Breaking Down Difficult Lessons, Get something of value from those tough lessons Options

[Ben Higgins]

There's a lot of lessons on GMC of level or 7 or above. These more advanced lessons are usually chock full of fast passages and difficult techniques that can be intimidating to many students. Much of the time, I'm sure they are just watched, enjoyed and then forgotten about as they are deemed to too difficult to even bother learning.

But even if we don't learn the entire lesson all the way through, surely we can still pick up something of value ?

Let's take a level 8 lesson like Tony MacAlpine Style. It whizzes by pretty quickly and there's load of flashness going on (cocky git !). But essentially all that is going on is a load of different sequences back to back that can be separated and broken down into smaller, manageable segments. And when you've isolated a little sequence that you want to learn, guess what ? You can choose to practise it to whatever level of speed you like and then use that lick at whatever speed you like. You're the boss. You don't have to match the speed of the lesson... you can take whatever you've learned and use it in your own solos in any way.

The picking section that runs from 0:12-0:14 is a good example to look at. (You can also find it on video part 3) It's an alternate picked sequence that descends to the A string and returns to the E string before shifting to another position and assuming a similar sequence using the next scalar position. I've isolated the 1st sequence here. As you can see, I'm using groups of 3 but the tempo is being played as straight 16th notes, not 16th note triplets ok ?


You could isolate the descending sequence and practise that. This would work both string crossing mechanics : Inside and Outside picking.

However, it can be quite a handful. So you could further chop this down as I've done here. This sequence allows you to practise the inside picking movement but stops on the G string, which would be played as an outside picking movement. So you get the feeling of crossing the strings using both methods but the lick is small enough for you to manage. The 7 notes also makes it easier for you to practise it as 16th notes by stopping on the 7th note, pausing and then resuming on the next suitable metronome click. However, you can also cycle this lick non stop by simply ascending back to the starting note giving you a 12 note sequence !


In this pic you can see that I've highlighted the point at which the lick turns around and ascends up the strings. This is a tricky spot because you've just descended and your brain is thinking that way. Now, all of a sudden you have to change direction ? Outrageous or what ?! Well, by isolating this turnaround we get to focus on the opening outside picking movement which takes us from the A string to the D string. To move from the D to the G we have to use the inside picking movement. When we reach the last note on the G string we can either stop, pause and resume from the A string again or we can cycle the lick by reversing direction and descending back to the A string again.


In this last pic I've isolated the movement from the G string to the E. Now I believe this particular combination of picking mechanics to be one of the hardest to master. Try it and tell me what you think. If you play it one way it's a 5 note sequence. But again, you can cycle it back and forth so it becomes an even 8 notes. Pick the down stroke on the 9th fret, G string and run up to the 7th fret, E string. You could start on the E and descend to the G if you prefer. Or cycle it like I said.


So, here I've given you a few suggestions as to how you can take a difficult sequence and break it up into manageable sections that not only give you great lick ideas but also help you isolate problematic string crossing movements.

With this in mind, maybe you should take another look at some of those higher level lessons that you always liked the sound of but never attempted ? Go on, you know you want to !

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