• From: Southampton, UK
  • Registered: 2011-09-06
  • Posts: 231

Re: Joe's fast pentatonic scale runs inquiry! -Help!

The only piece of advice I would give to all the good stuff from others is this - play from the heart, not from the hands.  I hear so many (too many!) guitarists try to play stuff they are trying to immitate and then make a bad job of it - even guys I know who are technically good guitarists.  Seems to me they just don't get the FEEL right - the phrasing is kind of rigid - and to me, if that happens then forget it.

Regardless of the genre, if the feel is right - i.e. the rythym, syncopation etc. - then the number of notes you play is less important to making your mark.  'Feel' comes from having a total empathy with the music, so your heart governs what you play - not your hands.  I think Joe plays so fluidly because he doesn't need to think too much about it!

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Coolaxeman's Website

  • From: North Carolina
  • Registered: 2010-11-23
  • Posts: 192

Re: Joe's fast pentatonic scale runs inquiry! -Help!

+ 1

  • From: Orlando, FL
  • Registered: 2010-04-15
  • Posts: 1,374

Re: Joe's fast pentatonic scale runs inquiry! -Help!

I never used a metronome for building speed (and neither did Guthrie Govan, THE speed Guru) so it really comes down to what attains the best results personally for you, some folk LOVE the metronome method.

A metronome is an extremely valuable tool, but I tend to agree and I think it's often misused.  It's not super useful if you just gauge "hey, now I can play this like at 110bpm, now I can play it at 114bpm, etc).  It's a tool that helps you hear - and practice - various divisions of a beat.  What do 3 notes per beat sound and feel like at various tempos?  What about 4, 5, 6...   That's the real value of a metronome, imho.  Getting those patterns in your ear and then in your hands is critical, and it can be difficult without a metronome.

Try to stay out of the 'learn other players cool licks note for note' mentality to guitar playing, its good in the early years for study and for building a vocabulary of phrases, but there's enough clones out there already to fill a Starship, we should all strive to bring something new to the table, because ultimately that will keep music moving forward

A agree with your major point here, but learning licks (especially and mostly if you use your EARS to learn them) is part of growing and developing your own style.  Learning other peoples' licks (by ear) is how most of the great guitar players became great.  The important thing - which I think you're getting at - is that at some point you have to move beyond the licks and start playing your own music.  I think learning licks is a good way to discover and build your own style.

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ZeyerGTR's Website

  • From: usa
  • Registered: 2013-01-24
  • Posts: 6

Re: Joe's fast pentatonic scale runs inquiry! -Help!

Does anyone know or have a tab for that quick pentatonic run Joe always does?? He does it quite often, you can almost experience it arriving. I can't quite fingernail it though..

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bondpaul763's Website

  • From: York, PA
  • Registered: 2010-08-27
  • Posts: 1,749

Re: Joe's fast pentatonic scale runs inquiry! -Help!

It's the Eric Johnson cliffs of Dover intro run. Just the first part.