I was working on the Eric Johnson 5’s pattern (descending) today and I realized I was trying to chunk in groups of 5. When I switched to chunking in 4s I found myself playing with somewhat better timing. I think I will keep practicing the 5s this way but I was wondering for people that have had success with this pattern - how do you chunk this lick or what are some other ways of chunking this? thx!
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The fives pattern is weird.
It’s five notes, and it should be chunked as five. However, it more like four distinct picking movements due to the doubled downstroke in the repeating DUDUD pattern, and using Eric’s fretting mechanics, it’s like three distinct fretting actions.
I played the lick with strict alternate picking and perfectly even timing for years. If that’s what you want, then it can be done, but I was never happy with it. Eric’s timing on the fives isn’t very even, and that’s part of what makes the whole thing flow.
To get there, you have to realise that you’re not synchronising individual pickstrokes to individual fretted notes at speed. You synchronise the gross “flow” of both hands.
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