Diagonal Pentatonics (Guitar Lesson)
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Diagonal Pentatonics
Knowing your 5 pentatonic shapes inside an out is crucial, especially now that Will is going to show us a whole new perspective on playing these essential rock guitar scales.
Taught by Will Ripley in Classic Rock Guitar seriesLength: 9:39Difficulty: 2.0 of 5
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Supplemental Learning Material
Classic Rock Guitar
Found in our Beginner Lesson SetsWill Ripley picks up where he left off in his Phase 1 Beginner series with this series: Classic Rock Guitar. Learn timeless rock techniques through special tracks that Will has prepared in the styles of some of the greatest artists of all time: Jimi Hendrix, Aerosmith, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Neil Young, Guns 'n' Roses, just to name a few.
Lesson 1
Series Introduction
Get ready to learn some timeless classic techniques in this series, Classic Rock Guitar. In this lesson, Will gives an introduction to what you'll find in the series.
Length: 4:33 Difficulty: 0.0 FREELesson 2
What You Need to Know
To kick off the series, Will briefly goes over some of the foundational techniques you will need to know to get through this series.
Length: 10:17 Difficulty: 2.0 Members Only
Single Note Riff in the Style of Heart
Will gets us going with a very cool yet simple single note riff in the style of the band Heart.
Length: 7:15 Difficulty: 2.0 Members Only
Riff in the Style of Ozzy Osbourne, Part 1
Things take a bit of heavier turn with this riff in the style of Ozzy! Work on your hammer-ons, power chords and huge sounding open chords.
Length: 12:06 Difficulty: 2.0 Members Only
Riff in the Style of Ozzy Osbourne, Part 2
Will continues with a track in the style of Ozzy Osbourne, getting into the chorus section.
Length: 8:15 Difficulty: 2.0 Members Only
Riff in the Style of Jimi Hendrix
Will continues with single note riffs and this classic sounding riff in the style of Hendrix. This is a great one for visualizing octave shapes while playing riffs.
Length: 7:39 Difficulty: 2.0 Members Only
Riff in the Style of Aerosmith/James Gang
Funky is the name of the game here with this riff in the style of The James Gang or Aerosmith. There's some nice chromatic movement, and a chance to work on your alternate picking. Rip it up!
Length: 11:21 Difficulty: 2.5 Members Only
Blues-Rock Riff In the Style of Cream
Blues is one of the cornerstones of rock guitar playing, especially classic rock. This catchy riff in the style of Cream will have have you wanting to start a power trio right away!
Length: 14:45 Difficulty: 2.0 Members Only
Pentatonic Challenge
In Will's Phase 1 course, he introduced you to the pentatonic scale. Now, he takes you to the next level with a unique way of practicing these scales that will have you using them in solos in no time!
Length: 10:04 Difficulty: 2.0 Members Only
Diagonal Pentatonics
Knowing your 5 pentatonic shapes inside an out is crucial, especially now that Will is going to show us a whole new perspective on playing these essential rock guitar scales.
Length: 9:39 Difficulty: 2.0 Members Only
In the Style of Guns 'n' Roses/Black Crowes Part 1
Another classic sounding tune coming at ya here... This one has an emphasis on fast moving power chord shapes.
Length: 8:08 Difficulty: 2.5 Members Only
In the Style of Guns 'n' Roses/Black Crowes Part 2
In part 2 of this lesson, we get into the heavier sounding section of the song. Get ready to channel your inner Guns 'n' Roses!
Length: 9:54 Difficulty: 2.5 Members Only
In the Style of Neil Young/Lynyrd Skynyrd Part 1
Now Will brings the energy down a bit with this Neil Young-esque track. He shows you some very cool embellishments for your open chords that will give your songs a lot of color!
Length: 14:03 Difficulty: 2.0 Members Only
In the Style of Neil Young/Lynyrd Skynyrd Part 2
There's more to your open chords than you may realize. In this lesson, Will shows us how to get the most out of some of these chords by making a few modifications and embellishments.
Length: 7:57 Difficulty: 2.0 Members Only
In the Style of Neil Young/Lynyrd Skynyrd Part 3
Continuing on this Neil Young-Lynyrd Skynyrd -esque track, it's all about the chords, and making the chords sound cool and professional. Will shows us some nice F chord variations, then puts it all together...
Length: 17:20 Difficulty: 2.5 Members Only
In the Style of Neil Young/Lynyrd Skynyrd Part 4
In this lesson, Will takes the open chords you learned in the previous three lessons and shows you how to play them in different positions up the neck adding to the sound palette of this track!
Length: 12:53 Difficulty: 2.5 Members Only
In the Style of Boston/Lynyrd Skynyrd
Here's another great chord exercise, using a classic sounding track in the style of Boston or Lynryrd Skynyrd. There are lots of variations on chords found in the key of D here!
Length: 12:17 Difficulty: 2.5 Members Only
How to Bend Strings
Will now transitions in to more lead oriented playing, starting a must know technique: String bending!
Length: 12:25 Difficulty: 2.5 Members Only
Single Note Vibrato
Now that you've learned how to bend strings, add some vibrato to make those notes sing, and make your guitar sustain even longer!
Length: 10:39 Difficulty: 2.5 Members Only
In the Style of ZZ Top, Part 1
Blues is a huge part of classic rock, and this lesson in the style of ZZ Top introduces you to some traditional sounding blues/rock licks that you can use over lots of classic rock tracks!
Length: 14:17 Difficulty: 2.0 Members Only
In the Style of ZZ Top, Part 2
Now that Will has showed us the lead licks, he clues us in on the super groovy rhythm part of the ZZ Top sounding tune!
Length: 9:24 Difficulty: 2.0 Members Only
In the Style of Jimi Hendrix, Part 1
Earlier in the series, Will gave us a taste of this Jimi Hendrix style track. Now he's going to teach the entire song. Get ready for some serious Hendrix rock and roll attitude!
Length: 13:32 Difficulty: 2.5 Members Only
In the Style of Jimi Hendrix, Part 2
In this lesson, Will continues with this Hendrix-esque track, showing us those gritty licks up the neck just like Jimi would play!
Length: 16:53 Difficulty: 2.5 Members Only
The Major Pentatonic Scale
Up until now, Will has mostly been working in the minor pentatonic scale. In this lesson, he introduces us to a major pentatonic sound, that will inspire lots of new ideas!
Length: 8:23 Difficulty: 2.0 Members Only
Major and Minor Pentatonic Examples
The blending of major and minor pentatonic scales is a technique commonly found in classic rock and blues. Will shows us some really simple ideas to get us started on this cool sounding technique!
Length: 11:50 Difficulty: 2.5 Members Only
In the Style of Free-CCR-AC/DC, Part 1
In this very classic sounding track, Will covers some essential rhythm guitar techniques as well as some lead guitar licks that will help you get "the bends"!
Length: 10:12 Difficulty: 3.0 Members Only
In the Style of Free-CCR-AC/DC, Part 2
Will continues in the super classic sounding track, this time showing you some extremely useful inversion chords.
Length: 11:37 Difficulty: 3.0 Members Only
In the Style of Free-CCR-AC/DC, Part 3
Now Will gets into the gritty rhythm guitar parts of the track. You'll learn to play power chords in ways you perhaps never thought of before. Get ready to rock!
Length: 10:20 Difficulty: 3.0 Members Only
In the Style of Free-CCR-AC/DC, Part 4
In this lesson, Will shows us some atmospheric sounding chord voicings as well as a driving rhythm part that adds a definite 'cool' factor to this track. Then, he goes over all the parts with the track!
Length: 10:57 Difficulty: 3.0 Members Only
In the Style of Jimi Hendrix-Cream, Part 1
This is a great blues-rock track that conjures up images of Eric Clapton with Cream, and a dash of Jimi Hendrix thrown in. In the next two lessons, Will covers both rhythm and lead aspects of the tune.
Length: 17:34 Difficulty: 2.5 Members Only
In the Style of Jimi Hendrix-Cream, Part 2
Continuing with this track, Will now shows us a classic lead guitar technique known as "sixths".
Length: 10:06 Difficulty: 2.5 Members Only
In the Style of Led Zeppelin, Part 1
In this very Led Zeppelin-esque track, you'll learn about intervals, huge sounding chords, and unison bends. In other words, lots of great classic rock techniques!
Length: 14:28 Difficulty: 3.0 Members Only
In the Style of Led Zeppelin, Part 2
In part two of this lesson, Will expands on the chorus section and shows us that gritty rock guitar technique - unison bends.
Length: 11:14 Difficulty: 3.0 Members Only
In the Style of Dire Straits - AC/DC, Part 1
There are definite echoes of Malcolm and Angus Young in this vintage rocker. Will covers all the rhythm and lead parts for you, and you will soon learn these techniques will translate to lots of other...
Length: 11:57 Difficulty: 3.0 Members Only
In the Style of Dire Straits - AC/DC, Part 2
Continuing with this track, Will shows us an alternate rhythm guitar part that conjures up images of Dire Straits, all the while teaching super important chord inversions!
Length: 4:38 Difficulty: 2.5 Members Only
In the Style of Dire Straits - AC/DC, Part 3
Now Will gets into the lead guitar parts of this classic sounding track, including blending major and minor pentatonic ideas.
Length: 12:31 Difficulty: 3.0 Members Only
In the Style of Aerosmith/James Gang
Having covered some of the riff elements of this track in a previous lesson, Will now shows us the super funky rhythm parts that will complete the track.
Length: 10:09 Difficulty: 3.0 Members Only
In the Style of Heart, Part 1
Earlier in the series, Will showed us a cool single note riff in the style of Heart. Now, he returns to the entire track to show us some driving rhythm guitar parts!
Length: 12:05 Difficulty: 2.5 Members Only
In the Style of Heart, Part 2
Continuing with this track in the style of Heart, Will gets you going on vintage riffs played off the one finger A chord.
Length: 13:44 Difficulty: 3.0 Members Only
In the Style of Heart, Part 3
Strumming and chords are just as big a part of classic rock as playing riffs is! In this lesson, Will teaches us the art of switching chords with minimal movement to keep the groove clean and tight.
Length: 6:51 Difficulty: 2.5 Members Only
In the Style of Heart, Part 4
Will wraps up this track by taking a look at playing some lead guitar lines that soar right off of the original riff we learned all the way back in lesson 3 of this series!
Length: 12:08 Difficulty: 3.0 Members Only
Led Zeppelin Style Pull-Off Lick
Time to build those chops! Here's a lick that makes you think of Jimmy Page, and it's not as hard as it seems at first. Will gets you playing the basics, and pretty soon this lick will be smokin'!
Length: 8:44 Difficulty: 3.0 Members Only
Classic Rock Licks
In this lesson Will shows us some other "classic" licks that you can add to your repertoire. These can be integrated in all sorts of classic rock and blues songs!
Length: 9:58 Difficulty: 3.0 Members Only
About Will Ripley View Full Biography
Will Ripley is a passionate guitarist who performs, teaches, and manages a successful music business. His wild stage presence and undeniable guitar skills transcend vibe and waveforms of the highest levels of energy.. His talents however, are directly related to years of staying “on the grind” and “paying his dues”. He has played with many bands, produced, composed and collaborated both solo and with top level musicians. He is a sought-after studio musician and works creatively with other musicians.
Coming from a blues and classic rock background, Ripley discovered 90?s rock in his late teens. Ripley’s style is unique. He’s been described as combining the blues guitar playing of Albert King and Jimi Hendrix with big riffs that are reminiscent of Led Zeppelin and Rage Against the Machine with the booty shaking rhythms of the Red Hot Chili Peppers and N.E.R.D. Ripley also has a soft place in his heart for pop music ranging from The Beatles to Stone Temple Pilots to Kelly Clarkson.
In addition to creation and production of music, Ripley teaches guitar using a method he developed through his education and over countless sessions with learners of all ages and levels. This led to the development of a successful series of recorded lessons called Guitar Goals available from his website. As the founder of the Will Ripley Guitar School he has begun expanding as a franchise into other cities which has 1 location currently – the Vancouver Guitar School. Students the world over can learn guitar using this effective, rewarding, and enjoyable style at their own pace – with epic results!
Ripley seeks participation in authentic, professional-level music, with like-minded, enthusiastic, high-achieving musicians. With dreams of creating legendary songs, Ripley is open to new band mates, songwriting partners, and recording opportunities.
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Member Comments about this Lesson
Discussions with our instructors are just one of the many benefits of becoming a member of JamPlay.Awesome stuff, Will! I really like your style of teacing. Great great content, as well. This one really opened things-up for me!
I have been playing for a while now and I never was shown those two diagonal patterns. A whole new world just opened up for me. Thanks. Great lessons. Great guitar too !!
Thanks for the comment. That is awesome to hear.