Mastering John McLaughlin’s Guitar Techniques

Hi Guys,

Today, Part 2 of the alternate picking patterns/numbers for John McLaughlin style guitar playing/picking.

These are all building off of the number 5 and starting on the “Up” stroke for strict alternate picking guitar technique in standard tuning:


john_mclaughlin_guitar_technique_example
john_mclaughlin_guitar_technique_example
john_mclaughlin_guitar_technique_example
john_mclaughlin_guitar_technique_example
john_mclaughlin_guitar_technique_example
john_mclaughlin_guitar_technique_example

These example like those above expand on the number 5 but start on a “Down”stroke this time.

john_mclaughlin_guitar_technique_example
john_mclaughlin_guitar_technique_example
john_mclaughlin_guitar_technique_example
john_mclaughlin_guitar_technique_example
john_mclaughlin_guitar_technique_example

Example 1:

john_mclaughlin_guitar_technique_example

Example 2:

john_mclaughlin_guitar_technique_example

FREE PDF DOWNLOAD:

INDIAN GUITAR SCALES RAGA EASY 2 FINGER “SHAKTI” MCLAUGHLIN STYLE

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INDIAN GUITAR SCALES RAGA EASY 2 FINGER “SHAKTI” MCLAUGHLIN ALTERNATE PICKING STYLE

PLEASE WATCH VIDEO FOR CLEAR ANALYSIS:

Moving on from our last lesson on simple 2 finger alternate picking guitar scales we will now look at applying it to “Raga-Esque”
improvisations. We will do this by using repeated notes to set up the fluid Raga like scales/motifs to hold time together in the beat cycle.

Both examples in this blog employ strict alternate picking guitar technique starting with a “Down” stroke.

INDIAN GUITAR SCALES RAGA EASY 2 FINGER “SHAKTI” MCLAUGHLIN STYLE

Below we can see the whole bar of repeated notes ready to set up the 2 finger scale.

INDIAN GUITAR SCALES RAGA EASY 2 FINGER “SHAKTI” MCLAUGHLIN STYLE

EXAMPLE 1: Indian Raga Guitar Alternate Picking with “Repeated” Notes employing simple 2 finger guitar pentatonic scales.

INDIAN GUITAR SCALES RAGA EASY 2 FINGER “SHAKTI” MCLAUGHLIN STYLE

Indian Raga 2 finger Alternate Picking Guitar “Extended line”.

INDIAN GUITAR SCALES RAGA EASY 2 FINGER “SHAKTI” MCLAUGHLIN STYLE

Another great and common concept in Indian Classical Music is to employ rhythmic groups of 5 notes.

INDIAN GUITAR SCALES RAGA EASY 2 FINGER “SHAKTI” MCLAUGHLIN STYLE

Lastly, we can employ a reduction effect by removing one beat at a time. This is, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1

INDIAN GUITAR SCALES RAGA EASY 2 FINGER “SHAKTI” MCLAUGHLIN STYLE

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