A good way to spice up your rhythm and lead playing is to use 6th intervals as double stops, or 2 notes played at the same time. The most common guitar riff with 6ths is probably this: Listen: [Audio clip: view full post to listen] To get some interesting finger exercise and train your hand [...]

A great way to learn the characteristic sounds of the major scale modes, and a good way to discourage ‘pattern’ playing, or relying on memorized licks, is to play each mode on a single string. I think I first ran across this idea in the old Mick Goodrick ‘Advancing Guitarist’ book. The important thing is [...]

The idea of polyrhythms always conjures up visions of geeks getting out their calculators, trying to figure out the best way to make something NOT groove. If you want to inject a little poly into your rhythm, here’s a really simple concept. One problem with playing fast lines is that there’s a tendency to sound [...]

A clever way to add some rhythmic variety to your playing is to phrase notes in groups of odds and evens. Even the simplest melodic idea can become an ear-twister with some odd rhythmic voodoo thrown into it. The example below shows a basic E major pentatonic scale, played in groups of 4 then 5 [...]