Lesson 1 Pt 1

• Teaches straight 16ths

• Count one-e-and-a two-e-and-a three-e-and-a four-e-and-a, with
accents on the 1 and 3(kick drum on the drum machine beat he uses
as an illustration)
• Keep your pick hand wrist very loose
• Don’t hold the pick too tightly
• Use a Fender medium or Jim Dunlop 1mm pick
• Three possible pick angles: straight on, neck side of the pick, bridge
side of the pick. Brad suggests using the bridge side, he says that all
the great funk players played that way. It gives you an airy, breathy
sound that won’t wear you out. I see in the video that in order to pick
on the bridge side of the pick, Brad switches to holding the pick more
with the pad of his index finger rather than the traditional way of using
the side of the finger.
• Pick down-up-down-up
• Your upstroke should only be on a couple of the high stings, not all 6
strings
• Play lightly so you have sonic headroom to do accents

Lesson 1 Pt 2

• When you add in the backbeat, the accent is on the 2 and 4

• Play on the lower strings for beats 1 & 3 and on the higher strings for
beats 2 & 4
• Practice with a drum machine at all different tempos; you can
sometimes feel a difference in your facility of playing even with an
increment of just 1 bpm

Lesson 2 Pt 1

drum beat with anticipation on kick:

one-e-and-a two-e-and-a three-e-and-a four-e-and-a

hold the pick in a relaxed manner and squeeze when you want to play
accents, don’t tense your forearm

Make sure you aim for the middle of the beat. Count articulately so you
will play articulately

1 of 29
Lesson 2 Pt 2

Swing 16ths have a shuffle feel. Listen to the high-hat, which

establishes the gridwork

Lesson 3 Pt 1

Options

Right hand: downstroke or upstroke

Left Hand: ring or dead
Practice all 4 possibilities

9th chord: keep the 2nd finger DIP joint curled and press down with it
more toward the palm

The upstroke is a rotation from the elbow

Let the DIP on your pick hand index be flexible
Glide with your fingers lightly on the face of the guitar
Let your hand be totally limp and relaxed

option 1: ring ring

option 2: dead dead
• make sure you’re getting a really good muted scratch
option 3: ring dead

2 of 29
• don’t play too staccato
option 4: dead ring

Make sure you thoroughly get these down by looping each one over and
over

Lesson 3 Pt 2

Play through the one beat 16th note patterns on a 9th chord
Keep a light airy sound
Practice all patterns with both a straight feel and a swing feel
Get each pattern solid separately before you start mixing and matching

3 of 29
Lesson 4 Pt 1

Alternate patterns 1 and 2 (all ring and all dead) over and over
Pattern 3: ring dead dead dead
Always practice all patterns in both straight and swing feels

Lesson 4 Pt 2

Pattern 4: dead ring dead dead

When you have problems with some of these syncopated figures,

alternate between the figure and pattern 2 (all deads), and if it’s really
hard play the problem pattern once and then 3 bars of all deads.

Lesson 5 Pt 1

Pattern 5: dead dead ring dead

Pattern 6: dead dead dead ring

4 of 29
Ways to embellish your 9th chord:

• Raise the 5th on the high E up a step to get the 13th

• Flatten your finger to make the 3rd into a 4th to get a 9sus4
• Do both to get a 13sus4
• Flatten your 2nd finger instead of doing an index barre so you can
easily go back to a regular 9th chord
• b3 to 3
• last 10 seconds Brad demonstrates how to use some of those
embellishments

Lesson 5 Pt 2

If you get really solid on dropping any of these patterns on any beat you
can create very interesting and unpredictable combinations

ex. play pattern one (all rings) and pattern two on different beats–first
play pattern on on beat one and then pattern two on the remaining 3
beats
pattern one on beat two, pattern two on remaining beats
pattern one on beat three, pattern two on remaining beats
pattern on on beat 4, pattern two on remaining beats

Eventually you want to not have to scratch all the time on your deads,
you want to be able to play ghost notes at will

Do this with combinations of other patterns. First try the different

patterns combined with the all deads as above

Then put your patterns onto two beats in a measure (ex. pattern one on
beats two and four, dead on beats two and 3, etc.)

Lesson 6 Pt 1

Two rings two deads patterns (patterns 7-12)

Once you get solid playing these patterns on pre-meditated beats, try
adding them randomly

5 of 29
 Lesson 6 Pt 2

Three rings one dead patterns (patterns 13-16)

Lesson 7 Pt 1

1/2 step legato slides–practice it on different beats (beat 1, beat 2, beat

3, beat 4)

Skip the pick stroke when you land on the chord, so your picking
scheme would be down (skip) down up.

Try on different patterns where you have 2 rings in a row. Brad

demonstrates pattern #10

Lesson 7 Pt 2

Bubble parts: muted notes, primarily on the 3rd & 4th strings, sometimes
on the lower strings. the higher strings don’t give the proper timbre

Don’t use a hard mute like you would on surf music, use a softer
breathier mute

6 of 29
Generally based on the pentatonic scale

Apply all the one beat patterns, keep that 16th note strum going even
though you’re playing single strings

Insert a hammer-on in each pattern that has two rings in a row, like you
did with the 1/2 step slides, leaving out the pick stroke

Also try with legato slides (both single notes and octaves) and pull offs

Lesson 8 Pt 1

On major type chords, use the major pentatonic scale for bubble parts
7 of 29
Lesson 8 Pt 2

On a 16th note latin feel with a keyboard wall of sound, don’t play full
strummed chords. Play muted partial chords and notes with a conga/
bongo feel.

Start by doing your 16th note strum on the 6th string, then practice doing
the up stroke on different strings. Then vary the strings you’re hitting.
Think of the low and high strings as two different pitched congas.

(this segment bears repeated study)

Lesson 9 Pt 1

Learning to think in two beat loops. Practice in both straight and shuffle.

In the chart below, it’s shown with 4 rings in the first column, but you can
make up to 240 combinations of all the one beat patterns, omitting any
possibilities when you have the same pattern in both columns.

8 of 29
 Lesson 9 Pt 2

Applying playing
bits of chords to the
funk groove

(watch and learn)

Lesson 10 Pt 1

Reggae feel.
Develop quick
accurate fret
hand staccato.

Lesson 10 Pt 2

Up tempo cut time

gospel feel,
showing all
techniques
learned thus far.

Lesson 11 Pt 1

Review to make sure you know where you are in the measure–be able
to hear it. Use this chart that shows examples of one pattern that’s
shifted to each of the beats in the measure:
Practice the examples in groups of four (1-4, 5-8, 9-12, 13-16)

If you listen to a great drummer, they know where the “one” is and they
also know where every other beat is as well, so they never get lost.

9 of 29
Example shown in this lesson, playing on the 1st 16th of each beat:
Lesson 11 Pt 2

Playing on the 2nd 16th of each beat:

Lesson 12 Pt 1

Putting the ring on the “and”

10 of 29
As you shift around to different portions of each beat–that is, each of the
16th notes, and then you start shifting around to different beats in each
measure, you create rhythmic textures that float on top of the bed of the
16th note groove.

Lesson 12 Pt 2

Moving the ring to the last sixteenth, the “a”

This pattern is especially funky because it provides a kick into the next
beat.

Lesson 13 Pt. 1

Putting 2 ring 2 dead patterns on different beats. You have six different
patterns of 2 ring 2 deads. Brad isn’t going to demonstrate all of them–
write them out yourself, shifting them on each beat as in lessons 11 &
12. Brad demonstrates / / X X

Start using just one chord, then use different kinds of approaches (guide
tones, legato slides, 3rd-4th, 5th-13th, etc.). You’ll eventually get to
where you can creatively use these things on the fly.

1 / / X X X X X X X X X X X X X X

2 X X X X / / X X X X X X X X X X

3 X X X X X X X X / / X X X X X X

4 X X X X X X X X X X X X / / X X

5 / X / X X X X X X X X X X X X X
6 X X X X / X / X X X X X X X X X

7 X X X X X X X X / X / X X X X X

8 X X X X X X X X X X X X / X / X

9 / X X / X X X X X X X X X X X X

11 of 29
10 X X X X / X X / X X X X X X X X

11 X X X X X X X X / X X / X X X X

12 X X X X X X X X X X X X / X X /

13 X / / X X X X X X X X X X X X X
14 X X X X X / / X X X X X X X X X

15 X X X X X X X X X / / X X X X X

16 X X X X X X X X X X X X X / / X

17 X X / / X X X X X X X X X X X X

18 X X X X X X / / X X X X X X X X

19 X X X X X X X X X X / / X X X X
20 X X X X X X X X X X X X X X / /

21 X / X / X X X X X X X X X X X X

22 X X X X X / X / X X X X X X X X

23 X X X X X X X X X / X / X X X X

24 X X X X X X X X X X X X X / X /

Lesson 13 Pt. 2

3 ring 1 dead patterns shifted to each beat. Brad demonstrates X / / /

1 / / / X X X X X X X X X X X X X

2 X X X X / / / X X X X X X X X X

3 X X X X X X X X / / / X X X X X

4 X X X X X X X X X X X X / / / X

5 / / X / X X X X X X X X X X X X
6 X X X X / / X / X X X X X X X X

7 X X X X X X X X / / X / X X X X

8 X X X X X X X X X X X X / / X /

9 / X / / X X X X X X X X X X X X
10 X X X X / X / / X X X X X X X X

11 X X X X X X X X / X / / X X X X

12 X X X X X X X X X X X X / X / /

13 X / / / X X X X X X X X X X X X

12 of 29
14 X X X X X / / / X X X X X X X X

15 X X X X X X X X X / / / X X X X

16 X X X X X X X X X X X X X / / /

Lesson 14 Pt. 1

Plotting out 7th chord inversions on the top 4 strings

Inversion: You take each note in the chord and you move it up to the
next note in the chord.

Categorize your moveable chord forms according to what string the root
resides on.

Process:
• Play the first chord (for example, a root position E7th chord).
• Hold the chord with your fretting hand. With your picking hand, point
to each note/finger in the chord, say the note and function (such as “E
is the root”)
• Then say the next note is has to go to “it goes up to the 3rd, G#” and
tap the location of your G# with a finger of your pick hand. Look at the
note so you can see it.
• Do the same for each note in the chord
• Before you move to the next chord, tap out the notes of the chord with
your pick hand
• Work out your finger choreography
• Do this for each pair of inversions
• Notice the larger chord out of which each inversion comes
Memorize the intervals between chord tones
• Root-3rd= a major 3rd/4 frets
• 3rd-5th= a minor 3rd/3 frets
• 5th-b7th= a minor 3rd/3 frets
• b7th-Root= a whole step/2 frets

13 of 29
Lesson 14 Pt. 2

Practice going up and down with your

inversions to where you can change
between them quickly. Use a metronome
and use whatever rhythm you want.
This won’t sound funky, but it has to be
done to get your chops up.

Once you’ve learned the chord forms, practice picking bits and pieces of
each chord rather than strumming the whole chord. This will make them
sound funky.

Practice using the inversions as punctuations to your main groove. Brad

demonstrates with a groove on a 9th chord. He notes that he isn’t
playing the whole chord, he’s playing bits and pieces.

Play the guitar in more than one realm–you want to have your groove
going and do things like horn stabs.

If you learn one thing really well, you can build other things from it.

Lesson 15 Pt. 1

Learn to think on the fingerboard. Plotting things out helps.

If you can see the fingerboard in your mind’s eye, you can practice away
from the instrument. You can also practice while you’re playing–you to
create new things on the fly. You want to get into that free mental state.

Plot out your m7th chord inversions like you did for the 7th chords. Know
where each chord tone is in each voicing.

14 of 29
Practice using the b3 to 3 move on your 7th chords

Examine every possible fingering for a chord, experimenting on how you

can free up fingers to play things (such as adding embellishments) that
you wouldn’t otherwise be able to do. You have to see each chord so
well that you can play it with any fingering on the fly. You want to really
know the chords and not just “see through your fingers” (blindly playing
patterns)

Lesson 15 Pt. 2

Playing chord fragments–not just on adjacent strings

Lesson 16 Pt. 1

The 7sus4 chord inversions

15 of 29
 Demonstration of the 4 to 3
move and the 4 to b3 to 3

Practice your chord fragments with

every possible fingering

Lesson 16 Pt. 2

The 9th chord inversions, demonstration using all the chordal tools of
the last 3 lessons

16 of 29
Lesson 17 Pt. 1

The cycles allow you to create interesting rhythms. The first pattern is
two rings four deads. You continue that until it eventually wraps around
until it starts back on beat one (the cycle takes 12 beats). It’s not going
to sound symmetrical because you’re going to want to hear it in a 2 or 4
bar phrase. To fix that problem, use the common applications above.

These are also 6 beat cycles which fit perfectly in 6/4 funk grooves)

17 of 29
The fact that these are asymmetrical patterns (normally in 4/4 time you
would use 2-bar or 4-bar patterns) allows you to create rhythmic tension.

With repeated listening and practicing of this you’ll be able to use these
things on the fly. It takes a while to learn how to hear them.

Lesson 17 Pt. 2

You can also add bar one to the end of the 3-bar pattern to form a four
bar phrase, as in the previous example.

This pattern is ring dead dead looped over and over. It’s a very common
pattern.

Brad demonstrates the way SRV might use this pattern.

Lesson 18 Pt. 1

Playing in 6/4. Repeating any 6-note (such as / / X X X X as in lesson 17

pt 1) or 3-note pattern (like / X X in lesson 17 pt 2) creates a 6-bar cycle
that fits perfectly.

18 of 29
Everything you’ve learned up to this point applies not just to chords,
guide tones and double stops, and bubble parts, but also to soloing. It’ll
make your improvisation much less boring.

Lesson 18 Pt. 2

Applying the one beat 16th note patters to the E minor pentatonic scale

Once you start applying the rhythms to single note playing, you don’t
have to stick to the strict down-up-down-up 16th note picking as you did
with the chordal playing.

Establishing a repetitive rhythmic phrase helps you learn to create

coherent question and answer phrases, it’s a good way to practice.

Lesson 19 Pt. 1

Applying different rhythmic patterns on each beat to single notes

Practice with the Xs first until you can really hear the rhythm, then leave
them out. Also practice with one pitch at first and then add other pitches.

Lesson 19 Pt. 2

Applying the 3 bar/12 beat cycles to soloing

You don’t want to stretch it out for too long, intersperse more regular-
sounding phrases.

When you’re playing over a busy groove, don’t play busy yourself, float
over it and play things that contrast with what’s going on underneath.

Lesson 20 Pt. 1

Combining 16th notes and 8th notes in one beat. Do the picking as if
you were playing all the sixteenths but you skip over the ones that aren’t
played to create rests.

19 of 29
 It’s very important to
categorize sounds
by what you hear on
records so you can
have a mental catalogue
of them–for example the
eight and two sixteenth
rhythm is a galloping rhythm used in disco, Barracuda, the Bonanza
theme song, etc.

Be mindful of letting the note ring for the 8th notes–if you make it
staccato it’ll sound more like a 16th rest with a 16th note rest

Don’t play all the Xs

Lesson 20 Pt. 2

Other 1 beat combinations of 16ths & 8th demonstrated.

Get to know the sound of each combination so you know what you’re
hearing. They don’t necessarily sound good practiced in isolation but
you’ll be using them in combination with other things in one way or
another.

Be mindful of the picking, especially with the dotted 8th + 16th, the
picking is down (up down) up

Lesson 21 Pt. 1

20 of 29
Playing over a busy 16th note funky groove track
How to analyze and play over a busy track
• Dissect the rhythm
• Don’t play a busy groove
• Listen to what each instrument is doing
• You might want to double some of the parts with the unique tonality of
the guitar (such as playing a bit of the baseline in a higher register)

Lesson 21 Pt. 2

Playing over a busy 16th note funky groove track, cont’d

• See what other grooves are present (such as the 8th note groove
within the demonstration 16th note groove)

Lesson 22 Pt. 1

Playing over a busy 16th note funky groove track, cont’d

• See what the notes are in the bass and rhythm parts to see what
tonality it suggests
• in the example track, it’s ambiguous, could either be m7 or 7
• you want to leave things open harmonically to leave room for the
other musicians
• 7(no 3) chords come in handy for this

21 of 29
Lesson 22 Pt. 2

Playing over a busy 16th note funky groove track, cont’d

• Breaking up chords into groups of adjacent strings to create horn-type
fills

Lesson 23 Pt. 1

Playing over a busy jazz fusion keyboard-oriented 16th note groove

• The sus 2 voicing and inversions (you can get 3 different sounds out
of it depending on what the bass line is)

22 of 29
Lesson 23 Pt. 2

Playing over a
busy jazz fusion
keyboard- oriented
16th note groove,
cont’d

• Demonstration of how the Absus2 changes quality over the different

bass notes (F, Ab, Bb)

Lesson 24 Pt. 1

Playing over a busy jazz fusion keyboard-oriented 16th note groove.

cont’d
• The sus 2 chords can also be seen as a m7/11 (no root, no 5)
• The sus 4 chords can also be seen as a 7sus4 (no 5)
Knowing this than help you keep track of the different sounds you can
get putting one chord over different bass notes.
23 of 29
Demonstration of how the chords sound over different bass notes

Lesson 24 Pt. 2

Playing over a busy jazz fusion keyboard-oriented 16th note groove,

cont’d
• Being aware of the melody arising from the chords you’re playing and/
or purposely create melodies and then harmonize them

24 of 29
Lesson 25 Pt. 1

Playing over a swing groove

• basic rhythm

25 of 29
These are
the chords
used. The
numbers
indicate the
fingerings.
The chord
tones for
each chord are 3 b7 9 5 (R) and R 3 b7 9 5, respectively.

Lesson 25 Pt. 2

Playing over a swing groove, cont’d

• playing guide tone stabs on the upbeats (fuller chords are
inappropriate for this style, more appropriate for a blues shuffle)

Lesson 26 Pt. 1

Playing over a swing groove, cont’d

Implications for pick strokes in playing single notes over a shuffle groove
• You will often start phrases rhythmically on upbeats but with a down-
pick
• Think about what kind of pick stroke gives you the sound you want
Lesson 26 Pt. 2

Playing over a swing groove, cont’d

Playing triplets
• down-up-down up-down-up
• down-up-down down-up-down is useful in certain situations but
impractical at faster tempos

26 of 29
Chordal triplets
• you can use scratch strokes to help you stay in the pocket when
you’re only actually playing little stabs

Don’t neglect your picking, look at your options.

Lesson 27 Pt. 1

Playing over a rock boogie shuffle

• the basics
Lesson 27 Pt. 2

Playing over a rock boogie shuffle, cont’d

• Usefulness of power chords when you’re playing with distortion
• Using the minor pentatonic scale as 4th double stops (with one 3rd)
on the 3rd & 4th strings

Lesson 28 Pt. 1

Playing over a rock boogie shuffle, cont’d

27 of 29
• Playing the pentatonic scale in 5ths double stops(with one 6th) on the
3rd & 4th strings

Lesson 28 Pt. 2

Playing over a rock boogie shuffle, cont’d

• mixing in positional double stops with the lengthwise double stops
Lesson 29 Pt. 1

Playing over an 80s style r&b-type triplet shuffle (all charts below)
• using guide tone double stops in different registers
• using melodic ideas in your rhythm guitar part
• going from guide tones to the arpeggio to the scale, drawing bits
from each

Lesson 29 Pt. 2

Playing over an 80s style r&b-type triplet shuffle, cont’d

• when incorporating slurs, make sure you’re in the pocket
Lesson 30 Pt. 1

Playing over an 80s style r&b-type triplet shuffle, cont’d

• bubble parts: don’t play continuous triplets, make it musical
Lesson 30 Pt. 2

Playing over an 80s style r&b-type triplet shuffle, cont’d

• demonstration using all the techniques
• taking on rhythmic idea and developing it in different ways–single
notes, & double stops
• sliding double stops
• question and answer phrasing
• anticipations

Charts for lessons 29-30 (note that the guide tones are in red)

28 of 29
29 of 29