What does every guitarist want? We want power, flexibility, dexterity, awesome timing, and we want to be able to visualise notes all over the fretboard&#8230; right? This fun challenge is going to help you develop all of that and more!
I&#8217;m going to show you a seemingly simple lick that will stretch your hands to their limits, and if that sounds too easy we&#8217;ll also be introducing some hybrid picking and rhythmic techniques to really get you going. So grab your axe, learn the lick and head over to our Discord server to share your attempts with the rest our community!

Thomas McRocklin

Challenge

Hybrid Picking

Hybrid Picking Challenge

Introduction

The Challenge

When I was younger I followed a very structured practice routine for 8-10 hours a day, but it&#8217;s very hard to dedicate that amount of time to guitar when you have other commitments to keep!
In reality, we all have those days when you only have a few minutes available to practice, so in this lesson I&#8217;m going to show you how to develop a routine that works for you and helps you improve your technique, strength, speed and dexterity even when you&#8217;re really limited on the time you have available.

Exercises

Technique

Tips and Tricks

Developing A Practice Routine

What to focus on

Quick exercises

Finger independence

<div>
<div>In this lesson I&#8217;m going to teach you a super effective songwriting method that uses simple chord shapes and some basic music theory based around intervals, which is really easy to understand even if you&#8217;ve never learned theory before.</div>
<div>As well as helping you to find inspiration and write songs, this method will also help you to visualise the fretboard and how the notes relate to each other, so it will really help you to feel more comfortable and confident moving around the neck.</div>
</div>

Chords

Improvisation

Songwriting

Theory

Songwriting Using Intervals

Part 1

Part 2

In this lesson we&#8217;re going to take a few nice sounding chords and use them to build a chord progression packed full of groove, flow and all of the details that make it sound absolutely popping.
As we move forward step-by-step I&#8217;ll show you all of the subtle tips and tricks I use to turn simple chords into something amazing. Even better, you&#8217;ll be able to use the techniques I show you to instantly transform your old riffs and song ideas by injecting them with extra detail and expression!

Rhythm

How To Build A Chord Progression

Lesson

Easy Lessons

When you think of harmonics you probably imagine squealing dive bombs, but they are also an amazing tool to use when improvising to add an extra dimension to your playing.
In this lesson we&#8217;re going to explore harmonics in three different keys, and the multiple ways that you can use them to add sustain, create tension and explore new sounds! If you&#8217;ve been feeling stuck for ideas or are looking to inject some new sounds into your playing then this lesson is exactly what you&#8217;ve been waiting for!

Harmonics

The World Of Harmonics

A Minor

E Minor

B Minor

If you&#8217;ve been wanting to up your improv game or just get familiar with playing all around the neck with different sounds, then this is the lesson for you!
Let me guide you through my entire thought process when it comes to improv playing, from first hearing a track through to identifying which scales, arpeggios and notes I think will work over it. I also show you how to use this information to solo and improvise in any position on the fretboard, with plenty of tips and insights along the way!

Street Walker

Street Walker (Short)

Arpeggios

Pentatonics

Soloing Around The Neck

Planning what to play

Starting position 1

Starting position 2

Starting position 3

In this lesson I&#8217;m going to show you how to move quickly up and down the fretboard, changing positions with ease to open up new playing opportunities all over the guitar neck.
I cover a lot of elements in this lesson from posture, practicing, developing technique, building confidence and more &#8211; covering all of the elements you need to be able to shift positions seamlessly. I&#8217;ve even thrown in a couple of killer exercises that will really help you develop this important skill and blaze up and down the fretboard

Moving Around The Fretboard

Exercise 1

Exercise 2

Get ready for the Ultimate Shred Workout&#8230; this lesson will transform you into a shred beast with just a few minutes of commitment per week!
I&#8217;ve put together a selection of key exercises designed to improve your speed, power and dexterity. Repeat the workout 2-3 times per week and you&#8217;ll become a shred master in no time! What are you waiting for? Click play and let&#8217;s do this!

Shred

The Ultimate Shred Workout

The Workout

Intermediate Lessons

In this lesson I&#8217;m going to walk you through the 2nd solo from my track &#8220;Waiting For The Right Time&#8221;. This is the 2nd guitar solo in this track and it&#8217;s by far the most intense&#8230;
This solo was actually pieced together in the studio from multiple versions, resulting in something that I would never have played in a single take. It was challenging to re-learn this afterwards, but in the process I picked up a lot of interesting tips to pass on to you!

Solo 2

Text/PDF

Guitar Pro

Lick Breakdown

Tapping

Waiting For The Right Time &#8211; Solo 2

Solo Breakdown

In this lesson I&#8217;m going to teach you a cool, creative string skipping tapping lick as well some tips to carry out to help you with this style of playing.
Sometimes with licks based on modulations, modal interchanges, complex harmony etc, we can find ourselves a bit lost. I bet you have had that feeling, haven&#8217;t you? Don&#8217;t worry, I&#8217;m also going to explain the harmony behind this lick and how it is constructed!

Borja Mintegiaga

String Skipping

Intervallic Lick

Theory and Tips

Today I&#8217;m going to take you up to the Shred Club HQ for 6 absolutely killer, finger ripping shred exercises that are going to get you shredding out of your mind!
We&#8217;re going to start off by getting your left hand on fire, then concentrate on the picking hand, before finally pulling out all the stops with some insane tapping exercises to really get your blood pumping.

6 Mega Shred Exercises

Left hand

Right hand

Both hands

Recently I was writing a new riff and I wasn&#8217;t quite sure where I wanted to go with it. It features a lot of interesting techniques which I&#8217;m going to break down for you&#8230;
&#8230;but it&#8217;s not finished yet! That&#8217;s where you come in. I want you to learn my parts, then write your own ending and share your version with me in the members chat. Let&#8217;s do this!

The Unfinished Riff

The Lesson

Let's Exercise!

Advanced Lessons

One of the most effective methods I use to improve the speed and smoothness of guitar licks is to take a step back and explore different ways to optimise what I&#8217;m playing.
This can feel uncomfortable at first as you need to retrain your brain &#8211; and fingers &#8211; to approach things in a different way, but once you begin applying this simple concept to your playing you&#8217;ll begin to open up new ways to play licks faster and more fluently, whilst saving literally hours and hours of practice time!

Speed

Breaking The Habit

Intro

In this lesson I&#8217;m going to show you two very different approaches to using Legato. We&#8217;re gonna cover that real fast old-school 90s style before moving right to the present with my current approach to Legato. It&#8217;s much more subtle, and allows for some killer note combinations.
I&#8217;ve also included a mighty exercise that&#8217;s guaranteed to give you melon crushing abilities 🍉 🥋

Legato

Legato &#8211; Old School vs New School

Old school style

Old school with a twist

Back to the future

Time to Shred!

In this lesson I&#8217;m going to walk you through solo number one from my track &#8220;Waiting For The Right Time&#8221;.
This solo is all about trying to say more with less notes, with an emphasis on melody, phrasing and delivery. Technically this solo is quite simple, but as I walk you through it we&#8217;re going to pay a lot of attention to all the small details that make it stand out!

Solo 1

Waiting For The Right Time &#8211; Solo 1

Today I&#8217;m going to teach you a really cool melodic rock lick that you can use to improve your improvisation and overall lead game.
I&#8217;ll break down the full lick for you and explain how it is constructed as well as some of the theory behind it, followed by some awesome exercises which will help you improve the legato techniques required to play these types of licks.

Backing Track

Stel Andre

Melodic Rock Lick Breakdown

Lick breakdown

Lick breakdowns

Do you find yourself stuck playing the same scales and patterns all the time?
In this lesson we&#8217;re going to pick a few different keys to improvise in but we&#8217;re going to completely ban the obvious and comfortable scale positions you&#8217;re used to! Instead I&#8217;ll show you some cool new shapes and patterns to use which will force you into using new note choices and phrasing options to help you break out of your habits and breath new life into your playing!

Scales

Alternative Scale Positions

A minor

C minor

D minor

This lesson is all about getting you really comfortable playing everywhere on the neck &#8211; without learning any scale positions at all!
This is one of the first things I learned on guitar and is actually how I was able to shred from a very young age. It&#8217;s based on a very simple method that is really easy to learn and will make a huge difference to you when it comes to visualising the fretboard.

Thinking in Tones

Getting started

TSTTSTT

Linking it together

Music theory

Tips & tricks

In this lesson I&#8217;m going to give you a full breakdown of all of the mechanics and movements involved in sweep picking so that you can learn everything you need to nail this awesome technique.
I start with the basics, including the best methods for holding the pick correctly so that you can sweep through the strings like a warm knife through butter! As you progress through the lesson you&#8217;ll learn multiple sweeping patterns and how to put everything together so you can use this technique in the real world to deliver some awesome solo action!

Sweep Picking

Sweep Picking 101

Ascending Sweeps

Descending Sweeps

Changing Direction

Transitioning Between Shapes

In this lesson you&#8217;re going to learn some killer riffs and techniques that will push your prog playing to the limit. Starting with some simple progressions we&#8217;ll jam together and exchange solos then transform those chords into super tight, advanced prog riffs.
If you&#8217;re still thirsty for more then come join me on a deep dive into sweeping arpeggios and how to lock your sweeping in time with a drum beat.

Drum beat

Riffs

The Ultimate Prog Workout

Riff 1 (jam)

Riff 1 (advanced)

Riff 2 (jam)

Riff 2 (advanced)

Sweep practice

Sweep practice (advanced)

I love to combine sweeping and tapping together, it&#8217;s a technique I use all the time and in this lesson I&#8217;m going to show you three ways to implement this in your own playing.
Using these techniques together allows you to come up with fresh and interesting note combinations, and spice up boring licks. You can also use them to also unlock something very special which will completely transform your playing and take you to a whole new level!

Combining Sweeping With Tapping

The extension

Sweep, tap and bend

The position shift

Being able to switch fluently between different techniques is really important, so I&#8217;ve put together a shred lick which features a combination of alternate and sweep picking to help you nail this transition seamlessly.
If you&#8217;re new to shredding this is a great lick to get started with and I include a lot of tips and insights that will set you up on the right track to become a shred monster in no time!

Alternate Picking

Switching Shred Lick

Sweep picking

Hey guys, Micky Crystal here and today I&#8217;ve got a very cool hybrid picking legato lick for you.
I&#8217;m going to show you a couple of cool exercise to go along with this, and once you&#8217;ve learned the lick and the ideas behind it&#8217;ll enable you to create your own awesome hybrid picking legato licks.

Micky Crystal

Hybrid Picking Legato Lick

Today I&#8217;m going to show you one of my favourite go-to shred licks. This lick features a variety of techniques &#8211; sweep picking, hammer ons, pull offs &#8211; and a lot of muting to go along with those to improve your note separation and clarity.
Before we get into the lick itself I&#8217;m also going to demonstrate my approach to playing major arpeggios &#8211; so that you can apply these skills to your own playing and licks!

Hybrid Picking Challenge

Scale Finder

Guitar Techniques 101

Practical Guitar Theory

Members Area

Browse lessons by topic

Easy Lessons

Hybrid Picking Challenge

Developing A Practice Routine

Songwriting Using Intervals

How To Build A Chord Progression

Intermediate Lessons

The World Of Harmonics

Soloing Around The Neck

Moving Around The Fretboard

The Ultimate Shred Workout

Advanced Lessons

Waiting For The Right Time – Solo 2

Intervallic Lick

6 Mega Shred Exercises

The Unfinished Riff

Time to Shred!

The Ultimate Shred Workout

Breaking The Habit

6 Mega Shred Exercises

Legato – Old School vs New School

Lick breakdowns

Waiting For The Right Time – Solo 2

Waiting For The Right Time – Solo 1

Melodic Rock Lick Breakdown

Intervallic Lick

Music theory

The World Of Harmonics

Songwriting Using Intervals

Alternative Scale Positions

Thinking in Tones

Improvisation

The World Of Harmonics

Soloing Around The Neck

Songwriting Using Intervals

How To Build A Chord Progression

Tips & tricks

Developing A Practice Routine

The World Of Harmonics

Moving Around The Fretboard

Breaking The Habit

Sweep picking

Sweep Picking 101

The Ultimate Prog Workout

Combining Sweeping With Tapping

Switching Shred Lick

Guest Lessons

Melodic Rock Lick Breakdown

Intervallic Lick

Hybrid Picking Legato Lick

Black Line Shred Lick