In addition to your learning this riff, I'd also like you to analyze it a little with me... When playing rhythm guitar, it's important to literally know what you're doing. In other words, you should know the type of rhythmic notes you're playing, and you should be able to count along if necessary. Being able to count out loud isn't an absolute necessity with guitar playing, however it helps your sense of rhythm immensely. In the tablature, notice how there is a triplet count. Learn the riff first, but after you learn it, do your best to count the triplets out loud as ...

You've probably heard this blues riff quite a few times. But would you know how to count along to what you're playing? This lesson is designed to help you understand why you're playing what you're playing. Many guitarists don't think as rhythmically as they should. You always want to be aware of the type of rhythmic notes you're playing. In the video, you can hear me counting triplets along with the riff. Triplets are 3 notes per beat, and you count them out loud like so: "1 and uh 2 and uh 3 and uh 4 and uh" So, learn the riff first. Then,...

Okay, time to turn up the gain and distortion! This harmonic technique will work much better if the gain is really high on your amp. In this riff, we have some basic E and A power chords along with some light harmonic runs in between. Notice how I barely move my fingers across the strings to play the harmonics? Don't put any heavy pressure on the strings at all, just barely touch them. Moving up the string while playing the harmonics gives it a cool effect as well. Try inserting these types of harmonics into riffs you already know. And have fun!

Welcome to the "Left-Hand Muting" tutorial. Every serious guitarist needs to know how to play with decent rhythm. Rhythm guitar playing has many percussive elements. And a huge component to developing awesome rhythm skills is learning to mute with your left hand (or right hand if you're a left-handed guitarist). When playing rhythm guitar, it isn't always necessary to focus just on the melodic notes that you're playing, but also on certain "sounds" you can play in between notes. Using mutes within a rhythm riff can add a lot of texture to your playing, making it sound...

Although John Petrucci isn't a straight "blues" player, he definitely has some cool blues ideas and licks that give some great attitude. And hey, attitude is what blues is all about anyway right? The most important thing with bends is making sure the correct pitch is reached during the bend. In the bend, make sure you bend up a full whole step. When bending, it's always good to play the note you're trying to reach before you bend, just to make sure you reach the correct pitch. In this lick, you would play the 14th fret on the B string (C#). That way you will have a refer...

This riff kind of has a bluegrass, blues, and rock vibe all in one. Something like this would most likely be played with a straight rock beat. There is a lot of legato in this exercise, so make sure all the hammer-on and pull-off notes sound crystal clear. In other words, all your legato notes should be just as loud as the other picked notes. Especially be careful when you play the 16th note triplet part when pulling off on the B and G strings. Play the riff very slowly at first.

This technique is definitely one of my favorites. It's not that easy at first, but once you get the hang of it, it'll be like clockwork. Let's check it out... First off, what exactly is pedal tone legato? With a guitar, a pedal tone is best explained as repeated notes that surround a melody. And legato is a style of playing in which notes are blended together smoothly, using techniques such as hammer-ons, pull-offs, and slides. So, as you'll see in this lesson, pedal tone legato incorporates both of these concepts. Practice this first exercise very slo...

What is "X shape" phrasing? Basically, it's phrasing in an "X" shape. But I bet you already figured out that much huh? When you play this, imagine your fingers are "connecting the dots" on the fretboard. You'll see how your fingers are forming an "X" shape with the notes. This is an excellent pattern to incorporate into your soloing. This particular exercise is interpreted from Pachelbel's classic "Canon in D" progression.

In this 2nd installment of the "Left-Hand Muting" tutorial, we aren't going to do anything too fancy. Right now, your goal is to be able to use left-hand muting within a basic passage of notes. Concentrate on getting a prominent "click" sound when you mute. If you don't hear much when you mute, you might have to snap your fingers on the fretboard harder. If you hear notes ringing out when you mute, then you're putting to much pressure on the strings. We just want the "click" when our left hand mutes as your right hand goes through the strings. Keep working at it!

Okay, the riffs are going to start getting a little more difficult in this tutorial. But as long as you take it slow and concentrate on your accuracy, you'll do fine. We have constant 16th notes in this riff, with some left-hand mutes in different places. One thing you must keep in mind: The picking hand uses constant alternate picking (down, up, down, up etc). Keep the right hand picking the entire time, and if you do it properly, when you left-hand mute, your right hand will be on a downward motion. Be sure to study the tab below.

There are a lot of mutes in this one! Use alternate picking throughout. Stay especially accurate here...it's easy to get a little sloppy when there are a lot of mutes and notes in a passage. Learn it slowly before worrying about speed.

Welcome to the Finger Tapping Tutorial! This is a massive series on finger tapping, starting from the very beginning to pretty advanced stuff. Go through the material slowly, let it sink in, and have fun! In this first exercise, we’re going to get our picking hand fingers familiar with tapping notes on the fretboard. With your fretting hand, mute the strings as you see in the picture below and the video. Then with each picking hand finger, tap the 12th fret notes on each string. Most tapping passages use your index or middle fingers...

The progression in this exercise was inspired by Pachelbel's "Canon in D" classic. We will be using a combination of sweep picking, hammer-ons, and pul-offs in this exercise. Sweep picking in general can be pretty difficult. I personally find it a little more difficult to sweep pick across 2 strings than, say 6. To me, it takes a lot more control to keep your pick steady between 2 strings. Observe the tablature carefully. See how each cluster of 16th note triplets is grouped within 6 notes? Under the tab, notice how the 3rd and 4th notes of each cluster are on down s...

Most of the time, you will be using both hands while finger tapping. When playing tapping passages, you will either be hammering-on from your fretting hand to your tapping hand, or pulling-off from your tapping hand to your fretting hand. In this exercise, we will be ascending and descending on the strings. While ascending, your fretting hand index finger will hammer-on the 9th fret, then your tapping hand index finger will hammer on the 12th fret. You will repeat this on all 6 strings. While descending, your tapping hand index finger will hammer-on the 12th fret, then p...

This descending run is in the E minor Pentatonic scale. It incorporates a lot of legato with slides and pull-offs. Make sure you keep all the notes even as far as timing goes. When using legato, it's sometimes easy to go a little too fast in comparison to the picked notes. The time intervals between the notes should be exact. Also, be sure to practice this descending run in different keys. Nail it in E minor first, but then try it out everywhere else too. Use alternate picking.

Now, go ahead and try to use left-hand mutes in this bluesy progression. This riff also has somewhat of a "swing" feel to it. If you aren't familiar with how to swing music, that's no problem. Just do your best to copy from the video and use the tablature below. Keep those mutes accurate, and have fun!

This exercise is a little more intense than the other ones. A lot more mutes and a lot more notes. It's a fast riff, but of course practice it very slowly until you're more comfortable with it. Make sure you use use alternate picking through the entire riff. If you do it properly, your picking hand should be doing a downward motion on every left-hand mute. Stay accurate! And make sure each mute has that "click" sound that we've talked about.

In the last installment of the "Left-Hand Muting" tutorial, we are going to incorporate the muting within a power chord progression. The chord progression is as follows: E, G, F#Gb, F Notice my strumming pattern in the video. Just as we used alternate picking with most of the other exercises, we need to use alternate strumming as well. Keep your strumming hand moving down, up, down, up etc. If you count 8th notes along with the riff ( 1 and 2 and etc...) then you'll notice that your left hand mutes the string on the "and" after 3.

Contrary to the Lesson 1 exercise, in this one we are going to be using more than one pedal tone note. Look on the G string notes in the tablature. See how the notes change each measure? From the 11th fret, to the 9th, back to the 11th, then the 12th. (F#,E,F#,G) One thing to watch out for...when you play this, make sure you don't mute the G string notes when you're doing the hammer-ons and pull-offs. Use good posture and play it slow. Have fun!

When you learn this, make sure you consciously remind yourself to relax your picking hand. The riff is pretty fast, so it might be easy to tense up your forearm and wrist muscles, but try not to do that. Also, keep all the open string notes palm-muted, while lifting your palm for the other notes. Use alternate picking, play it slow at first, relax your arms, and have fun!

In this exercise, we’re going to use our index and middle finger on the fretting hand, and our index finger on the tapping hand. All of the exercises in this lesson will be played as 16th notes (four notes per beat).

Now it’s time to use all four fingers on the fretting hand. Play this exercise very slowly, as it might be difficult to suddenly be using all your fingers at once. Keep your time intervals even and make sure all the notes remain at the same volume.

First off, what is a metronome? A metronome is a tool that clicks/beeps sounds in even intervals in order to hold the user accountable time-wise. It is the ultimate tool to help a musician's timing and rhythm. Metronomes are able to adjust to slow speeds as well as fast speeds, depending on what the user is practicing. Most people, even if they have good rhythm, don't have perfect rhythm. So every musician can and should benefit from the power of the metronome. How do you use a metronome? First, in order to use one, you have to have one! If you do...

Okay. Now that we practiced how to avoid unwanted open-string noise, we can work on tapping with an open string. In this tapping exercise, you are going to be tapping with your index finger, then pulling off to your fretting-hand index finger, then pulling off to the open string, then hammering back on with your fretting-hand index finger. Sounds like a mouthful doesn’t it? Don’t worry, you’ll get the hang of it.

In this exercise, we’re going to use our index and ring finger on the fretting hand, and our index finger on the tapping hand.

This tutorial guides you through the basic beginning stages of tapping to the complex advanced stages.

Through videos, riffs, and tablature examples, this tutorial focuses heavily on how to mute properly with your left hand.

This tutorial will take a close look at time signatures. With analysis and practical examples, we will learn more about each specific time signature.

This technique is definitely one of my favorites. It's not that easy at first, but once you get the hang of it, it'll be like clockwork. Let's check it out...

In this tutorial, you will learn how to incorporate 2-string and 1-string groupings into your picking patterns.

Although John Petrucci isn't a straight "blues" player, he definitely has some cool blues ideas and licks that give some great attitude. And hey, attitude is what blues is all about anyway right? The most important thing with bends is making sure the correct pitch is reached during the bend. In the bend, make sure you bend up a full whole step. When bending, it's always good to play the note you're trying to reach before you bend, just to make sure you reach the correct pitch. In this lick, you would play the 14th fret on the B string (C#). That way you will have a refer...

Okay, time to turn up the gain and distortion! This harmonic technique will work much better if the gain is really high on your amp. In this riff, we have some basic E and A power chords along with some light harmonic runs in between. Notice how I barely move my fingers across the strings to play the harmonics? Don't put any heavy pressure on the strings at all, just barely touch them. Moving up the string while playing the harmonics gives it a cool effect as well. Try inserting these types of harmonics into riffs you already know. And have fun!

If you want to have creative rhythm playing, then you definitely want to have a good understanding of displacement. What is displacement? It is the act of playing notes in unexpected places within a rhythm section. After you learn this exercise, it doesn't stop there. Put your guitar down, then write out a few blank measures of tablature. Write a 16th note count under each measure (1 e & a 2 e & a etc...) Once you've done that, write random notes above whichever counts you want. Basically, by doing this, you are displacing the notes. Then it gets fun. L...

What is "X shape" phrasing? Basically, it's phrasing in an "X" shape. But I bet you already figured out that much huh? When you play this, imagine your fingers are "connecting the dots" on the fretboard. You'll see how your fingers are forming an "X" shape with the notes. This is an excellent pattern to incorporate into your soloing. This particular exercise is interpreted from Pachelbel's classic "Canon in D" progression.

When you first get used to alternate picking, it's important to experiment with different string groupings, instead of just playing alternate picking on one string. In this lesson, we're going to use alternate picking on 3 strings. There are four power chords in this riff. First, the E, then G, then A, then B. With your fretting hand, use your ring finger for each A string note, and use your index finger for each E string note on the fretboard. Notice in the video how I kept my right pinky stationed on the body in order to balance my right hand. Be sure to do the same...

In addition to your learning this riff, I'd also like you to analyze it a little with me... When playing rhythm guitar, it's important to literally know what you're doing. In other words, you should know the type of rhythmic notes you're playing, and you should be able to count along if necessary. Being able to count out loud isn't an absolute necessity with guitar playing, however it helps your sense of rhythm immensely. In the tablature, notice how there is a triplet count. Learn the riff first, but after you learn it, do your best to count the triplets out loud as ...

This descending run is in the E minor Pentatonic scale. It incorporates a lot of legato with slides and pull-offs. Make sure you keep all the notes even as far as timing goes. When using legato, it's sometimes easy to go a little too fast in comparison to the picked notes. The time intervals between the notes should be exact. Also, be sure to practice this descending run in different keys. Nail it in E minor first, but then try it out everywhere else too. Use alternate picking.

Finger tapping can be hard. Multi-finger tapping can be harder. String-skipping while multi-finger tapping can be even harder. However, once you master this technique, a lot of creative "tapping doors" will be opened to you. In this lesson, we aren't going to use a song or particular scale, we're just going to use a simple 3-note-per-string shape, and keep it the same on each string. You'll stay within the 12th fret, the 15th fret, and the 18th fret. When ascending, the first note on each string will be a hammer-on with your left hand index finger. Make sure you have ...

When you learn this, make sure you consciously remind yourself to relax your picking hand. The riff is pretty fast, so it might be easy to tense up your forearm and wrist muscles, but try not to do that. Also, keep all the open string notes palm-muted, while lifting your palm for the other notes. Use alternate picking, play it slow at first, relax your arms, and have fun!

The progression in this exercise was inspired by Pachelbel's "Canon in D" classic. We will be using a combination of sweep picking, hammer-ons, and pul-offs in this exercise. Sweep picking in general can be pretty difficult. I personally find it a little more difficult to sweep pick across 2 strings than, say 6. To me, it takes a lot more control to keep your pick steady between 2 strings. Observe the tablature carefully. See how each cluster of 16th note triplets is grouped within 6 notes? Under the tab, notice how the 3rd and 4th notes of each cluster are on down s...

You've probably heard this blues riff quite a few times. But would you know how to count along to what you're playing? This lesson is designed to help you understand why you're playing what you're playing. Many guitarists don't think as rhythmically as they should. You always want to be aware of the type of rhythmic notes you're playing. In the video, you can hear me counting triplets along with the riff. Triplets are 3 notes per beat, and you count them out loud like so: "1 and uh 2 and uh 3 and uh 4 and uh" So, learn the riff first. Then,...

This riff kind of has a bluegrass, blues, and rock vibe all in one. Something like this would most likely be played with a straight rock beat. There is a lot of legato in this exercise, so make sure all the hammer-on and pull-off notes sound crystal clear. In other words, all your legato notes should be just as loud as the other picked notes. Especially be careful when you play the 16th note triplet part when pulling off on the B and G strings. Play the riff very slowly at first.

4/4? 7/8? 15/16? 5/4? 3/4? 6/8? 19/16? 5/4? Ever wonder what those fraction looking things are at the beginning of every piece of music? And what do those numbers mean anyway? What are they for? That fraction is called a time signature. All music is rhythmically structered around time signatures. Without time signatures, there would be no way to organize notes. "Organize what notes?" you might ask. Basically, all rhythmic notes in music, such as the following: Quarter notes (1 note per beat) 8th notes (2 notes per beat)...

First off, what is a metronome? A metronome is a tool that clicks/beeps sounds in even intervals in order to hold the user accountable time-wise. It is the ultimate tool to help a musician's timing and rhythm. Metronomes are able to adjust to slow speeds as well as fast speeds, depending on what the user is practicing. Most people, even if they have good rhythm, don't have perfect rhythm. So every musician can and should benefit from the power of the metronome. How do you use a metronome? First, in order to use one, you have to have one! If you do...

The guitar pick, or "plectrum", is a flat, somewhat triangular tool used to strike the strings on a guitar. A guitarist uses it to pick individual strings or strum multiple strings at once. A pick is an essential element of guitar playing. Although some guitar playing styles just require your thumb or fingers to strike the strings, most styles of playing require a pick to be used. The pick should be held only by your index and thumb. Using more fingers than just your index and thumb will limit your swiftness of movement. The thumb should cover the body of the pick, an...