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

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McLaughlin: Rhythm Guitar Revisited: Part 2

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Hi Guys,

Today, the second part of the John McLaughlin style rhythmic guitar essentials.

If we look at a composition like “Face to Face” by Shakti, we will find interesting rhythmic strumming patterns:

It’s unique how John creates interesting rhythmic riffs with just a couple of chords by employing a bar of 7 to a bar of 8:

shakti-face-to-face-rhythm-guitar-lesson

You may wish to count this in different ways. For Example, you could count this as: 15/16 to 16/16 [in groups of 3 to groups of 4 in the next bar]:

shakti-face-to-face-rhythm-guitar-lesson

And, also, Groups of 4 with the last being a grouping of 3 [or one note removed in a bar of 4/4 time]

shakti-face-to-face-rhythm-guitar-lesson

Here, are the two chords that I have used.

These being similar to McLaughlin’s “Face to Face” composition with Shakti.

shakti-face-to-face-rhythm-guitar-lesson

To complete this vamp I employ a little “Turn around” in the bass with a 4 note descending scale motif.

shakti-face-to-face-rhythm-guitar-lesson

Here, is the full 2 Bar Sequence with the turn around motif:

shakti-face-to-face-rhythm-guitar-lesson

In this variation we have the previous bass scale notes played in the treble on the first string of the guitar.

We also have changed the first chord with a “Quartal” E minor voicing.

shakti-face-to-face-rhythm-guitar-lesson

John McLaughlin sometimes strums quickly between two chords and the open strings. Here are a couple of examples.

Firstly, we can see how John exploits 2 simple chords of A Major and D Major between the open strings:

john-mclaughlin-strumming-guitar-lesson

[This is strummed at a very quick pace by alternate strumming “Down Up“] etc

To finish, we will look at one last alternate strumming McLaughlin favourite.

This again follows the same principle with the quick “Down Up” fast wrist movement in the strumming hand.

john-mclaughlin-strumming-guitar-lesson

“Shakti/McLaughlin” Mid Tempo Guitar Exercise [Alternate Picking]

Hi Guys,

Today, a short “Mid-Tempo” [around 140bpm] JohnMcLaughlin/Shakti style alternate picking guitar exercise for scale connections in the fretting hand.

This is in regard to crossing the strings and connecting different scale fragments together.

The first concept is that of employing the open string. This gives the fretting hand a hundredth of a second to rest and hence easily get into position to fret the next note at a mid and fast tempo.

Note: fourth 16th note = Open String

shakti-mclaughlin-indo-jazz-guitar-exercise

In the next part, we can see both open strings employed to make it easy for the fretting hand to get into position and connect to the next scale fragment.

The last note in the bar, the open B natural, makes it easy for us to cross the string smoothly.

shakti-mclaughlin-indo-jazz-guitar-lesson

shakti-mclaughlin-indo-jazz-guitar-exercise

In this bar, we employ semitones as they are easy to finger/fret, and, also to cross the guitar strings when descending.

shakti-mclaughlin-indo-jazz-guitar-exercise

Here, is an extended variation that employs the same alternate picking John McLaughlin concepts that we have just looked at:

john-mclaughlin-indian-guitar-scales

These simple concepts for the fretting hand when alternate picking might not seem much, but, they are the little hinges that swing the big door when holding the tempo together. Especially, when playing with a tabla/drum.

It also makes it easier for the right picking hand to pluck the strings as the fretting hand is not under pressure, and, there are spaces for the fretting hand to rest and get into position.

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