Hello! Welcome back again. Welcome to this next segment, in your journey of learning to play guitar. Now today we’re really going to take it to the next level. We’re going to step up a gear, and I’m going to show you this minus scale. And if you think back, we already learned the blues scale, and really they’re very similar but the minus scale has just got a few more notes in it, and what that means is, it allows you to play a lot more interesting stuff with those extra notes. So instead of talking about it, let me just demonstrate it to you now…
Okay, and you can use those notes to play to play all the solos, and you know the cool stuffs you want… Okay. So you get the idea, so once again, I don’t think I need to tell you again really, I think you understand that this stage, how important it is to learn these things. And once you’ve learned them, and then you can go on and play all those songs you want to play, okay. So let’s begin.
Now like the blues scale in Key of A, this is the minus scale in the Key of A, starting on fret 5 on the 6th string. So if you give it a pluck, and then step up on to the 3rd finger on to fret 7, and then the little finger on to fret 8, and then go to the 5th string and do the same thing, fret 5, fret 7, fret 8… Good. So let me just demonstrate that from the 6th string… And then you’re going to go to the 4th string at fret 5, and then fret 7, and now this time you’re going to go to the 3rd string, but you cannot move down to frets, and now you’re on fret 4 on the 3rd string. So the position of our hand has moved down. And the middle plays fret 5, our little finger goes to fret 7, so let me demonstrate that from the start. 5, 7, 8…5, 7, 8…5, 7… And then 4, 5, 7… Okay, good. Now the 2nd string starts on fret 5 as normal, middle finger to fret 6, and little finger to fret 8, and then the first string on fret 5, fret 7, and then fret 8. Okay, so let me demonstrate that in slow motion…
Okay, and as I usually say, you know, pull the video if you need to, and practice that now and make sure you got it nice and smooth, because the next thing I’m going to ask you to do is to play it backwards. So starting with the little finger on fret 8, step down on to fret 7, and then fret 5 on the first string. And then move to the 2nd string fret 8, middle finger fret 6, off to fret 5, and then the 3rd string fret 7 with the little finger, middle finger on to fret 5, and then of course we go down on to fret 4 on that string, and then you’re going to go to the 4th string, fret 7 and fret 5, and then the 5th string, 8, 7, 5. And then finish off with 6th string, 8, 7, 5. Okay, so at this stage you should be able to play all the way through, and all the way backwards, nice and smoothly…
Okay, and remember as usual, you know it’s not a race, so I don’t expect you to be able to play it perfectly straight away. Take your time, be patient with yourself. There’s no rush you know. Okay, now the second part of this lesson is what I’m going to teach you, which is really important. And that’s how to use the plectrum to get the most speed out of your playing. So normally when people learn to play, they start by just plucking downwards. But what I’m going to ask you to do, and this is the key to speed, when combined with hammers and pull offs. They will become clear shortly, I want you to pluck downwards and upwards with the plectrum like this. So what I want you to practice doing is to go all the way through the scale, plucking down then up on each note like this... Okay. Now I really want you to thoroughly practice that, and of course you will go away down, and all the way back again. And learn to pluck down and up, here’s the key to speed. Because when you watch me, you know, play a bit of a solo, if you watch my right hand, and you’ll see my plectrum, it’s not just going down, it’s going down and up… Okay, I think you understand. Because that effectively allows you to play as quickly as opposed to if you were just plucking downwards. I hope that makes sense, so there you go, that’s what I want you to practice today. You’ve got the minus scale to practice and the down-up technique with the plectrum. And once you get used to plucking down-up on each note, what you can do is pluck down on one note, and then up on the next, and then down on the next note, and then up on the next, all the way through the scale. So you’re plucking each note once but, you’re doing them alternately, tying them up. I hope that makes sense. I’m sure it does.
Okay, so that’s enough of me talking now. I think it’s time for you to go and get on with that. Go and learn it, and you know, do it thoroughly, be patient with yourself. Go and enjoy it, and I’ll see you in a few days for the next segment in this e-course. And eventually we’re going to use these scales. Now I’m going to teach you how to improvise, you know, so you can play that cool stuff yourself and make it up as you’re going along. So you’ve got all that to look forward to. So, bye-bye, take care. I’ll see you in a few days for the next segment of this course.
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