Michael: This interactive lesson continues the series on surf rock guitar. This lesson covers the style of the Surfaris, the Surfaris were well known for simple and melodic lines with a clean guitar tone. This lesson is excellent for any beginning to intermediate guitarist looking to play simple leads and rhythms and fun for the rest of us guitarist who have been playing for awhile. Here's the lesson sample of what you'll learn:

Lesson Sample

Michael: Here's the musical concepts you'll learn:

1. Playing the C I, IV, V progression
2. Playing simple licks over chord changes
3. Learning to change positions while the chords change



Michael: This first tab shows you the C Major scale pattern and the I, IV, V, notice I also give the octave I, IV , V notes as well. These positions are important to remember when switching during soloing, here's the progression sequence:



Michael: Now we'll use this lick in the order.



Lick 1

Michael: I'll give the entire lick sequence in a minute, make sure you have this lick down first. Here comes the entire progression:





Michael: Very simple, here's a jam track you'll play the coming licks over:

Lopping Jam Track 1

Michael: You can select any section of the tab to rehearse a section, notice how the licks move with the progression. It's a good practice to use simple lines like this and move around the neck during the progression changes. Most of you have some experience I assume in playing solos. Our next section will cover playing surf lead licks, here's the progression notes, based on the 1st & 2nd strings. This will give you an idea of where to play the follow lead licks:



Michael: The positions I just gave you will apply to the next licks, here's the first lead lick:



Lick 2

Michael: Now you can play that same lick using the progression.





Michael: Now try playing this lead over the looping jam track. Notice on the V & IV you shorten the lick due to the duration of the phrase during those chords. This basic concept works with rock, blues and jazz. Here's another variation, using slides and licks:





Jaigee: You can always learn more, but are we supposed to improv the phrasing?

Michael: I highly encourage it! That's the whole idea, take these licks and use others you already know, you can also jam in the C Minor Pentatonic as well:



Michael: I'll send a few lick in that scale pattern.





Michael: This uses more double stop licks.









Michael: You can move lick 3 over the chord progression as well.

Michael: Time to go class, see you next lesson!