Guitar Sherpa

In this section I am playing in the key of G to demonstrate the open string triple stop ideas. My ideas are basically major and minor 3rd double-stops on the top two strings that have an open G string added to them as a pedal tone drone approach. I also use major and minor 6th double-stop ideas on the 2nd and 4th strings in the key of G and add the open G string as a drone in between the double-stop shapes. This is a very melodic way of playing some really nice harmony lines using only one guit...

That’s right. I’m using minor pentatonic scales to create the licks in much of this solo example. I know the fingerings don’t look familiar to you anymore now that I am skipping strings and creating new approaches from the standard shapes. Play through this solo one measure at a time to learn some of these licks if you’d like or just jump in and watch the videos and start creating your own ideas. Get more videos, notation and tab for this guitar lesson on TrueFire T...

I’m going to play the D major scale for you in this example starting on D and you are going to be my second guitarist in the band and as I play, you are going to play the D major scale starting on F# all the way up to the octave of F# and back down again giving us a 3rd harmony above my melody. Got it? Good! That’s how you can figure out your harmony parts a third above a melody. Get more videos, notation and tab for this guitar lesson on TrueFire TV (www.TrueFireTV.com)  and ...

The next step is to locate the 5th above our D major scale melody. All you need to do is count up the scale five notes from D. The 5th note is A. So what we’ll do is play our D major scale now starting on A up to A an octave above and descend back down to A again. You’ll hear me play this against the melody and our 3rd harmony above the scale. Get more videos, notation and tab for this guitar lesson on TrueFire TV (www.TrueFireTV.com)  and join TrueFire for access to 1000&rsquo...

You will notice that I start the demonstration by playing the chords in the progression for you. I want you to see that the chords are pretty simple as is the melody I’m playing. Over complicating either of these elements is going to take away from the sweetness we create by adding the harmony parts. Most of the classic harmony lead solos and riffs are simple and that’s what makes them so memorable - we can sing them. You’ll notice that I play all of the parts for you up the ne...

You can hear from this video segment that the lick we created works over both chords. Now that you have the concept down come up with some ideas and phrases of your own. Try using the C# as a pedal tone over both chords. Get more videos, notation and tab for this guitar lesson on TrueFire TV (www.TrueFireTV.com)  and join TrueFire for access to 1000’s of video guitar lessons (www.TrueFire.com/join.html)

We can locate a pedal tone that will work for both of our chords too. If you are up on your chord tone theory you will be saying well, we can use either C# or A because they are found in both chords. In this example we’ll take an A note to pedal our melody from across both chords. Now that you have that under your fingers, let’s try it in context with the track. Get more videos, notation and tab for this guitar lesson on TrueFire TV (www.TrueFireTV.com)  and join TrueFire for ...

As you can hear the licks are pretty simple in their structure but the articulation of the interval skips may be tricky at first. You may also notice that I also weave in regular lick ideas to allow the pedal tone ideas to shine when they come back around. Get more videos, notation and tab for this guitar lesson on TrueFire TV (www.TrueFireTV.com)  and join TrueFire for access to 1000’s of video guitar lessons (www.TrueFire.com/join.html)

You can probably hear a similarity to Honky Tonk Women by the Rolling Stones in this example. That’s because this is basically what they were playing to create those riffs. Check out my right hand picking as well as the phrasing and articulation of the bends with the left hand. Remember to support your bends with the remaining fingers on your left hand. These bends are obviously easier with lighter gauge strings but I’m sure you are used to whatever tension your guitar gives you. If ...

The right hand technique is just as important as the notes in the licks. Watch what I am doing and try to emulate that. Some players use pick and fingers as you know. That is very cool and will work beautifully. Make sure as always to resolve to your sweet notes from each of the scale shapes Get more videos, notation and tab for this guitar lesson on TrueFire TV (www.TrueFireTV.com)  and join TrueFire for access to 1000’s of video guitar lessons (www.TrueFire.com/join.html)