Ollie will now take you through 5 of Steve's most awesome licks and techniques to help you apply all of these new ideas to your own improvisation. We look at hybrid picking, alternate picking, economy picking, 'dips' with the whammy bar, harmonising using diatonic 3rds and dorian ideas!
For our first lick, we will be looking at hybrid picking through the D minor pentatonic scale. The sequence on the scale is relatively simple as it is in fours, but using the hybrid picking can be tricky at first. However, once you have learnt this technique, you will find the lick far easier than if you tried to do it with alternate picking. Just to be sure you are visualising the correct scale shape, take a look at the fretboard diagram.
For our second lick, we are looking at a combination of alternate picking and economy picking. Alternate picking is where we always do 'down up' strokes with the plectrum. Economy picking is where we break this alternate picking to create more of a sweeping sound, typically as you change the string. In terms of the actual lick, we are using the key of B major and using the B major scale across the neck. If you are unsure of the scale shapes, check them out in the fretboard diagrams.
For this lick, we are introducing two new ideas. Firstly we introduce a cool new scale which we call the 'Mixolydian Penatonic'. This simply means that we are playing the minor pentatonic with a raised (or major) 3rd instead of the flat 3 we would normally play. This is a really cool scale shape that can be used over any blues or specifically any dominant chord. The two shapes Ollie plays through are shown in the fretboard diagrams.
Harmonised guitar parts were absolutely massive in the '80s, and Steve Lukather was a true master at creating cool harmonised parts based on diatonic thirds. What are diatonic thirds we hear you say? Well, 'diatonic' simply means within the scale. So if you are on the root note, a diatonic third up is the 3rd note in the scale. Simple as that! In our example, we are in the key of C# minor and use the scale shape as shown in the fretboard diagram.
For our last lick, we are looking at a typically challenging Steve Lukather lick using both the Dorian scale and the chromatic scale. We are playing in the key of E Dorian and using the scale shape below alongside those cool chromatic vibes. We kick off with the B minor arpeggio, which is simply notes within the E Dorian scale. Remember to use your economy picking with this part of the lick! From then on we are in that E Dorian scale shape before getting to those chromatic sections. Chromatic licks are simply starting in the scale, moving out of the scale by going one fret at a time, and finally resolving to another scale note. To start with, be sure you can visualise the scale shapes in the fretboard diagrams.
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