Thx Mark , I’m 68 and played for decades and always wanted to feel comfortable playing theses same licks . Ya rocked it. Great video and classes too .❤ love Billy .
Thanks, Mark! I'm 66 so those licks are well embeded in my memory, yet I never even attempted them because "I'm not good enough." Now that time is on my side since retiring wouldn't you know arthritis slows me down? At least now, thanks to you, I can slow these down and roll them into a nice bluesy number. Awesome!
Yeah man, they'll work great. Just take them at your own pace. They're cool at moderate speed too. It sucks about arthritis. I hope it's manageable for you. I have considerable daily hand (and other) pain as well. The key for me is to not overdo playing and to look for ways to avoid unnecessary finger stretches on the guitar ... and to warm up sufficiently. If it starts to hurt, definitely stop and put the guitar away for a while. (It'll still love you when you come back later!)
@@MarkZabel I'm staying with it. Just started jamming with some guys where I'm the youngest and the oldest (and best) is 81. Lots of fun! Helps make the neuropathy and arthritis pain disappear for a couple of hours.
Peter, I'm 66 too and you practically wrote my comment to Mark Z for me. As for your arthritis difficulty, I can sympathize. I got a Bullet Mustang a couple years ago pretty cheap at my local pawn shop and ended up being pleasantly surprised. It's well built and finished, sounds and plays good and the short scale lets me go faster and make the reaches easier when my hands are tired or sore, and they're just really fun to play. If you haven't tried a short scale Mustang/Jaguar style guitar, get yourself one. The Squiers are pretty affordable (about $200-ish lately new, cheaper on sale) and they're good. It would give you an easier guitar to play for those times your hands don't feel good, but they're not just for that or for children or people with small hands. They're good in their own right and you can definitely rock on 'em.
@@markpell8979 Thanks for that encouragement, Mark! Since I haven't been playing much the past decade or so because of my hands, it led me to building partscasters and the like for my sons. Sounds like my next build will be short scale! Rock on, my friend! ✌
I had trouble with getting the exact timing on the GTBT riff until I heard you explain the La Grange riff a time ago. That was the key to finally getting the GT BT timing.......it was excellent to see you compare here.
Mark, nice lesson … you do a good job. One comment … the lick you mention was Ace Freeley’s (sp?), I first heard in a Blues Magoos song, We Ain’t Got Nothin’ Yet … I’m betting Ace copped it from that …. Not that that’s a bad thing … we all stand on the shoulders of those who came before!
You have the right attitude , and it really is a great explaination by you, for how to make 1 scale pattern work to your advantage, all over the fretboard. My only added advice to those learning this for the first time, would be this is basic stuff that is just the tip of the iceburg as far as what you can do with a guitar!
Wow! For the first time in 25 years, somebody finally showed me the secret sauce. I knew there had to be one out there, but my guitar teacher keeps telling me there are no shortcuts. That was great!
My uncle, my first teacher, taught me these at the same time he showed me what he called the rock and roll scale, the minor pentatonic. That was 57 years ago, I still use them every time I play. I'm all about the way Mark teaches guitar, he reminds me of my uncle.
The list of solos this pattern has been used in is endless. This was one of the first patterns I learned over 40 years ago that really helped my soloing capability and I still use it. Check out how Michael Schenker uses it for his solos on the songs "Dance Your Life Away" and the 2nd solo in "Mother Mary" from UFO's "Force It" album.
Are you talking about the final pattern in the video? The "Good Times, Bad Times" pattern, as I called it. Used all over the place, forwards and in reverse. Schenker used it often, as you say. Many people 65 and up claim The Blue Magoos invented it, but I highly doubt that. I'll bet it was used in the 50s and maybe earlier too.
@@MarkZabel Yes, Zep's "Good Times Bad Times" is the one. That was first song I remember hearing it on. That lick is really just a sped up version of pentatonic blues. Angus Young uses it perfectly in his solo for "Back in Black". Another sneaky trick is note stacking. Steve Hunter was really good at this. You can hear it all over his solos on the front end of Aerosmith's cover of "Train Kept a Rollin". Most people don't know that he played the solos on the front end and Dick Wagner played the solos for the back end of that song, as well as solos for one or two other songs from "Get Your Wings". Stacking notes is one of those things that seems simple but can sometimes be REALLY hard because you're not playing straight through a scale. You're kind of moving down the scale and stutter stepping a bit but when its done correctly its pure magic. It does take some right and left hand coordination that if you're not used to is hard but it is an EXCELLENT exercise to combine with the patterns you cover in this video. Practicing both is kind of like football practice where instead of just running forward you also practice back pedaling in reverse and then how to suddenly turn your hips and continue the run going forward, running through tires and zig zagging through obstacles etc.
Schenker was the best in that time period. I studied those UFO albums as well! EVH's main speed licks on Van Halen I are actually borrowed from Schenker.
I remember when I first got the patterns... it was so cool, and it did change my playing, to the good at the time... it is easy to get idiom bound in these, however. So I would simply suggest that those who get into these make a real practice of listening for what you hear in your head first to come from your fingers second... like singing or talking. So you're playing sounds, not shapes. Just what I've experienced. ... lol, would have saved me a bit of time if I'd had TH-cam back then... good, concise video :)
Thanks. Yes, these things are not the be all and end all of playing. In the long run, it's far more important to develop one's ears and store of melodic ideas and memory. And also to focus the finger work on phrasing and/or connecting one's inner voice to one's fingers. Having said that, it's truthful to say these ideas worked for me, as they helped me bridge the gap between scales and music. Not quite music, but more than a scale. And also, more than a few people said, "Whoa! Cool!" At the time, that was important for me to keep going. Thanks for the comment. It made me smile and remember youth - long past! :)
@@MarkZabel lol... indeed... loooong past. But it WAS really a breakthrough moment at the time, since you could 'suddenly' sound a bit more like the big shots on the radio. Pretty effin' awesome, yeah? Hell yeah :)
Great lesson Mark! Some of my favorite guitarists, and some of my favorite licks… your Lessons always seem to give insight and make me a better player, thanks for all you do!
I've got the same guitar, Les Paul Studio with mini humbuckers, which i love. Unfortunately, i don't have the same chops! Yet!! Enjoy your straightforward method. Thanks again. Alex
Thanks Mark, greet lesson. By the way, I worked with an Ed Zabel for 25 years. He was a Jem a really good guy amazing comedy storyteller and great friend
These tricks are so sneaky that it's not immediately obvious that patterns 1 & 3 are really just 2 ways of seeing the same sequence. Add an extra C and A on the first string before starting pattern 3 and you'll see you end up playing the exact same notes! Thanks, Mark!
That Ace pattern you showed us has been the backbone of my lead playing since before KISS even formed. I forget where I first heard it . . maybe on a Johnny Winter album, I dunno. Recently I was listening to some Mahogany Rush live videos and wishing I could play like Frank, when suddenly I was watching him playing my licks, only much more professionally and with more pizzazz. Then I heard some more of his songs that had more of the licks I knew and loved to use being rattled off nonchalantly by the master himself. I couldn't believe it. Ted Nugent called those staple riffs and licks "Rock'n'Roll rituals" . . and I guess they are. I mean: here we have two guitarists, one in Canada and the other in Australia, who have never listened to each other's music, using the same foundation licks in their playing and improvisations. Incidentally, I was forced into unwilling retirement due to a mystery injury/ailment/condition at just around the same time that Frank also had to retire from live appearances due to his own debilitating problem . . which he won't reveal, and that's fine . . we don't need to know what it is exactly to pray for him. I wrote to him at that time to express a fan's condolence and to let him know I'd be praying for him, and to my immense surprise, Frank replied to me! That was the beginning of a lengthy back and forth between Frank and me. He told me he's a Christian and, like me, he's awaiting on The Lord to make things better. We're roughly the same age, with me turning 70 a couple of months ago and Frank turning 70 later this year. I fear time is not on our side, but with God all things are possible. R.L. Burnside wasn't discovered until age 73, so there's always hope for down the line.
Kiss "Love Gun" solo was actually stole from the "Blues Magoos" But still an amazing solo concept. Very cool lesson. Thanks for all your time teaching killer guitar concepts. You Rock!" Peace.. Joe
This is pretty cool you forgot Flirting With Disaster it's a cool run as well exactly what you're saying this was a cool video a lot of the younger guys will be able to take off now
Thanks! And LOL, I *wish* my friend's basement was that comfortable. But yeah, remember when everything got paneling on it? I have a soft spot for that.
@@MarkZabelit actually slotted in very nicely as I have,for the last year or so, been challenging myself with saying something in a 4 note range across a very limited area, trying to sound less scaley and develop some phrasing. These patterns morph on some things I’m already doing so that was about a “10 minute toolbox expansion” …lol (feel free to use that in a title!) Merry Christmas!
I always feel like a phony using these scales, because it's used by so many people. I love it when people side step into an alternative scales briefly before bouncing back into the scales we've come to accept as being a classic sound. Does anyone have any interesting alternative scale to learn that fit well with the minor pentatonic? Thank you for the video, you teach really well and the graphics are exactly what it needed. My daughter is upstairs noodling to what you've just taught her! 🙌
I know exactly what you mean, I'm the same. It feels like a cheat and also, for me, gets tedious just 'improvising' notes off the same scale time after time. A lot of musicians have earned a living off this for decades though so who are we to say it's wrong 😉
Any note can work when you improvise. What matters is what you do _next_. If you picked something that sounds too crunchy, you're never far from a "good" note. Just slide down one fret or bend up a half-step, or if you have light strings, just keep bending until it sounds alright 😂. Scales are just an alphabet. You have to compare each of the 12 notes to each underlying chord and ask yourself, does the chord (word) sound more interesting when I add this note (letter)?
Try flowing in and out of the flattened 5th, from above it and below, and have a listen to a saxophone video about the "Eric Satie scale", it'll open your ears to a different sound!👍
Im not addvactly sure where the last pattern came from but I learned patterns of 3 and stacking notes from a guitar book I got when I was a kid and it was from the mid 60s, but I've been using them in my playing in one form or another most of my playing life 😎, great job teaching
I don't think your Love Gun solo is correct but I could be wrong. I was in a tribute band and as I recall I hit the same notes without such a wide spread.
I thought the "sneaky trick" was going to be their ultra thin strings.... starting at .08. Wrong I was. 16th note acending and decending runs in box one is the 'sneaky' sneaky.
I wouldn’t classify this as shredding at all. That said, it’s remarkable how many guitarists never truly mastered such a basic technique. It’s undeniably an essential phrase to know, especially given its prevalence in '70s and '80s rock. In my opinion, the only guitarist who elevated this beyond ‘beginner-level’ was Randy Rhoads, particularly in songs like 'Mr. Crowley,' where he absolutely blistered it. Rhoads bridged the gap between players like Frehley and Page-who, frankly, were not strong technical players and would be considered subpar by today’s standards-and the bona fide shredders of the '80s. That’s not to completely discredit those older guys; for instance, Page was an incredible musician overall and was a master of most important thing of all: writing original material. And there were plenty of talented players from his era who didn’t get anything close to the recognition they deserved. You can turn on classic rock radio and hear them any day.
Thanks for the vid. Been playing for 50+ years but I never paid much attention to Jimmy Page and that type of pentatonic speed licks. (My loss!) I have a criticism/suggestion: I think you describe the sequences in a misleading way. When writing down sequences (jazz books are chock full of em) it's usual to label notes as being part of a starting sequence as the ones BEFORE the repetition starts. So, you describe Sequence 1 as a "2-string pattern", Seq 2 as a "2-note pattern", and Seq 3 as a "3-note pattern descending on the scale". That doesn't tell us much. They're ALL 2-str and 2/3-note patterns. What matters is how many notes are played . Sequence 1 could could be more usefully called a "6-note sequence that descends a scale degree from the last note in the sequence with each repetition". Pardon my long-winded description! How about just "a 6-note sequence. Transpose as desired." The fact that it's a scale degree is actually neither here nor there. What matters to us guitar players, and our brains & fingers, is that these patterns are constructed by playing a sequence of notes on 2 adjacent strings and then repeating that sequence moved down a string pair. The most useful piece of info that you leave out IS guitar-specific: in all 3 cases the sequence is repeated with the fingering moved down (over, toward the low E) a string pair. Another advantage of thinking of the sequences as defined by the number of notes it contains is that it then becomes a simple matter to create new ones by changing the number of STRINGS you move over and in WHICH DIRECTION. So, you could start a pattern on, say, strings 4&5 and then play it moved UP (across, toward the high E str) to strings 3&4. And so on. Or SKIP a string pair: how about start on str 1&2 then jump to 4&5. OR: move a pattern up 1 fret chromatically each time. WHOOAAHHH!!! JAZZ!! Sure, some of the results of these random changes may sound like monkeys typing but you're bound to come up with something useful or, dare I say it, NEW! Your Sequences 1 & 3 are 6-note sequences. Seq 2 is a 4-note sequence. That's all a guy needs to know. He/she (sorry, I'm old) can then move it over/under/sideways/down as desired... Hope this helps someone...
I am 71. REMEMBER WATCHING THE NEW YARDBIRDS AT THE PORTLAND CIVIC THEATER . That night robert plant announced theitr new name,led zepplin.vannila fudge was headliner.they never opened for anyone after that
Is there an official term for this trick? For example there are terms like double stops, intervals and things like that. Does this technique have a name?
your teaching on the last lick left me hanging trying to figure the rest since you sped up, so I'm totally lost on the 3rd lick since I'm just learning, you did say you would show it all, just saying
Follow the EXACT same pattern shown to finish the lick. The point is to learn a pattern, and I did show it, as advertised. Also, click the video linked at the end to see details on the lick itself - how to pick it, when to employ pull-offs, etc.
Mark, thanks so much for your content! One gear question for you: in your LP Goldtop, are those mini-hb or Fireburd pickups? I put Firebirds in my Epi LP Deuxe!
Thanks. I experiment with a lot of different graphics on TH-cam, my teaching site and with private students. This one tends to do better than the conventional ones flipped around (the ones usually posted in books), but it's not the top rated one I've found. The point of these is that they align with the actual guitar neck I'm using in the video, so you don't need to flip perspective. As I said, they seem to work okay, but there are 2 others that work a bit better. The unfortunate reality is that they take A LOT more work to film and edit.
Dude, I still trip up on the basic pentatonic run at the start of the solo for Stairway to Heaven. I’m about ready to throw myself down my steps. It’s like my fingers trip over themselves and freeze up.
Oh my, don't hurt yourself. Stairway's first lick is *FAR* more difficult than these patterns. Take your time and play them slowly and clearly and cleanly. These building blocks are a great way to build up to being able to play longer lines.
Eeeeeeeeeexcellet as usual nice choice ace copied Jimmy blah blah everybody copied somebody on saw acet twice as a guitarist once as a customer did not like his manager but he more than made up for it he was spectacular as a person and as a superstar
Thanks! Good observations, and good to hear Ace treated you well as a customer. Ace was a great player, no doubt. Copied? Borrowed and enhanced and put his own spin on it. I don't see why anyone would have a problem with it, as you say. As others have pointed out, The Blue Magoos did a song with that triplet lick in before Zep did it in GTBT. That's okay. Jimmy put his spin on it. That's what makes the world go around.
👍I Love that you do a _Demo Overview_ BEFORE you dive into any details. Watching some YTber drone on about endless details without FIRST giving the intended purpose sucks 100% - I'll unsub due to the waste of my time. Show the main reason/point of the video First, then do the details✅
LOL! He *is* Jimmy! But no, it's actually simple. Stick around to the end and/or follow the video suggested at the end. I love Jimmy - top influence of mine, but this is simple stuff to get down. You can do it!
Rudimentary stuff. As soon as people have got their fingers and their brains working together they should get out of the "box patterns", it's a dead end.🥱
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Thx Mark , I’m 68 and played for decades and always wanted to feel comfortable playing theses same licks . Ya rocked it. Great video and classes too .❤ love Billy .
You're very welcome. Thanks for watching!
Thanks, Mark! I'm 66 so those licks are well embeded in my memory, yet I never even attempted them because "I'm not good enough." Now that time is on my side since retiring wouldn't you know arthritis slows me down? At least now, thanks to you, I can slow these down and roll them into a nice bluesy number. Awesome!
Yeah man, they'll work great. Just take them at your own pace. They're cool at moderate speed too.
It sucks about arthritis. I hope it's manageable for you. I have considerable daily hand (and other) pain as well. The key for me is to not overdo playing and to look for ways to avoid unnecessary finger stretches on the guitar ... and to warm up sufficiently. If it starts to hurt, definitely stop and put the guitar away for a while. (It'll still love you when you come back later!)
@@MarkZabel I'm staying with it. Just started jamming with some guys where I'm the youngest and the oldest (and best) is 81. Lots of fun! Helps make the neuropathy and arthritis pain disappear for a couple of hours.
Peter, I'm 66 too and you practically wrote my comment to Mark Z for me. As for your arthritis difficulty, I can sympathize. I got a Bullet Mustang a couple years ago pretty cheap at my local pawn shop and ended up being pleasantly surprised. It's well built and finished, sounds and plays good and the short scale lets me go faster and make the reaches easier when my hands are tired or sore, and they're just really fun to play. If you haven't tried a short scale Mustang/Jaguar style guitar, get yourself one. The Squiers are pretty affordable (about $200-ish lately new, cheaper on sale) and they're good. It would give you an easier guitar to play for those times your hands don't feel good, but they're not just for that or for children or people with small hands. They're good in their own right and you can definitely rock on 'em.
@@markpell8979 Thanks for that encouragement, Mark! Since I haven't been playing much the past decade or so because of my hands, it led me to building partscasters and the like for my sons. Sounds like my next build will be short scale! Rock on, my friend! ✌
Lately I've been recording with a 3/4 size guitar, it's just that little bit easier on the fingers, and it sounds great!
Love your warm enthusiasm and clear explanation.
Glad you liked it!
Wow! Perfect timing! I was just about to look at some Ace licks this morning, particularly that one. Thanks!
Perfect!
yeah this video is definitely food for thought... I remember those zepplin licks
Love your lessons Mark, they are chock full of goodness and straight to the point as well! Rock on!
Thanks! I work pretty hard to keep them short.
Firebird pickups in place of the Mini- hums. That’s awesome, I love their brightness.
That is essentially the way I play. I believe it’s the Dorian adds a couple notes for even more fun.
I had trouble with getting the exact timing on the GTBT riff until I heard you explain the La Grange riff a time ago. That was the key to finally getting the GT BT timing.......it was excellent to see you compare here.
Very cool!
Mark, nice lesson … you do a good job. One comment … the lick you mention was Ace Freeley’s (sp?), I first heard in a Blues Magoos song, We Ain’t Got Nothin’ Yet … I’m betting Ace copped it from that …. Not that that’s a bad thing … we all stand on the shoulders of those who came before!
That's quite possible!
You have a terrific presentation style. I love that you break things down to a simple level and make this music accessible. Keep it up please!
Thank you!
Nice lesson Mark. Loved the breakdown
Awesome, thank you!
You have the right attitude , and it really is a great explaination by you, for how to make 1 scale pattern work to your advantage, all over the fretboard. My only added advice to those learning this for the first time, would be this is basic stuff that is just the tip of the iceburg as far as what you can do with a guitar!
Yes, no doubt. Scale sequences are only a start.
A very well explained video on the techniques employed.
Thanks!
Wow! For the first time in 25 years, somebody finally showed me the secret sauce. I knew there had to be one out there, but my guitar teacher keeps telling me there are no shortcuts. That was great!
Awesome! Glad it was helpful!
My uncle, my first teacher, taught me these at the same time he showed me what he called the rock and roll scale, the minor pentatonic. That was 57 years ago, I still use them every time I play. I'm all about the way Mark teaches guitar, he reminds me of my uncle.
Thanks!
The list of solos this pattern has been used in is endless. This was one of the first patterns I learned over 40 years ago that really helped my soloing capability and I still use it. Check out how Michael Schenker uses it for his solos on the songs "Dance Your Life Away" and the 2nd solo in "Mother Mary" from UFO's "Force It" album.
Are you talking about the final pattern in the video? The "Good Times, Bad Times" pattern, as I called it. Used all over the place, forwards and in reverse. Schenker used it often, as you say. Many people 65 and up claim The Blue Magoos invented it, but I highly doubt that. I'll bet it was used in the 50s and maybe earlier too.
@@MarkZabel Yes, Zep's "Good Times Bad Times" is the one. That was first song I remember hearing it on. That lick is really just a sped up version of pentatonic blues. Angus Young uses it perfectly in his solo for "Back in Black". Another sneaky trick is note stacking. Steve Hunter was really good at this. You can hear it all over his solos on the front end of Aerosmith's cover of "Train Kept a Rollin". Most people don't know that he played the solos on the front end and Dick Wagner played the solos for the back end of that song, as well as solos for one or two other songs from "Get Your Wings". Stacking notes is one of those things that seems simple but can sometimes be REALLY hard because you're not playing straight through a scale. You're kind of moving down the scale and stutter stepping a bit but when its done correctly its pure magic. It does take some right and left hand coordination that if you're not used to is hard but it is an EXCELLENT exercise to combine with the patterns you cover in this video. Practicing both is kind of like football practice where instead of just running forward you also practice back pedaling in reverse and then how to suddenly turn your hips and continue the run going forward, running through tires and zig zagging through obstacles etc.
Schenker was the best in that time period. I studied those UFO albums as well!
EVH's main speed licks on Van Halen I are actually borrowed from Schenker.
This is awesome! Thanks!
No problem!
Excellent Mark! Thank you
Glad you liked it!
Mark, love your lessons/content, thanks.
My pleasure! Thanks for watching.
Another great vid!
Glad you enjoyed!
Brilliant mark thank you
Glad you enjoyed it
I remember when I first got the patterns... it was so cool, and it did change my playing, to the good at the time... it is easy to get idiom bound in these, however. So I would simply suggest that those who get into these make a real practice of listening for what you hear in your head first to come from your fingers second... like singing or talking. So you're playing sounds, not shapes. Just what I've experienced.
... lol, would have saved me a bit of time if I'd had TH-cam back then... good, concise video :)
Thanks. Yes, these things are not the be all and end all of playing. In the long run, it's far more important to develop one's ears and store of melodic ideas and memory. And also to focus the finger work on phrasing and/or connecting one's inner voice to one's fingers.
Having said that, it's truthful to say these ideas worked for me, as they helped me bridge the gap between scales and music. Not quite music, but more than a scale. And also, more than a few people said, "Whoa! Cool!" At the time, that was important for me to keep going. Thanks for the comment. It made me smile and remember youth - long past! :)
@@MarkZabel lol... indeed... loooong past. But it WAS really a breakthrough moment at the time, since you could 'suddenly' sound a bit more like the big shots on the radio. Pretty effin' awesome, yeah? Hell yeah :)
Great lesson Mark! Some of my favorite guitarists, and some of my favorite licks… your Lessons always seem to give insight and make me a better player, thanks for all you do!
You're very welcome Doug. Thanks for watching!
I've got the same guitar, Les Paul Studio with mini humbuckers, which i love. Unfortunately, i don't have the same chops! Yet!!
Enjoy your straightforward method.
Thanks again.
Alex
Thanks Alex! It's a great guitar to "get your riff on". Rock on brother!
Your extremely taletned hope i get there someday.
Thank you so much!
Thanks Mark, greet lesson. By the way, I worked with an Ed Zabel for 25 years. He was a Jem a really good guy amazing comedy storyteller and great friend
Thanks! Zabel is not an uncommon name. Sorry, I don't know an Ed Zabel, but he sounds like a great guy, so I wish I did!
Great lesson! Always love something new to work on and put into my playing. Thanks Mark! 🙏🏼✌🏻
Glad you enjoyed it!
Fantastic lesson Mark. Love the examples used. Killer execution on all of them Well Played!! 👏👏👏👋🖤🦋🖤
Thanks Kris!
Your videos are so great and informative !! Thank you !!!
Thanks Jason!
Can't thank you enough for the clever tricks! Very nice...
Very welcome!
Nice mini's on that goldtop. Nice to know Jimmy played tele on that lick.
Yes, I like the mini hums!
@@MarkZabelthank you for being a patient man, and thank you for a very cool lesson. You are the real deal.
@@johndaugherty4127 Thanks so much brother!
These tricks are so sneaky that it's not immediately obvious that patterns 1 & 3 are really just 2 ways of seeing the same sequence. Add an extra C and A on the first string before starting pattern 3 and you'll see you end up playing the exact same notes!
Thanks, Mark!
My pleasure! Thanks for watching.
That Ace pattern you showed us has been the backbone of my lead playing since before KISS even formed. I forget where I first heard it . . maybe on a Johnny Winter album, I dunno. Recently I was listening to some Mahogany Rush live videos and wishing I could play like Frank, when suddenly I was watching him playing my licks, only much more professionally and with more pizzazz. Then I heard some more of his songs that had more of the licks I knew and loved to use being rattled off nonchalantly by the master himself. I couldn't believe it. Ted Nugent called those staple riffs and licks "Rock'n'Roll rituals" . . and I guess they are. I mean: here we have two guitarists, one in Canada and the other in Australia, who have never listened to each other's music, using the same foundation licks in their playing and improvisations. Incidentally, I was forced into unwilling retirement due to a mystery injury/ailment/condition at just around the same time that Frank also had to retire from live appearances due to his own debilitating problem . . which he won't reveal, and that's fine . . we don't need to know what it is exactly to pray for him. I wrote to him at that time to express a fan's condolence and to let him know I'd be praying for him, and to my immense surprise, Frank replied to me! That was the beginning of a lengthy back and forth between Frank and me. He told me he's a Christian and, like me, he's awaiting on The Lord to make things better. We're roughly the same age, with me turning 70 a couple of months ago and Frank turning 70 later this year. I fear time is not on our side, but with God all things are possible. R.L. Burnside wasn't discovered until age 73, so there's always hope for down the line.
Hi Arthur. Thanks for telling that story brother!
Ty for all of your videos. They all unlocked my speed. Fact. Ty bro
Thanks! Glad it was helpful!
Kiss "Love Gun" solo was actually stole from the "Blues Magoos"
But still an amazing solo concept. Very cool lesson. Thanks for all your time teaching killer guitar concepts. You Rock!" Peace.. Joe
Thanks Joe!
The licks and positions everyone and their grandma plays 😉. Thanks for showing even more folks how to use them 🤣. I dig your lessons.
Thanks.
This is pretty cool you forgot Flirting With Disaster it's a cool run as well exactly what you're saying this was a cool video a lot of the younger guys will be able to take off now
Great example!
Thanks ❤
You bet. Thanks for watching.
Liking the fretboard graphics Mark....
Thanks!
That’s a good one Mark , I’ll be playing around with it for sure. I’m also intrigued by your friends paneling in the basement 🤭
Thanks! And LOL, I *wish* my friend's basement was that comfortable. But yeah, remember when everything got paneling on it? I have a soft spot for that.
The "Calling Elvis" break.
Good shit there mark! Excellent approach to getting busy with my phrasing, without a lot of fretboard travel, unless I want it
Thanks!
Thanks!
@@MarkZabelit actually slotted in very nicely as I have,for the last year or so, been challenging myself with saying something in a 4 note range across a very limited area, trying to sound less scaley and develop some phrasing. These patterns morph on some things I’m already doing so that was about a
“10 minute toolbox expansion” …lol (feel free to use that in a title!)
Merry Christmas!
@@bigl6322 Merry Christmas!
Thanx!
You bet!
Many thanks, excelente
Thank you.
GREAT Lesson Great Teacher Thanks I have to admit though I really did thing you were Peter Billingsley AKA Ralphie from the movie A Christmas Story 👍
I wish. That dude's gotta be loaded from the royalties.
Super video
Thank you so much!
I always feel like a phony using these scales, because it's used by so many people. I love it when people side step into an alternative scales briefly before bouncing back into the scales we've come to accept as being a classic sound.
Does anyone have any interesting alternative scale to learn that fit well with the minor pentatonic?
Thank you for the video, you teach really well and the graphics are exactly what it needed. My daughter is upstairs noodling to what you've just taught her! 🙌
I know exactly what you mean, I'm the same. It feels like a cheat and also, for me, gets tedious just 'improvising' notes off the same scale time after time. A lot of musicians have earned a living off this for decades though so who are we to say it's wrong 😉
@@noggintube people who aren't getting paid to do it, that's who.
Any note can work when you improvise. What matters is what you do _next_. If you picked something that sounds too crunchy, you're never far from a "good" note. Just slide down one fret or bend up a half-step, or if you have light strings, just keep bending until it sounds alright 😂. Scales are just an alphabet. You have to compare each of the 12 notes to each underlying chord and ask yourself, does the chord (word) sound more interesting when I add this note (letter)?
Try flowing in and out of the flattened 5th, from above it and below, and have a listen to a saxophone video about the "Eric Satie scale", it'll open your ears to a different sound!👍
A repeating triad in a particular place..🙂
Im not addvactly sure where the last pattern came from but I learned patterns of 3 and stacking notes from a guitar book I got when I was a kid and it was from the mid 60s, but I've been using them in my playing in one form or another most of my playing life 😎, great job teaching
Thanks!
Godsmack has one like that.
There's a similar pattern in Good Times Bad Times... and the solo in Diary of a Madman both towards the end of their solos..see if you recognize it!
Yep.
The first one sounds like part of the Solo in Godzilla Blue Oyster Cult
Yes, Buck Dharma uses that first pattern at about 1:15 in the song.
I would love to know the counting on the first lick! Anyone? Thank you Mark Z!
Thanks!
Mark, you are such a sweet guy. I love your teaching style. There are so many guitar teachers that are just A-Holes.
Thanks buddy! Appreciate it!
Great job thank you. 😂
Any time!
I don't think your Love Gun solo is correct but I could be wrong. I was in a tribute band and as I recall I hit the same notes without such a wide spread.
I thought the "sneaky trick" was going to be their ultra thin strings.... starting at .08. Wrong I was. 16th note acending and decending runs in box one is the 'sneaky' sneaky.
I wouldn’t classify this as shredding at all. That said, it’s remarkable how many guitarists never truly mastered such a basic technique. It’s undeniably an essential phrase to know, especially given its prevalence in '70s and '80s rock. In my opinion, the only guitarist who elevated this beyond ‘beginner-level’ was Randy Rhoads, particularly in songs like 'Mr. Crowley,' where he absolutely blistered it. Rhoads bridged the gap between players like Frehley and Page-who, frankly, were not strong technical players and would be considered subpar by today’s standards-and the bona fide shredders of the '80s. That’s not to completely discredit those older guys; for instance, Page was an incredible musician overall and was a master of most important thing of all: writing original material. And there were plenty of talented players from his era who didn’t get anything close to the recognition they deserved. You can turn on classic rock radio and hear them any day.
Thanks for the vid. Been playing for 50+ years but I never paid much attention to Jimmy Page and that type of pentatonic speed licks. (My loss!)
I have a criticism/suggestion: I think you describe the sequences in a misleading way. When writing down sequences (jazz books are chock full of em) it's usual to label notes as being part of a starting sequence as the ones BEFORE the repetition starts. So, you describe Sequence 1 as a "2-string pattern", Seq 2 as a "2-note pattern", and Seq 3 as a "3-note pattern descending on the scale". That doesn't tell us much. They're ALL 2-str and 2/3-note patterns. What matters is how many notes are played .
Sequence 1 could could be more usefully called a "6-note sequence that descends a scale degree from the last note in the sequence with each repetition". Pardon my long-winded description! How about just "a 6-note sequence. Transpose as desired."
The fact that it's a scale degree is actually neither here nor there. What matters to us guitar players, and our brains & fingers, is that these patterns are constructed by playing a sequence of notes on 2 adjacent strings and then repeating that sequence moved down a string pair.
The most useful piece of info that you leave out IS guitar-specific: in all 3 cases the sequence is repeated with the fingering moved down (over, toward the low E) a string pair.
Another advantage of thinking of the sequences as defined by the number of notes it contains is that it then becomes a simple matter to create new ones by changing the number of STRINGS you move over and in WHICH DIRECTION. So, you could start a pattern on, say, strings 4&5 and then play it moved UP (across, toward the high E str) to strings 3&4. And so on.
Or SKIP a string pair: how about start on str 1&2 then jump to 4&5. OR: move a pattern up 1 fret chromatically each time. WHOOAAHHH!!! JAZZ!!
Sure, some of the results of these random changes may sound like monkeys typing but you're bound to come up with something useful or, dare I say it, NEW!
Your Sequences 1 & 3 are 6-note sequences. Seq 2 is a 4-note sequence. That's all a guy needs to know. He/she (sorry, I'm old) can then move it over/under/sideways/down as desired...
Hope this helps someone...
Thanks.
I am 71. REMEMBER WATCHING THE NEW YARDBIRDS AT THE PORTLAND CIVIC THEATER . That night robert plant announced theitr new name,led zepplin.vannila fudge was headliner.they never opened for anyone after that
Sweet!
Is there an official term for this trick? For example there are terms like double stops, intervals and things like that. Does this technique have a name?
It's called a "scale sequence" or simply a "pattern lick", as in the video.
@@MarkZabel thanks Mark! Great video!
That Ace Freely lick was ripped clean off from Thin Lizzy. A song called Emerald.
your teaching on the last lick left me hanging trying to figure the rest since you sped up, so I'm totally lost on the 3rd lick since I'm just learning, you did say you would show it all,
just saying
Follow the EXACT same pattern shown to finish the lick. The point is to learn a pattern, and I did show it, as advertised. Also, click the video linked at the end to see details on the lick itself - how to pick it, when to employ pull-offs, etc.
ok saw it on your next video, I guess I was expecting to see it like you show in the first 2 licks@@MarkZabel
Mark, thanks so much for your content!
One gear question for you: in your LP Goldtop, are those mini-hb or Fireburd pickups? I put Firebirds in my Epi LP Deuxe!
Thanks! Gibson called them mini humbuckers. They're blade pickups designed in 2012. To me they sure seem like Firebird pickups!
I found one of your earlier videos about it!! th-cam.com/video/53GBf3yiSoA/w-d-xo.html GREAT!! @@MarkZabel
Love Gun is the only one i got 😂
Not surprised John! 😊
Scales are core
Great lesson. I feel your pentatonic graphic is upside down.. for my brain. It is probably just me...
Thanks. I experiment with a lot of different graphics on TH-cam, my teaching site and with private students. This one tends to do better than the conventional ones flipped around (the ones usually posted in books), but it's not the top rated one I've found.
The point of these is that they align with the actual guitar neck I'm using in the video, so you don't need to flip perspective. As I said, they seem to work okay, but there are 2 others that work a bit better. The unfortunate reality is that they take A LOT more work to film and edit.
That said, I'll distance from this.
Dude, I still trip up on the basic pentatonic run at the start of the solo for Stairway to Heaven.
I’m about ready to throw myself down my steps. It’s like my fingers trip over themselves and freeze up.
Oh my, don't hurt yourself. Stairway's first lick is *FAR* more difficult than these patterns. Take your time and play them slowly and clearly and cleanly. These building blocks are a great way to build up to being able to play longer lines.
Relax, seriously.
Eeeeeeeeeexcellet as usual nice choice ace copied Jimmy blah blah everybody copied somebody on saw acet twice as a guitarist once as a customer did not like his manager but he more than made up for it he was spectacular as a person and as a superstar
Thanks! Good observations, and good to hear Ace treated you well as a customer.
Ace was a great player, no doubt. Copied? Borrowed and enhanced and put his own spin on it. I don't see why anyone would have a problem with it, as you say. As others have pointed out, The Blue Magoos did a song with that triplet lick in before Zep did it in GTBT. That's okay. Jimmy put his spin on it. That's what makes the world go around.
@@MarkZabel well done and we'll said buddy
👍I Love that you do a _Demo Overview_ BEFORE you dive into any details. Watching some YTber drone on about endless details without FIRST giving the intended purpose sucks 100%
- I'll unsub due to the waste of my time. Show the main reason/point of the video First, then do the details✅
Thanks!
I have no idea what's going on, ha. Music theory is a foreign language.
This isn't really theory. A couple of patterns - that's it. Chords are patterns. You can do this.
Those aren’t “licks”, they’re “drills”
Didn't I say they aren't licks and you shouldn't think of them that way? Pretty sure I did.
How? Because he is Jimmy Page
LOL! He *is* Jimmy! But no, it's actually simple. Stick around to the end and/or follow the video suggested at the end.
I love Jimmy - top influence of mine, but this is simple stuff to get down. You can do it!
@@MarkZabel
I know but you have to get the Idea in 1968...
Rudimentary stuff. As soon as people have got their fingers and their brains working together they should get out of the "box patterns", it's a dead end.🥱