Making the seminars work for me

[Jonblood]

I’ve watched the Cascade seminar and there are so many little licks, tricks and techniques that need to be fully engrained into muscle memory before I can start using them effectively in writing and improvising. As Zakk Wylde says, “if you’re thinkin you’re stinkin.”

One thing Troy said that really resonated with me is that each pentatonic position is a neighborhood. Get to know the streets, the corners, the ways to get around, etc. like the back of your hand.

I guess I only studied the notes but couldn’t play 10 different great licks in each position.

So, I think I’m going to spend most of my time in each Pentatonic module 1 by 1 really trying to become intimate with them. Playing them in different keys, speeds, tempos, etc.

Would this be a really effective way to start to master the EJ technique and sound and start to be able to use what I learn naturally?

[joebegly]

@Jonblood

Would this be a really effective way to start to master the EJ technique and sound and start to be able to use what I learn naturally?

It depends if you have a motion that does USX. It’s required to play EJ licks (as EJ played them). If you instead have a DSX motion you can play EJ-ish stuff just refingered/picked differently.

The late Adam P made an awesome video on how to hack this as a DSX-er

My guide to playing cascading pentatonics with DSX motion

[Guitar Lesson: Playing Eric Johnson's cascading pentatonics with a downstroke escape motion] I hope a little bit of self promotion is accepted here. I’ve done a detailed explaination of how to translate EJ type lines to DSX using a downstroke escape motion. 24 tabbed excercises included. Any kind of feedback is welcome!

As someone who has a natural DSX motion (and spent way too much time developing a non-amazing USX motion) I can say it’s quicker to accept your strength just DSX-ify it than learn a brand new motion. All depends on your pain tolerance really

[Jonblood]

I’m pretty sure I am USX. It’s comfortable to have that slouch position on the bridge and I am most comfortable starting 2NPS on a downstroke & changing strings on upstroke

[joebegly]

Awesome! A good sanity check is if you can play some of the examples Troy does, like ascending/descending 5’s in a similar tempo. From there, it’s a matter of applying things to your own patterns (like you mentioned) or imitating EJ specific phrases.