Awhile back I posted a video clip from Logical Lead Guitar titled “Following The Chords.” I’ve gotten a lot of great response from that video, and a lot of requests for the tab for those musical examples. In my next few lesson posts I’ll give you that tab and sheet music.

But first let me clarify that this is only one of the many techniques you should learn in your lead guitar studies. It’s not the only method of playing lead guitar; it’s not even the only method of following the chords. In fact, there are better ways to follow the chords, but they’re more complicated — requiring the study of root notes and arpeggios (all of which is taught in LLG).

Just the same, Stevie Ray Vaughan and plenty of other greats have used this exact technique in their soloing. If it’s good enough for Stevie Ray, then it’s good enough for you and me, right?

But for now you can get a lot of mileage, and have a lot of fun using this simple technique. I’ve shown it in the following tablature and on the video over a I-IV-V chord progression in the key of A, in other words over the chords A, D, and E.

If you don’t understand the simple music theory I’m talking about here, well, that’s just another reason you need to study with a solid course such as Logical Lead Guitar. Music theory is a tool to help your guitar playing become not only better, but easier. Yes, I said easier. Learn your music theory.

To watch the “Following the Chords” video, click here, then scroll down and watch Video 2.

Here is the notation and tablature for the first example (Ex. 81) in the “Follow The Chords” video (Click the image to enlarge):

Use This In Your Practice and in Your Playing

Yes, Stevie Ray used this technique of following the chords and playing the exact same (or nearly identical) riff over each chord. Think of the intro to his tune, “Love Struck Baby” as a prime example.

But I encourage you to use this technique not only in your playing, but very regularly in your practicing too. Let’s say you learn a cool riff in the 5th fret A pentatonic position. Well, take that riff and slide it up to the 10th fret D pentatonic and play it there too, and then at the 12th fret E position as well.

Now play through those riffs the same way you would a 12 bar blues tune (4x on A, 2x on D, 2x on A, 1x on E, 1x on D, 2x on A is once around the song.) 

Make a habit of practicing this way, and you’ll not only perfect your riffs much sooner — you’ll have a whole lot more fun doing it!

And ain’t that what all this studying is really all about?

If you’ve been receiving my Logical Lead Guitar newsletter these past couple years, you’ve learned a lot about scale and arpeggio patterns. I know sometimes it may seem like an endless batch of patterns to learn, but it’s really not that many — and you don’t have to memorize them all before you start having fun with the first few.

So in this lesson I’m going to show you a little bit about how to actually put those patterns to use.

I’ve taken the first five examples from my book and DVD chapter titled “Mastering the Five Pentatonic Scales,” and shown them below in tab and standard notation.

And you can watch the accompanying video excerpt right here on this blog by clicking:

Video Sample or by finding the entry titled “Video Samples From Logical Lead Guitar.”

Watch video 1, and a couple minutes into the video, you’ll see me play examples 1 through 5. All five examples are very simple riffs, all pulled from just the first two strings (the lowest strings — strings 5 and 6) of the main pentatonic scale pattern.

Here’s the pattern I’m talking about: 

Example #1 (Click image to enlarge):

Ex. #2 (Click image to enlarge):

Ex. #3 (click image to enlarge):

Ex. #4 (click image to enlarge):

Ex. #5 (click image to enlarge):

Why Should I Do This?

The reason you want to practice these examples is to understand — if you don’t already — how to take a scale pattern, and start turning it into riffs. String a bunch of these riffs together, and you’ve got a guitar solo!

Of course these examples are meant to give you just a basic idea of how a lead guitarist takes a scale and turns it into a melody or guitar solo, from pretty close to a beginner’s point of view. I couldn’t possibly show you every riff in the world that comes from these patterns.

My intent is that you play these riffs, then come up with your own variations on them. Have fun, be creative, and challenge yourself. After you’ve been doing it for awhile, it becomes almost automatic. But of course, you have to have really done your homework with the scale pattern in the first place so you know which notes you can use in your riffs.

How To Practice

I strongly advise that you practice each scale pattern a whole bunch, then start practicing the patterns using exercises which will help you start to play the pattern, but not make it sound so much like a scale. To understand what I mean when I say, ‘Play the pattern using exercises,” take a look at the exercises I posted on GuitarLifeMag.com titled “Basic Lessons, Pt. 1.”

Those exercises are only two out of dozens I’ve used in my life, and which I show in my Logical Lead Guitar course. And the riffs shown above are just five out of nearly 500 musical examples in my course.

If you really want to learn guitar, if you want to thoroughly understand how to play the instrument, and you want someone to show you in the most relaxed, reasonably paced, and illustrative video teachings you’ve ever seen, give Logical Lead Guitar a try!

Click here to claim your copy.