John McLaughlin’s Alternate Picking Techniques for Guitar

Hi Guys,

Today, two exercises for building jazz fusion 16th note double timed improvised guitar lines.

This is applied in the way that guitar great John McLaughlin exploits his alternate picking guitar technique.

This is a “Line builder” that builds through connecting key concepts together and at the same time creating familiarity with them as you do so.

For Example:

The key is to connect them together in a melodic single note manner that is musical and at the same time logical for the alternate picking.

This exercise starts with an upstroke with an open E string on an “Up beat” [anacrusis].

This then employs an F Major arpeggio with a C to B note resolution.

john-mclaughlin-alternate-picking-guitar-lesson

Straight away, it’s easy to hear the melodic content of the wider intervals of an arpeggio and the resolution.

From here we will now add some chromatic colour.

john-mclaughlin-alternate-picking-guitar-lesson

To complete this phrase we will add the John McLaughlin scale. This slots in nicely to the chromatic scale that we’ve just applied.

It’s smooth, quick and creates that very fluid liquid line sound: Also, notice the offset of the rhythm.

john-mclaughlin-alternate-picking-guitar-lesson

To descend, we will exploit the use of the semitone interval. This is easy for the fretting hand to sequence as it employs repetitive fingering and so is easy to cross the strings with. [The semitones are in the orange marker].

2nd part “Descending”

john-mclaughlin-alternate-picking-guitar-lesson

Finally, we finished with a CMaj9 chord that is then shifted up.

john-mclaughlin-alternate-picking-guitar-lesson-chords

This exercise is similar to the one above, but, in a different key and different chords.

As before, we start on an up beat with an upstroke. We employ the arpeggio, but, this time it is a suspended fourth with the A note moving down to the G note.

From here, we ascend and exploit the Bb note to emphasise the D Augmented chord. This is then rounded off by slotting in a fragment of our old friend the John McLaughlin scale once more .

john-mclaughlin-alternate-picking-guitar-lesson

We descend with a pentatonic fragment this time and once again exploit the interval of a semitone and sequence it. But, this time with the last 5 notes we also have the intervals of a tone a major 3rd and a minor 3rd.

john-mclaughlin-alternate-picking-guitar-lesson

Finally, we cadence with the chords of E/G# [or E 1st inversion] that then raises the 5th to make it augmented. This then resolves to a hanging A9 chord.

john-mclaughlin-chords-guitar-lesson

IN CONCLUSION:

These are only exercises, but, they do show the melodic/musical nature of the improvised line in regards to alternate picking.

In the jazz fusion style, motifs, melodic content, chromatics, pentatonic’s, rhythmic offset, etc, all work to great effect as they all slot together creating sophisticated double time lines.

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John Coltrane and McCoy Tyner Style Quartal Guitar Line | Jazz Improvisation Lesson

Hi Guys,

Today, a short John Coltrane/McCoy Tyner Style unison jazz quartal guitar line/ jazz head/riff.

This line starts with an anacrusis/upbeat. From here we employ a short pentatonic scale phrase that leads to quartal harmony that resolves down a minor 3rd interval.

I am starting this on an upstroke with strict alternate picking guitar technique.

coltrane-jazz-guitar-lick-lesson

The key to the first phrase is that it plays upon this “Motif” as it gets imitated up the octaves:

coltrane-jazz-guitar-lick-lesson-example

From here, we create contrast by descending with a pentatonic scale and push hard on a sextuplets feel for rhythmic colour and drive.

coltrane-jazz-guitar-lick-lesson

To complete the first part of this phrase, we round it off with two chords of Ab and G9

coltrane-jazz-guitar-lick-lesson

We, will now ascend and frame some interesting intervallic sounds: Opening with 5ths to 4ths with chromatic movement:

Finally, we will play the motif up a semitone one more time and ascend up in semitones to complete the phrase:

coltrane-jazz-guitar-lick-lesson

coltrane-jazz-guitar-lick-lesson
coltrane-jazz-guitar-lick-lesson

This was just a brief look at what can be done with this modal pentatonic quartal jazz style.

It’s a style very well suited to the guitar in terms of fretting and picking and it’s amazing what interesting music you can easily make from this even just by means of imitation.

Master the Robert Fripp Cross Picking Technique | Guitar Lesson

Robert Fripp Cross Picking Guitar Technique Lesson

Hi Guys,

Just a short blog to explain what I mean by employing the “Down Down Up” guitar picking technique.

If we look at the patten below we can see the “Down Down Up” Picking pattern:

fripp-guitar-cross-picking-lesson-example

This is a very useful picking pattern/device that will hold you in good stead: But the key is to employ it sparingly.

Why is this?

This is because sometimes the rhythms we see and sometimes feel can be different than our natural inclinations when picking/plucking the strings.

So, if we look below we will see that the picking hand/subconcious wants to pluck a group of 5 notes and 3 notes to make up the 4 and 4 groups of 16th notes.

This is because of the “Crossing” of the strings, the order of the notes or the way the actual groups of notes on the guitar fingerboard work out:

fripp-guitar-cross-picking-lesson-example

fripp-guitar-cross-picking-lesson-example

The other reason to put this “Down Down Up” into what would otherwise be an alternate picking pattern is because:

This can be because of one note that has to be played on a down or upstroke specifically otherwise the whole passage is awkward to play. So, to execute “Down Down Up” for that one part makes sense.

Below, is the full exercise that deliberately mixes up “Down Down Up” and “Down up” Alternate Picking”. It’s only an exercise [Larks Tongues in Aspic III Style] but, hopefully it gets the point across.

fripp-cross-picking-lesson-guitar-technique-tab
fripp-guitar-cross-picking-lesson-example-tab
fripp-guitar-cross-picking-lesson-example

This technique can also be found in Al Di Meola’s REH video from the 1980’s. Al di Meola employs this for chordal/Arpggeio Picking, [as does Fripp sometimes].

Again, if used sparingly this right hand picking pattern/technique is absolutely essential for this type of art/creative style guitar music.

Lastly, picking one note per string is way more difficult and precise than plucking standard 3 notes per string as there’s so much string crossing going on.

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