| Check out Lick of the Day itunes.apple.com a free download for iPad, iPhone and iPod touch available at the App Store "Like" us on Facebook www.facebook.com This is a climbing legato run that moves across all six strings and up the fretboard, mostly through the A minor pentatonic scale (ACDEG). During the first beat, I add an extra "color tone," the flat-five "blue note" in the key of A, E♭, on the A string's sixth fret. From that point on, it's straight A minor pentatonic. I start out by moving across the bottom four strings in the fifth-position "box" pattern. When I get to the G string, I begin incorporating ascending legato finger slides, first with my ring finger, sliding from the seventh fret up to the ninth. I then cross over to the B string, with my index finger at the eight fret, hammer-on to the 10th fret with my ring finger, and then slide that finger up to the 13th-fret C note. The ascent concludes with a hammer-on and pull-off at the high E string's 10th and 12th frets. I follow this with another pull-off on the B string, and, finally, one last ascending slide, from the G string's 12th fret up to the 14th, which I perform with my ring finger. I end the lick with a nice, smooth vibrato, performed by pulling the G string in toward my palm repeatedly. Regarding the pick hand, I'm only picking the first note on each string and using legato techniques--hammer-ons, pull-offs and slides--to sound the subsequent notes on each string. I begin with a downstroke and ... |
