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.
Van Halen: 30 Classics from the Legendary Guitar God
$24.95
Eddie Van Halen is one of the most technically flawless guitarists to ever handle a pick. His band had a large impact on the world of rock music but arguably the biggest impact Eddie made was on future guitarists who would imitate his innovative style. To many people Eddie Van Halen is the face of 80s rock. He forever changed the way electric guitarists will play their instruments and is now recognized as living, breathing rock royalty.
In 1977 Van Halen got their big break when Gene Simmons of KISS saw a show at a club in Hollywood. He financed the creation of their first demo tape. Shortly after, Warner Bros. signed the band to a record deal. By 1978 they released their first self-titled debut album which met with immediate success, soaring as high as #19 on Billboard’s chart of pop albums in 1978. The first single released by the band, a cover of the Kinks "You Really Got Me", reached the top 40 on Billboard’s chart.
The band released four more albums in the four years that followed: Van Halen 2 (1979), Woman and Children First (1980), Fair Warning (1981), and Diver Down (1982). While these albums were successful by the standards of most bands they failed to match their original album in both sales and impact. Then in 1984 the band released the album MCMLXXXIV, usually shorthanded as 1984, which proved to be arguably one of the greatest rock albums ever recorded.
Quick Licks – Van Halen Style
$19.95
Eddie’s approach to the guitar involves several distinctive components. His innovative use of two-hand tapping (in "Eruption"), natural and artificial harmonics, and tremolo picking combining with his rhythmic sensibility and melodic approach is what makes him a guitar legend. Eddie’s tapping technique, in which he uses both hands on the guitar neck, is his most well known attribute as a guitarist.
A crucial part of Van Halen’s sound is his use of the Floyd Rose fulcrum vibrato for electric guitars. Developed in the mid-20th century, early versions of this device allowed the guitarist to impart a vibrato to a chord or single string via movement of the bar with the picking hand.
Another unique aspect of Eddie’s playing is the tone his licks generate. Van Halen’s unique sound is generated by using a stock 100-watt Marshall amp, a Variac, and a "Frankenstrat" guitar. The "Frankenstrat" is Eddie’s name for the guitar that he constructed from a Charvel factory body and neck, a vintage Gibson P.A.F. humbucker pickup sealed in surfboard wax (to reduce microphone feedback), a pre-CBS Fender tremolo bridge, and a single volume control. The "Frankenstrat" has become one of the most famous guitars in rock history.
Learn to shred like Eddie Van Halen.
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Sweep Picking $19.95
Guitar Dvd
Two-Handed Tapping
$19.95
Guitar Dvd
Tapping Techniques
$19.95
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Shredding with Arpeggios
$19.95
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Advanced Modern Rock Improvisation $29.99
Dvd Guitar Lessons
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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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/scales/lydian-mode/" target="_blank">Total Guitar Lessons – Lydian Mode</a>
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
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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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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/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
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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>
