How To Become A Great Neoclassical Guitarist - FREE 14 Day Neoclassical Guitar Lessons Mini Course - Part 1
Listen to “Labyrinth of Madness”
Welcome to Part 1 of my 14 day mini course on how to become a great neoclassical guitarist! Throughout these lessons I will show you how to improve your lead guitar technique and become a better guitar player. When you learn, practice and apply the exercises in the lessons of this mini course, you will have taken a big step toward becoming a better guitar player!
There are many techniques, scales and songwriting ideas that you must learn and eventually master in order to make your guitar playing sound neoclassical. In this mini course we will focus on several of the techniques that many guitar players struggle with and I will show you examples of how I teach musicians just like you to play in my neoclassical style of guitar playing.
I have a very special surprise for you! I have composed and recorded an exclusive instrumental song (titled “Labyrinth of Madness”) just for you. You can find this song as the bonus track on the Rhapsody of Fire release "The Frozen Tears Of Angels". I wrote this song in order to demonstrate and teach to you the most common techniques used in my style of neoclassical guitar playing. Before we start, take a moment to listen to the song. Listen to "Labyrinth of Madness" here. Please do this now before continuing to read further.
Today, I want you to learn and practice the section of this song that occurs at 1:55 – 2:03 in the recording. This part of the song has a very recognizable neoclassical sound. The guitar technique that is used in this excerpt is called: “Pedal Point”. A pedal point in the context of neoclassical music occurs when a single pitch of a melody is being repeated over and over as the other notes are being played.
You can see the tab for this section of the song right here:
Notice that the first note of each beat in every measure is the same. This repeating note is acting like a pedal point because it is being repeated while the other notes change around it. If you don’t understand what this means, look at the diagram below. You can see the repeating note in each measure (the pedal point) circled in red.
You can also listen to the slow recording of this section here: “MP3 of lesson 1 played slowly”. In the slower recording, it is easier to hear the pedal tone in each measure being accented.
There are MANY different ways a Pedal Point lick or sequence can be played (each with a very unique sound), but this pattern is one of the most common neoclassical sounds and you can hear it all over the music of guitar players such as Yngwie Malmsteen, Vinnie Moore and of course myself.
When practicing this section of the song, I want you to keep the following things in mind:
Number 1: Begin by learning only the first measure to understand the basic pattern of the lick. After you can play the first measure easily at a slow speed, you should learn the others since they follow the exact same pattern.
Number 2: Divide up your time between looking at and focusing on your picking hand and your fretting hand. When looking at your picking hand, make sure that the pick doesn’t move very far away from the string after playing each note (a common problem among guitar players). When watching the fretting hand, don’t let your index finger come up very far away from the string after playing the notes (this is also a very common problem guitarists have). Remember that the less unnecessary movements you make, the faster you will be able to play!
Number 3: Listen to how accurate and precise your playing sounds. Work to eliminate any unwanted noise from the strings you aren’t playing if you hear any noise.
Two days from now you will receive your next lesson. I will tell you more about how to practice the pedal point technique and will share with you a big secret to improving your picking speed and accuracy.
I look forward to continuing with you in lesson 2!
In my Neoclassical Revelation Guitar Course, I work with my students for many months, training them to master all of the skills I will show you in this mini course to the highest level (and teaching them how to apply their guitar technique with many examples of real guitar solos). If you are ready to commit to yourself and want to become a neoclassical guitar maestro, I want to help you reach that goal! I can put you on the fast track to becoming a master guitar player today. To get started, go to my Neoclassical Revelation Guitar Course now and fill out the evaluation form.