[This is Part 2 of a free two-part training series. You can find Part 1 here.]
In the previous part, we saw how Christian (our imaginary hero) had a hard time trying to put new licks into his playing.
Even if he had a huge list of licks from his favorite guitar heroes and even he could technically reproduce some of them, he couldn’t make them work and eventually enrich his playing.
Today, we’re gonna see how to avoid this situation by applying the Lick Passepartout Method.
Passepartout means master key. A key that unlocks several doors.
The Lick Passepartout Method does exactly that.
It takes a lick and shows you how to move it across the fretboard, through all the CAGED boxes and thus make it available just anywhere on the neck.
That way it makes it far easier to connect it with licks that you already know and familiar scale shapes (see the Fretboard Passepartout Method) to improvise.
Also, without even noticing it, it solves another major problem that most guitarists encounter.
The CAGED system in some cases can limit the guitarist inside the boundaries of shapes and make his/her soloing sound “boxed in” and predictable.
This happens because the student usually sees each shape as a single unity and can’t visualize similarities between them.
By placing licks strategically inside CAGED’s shapes and seeing the fretboard as a grid of interconnected fragments and intervals, you can creatively break the boundaries and sound more fluent.
The Lick Passepartout Method
[The following is an excerpt from The Lick Passepartout Course (32.25€ value). Modifications might have occurred for this “reprint”]
Let’s pretend that the following A Minor Pentatonic lick was the Lick #1 from Christian’s book.
Easy to play and memorize, but Christian had a hard time moving it across the fretboard and thus putting it organically in his playing.
Let’s apply the Lick Passepartout Method and see what happens.
The lick is written on the A minor Pentatonic Scale
Let’s zoom in and attach this lick to the relative A Minor Pentatonic Box
Now, zoom out and mark the same fragment on all boxes.
Now play the same lick in all positions across the neck.
and so on…
Imagine practicing the same way all the licks you know.
Your playing will be transformed into a solid mesh of organically connected lines.
You’ll sound really professional, creative and not limited in positions.
And on top of that fretboard knowledge will improve further by unlocking creatively the entire fretboard using licks and not only shapes.
The example above describes how to transfer a lick across the entire neck in Unisons and Octaves.
Going deeper into this concept, I’ve created Τhe Lick Passepartout Course, focusing not only on how to transfer licks in Unisons and Octaves but also horizontally and vertically developing a professional organic and not a lick-based style of playing like the guitar virtuosos.
I have also included sample licks to practice with and backing tracks in all keys to apply them.
Learn more by clicking the button below!