6 Note Sequences: Part 3

Ascending 6 note sequenced licks for Lead Guitar

Most of the examples so far have focused on descending lines, meaning, from highest note to lowest. The next examples will all be ascending 6 note sequenced lines. Ascending is just the opposite of descending, bottom to top. There are tabs and video for each example below.

One of the biggest problems for musicians is learning these lines, and then not knowing what to do with them. It is important to point out that these examples are ideas, in isolation. It is your responsibility to absorb them as ideas, and then incorporate them into your playing. This is where the majority of your practice time should be. Not on speed. You should place a portion of your practice time simply on improvising over a recorded backing track, or a chord progression recorded by you.

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Example 7 begins on the root note, and climbs up, similarly to the way we did these before in the descending examples. 2 notes up the scale, 1 back, and repeat this device. Notice on beat 4, E is repeated, even though it was just played in the previous sextuplet. The reason we do this is because emphasizing E on a downbeat strengthens the idea that you are playing in E minor.

In this example, we start the ascending 6 note sequence on the 3rd, G. The same device in example 7 is used, replaying E on beat 3 to emphasize the scale tones of E minor. The line ends with a full step bend from A to B (5th of the scale).

Click the video below for both examples played slow and fast

Still focusing on the key of E minor, this 6 note sequence ascends, starting on the 5th degree of the scale (B). Once again, E is replayed to emphasize E minor as the scale of the moment.

Example 10 is similar to 7, transposed to B minor. As in all other examples, the important scale tones take precedence over the sequence. When improvising lines, it is important to place scale tones on downbeats.

6 Note Sequences: Part 3