What is the "Perfect" Guitar Licks Workout? The perfect Guitar Licks workout should consist of licks that are technical and fast, but there are other important ideas for licks as well. Licks that only focus on one style or tonality doesn’t make a guitar licks workout complete...
In order to round out your lick knowledge you will need to hit the different tonalities, (Major, Minor, Blues), the idea of lateral motion (along the neck), and you'll need to work with a variety of carefully selected phrases to hit every "phrasing device" function of guitar licks in the right sequence. That is what we will do in this video.
We’re continuing with another lesson on perfect guitar ideas, this time covering perfect guitar licks. Now guys you have to realize guitar licks may only occur for short segments of a piece! WATCH THE VIDEO LESSON:
Sometimes they are very limited in certain songs. But, when you do need to add them in, maybe as an intro. (or, of course played during a guitar solo), you’ll need to have the musical experience, and the technical control to perform them smoothly. In this lesson, I’ve got six guitar licks were going to cover that work through minor and major tonality, I’ve got Blues ideas, and several technical concepts like legato, triplet feel, as well as bends and slides.
If you can perform these licks you’ll have no trouble laying down solos in almost any song or any music style out there – so, let’s get started... 1). Minor Pentatonic, descending sequenced lick (2 positions).
2). Nat. Minor Scale, ascending legato speed lick.
3). Minor Pentatonic, swung feel technical: bends, pull-off, slide.
I wanted to take a minute to let you know, that if you want to learn even more about this scale I have a great offer for you. With any donation over $5, or any merchandise purchase from either my Tee-Spring, or my Zazzle store, I’ll send you a free copy of THREE of my most popular digital handouts. One is called, “Harmonized Arpeggio Drills” (it’ll train you on developing your diatonic arpeggios). Another one is my “Barre Chord” handout which includes a page showing all the key signatures along with a chord progression that applies barre chords. Plus, you’ll get my Notation Pack! It has 8 pages of important guitar worksheets for notating anything related to; music charts, guitar chord diagrams, and TAB. As a BONUS for last weeks video, I'll also throw in a breakdown of all of the chords that are diatonic to the Phrygian Dominant scale. Just send me an email off of the contact page of CreativeGuitarStudio.com to let me know about either your donation or your Merchandise purchase and I’ll email you those digital handouts within 24 hrs.
4). Mixed Blues based idea (phrased with both Major & Minor Pent.).
5). Major key lateral – slide based - guitar lick (multi-position).
6). Major Pentatonic Scale: 2-note chord “along the neck” lick.
Well there you go guys, the Perfect guitar licks workout for Lead Guitar - with something for every tonality and technical approach on the guitar fingerboard. And, regardless of whether you’re a beginner or you’re an intermediate level guitar player, these examples will help you with being able to cover a wide scope of different licks and melodic phrases that you’ll find performed in a majority of the top 40 songs out there... The fact of the matter is you have to understand there isn’t one single perfect lick for every song, every tonality or every playing situation. So, you’re going to need to have as much technical flexibility and song experience as possible. But, when you understand why you’re playing what you’re playing, and how to play what you hear on most song recordings, you can come pretty darn close to perfect, and this collection of licks is an excellent group to start learning from.
When it comes to picking the best guitar exercises, we need to look at which ones compliment the functions of the techniques that are used in playing guitar to the best of our ability. In this lesson, I am going to pick what I feel are the 6 best guitar exercises to grow your; Accuracy, Dexterity, Speed, (Vertical and Horizontal Movement), as well as, the Control over each Guitar String, (control over; Bending and Vibrato)...
As always, I am going to provide the science behind why these 6 exercises should be included in your guitar training.
In this lesson we’re going to cover six of the best Guitar Technique exercises, that work together to help you perfect the best ways to fill in all the gaps that most players have technical problems with. These areas include; Accuracy, Dexterity, Speed, (Vertical and Horizontal Movement) and Control Over each Guitar String, (which includes the control over; Bending and Vibrato). WATCH THE VIDEO:
THE EXERCISES: These are the primary topics that guitar players tend to have more troubles with than any others and in this lesson I want to make sure that you’re not missing out on any of the areas that you could use more help with. So, let’s start breaking these ideas down here – one by one.
Exercise 1). First accuracy and dexterity drill. Position shifting and coordination of the use for all four fingers.
Exercise 2). Second accuracy and dexterity drill. An in-position string crossing exercise for better fretting ability and increased coordination when using all four fingers within a playing area.
Exercise 3). Speed exercise focused more upon the control and the relaxed development of the pick-hand.
I wanted to take a minute to let you know, that if you want to learn even more about this scale I have a great offer for you. With any donation over $5, or any merchandise purchase from either my Tee-Spring, or my Zazzle store, I’ll send you a free copy of THREE of my most popular digital handouts. One is called, “Harmonized Arpeggio Drills” (it’ll train you on developing your diatonic arpeggios). Another one is my “Barre Chord” handout which includes a page showing all the key signatures along with a chord progression that applies barre chords. Plus, you’ll get my Notation Pack! It has 8 pages of important guitar worksheets for notating anything related to; music charts, guitar chord diagrams, and TAB. As a BONUS for last weeks video I'll also throw in a breakdown of all of the chords that are diatonic to the Phrygian Dominant scale. Just send me an email off of the contact page of CreativeGuitarStudio.com to let me know about either your donation or your Merchandise purchase and I’ll email you those digital handouts within 24 hrs.
Exercise 4). Speed exercise for left and right hand tracking of notes. Helps with the ability for developing better accuracy as notes are changed on the fretting hand and must be tracked with the pick.
Exercise 5). Learning how to execute the best feel for single-string control while developing both smooth and accurate note movement when either doing bends, or performing vibrato technique.
Exercise 6). Expanding the ability to reach out larger distances and attain a feel for the fret-hand where the hand does not feel like it is impossible (or strained) when reaching for notes that sit across a greater horizontal span of distance on the neck.
CONCLUSION: So there you go guys six exercises for improving your playing with better guitar technique and better playing skills. Plus, also keep in mind that you don’t have to limit yourself to only these six exercises. If you sign up as a member of my website, I’ve got a comprehensive Guitar Technique course you can take.
The course is highly involved and it works in a way that will guide you step-by-step through a rigorous guitar technique training approach with twenty lesson plans and over 7 hours of instructional videos. Plus, every lesson comes with a detailed – easy to follow PDF handout with all of the examples Tabbed out for you - note for note.
Having this much fun with a scale should be illegal! Especially when it sounds as cool as this one! Hold on to your hats, because if you love old Spaghetti Westerns playing and jammin' on this scale won't be a challenge - especially if you're looking for a scale it hits all the best Ennio Morricone style tones...
Needing a little more musical fun in your playing? Then, look no further, I’m going to deliver exactly that in this lesson. And, if you are new to this type of sound, (Phrygian Dominant), then you'll want to learn the riffs and licks that I've added to the lesson.
Plus, if you want to adopt a more rigorous total scale workout routine using Phrygian Dominant, then you will want to check out the special offer I've created just for this video lesson! WATCH THE VIDEO:
PHRYGIAN DOMINANT: We’re continuing with learning scales that are fun to play and this time I’ve got a great one for you, especially if you like the sounds from all of those old spaghetti westerns with that Spanish overtone to the music, you’re going to love this scale. It’s called the “Phrygian Dominant” and it’s very cool sounding. Let’s jump right into this lesson with a quick play through of a couple of scale patterns in two different registers of the fingerboard... Play the patterns: Low Register…
High Register…
RIFF and LICK EXAMPLES: As you can tell, the sound of this scale is really quite different. And, it can be applied in several music styles. One really cool idea for using it can be off of a low root note droning in the bass, (and if you compose riffs from drone notes – the Phry. Dom. sound works well for Progressive Rock). Drone Note Example:
____________________________________________________ I still have more licks to show ya that relate to Phrygian Dominant but, I wanted to take a minute to let you know, that if you want to learn even more about this scale I have a great offer for you. With any donation over $5, or any merchandise purchase from either my Tee-Spring, or my Zazzle store, I’ll send you a free copy of THREE of my most popular digital handouts. One is called, “Harmonized Arpeggio Drills” (it’ll train you on developing your diatonic arpeggios). Another one is my “Barre Chord” handout which includes a page showing all the key signatures along with a chord progression that applies barre chords. Plus, you’ll get my Notation Pack! It has 8 pages of important guitar worksheets for notating anything related to; music charts, guitar chord diagrams, and TAB. As a BONUS for this video I'll also throw in a breakdown of all of the chords that are diatonic to the Phrygian Dominant scale. Just send me an email off of the contact page of CreativeGuitarStudio.com to let me know about either your donation or your Merchandise purchase and I’ll email you those digital handouts within 24 hrs.
Melodic concepts are also very interesting when using the notes of this scale. Melodic Phrase Example:
Another interesting approach for using this scale also creates great ideas based upon 2-note chords (like in those old spaghetti westerns). 2-Note Chord Example:
CONCLUSION: The Phrygian dominant scale comes from the fifth mode of the Harmonic Minor scale, (it gets its name from the fifth of Harm. Min. being that scales dominant). And, the term of “Phrygian” comes from the fact that it resembles the third mode of the major scale (known as the Phrygian mode). The difference however, is that Phrygian Dominant has a major third. Also, it’s important to say that if you are studying from the Berklee method, you’re gonna notice this scale listed as the Mixolydian ♭9, ♭13 scale, (in other words) a Mixolydian mode with a lowered (2nd) and a lowered (6th). It’s also important to state that this is a popular jazz scale! In Jazz, the Phrygian Dominant would be used as a popular way to play jazz melody lines over secondary dominant chords.
Have you been searching for a way to perfect your chords with a single chord quality only workout? Well, if you are, you better pick the right variations of chords and know how to construct your workout properly.
In this lesson, I’m going to show you a perfect chords workout that you can do anywhere on the neck! And regardless of what ability level you are at now, you'll be able to do this workout every night.
You'll learn a comprehensive Triad, Seventh Chord and Inversion based workout that will take you to your limit and get your chords growing with very little experience required. WATCH THE VIDEO:
In this post we’re going to continue working on chords with a PERFECT chord workout exercise that hits three important levels of chord practice. And, these include; working with triads, with 7th chords and adding a few inversions as well. Once organized, this workout is a fast exercise that you can do in your evening practice routine to cover all kinds of different chords in real ways that you’d typically play and use them in songs.
WORKOUT #1). Let’s get started with our first work-out for this exercise with a look at using Triads, within a major sound…
Major Triads
The thing to understand about this exercise is that you’ll be exploring the use of different chord types that “sound interesting” with each other. There might not always be a wide variety of chords in your exercise workout, but go at your own pace and apply the most manageable chords for each exercise. Whether your exercise is Major or Minor, you’ll always be able to use Diminished Chords as a way to connect your group of chords together. After you understand the group you’ve selected from one tonality, you can up-grade the chord types to the next level of harmony in that same tonality! We started with Major triads, so next up are; Maj.7th.
WORKOUT #2). Seventh Chords (Major)
If you’re unfamiliar with being able to play a large assortment of guitar chord patterns, then perhaps get online and find a chord app that offers a wide array of different chord patterns. Or, you could do this the old fashioned way and just pick up a chord book at your favorite local music store. The idea is to introduce yourself to a lot of chord types each week, and then over time, (and with practice), you’ll have a lot of fresh new chord shapes to introduce into your playing. Not only does this drastically improve your dexterity on the guitar fingerboard, but it also seriously improves your overall playing versatility as a rhythm guitarist. In this lesson, we’ve covered, Major Triads, Major 7th, Dominant and the use of the different diminished chords to help connect the exercises. But, you can expand on this to include the Minor patterns as well.
Before we wrap up I’ll help you get started in that direction, with a “Perfect Chords” exercise for the Minor Triads. WORKOUT #3). Triad Chords (Minor)
Are you one of those guitar players who just can’t build a decent guitar solo no matter how hard you try or how often, (or how much), you practice all your scales? In this lesson, I’m going to show you the "template system," for soloing and I'll give you the specific pattern approach that will help you to fix this problem in your guitar playing...
More importantly, in this lesson I'm going to give you an exercise for organizing note patterns on the neck that will make the best notes grow from your playing and your choice of notes sound better than anything else that you’ve EVER tried.
The key to learning how to play a solo is all about making sure that you are activating the best notes and not getting over-loaded by too many "weak" note choices. Some of the limitations of the full in position scale patterns are known to be inhibiting the best note activation's that you are seeking.This approach eliminates weak tones from the whole equation, leaving you with the absolute best notes for your solo. WATCH THE VIDEO:
Not being able to build a good guitar solo is not a problem, because over the years I’ve seen a lot of guitar players who have struggled with trying to start off into the world of guitar soloing by using the large full fret-board size - scale patterns.
When using that approach guitar students will almost always meet with a lot of frustration, and very limited results. So, what if I told you there was a better way to learn to solo that offers a solution which is directly related to the key that you’re soloing in and it also relates to the exact chord that you’re going to solo over. I’m serious there is a solution that does both of these and it is very easy to learn... This solution is focused upon the basic rules of harmony, combined with simple 3-note chords that relate to the harmony.
START BY UNDERSTANDING THE KEY: I’m going to show you this in the key of “C Major,” and build this idea on the guitar based from that key. Then, we’ll apply the idea to a real chord progression. After that, we’ll use this method to create a simple guitar solo... Stick with me to the end, because you’re going to get a lot out of this lesson! Key of “C” Harmonized into small 3-note triads: Play each shape that is shown below, (there are 8), in order.
LINKING CHORD SHAPES TO A PROGRESSION: Now that you have an understanding for the way a key can be harmonized into triads, (and you’ve also got a great collection of small three note shapes on the neck), this information can be combined to form a direct connection to the chords being used within a jam track. The next thing that we’re going to do is establish a chord progression based out of the key we had just harmonized, (“C” Major). After that, we’ll use our triad shapes (from the harmony we just made), to outline each measure and create a simple melodic guitar solo – that anyone can play.
Chord Progression Example: Learn to play through the chord changes below. Use the small 3-note triads above to link each chord from the above in-key harmony chord list to the chords that are used within the progression below.
Guitar solo example: Learn to play the guitar solo shown in the YouTube video at [09:19].
The TAB is given below.
click the image above to enlarge full-screen
The melody above was created using the, "C, F, Dm, C," (3-note triad), chord templates. These templates offer the musician an absolute best selection of notes on each chord as the measures pass by. The result is a strong melody that directly links to each chord.
I wanted to take a moment to let you know, that if you have an interest in expanding your playing knowledge even further, then I have a great offer. With any donation over $5, or any merchandise purchase from either my Tee-Spring, or my Zazzle store, I’ll send you a free copy of THREE of my most popular digital handouts. One is called, “Harmonized Arpeggio Drills” (it’ll train you on developing your diatonic arpeggios). Another one is my “Barre Chord” handout which includes a page showing all the key signatures along with a chord progression that applies barre chords. Plus, you’ll get my Notation Pack! It has 8 pages of important guitar worksheets for notating anything related to; music charts, guitar chord diagrams, and TAB. Just send me an email off of the contact page of CreativeGuitarStudio.com to let me know about either your donation or your Merchandise purchase and I’ll email you those digital handouts within 24 hrs.
CREATING A "PERFECT SCALE" TEMPLATE: Let’s review what we’ve done so far. We built a harmony from within the key of “C Major.” We took that harmony and established a chord progression from it, setting up the chords of; “C maj., to an F maj., and then to a D min., and headed back to the, “C maj.” After establishing our chord progression, we then used the small 3-note triad chords to create a melodic solo. But, what I want to end with is the overall result that we have to be able move onward with from there. Which is pretty cool. Because from the total collection of those triad shapes what we really produced is a "perfect scale template," that’s locked into our key and it also has a strong connection to each chord in our progression. Let me break this all down for you.
The Perfect Scale Template: Learn the play the template shown below. It is the "total" collection of all of the triad chords that relate to the chord patterns of our progression.
CONCLUSION: The idea behind using this system is based upon amalgamating all of the related triads and in the end, forming a "super shape" that targets the principle tones found throughout the entire harmony. The end result is a pattern on the neck that populates the very best tones for soloing over the progression with. The sound options become fantastic and your note selections end up sounding really well connected to every chord.
