It’s the age old question: "How do I make my playing sound more interesting?"

This usually means the person asking has hit the ever-pesky brick wall of ideas. Because most of the time we have the "tools" already under our fingers, it’s just that we can’t get our creativity going in the right direction.

This lick is typical of how I approach a solo or a lick. I start with the common, and then throw in the uncommon. If we will just open up our minds a bit and try to "think outside the box" (the scale box in this case) we can usually come up with some great licks that will not make us sound like we are just repeating ourselves from the last song! We all know that feeling of watching a player and after about 3 songs we have heard all of their licks and can almost sing the next solo before they play it! So don’t let this happen to you! Check out this lick – it is a fairly easy lick that will get you started thinking about how you can change things up.

>> Download some uncommon notions...

For starters, I'm big on phrasing in general. It's typically associated with dynamic melodies and solos that have elements of rhythmic diversity, and it's a skill that the majority of guitarists lack. Why? Well, as I suggested in last month's column, you become what you practice, and if all you study are scales, modes, and arpeggios, that's exactly what you will sound like when you play. In other words, boring.

How do you improve your phrasing? Simple. You listen to and learn from players who phrase well, like rock/blues legends Jimi Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughan, jazz guitarist Wes Montgomery, or other instrumentalists, including my main jazz mentor, pianist Oscar Peterson. Two things that these players all had in common were command of core blues or jazz language, leading directly to superior phrasing, plus the use of chord punches to offset melody. This created dialogue during their solos or within their original compositions.

The technique is often referred to as "call and response" (or "question and answer") phrasing, and this month's focus is on yet another of my original blues compositions that utilize this concept. "Deja Blous" was written as a tribute to my good friend, Henry Johnson of Chicago, a man I consider one of the top jazz guitarists in the world.

>> Download Deja Blous ...

Big Bill Broonzy wrote a version of this Shuffle Rag. And it’s a great little introduction to Ragtime Guitar because it's definitely one of the easier rags you'll come across. In Big Bill’s "Ragtime Shuffle - Part 1" we looked at the basic tune and how to play it. It's slightly unusual in that it doesn't employ the usual alternating bass required for Ragtime guitar, but rather a solid four on the floor dampened bass. All of which just goes to show that hard and fast rules don't apply to guitar playing. In fact, if you want to experiment with alternating bass for this tune, then just go for it.

In this lesson, we’re going to look at ways you can improvise round the tune, using the C Blues scale and some classic Ragtime guitar licks. Listening to the master pickers like Broonzy, Blind Blake, or The Reverend Gary Davis, it soon becomes obvious that they weren’t content to stick to a simple fingerstyle tune. Pieces like the "Guitar Shuffle" would invariably explode into fingerstyle improvisation which here in this lesson occurs in place of the C bars.

Remember Blues and Ragtime guitar playing is very much an improvisational art. A great player will play the same tune a little differently every night. If you didn’t get Part 1, don’t worry, the tab and notation is included in Part 2. We have also included Powertab files in the PDF. Have fun and keep up the pickin'.

>> Download Big Bill's Ragtime Shuffle...

by Jamie Andreas

To finish up this series, we need to look at using the 5th string root chords to cover actual progressions. We will use a common progression used in millions of songs: the I-VI-II-V.

After that, I will give you some advice on how to go about increasing your understanding and ability to use these essential improvisational tools.

>> Download the last segment in the series ...

Many guitarists know how to play barre chords, yet few tap into all of the magic a 1st-finger barre can offer. Great players often use the 1st finger like a mobile capo, holding down two or more strings while the other three fingers create riffs and chords. Learn Star Barre examples from Keith Richards, Steve Vai, Eric Johnson and Allan Holdsworth.

In addition to his work with the world renowned Neville Brothers, Shane is busy in the recording scenes of both Nashville and New Orleans and will be touring this year with The Grease Factor ...

>> Download the pick of the month ...

Many musicians who go out on tour are faced with the dilemma of what to do for income when the tour is over. It is good to put aside money when the money is coming in, but sometimes that is not enough to sustain you for the whole year until you go back on tour.

Some artists will put their band on a retainer so they are being paid whether they are playing or sitting at home.

If you are not in this situation, you need to have a back-up plan. If you use your imagination, you can still derive an income without waiting tables or flipping burgers... (continued)

Erik Halbig, friend of TrueFire and superb guitar sideman currently touring with Sara Evans, will be bringing you some stories from the road designed to entertain and educate those ready and crazy enough to hit the road themselves. Erik would be happy to answer any specific questions you may have for him.

Check our man out at: www.ErikHalbig.com

>> Continue reading Erik's story from the road ...