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 In essence, we bypassed traditional (and outdated) scale systems that have you learning anything from five to seven or more patterns per scale (as this is both time-consuming and unnecessary) and grouped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.

An encyclopedia with over 6,000 diagrams, charts and graphs. Complete explanation of all 5,6,7,and 8 tone scales and modes.

A lot of students ask me how they can take their improvisation skills to the next level and move beyond pentatonic scales and into modes and arpeggios. My response is to tell them not to abandon pentatonic scales in favor of modes and other soloing devices, but to use them as a springboard and a solid foundation from which to expand their harmonic awareness. If you play rock, blues and even jazz, you’ll be using pentatonic scales for the rest of your life, so there’s no need to discard them! In this book, we’ll be using the much-loved minor pentatonic scale as the basis for learning and having a quick way to access the modes of the major scale, as well as the basic seventh chord arpeggios. This means that when you go to improvise, you'll have a vast array of options with which to go beyond pentatonic soloing. Work through this book daily and I guarantee you a smooth and painless transition from pentatonics to incorporating modes and arpeggios into your playing.

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 actually wrote this book as a practice guide for myself because I wanted a way to get different and outside sounds using pentatonic scales, as well as to improve my chops and have a huge variety of new sounds at my fingertips to play over the chords you see 90% of the time such as major/major7, minor/minor7, and dominant chords, among others. As well as being a scales book Alternative Pentatonics is also a method to practice improvising over common chords using uncommon groups of five notes. Five notes are somewhere between an arpeggio and a scale, as well as being the ideal number of notes to craft some really nice phrasing (in my opinion), as I’m sure you realized when you first learned your minor pentatonic scale and started jamming over a 12-bar blues. This book contains 28 new pentatonic scales divided into chord types so that you’ll know exactly what chords you can use them over. For the intermediate player: this book will give you plenty of new and interesting options for playing over common chords and force you out of standard pentatonic scales and/or the major scale modes. For the more advanced player: this book could be more about exploring possibilities than learning scale patterns; in fact, I would suggest that advanced players avoid even remembering the patterns in this book. Instead, they can be used to explore the improvisational terrain and find new sounds, then filed away in your subconscious and allowed to seep into your playing while you’re in the throes of improvisation. So, if you’re stuck in a soloing rut or are looking for new sounds, outside sounds, exotic sounds, or even a few downright weird sounds, this is the book for you.

Ever since my first guitar teacher introduced me to the music of Allan Holdsworth in the late 90s, it has been an ongoing apprenticeship. I became fascinated, not only with his music, but with his approach to music itself, and the way he thinks about chords, scales and improvisation. Allan’s REH video was a blessing for me as I was able to glean enough insight into his playing to understand the way the great man thinks, and more importantly to begin to apply those concepts to my own playing. I struggled with music theory and orthodox approaches, so when Allan’s beautifully simple way of thinking about chords and scales clicked for me, I knew I had found something that finally made sense. I must admit, I couldn’t play you a single Allan Holdsworth lick, and I wouldn’t want to as the thought of dissecting his music in that way was always unappealing to me. What I wanted to do was get inside his head, grasp his way of thinking about music, and find out exactly how he was able to come up with such intricate yet outrageous lines and compositions. And that is precisely what this book is about. Allan’s playing looks incredibly complicated, and then some, to the innocent bystander, but the approach behind it is incredibly simple and easy to grasp. It’s so straightforward in fact that most players who have attempted to describe what he does completely miss the point. Once you do understand his approach, however, you’ll have a new appreciation for how far he’s taken it, and how far it can go. This book is not for the faint-hearted, but you shouldn’t be put off by thinking that you’ll be getting to grips with a lot of tricky concepts, because you won’t; Allan’s way of thinking is almost childlike in its simplicity, and when you glimpse it I can assure you that you'll be intrigued.

The Hacking the CAGED System series was inspired by my own,and other guitarist’s frustrations with the infamous CAGED System for learning guitar. It all started back in Music College in the early 2000s, at the ACM in Guildford (UK) to be precise, where we were handed, by none other than Guthrie Govan, an inch-thick binder containing all manner of shapes and patterns for the CAGED system, including chords and arpeggios. I duly slaved over the book while burning the midnight oil for an entire semester and while my technique improved no end, I just couldn’t turn those patterns into music,or connect them to what I was learning in music theory class.Fast forward to 2016, and with the benefit of hindsight from more than 20 years of playing, I’ve been able to look at the CAGED system from a different perspective, and one that will hopefully make it a useful system for anyone wishing to learn it. The CAGED system has many flaws, but these can be hacked and rectified to turn it into a powerful system for understanding how the guitar fretboard works, leading to a versatile, and above all, functional knowledge of chords, arpeggios, scales and modes, and key signatures. What’s in Book 1? Book 1 teaches you the basic major scale forms, shows you where to find the basic diatonic chords as well as seventh chords.We then venture into intervals which are the key to making your solos sound like you know what you’re doing. Next we bring out the arpeggios,and finally the modes. Everything is tied together using key signatures as a framework to build up a practical knowledge of chords, scales,arpeggios and modes on the guitar.

If you enjoyed the simple and intuitive and musical method that we used in the Intermediate Scales Handbook, you’ll be pleased to know you can easily use it to incorporate exotic scales into your playing. I’ve hand-picked 15 of my favorite exotic scales and modes that I think are really useful for adding different flavors to your solos or exploring new sonic territory on the instrument. You’ll be able to incorporate these new sounds into your playing as I’ve laid out the book according to chord types you already know and probably use all the time. Then, in the final section of the book, we’ll look at two easy-to-follow methods for creating strange and beautiful chord progressions from any scale in this book. Don’t worry if you haven’t read the original Intermediate Scales Handbook, as this ‘exotic scales’ edition can easily be used as a stand-alone book. On the other hand, if you have covered the material from the original book, you’ve already paved the way for these new scales and modes to slot nicely into your improvisational repertoire.

From Grammy-winning musical icon and legendary bassist Victor L. Wooten comes an inspiring parable of music, life, and the difference between playing all the right notes…and feeling them. The Music Lesson is the story of a struggling young musician who wanted music to be his life, and who wanted his life to be great. Then, from nowhere it seemed, a teacher arrived. Part musical genius, part philosopher, part eccentric wise man, the teacher would guide the young musician on a spiritual journey, and teach him that the gifts we get from music mirror those from life, and every movement, phrase, and chord has its own meaning...All you have to do is find the song inside. “The best book on music (and its connection to the mystic laws of life) that I've ever read. I learned so much on every level.”—Multiple Grammy Award–winning saxophonist Michael Brecker

With knuckle-busting lessons covering surefire techniques, Shred! will light a napalm-hot blaze under your fingers and kick your playing up to ludicrous speed! Shredding is a challenge, but this book breaks it down, demystifying guitar solos that sound intimidating on record. Each chapter examines one killer technique in-depth, including: sweep picking, thrash-chording, blues shredding, tapping, legato playing, and the whammy bar. Each exercise is demonstrated via audio tracks.