Killer Guitar Control Secretsby Claude Johnson

© 2005

About this e-book: This is a guide-book that goes with Claude Johnson's instructional video, “KillerGuitar Control Secrets”. If you obtained this e-book any other way except buying the video, please informas at admin@guitarcontrol.com. Thank you.

TABLE OF CONTENTS-------------------------------

Introduction.........................................................................................................................3Fundamentals......................................................................................................................4Technique..........................................................................................................................13Fretboard Knowledge........................................................................................................17Brain to Hand Connection.................................................................................................25

I improvised, crazed by the music. . . . Even myteeth and eyes burned with fever. Each time Ileaped I seemed to touch the sky and when Iregained earth it seemed to be mine alone."

Legendary Jazz Vocalist Josephine Baker

INTRODUCTION

Hi. My name is Claude Johnson. Like many of you, I am passionate about guitarplaying. I fell completely in love with the guitar after being influenced by people likeJimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, and Carlos Santana. I could name many more incredibleheroes who inspire me to play. And of course... I want to be able to play (in my ownstyle) like they can! Or at least as close as I can to that level of control and expression.

B.B. King says he sings, and then he makes Lucille (his guitar) sing. Thats what greatplaying is to me – singing on the guitar.

Most or many guitarists do not achieve any real control over the instrument from animprovisational standpoint. Even guitarists with chops. And really, the guitar is notabout chops. Chops , (or technical ability) are only useful if the control is there to guideit. Think about that.

Listen to Clapton's solos in White Room. Simply amazing, yet hardly technical. But I haven't seen too much written about how to get control like those guys. Guitarhas become more technical over the years, for sure. But more technical doesn't meanbetter. I have spend most of guitar playing years trying to figure out how to gain controlover the guitar. I'd like to share what I've discovered with you in my my video. So cueup your DVD player, grab your guitar, and have let's have fun! Or if you want, just grabyour guitar and follow the booklet.

FUNDAMENTALS

THE IMPORTANCE OF HAVING GOOD TONE

You can't play killer guitar with a crappy tone. Fortunately, getting a good tone doesn'thave to be expensive. By tone, I mean the actual sound of the guitar. For rock and blues,I enjoy a nice sustaining, creamy, distorted sound. I love Fender amps that have gooddistortion.

I have always loved the sound of the Fender Stratocaster. The tone of Jimi, SRV,Clapton....oh man oh man... And I although I do own a few Strats, I've always found itchallenging to get a good tone out of them. In fact, I've found it challengingin general to get a good tone out of a single coil pickup. So often I'll just play on a guitarwith humbuckers, like my Ibanez Jem, or in the video, my Washburn X series that onlycost $200. The pickups are very nice for the money. With a good distortion soundfrom a $100 fender champ, I had a pretty decent tone for only $300.

In the video I also use a DigiTech GNX1, which has it's own killer distortion and manyeffects. I use a wah effect which can make for a really intense lead guitar sound. Thewah pedal adds another dimension of expression. In addition to pitch, you now also cancontrol equalization (bass vs treble) through every note.

Eddie Van Halen once said that if you have a great amp, the guitar seems to play itself.The point is, good tone will inspire you to play beautiful music. Bad tone will have anegative effect in terms of enjoyment, motivation, and progress in your music.

Change your strings often. Just do it. Not only will this improve your tone, it willmotivate you to practice more.

THE PENTATONIC SCALE

The Pentatonic scale is so common and important in rock and blues, even thoughoccasionally it gets a bad name for being too rudimentary. Nonsense! The pentatonic is a fundamental scale and you need to master it!

Let's start with an example and then I'll explain it. Here's the A Pentatonic Scale on theguitar:

Notice the scale contains the tones A, C, D , E , and G for a total of 5 notes. “Penta”means five. Hence, pentatonic. Also notice the scale starts on the low E string, and thefirst note to be played is the A. If this seems very basic so far, please bear with me. I'llget to the good stuff after going over the fundamentals :)

If you want to make a G pentatonic scale, simply play the same pattern but starting twofrets lower, on the 3rd fret G on the low E string. Or move the pattern up the next the 10th

fret to play D pentatonic, etc.

I call this first pentatonic pattern the “home base”.

PLAYING THE PENTATONIC SCALE ALL OVER THE NECK

In a way, guitar playing is more complicated than playing the piano. On the piano, thenotes are laid out from left to right – one note after another. Just one dimension,physically. But the guitar fretboard is two dimensional. Your hands can travel up anddown the neck, plus up and down the strings vertically.

On the piano, if we had a scale, we could simply repeat the pattern as we go higher orlower. On the guitar, if we want to play the same notes but higher or lower on the neck,we need new patterns.

Let's return to the A pentatontic scale (A, C, D, E, G). The next highest pattern starts onthe C note on the low E string. We are still playing two notes per string, still usingA,C,D,E, and G. But now the pattern goes like this:

Then we start on the D note:

...Then the E note:

...and finally the G note:

Note: This last pattern could be moved down to start on the 3rd string G fret, to play belowthe “home base”. In fact, any pattern, anywhere on the guitar, can be moved up or down12 frets and it will remain the same except for the octave.

PRACTICING WITH THE PENTATONIC SCALE

A good exercise is to play some chords, like A, and then play a lick using notes from thepentatonic scale. For example:

The challenge is to keep the rhythm while still playing creative licks.

MINOR PENTATONIC VS. MAJOR PENTATONIC

Let's go back to the A pentatonic scale – A, C, D, E, G. This is actually an A Minorpentatonic scale, although I just usually call it A pentatonic. But we also could play AMajor pentatonic – A, B, C#, E, F#.

A Major pentatonic contains the same notes as F# minor pentatonic. It is essentially thesame scale. So if you move your A minor pentatonic scale back three frets to the F#, youhave an F# minor pentatonic, which has all the same notes as A major pentatonic.

Major and minor pentatonics often can be combined. For a pure minor key, you wouldprobably just use the minor pentatonic scale. But for a tonal center with a major orDominant 7 sound, you could use either scale. For example, if you have a vamp in Amajor, let's say A A G A:

Then you could play either A minor or A major pentatonic.

THE MAJOR SCALE

The major scale is probably the most important scale in music, and most music theoryuses the major scale as a frame of reference. The C major scale contains the notes C, D,E, F, G, A, and B, for a total of 7 notes.

On the guitar, you'd play it like this:

The tones of the major scale are often referred to by their Roman Numeral designations,I , II, III, IV, V, VI, and VII. For example, the fourth note of a C major scale is F. So, a “I- IV” progression in the key of C simply means C to F.

By the way, keep in mind that every major scale (whether its Eb, F#, C, whatever) has thesame pattern of half-step or whole step intervals between each note. A half-step (alsocalled a semitone) is one fret. So, a whole-step is two frets. For example, C to D is awhole step. Only (B to C ) and ( E to F) a half step between notes. Everything else is awhole step apart. (A to B , C to D, D to E, F to G, G to A).

So for a major scale it is: Whole step, Whole Step, Half Step, Whole Step, Whole Step,Whole Step, Half Step.

C => D Whole StepD=> E Whole StepE=> F Half StepF=> G Whole StepG=> A Whole StepA=> B Whole StepB=>C Half Step

Also consider that every scale, such as the pentatonic scale, has a specific intervallicstructure that doesn't change based on the key. This, combined with the layout of theguitar, means you can simply move up or down the neck some number of frets, play thesame thing, and unless open strings are involved, it will sound the same, but in a differentkey. In this way, the guitar is easier than other instruments.

THE MINOR SCALE AND THE MODES

Remember how we saw that F# minor pentatonic contains the same notes as A majorpentatonic? We could say that one scale is an inversion of the other. That is, theycontain the same notes, but start in different places.

The same principle applies to the major scale. The minor scale is simply an inversion ofthe major scale. For example, C major contains the same notes as A minor. The rule isyou can take the root of a major scale (e.g. C) and move it down three frets (A) to start aminor scale that is the relative minor of that major scale. So A minor, which contains A ,B, C , D , E, F, and G, is just an inversion of C major (C D E F G A B). This is different,than, say E major, which contains E , F#, G#, A, B, C# , D#.

You might have hear of the various modes like Dorian, Lydian, Mixolydian, etc. Thesetoo are various inversions of the major scale.

You do not need to be too concerned about any of these! If you simply learn the majorscale, you are learning all of these scales at the same time. Want to play D mixolydian?Simply play the notes in G major. The bottom line is that if you learn the major scale, therest of the inversions (minor scale and modes) will be learned automatically.

There are other scales that are useful, such as the harmonic minor scale, but we will notgo into those. For now, the only scales you really need are the pentatonic scale and themajor scale.

Just as we saw how to play the pentatonic scale all over the neck, we need to learn theother patterns for the major scale. I gave you the first one above. Here are the others:

Use the same fingering for these scales... For example, this last example, which is the Aminor scale, you'd use fingers 1, 3, and 4 (pinky) for the first three notes. The last 6 noteswould be played with fingers 1, 2, 4, 1 , 3, 4.

Always use the same fingering and try to stay away from learning variations on fretboardplacement and fingering for these scales. That way, you will get used to ONE fingeringand positioning, and you'll master it. It is no accident that the average saxophone orpiano player is better than the average guitar player. Guitarists simply have too many

choices.

So, just learn these fingerings here, and forget everything else for now.

ALWAYS KEEP IT SIMPLE!

Until you have considerable experience, follow these guidelines:

– Stick with just one or two styles.– Don't learn too many scales– Don't practice improvising over too many different progressions.– Don't try to learn all keys

This way, you will focus just fewer things and take them to a high level of mastery.

12 BAR BLUES

Rock grew out of blues, especially lead guitar-wise. Few wouldargue that the greatest, most influential rock guitarist of alltime was Jimi Hendrix, and Jimi was heavy into the blues.

So the 12 bar blues progression is an essential progression to master,even if you aren't a blues player. It is like the granddaddy of all chordprogressions for rock/blues guitar.

The 12 Bar blues can come in many flavors and variations, of course, butmost simply is:

| I | I | I | I |

| IV | IV | I | I |

| V | IV | I | V |

Notice the roman numerals, one (I), four (IV), five (V).

So, for example A blues with all major chords could be

A A A A D D A AE D A E

Or, it could be with minor chords:

Am Am Am AmDm Dm Am AmEm Dm Am Em

Or, Dom7 chords:

A7 A7 A7 A7D7 D7 A7 A7E7 D7 A7 E7

If you build a triad ( a three note chord) for each note of the scale, you'd get:

I – Major ChordII – Minor Chord III – Minor ChordIV – Major ChordV – Major ChordVI – Minor ChordVII – Diminished Chord

So it makes sense that the I , IV, V, all in major chords sounds natural.These chords are built by alternating notes on the scale. The I has notes I , III, V. The II has II , IV, VI, etc...

USING MAJOR/MINOR PENTATONIC OVER 12 BAR BLUES

You can play both A major pentatonic and A minor pentatonic over

A A A A D D A AE D A E

and

A7 A7 A7 A7D7 D7 A7 A7E7 D7 A7 E7

It is especially effective to play A Major pentatonic the first four bars, then switch over toA minor pentatonic over the IV. I do that a few times on the video.

THE 3 MASTER KEYS TO IMPROVISATION

You basically need three things.

1. Technique, - how is your ability to physically play the instrument?2. Fretboard knowledge – how well do you know the organizationand placement of notes?3. Brain-to-Hand Connection – How is your raw ability to “sing” on the guitarand control the music?

TECHNIQUETechnique is fairly straightforward. It just takes a lot of time. I have notput too much time into chops as of yet, because I've been occupied with discoveringthe secrets to control, but still, chops are important.

First, you should practice playing the pentatonic and major scales inall 5 positions, using alternate picking. With alternate picking, the pick is moved DOWN-UP-DOWN-UP-DOWN-UPetc, no matter which strings the notes are on.

Hold the pick firmly. There are various schools of thought aboutwhich is better- elbow or wrist movement to pick.. I generally suggestusing mostly elbow motion to pick, although you can use a tiny bit of wrist motion too.

Use a metronome. Be able to play the notes cleanly and accurately beforeincreasing the speed. Proper form and consistency leads to better techniqueand ultimately, more speed, than trying to play things fast right away.

3 NOTE PER STRING PENTATONICS?

Advanced guitar playing sometimes incorporates 3 note per string pentatonics, but sincealmost no one has mastery with control over 2 note per string pentatonics, I would say tonot spend too much time on 3 note per string pentatonics until later. And even then, youmight only use it once in a while.

On the other hand, if you have loads of extra time to practice technique, then by allmeans, play these scales too!

Here's an example of A pentatonic.

ECONOMY PICKING

After you have a good foundation with alternate picking, try mixing in economy pickinginto your playing. With economy picking, you will sometimes pick DOWN-UP, DOWN-UP, but sometimes you will pick DOWN DOWN or UP UP, etc... if doing so meansmoving the pick a lesser distance. For example:

FAST PICKING

Try picking just one note, and play it consistently at 200 bmp (beats per minute).Then move onto more complicated patterns:

SEQUENCES

Starting on the first note of any scale, play a certain pattern (like the first 3 notes), then goto the next note of the scale and play the same pattern... This would be a “123” sequence.For example, in A minor pentatonic, you could play...

You can play sequences going up or down the scales. Here are a few choice sequences:123, 121, 1234, 13, 1234543, 12345

STRING SKIPPINGBecause the guitar is laid out in 2 dimensions, you should take advantage of the fact thatyou can play some pretty wide intervals without moving around on the fretboard toomuch. Just jump to a lower or higher string! For example, a note played on the low Estring can be played on the same fret on the high E string and it will be two whole octaveshigher without hardly moving your hand.

But skipping strings can be technically challenging, so you can isolate this skill andpractice it.

Take a scale, either the pentatonic or major scale. Start with one degree of the scale, suchas the root. Play the root, then the second note, Then the root then the third note, root andfourth,etc. You are playing the root before every other degree of the scale.

Then play the second note in the scale, alternating with every other note. And so on...

Play the same ideas on the major scale.. And also mix it up by playing the patterndescending.

TAPPING

You can tap the notes on the fretboard with your right hand to play licks that would bedifficult or impossible to play with only the left hand. To construct a tapping lick, try tocombine parts of the fretboard that are far away. It is easiest to start by playing notes froma scale.

Here is a lick in A pentatonic

H = left hand hammer onP = left hand pull offT = right hand tap You can also experiment with tapping and octaves.

LEARNING THE FRETBOARD

Stick with a few keys : E , G, A, B, D. Do not try to learn all 12 scales at once.

1. Memorize notes of Pentatonic Scales: example A pentatonic is A, C, D, E, G

2. Memorizes notes of Major Scales: example C major is C, D, E, F, G, A, B

3. Memorize placement of 5 pentatonic patterns and fragments (2 to 4 notes) ofpatterns.

4. Memorize which strings are open in these scales

5. Memorize placement of degrees (I, V, VII, etc) inside patterns.

6. Memorize placement of notes on fretboard. Example, quick, what is the note at the 8th fret on G string? (answer: Eb)

7. Memorize placement of octaves

8.Memorize where all As are, D#s are, etc

9. Be able to put your hand anywhere on the fretboard and instantly name the note.

DOUBLE STOPS

A double stop is a two note chord. Memorize double stops on two adjacent strings, withboth major and pentatonic scales. For example take the top two strings of the Gpentatonic scale.

In addition to playing double stops in the scale, try this example slightly outside the scale:

PLAYING 6ths

You can also play around with intervals of 6ths off the major scale. Here is just one ideain C major.

Trying playing that with sliding the notes around...

SEE HOW CHORDS OVERLAP SCALES

Greater control can be gained , both for rhythm and lead playing, when you see how thechords overlap with the scales. For example, the open A chord at the 2nd fret fits nicelywith the pentatonic pattern like so:

Or , In the “home base” pentatonic pattern, you can play like so…

You should try to find ways to play scales and chords together everywhere on the neck.

MEMORIZING TRIADS

A triad is a three note chord. Because of the layout of the guitar, there are many voicingsyou can choose from. For an A major chord in the middle three strings, you would have:

For B minor, say on the top three strings you would have:

Start with major and minor for A, B, D, E, G, and then eventually learn all 12 keys. Firstlearn major and minor. Only after learning major and minor triads for all12 keys, thenproceed to learning diminished and augmented triads.

PLAYING ARPEGGIOS

An arpeggio is just a broken chord, or the notes of a chord played separately. It is useful to combine arpeggio shapes with pentatonic scales.

LEARNING THE 4 NOTE CHORDS

4 Note chords, like triads, are generally built from the major scale by alternating notes.The “I” triad is essentially 1 -3 – 5 . So in the key of C, you’d have C – E – G, for Cmajor. A 4 note chord would be C – E – G –B. (C Major 7). Building a 4 note chordfrom each degree of the major scale gives you:

I – Maj7II – Min7III- Min7IV- Maj7V – Dom7VI – Min7VII – Min7b5

For example, the key of G major yields Gmaj7, Am7, Bm7, Cmaj7, D7, Em7, F#min7b5.

Generally you want to learn chords in bottom 4 strings, middle 4, top 4, and also with juststrings E , D, G, B as in the previous example. You will want to learn min7 , maj7, dom7 over the neck also, for example, the Edom7 chord on top four strings.

I don't provide all the examples here, but they are easy to find. For example, E7 containsE, G#, B, D. To make the correct chord, just find those four notes anywhere on the neck.Or, simply transpose these patterns here to other octaves/placements on the neck.

Note, even though you can move a shape up and down the fretboard, you cannot move ashape up or down the strings because not all the intervals are the same, because the Bstring is a third up from G, not a fourth like the other strings. So, you will need to adjustthe shapes to hit the right notes as you move these chords into the middle 4 strings andlower 4 strings.

To make any 7 chord into a minor 7, you simply lower the 3rd and make it a minor third.For example , E7 is E , G#, B, and D. E to G# is a major third interval. Make it a minorthird by lowering the G# to a G. Then simply find the G# in the chord and lower it to aG. In the first example, the G# is on the high E string, so that would get moved back to aG on the third fret here. To make any 7 chord into a major 7, you would raise the 7th to amajor 7th. So E , G# , B, D, would become E , G#, B , D#. The same principle applieshere.

THE BLUE NOTE

The “blue note” or flat five, is a great way to supplement the minor pentatonic scale andis very common in rock and blues. In the key of A minor pentatonic, (A , C , D, E, G),the blue note would be Eb.

A descending lick...

another lick...

Here's an example from the higher octave:

THE IIIm – Imaj – II-maj PROGRESSION

This is an inspiring progression. For example, Bm G A.

You can easily combine rhythm and lead by working the bar chords with melody notes ontop string... Instead of playing a B on the top string, play a C# or D with the other notesthe same.

When soloing over this (any many) progressions, try combining the pentatonic minorscale with the regular minor scale. For example, if you are playing in B minorpentatonic, you can also play B minor, which has the same notes as D major. Can yousee how the shapes overlap?

In the video, I use a technique called palm muting where the right hand picking handslightly muffles the strings to give a sharp, staccato sound.

I also use a musical device known as “call and response”. Music is like a conversation.Playing a solo is like telling a story. When you use call and respond, you can make itseem like your guitar is talking to yourself. You can play one phrase, almost like theguitar is talking... then play another phrase to answer it.

This technique can be enhanced by changing the sound of your guitar for each answer orcall/response. This makes it sound more like a musical “dialog”. Some of my favoriteways to do this include 1) using the wah pedal...Play a line with the wah pedal down, thenplay a line with it up. 2) using octaves... Simply move up 12 frets and play a similar lick.3) Change the pickup setting on your guitar (not shown in video). 4) go from clean todirty sound...

THE I – VI – II- V PROGRESSION

We saw how to build a 4 note chord and what the 4 note chords are for the major scale.So, a I VI II V progression in the key of G major would be:

Gmaj7 Emin7 Amin7 D7

This is a great progression to practice playing the major scale (and the modes).

Also, you can and should learn the arpeggios for the four chords of the progression,within each position on the neck.

For example, in the first major scale position, you can play the Gmaj7 arpeggio like so:

I would recommend practicing as follows:

Improvise freely over the progression, but when the Gmaj7 chord comes up, make sure toplay notes from it using the arpeggio. Then do the same thing but make sure to hit thenotes of the Emin7, etc... do the same with all 4 chords.

Then, you want to repeat this exercise but don't just play the arpeggio.. Try playing:

Up the arpeggio, then down the scale.Down the arpeggio, then up the scale.Up the scale, then down the arpeggio.Down the scale, then up the arpeggio. Finally, you can try playing the pentatonic scale over I- VI- II -V. Instead of playing Gmajor, you can play E minor pentatonic, since E is the relative minor of G.

THE BRAIN TO HAND CONNECTIONThe brain to hand connection is what I call the elusive factor that is responsible for rawcontrol. One major reason it is difficult to achieve, is that there is no way for our fingersto find pitches as easily as vocal chords can.

DEVELOP PERFECT PITCH

To remedy this, you must develop the skill of absolute pitch, or “perfect” pitch. This isan entire study in of itself. Please see www.guitarcontrol.com/perfectpitch.html

With perfect pitch, when you hear a note in your head, you can identify whether that noteis an A, B, an F, or whatever. Then your hand can go right to the note. Buy a pitch pipeand carry it around with you. This could be the biggest secret to gaining super controlover your playing.

SING WHAT YOU PLAY

Another aspect of developing the brain to hand connection is using the technique ofsinging what you play. If “singing on the guitar” is your goal, then you must sing first,from the heart... and let your fingers follow. Usually the opposite happens, we just play from our fingers whatever we are used to playing and our ear tries to follow our hand.

I like to think of playing from the mouth, not the hand.

RIGHT BRAIN VS LEFT BRAIN

Everything , all music, starts in the brain. That's why it's important to get in the rightframe of mind for improvising. We have a two-part brain. Our left brain mostly handlestasks like logic, math, language. Our right brain is more associated with emotion andcreativity. Improvising is a highly right-brained activity.

It is important to get “in the zone”, in that right brained frame of mind... At it's best, itsalmost like a trance, where you are just absorbed and lost in the music.

Interestingly, it's our right brain that is more in control of the left side of the body, whilethe left brain controls the right side of the body. So the left side of the body, whichincludes the fretting hand, is in touch with the right brain. The picking hand is less intouch. Fortunately, the picking hand has less to do than the fretting hand.

SEPERATE THE LEFT AND RIGHT HANDS

Try improvising just with the left hand. Sing the notes that you play, and do not worryabout picking the notes. Just make sure your left hand is in the right position. If you usea lot of distortion, you may be able to hear a lot of the notes simply by pressing thestrings.

Practicing in this way doesn't necessarily sound good, but it improves your playingundeniably. Watch the video for a demonstration.

Also, try improvising by singing the notes you play, and pick the rhythm with the righthand. You will want to compare yourself singing riffs with singing plus the right handaction. The goal is to feel as free even when multitasking in this way.

USING RHYTHMIC DIVISIONS

Everything you play has a rhythm. But most people don't pay too much attention to therhythm pattern of their leads while improvising. When you are actually playing orperforming, you should forget about everything and just play from the heart. But duringpractice, you can pay more attention to the rhythmic division of the notes.

This is a great exercise to develop control. For example, you can start out playing justquarter notes.

Then you can throw in half notes and eighth notes.

Try quarter and eighth notes Also try quarter, half, and eighth notes. Then, you might trydoing this exercise in a strict fashion, and then letting loose every now and then to go formore feel.

USING THE “IN AND OUT” CONCEPT

While you are singing what you are playing, you can focus more on the singing, eventhough you might not be hitting all the notes. This is letting your playing “fade out”...Then you can come “back in” and play guitar. Then stop, lay back,and sing from theheart, even if your playing fades out. By going back and forth like this, you increasecontrol.

NAILING THE FIRST NOTE OF A PHRASE

The first note of a musical phrase is often the most difficult because we have less of aframe of reference, pitch wise. So practice just nailing that first note. Another exercise,is to forget playing the first note and just sing it, and then play the rest of the phrase. Thisexercise develops trust in yourself to flow with the notes. ADDITIONAL TIPS

1. Record yourself. Get a cheap tape recorder at the very least and record yourselfplaying. Then listen. This can be fun, motivating, and can also help you recognizeweak points.

2. Break up your practice time. Playing an hour in the morning and an hour in theevening is more effective than playing for 2 hours straight.

3. Be consistent. So much of this comes down to discipline. Get a notebook and startingmaking a log of your practice sessions.

4. Get inspired, master thyself, and you will master the guitar.

CONCLUSION

Guitar control is not that complicated when you break it down. Simply work on 1)Technique, 2) Fretboard knowledge, and 3) The brain to hand connection, and you willsomeday be a guitar control master! Have fun and keep playing!