Skip to main content Skip to navigation Skip to search

Premium lesson

Watch the full lesson with Premium

  • Full lesson video (2:00)
  • Interactive tab you can play along with, plus the Guitar Pro file
  • Access to all 2,300+ lessons

Premium from $10/month. Cancel anytime.

Shred/Fusion Legato Idea

Steve Hubbard 107 lessons

Greetings!

Here, we have a lick in the key of E minor, that's very typical for me to use when playing in the genre of shred/fusion. This lick focuses mainly on your left hand, but also uses a touch of sweep picking!

Though this example is written in 32nd notes, it isn't the type of phrase that is necessarily going to fall into a single bar, measure, or a group of 4 notes. It is meant to be more of a textural idea, and has a very 'in your face,' feel. I play the notes as steady 16ths, or 32nds, but it is obviously put together with odd groupings. I would personally play something similar to this, when trying to reach a high dynamic point in a piece of music.

Pay close attention to my right hand, and take note that I am doing mostly up strokes, when both ascending, and descending. You will notice that I personally choose to sweep notes, in groups of two, while coming down towards the thicker strings.

This lick works excellent with hybrid picking! Try using a combination of your pick, and the 2nd finger on picking hand, specifically, in replacement of sweep picking. For a tighter, more aggressive sound, try using alternate picking.

Influences that you may hear in this example:

Brett Garsed, Shawn Lane, Allan Holdsworth