TrueFire's Guitabulary

From secret uses of the pentatonic scale

to bluegrass, bebop blues, free jazz, and

chord melody, Jimmy Herring—with a heaping helping

of Southern hospitality—is about to share

with you several inspiring musical examples.

Hopefully, they’ll take your soloing—as well

as your entire concept of improvisation—to

new dimensions.

Tab, notation and Power Tab files available at http://truefire.com/list.html?store=audio_lessons&item=4007 (log-in to access streaming audio and files)

EVH opens the article by fessin' up about how much he stole, note for note, from Eric Clapton. Here's your chance to rip off Edward. This lesson runs you through blues progression, hammer-ons, pull-offs. slides, bends and a few of Ed's key licks, harmonics and tapping.

Tab, notation and Power Tab files available at http://truefire.com/list.html?store=audio_lessons&item=1157 (log-in to access streaming audio and files)

Proto-metalist Blackmore, who bridged the gap between blues-drenched rockers of the '60s and the lightning-fingered shredders of today. His band, Deep Purple, helped pioneer the heavy power chord thing. This 13-part lesson gives you some keen insights on how to temper the shred a tad and still play in the hard-rock zone.

Tab, notation and Power Tab files available at http://truefire.com/list.html?store=audio_lessons&item=1083 (log-in to access streaming audio and files)

A master of many blues styles, Duke Robillard garners particular acclaim for his jump and swing playing. When he recently performed at a San Francisco music festival, Andy Ellis seized the opportunity to take a lesson in uptown blues. Robillard's music is full of jazzy turnarounds and sneaky substitutions, so he was asked to explain how he transforms a typical I-IV-V, 12-bar progression into something with more harmonic pizzazz.

Tab, notation and Power Tab files available at http://truefire.com/list.html?store=audio_lessons&item=2143 (log-in to access streaming audio and files

You can trace rockabilly back to Merle Travis. In themid ’50s, when rockabilly pioneers such as Scotty Moore, Paul Burlison, Cliff Gallup, Joe Maphis, and Carl Perkins hot-rodded the basic Travis fingerpicking pattern, all hell broke loose. Thanks to the Stray Cats, rockabilly made a resurgence in the early ’80s.The riffs, chords, turnarounds, and endings in this lesson will give you a firm grasp of rockabilly basics.. Practice diligently, and before you know it, you’ll be ready to rock the joint all night long.

Tab, notation and Power Tab files available at http://truefire.com/list.html?store=audio_lessons&item=4968 (log-in to access streaming audio and files

Most guitarists recognize the E minor pentatonic scale and with good reason. After all, it is the world's most popular launching pad for rock solos and blues leads in the key of E. More advanced players know that the same notes also spell the G major pentatonic scale G being the relative major of E minor. But if you take this scale and fill in the blanks with passing tones you'll open up a world of melodic possibility. And without ever stepping out of this twelfth position box, you'll have access to some of the most swinging guitar lines ever namely, those played by the great Wes Montgomery.

Tab, notation and Power Tab files available at http://truefire.com/list.html?store=audio_lessons&item=4376 (log-in to access streaming audio and files).

More than 60 years after its recording, Blind Blake’s rambunctious Diddie Wa Diddie, a double-entendre ragtime blues, still stands as a fingerpicking classic. Blake's musical vocabulary is prodigious, and his improvisational flair has seldom been matched. Each of the tune's stanzas features a distinctively different accompaniment, and each of the three instrumental

breaks is a minor masterpiece in itself.

Tab, notation and Power Tab files available at http://truefire.com/list.html?store=audio_lessons&item=1701 (log-in to access streaming audio and files).

Is there anything more seductively rootsy than metallic slide musings on a glimmering National steel guitar? In this two-part lesson, Brozman, one of the foremost authorities on the instrument, takes you on an exciting journey that demystifies a lot of slide techniques.

Download notation and power tab files! Here's how ... go to http://truefire.com/join.html and join for free (takes ten seconds). Then log-in and go to:

http://truefire.com/list.html?store=audio_lessons&item=1161

Eric Johnson has a deep bag but this lesson concentrates on his aggressive combinations of single-note and chords, which, he says, adds a "potent yin-yang tension". Plenty of yin and yang in this 19-example lesson.

Download notation and power tab files! Here's how ... go to http://truefire.com/join.html and join for free (takes ten seconds). Then log-in and go to:

http://truefire.com/list.html?store=audio_lessons&item=1160

Before you dig in, a quick announcement ...

We just launched a new video podcast on iTunes that we call Guitar Sherpa. We've already stoked it up with some of our favorite vids including this performance of Billie's Bounce from young Swedish jazz master Andreas Oberg.

You can check out Guitar Sherpa on iTunes at:

http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=289090432

Yes, we'll keep these audio podcast coming as well and there's tons more on its way to your earbud. Now dig this performance ...

Practice smart, play hard!