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.
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The Lydian Mode happens to be one of my favorite guitar modes. To me it has a sort of "smart" sound. If you use this mode on electric guitar within the context of a rock or metal song, you will end up sounding very sophisticated. Of course, this is my opinion and guitar modes are very subjective. If you have been doing your homework, you will already have found a couple that you prefer. Hopefully, I can help make Lydian one of them.
Let’s cover a few basics of the Lydian Mode:
1) Lydian is a major mode. It is determined major because it contains a Major 3rd. In the key of A Lydian, the major 3rd is C#. (If it was C instead of C#, then it would be some kind of minor mode. ie., phrygian, dorian, aeolian.)
2) Since it is a major, you can use A major pentatonic right along with it.
Example 1: This lick combines sweep picking and tapping in conjunction with the Lydian mode. The first 5 notes of lick #1 are played with a single downward stroke. This is called sweep picking. The tapping is done with the third and middle finger. I find this use of multiple fingers works best. This enables me to use my palm to mute the string noise and my pick to pick any notes that are not tapped. Work on this technique slowly. It can be very difficult to get down. The chord in the background is an A Major. The notes that are picked in the background are D#, A, and E.
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Example 2: This lick takes the techniques used in all the last lick a little further. The notes that are not tapped are played by using sweep picking. If the notes ascend, they use a downward sweep. If the notes descend, they use an upward sweep. This covers this technique in more detail. Again, the tapping is played with the third and middle fingers. (3rd finger taps the D# note on the 23rd fret). Also the notes that are tapped on at the end (A-24th, G#-23rd) are natural harmonic’s. Although it is not notated, while you tap these notes on, you will hold the same note one octave below it on the same string (that would be the 11th and 12th fret). This lick is played against an A power chord (A, E). The effect that was used on this lick is a phaser.
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<a href="http://www.totalguitar.net/online-guitar-lessons/scales/lydian-mode/" target="_blank">Total Guitar Lessons – Lydian Mode</a>
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Developing Speed – Part 2. This online guitar lesson is the second installment of my two part picking mayhem. This week we are going to cover a couple of examples that I personally dig. This is the kind of self-indulgent stuff that usually only guitar players can relate to. Others are often offended, insulted, or just outright scared! Whatever the case, just be careful when you get these things up to speed that you don’t let your fingers get away from you. You could put an eye out.
I would also like to stress again "economy of motion"- meaning the smaller the distance you move the pick, the faster you will be able to go. That does not mean that if you choose to use your whole arm to tremolo pick, for example, that you are wrong. If it works for you, then it is the right way. Eddie Van Halen chooses to use his whole arm to tremolo pick. Who’s going to tell him he’s wrong? I choose to use my wrist for all picking type licks and tend to stick to strict alternate picking as much as possible. I would strongly urge you to do the same. This is common practice among "the picking kings" – anyone who picks like a madman.
Example 1: This example comes from Steve Vai’s, "The Animal." It is in D minor. Notice how it doesn’t lock into the click. It kind of has a "floating" sound. The effect that was used was a harmonizer set to a fifth below.
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Example 2:This lick makes a great warm up exercise. It starts out in E Dorian (E, F#, G, A, B, C#, D) and ends in the A Blues scale. This lick works very well over the A bar chord. In fact, if you choose to play this over an A power chord, then theoretically, it is an A Mixolydian (A, B, C#, D, E, F#, G). These are both modes from the key of D Major, so note-wise they are all the same.
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<a href="http://www.totalguitar.net/online-guitar-lessons/guitar-techniques/speed-part-2/" target="_blank">Total Guitar Lessons – Speed</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#).
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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:
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<a href="http://www.totalguitar.net/online-guitar-lessons/guitar-techniques/arpeggios/" target="_blank">Total Guitar Lessons – Arpeggios</a>
