No one can play like Eric Johnson, his sound is the result of phenomenal picking technique, precise left and right hand synchronisation and fingering, note choice etc. Not only is his technique hard to duplicate – but his sound is almost impossible. Mr Johnson has extremely sensitive ears, to the point he claims he hears the difference between different battery manufactures. So simply buying his amp setup won’t help you (to my knowledge he sometimes switches between five different amplifiers) – you have to get the right batteries for your distortion pedal too! Because the technical aspects of his sound can get quite tricky, we are instead going to focus on the things which will make your playing sound more like Eric Johnson, regardless of your set-up. In this lesson we will break down an Eric Johnson style solo, later on we will have an “Eric johnson tricks” lesson in the matserclass. By nailing some of the licks in this solo, you will have taken your very first steps towards Johnson land…! Theory-wise the solo revolves around A-minor and D-minor pentatonic and really hasn’t got any rhythmic or tonic structure – it’s more of a floating thing. The main idea here is for you to get some Eric Johnson style licks under your fingers. For a step-by-step video breakdown of this solo visit www.guitarmasterclass.net
Tapping time! The second One-on-one Masterclass lesson! This time we will look at tapping à la Eddie Van Halen/Randy Rhoads/Kirk Hammett. Tapping has to be one of the most popular techniques on the electric guitar – and why wouldn’t it be? It’s easy to play fast, easy to improvise with, looks very difficult – not to mention it sounds terrifyingly cool! If you feel your technique isn’t evolving as fast as you would like it to, you must give tapping shot. I have taught my beginner students this specific pattern – and they have come back after a week playing it perfectly. They also usually wonder why I have been telling them that mastering the guitar is a life long dedication – they learned to play fast over a week with tapping, didn’t they?! So the three step method of the lesson should hopefully get any beginner started with this flashy technique. Enough said, tapping is a versatile technique and it can be devloppped into extremely complexe high-tech patterns (Jennifer Batten, Steve Lynch etc.). In this lesson we will also look at a further elaboration of the standard tapping technique which allows the intermediate/advanced guitarist to create further evariations and improvisations. The full lesson is available at www.guitarmasterclass.net Good luck /Kristofer
Time to look at the style of this extremely popular heavy metal guitarist – no wonder, he is the lead guitarist of Metallica: Kirk Hammett. Conveniently enough, this lesson comes right after the Masterclass “Hot Blues” lesson – because Kirk Hammett’s style is in fact heavily inspired by blues. This lesson will mainly deal with Kirk’s solo style from the Metallica “Black Album” and onwards . Mr Hammett himself claims his goal with his new solo approach was to get “a bit bluesier” – and the result was an effective blend of metal, blues and wah-wah driven madness. In this lesson you will get a hang of some typical Kirk Hammet style licks, you should also follow my example and use these ideas to make your own “Metallica-style” improvisation over the backing track. All the licks covered here will work nicely in E minor (except where note otherwise) – E minor is the the most common heavy metal key, so learn it well. Now let’s take a trip to heavy metal land… Full lesson (21 videos) available at www.guitarmasterclass.net
In this lesson I give you the most common country techniques – from a rock perspective. Don’t miss this oportunity – come along and take one step closer to creating your own unique style: by adding country licks into your playing. Some of these are so simple I promise you will get a few tricks under your fingers right away. Open string licks, banjo rolls, chicken picking, double stops – you have got it all here! Free video lessons every day at www.guitarmasterclass.net