NOTE: John Petrucci's portion of this video starts at the :48 mark after a commercial. Just skip ahead!
Today's lick is a sequence of fast, descending arpeggios based on the E Aeolian mode (E F♯ G A B C D) and performed in a deliberate two-notes-per-string pattern. I use strict alternate picking throughout the entire lick, beginning on a downstroke.
When playing licks or melodies using two notes per string, many guitarists rely almost exclusively on their fret-hand ring and index fingers, even though the pinkie can more easily and comfortably reach most wide-interval stretches.
If you find you're consistently shunning your pinkie during solos, I encourage you to follow my example and advice and practice this lick using your pinkie for the wide-interval stretch at the beginning of each arpeggio. You'll receive a great pinkie workout, after which you may begin to find yourself more at ease and sure-fingered when performing other licks incorporating wide-interval stretches.
Fingering prompts in the notation illustrate my specific fret-hand fingerings.
The tempo is 140 beats per minute, 69 for slow practice.
“I get asked, ‘What’s it like being a one-hit wonder?’ I say, ‘It’s better than being a no-hit wonder!’” The Vapors’ hit Turning Japanese was born at 4AM, but came to life when two guitarists were stuck into the same booth
“Let's play... you start it off now, Stevie”: That time Stevie Wonder jammed with Stevie Ray Vaughan... and played SRV's number one Strat
![[L-R] George Harrison, Aashish Khan and John Barham collaborate in the studio](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/VANJajEM56nLiJATg4P5Po-840-80.jpg.webp)
