One of the best things I did for my timing was playing in a Chic covers band. Playing Nile Rogers parts for two years was a great way to get timing locked in As a rock guy the music wasn't so much of my cup of tea, but a great lesson
The three guys in your truefire JNC40 promo - the three guys we all love and respect, of course - actually look like the same dude in different stages of aging
yes my timing sucks. usually when drummers try and throw you off, they are still keeping time with some part of the kit even if they are displacing the kick/snare. in that example, it seems like the hihat. with meshuggah it might be the cymbals to pay attention to. of course there are evil drummers who displace everything to really screw you around so you have to rely on yourself.
Hi John. How do you play so fluent when using pentatonic scale? I know the shapes very well, but when I move from one shape to another, it's kinda sound the same and boring. Do you implement other scales with pentatonic when you solo? I saw most of your videos with lessons included, but I still can't figure it out.
You could try listening to a few bars of the backing track on a loop, imagine a melody in your head (or sing it - doesn't have to be Pavarotti so long as it's roughly in tune) and play that. For most melodies or riffs there's multiple ways of playing it on the guitar because the same note is on more than one string. Move stuff around and you'll start to develop the ability to play what you're imagining in real time without really thinking about shapes. If you want to stick with patterns on the keyboard though I'd suggest that arpeggios and chord tones are another thing to consider for each chord too, in addition to the pentatonic shapes. e.g if you're playing over Am7 chord you can play any of the Am pentatonic shapes and especially any of the notes in Am7 - and if you know where all the Am7 shapes are on the fretboard (CAGED system or if you really want to blow your mind get one of Ted Greene's chord books) you can move around the fretboard playing those chord shapes as arpeggios. Between strong beats you can pretty much play any note. So try playing one or two notes a semitone or a tone above or below the chord tone or the scale tone and so long as you land on the chord tone it'll generally work. The question is really what you want to sound like, i.e if you're playing blues then you probably won't stray very far from the blues scale and pentatonics (although it's still possible to do so) whereas if you're playing jazz or fusion then you'll tend to add more and more colour with the so-called 'wrong' notes as well as the right ones.
Hey, you can think about the intervals between the notes you play, how many times you play a note, is a single note better or a diad or a triad. There's so much you can do with a single note and so much it can say, don't always be in a rush to get to the next place
In terms of making it interesting, maybe think in terms of a chord progression and the notes within the chords (arpeggios, triads) to break out the pentatonic.
“Are you rushing or are you dragging?!”
✋🏻💥 so you DO know the difference!
I often feel that rhythm is one of the last things bedroom guitarists prioritise. I look forward to trying this! Thanks for the tip!
Cool idea thanks. This makes me think that I should really be practicing to drum tracks. Would be much more interesting than just playing on my own.
Thank you so much for sharing it
Thanks John! Will be trying this out tonight!
One of the best things I did for my timing was playing in a Chic covers band.
Playing Nile Rogers parts for two years was a great way to get timing locked in
As a rock guy the music wasn't so much of my cup of tea, but a great lesson
The three guys in your truefire JNC40 promo - the three guys we all love and respect, of course - actually look like the same dude in different stages of aging
Very interesting video! Great exercise!
You make it look easy
I like it!
I typically naturally play behind the beat, which I’ve always found a bit annoying
Most guys rush. If you really want to explore groove see how slow you can play with a metronome and feel what happens between ticks
yes my timing sucks. usually when drummers try and throw you off, they are still keeping time with some part of the kit even if they are displacing the kick/snare. in that example, it seems like the hihat. with meshuggah it might be the cymbals to pay attention to. of course there are evil drummers who displace everything to really screw you around so you have to rely on yourself.
Never needed one, iff you play for 8 hours for about 41 years you should ashame!
Hi John.
How do you play so fluent when using pentatonic scale?
I know the shapes very well, but when I move from one shape to another, it's kinda sound the same and boring.
Do you implement other scales with pentatonic when you solo?
I saw most of your videos with lessons included, but I still can't figure it out.
You could try listening to a few bars of the backing track on a loop, imagine a melody in your head (or sing it - doesn't have to be Pavarotti so long as it's roughly in tune) and play that. For most melodies or riffs there's multiple ways of playing it on the guitar because the same note is on more than one string. Move stuff around and you'll start to develop the ability to play what you're imagining in real time without really thinking about shapes. If you want to stick with patterns on the keyboard though I'd suggest that arpeggios and chord tones are another thing to consider for each chord too, in addition to the pentatonic shapes. e.g if you're playing over Am7 chord you can play any of the Am pentatonic shapes and especially any of the notes in Am7 - and if you know where all the Am7 shapes are on the fretboard (CAGED system or if you really want to blow your mind get one of Ted Greene's chord books) you can move around the fretboard playing those chord shapes as arpeggios. Between strong beats you can pretty much play any note. So try playing one or two notes a semitone or a tone above or below the chord tone or the scale tone and so long as you land on the chord tone it'll generally work.
The question is really what you want to sound like, i.e if you're playing blues then you probably won't stray very far from the blues scale and pentatonics (although it's still possible to do so) whereas if you're playing jazz or fusion then you'll tend to add more and more colour with the so-called 'wrong' notes as well as the right ones.
Hey, you can think about the intervals between the notes you play, how many times you play a note, is a single note better or a diad or a triad. There's so much you can do with a single note and so much it can say, don't always be in a rush to get to the next place
In terms of making it interesting, maybe think in terms of a chord progression and the notes within the chords (arpeggios, triads) to break out the pentatonic.
"often times" argh, I hate that phrase. How is often times different than often? No one says frequently times.
Good video though 😂
You don’t speak yokel then?