Ok, this is a little section from a recent song of mine that has some cool little tapping licks in it. This particular section of the song is built around your standard harmonic minor feel. Basically the harmonic scale is used mostly in classical or neo-classical (think Yngwie) styles, and can be used to create a dark mood. The first three tapping licks you'll are a sort of "walking" style descending passages that are very similar to some kinds of tapping licks done by Greg Howe. The final lick is done by trill tapping (see trill tapping lesson). Make sure to ...

Now I'm sure your saying, "What could possibly be simple about a fusion sweep picking lick?" Well, I promise that this is a deceptively easy little run that goes a little outside of your typical blues lick. The nice thing about this is that it can sound good in a rock, blues, or jazz context if you play it at the right spot. It's basically three little flurries of notes played using sweep picking and some hammer-ons and pull-offs. You know the usual... This lick is made easy by the simple, comfortable fingerings. Make sure to try and articulate every note since...

Yet another section from one of my hack attempts at music. This one's interesting because the melody is harmonized and has a little up and down slide thing that I like to use. I use my index finger to alternate pick those fast runs at the end, but that's cheating! I imagine the "classical" way to do it is alternate you're index/middle finger for those runs, so try to learn it that way (i promise to learn it that way too...)

This lesson shows you a couple of licks I like to use to get down the neck using two strings. The techniques involved are palm muting, sliding, and pinch harmonics. The idea behind these two licks is to use a simple, quick burst style of picking while letting your fretting hand do most of the work. For both of these licks you're picking inside the D and G strings, which means you don't have to cross over any strings. In this first example, simply palm mute the notes on the D string and use pinch harmonics on the G string. These picking hand techniques are what give...

This picking sequence is similar in style to a kind that Paul Gilbert (Racer X, Mr. Big) frequently uses in his soloing and rhythm playing. Example 1 is the basic (strict!) alternate picking sequence that Gilbert refers to in a number of his instructional videos. The tricky aspect of this triplet lick is the "outside" string crossing that occurs in the middle of the sequence which involves a down stroke on the B string followed immediately by an upstroke on the E string and another down stroke on the B string. My exercise (example 2) takes the sequence and integr...

This is kind of a standard lick that shows up a lot in my playing when I'm just noodling around over some backing track. It doesn't really fit under any one style, but it starts with a cool little dimished arpeggio and descends into a tricky dorian/blues scale finish. This is also nice example of how to integrate sweep picking into a traditional rock lick. Unlike a lot of sweep picking excercises, which require you to sweep back and forth quickly across the strings, this lick weaves the swept notes in with the legato notes so that it doesn't even sound much like a sweep pi...

Roll sweeps are what some people call sweeps with extra notes - sometimes two or three notes are played on a string, which is not the case in most typical sweep arpeggios where one note per string is king. Therefore, instead of your pick maintaining a smooth motion across the strings, it is forced to pause momentarily while the extra note is hammered or whatever. I often use these kinds of sweeps to play arpeggiated licks with a 16th note feel instead of the more common triplet arpeggio feel. The nice thing about roll sweeps is that they really teach you to "roll" your f...

This lesson will hopefully show you another useful way to implement sweep picking arpeggios into your lead lines. Sometimes it's nice to utilize sweep picking during an off-the-cuff type lick instead of pausing during a solo and being like "ok, time to do some sweep picking" wherein I run through some standard up/down arpeggio sequence. Of course, there's nothing wrong with devoting a section of a solo or song to these kinds of arpeggio progressions Jason Becker style. This is simply another way to use the technique. First, try out this interesting arpeggio that ch...

Well, as you can gather from the title this scalular exercise is designed to help with the alternate picking technique. However, instead of emphasizing speed this particular exercise requires a great deal of pick control and right hand/left hand synchronization since it covers a lot of the fretboard and utilizes different left hand finger positions. Essentially you're just running down and back up a diatonic scale using 3-note-per-string fingerings. This is a pretty tough lick to get perfectly clean thanks to the constant string crossing and position switching so ...

There comes a time in every shredder's life when they must put down the metronome and practice something that does not consist entirely of alternate picking and arpeggio sequences. This happened to me a few years ago when I noticed that I could play pretty fast and relatively cleanly, but couldn't really play with any power or conviction when not blowing through some speed picking lick. I couldn't even manage a half-way decent whole step bend! So, I buckled down and started trying to figure out what gave great guitar players their "feel". Since I didn't have an actual g...

This is a really cool sounding technique that I've just recently learned by listening to a portuguese guitarist named Goncalo Pereira. It sounds like a combination of tremolo picking and harmonies (both of which I think sound good). I'll try to explain a simple way to learn it: For starters play the first tapping example below. It's a repeating pattern of four notes that alternates between tapping with your right hand and hammering-on with your left. Each note should have about the same volume and duration. Now, instead of tapping on the 16th fret, tap on the 14...

Now we'll take a look at arguably the most powerful tool in rock or blues guitar phrasing - the bend. This lesson assumes that you are already familiar with the basic technique and aims to present you with a few ideas for application. The first example involves performing a bend and adding a note on another string without releasing the bend. This technique gives you a bit of that southern rock "Chuck Berry" kind of feel. This example shows you the three most common intervals found in this kind of lick, and simply plays each one four times before ending with a bas...

This is a cool little sweeping pattern that I used in a recent song. I think this particular passage is good for practicing articulation and clarity as far as sweep picking goes. Many people seem to only be concerned with speed when sweeping and neglect note clarity which is where the musicality of the instrument lies. Work on this exercise slowly with a metronome until you can hear each note distinctly and then speed up gradually. Also, try to think as though you're playing each note individually rather than simply rolling a chord shape across the fretboard. Another...

One of the subtle tools that many blues and rock guitar players use to spice up their phrasing is staccato. Staccato literally means "detached" and refers to playing notes or chords such that they are separated from each other by silence. To accomplish this the notes are muted immediately after being played. On a guitar this is done by simultaneously releasing pressure with the fretting hand and bringing the palm of your picking hand down on the strings. This means you have to play with your palm close to the strings so it can be brought down quickly and then quickly rem...

This lesson puts together a few of the ideas I've gone over in recent lessons as a solo from one of my songs. This allows you to hear these phrasing techniques in a musical context. The techniques used are raking, bending, vibrato, pinch harmonics and a little bit of staccato. The tab covers the about last 2/3rds of the solo. Try to really nail the feel of this passage when you play it by paying attention to subtle aspects such as timing and vibrato width/speed that don't show up in the tab, since this is where a lot of the emotional content lies. In fact, alth...

In this tutorial, we look at a few interesting arpeggio licks that utilize sweep picking in a fluid, musical way. The idea is to develope an arsenal of sweep picking arpeggio ideas that can be used effectively in a soloing context without compromising phrasing and clarity. Many of these ideas incorporate other techniques, giving you a look at how to weave sweep picking into your lines naturally.

This tutorial was written to aid intermediate guitarists who have a decent background in lead guitar playing but want to learn how to bring more power and emotion to their soloing. It is also a good tutorial for an aspiring lead guitarist who's more interested in phrasing than in speed. Remember it's not just the notes you play, it's how you play them.

This picking sequence is similar in style to a kind that Paul Gilbert (Racer X, Mr. Big) frequently uses in his soloing and rhythm playing. Example 1 is the basic (strict!) alternate picking sequence that Gilbert refers to in a number of his instructional videos. The tricky aspect of this triplet lick is the "outside" string crossing that occurs in the middle of the sequence which involves a down stroke on the B string followed immediately by an upstroke on the E string and another down stroke on the B string. My exercise (example 2) takes the sequence and integr...

Yet another section from one of my hack attempts at music. This one's interesting because the melody is harmonized and has a little up and down slide thing that I like to use. I use my index finger to alternate pick those fast runs at the end, but that's cheating! I imagine the "classical" way to do it is alternate you're index/middle finger for those runs, so try to learn it that way (i promise to learn it that way too...)

This is a cool little sweeping pattern that I used in a recent song. I think this particular passage is good for practicing articulation and clarity as far as sweep picking goes. Many people seem to only be concerned with speed when sweeping and neglect note clarity which is where the musicality of the instrument lies. Work on this exercise slowly with a metronome until you can hear each note distinctly and then speed up gradually. Also, try to think as though you're playing each note individually rather than simply rolling a chord shape across the fretboard. Another...

Ok, this is a little section from a recent song of mine that has some cool little tapping licks in it. This particular section of the song is built around your standard harmonic minor feel. Basically the harmonic scale is used mostly in classical or neo-classical (think Yngwie) styles, and can be used to create a dark mood. The first three tapping licks you'll are a sort of "walking" style descending passages that are very similar to some kinds of tapping licks done by Greg Howe. The final lick is done by trill tapping (see trill tapping lesson). Make sure to ...

Well, as you can gather from the title this scalular exercise is designed to help with the alternate picking technique. However, instead of emphasizing speed this particular exercise requires a great deal of pick control and right hand/left hand synchronization since it covers a lot of the fretboard and utilizes different left hand finger positions. Essentially you're just running down and back up a diatonic scale using 3-note-per-string fingerings. This is a pretty tough lick to get perfectly clean thanks to the constant string crossing and position switching so ...

This lesson shows you a couple of licks I like to use to get down the neck using two strings. The techniques involved are palm muting, sliding, and pinch harmonics. The idea behind these two licks is to use a simple, quick burst style of picking while letting your fretting hand do most of the work. For both of these licks you're picking inside the D and G strings, which means you don't have to cross over any strings. In this first example, simply palm mute the notes on the D string and use pinch harmonics on the G string. These picking hand techniques are what give...

This is a really cool sounding technique that I've just recently learned by listening to a portuguese guitarist named Goncalo Pereira. It sounds like a combination of tremolo picking and harmonies (both of which I think sound good). I'll try to explain a simple way to learn it: For starters play the first tapping example below. It's a repeating pattern of four notes that alternates between tapping with your right hand and hammering-on with your left. Each note should have about the same volume and duration. Now, instead of tapping on the 16th fret, tap on the 14...