We’re going to use the A minor pentatonic scale and techniques that we’ve learned for expression, to learn a lick that can be played over any blues in the key of A. This lick will fit over all the blues changes which in this case are the chords A, D and E, but in future lessons we’ll learn to shape each lick to fit the specific progression in the blues form. This lick lasts for one measure (that’s a count of four beats)and involves the use of hammer-ons, bends, pull-offs and vibrato. We’re going to use just our first and third finger to play it. The...

I’m going to break the riff down into the techniques used to play it,you will have already covered these techniques in an earlier tutorial. The first two notes of the riff use a hammer-on technique from the 5th fret of the D string to the 7th fret of the D string using the first then the 3rd finger. The next two notes are at the 5th fret on the G string and the 7th on the G string using the first then 3rd finger and are played normally with the pick. The next note is at the 7th fret on the G string and it's bent upwards a whole tone, this note can be bent in eith...

Here you can hear the complete lick without the backing track four times and then with the backing track four times. This will give you a chance to hear the lick as it's meant to played over a beat. The mp3 with this lesson stays on the A chord throughout to get you used to repeating the lick and hearing how it works over the 'I' chord in the blues progression.

Here’s something to try is you’re feeling really confident with the bend used in this lick. The whole tone bend at the 7th fret on the G string can be changed to good effect to a semi-tone bend. This changes the note to a blues-friendly ‘blue’ note or flattened fifth. Notice how it instantly sounds more bluesy. You can now interchange the two bends to your own taste.

Here’s the lick played over each chord of the blues progression, so you can see how it can be played effectively throughout a 12 bar blues. Listen to the way the lick still works well even though the chords are changing underneath.

In this tutorial, we're going to walk you through getting great blues tone with a tube amplifier. Tube amplifiers are a staple in the blues style, and you should experiment to find ways of getting your favourite player’s tones and of course your own signature tone. In these lessons we'll learn about: • The Difference between the Pre-amp Volume and the Master Volume • The Effect Of The Tone Controls • The Effect Of the Guitar’s Volume on the amp tone • Amp Reverb • Some Of MY Favourite Settings (MINE I TELL YOU! ALL MINE! Mwah! Mwah!)

Here's the chords used in the barre chord riff. We're using: A major (E shape, 5th fret) G major (E shape, 3rd fret) C major (A shape, 3rd fret) D major (A shape, 5th fret)

Here's an introduction to the Les Paul. A classic rock guitar if there ever was one.

Here's an introduction to tube amps for Rock Guitar

Here's the barre chord riff chords in arpeggios. This is so you can hear all the notes in the chords individually, so you know you're playing the chord correctly. It's good to practice this method to ensure every note of the chord is being played properly with no 'dead' notes.

Here's the chords used in the power chord riff. We're using: A5 (E root, 5th position) C5 (A root, 3rd position) D5 (A root, 5th position) F5 (E root, 1st position) G5 (E root, 3rd position)

This is a tutorial which hopefully will give a solid introduction to tube amps. You may well have read or heard about the virtues of tube amplifiers versus solid state amplifiers. In truth both have a valid place in the guitar playing world. Solid state amplifiers can give you a huge range of tones, including great clean tones and excellent reliability. Digital modeling has also brought solid state amps up to a highly discerning level. However most players, certainly in the world of blues feel that a tube amp represents the foundation of ‘holy grail’ tone. This is...

I use a form of palm muting in this riff, though its not as pronounced as your typical palm muting. This method is simply to stop the chord from ringing out just before you move onto the next chord giving a slightly more ‘chunky’ feel to the chord progression. By laying my palm close to the bridge I can mute the strings to good effect. This is not an essential part of the riff so you can bring this technique in when you feel confident.

In this tutorial we're talking about ways of getting great blues tone using overdrive effects. We'll talk about: • Setting Up Your Overdrive Pedal • The Drive Control • The Level Control • The Tone Control • Overdrive Versus Distortion • The Effect of the Guitar Volume on the Overdrive Tone • The Effect of Pickup Variations and Selections on Overdrive Tone • My Favourite Setting Experiment with what we discuss to find your signature tone and explore the tones of your favourite bluesmen (or women!)

Here's the chords used in the power & barre chord riff. We're using: A5 (E root, 5th position) G5 (E root, 3rd position) C major (A shape, 3rd fret) D major (A shape, 5th fret)

Here's a view of the right hand playing the riff! Note the palm muting.

Here’s a tutorial introducing you to the intense fun that can be had with an LP style guitar. As a general rule of thumb the LP has 2 hum-bucking pickups and a 3-way toggle switch that allows you to select the neck pickup alone, both pickups together and the bridge pickup alone. This gives you 3 basic sounds but as the LP also has a tone and volume for each pickup you can achieve an almost limitless range of sounds, so remember you should always try to find your own distinctive tone. Each player's tone is determined by toggle switch position, fingers, pick and ...

Here’s the chords were using in our 12 bar in A. A 12 bar blues will generally use a I, IV, V progression. This refers to the first, fourth and fifth chords in any given key. In the case of A major, the scale runs thus: A, B, C#, D, E, F#, G# to A again. The first, fourth and fifth notes are A, D and E, so we use the chords A major, D major and E major.

Here's a little introduction to the most copied guitar on this particular planet. 3 single coils and a talent lever!!

This tutorial will give you a brief intro to the distortion pedal, an incredibly well used effect in rock music.

Here’s a riff that will employ some of the ideas we’ve been studying like Barre chords with 6th and 5th string roots. This riff involves an A major (E root, 5th position), a G major (E root 5th position), a C major (A root, 3rd position) and D major (A root, 5th position). There is an element of Right Hand Palm Muting in this riff, you will find a more in depth explanation on this in a following video in this tutorial. I’ve devised this riff with a rhythm that leaves you ‘breathing space’ to move to the next chord in the pattern.

Here's an overview of what the tone controls can do on a tube amplifier.

Here’s a full performance of the riff focusing on the left hand. I’ve gone through the riff 8 times to give you a chance to play along with me. I’ve also given you a backing track when you feel confident enough to go it alone!

On many amps, including the first example here, there are two volume controls: • A pre-amp volume (sometimes called ‘gain’ or ‘channel volume’) • A master volume Turning up the pre-amp volume generally means turning up an individual channel on an amp. This means pushing the pre-amp tubes into overdrive. Turning up the master volume pushes the power amp valves into overdrive It is thought by most that the power valves produce the musical overdrive, so when using your amp try to keep the master volume up and control the volume with the pre-amp control. ...

Here's an overview of the lovely LP

This tutorial introduces a blues lick, with slowed down versions, examples over I, IV & V chords, a look at the blue note and comes with a backing track.

By using different scales and arpeggios it is possible to get out of solely using pentatonic box pattern for soloing. This tutorial uses some Jazz style theory and modal scales to hopefully harmonically enrich standard blues playing.

Double stops are incredibly useful and great to hear/play. I use them a staggering amount in my playing and find them particularly useful for blues improvisation. Here you can learn different ways to use double stopping in soloing and also learn some basic harmony.

This tutorial covers usage of the volume pedal, from the obvious to cool stuff to try and placement in your effects chain.

This tutorial covers delay parameters such as level, repeat, and time; plus placement of the pedal in your effects chain and applications.

Overdrive, like distortion, is an effect often used in rock. This tutorial covers all aspects of how to start using an overdrive pedal.

Distortion as an effect is the heart of rock. This tutorial covers all aspects of using stomp box distortion pedals.

This tutorial gives an overview of the tone controls- the knobs and pickup selection switch- on a Strat.

This tutorial covers the usage of the toggle switch and knobs on a Les Paul.

This tutorial covers tube amp tone controls.

By the end of this tutorial you should be able to play a 12 Bar Blues in Rock style in the key of A major using barre chords.

By the end of this tutorial you should be able to play a 12 Bar Blues in Rock Style using barre chords in the key of E major.

By the end of this tutorial you should be able to play rock style riff that mixes power chrds and barre chords.

By the end of this tutorial you should be able to play a rock style riff with barre chords rooted on 6th and 5th strings.

By the end of this tutorial you should be able to play a rock style riff with power chords rooted on 6th and 5th strings.

By the end of this tutorial you should understand more about using the effect of overdrive in achieving a good Blues Style guitar tone.

By the end of this tutorial you should understand the function of a volume pedal in achieving a good Blues Style guitar tone.

By the end of this tutorial you should understand how to use the effect of delay in achieving a good Blues Style guitar tone.

By the end of this tutorial you should understand how the basic functions of a tube amp in achieving a good Blues Style guitar tone.

This tutorial introduces the intense fun that can be had with an Les Paul style guitar. As a general rule of thumb the LP has 2 hum-bucking pickups and a 3-way toggle switch that allows you to select the neck pickup alone, both pickups together and the bridge pickup alone.

I very much enjoy this esoteric technique and if you explore this technique it may be a fun way of thinking outside the box a little in the style of the great Danny Gatton, Jerry Donahue and Jim Campilongo

By using hybrid picking or pick and fingers you should be able to achieve this technique. There are several different approaches and ideas to try using banjo style rolls.

This tutorial will show you a few new pull-off tricks to work on. These are intermediate to advanced lessons aimed at helping you develop a better, faster pull-off technique.

This tutorial will introduce you to a few advanced legato runs.

Learning Chords in Different Root Positions

This one can be a little confusing at first but fits in beautifully with the first 4 bars of a 12 bar. The riff ends neatly on the D for the 5 bar of the 12 bar. I haven�t added hammer-ons or pull-offs to the tab because depending on what context you play you could play every note with a pick or use more of a legato style. This could be used in a straight or swing jazz/blues.

Here's a great effect I use from time to time. The premise is actually pretty simple but needs a little effort to coordinate. Begin to explore the technique by fretting a note with the left hand then striking the string 12 frets up with the right hand. You can get really clever with this because if you hit the string just right you can get both the notes (original and harmonic) sounding very cool. This is also a great bass technique! Also experiment with striking the string at different intervals other than 12 frets (5 or 7 frets for example). Have Fun!!

I like using devices like this for adding suspense in a solo. An extension of ascending double stops you can add another interval to make things more complex. Thought this is in the Dorian scale I've omitted a couple of triads out of the run because they sounded a little sour to my ears. These ones are the 'choice' triads (in my opinion) ;-) Like my other lessons on pentatonic jail, licks like this one can break things up a lot, especially if you work on changing things around. In other words rather than playing this note for note, see what you can take from it to get yo...

Here's a little lesson in technique and hybrid picking. The riff itself is sort of nicked, let's just say borrowed from a song, I'm not even going to tell you what it is, because I'm secretive like that. Essentially though the riff is just a mere vehicle for the technique of 'dead thumb' (cue Chopin's Funeral March). The term 'dead thumb' seems to have different meanings depending on who you speak to, but I understand it is the technique of keeping one note going at a regular speed while you play a simultaneous contrary line (yes I did get a thesaurus for Christmas)....

Here’s a simple little piece exploring the immense fun that can be had with those most lowly of items the volume and tone controls!! Most people turn these right up and forget they were ever there but there’s a veritable plethora (try saying that after 10 pints) of tricks you can do with your guitar’s controls. I plan on doing a few lessons on this sort of blatant abuse so do keep up at the back. For starters I thought I’d look at Tone Wah and Volume Swells, these techniques can be less or more difficult depending on the instrument i.e. the distance of the contro...

What goes up must come down as they say. So here’s an example of a downward sweep for you. I like to add expression to the first note by sliding up to the high A.

No jokes about how that’s womens’ work (that would be terribly un-pc). Here’s a short and sweet example of sweeping. I particularly like to include open strings if I can in a sweep because it gives the impression that you are starting VERY low and getting VERY high. So this example begins with an open E before hammering on to the D on the Low E, sweeping upwards (in pitch) in a quasi-pentatonic fashion to end the upwards journey on a high A before dropping down for a bit of tasteful vibrato on a G. I prefer to use pentatonics when sweeping for maximum anti-Yngwi...

This lick has a definite country feel about it and can be used at the end of a phrase (or song). The 3rd section is probably the trickiest as you need to bend the G with your 3rd finger while using the 2nd and 4th fingers on your left hand. To make it less or more pedal steel like you can experiment with how fast or slow you execute the bends. I personally like the way the tone changes when you perform similar bends on the G then the B string. :-D

A common question in guitar teaching seems to be regarding sus chords. What does it mean? The term �sus� is short for suspended and basically means that the chord is in �suspense� awaiting a resolution. (In more basic terms it means your ears expect to hear a �finishing� chord after a sus chord). The theory behind them is that by replacing the 3rd interval with either a 2nd or a 4th you get a feeling of suspense. For example: The notes of the A major scale are A(1), B(2), C#(3), D(4), E(5), F#(6) and G#(7) The notes of the A major chord are A(1), C#(3)...

"You Can Almost Taste The Difference" Following on from the 'String Popping' Lesson I thought I'd write a short piece on the differences between pick and finger playing. For the string popping lesson you would need to dispense with the pick anyway, some people pop it on their mouth (unhygienic!) some tuck it in the palm of the hand (convenient!), I like to do the latter as then I can alternate quickly between pick and fingers. The video shows how vastly different the tones can get between these two styles (occasionally I slip into hybrid picking, sorry!) It's alwa...

Poptastic! Here's a couple of examples of string popping in G. The first thing is to dump your pick in favour of the fingers and thumb (although you could do this with hybrid picking). String popping basically involves getting your finger or thumb behind the string and pulling it away from the fretboard before you then let go of it, creating a very snappy, percussive tone. I like to use this technique ALOT because it increases your tonal pallet and the range of dynamics you can achieve. Get Popping!

Stop playing? No way, I DOUBLE stop!! Here's a little look at double stops, which sounds great but simply means 'to play two notes at the same time' (simple eh!). The usual difficulty with this technique is being able to move up and down in pitch while keeping both notes you play in the right key. This lesson requires you to understand what key you're playing in and then playing the scale in harmony (3rds in this case). This set of double stops is in G mixolydian (the major scale with a b7, good for bluesy stuff). I've played it/tabbed it out on the G and E strings...

This is quite an indepth look at using diminished and Half-Tone/Whole-Tone scales over the chords to a 12 bar progression. It is possible (not to mention very cool) to use these scales in various places in the progression. Use of these scales can get complex due to their ambiguous nature. For example because the diminished scale is made up of minor 3rd intervals it ends being an identical scale from 4 different starting notes. My way of dealing with this is remembering what note to base the scale around in relation to what key I'm in, which I'll explain below along...