Modern Rock Ballad Licks Lesson

Modern Rock Ballad Licks

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  • Hi GMC!

    Welcome to my new lesson! Here I’ll share different modern rock ballad licks inspired by Mateus Asato, John Frusciante and Nick Johnston.

    In this case, I’ve recorded a backing track that has two sections (Verse and Chorus) and over it I’ve played different licks and phrases which sound very melodic and incorporate techniques like double stops, slides, hybrid picking, legato and alternate picking. I mostly focused on making those phrases and licks sound expressive, dynamic and tasty in order to sound like the guys that inspired the lesson.

    The tune is in A minor key so I use A minor and A blues Scale. There are some extra chords during the chorus that were added using the concept Modal Interchange. I use some scale variations over them and I’ll explain it in the slow video parts.

    Chord Progression:

    Verse: | F | Am | Dm | F | Am | Dm |

    Chorus: | Bbmaj7 | Am | Dm | G7 |
    | Bbmaj7 | Am | Dm | G7 | Bb | Db


    If you enjoy this lesson, I recommend you to check some John Frusciante’s solo albums, Mateus Asato’s videos and Nick Johnston’s ‘Remarkably’ Human Album.


    Sound:
    I used Fractal Ax8's Suhr Badger 30, Cubase 9.5 to record audio and midi, Groove Agent for drums and Native Instruments Halion for bass guitar.

    These are my settings:



    Scales:


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