial is about Rhythm Changes. No, that has nothing to do with odd meters :). Here&...
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1:58 Rhythm Changes - The Chords Instructor: Martin Miller Level: Advanced Topic: Chords Style: Jazz Now it’s time to get into some actual playing! The repeating form for head and solos is AABA and here’s the original progression (the triangle stands for Major7): Here is the progression in roman numerals, which is very useful fo...
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1:08 Rhythm Changes - Solo Etude (Fast) Instructor: Martin Miller Level: Advanced Topic: Improvising Style: Jazz Alright, now the fun begins. It’s time to solo! Just like in the previous lesson the amount of chord changes might be a bit overwhelming at first. So what we’re going to do is increase our licks vocabulary by playing through this etude I ...
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2:25 Rhythm Changes - Backing Track (Fast) Instructor: Martin Miller Level: Advanced Topic: Improvising Style: Jazz Rhythm Changes backing track at 220bpm.
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1:12 John Petrucci Speed Lick - Demonstration Instructor: Steve Hubbard Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Fusion Hello and welcome! In this tutorial we'll be going over a lick inspired by John Petrucci, especially from his more "bluesy" days. Check out the lick then move on to the next video for an explanation, an extra exercise, and some additional ...
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4:29 John Petrucci Speed Lick - Explanation Instructor: Steve Hubbard Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Fusion So as you can hear, this is definitely "Petrucci style" especially with how we're alternate picking a chromatic sequence. Some key points and tips: - Works over the key of A minor. - Mainly uses alternate picking. - Practicing with a metronome is...
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1:17 Instrumental Song Idea - Main Theme Instructor: Steve Hubbard Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Rock Hello! Here's a neat little idea I came up with a while ago. This idea contains a handful of different techniques, so be sure to pay close attention to the tablature. I have included the pick strokes, to further assist your understanding of the lic...
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3:53 Instrumental Song Idea - Variations and Exercises Instructor: Steve Hubbard Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Rock In this video, I touch on a couple variations of the lick. Try playing the lick with a 'triplet feel', or 'swing'. Hybrid picking also works well with this idea. If you struggle with alternate picking across multiple strings, be sure to practice the...
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2:25 Hybrid Picking Sequences for Fusion - Introduction Instructor: Richard Lundmark Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Fusion Welcome to this tutorial on Hybrid Picking! Hybrid picking is a very useful technique, applicable in many musical styles, ranging from Country to Fusion. In the world of country this technique is called "Chicken Picking", probably stemming form the ...
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5:11 Hybrid Picking Sequences - Preliminary Exercises Instructor: Richard Lundmark Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Fusion OK, so before we go into the actual sequences we will look at some preliminary exercises that nails the essence of what we will be doing. First off we will do 3-string, 4-note arpeggios going up the scale. As you can see in the video (and the tabbed...
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5:28 Hybrid Picking Sequences - Example 1 Instructor: Richard Lundmark Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Fusion I this first example, we use the 4-note arpeggio derived from the preliminary exercises. As discussed there, we can then take this up any scale. In this particular example I have used the A Dorian mode, but do try this over any scale or mode. Also, a...
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2:10 Hybrid Picking Sequences - Example 2 Instructor: Richard Lundmark Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Fusion In example 2, we use the same A Dorian mode, but this time we will also encounter a position shift, moving up the fretboard ascending, and then descending further up the neck. In this example you should note that when descending I'm using a different...
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2:05 Hybrid Picking Sequences - Example 3 Instructor: Richard Lundmark Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Fusion In example 3 it's time for some diminished runs, which we of course all love don't we now! The Am13 provides an excellent backdrop for the Half-Whole step diminished scale, since it shares may common tones with the A Dorian mode, and is also the dim...
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3:23 Hybrid Picking Sequences - Example 4 Instructor: Richard Lundmark Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Fusion Example 4 is a kicker! In this one we move into the promised land of pentatonics so get ready to stretch those fingers! Here we're using the 3-note per string approach to pentatonics, connecting two adjacent positions. We also layer pentatonics on e...
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2:30 Hybrid Picking Sequences - Example 5 Instructor: Richard Lundmark Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Fusion So, we've run through 4 examples of arpeggios now, so it's high time we get down to some linear stuff right? In example 5 we play the A Dorian scale ascending and descending in a very linear fashion, just to get used to picking every starting note o...
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2:58 Hybrid Picking Sequences - Example 6 Instructor: Richard Lundmark Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Fusion In the final example we have a sequence that combines with arpeggiated and linear ideas. Here, we will also be using hybrid picking both ascending and descending. By now, you should have the two main approaches firmly under your fingers, so this fina...
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4:00 Hybrid Picking Sequences - Backing Track Instructor: Richard Lundmark Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Fusion Alright guys, here is a "backing track" of sorts. It's a continuous 4 minute chord, the Am13 used in the examples. So feel free to try out any of the examples over this, or any other things you might have lying around i A Dorian, Diminished, Altered ...
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2:15 Intervallic Idea Instructor: Steve Hubbard Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Fusion Hello! Here's a tasty lick that I came up with after being inspired by the amazing Carl Verheyen! As mentioned in the video, this lick uses alternate picking, legato, as well as a bit of sweep picking. It's in the key of A minor, and falls into the...
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2:24 Right Hand Dynamics - Demonstration (Concepts) Instructor: Steve Hubbard Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Fusion In this improv, I try to incorporate some of the different concepts I discussed in the previous videos, and try to make some obvious change in dynamics. Enjoy!
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0:56 Right Hand Dynamics - Example 1 Instructor: Steve Hubbard Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Fusion In the first example, we have a lick that uses pull-offs, and falls into the E minor blues pentatonic box. This personally reminds me of a Joe Satriani lick that I have heard on one or more of his albums. The point of giving teaching this lick, is s...
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0:28 Right Hand Dynamics - Example 2 Instructor: Steve Hubbard Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Fusion Here's a funky example of how to get a different sound on your guitar! I like to call this 'alternate picking with your fingers,' because you repeatedly attack the strings up and down with your thumb and finger. It provides a very unique timbre, and ...
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0:48 Right Hand Dynamics - Example 3 Instructor: Steve Hubbard Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Fusion In our final example, we have a fun & fancy hybrid picking lick! This run features a major 7 arpeggio, as well as some chromatic notes, and is of course in the key of E minor. Some players may prefer to use sweep picking, as well as alternate pi...
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1:50 Right Hand Dynamics - Demonstration (Examples) Instructor: Steve Hubbard Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Fusion I decided to do another demonstration - this time, playing each of the three examples from this tutorial. I added in some improv, in between some of the licks, and at the end of the video. This should be quite helpful, especially where the examples ...
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1:25 Descending Legato Lick Instructor: Steve Hubbard Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Rock Hello! Here's a lick that I wrote/recorded on my band's latest album. My producer asked for 'ear candy,' and I did my best to please him! You can hear the lick in a clip from the actual song at 1:19 in the video. Hopefully, that gives you a good ide...
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4:35 Economy Picking - Introduction Instructor: Chris Feener Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Any Style Hey guys! I decided to break down some cool economy-picked licks. Economy picking is a great technique to aquire in your repetoire of shred-tastic abilities, so take your time and make sure to pay close attention to the picking-direction details give...
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1:00 Economy Picking - Diminished Arpeggios Instructor: Chris Feener Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Any Style Adim Descending Arpeggio (Groupings of 5)Here's our second example - it features the diminished triad descending through four different positions.Identify the first note of each grouping. For instance, the first group of five begins on the F note (13...
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1:05 Economy Picking - Dominant 7 Arpeggios Instructor: Chris Feener Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Any Style G7/C7/F7 Asceding Arpeggios (Groupings of 7)Our third example in includes three ascending patterns, each highlighting dominant 7 chords, the first being a G7, the second, C7, and finally F7. This is a great lick and can be executed in various styles ...
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1:10 Economy Picking - Odd Groupings Instructor: Chris Feener Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Any Style Mixed Descending Arpeggios (Odd Groupings)On to number four. This one features, once again, four positions being played in a descending fashion. It begins by higlighting an Am7 arpeggio by playing a grouping of five notes, descending from the high E ...
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1:08 Economy Picking - Complete Madness! Instructor: Chris Feener Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Any Style Complete Madness!Here's the fifth and final excercise for Advanced Economy Picking. This one, entitled "Complete Madness" contains a pile of different position-shifts and technique derivatives.It begins with a 5-string Am swept arpeggio, starting fro...
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1:07 "Starting Here" Solo - Performance Instructor: Chris Feener Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Rock Hey guys! I'm very proud to say that I am now an official member of the Infinite Guitar team! I hope to be able to provide guitar tutorials to subscribers of all experience and ability levels.
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5:48 "Starting Here" Solo - Part 1 Instructor: Chris Feener Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Rock The solo opens with a 7-position 5-string arpeggio pattern, which begins at the root of the key (Am), and ascends through every diatonic major, minor as well as diminished pattern up the fret-board. Beginning with Am, it ascends to a Bdim/G arpeggio,...
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5:38 "Starting Here" Solo - Part 2 Instructor: Chris Feener Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Rock This section is basically the “core” of the solo. It incorporates mostly melodic lines in the key of A minor, and one short, but tricky alternate picked section. Be sure to apply a firm palm mute to these sections, and practice with a cle...
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6:55 "Starting Here" Solo - Part 3 Instructor: Chris Feener Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Rock This is the conclusion of the solo. A fiesta of string-skipped legato tapping lines which highlight the underlying chord progression (Am, Dm, G, C, F, Bb and E). Much like the sweeping technique, it is imperative that you isolate issues related to st...
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0:42 "Starting Here" Solo - Backing Track Instructor: Chris Feener Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Rock Here is the backing track. Enjoy!
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0:44 Advanced Rock Licks - Intro Instructor: Steve Hubbard Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Rock Hi Folks! This tutorial will be focusing on a number of licks that can be used in a rock situation. They are all based around the key of E minor, especially focusing on the pentatonic box that we are all so familiar with! Remember, these are only e...
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0:47 Advanced Rock Licks - Example 1 Instructor: Steve Hubbard Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Rock This example falls into the basic minor pentatonic box that the majority of guitarists know and use. The lick starts out with an almost cliché blues/rock lick, and then moves on to more of a country flavour, using chromatic passing tones, and ...
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0:49 Advanced Rock Licks - Example 2 Instructor: Steve Hubbard Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Rock When played alone, this lick sounds more like a diminished run, than a rock lick. Try playing it over an Em backing track, or even an E drone. It will make much more sense to your ears upon doing so! It would also be cool to merge this idea with part...
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0:52 Advanced Rock Licks - Example 3 Instructor: Steve Hubbard Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Rock Here, we have an example of a somewhat basic shred lick, that I have modified to sound a bit more exotic. The first part of the lick is heavily influenced by John Petrucci, in terms of technique. It can be looked at as polyrhythmic, as I play groups ...
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0:49 Advanced Rock Licks - Example 4 Instructor: Steve Hubbard Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Rock Our final lick of this tutorial uses alternate picking, and features many chromatic tones. This lick sounds great when played fast! I use this type of lick a lot when playing in a funk/fusion situation, but it can of course be used in rock! Some gu...
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1:00 Advanced Rock Licks - Outro Instructor: Steve Hubbard Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Rock Practice hard and be creative! What works for me, may not work for you. You may prefer to use alternate picking, where I may have used legato. Remember, our main goal as musicians is sound appealing to our audience! Focus on being able to play these ...
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2:46 Playing over Changes Pt 2 - Minor Major 7 Chords Instructor: Tom Quayle Level: Advanced Topic: Improvising Style: Fusion Hi there and welcome to part 2 of 'Playing over Changes'. This time we'll be dealing with melodic minor chords and their associated scale choices and also with motivic development over changes. For the purpose of this tutorial a small piece of inform...
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1:44 Playing over Changes Pt 2 - Maj7#5 Chords Instructor: Tom Quayle Level: Advanced Topic: Improvising Style: Fusion Our next chord is very common in fusion and jazz music and has a very attractive but dark sound. It's called a Major7 #5 chord and is the III chord from the melodic minor scale. The scale required to play over this chord is a Lydian Augmented scale ...
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2:52 Playing over Changes Pt 2 - Lydian Dominant Chords Instructor: Tom Quayle Level: Advanced Topic: Improvising Style: Fusion Our next chord type is dominant 7th chord with a sharpened 11th interval. This gives us a lydian dominant chord also known as the chord symbol 7#11. From the root note G this would give us G7#11 for example. The scale associated with this chord is t...
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1:54 Playing over Changes Pt 2 - Locrian Natural 9 Chords Instructor: Tom Quayle Level: Advanced Topic: Improvising Style: Fusion Our penultimate chord type is based on a min7b5 chord, also known as a locrian chord. The difference here is that the melodic minor version of this chord contains a natural 9 and is the 6th chord of melodic minor. Since the chord would normally take...
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2:07 Playing over Changes Pt 2 - Altered Chords Instructor: Tom Quayle Level: Advanced Topic: Improvising Style: Fusion Okay, our final chord type is named an altered dominant chords. If you've seen my other melodic minor tutorial you'll know that an altered dominant is a dominant chord that contains any of the following intervals in any combination, b5, #5, b9, #9.&n...
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2:51 Playing over Changes Pt 2 - Motifs Introduction Instructor: Tom Quayle Level: Advanced Topic: Improvising Style: Fusion One of the hardest things to do when playing over changes is phrase well through the chords. In order to do this successfully we need a few things in our playing bag of tricks. The first is an excellent fretboard knowledge. Without this you stand no ...
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2:47 Playing over Changes Pt 2 - Using Motifs Instructor: Tom Quayle Level: Advanced Topic: Improvising Style: Fusion Okay, here's the video example with the accompanying transcription below. I'm playing over four chords. The sequence goes as follows. A7sus4, Bb7#11, Dmaj7, C7#11 so two of these are melodic minor chords requiring lydian dominant scales. Analyse th...
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1:37 Playing Over Changes Pt 2 - Motifs Closing Comments Instructor: Tom Quayle Level: Advanced Topic: Improvising Style: Fusion Now, when using motifs to play through chord changes you must remember that this is only an exercise and were you to play a complete solo this way, with very little rhythmic variation, you'd ultimately end up sounding like an exercise. Therefore, use...
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1:44 Playing Over Changes Pt 2 - Anticipating the changes Instructor: Tom Quayle Level: Advanced Topic: Improvising Style: Fusion Here's the example of anticipating the changes. The changes here are:- Amaj7, Bb7alt, Dmaj7, C7sus4 Try playing over each chord a beat earlier than it actually comes in or even two beats. Very seasoned players can come in on a chord change up to a...
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3:20 Backing Track - Melodic Minor 1 Instructor: Tom Quayle Level: Advanced Topic: Improvising Style: Fusion Here's the first backing track using melodic minor chords. The changes are:- ||: Am6 / / / | / / / / | / / / / | / / / / | F#m6 / / / | / / / / | / / / / | / / / / :|| Use A melodic minor for Am6 Use F# melodic minor for F#m6 Try continuous scal...
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2:58 Backing Track - Melodic Minor 2 Instructor: Tom Quayle Level: Advanced Topic: Improvising Style: Fusion Here's backing track number 2. A mixture of major and melodic minor harmony. The changes are:- ||: A7sus4 / / / | / / / / | Bb7#11 / / / | / / / / | Dmaj7 / / / | / / / / | C7#11 / / / | / / / / :|| Use A mixolydian for the A7sus4 Use Bb lydian ...
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2:34 Backing Track - Melodic Minor 3 Instructor: Tom Quayle Level: Advanced Topic: Improvising Style: Fusion Here's backing track number 3. The changes are as follows:- ||: Am7 / / / | / / / / | Bbmaj7#5 / / / | / / / / | D7sus4 / / / | / / / / | C7#11 / / / | / / / / :|| Use A Dorian over the Am7 chord Use Bb Lydian Augmented over the Bbmaj7#5 chord U...
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2:18 Backing Track - Melodic Minor 4 Instructor: Tom Quayle Level: Advanced Topic: Improvising Style: Fusion Here backing track number 4, The changes are as follows:- ||: Amaj7 / / / | / / / / | Bb7alt / / / | / / / / | Dmaj7 / / / | / / / / | C7sus4 / / / | / / / / :|| Use A major/lydian over the Amaj7 chord Use Bb superlocrian/altered over the Bb7alt ...
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3:17 Backing Track - Melodic Minor 5 Instructor: Tom Quayle Level: Advanced Topic: Improvising Style: Fusion Here's the final backing track. The changes are as follows:- ||: AmMaj9 / / / | / / / / | Bbm7b5nat9 / / / | / / / / | Dmaj7#5 / / / | / / / / | Cmaj9 / / / | / / / / :|| Use A melodic minor over the AmMaj9 chord Use Bb Locrian natural 9 over the...
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1:32 Mind Melt - Performance Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal Hello everyone! Welcome to this song tutorial called "Mind Melt". This is a short clip taken from a song I'm currently writing. I hope you enjoy it! We're going to be learning some significantly intense rhythm playing in this tutorial. Make sure yo...
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2:19 Mind Melt - Exercise 1 Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal In Exercise 1, we're mainly going to be dealing with eighth notes here with the exception of bar 8. In all of these exercises, be very mindful of all the notes that require palm muting. Anytime you see the "P.M." markings, be sure to palm mute the a...
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1:37 Mind Melt - Exercise 2 Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal This particular riff is played for a large portion of the song. What I really like about it is how it's played identically over three sections, yet each section sounds unique. This is in large part due to the other instruments, especially the variate...
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1:42 Mind Melt - Exercise 3 Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal In this riff, we're going to be all over the place on the 6th string, so make sure your fret-hand is loose and limber! Use whatever fingering feels best for you, but of course feel free to use my fingering in the video as an example. Just like we sa...
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1:27 Mind Melt - Exercise 4 Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal To close out the piece, we're going to break away from the intense rhythm playing on the lower strings and play something a bit more melodic. Make sure all your pull-offs on the G string sound clean and equal in volume to the other notes. And don't ...
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1:32 Mind Melt - Backing Track 186 bpm Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal Here is the backing track at 186 bpm. Background guitars are included. Don't forget to stretch and warm up! If this tempo is too fast for you, go ahead and move on to the next page for the 150 bpm backing track.
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1:53 Mind Melt - Slow Backing Track 150bpm Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal Here is the backing track at 150 bpm. Background guitars are not included in this one. Have fun and practice hard!
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8:03 Ear Training - Final Exercises and Comments Instructor: Richard Lundmark Level: Advanced Topic: Exercises Style: Any Style In this final part we will try to establish the “sound-character” or individual scales. When we previously sang and played notes over a chord (recorded, a friend playing, or what not), we had a back drop, and a frame of reference that tel...
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3:10 Playing Over Changes (Part 1) - Continuous Scale Exercise Instructor: Tom Quayle Level: Advanced Topic: Improvising Style: Fusion So, now you have the theoretical knowledge down of which scales to play when you see the relevant chord symbols in a modal context. Your next step is to develop your fretboard knowledge so that you can play these scales seamlessly, slipping into the ...
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3:37 Playing Over Changes (Part 1) - Expanding the Exercise Instructor: Tom Quayle Level: Advanced Topic: Improvising Style: Fusion We're nearly there! This is the easiest exercise to expand upon. Try some of the following:- More chords of the same type (try the backing tracks with 4 chords) More chords of different types (try the backing track with different chord types) Try...
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3:09 Playing Over Changes (Part 1) - Final Comments Instructor: Tom Quayle Level: Advanced Topic: Improvising Style: Fusion One final thing. Make sure that you try singing all these scale lines as you play them. It's so important to make the link between what your fingers are doing and what you hear. When playing over changes your most important tools are your ears as the...
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2:05 Backing Track 4 - Four Minor7 Chords Instructor: Tom Quayle Level: Advanced Topic: Improvising Style: Fusion Each chord lasts for one bar giving us the four chord sequence. Try playing a continuous scale exercise over this for the whole track. ||: Gm7 / / / | Bm7 / / / | Dm7 / / / | F#m7 / / / :||
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2:05 Backing Track 5 - Four 7sus4 Chords Instructor: Tom Quayle Level: Advanced Topic: Improvising Style: Fusion Each chord lasts for one bar giving us the four chord sequence. Try playing a continuous scale exercise over this for the whole track. ||: G7sus4 / / / | B7sus4 / / / | D7sus4 / / / | F#7sus4 / / / :||
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2:05 Backing Track 6 - Four Major 7 Chords Instructor: Tom Quayle Level: Advanced Topic: Improvising Style: Fusion Each chord lasts for one bar giving us the four chord sequence. Try playing a continuous scale exercise over this for the whole track. ||: Gmaj7 / / / | Bmaj7 / / / | Dmaj7 / / / | F#maj7 / / / :||
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2:05 Backing Track 7 - Changing Chord Type Instructor: Tom Quayle Level: Advanced Topic: Improvising Style: Fusion In this final backing track we'll change chord types too. Each chord lasts for one bar giving us the four chord sequence. Try playing a continuous scale exercise over this for the whole track. ||: Gm7 / / / | B7sus4 / / / | Dmaj7 / / / | ...
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1:40 Time Feel - Exercise 3: Explanation Instructor: Tom Quayle Level: Advanced Topic: Rhythm Style: Fusion The remaining three exercises follow the same premise we used for exercise two (with an easier chord progression) except that we'll gradually be leaving more and more space in between the physical metronome clicks leaving your internal metronome with...
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0:33 Time Feel - Exercise 3: Demonstration Instructor: Tom Quayle Level: Advanced Topic: Rhythm Style: Fusion Here is the video demonstration of Exercise 3 with the click set to 41 bpm giving a perceived tempo of 164 bpm. Refer to the TAB below for the chord progression and again try to match my feel. Keep that foot going on beats 2 and 4! I improvise som...
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1:45 Time Feel - Exercise 4: Explanation Instructor: Tom Quayle Level: Advanced Topic: Rhythm Style: Fusion This exercise mirrors number 3 except that out click is now perceived on beat 4 of the bar instead of beat 2. Again the click is set to 41 bpm to display this beat 4 giving us a perceived tempo of 164 bpm. Your internal metronome now has to fill in...
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0:32 Time Feel - Exercise 4: Demonstration Instructor: Tom Quayle Level: Advanced Topic: Rhythm Style: Fusion Here's the video demonstration for Exercise 4 with the metronome set to 41 bpm to represent beat 4 of the bar. Remember to tap your foot on beats 2 and 4! Again, I improvise somewhat with the rhythm of the chord sequence but this is not written out...
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2:35 Very Long Metronome Click (beat 2 of bar one) Instructor: Tom Quayle Level: Advanced Topic: Rhythm Style: Fusion Here's a very long metronome beat for us to use. This click is on beat 2 of bar one and sequences as follows: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 | 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 | 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 | 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 | Bear in mind that you could use this click to represent any beat of any b...
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0:52 Destroy the Alarm Clock - Performance Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal I don't know about you, but I dislike it very much when my alarm clock goes off. Stop beeping at me and let me sleep! :) So, here's a short piece for all of you alarm clock haters. The imagery I see in this piece basically has me battling it out with...
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1:30 Destroy the Alarm Clock - Exercise 1 Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal Let's take a look at the first beat in each of the bars below. See the triplet note grouping? Those are sixteenth note triplets, which basically have a span of six notes per beat. Make sure you palm mute that grouping, then immediately after play a q...
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1:46 Destroy the Alarm Clock - Exercise 2 Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal The first thing to point out about this riff is that the first two beats of each bar are very similar to what we saw in Exercise 1. So be sure to keep that part the same. The main things new in this riff are the quick legato runs that begin on the s...
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0:50 Destroy the Alarm Clock - Backing Track: 140 bpm Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal Here we have the backing track at 140 bpm (beats per minute). If this is a little too fast for you, feel free to go to the next page to practice at 105 bpm. As always, if you ever make a recording of yourself playing along to the backing, be sure to...
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0:47 Pedal Note Arpeggio Study - Solo Instructor: Rick Graham Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Any Style Hey there and welcome to this lesson! Today we will be learning another arpeggio study I wrote specifically for you guys here which has particular emphasis on pedal notes. Just to clarify if you are not sure, put as simplistic as possible a pedal no...
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0:42 Pedal Note Arpeggio Study - Part 1 Instructor: Rick Graham Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Any Style OK, you'll really need to focus on the clarity between the notes throughout the study and as always, make sure you practice it as slowly as possible and let your ears be your guide. If you are using a pick(which I think 99.9% of you will be doing) i...
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1:08 Pedal Note Arpeggio Study - Part 2 Instructor: Rick Graham Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Any Style In this 2nd section we see the patterns that have already been established ascending by step through each diatonic chord until we reach the highest point of the fretboard that we can go. Technically, once you have mastered the right hand pattern thi...
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0:40 Pedal Note Arpeggio Study - Part 3 Instructor: Rick Graham Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Any Style Now that we have reached the highest note on the fret board, well my fretboard at least lol, we are going to make a descent on the top two strings. Be very careful with this patter because at speed you may find that maintaining the rhythm for every n...
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0:54 Pedal Note Arpeggio Study - Backing Track Instructor: Rick Graham Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Any Style Here is the backing track at normal tempo. If it's a bit too fast for you, go on to the next few pages to access the slower backings. Have fun and when you're ready get recording so we can see you play it in the forums!
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1:06 Pedal Note Arpeggio Study - Slowed BT (120bpm) Instructor: Rick Graham Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Any Style Here is the backing track at 120 bpm. Have fun and when you're ready get recording so we can see you play it in the forums!
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1:24 Pedal Note Arpeggio Study - Slowed BT (90bpm) Instructor: Rick Graham Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Any Style Here is the backing track at 90 bpm. Have fun and when you're ready get recording so we can see you play it in the forums!
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2:06 Pedal Note Arpeggio Study - Slowed BT (60bpm) Instructor: Rick Graham Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Any Style Here is the backing track at 60 bpm. Have fun and when you're ready get recording so we can see you play it in the forums!
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2:17 Minor 6th Pentatonics - Introduction Instructor: Tom Quayle Level: Advanced Topic: Scales Style: Any Style Hi there guitar lovers! This months tutorial is on Minor 6th pentatonic scales. What an earth are those you may ask? A minor 6th pentatonic is a hybrid pentatonic scale built from a Dorian or Melodic Minor scale and differs from our standard minor ...
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3:08 Minor 6th Pentatonics - Learning the Scale Instructor: Tom Quayle Level: Advanced Topic: Scales Style: Any Style Obviously before we can use the scale we need to know how to play it in a few different positions. Below and on the video I show you how to play a C minor 6th pentatonic scale in a few different ways using 'box' type patterns and then using what I c...
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2:47 Minor 6th Pentatonics - Which to play? Instructor: Tom Quayle Level: Advanced Topic: Scales Style: Any Style So now you've learned the scale we need to know how to apply it. In other words, which minor 6th pentatonic to play over each chord in a progression. Well in actual fact, it's pretty simple. If you're chord is built from a major scale (as opposed to...
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4:59 Minor 6th Pentatonics - Minor Blues Application Instructor: Tom Quayle Level: Advanced Topic: Scales Style: Any Style Okay - so now we'll apply these ideas to an actual chord progression. The progression in question is a minor blues in the key of C. You can see the chords below in the Tab with suggested voicings given. Feel free to substitute these for your own sha...
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1:50 Minor 6th Pentatonics - Minor Blues Demo Instructor: Tom Quayle Level: Advanced Topic: Scales Style: Any Style Now I'm going to demonstrate the application of these minor 6th pentatonics and play each relevant scale over the C minor blues chord progression. Note the tab below with some suggested chord voicings for a minor blues and the applicable scales. I ...
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3:20 Minor 6th Pentatonics - Backing Track Instructor: Tom Quayle Level: Advanced Topic: Scales Style: Any Style Have fun on the backing track for this Cm Blues. Check out the changes below.
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1:24 Playing Out - Introduction Instructor: Tom Quayle Level: Advanced Topic: Improvising Style: Fusion Hi Guys and Gals! Welcome to this months tutorial which is all based on 'outside' playing. Now I'm not suggesting that you all find a nice field somewhere and play in the fresh air. Rather the way in which fusion and jazz guitarists (and these days ...
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2:22 Playing Out - Using the 4th Bar Instructor: Tom Quayle Level: Advanced Topic: Improvising Style: Fusion This first method is based on an idea I took from Greg Howe's playing and is a very 'open' and simple concept. It's based on the idea that music is divided into simple phrases which are then combined into longer sentences. What Greg tends to do is t...
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2:30 Playing Out - Using the 4th bar (Example) Instructor: Tom Quayle Level: Advanced Topic: Improvising Style: Fusion I've transcribed the first section of each improvisation leaving you some left to work out and transcribe yourself if you want to. Each transcription should give you an idea of the kind of phrases I play and their placement with in the bar. Have a g...
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1:29 Playing Out - Side Stepping Instructor: Tom Quayle Level: Advanced Topic: Improvising Style: Fusion Okay, how did you get on with that then? Hopefully it was okay... Our second method is really simple to understand and I'm going to call is 'side stepping'. This is a method which is tailor-made for guitarists as it's a very visual method of playing...
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1:56 Playing Out - Side Stepping (Example) Instructor: Tom Quayle Level: Advanced Topic: Improvising Style: Fusion Here's the transcription for the first section of my improvised solo. I use Am Pentatonic and A Dorian throughout.
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1:33 Playing Out - Using Shapes Instructor: Tom Quayle Level: Advanced Topic: Improvising Style: Fusion Using shapes refers to the idea that we can use material other than scales to play out. In order for an outside phrase to work, the listener simply needs something to latch on to. In this way we can use 'shapes' on the guitar which we can then sequen...
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1:32 Playing Out - Using Shapes (Example) Instructor: Tom Quayle Level: Advanced Topic: Improvising Style: Fusion With this method I've written out the shapes I've used and their sequence method without the rest of the solo so that you can stick them into your own improvisations. Hopefully they'll spark your imagination so you can come up with your own shapes. ...
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2:21 Playing Out - Wholetone/Diminished Instructor: Tom Quayle Level: Advanced Topic: Improvising Style: Fusion Now, this method should really have a tutorial all of it's own but we'll leave that for the future. For our outside playing in this example we'll be using two symmetrical scales - the wholetone and diminished scale. The whole tone scale is construct...
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1:34 Playing Out - Wholetone/Diminished (Example) Instructor: Tom Quayle Level: Advanced Topic: Improvising Style: Fusion In this example video I use A Dorian for my inside playing and A Wholetone and A diminshed for my outside playing. I've included the scales for your convenience too. I also sneaked in an A# diminished line at the end.
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2:21 Playing Out - Anything Goes Instructor: Tom Quayle Level: Advanced Topic: Improvising Style: Fusion The final method we'll use for playing out relies on the following idea, "Anything will work if you play it fast enough!" This may sound like a bit of a cop out but in fact it's a very effective method for creating tension and release. There are a ...
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3:02 Playing Outside - Aminor7 Backing Track Instructor: Tom Quayle Level: Advanced Topic: Improvising Style: Fusion Here's the backing track outlining an Am7 chord throughout. The 4th bar has a drum fill in and this is the one you want to use primarily for your outside playing! Good luck and remember to concentrate on your phrasing and just go for it! See you ne...
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1:29 Spatial Gravity - Performance Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Rock Welcome! In this tutorial, we'll be looking at a progressive rock piece I wrote called "Spatial Gravity". We'll be learning a good mix of rhythm and lead playing in this one while also incorporating various time signatures. Once you've checked out ...
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1:16 Spatial Gravity - Exercise 5 (Solo: Part 2) Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Rock This section is definitely the most difficult part of the song. So warm up, stretch your arms and fingers, and get ready to rock! First, let's observe the type of rhythmic notes we'll be playing: thirty-second notes. 32nd notes equate to having a sp...
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1:27 Spatial Gravity - Backing Track Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Rock Now, it's time to put all those exercises to use with the backing track. Have fun, and if you ever make a recording of yourself playing along, be sure to post it in the forums so we can all hear your awesome skills. See you next time! Sean
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4:00 Flick Harmonics Instructor: Richard Lundmark Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Any Style Okay then! Time for the cutting edge stuff! Before we go into this part, I must direct your attention to ALL the transcribed tabs for both the Flick and the Slap harmonic parts. As I have mentioned time and time again, there is currently no way in g...
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3:47 Slap Harmonics - Part 1 Instructor: Richard Lundmark Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Any Style On to the Slap/Spank/Left Hand Tap Harmonics! Same as with previous examples, the notated harmonics do not exactly match what is played. This is another technique to produce a similar result, and is my preferred weapon of choice for harmonics. This...
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4:40 Slap Harmonics - Part 2 Instructor: Richard Lundmark Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Any Style Okay, the next step is to add other whammy bar effects to the stew. First up is the regular “hitting the ol’ wang-bar”. As you release the whammy bar, you just hit it again, slightly depressing it in a rhythmical fashion. What note ...
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7:45 Capo Harmonics Instructor: Richard Lundmark Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Any Style "Capo Harmonics" is maybe not the most imaginative name, but it was the best I could come up with. I have no idea if this particular technique has a specific name. To start out with, you’ve all tried and heard the Vai/Satriani licks, where you ...
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4:11 Funky Fusion Song - Chasing a Beat - Performance Instructor: Tom Quayle Level: Advanced Topic: Improvising Style: Fusion Hi guys! It's nearly Easter and winter is pretty much gone, so it's time for some funky sounds to prepare for the warmer weather! This tutorial is a song of mine from my upcoming album due to be released this year. It's a fusion number with some pr...
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0:53 Funky Fusion Song - Intro Section Instructor: Tom Quayle Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Fusion Here's the intro section of the tune which is repeated again when the band enters and at the end after the drum solo. This line is created from a hybrid pentatonic scale - B minor Pentatonic with an added 6 (the note G#). This is a very common devic...
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2:09 Funky Fusion Song - Main Melody Instructor: Tom Quayle Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Fusion Here's the main melody played slowly then at tempo. Check out the fingerings and phrasing. A lot of these notes are played using slides and vibrato which is hard to notate so be sure to check these out in the video. The melody is played over the sam...
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Funky Fusion Song - Solo Section Instructor: Tom Quayle Level: Advanced Topic: Improvising Style: Fusion Okay - onto the tricky bit! My solo was totally improvised over the backing track and I'd like you guys to do the same! If there are enough requests I will transcribe the solo, however, two things spring to mind here. You'll learn a lot more by eithe...
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1:02 Funky Fusion Song - Riff Section Instructor: Tom Quayle Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Fusion Now onto the Riff Section which is played underneath the Drum solo. This is very much influenced by later Greg Howe and Wayne Krantz. Lots of syncopation (off the beat playing) and built from a few different harmonic areas. The main idea is built fr...
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4:21 Funky Fusion Song - Backing Track Instructor: Tom Quayle Level: Advanced Topic: Improvising Style: Fusion Here's the full backing track. Good luck improvising over the changes!
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5:41 Funky Fusion Song - Backing Track Slow Instructor: Tom Quayle Level: Advanced Topic: Improvising Style: Fusion Here's the backing track slowed down. Good luck improvising over the changes!
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3:20 Funky Fusion Song - Backing Track Solo Section Loop Instructor: Tom Quayle Level: Advanced Topic: Improvising Style: Fusion Here's a backing track containing an extended solo section to practice improvising over.
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1:30 Spiral - Performance Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal Welcome everyone! In this tutorial, we're going to learn a song of mine called "Spiral". It has a modern metal feel with a few Eastern themes thrown in there. Please note that this song is in Drop D tuning. If you aren't exactly sure what that is, ...
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1:18 Spiral - Exercise 1 Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal As you probably noticed from watching the main video, there is going to be a lot of fast picking involved with the rhythm playing. When you look at the tablature throughout the song, you'll be noticing a lot of sixteenth notes mixed with eighth notes...
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1:14 Spiral - Exercise 2 Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal In Exercise 2, we have the part of the song where the full band kicks in gear. The actual riff is similar to that of Exercise 1, but we'll be adding a couple new ideas. Pay attention to the palm-mute markings (indicated as "P.M.") in the tablature. ...
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1:46 Spiral - Exercise 3 Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal Exercise 3 represents the "Symphony X" part of the song. I like playing riffs that somewhat tease the listener, letting them know that there's an even bigger riff coming their way next. So I like to think of this part of the song as a build-up to Exe...
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1:53 Spiral - Exercise 4 Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal And now, we have the big riff that we were building up to in Exercise 3. Make sure you headbang when you play this one. It will make you play better!... ...Okay maybe not. :) Similar to Exercise 3, the effectiveness of this riff relies heavily on t...
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1:12 Spiral - Exercise 5 Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal In this last exercise, we're going to be adding in a hint of tapping into our rhythm playing. First off, make sure you use alternate picking exclusively in this riff. The only time you won't be using it is when you'll be tapping. In bars 28 and 29,...
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1:54 Spiral - Backing Track Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal Here is the full tempo backing track at 170 bpm. If you ever record yourself playing along to the backing, be sure to post it in the forum so we can hear your skills!
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2:41 Spiral - Backing Track (slow) Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal Here is the slow tempo backing track at 120 bpm. If you ever record yourself playing along to the backing, be sure to post it in the forum so we can hear your skills!
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10:28 Intonation - Introduction & The Top Nut Instructor: Richard Lundmark Level: Advanced Topic: Reference Style: Any Style History and Background. Okay then, time for the big one, which will contain much information besides the practical intonation adjustments. Intonation is probably the most misunderstood part of guitar set-up, and a huge part of the overall sound and ...
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6:43 Checking The Tremolo Knife Edges and Posts Instructor: Richard Lundmark Level: Advanced Topic: Reference Style: Any Style Checking the knife edges As described in the video (and I do urge you to check this on the video), you can easily take off the tremolo to do maintenance, cleaning and such. If you have any tuning stability problems, you should always check the knife...
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5:31 Shimming The Neck Instructor: Richard Lundmark Level: Advanced Topic: Reference Style: Any Style Shimming the neck pocket Let’s say that you have lowered your bridge as far as you can into the cavity without bottoming out, and the action is still too high. Your truss-rod and relief has been adjusted, and all else is well. What then? Then ...
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1:51 Melodic Minor Scales - Introduction Instructor: Tom Quayle Level: Advanced Topic: Scales Style: Any Style Hi Guys! Welcome to this tutorial on using Melodic Minor Scales. In this tutorial we'll be learning how to use melodic minor scales in conjunction with the major scales we already know in a harmonic context. By the end of these lessons you'll have...
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4:06 Melodic Minor Scales - Chord Construction Pt. I Instructor: Tom Quayle Level: Advanced Topic: Chords Style: Any Style Just as when we build the seven chords from a major scale, we can build seven chords from our melodic minor scale. The first thing I want to say is don't worry if you've never studied chord construction at this stage. A separate tutorial will be com...
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3:03 Melodic Minor Scales - Chord Construction Pt. II Instructor: Tom Quayle Level: Advanced Topic: Chords Style: Any Style Remember that I'm playing these chords in 4ths tuning but the TAB is in standard so my shapes look a little different. Chord V is built from the note G and is called, G7#5 or G seven sharp five. Two voicings are provided. Chord VI is built from ...
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4:41 Melodic Minor Scales - How do we use them? Instructor: Tom Quayle Level: Advanced Topic: Scales Style: Any Style Okay! So now we have our 7 chords for the key of C melodic minor. But how do we use them? Well first it's important to understand the fundamental difference between major scale harmony and melodic minor scale harmony. Major scale harmony is said to...
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5:22 Melodic Minor Scales - Chords In Use Instructor: Tom Quayle Level: Advanced Topic: Scales Style: Any Style Here we go! For the first set of examples I'll be using the key of Cmajor. This gives us the following chords and all their variations, C major, D minor, E Minor, F major, G major, A minor and B diminished. We're going to use an F melodic minor sc...
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2:40 Melodic Minor Scales - Example Improvisation 1 Instructor: Tom Quayle Level: Advanced Topic: Improvising Style: Any Style In this improvisation, I'm soloing over just two chords. Remember, it's very common to combine a major scale with the melodic minor scale built from it's 4th degree. The first chord is Eb Major and the second is Abm6 which is equivalent to our Abm&#...
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4:43 Melodic Minor Scales - Example Improvisation 2 Instructor: Tom Quayle Level: Advanced Topic: Improvising Style: Any Style This improvisation combines chords from a few different scales but is primarily in the key of Cm (the relative minor of Eb major). It features a descending bass line progression with some really nice harmony going on. We start with a Cm chord which ...
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4:20 Melodic Minor Scales - Example Improvisation 3 Instructor: Tom Quayle Level: Advanced Topic: Improvising Style: Any Style This final example is a bit more up tempo to give you a bit more of a soloing challenge! Again we're in the key of Eb major but we have a new melodic minor source this time. We start with two bars of Eb major and then get two bars of Cm6 in bars 3 ...
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2:56 Melodic Minor Scales - Backing Track 1 Instructor: Tom Quayle Level: Advanced Topic: Improvising Style: Fusion Just two chords! Ebmajor followed by Abm6. Use Eb major or Eb lydian for the Eb chord and Ab melodic minor for the Ab chord. Good luck!
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5:21 Melodic Minor Scales - Backing Track 2 Instructor: Tom Quayle Level: Advanced Topic: Improvising Style: Fusion Good Luck!
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4:29 Melodic Minor Scales - Backing Track 3 Instructor: Tom Quayle Level: Advanced Topic: Improvising Style: Fusion Good Luck!
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5:00 'Still Hurts' by Marco Sfogli - Full Video Instructor: Rick Graham Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Rock Hey there Lads and Lasses and a very warm welcome to a special tutorial! Following on from my tutorial of the solo section of 'Andromeda' by Marco Sfogli, today's tutorial will be an in depth look at the full track entitled 'Still Hurts' taken from ...
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2:26 'Still Hurts' by Marco Sfogli - Intro (1) Instructor: Rick Graham Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Rock OK, let's start with the intro. The first thing we will want to do is take note of the time signature and key, which I can tell you is 7/8 and F#minor. The first phrase begins on the fourth semiquaver of bar 9 and may require some extra work to kee...
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1:13 'Still Hurts' by Marco Sfogli - Verse (2) Instructor: Rick Graham Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Rock In practicing this section, I have found that it is good practice to attempt to sing each phrase as it occurs. The melody line is very vocal in nature and when sung, can give you a much more clear understanding of how to phrase it. Again, Marco's idi...
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0:46 'Still Hurts' by Marco Sfogli - Pre Chorus (3) Instructor: Rick Graham Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Rock Take note of the change in meter at this point from 4/4 to 6/4. This section has a particularly bluesy feel to it regarding some of the licks and you will need to be 100% in control of your intonation during some of these bends. The bend and release...
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2:26 'Still Hurts' by Marco Sfogli - Chorus (4) Instructor: Rick Graham Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Rock Now this chorus is a highly melodic affair with a soaring melody in the high register of the guitar that evokes an awful lot of emotion. Whilst practicing the chorus section for the full performance, I found myself thinking how I could relate to the ...
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2:01 'Still Hurts' by Marco Sfogli - 2nd Verse (5) Instructor: Rick Graham Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Rock OK, we're back to a second verse, however this time Marco takes the vocal approach one step further by playing this section entirely with tapped harmonics with the right hand. Using this technique gives an even more exaggerated singing quality if the...
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3:10 'Still Hurts' by Marco Sfogli - Pre Bridge/Bridge (6) Instructor: Rick Graham Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Rock This section contains some particularly challenging licks, so take your time here and remember to subdivide the sections to enable you to really get to grips with these licks and shapes. There are quite a lot of pickup changes throughout the whole p...
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3:09 'Still Hurts' by Marco Sfogli - Bridge (continued) (7) Instructor: Rick Graham Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Rock The part of this section that may give you the biggest challenge is the tapped arpeggio section. As always, if you need to, subdivide the sections so that you know exactly what you are doing at any given time. I always find these kind of sections eas...
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2:00 'Still Hurts' by Marco Sfogli - Pre 2nd Chorus (8) Instructor: Rick Graham Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Rock Now we hit the pre 2nd chorus section. It is imperative that you try to capture the sense of anticipation that Marco captures on the studio recording throughout this section. We are building up to a highly emotive return to the chorus and you will ha...
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1:06 'Still Hurts' by Marco Sfogli - 2nd Chorus (9) Instructor: Rick Graham Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Rock The only difference between this chorus and the first chorus is in bars 130-135, where you shouldn't find anything too challenging. What you should be working on more than anything is linking the end of this section into the opening of the unison, a...
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1:10 'Still Hurts' by Marco Sfogli - Unison Section (10) Instructor: Rick Graham Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Rock Ok it's time for the 'Still Hurts' unison! What you will need to do is subdivide this section into bars as I did in the above video. If necessary, subdivide the bars into sections as well so that you can really get a grasp on the patterns. I have t...
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0:56 'Still Hurts' by Marco Sfogli - Final section (11) Instructor: Rick Graham Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Rock Now we reach the wonderfully melodic and inventive final section. I have a real fondness for this section and particularly enjoy Marco's use of the trem bar for emotional effect. You will have to make sure that each trem bar dip is weighted perfectl...
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5:03 'Still Hurts' by Marco Sfogli - Full Backing Track Instructor: Rick Graham Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Rock Here's the backing for you to get practicing with. Have fun! Visit Marco's website: www.marcosfogli.com Check out Marco's Album: There's Hope Get More Backing Tracks from Marco's Album
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2:08 Open String Blues Instructor: Richard Lundmark Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Blues Holiday Greetings guitar slingers! In this final tutorial of 2008, I will leave you with a blues tune that focuses on combining open strings and hybrid-picking. Pay close attention to the synchronization between the left and right hands, and also on...
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2:31 Open String Blues - Breakdown 1 Instructor: Richard Lundmark Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Blues Okay then, time for the first breakdown. This part covers the first 6 bars of the 12-bar blues. Once you've got the first 2 bars down, the rest should be a breeze. Also, pay attention to my choice of picking in the end of bar 2. I find that starting ...
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2:08 Open String Blues - Breakdown 2 Instructor: Richard Lundmark Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Blues The second breakdown covers bars 7-12. Here we have a slightly different outro-line that is a bit faster, and uses less hybrid-picking but more hammer-ons and pull-offs. Try it out, and make sure to start on the upbeat or you'll run into problems get...
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1:05 Open String Blues - Backing Track: 100bpm Instructor: Richard Lundmark Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Blues Here's the backing track, in the original tempo, 100bpm. Get right to it, or start with the slower, 60 bpm version.
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1:47 Open String Blues - Backing Track: 60bpm Instructor: Richard Lundmark Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Blues And here's the slightly slower version, at 60 bpm. I decided not to go any lower than that, since even though it might be technically more comfortable, too slow a tempo will make it very difficult to keep a good shuffle-groove going.
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2:40 Visualizing Pentatonics - Comping - Introduction Instructor: Tom Quayle Level: Advanced Topic: Scales Style: Fusion One of the best uses I've found for this technique is for comping. In other words, for playing chord based accompaniment or solos over chord changes or a static groove. Normally you'd rarely think of using a pentatonic scale to comp, but in using th...
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0:40 Visualizing Pentatonics - Comping - Giant Leaps Instructor: Tom Quayle Level: Advanced Topic: Scales Style: Fusion Here's our final comping example using pentatonic scales as our harmonic source. The chord sequence below is from a well known tune by John Coltrane. I'll name this one Giant Leaps! That should give you a clue! Normally when comping on this tune yo...
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1:17 Visualizing Pentatonics - Comping - Roundup Instructor: Tom Quayle Level: Advanced Topic: Scales Style: Fusion When you apply these ideas to playing chords, you simply need to follow a few simple rules and everything should fall into place. Most fusion and jazz tunes and even some modern funk songs change key often. The first thing you must do is identify al...
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0:52 Visualizing Pentatonics - Line Playing Instructor: Tom Quayle Level: Advanced Topic: Scales Style: Fusion One of the great things about visualizing the pentatonics is that it allows us to create lines in addition to new comping ideas. Over the next few videos, I'll introduce you to four of the kind of lines I play on a regular basis. All of the phrases ...
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0:28 Visualizing Pentatonics - Line No. 1 Instructor: Tom Quayle Level: Advanced Topic: Scales Style: Fusion Now, on to line playing! All of these examples are TABBED for 4ths tuning but the standard tuned versions are at the end of the tutorial. I recommend you print these out for reference as some of the fingerings are different by necessity. The great t...
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0:28 Visualizing Pentatonics - Line No. 2 Instructor: Tom Quayle Level: Advanced Topic: Scales Style: Fusion Line No. 2 is a descending 16th note triplet phrase utilizing stretched sus4 arpeggios built from our Am pentatonic again. I've incorporated a sneaky Dsus4 arpeggio at the beginning of the line (this works too!) but the rest is built primarily from ...
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0:25 Visualizing Pentatonics - Line No. 3 Instructor: Tom Quayle Level: Advanced Topic: Scales Style: Fusion Here is line no. 3, built exclusively from the Am Pentatonic scale. Again, I've used sus4 shapes and their inversions to create the line beginning with a Gsus4 in the 1st inversion, followed by an Asus4 in the root position. We then have the Gsus4 ...
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2:26 Visualizing Pentatonics - Giant Leaps Backing Track Instructor: Tom Quayle Level: Advanced Topic: Scales Style: Fusion Here's the backing track for Giant Leaps. By the way, the original version of this tune is at about 280bpm! Guys like Kurt Rosenwinkel use this sus chord technique effortlessly at that tempo. Back to practicing for me then! Remember, use the followi...
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Visualizing Pentatonics - TABS (Standard Tuning) Instructor: Tom Quayle Level: Advanced Topic: Scales Style: Fusion Here are the TABS in standard tuning for this tutorial. FIrst you'll see the Csus4 inversions, then below you'll find all 4 line playing exercises. Cheers, Tom
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3:27 Sweep Picking - Introduction Instructor: Richard Lundmark Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Metal Holiday greetings and salutations guitar slingers! X-mas is drawing near, and what says happy holidays better than a sweeping-frenzy? In this technique/song tutorial, we will take a look at an excerpt from the song Tribute off my Fretdance(2003) alb...
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4:29 Sweep Picking - Exercise 1 Instructor: Richard Lundmark Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Metal Alright then! In this first exercise, we will look at an exercise designed to help you focus on right/left hand synchronization. By keeping the pattern pretty basic, with no finger-rolls (more on that in Exercise 2), you will be able to focus on lif...
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3:58 Sweep Picking - Exercise 2 Instructor: Richard Lundmark Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Metal Ok then, in this exercise we will look at another crucial aspect of sweeping, the finger roll. And no, this is not an appetizer you might find on Hannibal the Cannibal's dinner table. Whenever you play arpeggios based on the A-form, or E-form barre-c...
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4:21 Sweep Picking - Exercise 3 Instructor: Richard Lundmark Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Metal In this section, we will look at an arpeggio exercise that covers some wide interval stretches. This is in order to prepare you for some of the bigger fingerings occurring later on in this tutorial. This is also an exercise designed to introduce you ...
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3:07 Tribute Excerpt - Backing Track: 90bpm Instructor: Richard Lundmark Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Metal Here is the backing track for your practicing pleasure. This one is at 90bpm, so slightly above half-tempo. The reason for not putting it up in half tempo is that some of the note-values such as quintuplets would be difficult to get a feel for at suc...
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1:41 Premonition - Full Video Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal Welcome everyone! In this tutorial, we'll be learning a piece I wrote called "Premonition". It has a bit of a Symphony X vibe to it and has a good mix of melodic and heavy riffs. I hope you enjoy it! Once you've watched the video above, head on ove...
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1:41 Premonition - Exercise 1 Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal In this lesson, we'll be learning the riff that represents the main theme of the song. All notes in this section will be played as sextuplets (16th note triplets). If you look at each beat in a given measure, you'll see that there are six notes grou...
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1:47 Premonition - Exercise 2 Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal In Exercise 2, we'll begin the prelude to the heavy middle section. When you listen to the full video with the band, you can hear how I'm playing some accented notes along with the drums between rests. This is a very common yet effective technique wi...
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2:03 Premonition - Exercise 3 Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal And now we come to the heavy riff we referred to in the last lesson. This is where the drums go full throttle and you begin headbanging in headbanging heaven.* *Headbanging optional, but strongly encouraged. The chords in this riff are similar to t...
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2:01 Premonition - Exercise 4 Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal In this riff, we're transitioning from the darker sound to a more melodic sound. In bars 17 and 18, we'll be playing 32nd notes exclusively. Pay very close attention to the palm muting. The only notes you won't be palm muting are the ones where you'...
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2:01 Premonition - Backing Track Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal Have fun with the backing track! Be sure to stretch and warm up before you play. As always, if you ever record yourself playing along with the backing, be sure to post it in the forum so we can hear your skills. See you next time!
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1:42 Eluding the Mastermind - Performance Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal Welcome everyone! In this song tutorial, we'll be learning a modern metal piece entitled "Eluding the Mastermind". Please note that this song is in Drop D tuning. If you aren't exactly sure what that is, click here. Once you've finished checking ou...
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2:34 Eluding the Mastermind - Exercise 1 Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal The intro riff to this song is mainly comprised of sixteenth notes. Most of the notes will be palm muted as well. However, study the tablature closely to catch which notes aren't supposed to be palm muted. When you look at the tab, you'll notice a f...
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2:10 Eluding the Mastermind - Exercise 2 Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal Now let's start getting more melodic! I especially like this riff as it's pretty fun to play. It may be a bit challenging at first though as there are many hand movements shifting back and forth on the fretboard. The trickiest part here may be the f...
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2:59 Eluding the Mastermind - Exercise 3 Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal Now we've come to the very fast and heavy rhythm section. Make sure you are especially warmed and stretched before playing this part! There is a lot of strain on your picking hand here, so be sure to gradually increase your speed as you practice. Don...
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1:12 Eluding the Mastermind - Exercise 4 Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal We'll begin this section by strumming back and forth between two particular chords: Am(without the 5th) and A#(without the 5th). You'll also see a lot of 16th note rests between the strumming patterns. When you encounter these rests, make sure the pa...
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1:41 Eluding the Mastermind - Backing Track Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal Have fun with the backing track! Please note that there are two counts with the high hats before the guitar is supposed to start. You can hear this in action in the full video. If you ever make a recording of yourself playing along, be sure to post ...
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1:06 'Freefall' Arpeggio study - Solo Instructor: Rick Graham Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Rock Hey IG'ists! Thanks for dropping in on this latest tutorial in which we will be looking at an arpeggio study I wrote entitled 'Freefall'! Some of you may have seen the thread I posted in the forums about Captain Joe Kittinger who performed an incred...
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2:13 'Freefall' Arpeggio Study - Part 1 Instructor: Rick Graham Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Rock Firstly, lets take a look at the chords for this first section: Amaj7 - Amin7 - Gmaj7 - Gmin7 - F#maj7b5 - F#min7 Each arpeggio is based on the chord which is occurring underneath at the same time so over the first chord we have Amaj7 and we play a...
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2:15 'Freefall' Arpeggio Study - Part 2 Instructor: Rick Graham Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Rock Now we reach the first changes in harmony within this study which are as follows: F#min7b5 - B7 - E7 For the first arpeggio I find it so much easier to think of it as exactly the same shape as the previous F#min7 chord but lower every 5th note by a...
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2:29 'Freefall' Arpeggio Study - Part 3 Instructor: Rick Graham Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Rock Almost there guys! It is at this juncture that Cpt. Kittinger approaches and lands safely on the ground in the desert of New Mexico. The harmonic pace quickens in these final bars where we have the following underlying chords: Amadd9 - D - Emadd9 ...
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1:10 'Freefall' Arpeggio Study - Backing Track Instructor: Rick Graham Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Rock Ok guys, here's the backing track to perfect this study with and be sure to post over at the forums if you make a recording of it.
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1:32 Turbulence - Full Video Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal Welcome! In this tutorial, we'll be learning a metal piece entitled "Turbulence". Please note that this song is in Drop D tuning. If you aren't exactly sure what that is, click here. Once you've viewed the video above, head on over to the next page...
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1:30 Turbulence - Exercise 1 Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal We will be starting out the song in a 5/8 time signature. In other words, there will be a span of 5 eighth notes in each measure. The first riff is a bit Meshuggah-esque. Meshuggah often uses heavy palm muting riffs synced with drum patterns. You'll...
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1:20 Turbulence - Exercise 2 Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal This part is a bit tricky as far as rhythm goes. As much as you can, really try to pay attention to what the different instruments are playing during this part in the Full Video. Basically, there are two time signatures occurring at the same time, wh...
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2:38 Turbulence - Exercise 3 Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal In the previous lesson, we were playing a 5/8 riff while the drums played a 4/4 groove underneath. In this lesson however, we'll begin playing the guitar in 4/4. We'll be playing the same rhythmic pattern in this entire lesson, but we'll also be add...
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3:17 Turbulence - Exercise 4 Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal This riff has a really nice groove with the drums. As far as your picking, it will pretty much stay the same throughout this section. When you look at the tab, you'll see that most of the notes are in groupings of 2. For each grouping, you'll simply ...
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1:34 Turbulence - Backing Track Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal Have fun with the backing track! As always, if you ever record yourself playing along, be sure to post it in the forum so we can all hear your skills!
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4:20 Modern Legato Application - Introduction/Approach Instructor: Tom Quayle Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Fusion Hi there guys and welcome to this tutorial on Legato and Hybrid picking that I've entitled Modern Legato Application/Approach. In this lesson I'm introducing you to 5 examples of phrases or lines that I often play when improvising. We'll be playing ...
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1:55 Modern Legato Application - Preliminary Exercises Instructor: Tom Quayle Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Fusion Right! On to the application of this legato approach. These preliminary exercises are designed to help you warm up and develop your legato and hybrid picking. Preliminary exercise no.1 is based on a G major scale but is 'souped' up with some chroma...
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1:25 Modern Legato Application - Exercise 3 Instructor: Tom Quayle Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Fusion Some of example 3 should be familiar to you as it borrows some ideas from example 1, namely the descending Gmaj7 arpeggio at the end of the line. Again, the line is over a G major tonality. The difficulty with this phrase comes from the slides perfo...
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2:41 Modern Legato Application - Exercise 5 Instructor: Tom Quayle Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Fusion Right! Hopefully you've still got some energy left in those fingers to tackle this final example. Unlike the previous lines which were constructed over a Gmajor tonality, this one moves between two separate tonalities - G Dorian and Bb Dorian. Havin...
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Modern Legato Application - Standard Tuning TABS Instructor: Tom Quayle Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Fusion Here's the TABS for standard tuning. Note that some of the examples have altered fingerings to compensate for the B string in standard tuning. Pay attention to any fingerings written underneath the TABS - be sure to compare these to the versions in ...
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1:11 'Tapdance' Arpeggio study Instructor: Rick Graham Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Rock Hey there and welcome! In this tutorial we will be looking at a study I wrote that focuses on left hand hammers 'from nowhere' and right hand taps. The piece is called 'Tapdance'. I am an avid tapdancer and I am currently practicing my shuffle, shuf...
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3:13 'Tapdance' arpeggio study - part 1 Instructor: Rick Graham Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Rock Due to the nature of this study, it is essential that you are familiar with triad arpeggios and their inversions as we will be needing one inversion for the left hand and one for the right hand. Regarding both the left and right hands, I find that I...
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2:43 'Tapdance' arpeggio study - part 2 Instructor: Rick Graham Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Rock The arpeggios in this section are as follows: Fmaj - Dmin - Gmaj - Gaug - Emin - Amin Due to the nature of this study, it is essential that you are familiar with triad arpeggios and their inversions as we will be needing one inversion for the left ...
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1:48 'Tapdance' arpeggio study - part 3 Instructor: Rick Graham Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Rock The arpeggios and scales in this section are as follows: Bbdim - Dmin - Dmin pentatonic Due to the nature of this study, it is essential that you are familiar with triad arpeggios and their inversions as we will be needing one inversion for the lef...
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1:10 'Tapdance' arpeggio study - Backing track Instructor: Rick Graham Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Rock Here's the backing track for you to practice over. As always, best of luck with it and when you feel ready, record yourself with whatever media you prefer and show us your skills on the forums. See you next time!
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2:24 Fusion Song - Sleeper (Full Song) Instructor: Tom Quayle Level: Advanced Topic: Rhythm Style: Fusion Hi guys! Today we're going to learn part of a song from my forthcoming debut album. The song is called Sleeper and we're going to start about 3 minutes into the track after the main improvised solo section. The tune moves between four time signatur...
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0:44 Fusion Song - Sleeper - Opening Melody Pt.1 Instructor: Tom Quayle Level: Advanced Topic: Rhythm Style: Fusion Here we go then! The first bar of this tune is in 7/8 meaning we have seven 8th notes per bar. After this we're straight into 5/8 in bar two and for the rest of this section. Take note of the common rhythmic theme at the beginning of each bar. This k...
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1:01 Fusion Song - Sleeper - Opening Melody Pt.2 Instructor: Tom Quayle Level: Advanced Topic: Rhythm Style: Fusion Okay! Now onto the second half of the opening melody. Here we start by doubling the melody in the bass and synth part. Watch out for the long position change slide at the start of bar 11. Bars 14 and 15 involve a very quick economy picked descending...
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Fusion Song - Sleeper - Improvisation Section Instructor: Tom Quayle Level: Advanced Topic: Improvising Style: Fusion So now onto the improvisation section. On the video I improvise a pretty simple solo over this part of the tune. The main things to think about are the time signature and the harmony/chord changes. For the first 8 bars we're improvising in 5/8 and al...
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Fusion Song - Sleeper - Stabs Section Instructor: Tom Quayle Level: Advanced Topic: Rhythm Style: Fusion Originally, this section was composed with the idea of having a drummer soloing over the stabs. However, seeing as how I'm the worlds worst drummer and can't record a good one in my house we'll have to make do with what we've got for now! Sorry about...
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1:10 Fusion Song - Sleeper - Ending Melody Instructor: Tom Quayle Level: Advanced Topic: Rhythm Style: Fusion The ending melody is a 'tip of the hat' to Mr. Guthrie Govan and his track 'Waves'. It uses a great number of position shifts and slides combined with some awkward fingerings. The aim here is to produce a smooth, synth-like sound. Try to make all yo...
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2:31 Fusion Song - Sleeper - Backing Track Instructor: Tom Quayle Level: Advanced Topic: Rhythm Style: Fusion Okay, so here's the backing track for Sleeper. There are 3 bars of 4/4 and then straight into the bar of 7/8. The line you play is doubled so it should be fairly obvious when to come in! Best of luck! Tom
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3:37 Fusion Song - Sleeper - Backing Track (slow) Instructor: Tom Quayle Level: Advanced Topic: Improvising Style: Fusion Hi guys! I've had some requests for a slower version of this backing track to practice with so here it is! I hope this is useful. See you in the next tutorial! Tom
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Fusion Song - Sleeper - TAB for standard tuning Instructor: Tom Quayle Level: Advanced Topic: Rhythm Style: Fusion Here's the TAB for standard tuning. Some of the fingerings are different to accommodate the top two strings. Feel free to ask if you need help with fingerings. Tom
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2:52 Dividing Rhythm - Major/Minor Soloing Introduction Instructor: Richard Lundmark Level: Advanced Topic: Improvising Style: Rock Grettings Guitar Slingers!! In this tutorial we will use the final example, 7b, from my Muting Techniques tutorial. As you recall, this example alternated between major and minor in every bar. The first bar isn't really major or minor, since no thi...
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0:41 Dividing Rhythm - Solo Instructor: Richard Lundmark Level: Advanced Topic: Improvising Style: Rock Alright then! Here we have the actual solo. If you feel like it, you could of course learn this right of, and then head on to the backing track to practice it. However, I highly recommend you go through the analysis part and the videos, since this w...
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2:04 Dividing Rhythm - Analysis Part 1 Instructor: Richard Lundmark Level: Advanced Topic: Improvising Style: Rock In this first part, we will look into just the first 3 bars. Here I use artificial harmonics to produce my chosen notes. If you look closer at the very first note of this part, you will see that even though I'm fretting a B at the 4th fret on the G-s...
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2:25 Dividing Rhythm - Analysis Part 2 Instructor: Richard Lundmark Level: Advanced Topic: Improvising Style: Rock In the next couple of bars we start out pretty straight forward. I go down the Dorian in bar 9, and end up in Mixolydian pentatonic in bar 10. After that however, some technically interesting things comes into play. In bar 12, I using a legato run i...
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3:43 Dividing Rhythm - Analysis Part 3 Instructor: Richard Lundmark Level: Advanced Topic: Improvising Style: Rock Alright then, 3rd part of the analysis! This part begins with the bend I held in the previous bar, I release this bend landing back on the D# on the first beat of the bar. This bar is over the major part of the riff, and what I’m doing here is...
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0:47 Dividing Rhythm - Backing Track Instructor: Richard Lundmark Level: Advanced Topic: Improvising Style: Rock And finally, here is the backing track for you to sink your teeth into! Get to work, and see you in my next tutorial!
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0:59 Arpeggio Etude - Full Video Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Rock Hey all! In this tutorial, we're going to learn a short arpeggio etude that focuses on our sweeping and tapping skills. In the video above, you'll notice that I played the etude at two different speeds. First at 140bpm (beats per minute), then slow...
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1:37 Arpeggio Etude - Exercise 1 Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Rock Before we get started, let's make sure you understand what an arpeggio actually is. An arpeggio is simply the notes of a chord played in succession. So if you took any random chord, and played the notes of that chord individually one at a time, you'd...
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1:35 Arpeggio Etude - Exercise 2 Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Rock In Exercise 2, we'll be incorporating a different arpeggio in each bar. First A Major, then G Major, then F# minor, then E Major. As always, be mindful of the smooth gliding motions with your picking hand when sweeping. Also, you'll notice that a fe...
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1:04 Arpeggio Etude - Backing (140bpm, 100bpm) Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Rock Okay, here we have the backing track. The track will first play the backing at 140bpm, then at a slower speed of 100bpm. Have fun while you practice! And as always, if you ever record yourself playing along, be sure to post it in the forums!
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1:16 Time Constraint - Exercise 3 Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal In this exercise, we have a fast, eastern sounding legato lick. Accuracy is key here, so make sure you practice this part note by note. If you play it fast and some notes don't sound properly, slow it down. Only increase your speed as you gain more ...
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1:22 Time Constraint - Backing Track Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal Ready to play along to the backing track? Excellent. Be sure to warm up and stretch before you get started. If you ever record yourself playing along to the track, be sure to post it in the forums so we can all hear your skills!
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1:04 'In the style of' Andy McKee - Introduction Instructor: Rick Graham Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Acoustic Hey IG'ists and welcome to this tutorial in the style of the phenomenal acoustic guitarist Andy McKee. Andy McKee was born in Topeka, Kansas and is one of the world’s finest acoustic soloists. After receiving over 20 million views collectively...
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2:27 'In the style of' Andy McKee - Solo Instructor: Rick Graham Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Acoustic OK, lets check out the piece in it's entirety. I wrote this piece to highlight the techniques which Andy employs in his compositions so, as always, pay close attention to everything that is happening both technique wise and composition wise. Take no...
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2:17 'In the style of' Andy McKee - Part 1 Instructor: Rick Graham Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Acoustic Welcome to part 1! Lets look at how the guitar is tuned: 6=D 5=A 4=D 3=G 2=A 1=E I have chosen to notate this piece in 4/4 as opposed to 2/4 for ease of score writing. However, what I have done is divide the bar into 2 beats with each beat in...
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1:45 'In the style of' Andy McKee - Part 2 Instructor: Rick Graham Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Acoustic The rhythmic figure we have here in the second part of the intro is the same as the first part but we have some development with the use of the open top string. Be sure to let that open string ring on throughout this section. Be careful during bars ...
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2:50 'In the style of' Andy McKee - Part 3 Instructor: Rick Graham Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Acoustic Here we have the main melody of the piece. Notice how the tonality has changed from D min to D maj. I feel this has a very uplifting but subtle feel which I like a lot. A key element of playing pieces like this with this kind of tuning is to let al...
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2:35 'In the style of' Andy McKee - Part 4 Instructor: Rick Graham Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Acoustic OK, we are now back to the D min tonality. This section may require some extra practice as there are a couple of moments which could prove a little tricky. During bar 33, make sure that immediately after the percussion your right hand stays in posit...
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1:09 'In the style of' Andy McKee - Part 5 Instructor: Rick Graham Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Acoustic This section is a repeat of the previous section but with a change in bars 45 and 46.
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2:31 'In the style of' Andy McKee - Part 6 Instructor: Rick Graham Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Acoustic The percussion effect during this section is played slightly differently to how we achieved the effect before, as in with the thumb. What is more effective here is to clench the hand into a fist and let it fall onto the strings so that they hit again...
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1:45 'In the style of' Andy McKee - Part 7 Instructor: Rick Graham Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Acoustic OK, we have now reached the final part and perhaps the most exciting part, Tapping!!! Note wise it is an exact repetition of part 6 but played with the inclusion of right and left hand taps. In order to get the best results it is essential that you...
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1:27 Trusting a Hope - Exercise 6 (Solo part 2) Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Rock The second half of the solo is a little more challenging. We'll be playing 32nd notes to an aggressive picking and legato pattern. I strongly suggest playing along with your metronome for this exercise in particular. Nail it at a slow speed before t...
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3:59 Muting Techniques - Example 7b Instructor: Richard Lundmark Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Rock Final example! Here I have the same exact notes and riff, but I mute out certain notes completely, whilst accentuating others (the upstrokes) but hitting them hard, not muting at all. This creates and interesting rhythm within the rhythm so to say, c...
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3:34 Phrasing - Hemiolas Explanation Instructor: Tom Quayle Level: Advanced Topic: Rhythm Style: Fusion Hi there! Welcome to this tutorial on phrasing over the bar line! This is the first of a set of tutorials where we'll be covering phrasing and more specifically phrasing over the bar line and developing independence from bar lines in general. This t...
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1:27 Phrasing - Hemiolas Demonstration Instructor: Tom Quayle Level: Advanced Topic: Rhythm Style: Fusion So here I'm going to demonstrate how a hemiola works. I'm starting with a very simple 3/4 rhythm consisting of a quarter note followed by two 8th notes finishing with a final quarter note. This gives us an unmistakeable 3/4 sound. When played in 4/4...
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0:52 Phrasing - Hemiolas 3/4 over 4/4 (Rhythm 1) Instructor: Tom Quayle Level: Advanced Topic: Rhythm Style: Fusion Okay, so here we go! Here's our first rhythm. It's a simple 3/4 rhythm which we're going to superimpose over a 4/4 groove in order to make a our phrases go over the bar line. Getting the feel of 3/4 over 4/4 can be very tricky to achieve. Start by ...
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1:13 Phrasing - Hemiolas 3/4 over 4/4 (Rhythm 2) Instructor: Tom Quayle Level: Advanced Topic: Rhythm Style: Fusion Now here's another rhythm in 3/4. The same rules apply and you'll see me improvise in double time again. By doing this you can confirm whether the rhythm has become part of your improvisational repertoire. My timing could've been better in parts of ...
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0:57 Phrasing - Hemiolas 5/4 over 4/4 (Rhythm 1) Instructor: Tom Quayle Level: Advanced Topic: Rhythm Style: Fusion Here's the first of our 5/4 rhythms. The same rules apply as for previous rhythms - just take your time and free yourself from those dastardly bar lines!! Again, I go double time when I improvise.
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1:11 Phrasing - Hemiolas 5/4 and 6/4 over 4/4 Instructor: Tom Quayle Level: Advanced Topic: Rhythm Style: Fusion So now we'll practice 2 different superimposed rhythms in one exercise. In this example I start with a 5/4 rhythm followed by a double time 6/4 rhythm. Both are written out underneath. Again, take your time to assimilate the rhythm first before tryi...
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0:53 Phrasing - Hemiolas Closing Comment Instructor: Tom Quayle Level: Advanced Topic: Rhythm Style: Fusion Make sure you refer to the text and music/TAB for each example as it's often easier to 'see' these rhythms than to hear them at first. It might help to print or write the rhythms out and then identify each 3/4, 5/4 or 6/4 rhythm repeat within the 4/4...
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4:06 Phrasing - Hemiolas Backing Track Instructor: Tom Quayle Level: Advanced Topic: Rhythm Style: Fusion Here's the backing track to practice some of these ideas over. It's intentionally very simple with just drums and bass in order to leave you plenty of space to play some great rhythms over. Having no chord changes at all leaves you some freedom to c...
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1:51 Pedal Tone Legato - Exercise 3 Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Any Style Let's make it more difficult! We're going to do a similar pattern from the last lesson, except we'll be taking the difficulty level up a notch. We're now going to be moving higher up the fretboard and playing on the D, G, and B strings. The first 4 ...
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2:23 Pedal Tone Legato - Exercise 4 Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Any Style In Lesson 4, we're going to learn a variation of the 6-note pattern that we've been playing in the previous lessons. Up until now, in our 6-note grouping, we've always pulled-off from nowhere on the 5th note in the grouping. We're going to keep doing...
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2:47 'Golden Champagne' - Full Video Instructor: Rick Graham Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Rock Hey IG'ists and welcome to my latest tutorial in which we will be looking at a rock tune called 'Golden Champagne'. To begin with I'd like to give you a little background on the track. I wrote it around 6 years ago when I first bought my Ibanez JS2...
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1:55 'Golden Champagne' - Main melody Instructor: Rick Graham Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Rock OK, welcome to the first part of this tutorial. The first thing thing I want you to pay attention to is the initial opening phrase or motif which occurs within the first bar and repeats although slightly different in bar 2. This is the motif which w...
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2:20 'Golden Champagne' - Solo part 1 Instructor: Rick Graham Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Rock OK, it's time to play spot the motif! The first place that the original motif occurs is in bar 22. Using and developing motifs can give a real sense of cohesion to a piece and it is a device that has been used as a compositional tool for centuries a...
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0:49 'Golden Champagne' - Solo part 2 Instructor: Rick Graham Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Rock Time for some tapping folks!!! I have purposely played this in the video with an even tempo and rhythm just so as to make it easier to learn. Once you have the whole pattern, that is after you have dissected it and practiced each part slowly, then y...
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2:51 'Golden Champagne' - Backing Track Instructor: Rick Graham Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Rock Alrighty here's the backing track for you to practice over and when you're ready, get posting your take in the forums. Best of luck!
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2:05 Building Speed and Stamina - "Repetition" Solo Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Metal In our 3rd "Speed and Stamina" exercise, we'll be looking at an excerpt from an old song I wrote called "Repetition". This short solo will definitely test your endurance for both hands. Before you begin, you need to do something important if you hav...
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0:35 Building Speed and Stamina - "Repetition" Backing Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Metal Wow! If you're ready for the backing track, then you've done a great job practicing! If you ever record yourself playing along, be sure to post it in the forums so we can all hear your mad shredding skills!
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1:57 Metal Madness - Full Video Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal Welcome everyone! In this song tutorial, we're going to learn some intense metal riffs and ideas. Please note that this song is in Drop D tuning. If you aren't exactly sure what that is, go ahead and click here. Once you've checked out the video ab...
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0:48 Metal Madness - Exercise 1 Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal This first riff has somewhat of a Pantera influence. Dimebag Darrell had a knack for playing chunky sounding riffs with a good amount of dissonance. We have a lot of Drop D power chords played throughout this riff. Let's examine some of the other th...
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0:42 Metal Madness - Exercise 3 Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal In Exercise 3, we have some fun 3-string sweep arpeggios. We'll be playing them as 16th notes. And make sure you follow the pick strokes very closely in the tab below. Since we're sweeping, don't individualize each pick stroke, make sure your hand gl...
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0:57 Metal Madness - Exercise 4 Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal In Exercise 4, we'll be playing a neat little trick using open strings and legato. The whole pattern of this riff will be a grouping of 3 notes. First you'll play the open B string, then you'll hammer-on a B string note, then you'll hammer-on "from ...
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1:07 Metal Madness - Exercise 6 Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal This last exercise involves some intense speed picking and is a bit tricky. On the 2nd beat of each bar, do you see how we'll be playing 16th note triplets? Make sure you keep alternate picking throughout. Now, look at the very first note of the 3r...
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1:41 Metal Madness - Backing Track Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal Have those riffs nailed? Great job! Make sure you don't headbang too hard when you play them though. :) If you ever make a recording of yourself playing along to the backing track, be sure to post it in the forum!
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0:39 Half Picking: Etude - Full Video Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Rock Welcome! In this tutorial we are going to look at a technique I call "half picking". Half picking involves patterns where every other note is played with a pick. The notes that are not picked will be played using legato. For example, here's what a h...
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0:41 Half Picking: Etude - Backing Track Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Rock Have fun with the backing track! If you ever make a recording of yourself playing along, be sure to post it in the forum. Also, don't forget about the next few lessons where we'll be looking at a few more half picking exercises.
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0:46 Half Picking: Metal Riff Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Metal To close out the tutorial, we'll apply the half picking technique to a fun metal riff. Some of the patterns are similar to the patterns we played in the etude, but there are some new shapes as well. We'll also be dipping into the diminished scale. O...
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2:36 Timing and Note Value Alteration - Example 2d-e Instructor: Richard Lundmark Level: Advanced Topic: Exercises Style: Any Style So, on to example 2d then. In this example, I have mixed two note values within the same line; sixteen note triplets, and straight sixteen notes. You hear how much more random and musical this is starting to sound when compared to examples 2a-b? Y...
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3:09 Timing and Note Value Alteration - Example 3a-c Instructor: Richard Lundmark Level: Advanced Topic: Improvising Style: Any Style Now it’s time for some real excitement people! Let’s look into the concept of Rhythmic Superimposition shall we? Do you remember me ranting about Scale Superimposition in my Pentatonic Finder tutorial? Well, this is sort of the same, bu...
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2:01 Timing and Note Value Alteration - Example 3d-e Instructor: Richard Lundmark Level: Advanced Topic: Improvising Style: Any Style Did you make it through? Warmed up yet are we? Sweet, let’s continue. One thing that most people don’t think about is that this concept is every bit as useful when it comes to riffing and rhythm guitar playing! Let’s take a look at ...
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2:11 Timing and Note Value Alteration - Part 5 Introduction Instructor: Richard Lundmark Level: Advanced Topic: Improvising Style: Any Style Ok, time to break out that tapping finger! Before cutting into this one, look at this video and the next one as I explain my view of, and approach to tapping. This could help you immensely when attempting these things, and especially when later on im...
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3:28 Timing and Note Value Alteration - Part 5 Tapping Intro Instructor: Richard Lundmark Level: Advanced Topic: Improvising Style: Any Style In this part, I discuss my approach to tapping more in-depth, and exemplify the technique I use. What I tend to do, is to tap upwards instead of downwards for several reasons. I find it more comfortable, and I see tapping as being right hand hammer-o...
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1:16 Timing and Note Value Alteration - Example 5a-c Instructor: Richard Lundmark Level: Advanced Topic: Improvising Style: Any Style First off, we have example 5a, where I have taken an E min pentatonic tapping lick (actually not strictly E pentatonic, since I’m starting off with F#, which is the major 2nd). Follow the advice given in the video about how to play it, and then...
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4:25 Timing and Note Value Alteration - Example 5d Instructor: Richard Lundmark Level: Advanced Topic: Improvising Style: Any Style Then we come on to example 5d. Here I’m using Ninetuplets (nine-what now?). This might look intimidating at first glance, but is actually not much harder to play than triplets, same feel almost, just faster. This is a note value that is not oft...
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2:32 Timing and Note Value Alteration - Example 5e-h Instructor: Richard Lundmark Level: Advanced Topic: Improvising Style: Any Style Next up is example 5e. This is another pentatonic tapping idea that I personally use a lot. You can see these types of thing in a real musical context in my Super Continental song tutorial. Same idea here in example 5f, but using straight sixteen ...
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2:06 Timing and Note Value Alteration - Example 6a Instructor: Richard Lundmark Level: Advanced Topic: Improvising Style: Any Style Here we are, the final section! What I will do here is similar to what I did in example 4. I will take the rhythm from one idea, and superimpose that over everything I improvise. So to begin with, here is example 6a, where you can see the same idea ...
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1:42 String Skipping Etude - Performance Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Rock Welcome! In this song tutorial, I wanted to write an etude that focuses on string skipping. String skipping occurs when you play a note on any given string, then skip a string to play a following note. This technique is essential for every guitarist...
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1:18 String Skipping Etude - Exercise 1 Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Rock The first 2 measures of the intro start out with string skipping on the D and B strings. If you look at the tablature, you can see that you'll be palm muting all the notes on the D string while the other notes will be played normally without palm mut...
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1:20 String Skipping Etude - Exercise 3 Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Rock This riff is all over the fretboard. Even though it might seem a little intimidating, there's actually a really basic pattern to it that you can follow. And that pattern is simply...octaves. We are going to span over 3 octaves in each measure. First...
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1:18 String Skipping Etude - Exercise 4 Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Rock Exercise 4 also utilizes a prevalent octave pattern. The string skipping will occur between the Low E string and the D string. Keep the 16th notes even and consistent, and make sure your picking stays controlled. When you feel comfortable with all 4...
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5:07 String Skipping Etude - Backing (Fast & Slow) Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Rock Have all the parts down? Then it's time to practice with the backing track! The first half of the backing track is at the normal tempo. Then the second half is slowed down. As always, if you ever record yourself playing along, be sure to post it in...
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0:32 Time Signatures: 4/4 - Example 2 (Advanced) Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Fusion Here we have a more advanced example in a blues-rock-funk style. So we'll just call it a "Fusion" style. :) There's a lot going on within each bar, so learn it very slowly. And really listen for that 4/4 pulse. Since there's a lot happening with the...
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0:35 Time Signatures: 5/4 - Example 2 (Advanced) Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal In the second 5/4 example, we're going to play an intense metal riff. As always, make sure you practice counting along with the riff before you start to physically learn it.
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0:26 Time Signatures: 7/8 - Example 2 (Advanced) Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal This 7/8 example has a bit of a "celtic metal" feel to it. It's also quite a bit more advanced than the previous example. Be sure to get the count down first, then practice the riff very slowly.
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0:30 Time Signatures: 9/8 - Example 2 (Advanced) Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal In this 9/8 example, we're going to utilize a lot of silence between quick bursts of notes. This will require some very tight rhythm playing, so make sure your mutes are executed cleanly. And as always, analyze and count along to the riff before you...
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0:36 Time Signatures: 19/16 - Example 2 (Advanced) Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Rock In the last 19/16 time signature, we're going to use a good amount of legato. Practice the legato sections slowly at first and make sure the notes are equal in volume.
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1:00 Time Signatures: Mixing Them Together Ex. 2 (Advanced) Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Rock We're now going to be mixing the following time signatures: 7/8, 4/4, 15/16, and 19/16. This passage has a bit of a Joe Satriani vibe to it. The most difficult parts you'll face with this are the 15/16 and the 19/16 sections. The transition from one...
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0:31 Time Signatures: Backing Track - 4/4 Ex. 2 Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Fusion Here we have a more advanced example in a blues-rock-funk style. So we'll just call it a "Fusion" style. :) There's a lot going on within each bar, so learn it very slowly. And really listen for that 4/4 pulse. Since there's a lot happening with the...
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0:35 Time Signatures: Backing Track - 5/4 Ex. 2 Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal In the second 5/4 example, we're going to play an intense metal riff. As always, make sure you practice counting along with the riff before you start to physically learn it.
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0:26 Time Signatures: Backing Track - 7/8 Ex. 2 Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal This 7/8 example has a bit of a "celtic metal" feel to it. It's also quite a bit more advanced than the previous example. Be sure to get the count down first, then practice the riff very slowly.
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0:30 Time Signatures: Backing Track - 9/8 Ex. 2 Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal In this 9/8 example, we're going to utilize a lot of silence between quick bursts of notes. This will require some very tight rhythm playing, so make sure your mutes are executed cleanly.
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0:36 Time Signatures: Backing Track - 19/16 Ex. 2 Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Rock In the last 19/16 time signature, we're going to use a good amount of legato. Practice the legato sections slowly at first and make sure the notes are equal in volume.
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1:00 Time Signatures: Backing Track - Mix 2 Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Rock We're now going to be mixing the following time signatures: 7/8, 4/4, 15/16, and 19/16. This passage has a bit of a Joe Satriani vibe to it. The most difficult parts you'll face with this are the 15/16 and the 19/16 sections. The transition from one...
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1:31 "Wake of Souls" - Full Video Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal Welcome! This tutorial is based on a snippet from a song I wrote called "Wake of Souls". We're going to be focusing primarily on tight rhythm playing with metal genres, particularly with progressive metal and metalcore. Also, please note that the so...
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0:50 "Wake of Souls" - Exercise 1 Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal In this exercise, we're going to use a lot of palm muting on the 5th and 6th strings mixed between some higher notes. The higher notes are all on the D and G strings, so we're naturally going to be using some string skipping as well. Since the palm ...
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1:09 "Wake of Souls" - Exercise 2 Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Rhythm Style: Rock This riff is pretty straightforward. We're basically going to be strumming through some Drop D chords while exclusively using sixteenth notes. One thing I really want to point out with this, is how much we need to focus on muting unwanted strings. I...
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0:30 "Wake of Souls" - Exercise 3 Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal In this riff, we'll be going back and forth between 32nd notes and 8th notes. There won't be any palm muting in this one, so be sure to let the strings ring out nice and clean. Also, give the 8th notes a good amount of vibrato as you can see me doing...
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0:48 "Wake of Souls" - Exercise 4 Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Rhythm Style: Metal This is my favorite riff of the song. Melodically, it somewhat shadows the very 1st riff we did. However, it sounds much more aggressive here, especially with the accompanying drum parts. Be sure to keep your palm muting tight and your picking solid...
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1:32 "Wake of Souls" - Backing Track Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal Have all the parts down? Great! Then it's time to practice with the backing track. If you ever record yourself playing along, be sure to post it in the forum so we can all hear your chops!
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0:48 Melodic Metal Solo - Intro & Original Version Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal Hello all! In this tutorial we're going to explore a short solo from a song I wrote. And we're also going to learn an alternate version of the solo. In the video above, you'll hear the original version of the solo, then in the next video you'll hea...
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0:25 Melodic Metal Solo - Alternate Version Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal Okay, let's check out the alternate version! This one is a little more on the "shred" side. Once you've heard both solos, decide which one you'd like to learn and start learning! :) In the next lesson, we will start with the beginning of the origin...
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0:43 Melodic Metal Solo - Original Version: Part 2 Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal In the first part, we're going to use legato while playing a few 3-note-per-string patterns. Make sure all those notes stay equal in volume. At the end, we have a small sweeping pattern followed by a double bend/release. First, practice that sweep b...
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0:31 Melodic Metal Solo - Original Version: Part 3 Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal Here, we have two fast sweeping/legato patterns. Learn each pattern individually before merging them together. You'll notice that we're going to tap a note at the end of each sweeping pattern. That makes things a little more difficult with the actua...
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0:25 Melodic Metal Solo - Original Version: Backing Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal Welcome to the first backing track! This one is for the original solo. You'll hear the accompanying harmonies as well. If you'd like to learn the alternate version of the solo, head on over to the next lesson where we'll be tackling Part 1.
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0:46 Melodic Metal Solo - Alternate Version: Part 1 Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal To start, we're going to be playing some fast thirty-second notes up the lydian mode in a 3-note-per-string pattern. In the full video for this solo, my note speed varies very slightly in this area to give it a bit of texture. At the end of the 32nd...
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0:50 Melodic Metal Solo - Alternate Version: Part 2 Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal To start off Part 2, we're going to be playing one of my favorite kinds of arpeggio patterns. I just love the sweeping/tapping combinations. You'll start out by down-sweeping as you ascend in the A# Ionian mode. Then once you get to the G string, yo...
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0:25 Melodic Metal Solo - Alternate Version: Backing Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal Okay, here is the backing track for the alternate solo. There is a short section where you will hear harmonies. If you're ready to create your own solo, go to the next lesson for the empty backing track.
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0:25 Melodic Metal Solo - Empty Backing Track Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal What I'd encourage you to do now, is write your own solo over this backing track. Be creative. Use some of the techniques you learned in this tutorial, and add other techniques and ideas if you wish. If you ever record your solo, be sure to post it ...
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1:46 Building Speed and Stamina - Exercise 2 Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Exercises Style: Rock In our 2nd exercise, we're going to be switching back and forth from thirty-second notes to sixteenth notes. Also, be aware of the 6/8 time signature. This one is a little more difficult than the last exercise because we have to move our fret-hand f...
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0:40 Building Speed and Stamina - Exercise 2 Backing Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Exercises Style: Rock Ready to try it? Awesome! Make sure you are warmed and stretched before you get started. As I mentioned in the last lesson, there is a 2nd guitar playing in the backing track. For the first eight measures, its playing the melody an octave lower. The...
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0:53 The Chase - Full Video Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal Welcome! In this tutorial, we're going to learn a short metal piece called "The Chase". Once you've checked out the video, head on over to the next lesson so we can start learning those riffs!
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0:38 The Chase - Exercise 1 Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal The riff in this lesson is somewhat of a "build up" to the riff in the next lesson. It's primarily focused on the open Low E string as well as the E and F power chords on the A and D strings. Before playing the riff, be sure to study the rhythmic no...
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0:43 The Chase - Exercise 2 Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal This riff is a great example of pure "groove metal". It just grooves! Just like in the last lesson, we're again focusing on using triplets. We have a good mix of both quarter and eighth note triplets. There is no palm muting here except for on the ...
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1:04 The Chase - Exercise 3 Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal Now we come to the melodic lead riff. We have a lot of legato here. Plenty of hammer-ons, pull-offs, and slides. Since most of the notes are generated using legato, make sure your legato playing is smooth and the notes are clear. Also, make sure the...
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0:52 The Chase - Backing Track Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal It's time to rock out to the backing track! Don't forget to turn your amp up to eleven. :) As always, if you make a recording of yourself playing along, be sure to post it in the forums!
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1:40 Building Speed and Stamina - Exercise 1 Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Exercises Style: Metal Okay! Let's get going on the first exercise. This is a long sequence, and I made it that way on purpose so we can focus on improving our stamina. In this riff, we'll be playing different sequences repeatedly while we modulate to various keys. Play u...
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1:13 Building Speed and Stamina - Exercise 1 Backing Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Exercises Style: Metal Ready to rock? It's time to play along with the backing track! Make sure you are stretched and warmed up before playing. And if you ever make a recording of yourself playing along to this, be sure to post it in the forums!
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1:34 Expand Your Improvisation - Example 2 Instructor: Richard Lundmark Level: Advanced Topic: Improvising Style: Fusion Example #2. In this example I take a different approach, both harmonically and rhythmically. I begin by playing the line close to the original, but then start adding rests, and going into a G min9 arpeggio, broken up into a sequence. After this I go...
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1:57 Expand Your Improvisation - Outro Improvisation Instructor: Richard Lundmark Level: Advanced Topic: Improvising Style: Fusion In this final stop, I will attempt to tie it all together for you. I have improvised a solo over a funk/fusion backing in G min (with some heavy alteration going on harmonically). Look through the video, and then start working on the transcription. ...
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0:58 Expand Your Improvisation - Backing Track Instructor: Richard Lundmark Level: Advanced Topic: Improvising Style: Fusion Okay Guitar Slingers! Here is the backing track for you to jam along with. I suggest you start out by going through the transcribed solo, and pick and choose what you liek best there. Then record something of your own over it, and post in the IG for...
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0:35 Fahrenheit - Full Video Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal This is a little piece called "Fahrenheit". You'll be playing some Yngwie Malmsteen sweeps along with a few other cool techniques. Once you've seen the full video, head on over to the first exercise so we can start nailing these riffs!
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0:42 Fahrenheit - Exercise 1 Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal With this first riff, we're going to be repeating it in a few different ways, mixing around the picking execution as well as the octaves. We'll also be using sixteenth notes exclusively. To start, check out the first 4 measures. Notice how the notes...
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1:08 Fahrenheit - Exercise 2 Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Metal This section is a bit more challenging than the last. We have a lot going on within the span of 4 measures, so let's take it one section at a time. You'll see in the video how I split up the riff into separate parts. In the first section, we don't h...
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0:37 Fahrenheit - Backing Track Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal Got the whole piece down? Then get rockin' with the backing track! You'll hear the accompanying guitars in the background as well. If you record yourself playing along, be sure to post it in the forums so everyone can hear your skills!
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1:35 "Blackout" - Full Video Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal Welcome to the "Blackout" tutorial! With this song, we're going to look at some ideas focusing primarily on metal and Eastern styles. Also, note that this song is in Drop D tuning. If you aren't exactly sure what that is, click here. Once you check...
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0:52 "Blackout" - Exercise 1 Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal This is my favorite riff in the tutorial. I love the atmospheric Eastern vibe it conveys. This riff has a time signature of 7/8. So that means we have seven 8th notes accounted for in each measure. If you wanted to count the measure out loud, you co...
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0:45 "Blackout" - Exercise 2 Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal Here, we continue the Eastern vibe with a more rhythmic and staccato approach. It's also an excellent exercise to help develop finger control. First thing to notice are the rests. You'll encounter 8th note rests as well as 16th note rests. Make thos...
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0:51 "Blackout" - Exercise 3 Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal This exercise utilizes the open 6th string as well as octave chords. In bars 10-13, we'll be playing the 6th string ringing out, but then be sure to palm mute that string starting on bar 14. While you play the octave chords, make sure your fret-han...
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0:55 "Blackout" - Exercise 4 Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal Just as in Exercise 2, we're going to be encountering some quick 16th note rests. When these rests occur, slap your fret-hand fingers down on the strings to ensure a solid mute. Watch closely how I do that in the video. In bars 18-21, the rhythm wil...
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1:34 "Blackout" - Backing Track Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal Okay, have fun with the backing track! If you record yourself playing along, be sure to post it in the forums!
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1:18 Metal Breakdown 1 Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal Welcome to the "Metal Breakdowns" Tutorial! Throughout this tutorial, I'm going to add some random breakdowns that you can practice to work on your rhythm chops. If you're into hardcore or metalcore music, you've probably heard of the term "breakdown...
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0:28 Metal Breakdown 1 - Backing Track Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal Got it down? Then let's rock out with the backing track! If you ever make a recording of yourself practicing with the backing track, be sure to post it in the forums for all to hear. Rock on!
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0:57 Finger Tapping - Descending Pentatonic Scale Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Rock If you desire to effectively implement tapping into your playing, you need to make sure that you are very comfortable finger tapping through scales. Finger tapping is a popular and sometimes necessary element to lead guitar playing. And if you want t...
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0:30 Finger Tapping - Ascending Pentatonic Scale Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Rock Now, let’s ascend on the B minor pentatonic scale, still playing three notes per string. To “ascend” means to start from a lower note and progress toward a higher note. Again, make sure every note is equal in volume.
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0:49 Finger Tapping - Ascending and Descending Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Rock Lastly, we are going to merge descending and ascending together. In lengthy tapping runs, it is likely you will both ascend and descend through scales, as you can only do one or the other for so long until you run out of notes! Try this exercise in ...
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0:31 Finger Tapping - String Skipping Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Rock String skipping is pretty self-explanatory. It is the method of moving from one string to another while skipping a string. It is a technique used usually for practical purposes. A guitarist might choose to string-skip in the same fretboard position i...
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0:49 Finger Tapping - A Major Diatonic Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Rock In this lesson, we are going to utilize the A Major diatonic scale. If you aren't sure what that means, don’t worry, the scale is outlined in the picture below. Notice the dots have different colors. The green dots represent the notes you&rsquo...
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0:46 Finger Tapping - A Major 3-string Grouping Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Rock In this exercise, we will be grouping 3 strings together at a time while descending. In other words, we’ll descend on a set of 3 strings, then descend on the next set of 3 strings, and so on. Playing with groups of strings can be a creative al...
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1:45 Finger Tapping - Multi-finger Tapping in B Diminished Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Metal What is multi-finger tapping? It's pretty self-explanatory, as it simply involves the use of multiple tapping-hand fingers tapping through a passage. Its existence is for practical reasons, as sometimes it’s difficult to only use a single finge...
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1:48 "Acoustic Synergy" - Full Video Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Acoustic Hey everyone! Here's a little acoustic piece I wrote called "Acoustic Synergy". Why did I call it "Acoustic Synergy"? Because it sounds cool! I hope you enjoy this short tutorial. Once you check out the full video above, head on over to the next le...
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0:51 "Acoustic Synergy" - Exercise 1 Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Acoustic Alright, before we start the first exercise, we need to adjust our guitar tuning. From your Low E string to your High E string, the tuning will go as follows: D(6) A(5) D(4) E(3) A(2) D(1) Let's be sure to learn every part of this riff very slowly. ...
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1:20 "Expiration Date" - Full Video Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal Hey all! This is a piece I wrote called "Expiration Date". It has a good mix of metal, progressive, and hardcore elements. Once you've checked out the video, head on over to the next lesson and let's learn it!
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0:38 "Expiration Date" - Exercise 1 Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Rock This first riff is pretty fun to play. The particular note choice coupled with legato gives this riff a subtle Asian sound. Keep in mind the use of legato throughout this riff. For example, check out the first 5 notes in the first measure. Then loo...
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0:36 "Expiration Date" - Exercise 2 Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal Here we have some tight rhythm playing along with the bass drum. I love this kind of metal riffing, where there are quick bursts of notes amidst short rests in between. The contrast of notes and silence can really add a lot of neat dynamic to your rh...
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0:27 "Expiration Date" - Exercise 4 Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal This might be the most difficult rhythm section in this piece. We have a lot of fast sixteenth notes and we need to make sure the notes are played cleanly and that we avoid unwanted string noise. Play it slow. Don't sacrifice accuracy for speed. Be ...
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0:51 "Expiration Date" - Exercise 5 Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal And finally, we have the outro. The first 8 measures is a bit of a teaser for the following blast of metal madness. We're basically just playing the melody using quarter notes with all downstrokes. After that, we're going to play the same melody, e...
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1:18 "Expiration Date" - Backing Track Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal If you've learned the riffs, now it's time to play along with the backing track! Since the the first part of the song is just guitar, you'll just be playing along with the high hat counts. After 4 counts, you'll hear an open high hat. Right when you...
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2:33 Canon in D-sharp - Performance Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Rock Hey folks! Welcome to Canon in D-sharp. If you've heard of Canon in D, then you're going to love Canon in D-sharp. It's just a lot sharper sounding than Canon in D. :-) Okay bad joke, I know. As said in the video, the rhythmic notes we'll be playin...
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0:41 Canon in D-sharp - Backing Track Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Rock Have fun with the backing track! This backing track is double the length of the track I used in the main lesson. If you ever making a recording of yourself playing along, be sure to post it in the forum!
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1:34 Settle for Metal - Full Video Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal "Settle for Metal!" That's what my great grandfather always used to tell me. Okay maybe not, but it sounds cool to say. Alright, in this short song tutorial, we're going to look at some intense rhythm playing in the metal vein. Before diving into t...
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0:37 Settle for Metal - Backing Track Instructor: Sean Conklin Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Metal Got everything down? Excellent, try it with the backing track! Be sure to make sure you're stretched and warmed up. This has a lot of intense rhythm playing, so we need to make sure that we're ready and relaxed. As always, if you ever make a record...
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0:54 NeoBlues - Performance Instructor: Richard Lundmark Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Rock Greetings Guitar Slingers! In this tutorial, we will take a close look at an intro to one of my songs. This one is called NeoBlues, and is a track off of my FretDance (2003) album. We won't be covering the entire song for this tutorial (for a full ...
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0:35 NeoBlues - Part 1 Instructor: Richard Lundmark Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Rock Here is the first analysis part. We will begin by looking at the intro. Here we have an up-tempo, string skipping and finger tapping run in the G minor pentatonic scale. In the first part without tapping, you will encounter the note E added to the m...
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0:40 NeoBlues - Part 2 Instructor: Richard Lundmark Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Rock Here we have the second analysis part, which covers the interlude theme of the song. The pattern used on the triplets is exactly the same as in the intro, so that should not pose any significant challenge once you’ve nailed that. However, the s...
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0:33 NeoBlues - Part 3 Instructor: Richard Lundmark Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Rock And finally, here is the main riff. Isn’t it fun how the simplest things are often the most difficult? This is also true in this case. This one presents some challenges, especially if your hands are small or your reach is limited. As you can se...
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3:17 NeoBlues - Backing Track Instructor: Richard Lundmark Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Rock Here's the backing track for you to play along with. You'll hear added guitars and motifs to help you along. If you ever record yourself playing along to this backing track, be sure to post it in the forums!
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0:57 Country Guitar Solo - Full Video Instructor: Rick Graham Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Country OK guys, it's time for some serious string twangin' and finger pluckin' in my latest tutorial. You'll find a variety of different techniques in here, from string bending to hybrid picking and much more. The piece is in three distinct sections, the f...
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0:47 Country Guitar Solo - Intro Section Instructor: Rick Graham Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Country OK, for the intro to this I decided to try to emulate the sound of a banjo with a rolling type of effect. This works very well on the guitar and is not too difficult to replicate. In this case we play a g note at the 5th fret of the 4th string which...
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1:43 Country Guitar Solo - Solo Section Instructor: Rick Graham Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Country It's time for the solo! As always with this style of playing, hybrid picking is a heavily featured technique and there's plenty of it here. I find that I get good results by accentuating the fingerpicked notes by playing them in a very percussive m...
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0:59 Country Guitar Solo - Backing Track Instructor: Rick Graham Level: Advanced Topic: Technique Style: Country You have all the parts down? Cool, then here's the backing track for you to play along with. As always, make a recording of the solo in whatever format you prefer so that you can show off your skills to everybody at the forums.
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Expanding your Chord Knowledge Pt.5: 11th chords Instructor: Robert Mussatti Level: Advanced Topic: Chords Style: Any Style The next group of chords that we will be looking at are 11th chords. All an 11th chord is, is just another extension of the major chord. A full 11th chord consists of a root, 3rd, 5th, 7th, 9th, and 11th, but if we are going to be playing these on ...
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Expanding your Chord Knowledge Pt.7: 13th Chords Instructor: Robert Mussatti Level: Advanced Topic: Chords Style: Any Style In the final installment of this tutorial, we are going to be looking at the different versions of the 13th chord, so fasten your seat belts. A full 13th chord has 7 notes in it: (1-3-5-b7-9-11-13). Intervalically, this full chord can be seen as: (R...
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0:18 'In the style of' Guthrie Govan - Lick 1 Instructor: Rick Graham Level: Advanced Topic: Improvising Style: Rock Alrighty, let's kick off the proceedings with the first lick. Guthrie tends to use this kind of idea within his improvisations with great effect. I really like that kind of unexpected burst of notes and to achieve the same effect, it is very importa...
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0:17 'In the style of' Guthrie Govan - Lick 3 Instructor: Rick Graham Level: Advanced Topic: Improvising Style: Rock This final Lick is very reminiscent of Guthrie's style of playing and is one that he uses on a regular basis. It is made easier by the fact that the shapes used on each successive string are exactly the same. The lick will test your ability to shift...
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1:24 "In the style of" Joe Pass - Chordal Blues Instructor: Mike Edwin Level: Advanced Topic: Chords Style: Blues Joe Pass Style Blues Guitar Joe Pass is arguably one of the most important and historically significant Jazz Guitar players, in line with the likes of Wes Montgomery and the great Charlie Christian. More particularly though, when the discussion is a...
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1:18 "In the style of" Joe Pass - Part 1 Instructor: Mike Edwin Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Blues Hey Guitarist's and Guitarete's. Here are the first 12 bars of our Chordal Blues. Aside from the novelty of having this broken up into manageable sections, I'll be laying out all the chords and substitutions being used in each part. I wont be going...
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1:23 "In the style of" Joe Pass - Part 2 Instructor: Mike Edwin Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Blues Welcome back! Same deal as before. I have slowed down the next 12 bar segment for you and will post the chord changes below. Bar 1- Fm7 > E13 Bar 2- Eb9 > Bbdim Bar 3- Bb7 > F altered Bar 4- Fm9 > Bb7 Bar 5- Eb9 > Eb11 > Bbm7 Bar...
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1:30 "In the style of" Joe Pass - Part 3 Instructor: Mike Edwin