Total Guitar features free online guitar lessons with tab and audio files. We have lessons on the lydian mode, arpeggios, speed guitar, finger tapping, guitar scales, guitar chords, how to play guitar like Yngwie, and guitar improvisation.
These free lessons feature instruction by Dave Bates. Dave co-founded Total Guitar in 1998. Check out his Dave’s bio here.
Paul Gilbert is well known for his work with Racer X and Mr. Big, as well as many solo albums. He also joined Joe Satriani and John Petrucci on the 2007 G3 tour.
He was been voted number 4 on GuitarOne magazine’s list of the "Top 10 Greatest Guitar Shredders of All Time", as well as a place in Guitar World’s 50 Fastest Guitarists of All Time list. Gilbert is known for his speedy style, alternative picking method and unique string skipping technique.
One of the keys to success is to emulate someone who has gone before you and learn from their style, techniques, attitudes, and behaviors. For those who aspire to be hard rock virtuosos, check out Paul Gilbert’s guitar dvd lessons.
Learn to play with intensity, speed and finesse with Paul Gilbert of Racer X and Mr. Big!
Terrifying Guitar Trip
$29.95
Paul Gilbert Terrifying Guitar Trip takes you from the studio to the stage, with lots of thoroughly explained music and instruction in between. Paul gives advice for beginners as well as plenty of challenging licks for intermediate and advanced players. Also features a sneak preview of Paul Gilbert’s Intense Rock Complete Dvd.
Intense Rock Complete
$29.95
In Intense Rock Complete, Gilbert combines Intense Rock Volumes 1 and 2. These dvd guitar lessons take you step by step through the techniques that will enable you to play terrifying licks. In this exciting presentation, Paul Gilbert teaches you his personal exercises and sequences for incredibly fast and clean alternate picking, 3-note-per-string scales, sweep picking and string skipping.
Special features include a bonus performance by Yngwie Malmsteen and bonus lessons from Steve Morse and John Petrucci.
Silence Followed by a Deafening Roar
$29.95
Silence Followed by a Deafening Roar goes behind the scenes with shred pioneer Paul Gilbert. Enter Paul’s world of intense guitar techniques and creative music as he explains the details of the Silence Followed by a Deafening Roar album.
Includes special sections on arpeggios, picking, phrasing, and legato techniques as well as a special shred annex of Paul’s favorite and fastest new licks, rare concert footage, and backing tracks. Also features downloadable tab!
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Sweep Picking $19.95
Guitar Dvd
Two-Handed Tapping
$19.95
Guitar Dvd
Tapping Techniques
$19.95
Guitar Dvd
Shredding with Arpeggios
$19.95
Guitar Dvd
Today’s guitar lesson covers one of my favorite techniques, finger tapping. This technique was first made popular by Eddie Van Halen and became a big part of his early sound. Those of you who are familiar with finger tapping already know how difficult it can be. First, you must coordinate both hands while trying to hold onto the pick. Then you have to decide which fingers to use for tapping. When you finally get all of this together there’s often so much string noise that the lick sounds like a mess! This guitar lesson has three playing examples with guitar tabs and sound files.
Extreme Tapping $19.99
Guitar Dvd
Tapping Technique
$19.95
Guitar Dvd
The hardest part about this technique is not the actual tapping itself, but being able to control all the potential string noise that can occur. That is why it is crucial to work on this very slowly, gradually building speed. While this is true for most cool techniques, it is imperative for finger tapping. Keeping this in mind, let’s move on to the first example.
Example 1: This lick is a great tapping exercise. It starts in A pentatonic minor and ends in A Dorian (at the 32nd notes). I recommend to use the middle finger for tapping. This enables you to hold the pick as usual so that eventually you can combine picking and tapping as will be demonstrated in example 3. The effects that I used on this are digital delay and a little bit of chorus. To avoid string noise use your right hand palm to mute the strings as you tap.
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Example 2: This example takes the whole idea a little further. I’m tapping with both my second and third fingers on my right hand. The benefits of doing this are huge. For starters, you will end up moving your right hand around a lot less, substantially reducing the amount of string noise that will occur. Also, you will be able to go a lot faster because you will not be jumping around so much. Last, but not least, it looks much cooler. This lick is in A major (or F# minor). Basically what I did to build this lick was hold down one arpeggio shape while I tapped another arpeggio shape on top of it. It kind of has a "mirror" effect. This time I used digital delay but no chorus.
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<a href="http://www.totalguitar.net/online-guitar-lessons/guitar-techniques/finger-tapping/" target="_blank">Total Guitar Lessons – Finger Tapping</a>
An arpeggio is notes of a chord played separately. Let’s shed a little light on the process I used to build the lick in Lesson 1 – The Lydian Mode. You may have noticed there was a little more going on than just running through some scale. To build it, I started out with an A major arpeggio (An arpeggio is notes of a chord played separately) and plugged it into the A Lydian mode (A, B, C#, D#, E, F#, G#).
Metal Arpeggios
$19.99
Dvd Guitar Lessons
Shredding with Arpeggios
$19.95
Guitar Dvd
Example 1 is the lydian scale shape and example 2 is the arpeggio shape that I used. Arpeggios are a good way of breaking out of those "stuck in a box" scale type licks. Throw in some sliding between the notes and you will be able to put some real distance between your licks. I chose the A major arpeggio because A lydian is a major mode.
Here’s a little more theory for you. You can easily use the F# minor arpeggio in conjunction with the A major arpeggio because they are relative. (Relative means scale wise they are the same.) Technically in doing this you will be playing an A major 6 arpeggio.
Example 1: The "A" Lydian Scale
Example 2: The Arpeggio
Example 3: Let’s get into some licks. This lick is a very cool sweep picking arpeggio lick. It starts out in an F# minor arpeggio, moves up to an A major arpeggio, moves back to an F# minor arpeggio, then back to A major and finally ends in F# minor! Remember that these keys are relative. This lick is great for getting around the neck and covering some pretty good distance. The effect that I used was a phaser. The chord progression is in F# minor.
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Example 4: This lick is very similar to the last one, except that it is in the key of C# minor (or E major – these two keys are relative.) Simply put, although I played this lick over a C# minor context, it could also be played over an E major chord or chord progression for that matter. The tapping is done with my middle finger.
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Example 5: This last lick sounds impressive because it covers a lot of distance. I personally like to use this one to end songs that are in the key of D minor. To build this lick I combined a D minor arpeggio with the blues scale and finally threw in some major 3rds! This one just tastes good.
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If you found this guitar lesson helpful, please link to it by adding the following code to your website:
<br>
<a href="http://www.totalguitar.net/online-guitar-lessons/guitar-techniques/arpeggios/" target="_blank">Total Guitar Lessons – Arpeggios</a>
