– Introduction. Get an overview of the course, as well as suggestions on what order to watch the lessons in. Get the lay of the land before we dig in!

– Learn the positions of the minor and major pentatonic scales. You can skip this if you already know them, but we start here because this “sets the table” for the entire course. The great thing is, all these positions are also diagrammed out in the ebook you get with the package. In no time you’ll have mastered the different positions up and down the whole neck.

– Learn Notes and Fun Licks. Let’s get started by learning some simple licks that anyone can do. This is how we get you sounding musical right away. You’ll slide notes and licks around the neck, and they’ll sound great right away.

– Essential Licks. Now let’s expand your repertoire by learning variations of some classic blues licks that every blues guitarist must know! You’ll recognize and love these standard blues licks and once they’re in your vocabulary you’re well on your way!

– Build Dexterity. You may or may not know that when it comes to playing lead guitar, getting good tone is really about your hands. (It’s also about “heart,” but that’s a whole ‘nother topic entirely!) I’m talking about your ability to bend strings, how you can “dig in,” etc. The stronger your hands are, the stronger your tone will be. That’s why I’ll teach you the best exercises and drills for increasing flexibility and strength. This is also great for preventing soreness and injuries. Your hands will thank me later!

– Octave Licks. Using the same pentatonic scales from above, you’ll learn the essential concept of octave licks and also taking two notes and putting them into patterns to build licks. This is especially important for blues and jazz and sound absolutely killer because they sound more complex than they really are. You’ll say, “Wow, did I really do that??!!” In other words, this lesson gives you a LOT of bang for the buck; you’ll “sound expensive” even though it’s simple to execute. Sweet!

– Build Phrases. Now you’ll build licks from previous lessons and start stringing them together. This makes for fluid playing and you’ll begin advancing quickly.

– Lick Vocabulary. It’s time to build your lick vocabulary so you can always have a grab bag of licks to choose from, which is what you need for jamming!

– Add Spice to your Licks. Here I give you even more devices and techniques to give your licks added color and spice. Remember, playing licks is like painting a picture, and the more different types of brush strokes you have at your disposal, the more dazzling your artwork becomes!

– Mixing Major and Minor. As the most common, go-to scales in virtually all music genres, the pentatonic scales give you two basic palettes: the happy and sweet major pentatonic, and the dark and bluesy minor. What you want to do is MIX these two flavors for complex and interesting sounds, and that’s what you’ll learn here. Remember, it’s all about the sounds!!

– Passing Tone Licks. Now that you’ve got some licks and scales under your belt, let’s embellish and dress them up a bit. Add spice and flavor and color. Using a note that’s not in that scale as a “passing” note to give it color. We show you a very easy way to do this. SIMPLE.

– More Licks! We always strive to over-deliver on our lesson products, so here is where we pile more lick instruction on for you. Add as many as you want to your arsenal --- you will love the sound of these!

– Doublestop Licks. Ready to add a bit of texture to your licks? Then let’s learn licks with two notes instead of just one. These sound like “mini-chords” and you’ll blow away your listeners with the added depth and complexity.

– Add Spice to your Licks. Here I give you even more devices and techniques to give your licks added color and spice. Remember, playing licks is like painting a picture, and the more different types of brush strokes you have at your disposal, the more dazzling your artwork becomes!

– Move Pentatonic Positions. Here we show you how to move all across the neck, navigating around the fretboard within the pentatonic architecture. This opens up the entire instrument to you and will explode more possibilities for you.

– Target Note Licks. Now let’s target specific notes in a lick. Why? Well, when you “land” on a certain note within a lick it makes a strong soloing statement. This is how you stand out from the crowd and really deliver a huge impact.

– Flashy Licks. Let’s go for speed, why not?! Learn faster licks using hammer-ons, pulll-offs and other devices. The great thing about this lesson is that while these licks will sound advanced, they’re NOT when you learn it the way we teach it. Watch this lesson, then watch jaws drop when you play these flashy licks.

– Jam & Apply I and II. Okay, here’s where we take you by the hand for the most practical instruction possible. What we do here is, we take specific jam tracks --- which are included in the package --- and we show you exactly how to solo over them. In other words, we’ll tell you, “Okay, let’s take track No. 2 from the first module and let me show you exactly what my soloing process is on this one.” And then one of our instructors will explain his exact thinking and soloing strategy, demonstrating the exact techniques and devices, showing you how to execute this yourself! It’s like getting a brain transplant from a pro so that you can do it, too! I can’t tell you how valuable this is ... my students LOVE this part of the instruction. This is where you take everything you’ve learned and really APPLY it.

– Rhythm & Licks. Learn how to play some rhythms and intersperse licks between each rhythm. This takes some doing because you gotta play the rhythm, and then the lick, and then get back to the rhythm in time --- but we make it simple and the results are going to astound you and everyone listening.

– Jam & Apply III. As on the previous module, we give you MORE practical application so that you can construct your own solos over the included jam tracks, using the step-by-step suggestions of our instructors.

– Bonus Lessons. Here we give you two killer bonus lessons. First, we teach you how to develop a good ear for tone. Totally useful, as you can imagine. Next, we tell you everything you need to know to dial in your equipment: the best amp settings, EQ settings, how to use a wah pedal, and more. You’ll learn all about gain and distortion, too. PLUS, we throw in a video that gives you “Five Essential Jamming Tips.” Sweet!

– Bonus Footage. This is where we “pull back the curtain” and show you around our Next Level Guitar home. First, we interview instructors Dave Nassie and Ben Zinn. You’ll hear the stories of their own guitar journeys, as well as their top influences and what keeps them stoked. Then we take you behind the lens to give you a tour of all our instruments and equipment. You’ll see our entire studio, where all the magic happens here at Next Level Guitar! Please enjoy these bonus gifts --- it’s our way of thanking you for letting us share our passion with you!

– 30 Custom - Created Jam Tracks! Let me tell you something --- we went all out on these jam tracks! They are AWESOME!!! These tracks sound fantastic because they have been professionally recorded and mastered here in San Diego.

The tracks contain a full band playing minus the lead guitar. That means it’s rhythm guitar, drums, bass guitar, and then YOU will be the lead guitar player tearing it up all over these tracks.

Each module is a slightly different style – you get:

1. Ten Delta/Chicago Blues Jam Tracks in various keys and tempos

2. Ten Blues Jam Tracks in various keys and tempos

3. Ten Rock Jam Tracks is various keys and tempos

To give these modules the most possible valuable variety, I mixed up the keys, chords, and tempos to give you lots of lead guitar avenues over different rhythmic jam examples.

Why the extra effort? It’s because mediocre backing tracks leads to discouragement and that’s how people’s guitars end up collecting dust in the garage. I won’t let that happen!!

Let me explain. These jam tracks and the accompanying PDF ebook redefine the very notion of ordinary jam tracks. These are like jam tracks on steroids. As you probably already know, jam tracks, (or “backing tracks”), are an essential tool to hone your lead guitar playing and improvisational skills. Simply put, if you really want to get to the next level, jam tracks are a “must–have” for your toolbox.

But here’s the problem: Most jam track products simply give you the music backing and leave it up to you as to how to make use of them!

Noodling along to a jam track without understanding WHY you’re playing a particular scale, or trying different scales, licks, and lead guitar avenues means you won’t be able to learn and adopt those avenues to other parts of your playing and to other tracks and songs. You just end up playing the same old things without any structure or direction.

But that won’t happen here. These tracks are empowering and motivating. You’ll WANT to play over them, all the time. Listen below to see how each jam track has it's own particular style:

– Ebook to Speed Your Progress. I’ll be honest .... when it comes to creating ebooks, I’m a bit of a perfectionist. I go a little crazy. I take the time to craft detailed explanations of everything you need for one simple reason: IT WILL HELP YOU GREATLY. I don’t know anyone else who puts the love into ebooks like I do. You’ll not only refer to this all the time as a go-to resource, but you’ll want to save it forever in your guitar lesson library. (You might even want to print it out and put it into a 3-ring binder).

Packed with tons of lead guitar knowledge and lessons, you’re going to be amazed at the level of easy-to-use detail I have assembled here! This is where it gets really great – this book is the keystone that transforms the jam tracks from mere background music to focused tutorials.

In the Jam Tracks section of the ebook I take you through each jam track one by one. For each track I teach the complete lead guitar picture. You’ll learn multiple guitar avenues, and you’ll learn why each avenue works. So you will learn what to play over certain keys, chords, and progressions.

You’ll know what works and why it works. And that will allow you to blast these concepts across your entire playing repertoire.

If you don’t know some of the scales or scale positions used in a certain guitar lesson, no problem --- I diagram them all out in the book – it’s all there for you to devour and then tear it up over each track!

Extras You Don’t Get Anywhere Else ....

You’ve already seen that this course contains modules with over six hours of video lessons. What you might NOT know is that we break all the licks down into digestible pieces and demonstrate them at slow and regular speeds. Then we demonstrate and teach you how to practice and apply them over the included jam tracks.

Do you see how huge this is? We use the same tracks in the video lessons that you get included in this package – the same exact tracks for perfect mastery!

Also, all lessons feature on-screen tablature and close-ups of the fret and pick hands with multiple camera angles to make it easy to follow along. We also demonstrate the examples at both slow and regular speeds so you can learn with ease and not have to constantly hit the rewind button. That’s a big time-saver you will appreciate, believe me!