Blues Guitar and Advanced Guitar Lessons

The "pull-off" is another technique used to actually play a note without picking it.

Add this ninja technique to your repertoire to spice up your guitar playing.

This is an introduction to the advanced style of fingerpicking that you have seen me use on:

Eleanor Rigby - The Beatles

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hUDutc0vWk

Kids - MGMT
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=678IqWMJKAY

Paint It Black - The Rolling Stones

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JeAZWdl4mV0

Please follow these videos in order, as each one builds upon the latter.

Don't forget to change up strings.  Diversity rules!

For exercises 23-26, do the same as you have done for exercise 18-21.  The only difference is that the melody note will not be played on the "e" of the beat instead of the "da" of the beat.  Follow in order of the matrix supplied.

No melody on this one.  Here we are learning to "walk" the bass line.

Now if you REALLY want to put all these exercises to test and rule the world like i know you can do, check out this tab that one of my students transcribed for my version of Kids by MGMT:

http://tabs.ultimate-guitar.com/m/mgmt/kids_acoustic_ver4_tab.htm

The performance is here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=678IqWMJKAY

The YouTube tutorial is here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFFMCS1qU9U

The possibilities are endless with this technique and see how many songs you can cover with this new style!  Way to go!!!

In the video you will learn the basic concept of Travis Picking, named after country guitar legend, Merle Travis.  However, this type of picking has been used by many guitarists for some time now.  This new technique takes a bit of time to get used to as your thumb will be doing a lot of moving, but the payoff is TOTALLY worth it.

Travis picking is a fingerpicking technique that exploits a moving bass line played with the thumb. With this new technique, we are able to come up with many interesting patterns that would be very difficult, and in some cases nearly impossible to be played with a pick.

In this video we will be adding another movement to the basic moving bass line from our first Travis picking exercise.

Travis picking is a fingerpicking technique that exploits a moving bass line played with the thumb. With this new technique, we are able to come up with many interesting patterns that would be very difficult, and in some cases nearly impossible to be played with a pick.

Step-by-step we will add just a bit to our first exercise.  In short time, you will be playing like Les Paul!

Travis picking is a fingerpicking technique that exploits a moving bass line played with the thumb. With this new technique, we are able to come up with many interesting patterns that would be very difficult, and in some cases nearly impossible to be played with a pick.

Adding more!  Take your time with these.  There is a LOT going on.  This kind of practice REALLY gets this stuff embedded into your subconscious.

Travis picking is a fingerpicking technique that exploits a moving bass line played with the thumb. With this new technique, we are able to come up with many interesting patterns that would be very difficult, and in some cases nearly impossible to be played with a pick.

NOW, we have a lot of things going on in this exercise.  If you really have difficulty with this, go back to the previous exercise and keep doing that until you can build some speed.  THEN your subconscious will be playing what you practiced, while your conscious mind can focus on the new bit that we just added.

Travis picking is a fingerpicking technique that exploits a moving bass line played with the thumb. With this new technique, we are able to come up with many interesting patterns that would be very difficult, and in some cases nearly impossible to be played with a pick.

Remember to keep a steady movement when doing this exercise.  You should be dragging your pick across the strings, instead of thinking one note at a time.

Sweep picking is a playing technique in which a "sweeping "motion of the pick is used to produce a series of notes which are fast and fluid in sound. What particularly differentiates sweep picking from other types of picking, is that all of the movements for a specific set of notes are either all down or all up or sometimes a combination of these movements. There is not an up-and-down picking like alternate picking. With that being said, this type of picking and pick control takes some time to develop. However the benefits are exponential as this is a VERY powerful speed picking technique. Again, like all the exercises, you can do this! Take your time as every new technique takes time to comprehend and wrap your brain around. Once you do that, the speed will follow. Concentrate on accuracy and speed will happen later.

In this video we will be learning the minor form of the same arpeggio.  Remember to keep a smooth and steady movement when doing this exercise.  Do NOT think one movement per note.

Sweep picking is a playing technique in which a "sweeping "motion of the pick is used to produce a series of notes which are fast and fluid in sound. What particularly differentiates sweep picking from other types of picking, is that all of the movements for a specific set of notes are either all down or all up or sometimes a combination of these movements. There is not an up-and-down picking like alternate picking. With that being said, this type of picking and pick control takes some time to develop. However the benefits are exponential as this is a VERY powerful speed picking technique. Again, like all the exercises, you can do this! Take your time as every new technique takes time to comprehend and wrap your brain around. Once you do that, the speed will follow. Concentrate on accuracy and speed will happen later.

In this video, we will be lowering the "5th" of the minor arpeggio to get our diminished arpeggio.  This technique takes time to develop so be patient with yourself.

Sweep picking is a playing technique in which a "sweeping "motion of the pick is used to produce a series of notes which are fast and fluid in sound. What particularly differentiates sweep picking from other types of picking, is that all of the movements for a specific set of notes are either all down or all up or sometimes a combination of these movements. There is not an up-and-down picking like alternate picking. With that being said, this type of picking and pick control takes some time to develop. However the benefits are exponential as this is a VERY powerful speed picking technique. Again, like all the exercises, you can do this! Take your time as every new technique takes time to comprehend and wrap your brain around. Once you do that, the speed will follow. Concentrate on accuracy and speed will happen later.

In this exercise you will learn the basic concept of "economy picking".  This first video consists of a four note sequence.  In further videos we will expand on this concept.

Economy picking utilizes alternate picking except when moving from one string to another. In this case the guitarist changes to sweep picking, picking in the direction that the pick is traveling in: an upstroke if changing to a lower (pitch) string, a down stroke if changing to a higher (pitch) string. The objective is to minimize movement in the right hand, and avoid the motion of "jumping" over a string prior to picking it, as often occurs in alternate­ picking. With that being said, this type of picking and pick control takes some time to develop. However the benefits are exponential as this is a VERY powerful speed picking technique. Again, like all the exercises, you can do this! Take your time as every new technique takes time to comprehend and wrap your brain around. Once you do that, the speed will follow. Concentrate on accuracy and speed will happen later.

In this video, we add 3 more notes to our 4 note exercise for a total of 7 notes.  Each time that we add notes, you will need to spend more time "marinating" in the exercise.  Take your time and don't force this.  Like ALL the exercises, it's better to think accuracy instead of speed.  Speed happens when you focus on accuracy.

Economy picking utilizes alternate picking except when moving from one string to another. In this case the guitarist changes to sweep picking, picking in the direction that the pick is traveling in: an upstroke if changing to a lower (pitch) string, a down stroke if changing to a higher (pitch) string. The objective is to minimize movement in the right hand, and avoid the motion of "jumping" over a string prior to picking it, as often occurs in alternate­ picking. With that being said, this type of picking and pick control takes some time to develop. However the benefits are exponential as this is a VERY powerful speed picking technique. Again, like all the exercises, you can do this! Take your time as every new technique takes time to comprehend and wrap your brain around. Once you do that, the speed will follow. Concentrate on accuracy and speed will happen later.

In this exercise, we add 3 additional notes for a total of 10 notes.  Take your time with these.  The speed WILL be the pay off.

Economy picking utilizes alternate picking except when moving from one string to another. In this case the guitarist changes to sweep picking, picking in the direction that the pick is traveling in: an upstroke if changing to a lower (pitch) string, a down stroke if changing to a higher (pitch) string. The objective is to minimize movement in the right hand, and avoid the motion of "jumping" over a string prior to picking it, as often occurs in alternate­ picking. With that being said, this type of picking and pick control takes some time to develop. However the benefits are exponential as this is a VERY powerful speed picking technique. Again, like all the exercises, you can do this! Take your time as every new technique takes time to comprehend and wrap your brain around. Once you do that, the speed will follow. Concentrate on accuracy and speed will happen later.

In this exercise we will be adding another 3 notes, making 13 notes in total.  Slow and steady wins the race!

Economy picking utilizes alternate picking except when moving from one string to another. In this case the guitarist changes to sweep picking, picking in the direction that the pick is traveling in: an upstroke if changing to a lower (pitch) string, a down stroke if changing to a higher (pitch) string. The objective is to minimize movement in the right hand, and avoid the motion of "jumping" over a string prior to picking it, as often occurs in alternate­ picking. With that being said, this type of picking and pick control takes some time to develop. However the benefits are exponential as this is a VERY powerful speed picking technique. Again, like all the exercises, you can do this! Take your time as every new technique takes time to comprehend and wrap your brain around. Once you do that, the speed will follow. Concentrate on accuracy and speed will happen later.

Is this exercise again, we are adding 3 more notes for a total of 17 notes.  This brings us all the way across the neck.  Think "triplets" and take your time.  This will work with any 3 notes per string scale.

Economy picking utilizes alternate picking except when moving from one string to another. In this case the guitarist changes to sweep picking, picking in the direction that the pick is traveling in: an upstroke if changing to a lower (pitch) string, a down stroke if changing to a higher (pitch) string. The objective is to minimize movement in the right hand, and avoid the motion of "jumping" over a string prior to picking it, as often occurs in alternate­ picking. With that being said, this type of picking and pick control takes some time to develop. However the benefits are exponential as this is a VERY powerful speed picking technique. Again, like all the exercises, you can do this! Take your time as every new technique takes time to comprehend and wrap your brain around. Once you do that, the speed will follow. Concentrate on accuracy and speed will happen later.