When it comes to scales and improvising, the guitar fretboard is a maze, and this is both good and bad… Well, instead of bad, let’s say it’s ‘challenging’ because like any maze it’s easy to get lost, familiar routes can often lead to dead-ends, and it can be overwhelming to find your way out. On the other hand, we have countless routes (possibilities) to choose from, all of which provide different creative opportunities; what I’m basically saying is that by learning one or two scale systems to ‘get through the maze’, we stop seeing (or even avoid) the many other ways there are to navigate the fretboard. This is where 25 Guitar Scale Hacks comes in. This book is about exploring the fretboard using those other routes to create motion, fluidity and bring the music out of any static pattern. Here, we dispense with the standard patterns such as 3NPS scales or the CAGED system in order to explore the many other patterns, nuances and hacks the guitar fretboard has to offer. Who is this book for? This book is for the intermediate to advancing students who really want to make their playing stand out from the crowd, feel stuck in a rut, or want to move away from rote pattern playing and predictable-sounding solos. 25 Guitar Scale Hacks looks at improvisation based on the guitar fretboard; in other words, we’re putting the guitar and all its nuances first, rather than working from generic patterns that are traditionally taught in scale and arpeggio books. The concept of 25 Guitar Scale Hacks then is a collection of mini-lessons or hacks for a deeper exploration of scales and how to make music with them. Feel free to work through the book in the order it’s written or choose the hacks that interest you the most.

3NPS (three-note-per-string) scales, as used by legions of guitarists but popularized mainly by Joe Satriani, are one of the most efficient ways to navigate the fretboard and get your scales down IF you follow the guidelines in this book. As the name suggests, a 3NPS scale is any scale that contains three notes on each string, and as you'll see in this eBook, this makes for a very consistent way to map out scales on the guitar fretboard. What we’ve done here is revamped the 3NPS scale system and turned it into an incredibly effective means to learn a wide variety of scales all over the fretboard by streamlining the number of patterns, as well as the picking system. This is not a scale theory book, and contains no pentatonic scales. This is a quick and dirty (and very effective) method for learning 3NPS scales all over the fretboard; something to work on in the woodshed. It will improve your picking technique and speed. It does not require a great amount of thinking as you only need to learn two picking patterns, which is really one in two directions, and only three scale patterns instead of the usual seven per scale.

I was watching a YouTube video a while back where Lee Anderton (of Anderton’s fame) gets a guitar lesson from Ariel Posen. Ariel tries his best to teach him a few things in a very thorough and well-meaning way, but about half-way through Lee says something along the lines of, ‘Just teach me the quick and dirty way to do things, I’m a middle-aged man who doesn’t have the time (or the patience) to practice scales for 8 hours a day’, which is both totally valid and completely doable on guitar as it’s one of the few instruments that lends itself well to a wide range of methodologies, be they theory-based or the other extreme. This book was also inspired by many students of a variety of ages who came to me saying they just wanted to play and not be bogged down by theory and scales and whatnot. They weren’t looking for shortcuts, they just genuinely wanted to solo and sound good without having to learn theory in order to do it. Admittedly, I was discouraged at first but I put myself in their shoes and came up with this method to get to the good stuff faster, and sound good. I won’t deal with pentatonic scales here as you’re probably already well-versed in those and are looking to be able to solo over simple and common chord progressions or add more variety to your improvisations. If you’re looking for a system to learn pentatonic scales (and modes), which is also theory-lite, check out another of my books: Beyond Pentatonics. All the music theory terms you’ll find in this book are for labeling purposes only and will help you recognize these concepts in songs or pieces you already know; they’ll also help you find the information on the fretboard when you need it instead of fumbling around. What’s more, due to the simplicity of this approach, you’ll be able to reduce your thinking to a minimum and concentrate on making a musical contribution to whatever situation you find yourself in and making jamming/playing out a far more enjoyable experience. I love this approach and often teach it to people who don’t want to practice 10 hours a day, are not interested in theory or knowing the whys and wherefores of everything. They just want a straightforward, “if you learn this and play it here, it’ll sound good”, method so that they can express themselves in a jam session, solo with more than just a pentatonic scale, or play out on the weekends. If you have even half an hour a day to play/practice guitar, you can make a world of progress with your soloing by using this method.

The Woodshedder’s Guide to Guitar Scales came about after a request from a student. Obsessed with scales, she wanted a practice regime that allowed to her to learn a considerable number of guitar scales all over the fretboard using the most efficient and least time-consuming method I could come up with. To accomplish this, I suggested using just three patterns per scale, all of which are derived from three master patterns. In essence, we bypassed traditional (and outdated) scale systems that have you learning anything from five to seven or more patterns per scale (as this is both time-consuming and unnecessary) and grouped scales in a way that makes them far easier to digest, woodshed, and have the results show up in your playing relatively quickly. Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t a shortcut, it’s simply a very efficient method if you’re willing to spend hours in the woodshed. In this guide we dispense with traditional concepts to give you the most efficient and effective way to not only learn a ton of scales, but to achieve levels of technique and precision that will serve you for years to come.

"The Art of Scale Weaving" has but one purpose; connection. It is through connection that we broaden our spectrum of understanding of the language of music through our instrument... the guitar. This book looks to achieve such connection by utilizing a new method known as Scale Weaving, which unifies different concepts such as triads, pentatonic scales and heptatonic scales. It is through connection that we can better understand the underlying relationships within these concepts.

Have you ever seen those guitarists that sound like they know exactly what they’re doing when they’re improvising? They just seem to hit all the right notes while their playing sounds crisp and melodic, as if they’d planned it all out beforehand, or were born with a God-given sense of melody. I’d always wondered how on earth they were able to come up with such melodic and flowing lines, thinking that they must simply be gifted, or have done some serious woodshedding. Then, during one unforgettable class at music college the door was opened to a method for playing and thinking as melodically and as effortlessly as they did, and this is what I want to share with you in this eBook.

Due to the fantastic response to the first book in this series, ’50 Guitar Hacks for the Thinking Man’s Guitarist’, it gives me immense pleasure to bring you this second installment; 50 More Guitar Hacks for the Thinking Man’s Guitarist. My hope is to again provide you with timely insight into all aspects of learning and playing guitar. These hacks are things I’ve learned from years of playing that should and will be passed on to those seeking insight, out-of-the-box thinking, and the deepening of their knowledge of the guitar whatever their current level may be. The information herein takes the form of mini-lessons, anecdotes, wisdom and knowledge, divine inspiration and friendly advice. It is my desire to help you on your journey to being the best guitarist you can possibly be.

Theory is a six-letter dirty word to most musicians, but hey, musicians love dirty words, right? And just like all the other dirty words, theory is easy to learn and fun to use! After studying 'popular' and 'classical' music theory, Ray Harmony created a unique approach that he uses to compose his songs, which feature multi-platinum Grammy winners Serj Tankian (System of a Down), Tom Morello (Rage Against the Machine), and many more. Ray Harmony is an award-winning music lecturer and multi-instrumentalist, who is now sharing his top-secret music theory and songwriting hacks through this book series. Drawing on his two decades of teaching experience combined with his minimalist methods of explaining, Ray breaks down music theory into its simplest form via a series of simple hacks, deep insights, and bad jokes. Tuck in at HackMusicTheory.com"e;The most brilliant, fast, easy, and fun music theory book I've ever seen!"e; -DEREK SIVERS, CD Baby founder, TED speaker, musician, author of Anything You Want"e;This is the kind of book I wish I had when I first started out."e; -IHSAHN, Emperor"e;Trust Ray, and in no time you'll have a watertight music theory skillset you once thought impossible to obtain."e; -PAT LUNDY, Modestep, ex-Funeral for a Friend"e;Ray manages to make learning music theory fascinating, digestible, and damn right cool!"e; -JOE COPCUTT, AxeWound, Zoax"e;If you have been put off music theory in the past, then this is the book to inspire and empower you."e; -VICTORIA WILLIAMSON, PhD, Vice Chancellor's Fellow Researcher and Lecturer in Music at the University of Sheffield, UK, author of You Are the Music"e;Ray has a totally unique approach of hacking music theory, which gives you the essentials in a fraction of the time."e; -VESPERS, Warp Academy founder, music producer

Learn modern jazz guitar and theory with virtuoso Jens Larsen

50 Guitar Hacks for the Thinking Man's Guitarist has just received an extensive update and now features more detailed explanations, plus new hacks, diagrams and insight. Guitar Hacks can be clever ways to do things on guitar, priceless nuggets of information, or new perspectives on vital concepts for learning and understanding guitar, out-of-the-box thinking and much more besides. These hacks are based on 20+ years of hindsight so that you can get to where you want to be with your playing quicker and more efficiently. whatever your current level, or provide an excellent reference for guitar teachers looking for lesson ideas that can be easily expanded upon.