Tag Archives: Rock Guitar Techniques

Advanced Guitar Lessons- Scott McGill Approach

Hey YGT followers,

Today I am showing you something a little different and something that I think is incredibly helpful to a guitarist who may have reached an advanced level of playing but is stuck. Part of being a guitar player in my opinion, is to never stop learning and to always put yourself out of your comfort zone if you feel that you may be stagnating.

As a guitar teacher I am often teaching very similar ideas to various students, so I get good at these particular things and then push them onto new ideas to further their playing. This works really well but I felt it would do me some good to have an understanding of what a seriously experienced world class guitarist would teach me. Scott McGill was very happy to take on this challenge and I was very happy with his teaching and feedback. Scott’s effortless technique and understanding of the instrument is inspiring and his awareness of me as the student made highlighting areas to work on suddenly become obvious.

Throughout this series I want to share with you my personal journey of furthering my own guitar playing with the guidance of Scott McGill. As Scott uses music notation to write the exercises I have written them in TAB for you so you can follow if you don’t read music.

Finger Gymnastics

As a guitar player who puts a fair amount of emphasis on technique, I was interested to see what Scott would give me as a warm up exercise and technique builder. The following exercise is designed to develop your alternate picking and ability to move between strings fluently. As well as this, it helps you build strength between certain finger groups depending on which finger pattern you use.

Exercise 1- Fingers 1, 2 and 3

Finger Gymnastics 1

The emphasis on the exercise above should be to play each note as cleanly as possible and to keep your fingers close to the fretboard at all times so that you could put your fourth finger into play if you wish. My personal findings were that I was allowing my fourth finger to fly away from the other three fingers and this will slow you down when you want to use the fourth finger.

Exercise 2- Fingers 1, 2 and 4

Finger Gymnastics 2

Scale Pivoting (Dorian Mode on E string)

Scott’s approach to modal command was an eye opener as it was different from my approach but very effective. The scale pivoting approach meant that if you keep your hand in one position, you should be able to play the given mode without rushing around the fretboard. The notes you want are under your fingers and with economy of motion in mind this approach will help you find the mode you want without flying around to find a shape you always rely on.

The basic idea is to have your hand resting in the one fret per a finger position with your fourth finger on the 8th fret low E string, third finger 7th fret E string, Second finger 6th fret E string and first finger 5th fret low E string. For the first lesson you only need to focus on playing a Dorian off each of the fingers so that each finger creates the root note of each Dorian mode you play. So the fourth finger plays a C Dorian (8th fret Low E). Third finger plays B Dorian (7th fret Low E), second finger Bb Dorian (6th fret Low E) and finally the first finger plays an A Dorian (5th fret low E).

At first this feels very strange because you may well have learnt your modes in terms of the CAGED shapes, but this is not a problem. Having the sound of the mode in your head is the most important thing because now you need to work out how to play the modes in new ways with a particular finger playing the root and without moving your hand out of position too much.

Scale Pivoting Dorian Modes on The Low E

If you are struggling with using different fingerings for these modes, don’t worry because I did at first but with just a few half hour sessions on the pivot exercise I mastered this concept on the low E String. If you have a loop pedal, recording software or even better a person to jam with then I recommend that you have a guitarist play Cm7, Bm7, Bbm7 and Am7 a few bars per chord so that you can work on playing through the scale and hearing the Dorian sound. Once you have the fingerings under your fingers then work on sounding musical by playing short phrases with each mode.

In the next part of the advanced guitar lesson series I will share more of the finger gymnastics, pivot technique with the Dorian mode on the A string and spread arpeggios.

As always I hope you have enjoyed this lesson and please look around the site for more information or if you wish to learn guitar with Your Guitar Tutor then please see the eBooks.

Tom Clark

Legato Guitar Lesson- Sam Bell

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Hi there,

In this lesson we are going to look at the basics of legato technique, Legato means smoothly in classical terminology. So with this technique compared to the aggressive, cutting sound of alternate picking should sound smooth and connected.

Legato exercises will greatly develop fretting hand strength, which hand in hand with alternate picking exercises will surely help build a super strong technique base for you to be able to play anything you want.

A lot of guitarists will blame their picking hand for not being accurate enough or quick enough, but usually the problem will be prominent in the fretting hand. As the legendary Paul Gilbert says “You can’t press the gas if you can’t steer” so spend time working on a solid legato technique no matter what style of music you play, you will be grateful for it.

First of all, I would like to talk about muting. Its very important to keep unwanted strings ringing out, by using the flesh of the index finger on the fretting hand to mute any of the higher strings and the palm of the picking hand to mute any lower strings. You can even get more muting insurance by stubbing the index finger slightly under the string above the string your intending to play in order to keep it silent.

Hammering on and Pulling Off:

When hammering on it is good to aim to hit the fretboard directly under the string with the callus of your finger, aiming through the string so to speak shall ensure a clean attack of the note. The pulling off motion should be almost like a mini “picking” motion of the finger down toward the flow.

Practising legato:

Start with small bursts, speed and stamina come with regular bursts of practice. Always start slow, and aim for each note to last up to each other, this will aid the smoothness in the tone of your legato ideas. Let your muscle memory learn the correct movements, and before you know it you will be hammering on all over the fretboard as if it were a keyboard!

Application:

Its important to remember that legato is not only a speed based technique, but a great way of phrasing ideas, listen to players such as Jeff Beck, and Allan Holdsworth to hear how slow melodies can change the mood of a line.

Good luck with this, keep going at it, and reap the great results of a solid legato technique!

Thanks for reading, please browse the site for more guitar lessons, eBooks on learning guitar and much more!

Sam Bell and Tom Clark

Alternate Picking Quintuplets Guitar Lesson

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Hey there, this lesson is all about the alternate picking guitar technique found all over the guitar world and today we will focus on the Quintuplet rhythmic sub- division whilst using this technique. Quintuplets are five notes to a beat and when played well they can bring a very ordinary set of notes to life. I find quintuplets to have an unresolved sound and lend themselves to continues runs of notes in the note grouping before resolving to a more predictable note grouping such as 4 notes to a beat.

Exercise 1- Alternate Picking Quintuplets Exercise 1 (2-4-2-1-4, 2-1-2-4-1)

Alternate Picking Quintuplets Exercise 1

Work on the examples without a metronome until you have learnt the pattern of notes, then turn on the metronome starting at around 50bpm. When counting the Quintuplets I would recommend counting them as 1 Pi Ta Pa Ta, 2 Pi Ta Pa Ta, 3 Pi Ta Pa Ta, 4 Pi Ta Pa Ta. Doing this will help you stay in time and allow you to accent the 1, 2, 3 and 4 as you play through the exercise. You may wish to hide the beat note by not accenting the 1, 2, 3 or 4 or you may even want to experiment with accenting every ‘Pa’ instead. Each different part of the beat will bring a different sound to the table when accented so experiment. The numbers at the end of the title for the exercise shown in brackets refer to the finger pattern used throughout exercise 1.

Exercise 2- Alternate Picking Quintuplets Exercise 2 (3-4-3-1-4, 3-1-3-4-1)

Alternate Picking Quintuplets Exercise 2

Notice that the difference between exercise 1 and 2 is that we develop the finger strength of different groups between the two exercises and that exercise 1 uses the Em shaped A Dorian mode and exercise 2 uses the Gm shaped A Dorian mode. Learn more about these modes here.

Exercise 3- Alternate Picking Quintuplets Exercise 3 (2-4-2-1-4, 2-1-2-4-1)

Alternate Picking Quintuplets Exercise 3

The exercise shown above takes the general idea of exercise 1 and throws in a string skipping theme into the mix. This means that you jump over a string in order to play another part of the lick. We use this technique to develop the large interval sound that is less predictable and sure to grab some listener attention. If you have never done string skipping before you may do some mis- fretted notes along the way!

Exercise 4- Alternate Picking Quintuplets Exercise 4 (3-4-3-1-4, 2-1-2-4-1)

Alternate Picking Quintuplets Exercise 4

Exercise 4 takes the general shape of exercise 2 and adds string skipping for affect. Pay attention to the fingering pattern shown in the exercise title.

If you have enjoyed this lesson and would be interested in more guitar lessons then please browse the blog section of this site. Alternatively, if you would like to study a method of guitar and master scales, modes, chords, arpeggios and understand and use theory then please see Be The Guitarist. This eBook will provide you with a wealth of material and is perfectly accompanied with The Ultimate Practise- Planner. Ever found that you just don’t know what to practise when you pick up your guitar? This eBook takes all the diagrams and concepts from Be The Guitarist and puts them in TAB exercises with time scales to suit different lifestyles.

Have Fun!

Tom Clark

Alternate Picking Guitar Lesson- Part 5

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Welcome to part 5 of the Alternate Picking Guitar lesson series. In this lesson you are going to learn how to play 4 and 6 notes per a click scale fragments with strict alternate picking.

Exercise 1- 1/6th note Alternate Picking Pattern 2-4-2-1

16th note Alternate Picking Pattern

1/16th note alternate picking is one of the fundamentals of the rock guitarist and once a player has executed the chromatic 1/16th notes then it is time to nail some scale fragments so that you can use them in your improvisation and solo construction. The numbers at the end of the title for exercise 1 (shown above) 2-4-2-1 are referring to your finger numbers. There are a few patterns to work on before you can fluently start moving around the fretboard with your scales and modes.

Remember accuracy is everything, practise with a clean tone to start with and then add distortion later. 1/16th notes should be counted as 1 e and a 2 e and a 3 e and a 4 e and a. Tap your foot on the number and work with a metronome whenever you want to push yourself and increase the tempo. With the pattern above as well as the pattern below I have personally seen Paul Gilbert use these live so they aren’t just an exercise. When you feel comfortable I want you to work on dynamics, learn to play harder and quieter at different times and hit certain notes harder for example the numbers 1, 2, 3, 4 is a good place to start.

Exercise 2- 1/16th note Alternate Picking Pattern 3-4-3-1

16th note Alternate Picking Pattern Ex 2

This exercise takes the same idea as before except we are using a different finger grouping which can make all the difference to your speed and accuracy. You find this much easier than the previous example, practise it as mentioned above and use my practise planner to get the most out of your practise sessions.

Exercise 3- Sextuplet Alternate Picking Scale Fragments 2-4-2-1-4-1

Sextuplet Alternate Picking Scale Fragments

Playing 6 notes per a beat is something that may initially throw you, but once you slow your metronome down to 50-60 bpm and give it a try, it may not seem quite so scary. Repeat the exercise and try it at different areas on the fretboard to experiment with the lick. As this exercise is slightly more interesting than the previous ones you have learnt, it is very useable in improvisations and constructed solos. Use the finger pattern numbers in the title to help you if you are unsure which fingers to use on which fret.

Exercise 4- Sextuplet Alternate Picking Scale Fragments 3-4-3-1-4-1

Sextuplet Alternate Picking Patterns 2

Please come back again soon for regular free guitar lessons on a subject you may like. If you have wanted to learn guitar with a method instead of learning bits from all over the internet then you be interested in my eBook Be The Guitarist. This eBook will provide you with everything you need to know to find your style and really enjoy playing guitar. Every scale, chord, mode, arpeggio and piece of theory in the eBook has been included after trying it with my own private guitar students and removing the unnecessary information.

Be The Guitarist- Contents page

Be The Guitarist- Contents Page 2

Keep up the practise!

Tom Clark

Alternate Picking Guitar Lesson- Part 4

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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

Alternate Picking Guitar Lesson Part 3

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Welcome to part 3 of the Alternate picking guitar lesson series. During this lesson you will learn how to take the alternate picking technique you learnt in Part 1 and 2 and use it on scale fragments. By practising on scale fragments you are developing a skill you will use in your improvisations and it will then take you to understand how to use scales and modes before you can really start sounding great.

If you want to learn all about scales and modes, chords, arpeggios and theory then please see Be The Guitarist.

This first exercise is for you to develop both speed and accuracy by working in quarter notes, eighth notes and sixteenth notes with the same set of notes. Some guitarists like to keep the metronome setting the same, for example 90 bpm and play the exercise below, this can prove difficult because you are doubling your speed each time you change up the next note type.

Lets start by picking through an A minor pentatonic scale with strict alternate picking.

Exercise 1- A Minor Pentatonic Scale Fragment

A Minor Pentatonic Alternate Picking Exercise

By simply practising an A Ionian mode (major scale) with alternate picking you will start to make this your default picking pattern which makes lead guitar playing a lot easier. Practise this picking pattern of every down followed by an up with all the positions of the major scale.

Exercise 2- A Ionian Alternate Picking

A Ionian Alternate Picking Exercise

Taking fragments from a scale like the A Dorian as shown below is a great way to isolate particular finger patterns and develop an even ability with varying finger patterns across the strings. All of these fragments combine to form scale runs that you hear from everyone from Paul Gilbert to Joe Satriani. Notice the exercise below is in triplets so you are aiming to play 3 notes per a click, not 4 as you have previously been doing. Try to hit the first triplet of each beat a little bit harder as this will build your ability to be a dynamic guitarist.

Exercise 3- Fragments

Alternate Picking Scale Fragments

Come back for more alternate picking guitar lessons or have a look around the blog section for something different.

Have fun and keep practising!

Tom Clark

Alternate Picking Guitar Lesson- Part 2

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Welcome to Part 2 of the Alternate Picking Guitar Lesson series. In part 1 you learnt about the basics behind the technique and you learnt an exercise to develop the skill at its basic level.

The following exercise is taken from my eBook The Ultimate Practise- Planner which uses all the information from my intermediate to advanced guitar eBook Be The Guitarist and lays it out in practise routines to ensure you have a balanced practise.

Exercise 1.1- Basic Alternate Picking Around the Fretboard

Alternate Picking Exercise 1.1

Watch The Video Exercise

Your emphasis here should be on keeping your fingers close to the fretboard and always maintaining contact with the fretboard at all times. This exercise will not only build a fluent alternate picking technique but will build strength in your left hand between the finger groups.

As mentioned in part 1 you should use a metronome to gauge your progress and never increase the speed if you are playing sloppy at the current bpm. Take note of your improvement if you are using my practise planner eBook and you will be surprised how much your bpm settings increase over a month!

Exercise 1.2- 1/16th Note Alternate Picking

16th Note Alternate Picking

Watch The Video Exercise

Taking a very similar approach as exercise 1.1 but now making the rhythmic sub- devision 1/16th notes, meaning you play 4 notes per a beat/ click instead of 2. If you are playing exercise 1.1 at 100 bpm then you will possibly need to set it to 60 bpm and try Ex 1.2.

I hope you have enjoyed this lesson and come back for Part 3 where you will progress further into this right hand technique. Remember, accuracy over speed.

Keep Practising and have fun!

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

Hammer- On Guitar Technique Lesson- Part 1

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Hi there, welcome to a lesson focusing on the Hammer- On technique commonly found in almost every genre of guitar inclusive music. Playing guitar would be no where near as exciting and interesting without the array of techniques used to spice up what could be an average sounding phrase.

Hammer- Ons

This technique is best described as when you play a note and then one or more notes after the original note are played without picking again. If you imagine your 1st finger is your elbow resting on a table and that your 3rd finger is the head of the hammer striking the table. This is the same idea as your third finger hammering onto a fret whilst your first finger is already placed on a fret before the hammered note.

Example 1- Simple Hammer- on

Taking 4 notes on the guitar and trying to execute a clean and even hammer- on is your first challenge. Attempt to make the hammered note sound as loud as the picked note before it and make sure that as you hammer down with your third finger that you are aiming to strike the string in the middle of the fret to avoid fret buzz. If you want to work on building speed with a simple phrase such as the one above then use a metronome to gauge your progress. Start out at 80 bpm playing two notes per a click making sure to use the hammer- on technique throughout, by this I mean only pick the notes on the 5th fret and hammer the 7th fret notes.

Example 2 starts out the same as Example 1 but then builds the phrase into an A minor Pentatonic scale played with hammer- ons. This time the fourth finger is used to hammer on notes on the low E, B and high E strings, this may at first feel difficult to get enough sound out of your hammer on, be persistent. You can use example 2 as the building blocks for using the hammer- on technique with any positions of your Major or Minor Pentatonic scale. If you do not know all your positions of those scales then you may be interested in Be The Guitarist.

Example 2- Minor Pentatonic Hammer- ons

Example 3 is in 6/8 time signature which means we are playing six 1/8th notes instead of a possible 8 (as seen in 4/4). This exercise uses one octave of the A Aeolian scale and advances your hammer-on technique by progressing to three notes in a row. This time you will pick the 5th fret low E and then hammer with your third finger onto the 7th fret and then hammer with your fourth finger onto the 8th fret. Each time you hammer you should keep the finger before the hammered note on its fret as you strike the string. When you change strings for the next set of hammered notes you will need to pick the 5th fret note and then continue with hammers as you did on the low E string. This will allow you to develop a fluent Legato technique, legato simply meaning to play smoothly. Legato is a technique heavily used by players such as Joe Satriani and Steve Vai but is used in so many songs that it is a must have technique to spice up your playing.

Example 3- Aeolian Scale Hammer- ons

Come back soon for more guitar technique lessons on topics such as Pulls- Offs, Slides and Bends. If you are interested in learning some completely different topics then find a lesson to suit you in the blog section of the site.

Keep Practising

Tom Clark