Lead guitar lick ideas inspired by JOHN PETRUCCI of Dream Theater – 4:02 min

In this lesson dave Nassie teaches some fun licks in the style of the great John Petrucci from the band Dream Theater. This is a great picking style lick that breaks down some movement through the key of G. This is a fun lick to play and Dave first outlines the scales he will use in this lesson – he uses a piece of the G major scale, then A Dorian. Dave then goes over the alternate picking pattern and the finger positioning for these licks. Notice the use of slides and the descending motion of the lick. Get comfortable wit that motion and yo will be able to use it anywhere on the fretboard. Dave then moves the lick idea to new set of strings while staying in the key of G. Try these lick ideas slow at first and work up the picking speed over time. Try palm muting some of the notes for some cool sounds. Enjoy and put your own spin on this and have fun and shred on!

Cool licks and lead arpeggio lines ideas inspired by Trey Anastasio of PHISH – 10:25 min

In this lesson Ben Zinn teaches some cool licks and lead guitar ideas inspired by Trey Anastasio of the epic jam band Phish. Here you will learn some fun lead lines utilizing arpeggios. An arpeggio is the notes of a chord played separately. Ben teaches how to combine arpeggios together to create a nice flowing lead guitar line. The chord progression this line will be based off is G – Em – A – D – G – C – B – G. This is a cool progression using some cool chord voicings that you may not be familiar with. Give them a try as its always cool to learn new chords in new positions. Ben then gets into playing arpeggios over each chord. Ben goes over all the arpeggios and be sure to add these to your playing arsenal – they are killer and can be used in so many musical scenarios and genres. Ben starts with a G major arpeggio and then to a E minor arpeggio and then descend down an A major arpeggio. And you can see how attaching these arpeggios together yield nice flowing lead lines that outline the changes. Give it a try and time your playing each arpeggio over each chord – takes a little time to get them down but chip away a little each day and you will get it! Enjoy and get creative with arpeggios!  

Rock guitar effect lesson using delay with Larry Mitchell – 8:36 min

in this rock guitar lesson Larry Mitchell teaches how he used delay on his epic song Political Rain. Larry demonstrates how he gets the delay sound used on the record. Larry teaches how to set up the delay as well as he teaches the intro lick to his song to demonstrate a practical musical application for the delay. There is so much you can do with delay that the possibilities are endless. Listen to the Edge from U2 as he is a huge delay fan. Many players use delay and use it in rhythm and lead applications. Experiment and be creative with it. Just be careful not to overdo it as you don’t want it to totally take over the melody – just for added color and effect – enjoy!

Lead guitar techniques add jazzy-bluesy flavors, master chromatics with Larry Mitchell – 9:55 min

In this lesson Larry Mitchell teaches how to add chromatics to your soloing arsenal. In this lesson Larry also teaches how to add a jazzy-bluesy flavor to your playing with arpeggio use. More this arpeggio around by changing the root note off the D string. Larry adds some chromatic notes to the arpeggio to add more color. Listen to the sounds of the added notes. Larry then slides into the C note by coming from the major 7th or B note. This adds that jazzy flavor to your licks – the chromatic tones add a lot of jazzy flavor so experiment with them and try adding them into your playing arsenal. There is so much that you can get out of just one arpeggio – experiment and let your ear guide you. Try these chromatic passing tones and see how they add a jazzy bluesy flavor to your playing.

Clean rock licks and rhythms in the style of JAKE E LEE – 7:56 min

In this lesson Dave Nassie teaches some fun rock licks in the style of Ozzy and solo guitarist Jake E. Lee. Dave first outlines the chords that he will utilize throughout this lesson. Dave uses some power chords in a non-traditional way to get some cool sounds. Lots of open strings add in a real haunting sound. Dave teaches some ways to superimpose chords to other places on the guitar neck. Dave then teaches some cool chord changes and also using bar chords with open strings for more cool ideas. Take a bunch of these ideas and put your own spin on them – add these chords to your playing arsenal and try them in different orders – add a few notes and make them your own – have fun and stay creative!