What are diagonal pentatonics?
Plus, get an inside look at the making of Slash's '4'
This week’s issue of Six String Sunday has tons of great lessons and stories from inside the guitar world. I’ve been looking ahead to some gear leaks from the upcoming NAMM show. I think we’re in for some big surprises gear-wise. Following up on one of last week’s stories, it looks like the Smashing Pumpkins have received 10,000 submissions to be their new guitar player, with 8 people reviewing them all. How wild is that?
What have you been working on to kick off 2024? New music, messing with new gear, learning something new? Let me know what you’re up to!
This Week’s Guitar Links
- This Is How I SHOULD Have Learned Pentatonics (Diagonal Pentatonics) - Whenever I see a lesson on my favorite set of guitar scales, I'm always curious to see what's being taught. Dan Seriff hung out with Rhett Shull to go over diagonal pentatonics, which is a neat way of linking up the 5 boxes of the scale.
- Chordplay - The Chords of Guthrie Govan - David Brewster goes over some of his favorite Guthrie Govan licks. Guthrie is one of my favorite guitar players, and I've always enjoyed challenging myself with some of his more tough licks. This video from Brewster is a great way to delve into a lot of what makes Govan's style exciting.
- The Matteo Mancuso Interview: The World's Greatest Guitarist? - Speaking of intense guitar players, Matteo Mancuso seems to be everywhere lately - and for good reason! This time he’s sitting down with Rick Beato, where the two discuss his flashy fingerpicking style, all of his biggest influences, and what he's focused on next.
- Guitar Alchemy no. 1 - "The Shifter" - Chris Brooks Lesson Series - On the Chasing Sound Discord, a few of us are big fans of Chris Brooks' books and lessons. Chris just started a new series called Guitar Alchemy on his channel, and the first video is an awesome lick called “The Shifter". Not only does the lick shift all around the neck, but it's also a fun way to practice 7/8 time.
- John Sykes/Mastodon-style Double Picking: Start HERE! - If you're looking to make your riffs more flashy, check out this video from Ben Eller, in the style of John Sykes/Mastodon. Plus, you get to hear the sweet tone of Ben's mint green Jackson. If you want another cool video to practice picking, check out Ben's friend Andy Wood, and his lesson on alternate picking in the vein of fiddle players.
- Combining TRIADS To Level Up Your Rhythm Guitar Skills (Major & Minor) - Levi Clay is back with another great lesson from his guided practice series of books/videos. This week's lesson is all about combining major and minor triads all over the neck. Triad playing is so helpful in mapping notes to the fretboard, plus they'll even sound great in a dense mix when you're playing live/recording yourself.
- 3 Exercises EVERY Guitarist Needs to Do - Great video from SamuraiGuitarist where he goes over 3 exercises that you should definitely incorporate into your practicing. The best thing is that they're all really mindful of your time, and can be tailored to whatever you're working on at the time. They involve the circle of 4ths, working on rhythm, and listening to music you love and grabbing out the best pieces of it that excite you as a player.
- Slash: The Making of "4" + Live Performances | Gibson Films - I loved watching Slash and Co. talk about the making of the album ‘4’. There's a lot of great interview clips, performances, and more, all presented by Gibson's “Gibson Films" division. I'd love to see more films like this in the future.
- Josh Smith - Applying “handcuffs” as a soloing device - I enjoyed listening to Josh Smith talk about the option paralysis killer - using "handcuffs" to hone in on what you're going to play with your lead lines. This is out of the March 2024 issue of Guitar World.
- How Jimi Hendrix’s groundbreaking techniques are still influencing the modern rock, blues and R&B styles of today’s players - Even all these years later, there's still so much to learn and so many people being influenced by Jimi Hendrix. Guitar World put together a great lesson with some of these players' lead and rhythm work. Whether you're into blues, soul, etc., there's something to learn here.
- NEW Black Mountain Volume Pedal - It takes a lot at this point to get me excited about gear, but I thought this was a cool take on the volume pedal by Black Mountain. Seems like this would be fun live.
- Florida man plays guitar while undergoing brain surgery - The body is an interesting thing, eh? Not only is this story wild, there's video of it for proof!
Brian, whenever I read your blog I wish I had more time to follow all the links, but I don't So using the analogy of the SamuraiGuitarist, I'll go with following at least one link, which was of course his. It was really good. A nice practical way to use the circle of fourths, using the metronome more often is something I often think about but don't often do, mainly because I mostly play solo, but you can't have music without rhythm and from a listener's point of view, bad rhythm is almost as bad as having a string out of tune. Lastly grabbing a lick or something out of a track you are listening to is great. I listen to music for hours a day, often thinking, I'd like to do something with that track, which makes it a big job that I rarely get around to, but picking a small segment, whether its a hook or just some notes you like, is practical and as he said, adds to your vocabulary, he may not have used that word, but I like it, is always doable. Thanks as always.