Course: Rock Style Level 2

 

Let’s turn this up to 11! In Rock Style Course 2 we’ll show you chords and rhythms used by the likes of Hendrix, Clapton, Page and other guitar legends. You’ll learn advanced soloing techniques and licks, pinch harmonics, more bending, how to increase your speed and so much more. The course ends with a few lessons on some conceptual ideas to apply to your playing and further learning.

Chapter: 1: Rockin' Chords

In this chapter you will expand you knowledge and skills in rock style rhythm playing. You'll learn to play rock style riffs with a variety of rhythmic variations and techniques. You'll get a lot of opportunities to put these tools to use in practice tunes!

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In this tutorial, Anders Mouridsen will teach you some "next level" rock strumming approaches. After introducing the lesson concepts and dialing in an appropriate tone, we'll look at a new 8th note pattern. Then it's time to swing the 8th notes before we learn a new 16th note pattern, and swing those, too. We'll learn some "karate chop" muting, then move on to two practice tunes. We conclude with some easy practice exercises.

Published: 06/05/2013 Upgrade

In this set of lessons, Anders Mouridsen will take your palm muting to the next level. Anders will introduce the concepts of right hand control, then dial in a suitable tone. After that we'll look at where and when to mute, followed by how to apply and release your palm. Palm muting arpeggios is up next, then we'll learn how to palm mute bass notes. We'll put it all into a practice tune, and finish up with some easy practice exercises.

Published: 06/05/2013 Upgrade

In this next series, Anders Mouridsen is going to teach chords and voicings to add to your rhythm playing. After Anders introduces the tutorial, he'll dial in a Telecaster tone; then he'll teach a classic major chord voicing. Next in the queue are D string root power chords and dominant 7ths, followed by one-finger power chords and power 9 chords in drop D tuning. We'll put it together in a practice tune, then do some practice exercises.

Published: 06/05/2013 Upgrade

In this tutorial, Anders Mouridsen will teach some key elements in rock rhythm. Anders will introduce this topic then talk about a good tone; then we're off into swing feel in rock. Next we'll examine 8th and 16th note syncopations, then learn how to suspend the rhythm. We'll look at how to rush or drag the beat before we put everything together in a practice tune. We'll end with some easy practice exercises.

Published: 06/26/2013 Upgrade

Chapter: 2: Lead Secrets Revealed!

In this chapter you will expand you knowledge and skills in rock style lead playing. You'll learn to play standard rock licks, how to embellish and spice up your lead playing by bending, sliding and varying your phrasing!

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In this set of lessons, Anders Mouridsen will teach you a library of go-to rock licks. Anders will first talk about these "meat and potatoes" licks and dial in a good tone, then break down four standard licks you can use in your soloing. Then we'll mix up all the licks in different ways, and do some improvising.

Published: 06/27/2013 Upgrade

In this tutorial, Anders Mouridsen will take a look at intervals in rock soloing. After a brief talk about our topic and setting up a good tone, Anders will start in with using unisons. The we'll move on to thirds, followed by fourth intervals; then we'll get into sixths. Octaves are up next, then some jamming with these intervals in the context of our standard go-to licks.

Published: 06/27/2013 Upgrade

In this set of lead lessons, Anders Mouridsen will teach the concept of chord tones. We'll introduce the concept and look at a good tone for our lessons, then get into tension notes in chord tones. Next we'll learn three licks using triple stops, double stops, and single notes, then we'll incorporate all of those into a solo.

Published: 06/27/2013 Upgrade

In this tutorial, Anders Mouridsen will teach several techniques to apply to our soloing. Anders will introduce the concepts then dial in a tone for our lessons; then take a look at dynamic picking. We'll follow with an important element of expression: grace notes. After that we'll learn more on bending along with slides, then we'll add vibrato to the bends. We'll cap things off by applying these tools to our go-to and chord tone licks.

Published: 06/27/2013 Upgrade

In this set of lessons, Anders Mouridsen will break down how to phrase your lead lines. Starting with an overview of phrasing then applying an appropriate tone, Anders will then look at shorter phrases. The idea of leaving space is next, then longer phrases. We'll learn phrasing from classic songs, then call and response phrases. We'll learn to "phrase like we speak", then do a practice tune.

Published: 06/27/2013 Upgrade

Chapter: 3: More Rock Rhythm!

In this chapter you will dive further into rock rhythm playing by understanding chord progressions and using chord substitutions. You'll also learn how to embellish and strip down your chords and add fills!

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In this first tutorial in chapter 3, Anders Mouridsen will teach the building blocks of rock harmony. He'll introduce the subject and set a tone for the lessons, then teach the fundamental I, IV, V progression. Next up are chordal relationships to scale degrees, then harmonizing scales with major chords. We'll analyze a progression before we move to 2 practice tunes.

Published: 07/01/2013 Upgrade

In this tutorial, Anders Mouridsen will teach chord substitutions. Anders will introduce the concept, then use a Telly tone for the lessons. He'll start with an inversion of the IV chord, then we'll learn a V chord variation. Next we'll talk about the "whole step below" approach, and using harminzed scales as fills; we'll cap things off with a practice tune that incorporates everything we've learned.

Published: 07/01/2013 Upgrade

In this set of lessons, Anders Mouridsen will teach you about extensions in rock. He'll discuss the broader concept, then dial in a clean tone before laying out a basic progression with barre chords. After that we'll look at 9th chords, then slash chords. Then we'll add tension with sharp 5 chords, then learn about suspended 2nds. We'll conclude with a practice tune to put it all in context.

Published: 07/02/2013 Upgrade

In this set of lessons, Anders Mouridsen will teach you how to strip down your chords. Anders will discuss the topic and set a good tone for the lessons, then dissect 6th string root barre chords. Next is 5th string root barre chords, then we will strip down our substitutions. We'll put it all into context and performance in a stripped down practice tune.

Published: 07/02/2013 Upgrade

In this tutorial Anders Mouridsen will tune you into playing fills. After introducing the concept and dialing up a good tone for the lessons, Anders will get you familiar with the basic fills. Next we'll examine fills with substitutions, then look at fills using stripped down chords. We'll finish up with using lead licks as fills.

Published: 07/02/2013 Upgrade

In this set of lessons, Anders Mouridsen will take a look at "Hendrix" style embellishments. We'll look at the concept and get a good tone, then embellish our major and minor barre chords on the 6th and 5th strings. We'll learn some decorations for our substitutions, then learn parts for the sections of our practice tune; we'll finish with rocking out in a performance.

Published: 12/10/2013 Upgrade

Chapter: 4: More Advanced Rock Techniques

In this chapter you will expand you technique in rock lead playing. You'll get in depth lessons on using arpeggios, sequences, bending and pinch harmonics. You'll also get shortcuts to speed, learn to use exotic notes and tie it all together by applying it all over the neck.

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We often think of lead and rhythm playing as two very separate things. But anything you learn in your rhythm playing can be adapted to work in your lead playing as well, and vice versa. And the more these two mindsets can draw inspiration from one another, the more interesting they will both be. And there's no limit to how far you can eventually take the concept of arpeggios in rock!

Published: 07/12/2013 Upgrade

In this set of lessons, Anders Mouridsen will teach you about sequences. We'll talk about the concept then get a good tone before we get into learning basic sequences. Next we'll learn three different licks based on different groupings, then we'll combine these three licks. We'll finish up with some easy sequence practice exercises.

Published: 07/12/2013 Upgrade

In this series of lessons, Anders Mouridsen will take your bending up a level. First we'll get a brief overview and talk about a bending tone, then we'll explore using double bends in your leads. Bending up on one string and down on another is next; we'll then learn about wide bends. We'll combine all three bending licks together and improvise, and conclude with practice exercises.

Published: 07/12/2013 Upgrade

In this tutorial we're going to explore another lead technique that is very common in rock lead playing. This is the technique where you hit the strings with your thumb along with your pick to create a screeching harmonic. It's called "pinch harmonics", and I'm sure you'll recognize the sound of it. Some players use pinch harmonics in a very calculated and controlled way while others use it more loosely. In this tutorial we'll explore the basic technique and the different approaches in some fun and rockin' examples!

Published: 07/12/2013 Upgrade

Being able to play fast is absolutely not a necessity in rock, but it can be a fun and flashy tool to have in your toolbox. The technique required to do this often takes years of hard work and disciplined practice to develop, but there are some very common tricks or "shortcuts" that many rock guitar players use to obtain the sound of the faster lead playing without having that virtuosic technique.

Published: 07/12/2013 Upgrade

In this tutorial we'll explore some exotic note choices. We won't focus on the full scale patterns, since most of the notes repeat anyway. Instead we'll just go straight to the new interesting notes within our pentatonic scale pattern, and explore those in a rock context.

Published: 07/12/2013 Upgrade

When you see guitar players fly all over the neck in a solo, they're most often working with the same 6 notes as you, only they're played in different spots on the neck and in different octaves. In this tutorial I'm going to show you how this works and how you too can learn to fly all over the neck. Let's get started!

Published: 07/12/2013 Upgrade

Chapter: 5: Playing Like The Masters

In this chapter you will get more in depth about various rock styles. You'll learn what distinguishes various genres. You'll learn about southern rock, punk rock and heavy metal. As always, you'll get a lot of opportunities to put that knowledge to use in practice tunes.

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The first sub-genre we're going to explore is one of my personal favorites: the still very popular country-flavored rock known as "southern rock". This sound was characterized by bands and artists like The Allman Brothers Band, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Lynyrd Skynyrd and many others. So in this tutorial we're going to break down and play through an extensive practice tune that uses all the signature elements of this sound.

Published: 12/03/2013 Upgrade

In the 1970s a wave of rock bands rebelled against the introverted and virtuosic music that came before them with some hard-hitting, fast-paced and unapolegetic music known as punk rock. Punk was not purely a musical phenomenon since it also embraced fashion and political views, but the music was all about attitude and energy.

Published: 12/03/2013 Upgrade

This style of music was pioneered by bands like Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin and many others and became known as "heavy metal". Today this legacy is carried on by bands like Pantera, Metallica, and many more. In this tutorial we're going to break down and play through a practice tune that incorporates some of the many signature elements of this sound, so let's get started!

Published: 12/04/2013 Upgrade

The guitar players in this sub-genre often get extra creative with their tones and effects, note choices, and riffs, and it can be really fun to explore all the other-worldly guitar sounds you hear from players like Joe Satriani, Eric Johnson, Steve Vai and many others. I personally love bare-bones guitar playing, but I hope this tutorial will show you how many other, alternative cool sounds you can get out of the guitar when you get really creative with your gear and your playing.

Published: 12/04/2013 Upgrade

These elements aren't restricted to be purely from rock sub-genres; these will just be the examples for now. Eventually you can combine elements from totally different styles of music like jazz, blues, or world music - and beyond that even stories, movies, landscapes, and experiences can help shape the music you make.

Published: 12/04/2013 Upgrade

Chapter: 6: Putting it All Together

In this chapter you will learn to put all the pieces together in rock style playing. You'll learn how to develop solid rhythmic playing, different dynamic approaches, laying guitar parts and making good decisions about your playing and gear to improve your overall musicianship!

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In this first tutorial we're going to work on your "rhythmic feel" with metronomes, backing tracks, and records. A good rhythmic feel is one of the most important things you need for playing great rock guitar, so make sure to give all these exercises everything you've got.

Published: 12/10/2013 Upgrade

We're going to analyze the tools and the mechanics behind each "feel", but eventually the idea is to avoid thinking about the technical parts and instead just think about the feel you're trying to imply. Then if you've done your homework right, the mechanics will all be there!

Published: 12/10/2013 Upgrade

Most rock bands have just one drummer and one bass player. And although many rock bands have just one guitar player as well, it's also very common to have 2 or sometimes even 3 or more guitar players in a band. Even the bands with just one guitar player often overdub more guitar parts on their studio recordings anyway. So it's a really important skill to be able to layer multiple guitar parts, whether this happens when you're recording by yourself at home and multi-tracking, or playing in a band with 2 or more guitar players. That's what we're going to explore in this tutorial.

Published: 12/10/2013 Upgrade

If you make good decisions when you play, people will love playing with you and listening to you, almost regardless of how much or how much or little you may know. So in this tutorial we're going to explore this concept by composing an elaborate practice from from just two basic chord progressions: one for the verse and one for the chorus. This could be similar to what a songwriter may bring to a rehearsal with the band. From thereon we'll use some good musical decision making to come up with cool and effective lead and rhythm parts for the different sections, and we'll also add an intro and an outro riff as well as a solo section.

Published: 12/10/2013 Upgrade