Music Is My Life

This lesson was given by guitar virtuoso Paul Gilbert in his instructional video Intense Rock 2.

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IN THIS LESSON WE’LL CHECK OUT some string-skipping ideas you can loop, as in continuously repeat. This is a technique I love to use in my music, and it is very good for your chops. Because the notation doesn’t always include repeat signs, you’ll have to use your imagination with some of these phrases.

Ex. 1 is based on the D Phrygian Dominant scale (D, Eb, F# , G, A, Bb, C). The concept behind this phrase is that the D pedal tone is played after each note. The phrase is based off an ascending four-note scale sequence and then a descending pattern in third intervals. This is a technique used in different types of music, especially classical. Be sure to start slow and then build up speed.

This next example (Ex. 2) is in the key of G major (G, A, B, C, D, E, F# ). This is a string-skipping pattern that starts off with eighth-note triplets and then, in the 3rd bar, the same phrase is played with sixteenthnote triplets. The tempo is the same throughout, we’re just changing the note value. This is a great for developing your right-hand technique and to add some excitement to your playing.

Ex. 3 is another string-skipping pattern, this time in the A Mixolydian mode (A, B, C# , D, E, F# , G). You will notice the same pattern repeats through the scale with a six-note pattern. The notation is written using straight sixteenth-notes, but also try converting this phrase into sixteenthnote triplets. I begin this pattern with an upstroke, so the right-hand alternate picking pattern will be up, down, up down etc. You can experiment with the right hand picking that is comfortable to you.

The next couple of phrases in Ex. 4 sound real cool looped. In this example, we have a string skipping line that uses the B minor scale (B, C# , D, E, F# , G, A) with an added b5 interval, which would be an F note. You could think of this as a B minor scale mixed with a B blues scale.

The line in Ex. 5 is similar to the previous example, but now we will be skipping two strings and is also in the key of B minor. This moves across the neck very quickly, so be sure to follow the suggested fingerings.

There you have it. Don’t be afraid to incorporate different rhythmic patterns to mix things up and practice these (and everything) with a metronome or a drum machine!

MILLIONS OF AMERICANS SAWAL BONHOMME accompany iconic country singer Dwight Yoakam on The Tonight Show a few years back. Similar numbers of people have also heard Bonhomme’s playing on two of Yoakam’s recent albums. The Los Angelesbased guitarist’s most profound impact, though, may be on the hundreds of students he teaches each year at Musicians Institute in Hollywood. A master of many styles (“everything from country to Western,” jokes Bonhomme), the popular and never-tooserious GIT instructor teaches young guitarists to land on their feet no matter what style they play. Here, Bonhomme shares ten must-know approaches every guitarist should have down if he or she harbors any dreams of being able to play that blazing style known as hot country.

Great guitar parts have been at the core of country music since cowboys first began roaming the prairies of Texas. And in this modern age of green hair, nose rings, and tattoos on your tattoos, little has changed. Any country song you hear will have acoustic guitars strumming, cool electric rhythm parts chiming, and, more often than not, a blazing guitar solo played by the likes of Brent Mason, Dan Huff, or Brad Paisley, or a similar caliber guitar slinger.

When you get a gig in a typical country bar, the song list can run the gamut from old standards to the new rockin’ sounds of today’s young artists. The guitar styles are so varied and different, you’ve got to be on top of your game to keep up. So when the bandleader gives you the nod, you want to be able to rip it up a little and turn a few heads on the dance floor. To help you out a little bit in that endeavor, here is a grab bag of hot country licks you can use to survive the night in your favorite honky tonk bar….Read full story…