Soloing lessons
Each of my YouTube lessons, written up so you can read it, skim it or come back to it while you practise. Every post has the video and links to the free tools that go with it.
October 2026
4:28Grace Notes: The Small Trick That Makes Simple Licks Sound Professional
Add a quick hammer-on or pull-off grace note before each note of a basic melody and it instantly sounds more polished. How to do it, how to practise it and when to hold back.
5:52The Two-Note Trick for Hitting a Chord Tone on Every Chord
Two notes on the D string give you a chord tone over all seven chords in A minor. Here's which one to play over each chord, how to move it to any key, and how to practise it.
4:43Play the Uncomfortable Notes: A Simple Prompt for More Interesting Solos
If your solos just run the scale up and down, practise picking the awkward, out-of-the-way note. A two-phase exercise in E minor that gets you out of scale habits.
5:33Pick Less: How Compound Techniques Make Your Solos Sound Less Boring
If your improvising feels stale, try picking less. Here's how to string hammer-ons, bends, slides and pull-offs together into licks that need just one pick.
8:4213 Ways to Make Your String Bends More Interesting
Thirteen string bending ideas, from rakes, pre-bends and unison bends to jolt bends, flat semitone bends and bend plus tapping, with the frets to try them on.
8:51How to Get Out of Pentatonic Box 1: Learn Position 4 Next
Stuck in box 1 of the minor pentatonic? Learn position 4 next. It sits seven frets higher, looks a lot like box 1, and your licks move straight across to it.
17:00How to Turn Noodling Into Your Own Guitar Phrases (B Dorian Example)
How to use exploratory improvising to build licks of your own: fish for an idea, repeat and refine it, outline an E9 chord with semitone bends, then rearrange it.
8:31How to Add Attitude to Blues and Rock Solos With String Muting
How to mute every string except the one you're playing with both hands, so you can rake through the strings for an aggressive Stevie Ray Vaughan style blues sound.
8:43Guitar Vibrato: Why You Should Push or Pull the String, Not Both
Why pushing and pulling the string for vibrato makes it harder to sound even, what really happens to the pitch, and simple tips for a strong, personal vibrato.
3:25Stronger String Bends: Practise Them Without Your Hand Touching the Neck
Weak, wobbly bends usually come from a lack of tension in the fretting hand. This odd exercise of bending with only your fingertips on the neck trains it.
September 2026
11:15Guitar Minesweeper: An Ear and Fretboard Exercise to Do Before You Learn Scales
Pick four frets, play over a backing track in an unknown key and find the notes that work by ear. A beginner exercise for fretboard knowledge and musicality.
33:00100 Guitar Tips for Beginner and Intermediate Players, Sorted by Topic
Practice, mindset, fretting and strumming technique, bends and vibrato, improvising, theory, songwriting and tone: my 100 guitar tips, grouped so you can find what you need.
5:56The Continuous Playing Exercise for Improvising More Freely
A simple exercise for any level: play a scale you know nonstop at a set tempo, then vary it. It trains you to keep moving and link your licks and phrases together.
8:19How to Play Prince's Super Bowl Bend: Technique and Tone
The bend Prince played live at Super Bowl XLI, broken down: the two notes, how to pick it, why you bend it slightly flat, and how I got close to the tone by ear.
5:39You Don't Need the Whole Fretboard to Be an Interesting Player
Box 1 of the A minor pentatonic, played in two octaves, covers almost every note on the neck. Here's why, and why phrasing matters more than fretboard range.
3:20The Van Halen Style "Infinite Note" Lick in D Minor
A simple shred lick on the B and high e strings where the same note appears twice, giving a rolling, endless sound. Tab, picking and legato options, and how to move it.
5:52How to Add Vibrato to a String Bend in Two Steps
First make sure you bend from the wrist, then learn bend vibrato two ways: small controlled pushes above the pitch, and deliberately wide vibrato you rein in.
8:18Five Simple Ways to Make Your Guitar Solos Sound More Professional
Five small things pro guitarists do in their solos: sliding in from outside notes, noises between licks, stacked techniques, bigger interval jumps and melodies across strings.
5:37A Cascading Legato Pattern in Fives for More Fluid Lead Playing
A Tremonti-inspired descending legato pattern built from three-note-per-string shapes, played in fives over 16th notes. Tab, the A minor shape and how to count it.
August 2026
4:49Make Your Solos More Expressive by Pulling on the Strings
Subtly pulling on the strings as you play a scale or lick adds feel to everything you already know. Here's how to practise it, which finger to use and what to avoid.
8:01How to Sound Fast When You Improvise: Build Speed in Two or Three Ideas
Most fast players only have a few ideas they can play at speed. Here's how to choose two or three of your own, mix them with normal phrasing and build overall speed.
6:43Use Picking Dynamics to Make Your Improvisation Less Boring
If your improv sounds flat, dynamics might be what's missing. How to practise varying your picking attack on the pentatonic scale, then bring it into your licks.
16:00"Guitar Q&A: Chord Changes, Scale Shapes, Muting, Harmonies and Sounding Bluesy"
Answers to ten common guitar questions: faster C to D changes, connecting scale shapes, string skipping, muting, rakes, riffs, ear training, harmonies, blues and 6/8.
April 2026
16:00Nothing matches that yet. Try another word, or ask me and it might be the next lesson.
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