
Stretch out those fingers and give your pick a rest with these twisted licks.
Advanced
Intermediate
- Strengthen your hammer-ons and pull-offs.
- Build fretting-hand stamina and fluidity.
- Create phrases that flow across bar lines.
Let’s take an in-depth look at how to incorporate legato techniques into your playing. In its most basic form, this is simply using various hammer-ons, pull-offs, and slides—collectively known as slurs—to create a smooth and fluid sound. Many guitarists use this technique to great effect, and Allan Holdsworth, Brett Garsed, Joe Satriani, and Eddie Van Halen are among those who have developed individual approaches to this technique.
They also play very fast and unusual note groupings that don’t have a strict regimented rhythm, which creates the effect of playing “across the beat.” Check out the legato lines on the classic Van Halen track “Drop Dead Legs.”
Drop Dead Legs (2015 Remaster)
Joe Satriani and Richie Kotzen have another approach to the technique, where they use diatonic lines based around three-note-per-string scale patterns. Satriani often plays shorts spurts of legato with long held notes, once again playing over the beat. Some great examples of this can be herd on “Flying in a Blue Dream.” Kotzen has a very strong fretting hand, and in addition to his scale-based lines, he uses his legato technique to play “outside” phrases and arpeggios.
Joe Satriani "Flying In A Blue Dream" At: Guitar Center
To my mind one of the best legato ambassadors is Brett Garsed, who uses the technique nearly exclusively. In conjunction with some hybrid picking, his legato fretwork produces a very full, rich sound. This approach takes a lot of dedication and discipline. Check out this video below of a solo Garsed performed in 1986 when he was only 23!
Brett Garsed Solo Live 1986
Fretting-hand position is very important when playing legato. I’d suggest positioning your thumb slightly lower on the back of the neck, rather than over the edge of the fretboard as you might when playing pentatonic ideas. Make sure that your fretting fingers are spaced out (roughly a finger per fret), and the notes are sounded with your fingertips. It’s also vital that you keep the fingers close to the fretboard because the pinky has a tendency to flap around slightly and is harder to control. Keeping it close means a more efficient left hand. This will also help with stamina, as your hand won’t become tired as quickly.
We should also consider the picking hand, as you will on occasion have to pick the first note in a run. It’s important not to pick too hard because you don’t want huge dynamic shifts between the plucked notes and those performed with hammer-ons and pull-offs. I’d suggest a light picking attack to match the volume of the notes initiated with your fretting hand. This is a great way to improve the interaction between the left and right hands when performing legato passages.
Another area that requires attention is muting open strings while playing legato lines. When working on the top strings, I mute the unused lower strings with the fleshy part of my palm, under the thumb. As I move my fretting hand across the strings, I gradually remove the picking-hand mute and transfer that duty to the first finger of my fretting hand.
Now let’s take a look at our examples, which include technical exercises to help you work on developing and improving the legato technique, as well as “real world” phrases based on the styles of various players.
Ex. 1 is a basic exercise that helps build strength and finger independence. It’s based around a hammer-on and pull-off idea with the first finger anchored at the 5th fret.
Ex. 1
Dig into Ex. 2 to develop both finger independence and endurance. The sequence can be tricky, so I’d suggest starting at a slow tempo and gradually building up speed. I’ve shown this pattern on the top four strings, but would encourage you to continue across the remaining strings.
Ex. 2
Ex. 3 is another timing and strength exercise that features an ascending and descending 16th-note triplet pattern. I’ve presented the sequence on the top three strings, and they should be repeated to build stamina. Practice these patterns with a metronome. You’ll really notice your fretting-hand strength improving.
Ex. 3
The goal with Ex. 4 is to be able to loop around a few times while keeping tone and time even. When ascending, use your first and second fingers, and when descending keep the fretting hands in the same position, but pull off between the fourth and second fingers. This is very tricky, but with perseverance you will achieve excellent finger independence and agility.
Ex. 4
We move on to three-note-per-string scales in Ex. 5. Although the scales are naturally arranged in groups of three, the 16th-note rhythm makes timing a bit trickier, but just as essential. When ascending, as you cross the strings start each new one with a downstroke. For the descending part of the lick, I like to start each new string with what Greg Howe calls a “hammer-on from nowhere.”
Ex. 5
Ex. 6 is another three-note-per-string exercise that’s based around two positions of G Dorian (G–A–Bb–C–D–E–F). This pattern also uses a 16th-note triplet rhythm with hammer-ons from nowhere on the descending part of the phrase.
Ex. 6
Now that some of the more technical exercises are out of the way, we can move to more stylistic legato examples. Ex. 7 is straight out of Richie Kotzen’s bag of tricks. The lick uses notes from A Aeolian (A–B–C–D–E–F–G) and moves up the 3rd string. This example is a real test for fretting-hand stamina, independence, and timing.
Ex. 7
We stick with Kotzen for Ex. 8, but this time we move to E Aeolian (E–F#–G–A–B–C–D). The phrase starts in the 8th position before shifting to the 5th, and finally ending in the 3rd position before resolving to the open 6th string.
Ex. 8
As you saw in the video above, Joe Satriani is an absolute master of legato and has made the technique a part of his signature sound. In Ex. 9, we call upon the C Lydian scale (C–D–E–F#–G–A–B) for something that could easily fit in “Flying in a Blue Dream.” Notice how we use fast flurries of notes, position shifts, and the sudden pauses on certain notes for emphasis.
Ex. 9
Ex. 10 is a John Petrucci-style phrase that’s based around the E Aeolian mode. An excellent addition to your vocabulary, this extended run features multiple position shifts and covers a large area of the fretboard.
Ex. 10
In Ex. 11, we combine arpeggios with pentatonics based in A minor. Pay attention to the wider pentatonic fingerings. Up to speed this is a great sounding lick!
Ex. 11
We move back to some Brett Garsed licks for Ex. 12. Here, we’re using notes from the A Aeolian scale on the top two strings. You’ll notice there are quite a few notes on each beat, so this is a real test of your agility.
Ex. 12
Finally in Ex. 13, we take some of Garsed’s stuff and stir in some Greg Howe. This lick makes use of three-note-per-string modal lines, string skipping, and pentatonic ideas in E minor. This is a very advanced lick, so be sure to break it down into bite-size chunks before gradually increasing the speed.
Ex. 13
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Sublime, fronted by Jakob Nowell, son of late Sublime singer Bradley Nowell, are in the studio writing and recording new songs for an upcoming full-length album. This marks their first new album since 1996.
When not performing at various festivals across North America in 2024, front man Jakob Nowell immersed himself in the Sublime catalog and found a deep sense of connection to his late father. The band is tapping into the 90s nostalgia, writing and recording the new songs with powerhouse producing duo Travis Barker and John Feldmann, in addition to working with producer Jon Joseph (BØRNS). The first single will be released this Summer via their newly established label Sublime Recordings.
"I grew up on Sublime. ‘40oz. to Freedom’ changed the way I listened to music. I’m so honored to be working with the guys in Sublime. Creating music for this album has been so fun and exciting. Bradley comes through his son Jakob while writing in the studio and performing. Chills every day in the studio when he sings and play guitar. This is going to be really special." – Travis Barker
“Sublime has always been a huge influence on me and to be able work with the band has been inspirational and game changing…It has been a highlight of my life to work on such a seminal record with such talented people. I’m so grateful for this opportunity and to continue the legacy and keep it authentic to what they have historically done.” – John Feldmann
After Jakob Nowell’s debut as Sublime’s new front man at Coachella 2024, he and his uncles Bud Gaugh and Eric Wilson continued the momentum of this latest chapter of the band, performing at over 20 festivals and shows across North America by the end of last year. Additional highlights from 2024 include Sublime’s late-night television debut on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, a 4-song set on the Howard Stern Show and the band’s first top 10 hit on alternative radio since 1997 with their single “Feel Like That,” featuring the vocals of both Bradley Nowell and his son Jakob together.
2025 is shaping up to be an even busier year for the band, with a handful of headlining shows, high-profile festival appearances to support the release of the new album.
For more information, please visit sublimelbc.com.
Sublime 2025 Tour Dates
- April 5 – LIV Golf Miami – Miami, FL
- April 18 – Red Rocks Amphitheater – Morrison, CO
- May 3 – Beachlife Festival – Redondo Beach, CA
- May 16 – Welcome To Rockville – Daytona Beach, FL
- May 23 – BottleRock Napa Valley – Napa, CA
- May 25 – Boston Calling – Boston, MA
- June 14 – Vans Warped Tour – Washington, DC
- July 12 – 89.7 The River’s 30th Anniversary Show – Omaha, NE
- July 20 – Minnesota Yacht Club Festival – Saint Paul, MN
- September 14 – Sea.Hear.Now – Asbury Park, NJ
- September 19 – Shaky Knees Festival – Atlanta, GA
Price unveiled her new band and her new signature model at a recent performance at the Gibson Garage in Nashville.
The Grammy-nominated alt-country and Americana singer, songwriter, and bandleader tells the story behind the creation of her new guitar and talks about the role acoustic Gibson workhorses have played in her musical history—and why she loves red-tailed hawks.
The Gibson J-45 is a classic 6-string workhorse and a favorite accomplice of singer-songwriters from Bob Dylan to Jorma Kaukonen to James Taylor to Gillian Welch to Lucinda Williams to Bruce Springsteen to Noel Gallagher. Last week, alt-country and Americana artist Margo Price permanently emblazoned her name on that roster with the unveiling of her signature-model J-45. With an alluring heritage cherry sunburst finish and a red-tail-hawk-motif double pickguard, the instrument might look more like a show pony, but under the hard-touring and hard-playing Price’s hands, it is 100-percent working animal.
The 6-string was inspired by the J-45 she bought at Nashville’s Carter Vintage Guitars after she was signed to Third Man Records, where she made her 2016 ice-breaker album, Midwest Farmer’s Daughter. But her affection for Gibson acoustics predates that, going back to when she found a 1956 LG-3 in her grandmother’s home. The guitar had been abandoned there by her songwriter great uncle, Bobby Fischer.
“I played it for years before I found my J-45,” Price recounts. “At Carter Vintage, I tried a lot of guitars, but when I picked up that J-45, I loved that it was a smaller guitar but really cut through, and I was just really drawn to the sound of it. And so I went home with that guitar and I’ve been playing it ever since.”
“Having a signature model was something I had dreamed about.”
Of course, Price was also aware of the model’s history, but her demands for a guitar were rooted in the present—the requirements of the studio and road. The 1965 J-45 she acquired at Carter Vintage, which is also a cherry ’burst, was especially appealing “compared to a Martin D-21 or some of the other things that I was picking up. I have pretty small hands, and it just was so playable all up the neck. It was something that I could easily play barre chords on. I could immediately get everything that I needed out of it.”
If you’ve seen Price on TV, including stops at Saturday Night Live, The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, and Jimmy Kimmel Live!, you’ve seen her ’65. And you’ve also seen, over the years, that part of the soundhole’s top has been scraped away by her aggressive strumming. It’s experienced worse wear from an airline, though. After one unfortunate flight, Price found her guitar practically in splinters inside a badly crushed case. “It was like somebody would have had to drive over this case with a truck,” she relates. Luckily, Dave Johnson from Nashville’s Scale Model Guitars was able to put Humpty Dumpty back together again.
After that, an alternative guitar for the road seemed like a requirement. “Having a signature model was something I had dreamed about,” Price says. Friends in her songwriting circle, including Lukas Nelson and Nathaniel Rateliff, already had them. Four years ago, a tweet asking which women they thought should have signature models appeared, and one of her fans wrote “Margo Price.” Smartly, Price tagged Gibson and retweeted. Codey Allen in Gibson entertainment relations spotted the tweet and agreed.
The double pickguard was chosen for Price’s J-45 because of its symmetry, as a nod to the Hummingbird, and due to her heavy strumming hand.
Photo courtesy of Gibson
“The neck is not quite as small as my J-45, but it is just a bit smaller than many J-45s fives, and very playable no matter what size hands you have.”
“And so we began our journey of building this guitar,” Price says. “I debated whether it should be the LG-3, which I still have hanging on my wall, or the J-45. I went to Montana and visited their [acoustic] factory and sat down with Robi Johns [director of sales and marketing at Gibson acoustic], and we ultimately decided that the J-45 was my guitar. Then we started talking about the specs. We did pull from the LG-3 in that the body of this signature guitar is a bit smaller. It still has a really loud, clear sound that rings through. The neck is not quite as small as my 1965 J-45, but it is just a bit smaller than many J-45s, and very playable no matter what size hands that you have.”
The pickup that Price selected is a L.R. Baggs VTC Element with a preamp, and she took a prototype of the guitar on the road opening for the Tedeschi Trucks Band. “I am used to playing with a really loud band, with drums and sometimes a couple electric guitars, and I wanted to make sure that this guitar just cut through,” she says. “It was really important to me that it be loud, and it cut beautifully. It’s got a mahogany body and scalloped bracing, which makes it very sturdy. This guitar is a workhorse, just like me.”
The Margo Price J-45’s most arresting characteristic, in addition to its warm sunburst finish, is its double-sided pickguard with an etching of a quartet of red-tailed hawks in flight. It’s practical for her strumming style, but it’s also got a deeper significance.
“We talked about all sorts of things that we could put on the pickguard, and I’ve always been a big fan of the Hummingbird, so what we did is a bit of a nod to that,” Price continues. “I’ve always been drawn to red-tailed hawks. They are supposed to be divine messengers, and they have such strength. They symbolize vision and protection. I would always count them along the highway as I’d be driving home to see my family in Illinois.”
Birds of a feather: “I’ve always been drawn to red-tailed hawks,” says Price. “They are supposed to be divine messengers, and they have such strength. They symbolize vision and protection.”
Photo courtesy of Gibson
With its comfortable neck, slightly thinner body, and serious projection, Price notes, “I wanted my guitar to be something that young girls can pick up and feel comfortable in their hands and inspire songs, but I didn’t want it to be so small that it felt like a toy, and that it didn’t have the volume. This guitar has all of those things.” To get her heavy sound, Price uses D’Addario Phosphor Bronze (.012–.053) strings.
Price says she and her signature J-45, which is street priced at $3,999, have been in the studio a lot lately, “and I have a whole bunch of things I’m excited about.” In mid March, she debuted her new band—which includes Logan Ledger and Sean Thompson on guitars, bassist Alec Newman, Libby Weitnauer on fiddle, and Chris Gelb on drums—in a coming out party for the Margo Price Signature Gibson J-45 at the Gibson Garage in Nashville. “I’ve been with my previous band, the Price Tags, for more than 10 years, and it’s definitely emotional when a band reaches the end of its life cycle,” she says. “But it’s also really exciting, because now, having a fiddle in the band and incredible harmony singers … it’s a completely different vibe. I’ve got a whole bunch of festivals coming up this year. We’re playing Jazz Fest in New Orleans, and I’m so excited for everyone to hear this new iteration of what we’re doing.”
With its heritage cherry sunburst finish and other appointments, the Margo Price Signature Gibson J-45 balances classic and modern guitar design.
Photo courtesy of Gibson
Get premium spring reverb tones in a compact and practical format with the Carl Martin HeadRoom Mini. Featuring two independent reverb channels, mono and stereo I/O, and durable metal construction, this pedal is perfect for musicians on the go.
The Carl Martin HeadRoom Mini is a digital emulation of the beloved HeadRoom spring reverb pedal, offering the same warm, natural tone—plus a little extra—in a more compact and practical format. It delivers everything from subtle room ambiance to deep, cathedral-like reverberation, making it a versatile addition to any setup.
With two independent reverb channels, each featuring dedicated tone and level controls, you can easily switch between two different reverb settings - for example, rhythm and lead. The two footswitches allow seamless toggling between channels or full bypass.
Unlike the original HeadRoom, the Mini also includes both mono and stereo inputs and outputs, providing greater flexibility for stereo rigs. Built to withstand the rigors of live performance, it features a durable metal enclosure, buffered bypass for signal integrity, and a remote jack for external channel switching.
Key features
- Two independent reverb channels with individual tone and level controls
- Mono and stereo I/O for versatile routing options
- Buffered bypass ensures a strong, clear signal
- Rugged metal construction for durability
- Remote jack for external channel switching
- Compact and pedalboard-friendly design
HeadRoom Mini brings premium spring reverb tones in a flexible and space-savingformat—perfect for any musician looking for high-quality, studio-grade reverb on the go.
You can purchase HeadRoom Mini for $279 directly from carlmartin.com and, of course, also from leading music retailers worldwide.
For more information, please visit carlmartin.com.
Together with Nathaniel, we’re decoding our favorite eras of the Edge’s tones—from his early Memory Man days through his expanding delay rack rig, into his 1990s Achtung Baby sounds, and all the way through to his Sphere rig. How does he get those amazing delay tones? And what are those cool picks he uses?
There’s a good chance that if you’re a guitar fan, you’ve seen Nathaniel Murphy’s gear demos—either on his Instagram account, where he goes by @zeppelinbarnatra, or on the Chicago Music Exchange page. His solo arrangements of classic tunes display his next-level technique and knack for clever arranging, and he makes our jaws drop every time he posts. When we learned that the Irish guitarist is a huge fan of U2’s The Edge, we knew he had to be our expert for this episode.
Together with Nathaniel, we’re decoding our favorite eras of the Edge’s tones—from his early Memory Man days through his expanding delay rack rig, into his 1990s Achtung Baby sounds, and all the way through to his Sphere rig. How does he get those amazing delay tones? And what are those cool picks he uses?