Michael: Jake E. Lee is our featured guitarist in this series on Ozzy Osbourne's guitarists. Jake's licks can be heard on "Bark at the Moon" and "Ultimate Sin" where his super fast bluesy/modal licks and rhythms drove the sound of the band. He attributed guitarists like Tommy Bolin, Uli Jon Roth, Ritchie Blackmore, Edward Van Halen, Jimi Hendrix and Jeff Beck as his main influences using a custom Fender Stratocaster as his main axe of choice. Jake E. Lee later formed the band Badlands featuring a hard bluesy sound reminiscent of early Led Zeppelin and played on several tribute CDs. This lesson is by special request and will cover both Jake E. Lee's lead and rhythm styles. Sample some of the licks you'll be learning:

 
 
Michael: First we'll cover some of Jake's rhythm basics, here's the jam track:



Michael: Notice in his style how he uses the open string along with chords, here's how you break down the riff:







Michael: Notice how the note drones on the open A and plays the E power chord, you use an alternate picking technique as shown in the picking video. Use the jam track once you master the lick. Practice the lick slow and try to build up in speed. Any questions before we move to the solo stuff?

Steve: Is Jake known for playing with anyone else?

Michael: He had a few bands later.

Skedman: Badlands?

Michael: Yep, Badlands, great CD! He has such a bluesy edge on that CD! Prepare to rock out, first here's the fast version in audio.



Michael: Notice the triads in this lick, this lick is in the E minor scale:



Michael: The tab is slowed down to illustrate the licks it's pretty common for shred players, along with extended runs using the minor scale patterns.





Michael: See how the pull-off helps speed up the lick, try playing along with the jam track:



Skedman: It helps if you CRANK the jam track too.

Michael: It starts in the outer pattern of the E minor scale then notes within the scale pattern. Here's the next lick.





Michael: Now notice how I use the b5 (blues note), Jake is known for using blues licks within the context of heavy metal, also notice how the lick follows the progression and resolves on the A#. It works nicely over the jam track. All the info you learn from the blues lessons can apply, just add distortion.





Michael: Rock players were all influenced by blues players in one form or another. Blues players started using pull-offs and hammer-ons years ago.

John: I love it. Up and down the neck.. cool!

Michael: Yes, we're traveling the distance of the neck. The last lick uses the lower E Minor scale pattern.



Jeff: I'm getting a bluesy sound by not doing the pulls off.

Michael: That's an option Jeff, you should try all kinds of variations. Now you can use a mode to tie in the licks, here's the C Lydian mode on the 3rd string:



Michael: This scale is relative to the E minor scale.

John: All these little tricks to make you sound fast... cool!

Michael: You bet, now you can take that last scale pattern and pull-off to the open note while you're playing up the scale pattern.





Michael: The lick starts with the last E minor scale pattern, then climbs using the C Lydian. Here's the tab that ties all the licks together.



Michael: You can hear the transitions in the first file I sent, see if you can recognize the changes, do you hear how they all come together?

Skedman: All I ever wanted in a Jake E Lee lesson

sixstringer: WOW! That'll take some work

Michael: You can hear the how the licks work with the chord changes, it's basically how these solos are broken down into segments. Crank up the jam tracks on your stereo. Looks like a Zakk lesson next, see you next lesson!