Scales
ARTICLES
Make Your Sequences More Musical
February 27, 2021
Patterns can be viewed as boring or trite, but a little bit of creativity can turn them into bits of inspiration.
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An Introduction to Weird Guitar
February 6, 2021
Get ready for a genre-bending lesson that aims to delight, confound, and inspire.
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What Makes the Melodic Minor Scale So … Melodic?
January 2, 2021
Find out why this pattern favored by metal shredders and jazz gurus is one of the most accurately named modes.
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Grant Green's Bebop Blues
December 19, 2020
Dip a toe in the jazz-blues pool with these simple chord subs.
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Don’t Sleep on the Mixolydian Mode
November 7, 2020
Learning how to add Mixolydian flavors into your playing can be a quick way to expand your vocabulary or get out of a rut!
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Pump Up Your Picking
October 10, 2020
Quick exercises to get your fretting and picking hands playing together!
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Rethinking the Blues Scale
September 19, 2020
There’s way more than blues-rock fodder buried in the crevices of the most overused scale in music.
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Blues Arpeggio Tricks
September 12, 2020
A simple half-step slide is all it takes to spice up those vanilla arpeggios.
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I Transcribed a Lick. Now What?
September 5, 2020
Even on the simplest of phrases, there’s still work to be done.
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Pentatonic Escape Routes
August 29, 2020
Don’t be a prisoner of the pentatonic box. Time to break out!
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The Building Blocks of the Blues
August 1, 2020
A back-to-basics approach to crafting a 12-bar solo.
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The Beginner’s Guide to Mini-Scales
July 25, 2020
Colorful note groupings can bend the ear of the listener—and spark creativity in your own playing.
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Ozzy’s Guitar Army: Unlock the Solos of Randy, Jake, and Zakk
April 4, 2020
From neo-classical riffs to pure shred and finally Southern rock on steroids, these three guitarists held it down for Ozzy for more than 30 years.
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Last Dance with Dorian
March 14, 2020
It all started with a Fender Champ and a three-chord rock anthem.
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The Melodic Side of Ritchie Blackmore
February 29, 2020
The legendary guitarist not only wrote one of the most famous riffs of all time, he pioneered a style that gave birth to legions of shredders.
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Spy Guitar Essentials
February 15, 2020
Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to learn, understand, and incorporate the musical characteristics found in countless spy-film soundtracks.
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The Happy Side of the Phrygian Scale
February 8, 2020
Don’t let this often misunderstood scale lead you down the “wrong” path.
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How Much Can You Say with a Single-Note Line?
January 25, 2020
Let’s consult J.S. Bach! Don’t know a partita from a fajita? No worries.
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How to Craft More Melodic Solos
January 4, 2020
There’s way more to it than simply mastering chords and scales.
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