The following content is related to the July 2013 issue of Guitar World. For the full range of interviews, features, tabs and more, pick up the new issue on newsstands now, or in our online store.
The following content is related to the June 2013 issue of Guitar World. For the full range of interviews, features, tabs and more, pick up the new issue on newsstands now, or in our online store.
I forgot to tell you that in some circumstances, you might find it easier to arrange some of the notes differently than what the tab states in certain sections. As long as you are playing the exact same notes, it is totally fine to rearrange the positions on the fret board in order make it easier for you to play. The tab is just a suggestion for where the notes should be played.
In the first installment of my new Monster Licks series, I'm going to take you through my extensive pentatonic lick library. These licks are the product of many years of hard work, and I'm glad to be sharing them with you! The straight (minor) pentatonic scale often gets overlooked when soloing. I find that most guitarists tend to head to the blues scale or other variations of the pentatonic because they find the straight scale a little limiting.
The following content is related to the June 2013 issue of Guitar World. For the full range of interviews, features, tabs and more, pick up the new issue on newsstands now, or in our online store.
I always get frustrated when I hear someone talking about sweep arpeggios. Though there are plenty of licks and examples out there, no one has ever really broken down the mechanics of the technique. As a result, guitarists have had to figure them out by trial and error.
I remember someone telling me that George Lynch once said he heard B.B. King say something that instantly improved his guitar style. It went something like this: “If you play a wrong note, play it again like you mean it and it’ll sound like the best note you played all night." The dubious origins of this gem aside, I've always found this to be an almost religious concept to strive toward, where any note can work anywhere if it is done with purposeful conviction.
Here are licks that will clean up any guitarist’s picking technique and give them the control and accuracy to improve their ability to achieve the speed and fluidity they desire. Though there are exceptions to this rule, make sure the alternating pick strokes are accomplished with firm, yet relaxed grip of the pick and a rotation of the pick hand wrist similar to that of turning a key in a door.
Used by modern players such as Allan Holdsworth, whose playing first inspired me to check out these fingerings, four-note-per-string scales can help bring a more modern flavor to your lines, expand your knowledge of the neck and allow you to cover a large amount of fretboard real estate with just one scale shape, which are all beneficial to players looking to explore non-traditional scale fingerings in their playing.