Chuck Berry-Rolling Stones styles - Movable Scales & Lick

Michael Johnson >> Chuck Berry-Rolling Stones styles >>

Lesson Subject: Rolling Stones Style

What you learn: Movable Scales & Licks

Michael: Michael Johnson

Michael: This interactive lesson will cover guitar licks in the style of Stones guitarists Keith Richards and Ron Wood. Keith is known for his stylistic rhythm pattern but also integrated a simple but effective lead style. Ron Wood has a bluesy and almost country flavor to his lead licks. Many of these lead patterns play off the Keith Richards rhythms you just learned, you can see how the rhythm and lead patterns interplay. These licks and rhythms continue in the key of A. Here's a sample of what you'll learn:

Michael: Notice the nice lazy feel of the licks. Here's the scale pattern we'll use:

Michael: Here's the A Major Pentatonic scale: A, B, C#, E, F#. Do any of you know what scale the major pen comes from?

MB: Major -4 & -7

Michael: Yes MB, that scale comes from the A Major scale; A, B, C#, D, E, F#, G#. You drop the 4th and 7th note and that gives you the A Major Pentatonic; A, B, C#, E, F#. You can [lay that scale over the next progression.

Michael: Here's the A Major and A Major Pentatonic scale patterns together.

Michael: Notice how the scales overlap.

John: So A major and A major pen have interchangeability. Is this always true for playing in A?

Michael: Yes John, most the time. Here's the first lick:

Michael: This lick uses the pattern I gave you earlier. Notice how you barre the notes of the chord. Here's a picture of the bend.

Michael: Here's the same lick, both with a different rhythm pattern.

Michael: You can move use movable scale patterns using the major pentatonic scale. In this example you move from the A Major Pentatonic, to D Major Pentatonic, and then to the E Major Pentatonic. This pattern follows the I (A), IV (D), V (E) we have covered in other lessons. Here's the scale patterns. The root notes are highlighted.

Michael: Now you can move that pattern or lick up the neck to follow the progression. Here's the lick for the for the IV (D) using the same lick you played earlier in A (I). This should help show you where you can play these licks while following the progression. See how the scales follow the chords.

MB: I IV V Pattern

Michael: Yes MB, here's the lick for the D.

Michael: It's the same basic lick only moved to the 2nd scale pattern I sent. Here's the lick in E Major Pentatonic.

lv8rdoc: Honky tonk woman sounding!

Michael: OK, now that you understand this concept try using other licks as well, and then moving them to the I, IV V positions like you did in the earlier example. Here's one lick variation you can try.

Michael: This lick starts with a cool sounding A5 chords, here's a picture of the fingering.

Michael: You can also use the chords I showed in the previous lesson. Notice how the lick starts with the chord then the A Major pentatonic scale pattern and then to the A6. Here is another lick variation you can try.

Michael: This lick sounds cool... it starts with the A chord, notes in the A Major Pentatonic, and then uses Maj 3rd intervals on the 2nd and 3rd strings. Try to move the licks to the different positions of the progression. Here's a sample of me playing to the progression.

irene: Bends are hard to do, I don't understand 1/4 or 1/2.

Michael: They are Irene. You try to match the pitch of the higher fret pitches by bending it up to make subtle changes in the pitch. A 1/2 bend matches the pitch one half-step higher on the fretboard, a full bend is 2 frets higher, etc. A 1/4 bend is the pitch in between the 1/2 step bend. Use your 2nd and 3rd fingers to help with bending, this gives your 3rd finger more support. Here's a picture:

Michael: I hope you understand the options you can use when soloing over a I, IV, V progression. I will get more in-depth using these concepts in the next lessons using the key of C. Check it out!

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