Guitar Candy - Dirt Poor Robins

Always a fan of virtuosity, here is a burning, liquid line from guitarist Neil Degraide off the new album, The Raven Locks -Act 2 by Dirt Poor Robins. Its in the intro to the track, Maximilian Von Spee (more on Dirt Poor Robins below). Check the line out. Listen to it here (right at the beginning). Its a Cm lick that fits well in the standard pentatonic shape (G shape for you CAGED people) and uses a good deal of legato, slurs, hammer-ons and pull-offs, etc. Its great practice and has a cool major/minor pentatonic bluesy sound.

There are a number of approaches you could take in fingering it but I've landed on a hybrid picking with a bit of sweeping thrown in for good measure. Here's a fingering I like:

As you learn it, try breaking it into three sections:

Part 1

This line flows really nicely under your fingers. It mixes picking with your middle finger, a downstroke with your pick, and a backwards sweep. Go slowly and eventually it will sit really nicely and fluidly. In fact, this line works well on its own. Try moving it up and down the neck as it sounds impressive and is worth working out.

Part 2

This is similar to part 1 but a little shorter. Start with the middle finger and move into a backwards sweep. Again, a nice fast, fluid motion. Once you're comfortable with it, try putting parts 1 and 2 together. Just those two parts will sound impressive on their own.

Part 3

Then add the final section. Again, start with the middle finger, go into a backwards sweep and slide down to the final note. This part you could finger differently if you don't like the sweep, but try it out. The difficulty in this section is the move from the 4th string to the 5th string. You have to prep a little bar before you move to the 5th string. Experiment with what works for you.

You could break it up or finger it differently (it could work nicely with just fingers too), but hopefully this helps. Often we try and attack an idea we want to learn but bite off too much at first, get frustrated, and stop. Going slowly and breaking it up into smaller components can really help. And, as with any idea, move it around the neck, take bits and pieces of it and experiment with variations. Make it your own.

Also, if you don't already know of the Dirt Poor Robins, as a music lover you owe it to yourself to check them out. Even if its not your go-to style they are wildly creative, great musicians, and absolutely worth your time. There is plenty more great guitar playing to be heard too. Check them out here.

Have fun with the line and keep practicing!

PA

Nick Johnson Guitarist - Arpeggio Sequence

Nick Johnston Guitar

We're looking at another lick from Canadian guitarist, Nick Johnston. Its a cool sounding arpeggio sequence that you can move up and down the neck and use as a basis for other lines.. It has a clever fingering that flows really well and offers more insight into his approach towards the guitar neck. You’ll see how it connects to the last lick we looked at and how you can take the concept even further.

Let’s start with the line:

Nick Johnston Guitar - Arpeggio Sequence Lick - Main

You can see Nick playing it and walking through it here.

It’s a cool line in C major that flows really nicely and is a good workout for your legato and hybrid picking chops. It even has a little sweep in there for good measure.

Technically, take the first measure. You start with a downstroke (the upside down "u" symbol), hammer to the next note, downstroke again and then pluck the last of that group of 4 notes with your middle finger (marked "m"). The next 4 notes (still 1st measure) you have two consecutive downstrokes which you sweep, then grab the third note with your middle finger followed by a hammer on. That fingering pattern repeats nicely for every new position you move to.

Musically, you could think of it two ways. Each measure has two chords (Cmaj7 and Em7, Dm7 and Fmaj7, etc.) like this:

Nick Johnston Guitar - Arpeggio Sequence Lick - Ex. 2a

Or, every measure is basically a major or minor 9 chord like this:

Nick Johnston Guitar - Arpeggio Sequence Lick - Ex. 2b

If you think of the chords as being C, D, F and Am (like Ex. 2b), you have I7 - ii7 - IV7 - iv7. Can you find those chords in different keys? Try G,  Eb, etc. Also, it sounds cool as is but try moving it out of sequence like this (Ex. 3):

Nick Johnston Guitar - Arpeggio Sequence Lick - Ex. 3

Anyway, you get the idea. Get it into your fingers. Move it around. Change up the sequence. This will help you nail the technique and come up with creative ideas.

Alright, let's take this just a little bit further. Since we've moved up in 4 note groups, how about trying it backwards? Take the shape and play it backwards (just play the first note with your middle finger and hammer-on/pull-off everything else):

Nick Johnston Guitar - Arpeggio Sequence Lick - Ex. 4

Get used to going backwards and try that out on all the chords. Next, try going up (like the original) and then back down like this:

Nick Johnston Guitar - Arpeggio Sequence Lick - Ex. 5a

Or, here's an alternate version where you don't re-strike the string on the way back down. I think it flows a little better:

Nick Johnston Guitar - Arpeggio Sequence Lick - Ex. 5b

Try that for all of the other chords in the sequence too (Dm, F and Am).

One more thing, you can take that concept one step further and get a really cool melodic idea by going up one shape, sliding up into the next and then coming back down. Try this:

Nick Johnston Guitar - Arpeggio Sequence Lick - Ex. 6

I love the sound of the line sliding up and coming back a different chord. Here's that idea applied to the original arpeggio sequence:

Nick Johnston Guitar - Arpeggio Sequence Lick - Ex. 7

Again, like we looked at in Ex. 3, try mixing up the chords. Go from the lowest to the highest. Isolate two chords and loop them. Even try changing string sets.  Its a great little idea that sits really nicely under your fingers.

Until then, practice up, let me know if you have any questions and don't forget to make it musical,

PA