The purpose of this article is to give an overview of what
it takes to really master the guitar. This overview will therefore
present a lot of concepts that are assumed to be known on the part
of the reader. If you run across a concept (such as inversions,
modes, number system for examples) that you don't understand, the
music theory information on this web site should answer most if
not all of those questions.
Even if you just want to learn rhythm and chords, I recommend that you at least memorize your scales. You won't have to take them as far as I'm going to suggest below, but please understand that chords are derived from scales and they move according to the intervals of the scales. For the rest of you who want to take lead guitar as far as you can, let's explore deeper.
I highly recommend that you practice all of these excercises with a metronome
Leads consist of three elements, scales, arpeggios, and intervals. Start with scales. If you learn no other scales, at least learn your diatonic (specifically the major/natural minor) scales, and pentatonic (include the blues scale which is the minor pentatonic with an added #4 and could technically be called hexatonic). For many styles of music, a player could get by with just these scales. But in addition, I also recommend that you learn the harmonic minor, melodic minor, whole tone, diminished, major bebop, minor bebop and dominant bebop scales. Learn all the shapes of these scales. This means learning to play each mode of these scales (although you don't always have to think of them as modes). Except for the pentatonic scales, the shapes that you want to learn for these scales are shapes that have 3 notes per string (see this example). For the pentatonic scale, start out with 2 notes per string as this tab indicates.
Unless you're determined to be exclusively a legato lead player like Allan Holdsworth, whenever you practice your scales, concentrate on alternate picking these scales because alternate picking is one of the most difficult techniques to learn on the guitar and will require a lot of time and effort. Hammer-on/pull-offs are a good way to play your scales also (ala Eddie Van Halen) but the technique is not as difficult to master (remember to always practice what you're NOT good at).
First learn these scales in order playing them up and down. As you're learning your scales, you'll go through three stages. The first is memorization, the second is technique, the third is application (learning how to apply the scales musically). After you've learned to play the scales up and down without having to look at the tab, the next challenge (still in the memorization stage) is to learn to play the scales out of order. There are several techniques that you can use to learn to do this. The first one is to play sequences/patterns. For instance, if you number the tones of the scale, you can play patterns such as 1 2 3 4, 2 3 4 5, 3 4 5 6, etc.... Another example might be 1 2 3 4 3 2 3 4 5 4 3 4 5 6 5 4 ........ Paul Gilbert swears by sequences. Learn them backwards and forwards, again for every scale and every scale position (shape).
Next, try playing visual patterns/sequences. What I mean by a visual pattern is to play the scales with your fingers moving in a certain order regardless of the scale tone numbers. For instance, you may try playing the G major scale with your 2nd (or 3rd finger depending upon which finger you are placing in the middle of the 3 note per string shape), followed by your index finger, followed by your pinky (or ring finger again depending upon the fingering that you choose). This is a hard concept to explain via a web site, but if you look at the 6-1 G major shape found here, you might first play the 5th fret 6th string note, followed by the 3rd fret 6th string, followed by the 7th fret 6th string, and continue this pattern for all of the strings.
Another technique that you can use to better memorize scales is to incorporate string skipping. Using the 6-1 G major shape again, one might first play the first three notes on the 6th string for this shape, and then skip to the 4th string and play those three notes, next go to the 5th string and continue the pattern. There are multitudes of patterns that you can try. Only your creativity is the limit.
Up to this point, we've only been discussing playing the scales in one position at a time. A truly great guitarist can easily move between scale positions. A good way to begin this type of playing is to start playing groups of notes within the scales in octaves. Starting with our 6-1 shape, try playing the first 6 notes of this scale, and then jump up to the G note found on the 4th string 5th fret and begin playing the six notes of the 4-1 shape, then jump again to the next G note found on the 8th fret and play the six notes of the 5-4 shape.After you've mastered playing 6 of the 7 notes in octaves, simply add the 7th note to this pattern. This 7th note can be used to help connect your scales so that you can play diagonally across the fretboard.
Earlier, I stated that a good way to play your diatonic scales is three notes per string. I stated that pentatonics might be played two notes per string. However, learning to play the pentatonic scales with three notes per string can be very useful as well. I don't have examples of this tabbed, but if you look at the tab for the pentatonic scales played two notes per string, all that you'd have to do to play these scales three notes per string is to combine two shapes. For instance, on the sixth string if you played the first two notes of the 6-1 shape, and then add 10th fret note of your 4-1 shape, continuing this pattern for all the strings for all of your shapes, you will accomplish this. To play pentatonics three notes per string will mean that you will have to stretch your fretting hand over a wide span of frets. If you're having problems with this stretch, play higher on the fretboard until you find an area where your fingers can reach these intervals. Also, note that by adding the third note to the string, you're playing one pitch twice.
I realize that this may seem unnecessary musically, however by learning to play your pentatonic scales this way, you're memorizing some patterns that you can incorporate into leads that do not repeat notes.For instance, I often play an ascending pentatonic scale pattern two notes per string until I come to a point where I no longer want to continue ascending. When I get this point, I'll typically add an extra note on the last string of my ascension. If this still doesn't make any sense, (and this is difficult to explain in the text of a web site) try the following. Play the 6-1 A minor pentatonic scale two notes per string ascending. When you get to the first string, add the 10th fret D note to the end of your pentatonic run (played with your pinky). This is typically how I use the three note per string pentatonic scales. There are also some patterns that might be easier played three notes per string as well. The pattern that comes to my mind is a descending 16th note pattern such as 5 4 3 2, 4 3 2 1 etc.....(Where A is 1, C is 2 D is 3, E is 4 and G is 5) is easier to play (especially at fast speeds) when incorporating three notes per string pentatonic patterns.
Arpeggios
At the very least learn every three and four note chord that you can think of as an arpeggio. These chords include, major, minor, augmented and diminished triads, suspended fourths and suspended 2nds, major 7, minor 7, diminished 7, half diminished 7, and dominant 7. When you get beyond four note chords, you will find that since the upper notes of these arpeggios extend into a new octave, the order of these notes isn't so cut and dry. I do not discourage learning arpeggios beyond the four note chords, however as the chords for arpeggios get larger, your arpeggios will sound more like scales. If you've done your homework with scale sequences and especially intervals (see below), you will end up covering larger arpeggios.
My favorite arpeggios are the major 6 and minor 7 arpeggios (same chords, just inversions of one another). The reason that I love these arpeggios is that they're only one note short of being traditional pentatonic scales. The missing note makes them sound like "faster" pentatonic scales to my ear. This is another example of where the distinction between arpeggio and scale (at least from an audial perspective) becomes blurred.
Intervals
Learn to play the notes of the scale patterns randomly. An example would be, after you've learned the major scale patterns found here like the back of your hand, you might try playing something like 3rd fret 6th string G, followed by 8th fret 1st string C, followed by 5th fret 3rd string D, etc..... The point is just to play the notes of the scale randomly, in order to both better memorize the scales and to teach your fingers how to play wide intervals. Even if you come to the conclusions that some of these exercises (as well as the string skipping stuff) might not sound like something that you may like musically, practicing these elements will teach you better memorization and technique which you can then apply to things that may sound more musical to you.
Regarding technique, I don't want to forget to encourage you to practice all of this stuff incorporating sweep picking (also known as economy picking) as well. Frank Gambale is the master (and inventor) of this technique.
Chromaticism
I'm just now getting deeper into chromaticism, but so far, outside of playing the blues and bebop scales mentioned above, everything that I've talked about has dealt with teaching you how to play inside a key. Music can become much more "colorful" if you can learn to play outside of the key. Jazz does this more than any other style but if you do not aspire to play jazz, do not close your mind to chromatism. Steve Morse is known for his use of chromatics as are many other non jazz players. Of course, practicing the chromatic scale is helpful when learning to play chromatically, however I have found a systematic approach more useful.
There are only 5 chromatic notes (in relation to a major or minor key) that you have to learn. The goal is to systematically learn the sound that each of these chromatic notes offers to a key. First learn the major bebop scale. Since this scale has a sharp 5 added to a major scale, learning this scale teaches you how one chromatic note sounds when incorporated into a major key. After learning this scale (and applying the scale concepts discussed above), then progress to the dominant bebop scale. Learning the dominant bebop scale will teach you how the flat 7 chromatic sounds within a major key. Next learn the minor bebop scale. This scale can be played within a major key as a dorian scale, therefore it will teach you how the #4 chromatic sounds within a major key. If you've already been playing the blues, or playing parallel minor scales over major keys, then you should know how the flat three sounds within a major key. If you haven't been playing the blues, try this simple technique to learn how the flat three chromatic sounds. Over a song that is in a major key, try playing a minor pentatonic with the same tonal center. For example if you're playing a song that is in the key of A major, try playing an A minor pentatonic over that song. This will give your lead a bluesy sound. Playing the A minor pentatonic over a song that is in A major, will not only teach you the sound of a flat 3 chromatic, but it also yields a flat 7 chromatic.
Learning the major minor and dominant bebop scales has taught us the sound of the #4, #5 and b7 chromatic notes within the context of a major key. The minor pentatonic played over a major key has yielded the sound of the flat three. The only chromatic that we have left to learn is the sound of the b2. The scale that I recommend for this is the melodic minor scale played from the second scale degree of a major key. This will not only yield the b2 chromatic, but also the b3 chromatic. Playing the melodic minor like this is treating the melodic minor like a dorian mode.
I highly recommend Marc Sabatella's Jazz Primer web site for insight into not only the bebop scales, but also jazz.
This as far I've gotten on lead guitar. If you're a lead guitarist (or play lead on any other instrument) and have suggestions to share, please me your comments (my address is listed under the home menu above).
I'd like to share several concepts that helped me in developing a chord vocabulary on the guitar. Before I proceed, if you haven't learned and mastered the concept of the number system, please proceed here first. The number system will show you how to use chords in a musical context.
First learn all of your open chords. These chords are C A G E D in their major forms. Next learn the bar chord versions of these chords. Learn to connect your bar chords together using the CAGED system. Learn to flat the thirds on all of your major chords (open and barred) in order to create minor chords. My next suggestion would be to learn a new chord a day until you run out of chord types. I did this by using a chord chart. Every day after I learned the new chord, I would also review the previous chords that I had learned. Learning a new chord for me involves more than just learning to play it. It involves learning why the chord is named the way it is. It involves mentally analyzing and memorizing the number associated with each chord tone. For example, if I'm learning the open D major chord (tabbed as xx0232), I will make a mental note, and even write these numbers on the tab indicating that the note fretted on the fourth string is the 1 (the root), the 3rd string note is the fifth, the second string note is the 1st and the 1st string note is the third. Learning all of my chords this way helps me when altering chords.
Finally, as you learn chords in this manner, you want to learn how the chord should function. Jimmy Bruno (jazz guitarist) suggests that chords be divided into three simple categories: major, minor and dominant seventh. I think this serves a musician well in providing a simplified approach to determining how a chord functions. When you learn a chord, if it is a minor chord, you know that it can function as either a ii, iii or vi. If the chord is a dominant 7th type, it will function as a V chord, etc.......
Learn to play other notes as bass notes to your chords. This will force you to learn inversions as well as other chords. As an example, try playing every note in the D major scale as a bass note for your open D chord (xx0232).
The next thing that I suggest is that you learn how to skip strings by muting notes of your chords. The Open G major chord (to my ear) sounds better with the B note found on the 5th string muted. But beyond just making the chords sound better, muting a string or two will free up other fingers to add notes to the chord that you might not have otherwise added.
Play parts of chords combined with open strings. Move these chords up and down the frets making a mental note of which fret locations make these chords sound the best in combination with the open strings. An example would be to take an open E major chord and move it up the fretboard. I particularly like this chord with the root (on the 4th string with the 6th string now open) at the 7th fret (A major) 9th fret (B major) and 10th fret (D major). Another great example is to take an open C major chord and move it up two frets. This is a great sounding D chord with an added 11th (open G string).
Try taking every open chord that you can play and turning it into a bar chord. By combining this with with string muting, you can create bar chords out of some chords that you might have otherwise not been able to create because of difficult fingering.
If you know your scales really really well (the scale concepts described above will get you to this point) then you can have a lot of fun creating new chords by simply connecting random notes in a given scale together to come up with chords. Of course, the chord has to be possible to finger so this is not a completely random approach, but it's a great approach to come up with new chords. Try going to the major scales tab and connecting different notes that can be physically played and see how they sound. You'll be surprised at what you find.
Playing chords and melodies simultaneously:
See these scans of my handwritten charts for an extra visual:
Playing chords and melodies simultaneously is a technique typically thought of as being limited to the solo (unaccompanied) guitarist. However, it can be applied to any rhythm guitarist no matter the context in a limited form. Playing in a band context with vocals, a rhythm guitarist can weave in and out of this type of playing, playing fills, harmonies or counter melodies when appropriate.
Voicing chords for playing chord/melodies:
When you want to play melody and chords simultaneously, the general rule is to voice your chords so that the top note of the chord is the melody note.
An easy example. If you're playing an open D chord, but the song's top melody note is D, skip the F# you would normally play on the first string and play the chord as xx32x.
Inverted Thirds:
Secondly, learn how to play what I call inverted thirds (others call parallel 6s). An inverted third is a third with the top and bottom notes inverted. In the key of C major, a C major third consists of the notes C and E. An inverted third has the E on the bottom and the C on top.
In the text to come, I'll explain how to learn to play inverted thirds and how to apply them in musical contexts.
Here is the summary:
Step 1 - Learn a diatonic scale on one string only
Step 2 - Learn that same diatonic scale on the string that is two strings lower (in pitch) from it. So if you learned your diatonic scale on the 2nd string, next learn that same scale on the 4th string.
Step 3 - Play these scales simultaneously on both strings.
Step 4 - Systematically add bass notes to these intervals
Here are the details:
Step 1 - In the key of C major, start by learning to play the C major scale going up the fretboard (as opposed to crossing strings). For instance, try this on the 2nd string (B string). Start on the first fret, 2nd string and begin playing the C major scale all the way up to the 13th fret.
Step 2 After you're comfortable with that, skip down two strings (you'll always skip down or up two strings). In this case, go down (down means down in pitch, not physically down since the 4th string is above your 2nd string) to the 4th string. From the 4th string, start with the E note (2nd fret) and play the C major scale (starting from the E) all the way up to it's octave equivalent.
Step 3 - After you've mastered this, combine steps 1 and 2 and play these two notes together. The abbreviated tab for this exercise is: xx2x1x xx3x3x xx5x5x xx7x6x xx9x8x xx10x10x xx12x12x xx14x13x
After you've mastered this for the 2nd and 4th strings, repeat the process for the 1st and 3rd strings, 3rd and 5th strings and 4th and 6th strings.
Step 4 - Here's the next stage of learning. I will illustrate with the inverted thirds learned on the 2nd and 4th strings (tabbed above).
Go through each inversion trying to hold down a C bass note. You have two Cs to choose from with the same pitch; 3rd fret 5th string and 8th fret 6th string).
Here is the tab for this holding down the C bass note:
x32x1x x33x3x x35x5x x37x6x or 8x7x6x 8x9x8x 8x10x10x 8x12x12x 8x14x13x
After you're comfortable with this, repeat the same process for combining bass notes derived from the other 6 notes of the C major scale.
This process will help you discover new chords.
Now how is this applied musically? Inverted thirds are very very musical and very useful for playing melodies with chords.
Here's an example:
If you're playing a song that has a melody of a C major chord, if the melody note is C (remember, you want to keep the melody on top of the chord, you could play it as x32x1x.
x33x3x - if D is the melody x35x5x - if E is the melody (of course you could simply play an open C chord) x37x6x - if F is the melody 8x9x8x - if G is the melodyetc....
You can also start filling in the rest of the notes in C major chords for the CAGED system (knowing the CAGED system is imperative to understanding this) to fill out the sound more.
*Note* Of course you can't add bass notes to inverted thirds played on the 4th and 6th string pair, but it's still useful to learn these thirds for other musical applications.
This is as far as I've gone with chords. Again, if you have any other suggestions to share, please me your comments (my address is listed under the home menu above).
And if you've read this far and followed at least a quarter of this article, I commend you. This type of information, in a limited text format, is very difficult to digest. You're a guitar road warrior!
