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Six Strings

Expressive techniques

Slurs, slides, bends and vibrato.

  1. Hammer-ons, pull-offs and slidesSound notes with the fretting hand alone to make lines smooth.Builds on: Minor pentatonic: box 1
  2. Bends and vibratoRaise a note's pitch and give it a voice.Builds on: Minor pentatonic: box 1
  3. Legato sequencesChains of hammer-ons and pull-offs that flow, with one pick per string.Builds on: Hammer-ons, pull-offs and slides, Alternate picking and scale sequences

Picking-hand control

Double stops, hybrid picking, string skipping and tremolo.

  1. Double stopsTwo notes at once: pentatonic pairs, thirds and sixths.Builds on: Bends and vibrato, The major scale
  2. Hybrid pickingPick and fingers together, for wide intervals and country-style snap.Builds on: Double stops, PIMA and thumb independence
  3. String skipping and tremolo pickingJump over strings accurately, and sustain notes with rapid alternate picking.Builds on: Alternate picking and scale sequences, Double stops

Improvising

Turn patterns into phrases.

  1. Call and response improvisationImprovise by answering your own short phrases.Builds on: Minor pentatonic: box 1, Hammer-ons, pull-offs and slides
  2. Blues phrasing over the 12-bar formPlay over a backing track by following the form and landing on the changes.Builds on: Call and response improvisation, Major pentatonic and the blues scale, Seventh chords
  3. Chord-tone targetingMake a solo follow the harmony by landing on notes from each chord.Builds on: Blues phrasing over the 12-bar form, Seventh chords
  4. Learning a short solo by earTake a short phrase from a recording and work it out, note by note.Builds on: Intervals and root notes, Call and response improvisation

Practical checkpoint

Module 5 checkpoint: say something

Play a one-chord backing track in A minor (record yourself playing Am for a minute, or use any A minor loop). Improvise for two minutes using only the pentatonic positions and the techniques from this module.

You are ready for the next module when you can honestly say:

  • I can bend a note up to pitch and check it against the target note.
  • I can play hammer-ons, pull-offs and slides cleanly in a phrase.
  • I can improvise for two minutes using rests and repeated ideas, not constant running notes.
  • I can answer a four-note phrase with a related phrase of my own.

10 lessons in this module are not complete yet. You can still attempt the checkpoint whenever you like.