Hey all! Time for the sixth installment of this series of private lessons I did with Lee Anderton of Anderton's Music Store. Life took over this week, so Lee hasn’t done much theory or transcribing. I'm sure you can all relate. But he did listen to the Beano album ten times – kudos!

Deep Listening Practice

I had Lee listen to the Beano album for homework. Clapton’s playing is relevant to our lessons, and he plays some ultra-cool blues lead guitar on this album. Lee commented that he didn’t like it the first few times, but then he started to appreciate why it’s a landmark record. It has a ton of great blues vocabulary. And just by listening, you absorb the feel.

This took us on to the subject of taste. Don’t transcribe music unless you love it! For instance, I’m not a fan of Robert Johnson’s music. I respect his playing, but it’s not to my taste, and I wouldn’t listen to it to relax.

Find what connects with you and gets you excited. Listen to it loads, absorbing the sound and feel, and transcribe it! Find ten licks you love and figure out how to play them. If you love a solo that lasts for two minutes, you don’t need to transcribe it all. Work out your favorite parts and incorporate them into your own style.

💡 Beano For Blues Cats – If you’re a blues player, I highly suggest you check out the Beano album (John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers with Eric Clapton). It’s like a dictionary. It’s just filled with insane licks.

Transcribing shouldn’t be a chore. Once you get to a certain level, it’s enjoyable. You’ll hear something you love and be able to find it quickly on the guitar.

Minor Pentatonic All Over The Neck

Lee loves practicing scales and patterns, so I set him a challenge to learn all five patterns of the Minor Pentatonic Scale for next lesson. That gives him a month!

I want him to do this in a particular way: in each position, play up to the highest note possible, down to the lowest note possible, then come back to the root note.

💡 Licks tend to work well in one or two patterns – you simply can’t play them in all positions. Don’t make the mistake of trying to learn all licks in all positions. That’s why I did, and it was a giant waste of time! Part of the journey is wisely deciding which licks can move and which should stay put.

In Pattern 2 of the Minor Pentatonic Scale in the key of A, the lowest root note is the note A at fret 7 of string 4. So we play up the scale, finishing on the note D at fret 10 of string 1. And when coming down the scale, we play on fret 8 of string 6 (the note C) before returning to the root note on string 4.

Many people learn Pattern 2 using the low C as a reference. This makes it much trickier to find the scale. And it’s unnecessary! Just remember the root note for this pattern is on string 4, and you can immediately use the scale in any key.

Pattern 3 starts on fret 12 of string 5 (the note A) with finger 3. Again, we play down to the lowest note, which is at fret 10 on string 6. The same goes for Patterns 4 and 5.

Minor Pentatonic Exercise

This is the minor-pentatonic version of the 3rds and 4ths exercises for the Major scale. I usually call this one Playing the Minor Pentatonic in 4ths, but technically you play a mixture of 3rds and 4ths. Remember it as playing the notes next to each other in the pentatonic scale.

|-----------------------------------------------------5-----8--|

|-----------------------------------------5-----8--5-----8-----|

|-----------------------------5–----7--5-----7—----------------|

|-----------------5-----7--5-----7-----------------------------|

|-----5-----7--5-----7-----------------------------------------|

|--5-----8-----------------------------------------------------|

You’ll notice that you jump strings on the same fret several times. Use the rolling technique, playing the first note with the fingertip and rolling it down onto the next string, muting the previous one with your finger. Do the opposite when you play the higher note first. Modern blues uses this technique loads. It's tricky, but it gives licks a hip sound.

Three Notes Per String With 16th Notes

Last time, I gave Lee a slur exercise for the three-note-per-string pattern we looked at. Like everyone else, Lee finds the flick-offs trickier.

The danger with these patterns is that we use them only as triplets. This is how we naturally hear the scale, but we can break this habit. Use a metronome and play four notes per beat, or tap your foot on the beat, counting 1 e + a, 2 e + a, and so on.

How To Solo Over Little Wing

Lee did a cool rendition of Little Wing for us – congrats, Lee! Now let’s look at soloing over it.

The song has the chords Em, G, Am, Bm, C, and Bb as a passing chord. So what key are we in? Notice that Am and Bm are a tone apart, so those have to be chords II and III. This means we are in G. Em is the VI in G, and Bb is a passing chord. So we could use the G Major Scale to solo.

But there’s also an F in the song. The G Major Scale clashes with the F chord, particularly the note F#. At that point, try targeting notes in the F chord (F, A, and C).

Try this with the other chords too. You can play the G Major Pentatonic over the whole tune, including the F chord. But playing the chord tones changes the groove. It sounds wicked! You can use the visual chord shapes for this – you don’t have to target note names.

💡 Trial and error is also a legitimate strategy and can lead to happy accidents. A lot of my best playing has come about this way!

Think of the Minor Pentatonic as your safety net when you’re off exploring the chord tones. If it goes wrong, head back to the minor pentatonic. If you can blend theory and strict scale playing with your natural instinct for good sounds, you’ll be on your way to excellent solo playing.

Playing Patterns v Playing By Ear

We came on to the subject of playing scale patterns compared to playing by ear. Lee was complaining that he’d never learned to number the various positions of the Minor Pentatonic Scale.

This is not an issue. In fact, Jim Cregan (guitarist in Cockney Rebel and part of Rod Stewart’s band) told me he didn’t know any scales or theory. But in the intro to Make Me Smile, he runs right up the G Major Scale!

He knew the sound of the Major Scale and could play it all over the fretboard, but he’d never sat down and formally learned all the patterns.

That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t learn scale patterns. They give us a shortcut if we can’t dedicate our entire lives to guitar and learn it all by ear.

Organizing Your Practice

Lee also commented that the 30-minute periods weren’t working for him. He only did the exercises he could do quickly and found himself leaving out items like transcribing.

I find I can only do serious practice if I have a two-hour block when nobody is at home. A good way around this is to schedule one day every week when you can practice for an hour. You can also use your free time for guitarless practice, like learning theory, notes on the neck, and listening, saving your guitar time for playing.

Advice For Youngsters

And finally, some advice from two old men! Kidding. Seriously though, if you’re young and don’t have adult commitments, we recommend you practice as much as possible.

💡Justin's Journey – I used to watch the other kids play in the park from my window as I practiced. But I didn’t feel I was missing out – I just loved playing guitar!

You’re at the perfect age for learning and have loads of time. Take it from two long-time guitarists – you’ll never have this opportunity again. Make the most of it!

Keep following along with this series – there's tons more cool Intermediate–Advanced guitar tricks coming up, including harmonic analysis, melodic sequences, and modes! From Justin and Lee, take care. :)

💙 Move into Advanced guitar territory with my Advanced Grade 7 course.

Homework

These are Lee's areas for practice until next lesson.

Revision of all 5 Minor Pentatonic Patterns (Start and end on lowest root note!)
Practice Minor Pentatonic Pattern 1 – "In 4ths" (video coming shortly!)
Theory Course – get stuck in!
Transcribing – find 10 licks you love and work out how to play them!
Three-Notes-Per-String Major Scale Pattern 1
1. Legato (hammer-ons and flick-offs) as triplets
2. Playing the scale with 4 notes per click (or foot tap)
Little Wing – work on exploring target tones to a backing track (or a loop you make). Aim to know where you are and what chord you are playing over at all times. This will make your soloing a little jumpy and separated for a while, but stay with it. It'll smooth out and you'll learn a really valuable skill!

+ Make some time to listen to new music – with no distractions!