GUITAR LESSONS - LEVEL 2

Technique not only opens so many doors musically, proper technique builds speed.  I think I've heard people talk about speed in their playing more than anything else - and in almost every case, increase your technique and you increase your speed.
So today, through various examples, we'll be examining some of the different techniques that will move you forward and make you a better guitar player.  For the most part, I will be using the minor pentatonic scale for my examples, in the key of A, but once learned, these techniques can be aplied to any scale, in any key.

Before we begin, let's get to review the notes on our fretboard...






Now,  to start off with, let's examine the minor pentatonic scale.  We will be using the key of A, the scale is made up of 5 notes, A, C,
D, E, and G.  Below is the pentatonic scale in the key of A, in both octaves. (both ends of the fretboard).

E_____________________________________________(5)___8___
B_____________________________________5___8___
G_____________________________5___7___
D____________________5___(7)___
A____________5___7___
E___(5)___8___


E_______________________________________________________(17)___20___
B_____________________________________________17___20___
G___________________________________17___19___
D________________________17___(19)___
A______________17___19___
E___(17)___20___

The top is the A minor at the first octave, the bottom is the same A minor at the second octave.  By understanding the two octaves, you can see how it opens up the fretboard.  Not only are scales moveable, you can move from one octave to the next, in the same key.  The most common way of moving from one octave to the next is by way of a slide, which is also a good way to move from one key to the next.
So we could apply one simple technique to these two simply by using alternate picking, going through each note with a down, up, down, up picking pattern, or up, down, up, down...however, it is still going to sound like a scale either way.

So how do we take a scale that we know, and make it not sound like a scale?  An easy answer is to not play through the scale one note after another.  In fact, what we want to do is to take the scale apart, and use only those pieces we chose to use.  Think of those notes in the scale as lego blocks...and you will begin to see how easy it is to take apart the notes as they appear in the scale, and put them back together again...like with lego's, you pick only the notes you want to use, and push the rest aside.
So in effect, what we end up doing is working with pieces of the scale.  This is how riffs are made. 
So lets look at yet another technique, sweep picking, and see how we can apply this to our A minor scale.....this should be.

SWEEP   PICKING

Sweep what you say.....well, before we leap into the lesson, let us examine just how this technique works.  If you were to do a barre at your 5th fret, across the E, B, D, and G strings, and strum down through those four strings slower then you would normally strum, in a way so that each individual note is heard, this is how you sweep pick.  With practice, you can do this technique even faster, but never do it so fast as to not hear each individual note you are sweeping across.  Many times sweep picking will have you sweeping downward across a set of notes, the sweeping upward across a set of notes.
So lets take that scale apart, use only the pieces we chose to use, and put a little sweep picking thing together.


E___________________________________________
B_________________________________5__5______
G___________________5__5________7______7____
D______5_5________7______7____5__________5___
A____7_____7____5__________5_________________
E__5_________5_______________________________

This I chose to put together so you could see how easy this technique really is, and to make it easy to explain.  Slowly strum downward across the first three notes, then upwards across the next three notes, and so on, in a continious motion, and remember, each individual note should be heard.  Sweep to fast and the notes will get lost in one another.  Like with everything, this takes some practice to become really good at it.

Now at the highewr octave, it would look like this, still the A minor, same notes, just an octave higher;

E_______________________________________________________________
B________________________________________________17__17_________
G____________________________17__17___________19________19______
D________17__17___________19________19_____17_______________17__
A_____19________19_____17______________17________________________
E__17______________17____________________________________________


Doesn't sound like a scale anymore, does it?  So let's tackle a couple of other techniques, say hybrid picking and hammer ons.

HYBRID   PICKING

The first thought that came to mind probably was, "isn't hybrid picking used for country music"?  Well, they do use it an awful lot, yes, but so do some of todays great guitarists, such as Eric johnson.  So what is hybrid picking?  Good question.  It's picking notes using a pick and your free fingers.  I'll tab out an example below, then explain how to play it...;


E_________________________
B____________________5____
G__________5____7_________
D_____7___________________
A_________________________
E_________________________

So here's how hybrid picking works, with a simple hammer on thrown in to dress it up.  Pluck the 7 note, and while still holding the pick between your thumb and first finger, pluck the 5 note with your middle finger, now with your left hand, hammer on to the 7 note, now with your ring finger, pluck the final 5 note...this is how hybrid picking works.

So now lets add yet another technique to this scale, tapping...

 TAPPING

What is tapping?  It's where you fret your notes, play some, and tap some.  We can go really deep with this technique, like with the others as well, but I'm putting this in a beginners level...if you want to dive deeper into it, you can.  This is a very simple example of tapping, as I stated, nothing fancy here, but it will introduce you to the technique...
I will tab an example below, then explain how to play it...


E____________________________________________
B____________________________________________
G___________________________7____17____19____
D_________7_____19____17_____________________
A_____________________________________________
E_____________________________________________

Okay, to begin with, we will only be fretting the two 7 notes with our left hand, with our right hand, we will use our middle or ring finger to tap or hammer onto the other notes.  Here's how to play it, pluck the first 7 note, tap or hammer onto the 19th note with your finger of your strumming hand, then tap or hammer onto the 17th note, pluck the second 7th note, tap or hammer onto the 17th note with your strumming hand using your middle finger, then tap or hammer onto the 19th note using your finger on your strumming hand.
Now when playing this, remember to keep the 7th notes fretted throughout the sequence.  Yup, you can make some serious noise with tapping, and aquire a ton of speed as well.

Remember, we are working with one scale here, in one key, so yes, we can play a scale so it doesn't sound like a scale after all.  So how does this add up to making music?  Consider what a riff is.  It's just several notes strung together from a scale, in a certain key.  Take any several notes from this scale, put them together, apply some of the techniques we have gone over, to those notes, and you have just created your very own riff.
Now by building different riffs, working with different keys of the scale, and your on your way to creating a song.

 STRING   SKIPPING

The technique of string skipping is pretty straight forward, and as the name implies, you play notes while skipping strings.  Below is a quick little example of the technique;


E________________12__14__15__14__12_______________________12__14__15__14__12__
B
G____11__12__14_______________________14__12__11__12__14______________________14__12
D
A
E


Now let's take this technique and apply it to the minor  scale;


E____10_12_13_12_10_______________________________________________________________
B_____________________________13_11_13_10/11_______________________________________
G____________________12_9/10_______________________________________________________
D_____________________________________________12_10_12_10__________________________
A________________________________________________________________________12__13^^^^^^
E__________________________________________________________13_10/12_13______________

NOTE   TARGETING