The Guitar Player's Resource
Hello and welcome to this exciting lesson. I call this playing idea/concept 3+2. It's based on 3 notes on one string and 2 notes on an adjacent string. Rhythmically I play it as a quintuplet, meaning 5 notes on a beat.
Let's take a look at Example 1. It's a chromatic ascending lick to showcase the grouping and picking technique. As you can see, I am plying the first 3 notes with alternate picking and then when I cross the string I am using sweep picking. So I get down, up, down, down and then up. This seems a bit weird, but you will see it will sound nice after some practice.
Video - Example 1
Ok, let's move to Example 2. It's a C major excerpt and it is played the same way as the chromatic warm up. Play it slowly, and make sure you are using the proper technique. As you can see, I am skipping the middle note in this 3 note per string shape. I play B, C, D, E, and then G.
Video - Example 2
Ready for more? OK, here we go with Example 3. This example is based on an ascending whole tone scale. Same idea as in example 2. This time you will have to pay more attention to the position changes as the shape moves diagonally in tritones across the fretboard.
Video - Example 3
Cool, let's apply this to a scale. Example 4 is based on a C major 3 note per string scale. Same idea as in example 2. Play C, D, E, F, and then skip G and play A. Restart on the A string and play F, G, A, B, skip C and play D and so on. It's quite simple. Make sure you play all notes cleanly.
Video - Example 4
All those examples are ascending only, but they are also easy to play as descending licks. Just start your group of 3 notes with an up stroke, and then play a sweep pick (up) to cross the string with the 2 notes. So, it's up, down, up, up, down.
I hope you enjoyed this lesson. Please feel free to visit my web site for more information and to purchase my latest release "The Lightspeeder". I am also offering advanced guitar lesson courses through National Guitar Workshop's WorkshopLive web site.
German Schauss is a guitarist born in Germany who attended the Munich Guitar Institute (MGI) in 1996 and was voted the fastest guitar player.
Recently, Schauss finished his education at Berklee College of Music with a Bachelors Degree in Professional Music, graduating with honors.
His latest CD is entitled "The Lightspeeder", a collection of seven neo-classical progressive instrumentals designed to shock and awe.
