Tag Archives: Guitar Scale Mastery

Alternate Picking Guitar Lesson- Part 4

Welcome to part 4 of the Alternate Picking Guitar Lesson Series. In this lesson you will be learning how to play some scale fragments or portions of scales with the use of alternate picking. Learning these note groupings will develop your finger set strengths, improve alternate picking accuracy and make your arsenal of licks, runs and phrases is easier to pull out when you need them most.

Exercise 1

Alternate Picking Triplet Scale Fragments

This little fragment shown above is a great way to isolate your ability with the 4- 2- 1 finger combination which you can then combine with other finger group patterns and other areas of scales to create speed runs, sequences and any type of line that relies of being able to move around a scale efficiently. In the second bar you change strings with the same finger pattern with strict alternate picking, it may be tempting to use legato but try and be disciplined and stick with the alternate picking approach. If you find it hard to play in triplets then count 1- trip- let 2- trip- let 3- trip- let 4- trip- let and play the number slightly harder to make it easier to hear if you are in time.

Exercise 2

Alternate Picking Triplet Scale Fragments Ex 2

The exercise above is great for building the strength and ability of the 4- 3- 1 finger grouping. If you learn this fragment and build your speed and accuracy with a metronome you will be ready to tackle larger runs in coming lessons. This fragment could be described as a portion of an A Dorian mode but those finger patterns could be played somewhere else and function differently, so it is a great pattern to get down. In bar 2 when you change strings you should aim for real clarity in the striking of the note and not opt for the approach so commonly found where players rush a string change and disguise it with distortion.

Exercise 3

Alternate Picking Triplet Scale Fragments Ex 3

This fragment ties the two above together nicely and is more realistic of a run that you would find players such as Paul Gilbert doing at break neck speed. An exercise such as this may sound just like an exercise at low speed, but you would be surprised how many bars of technical rock solos are filled with lines just like this. Perhaps it is the speed and tone that often disguises the melodic content, but it works and sounds exciting and if it is your kind of sound then why not add it to the trick bag.

If you have enjoyed this lesson and would be interested in learning much more about guitar then please read Be The Guitarist for a detailed, tried and tested method of learning guitar without the time wasting.

If you are learning quite a lot of different ideas, licks, chords etc and are feeling stuck on how to practise it all then you may be interested in The Ultimate Practise- Planner. This eBook will provide you with practise routines designed for varying lifestyles and dedication to the instrument. You wont have to worry about what to practise because it is all laid out for you in easy to read TAB exercises.

Have fun and keep practising!

Tom Clark

Sliding Technique Guitar Lesson

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Hey there, this lesson will focus on the sliding technique found all over the guitar world in pretty much every genre, it is a must have skill to add to your arsenal. Sliding is when you move your finger up or down the string without loosing contact with the string you are fretting. This can create a smooth sound and a nice alternative to re- picking the note you are aiming for. Exercise 1 could be used in a Jimi Hendrix style solo but equally could be found in a modern pop track so it’s well worth learning.

Exercise 1- Simple A Minor Pentatonic Phrase

A Minor Pentatonic Scale Slide Lick

With the exercise above it is best to start by picking every other note starting on the first note on the TAB, as you get comfortable you may wish to just pick once at the start and complete the phrase only one pick. The less you pick the strings, the less attack you have which means you create a smoother sound. However, there is a difference between smooth and weak, and when you can still get a nice volume from your guitar with all slides then you have done very well.

Exercise 2- C Ionian Slide Phrase

C Ionian Scale Slide Lick

Notice with exercise 3 the wider interval slides making this lick sound more angular, try and experiment with other modes such as the Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian and Aeolian and vary the wideness of the slide by jumping either more or less intervals within the mode. If you want to learn more about modes then please read Be The Guitarist for clear mode diagrams, chord to mode relationships, arpeggios and much more!

Exercise 3- C Ionian Slide ins and outs

C Ionian Scale One String Slide Lick

I hope you have learnt something new and interesting, looking for something else? Then have a look in the Blog for many free guitar lessons or alternatively if you wish to take my eBook courses then please see either Be The Guitarist or Complete Beginner Guitarist for a concise and effective guitar method.

Tom Clark

Combining Hammer- Ons and Pull- Offs Guitar Lesson

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Hey there, this lesson will cover combining the Hammer- On and Pull- Off technique. We have covered the two separate techniques but combining them makes things even more interesting. By combining the two techniques we can use scales to create flurries of ascending and descending melodies that are not quite as predictable as either just ascending or descending phrases.

Exercise 1- Combined Hammer- On and Pull- Off A Minor Pentatonic Run

Combined Hammer- On and Pull- Off A Minor Pentatonic Run

Exercise 2- A Aeolian Hammer- On and Pull- Off Run

A Aeolian Hammer- On and Pull- Off Run

This lick is very similar to something Paul Gilbert would play with the addition of his classic use of bends thrown in there. If this lick does not come to you easy because of the mixed up triplet and eight note rhythms then do not despair as you can experiment by taking the notes and making your own licks and finger exercises.

Exercise 3- Descending C Ionian Hammer- On and Pull- Off Run

Descending C Ionian Hammer- On and Pull- Off Run

If you want to find out more about the scales and modes that you have been learning during this lesson then please read my eBook Be The Guitarist for full explanations of guitar scales in all positions plus chords, arpeggios and much more!

Keep Practising and have fun

Tom Clark

Pull- Offs Guitar Lesson Part 2

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Hey there, welcome to part 2 of the Pull- Offs Guitar Lessons where you will find out about the pull- off technique in greater detail and learn more ways to incorporate this technique into your playing. In Part 1 we looked into what the technique includes and the basic mechanics of the technique plus some licks to work on to get you having fun.

Up to this point your Pull- Off technique has possibly only relied on using one picked note pulled off onto one other note. I want to teach you how to create a roll of notes by using the pull- off technique with three notes instead of two. This is often referred to as Legato, meaning to play smoothly and that is exactly what we are going for by learning this roll technique.

Exercise 1- Three Note Pull Off Rolls

Three Note Pull Off Roll

The exercise above is designed to build your Pull Off skills by showing you the quality a good roll technique can bring to your playing. Start by having the first, third and fourth finger place on the high E string on the correct frets as shown above. Now pick the high E string and pull the fourth finger away to sound the note at the 7th fret and then pull the third finger away to sound the 5th fret note. Repeat this process working in triplets to a metronome set to 60 bpm to start with and building up in 5 bpm slots. In the exercise shown above you will need to start by picking each 8th fret note but after this becomes easy you should try to pick once and execute the whole bar with one single pick at the start. Players such as Joe Satriani and Steve Vai will roam around a scale using this approach for bars!

Exercise 2- A Dorian Three Note Pull Off Roll

Dorian Three Note Pull Off Roll

Exercise 2 uses notes from the A Dorian mode to help build your ability to move across strings with the legato technique. This should note prove much more difficult than the previous exercise because the finger pattern is the same. If you want to develop scale knowledge and use the legato technique we are learning about by using a variety of different scales and modes then please see Be The Guitarist for the most direct way to learn scales and modes on guitar.

Exercise 3- A Aeolian Three Note Pull Off Roll

Aeolian Pull Off Scale

This exercise is slightly more difficult because you use a different finger pattern on the two strings to suggest an A Aeolian scale. On the high E string you should use fingers 4, 3 and 1 and on the B string you should use fingers 4, 2 and 1.

I hope you have enjoyed this lesson and that you have learnt something new! Remember to check out Be The Guitarist if you want to push your knowledge.

Keep practising and have fun!

Tom Clark

Guitar Scale Runs- Four Note Motifs Part 1

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Hello, today you will be learning about the Four Note Motifs that are found all over many forms of music, but in particular rock guitar based music. These scale sequences are usually played at a fast pace with a fairly distorted guitar tone and this is only achieved by practising the sequence below at a very slow pace. By learning the four note sequences you will be able to execute flurries of notes to form parts of solos that will grab the listeners attention.

At first this passage will seem daunting because there are so many notes being played. Once you understand that it is a sequence and therefor a pattern is repeated through the scale, it becomes less daunting because you can hear where the passage is going.

Tackle the sequence four notes at a time and once learnt, attempt to play the diatonic notes harder than the rest of the notes in the sequence. This is known as accenting and will bring some life to a flat sounding run.

Sequence 1

When you have learnt the notes of the sequence, turn on your metronome set to 60 bpm and try to play two notes per a beat and then when this becomes easy, try four notes per a beat as shown in the sequence above.

Sequence 2

Sequence 2 is played in 1/8th notes which means you play 2 notes per a beat instead of 4 and uses the C major scale in the A shape form. Play the sequences in the remaining four shapes of the C major scale so that you can connect the scale shapes up and down the neck. If you don’t know how to play the scale in different positions then see Be The Guitarist for easy to understand scale diagrams and full explanations.

Come back soon to learn two more Four Note Motifs.

Tom Clark

Guitar Scale Runs- Three Note Motifs Part 2

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Hey there, this lesson will be focusing on two different scale runs in the key of C major that have a different sequence. These two sequences will provide you with some interesting ways to practise your scales and modes when running up and down the scales in an ordinary fashion becomes boring.

Ensure to practise the sequences with a metronome starting out at 60 bpm and only increase the tempo when you are finding it easy at the current tempo. Try to accent each diatonic note of the scale, this means play the 1st, 4th, 7th, 10th, 13th etc note of the sequences harder than the other notes. This will help you build your dynamics so that you can learn to play loud and soft at different times.

Sequence 3

As with all the sequences I have been teaching throughout this series, I recommend you learn the sequence as it is shown and then experiment with idea. By experiment I mean that you should understand and absorb the sound of the sequence and then try to take another shape of the scale and recreate the sequence. To do this you will need to know all the positions of at least your major scale so that you can choose another position of the scale and then work out how to play the sequence.

If you want to learn your scales then see Be The Guitarist for easy to understand diagrams and full explanations.

Sequence 4

Keep practising and I hope you have enjoyed the Three note motif lessons. Come back for more lessons on guitar scale sequences where you will learn how to play Four Note Motifs.

Tom Clark

Guitar Scale Runs- Three Note Motifs Part 1

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Hello there, this lesson is all about the scale runs we hear in many forms of music, in particular rock guitar based music. Our aim is for you to have some patterns under your belt to pull out on your command and execute with ease. If practised slowly with a focus on accuracy there is no reason why you could not achieve high speed runs in a matter of months. Also worth mentioning is that I have designed this exercise to be in 6/8 time signature, this means you are playing 6 notes per a bar. You could do this in common 4/4 also, so why not try that one time.

Sequence 1

Here is the second motif we can create by playing a variation on the original sequence we have just learnt. This sequence relies on playing what are known as ‘Triads’ but through the A shaped C major scale, why not try this pattern up the A string pulling out notes from the D and G string?

Sequence 2

Once you understand the sound of the sequence and exactly what you are doing with the scale in use you can recreate the sequence in the remaining shapes of the C major scale. This will give you greater command of the fretboard so that you do not feel limited to a certain area on the neck when soloing or writing parts on your guitar.

Try and pick the diatonic notes of the scale harder to work on your dynamics and if you want to know all about scale then please see Be The Guitarist.

Come back for part 2 and 3 of the Three Note Motifs where you will learn four more scale runs to experiment with.

Tom Clark

Scale Sequences- Octaves for Guitar

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Hey there, welcome to the final diatonic sequence before we move onto motivic sequence. This lesson will cover the Diatonic Octaves sequence and I am hoping it will become another trick to add to your growing list.

An octave is two of the same notes played at a different point on the guitar where one of the notes is higher and one is lower. This sequence is the most safe sequence to use when trying to improvise and is found a lot in many forms of music. The diagram below will show the octave sequence using the A shaped pattern in the key of C major, however you will normally find it as shown in the 2nd diagram as it is easier to play and is often used as a 2nd guitar part to follow a chord progression with added variety.

Diatonic Octaves

Here is the more commonly found example where you play the same notes as shown above but create the C major scale up the A string instead of across the strings. Off each note of the scale you play an octave of the note to create the slightly sporadic sounding major scale.

Try play this example as shown and then play the octave notes at the same time with a strumming pattern of your choice and hear the different sounds you will achieve.

As with all of the sequences you have been learning, I would like you to try to play the same sequence with the remaining shapes of your major scale. This means understanding the sound of the particular sequence and recreating it with different scale patterns in the same key. If this all sounds too complicated then please see Be The Guitarist for easy to understand scales and modes.

Practising with a metronome is not always everyones idea of fun when you start out on the guitar, but most players would say that practising particular things with a metronome helped them enormously. You can find online metronomes by simply google searching or you can buy an actual metronome from any good music store. When you are playing two notes per a beat as shown in the two diagrams above, it is a good idea to start out at around 60-80 bpm before increasing the metronome in 5bpm slots once the exercise becomes easy.

Enjoy and come back soon for Motivic Sequences that will teach you how to play the fast runs you hear from players such as Paul Gilbert.

Tom Clark

Diatonic Octaves- Up the neck

Scale Sequences- Diatonic Fifths for Guitar

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Welcome to another free guitar lesson on Scale Sequences. During this lesson you will be learning about the Diatonic Fifths Scale Sequence and hopefully leave with another great trick to pull out when improvising or writing melodies on guitar. This sequence produces a very angular ‘out of the box’ sound when even using a common scale such as the major scale.

This example uses the C Ionian scale (major scale) in the A shaped pattern but you should attempt to play the sequence with the remaining 4 shapes of the C Ionian once you have learnt this example and can recognise the sound.

If you feel confident then try to apply the sequence to other scales such as Mixolydian or Lydian and also make sure to use the sequence in your improvisations.

Tom Clark