Pentatonics Guitar Lessons

Did you know that by adding a couple of extra details to your playing, you can take 4 or 5 notes and transform them boring, vanilla licks into something truly memorable and impressive sounding?

I’m going to show you how to do precisely that, and help you take a giant leap toward becoming a killer shredder! This lesson is also packed full of inspiration, including some of my best tips on how to avoid trapping yourself into playing the same notes over and over so that you can improvise freely and unlock your creativity.

Get ready for an exciting session where we trade licks and engage in a shred battle! We’ll go back and forth, giving each other plenty of space to showcase our skills. While I hold down the rhythm, you’ll take over and unleash your lead playing!

I’ve prepared an awesome backing track for us, and as we progress, there’s a cool chord change that opens up some fantastic options for us to explore. It’s easy to fall into the trap of playing the same sounds throughout our solos, so this is an excellent opportunity to delve into changing up our note choices. We’ll switch between different modes, incorporate pentatonic and minor scales, and even experiment with outside notes. It’s all about maximizing the impact of our solos, whether they’re eight bars or sixteen bars long.

In this lesson, I’m going to break down the main solo from my track Storms. It involves a lot of melodic playing that relies heavily on phrasing, vibrato and slides before kicking into a frantic flurry of pentatonic picking.

I’ll be taking you through the solo nice and slowly, going over things line by line and pointing out all of the little moves and techniques that you’ll need to absolutely nail this solo and take away several tips and tricks that you can apply to your own playing.

The Inspiration Toolbox is absolutely packed full of quick and easy licks, techniques and approaches that you just have to try. No matter what level you’re at – if you feel like you’re playing the same licks and making the same sounds on your guitar you’re going to get something from this lesson.

In this 10 part mini-series, we’re going to cover everything from diminished sweeping licks, to working with limited intervals, to adding a cool new spin to your bending. I also show you how to introduce outside and passing notes into your playing, this alone separates your sound from many other guitarists!

Blues guitar has such a classic, cool sound and in this lesson, I’m going to show you how to fuse some of the more soulful aspects of the genre into your progressive rock playing.

I’ve got 5 different concepts to teach you that are heavily blues-influenced and I’ll be walking you through how they work and how you can apply them in a modern, progressive way.

In this lesson I’ve got a really fun yet challenging lick that combines a number of different techniques and sounds together, jumping from alternate picking to economy and sweep picking, with rapid position shifts – even switching from a minor to pentatonic sound (and back again)!

Not only do I break down the lick itself but I also show you the techniques involved so that you can become way more confident when it comes to applying these techniques to your own solos.

This super cool lesson features a special guest instructor, Tim Hutch from the band McRocklin and Hutch. Lately, Tim’s been creating a killer sound, blending pentatonic scales with economy picking and hybrid picking.

Throughout the lesson, we’ll be diving into five different positions of this unique approach. Tim will guide you through each position, explaining the techniques, and I’ll be right there, breaking it all down step by step. This might just be the fresh twist your playing needs!

In this lesson, we dive deep into a massive shred solo from the McRocklin and Hutch track “Come”. This track isn’t the fastest, sitting at around 90 BPM, but as guitarists, it’s our job to inject the pace and excitement into it – this solo, packed with various techniques, does just that!

I’ll walk you through all the techniques involved – the epic bends, slick slides, smooth slurs, and the art of pushing and pulling. But here’s the real gem: I’ll show you how to take seemingly simple pentatonic notes and transform them into something so exciting that you’d never think it’s just your standard pentatonic scale. It’s a trick I love to employ, and I’m going to break it down for you step by step.

In this lesson, I dissect every nuance of the guitar solo featured in my recent collaboration with the incredibly talented Dream Kid. These licks are steeped in 80s nostalgia but surprisingly about 99% of the solo relies on simple pentatonic lines. The magic, however, lies in the delivery, the phrasing, and the finer details.

Throughout this in-depth breakdown, you’ll discover how to infuse your playing with the same level of emotion and excitement. Those little licks and riffs you might have overlooked will be transformed as you take your guitar playing to the next level.

In this lesson, I break down the end solo from the McRocklin and Hutch track “You and Me.” It’s a mix of pentatonic, sweeps, tapping, and a minor outro.

But that’s not all, because I also share insights into some of the challenges I faced when constructing this solo, which I hope will provide valuable insights that you can apply to your playing, especially when creating your own killer solos.