Lick of the Day: Open-voiced Arpeggio Etude by Steve Morse

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Today's lick is an open-voiced arpeggio etude that combines string-skipping and alternate-picking techniques to outline a four-chord progression while moving down the neck.

I start out by using my index and ring fingers to fret the notes B (D string, ninth fret) and F♯ (G string, 11th fret), respectively. I then skip over the B string to grab the D note on the high E string's 10th fret with my middle finger before descending the A major scale over the next five notes, finishing the motif for the first chord (Bm) at the end of beat two. The remaining arpeggios are played similarly by shifting down the neck for each new chord and repeating the arpeggio pattern and scale run. The fret positions and fingerings vary slightly to account for the individual diatonic chord voicings.

The way I pick through this lick is consistent with my personal rule of alternate picking, with downstrokes on downbeats and upstrokes on the second and fourth 16th notes of each beat. However, the wide-interval leap between the G and high E string in each arpeggio presents a challenge, as it may feel awkward to perform an upstroke on the G string prior to a string skip in the opposite direction. When playing this lick, if strict alternate picking does not fit your personal style, try "sweeping" through the arpeggio by using two consecutive downstrokes in place of alternate picking. Similarly, you could use legato pull-offs where desired as you move down the scale run following each arpeggio. This lick is not about building monster picking chops as much as it is about learning how to perform the arpeggios within your own unique style of playing.

The tempo is 125 beats per minute, 80 for slow practice.

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• Guitar World
• Lick of the Day
• Steve Morse
• Open-voiced
• Arpeggio
• Etude

[DIGTHEBIGRIGG1]

John Petrucci's favourite guitarist and biggest influence. Say no more.

[PopTodd]

Met this guy back in 1986 when I was 16, at a NAMM show in Chicago.

He was incredibly nice and generous with his time -- more than he needed to be.

And, you hear that metronome? That was his piece of advice to this neophyte guitarist -- always practice with a metronome!

Great advice.

Steve, if you see this: thanks so much for being so cool to me when I was a kid.

I'm still playing.

[JCCH74]

ur awesome

[TheZantac07]

8 dislikes? Wow! Slash (that's for sure) is your guitar hero....

[tjompiskompis]

I'm doing lick of the day marathon :D

[JasonWB007]

@UpDownStroke Except, I'd take Vai out of the "won't belong" list.

[UpDownStroke]

@videomoviedvd hahahah Govan would like to have the Morse talent's. In addition, of all the tributes that Govan makes, Guess who's missing?

Govan= shit shredder without taste.

Morse= The most complete guitarrist and spiritual musicians in the world.

Govan, Satch, Vai, Gilbert, Sfogli etc etc... never will belong to Morse's school, and they know that

[dongpedroyi]

@kickthemothproject I agree with you and I thought the same for a while until I saw him play live and just then it finally sunk in... this is THE BEST tone that cuts through the bass and drums mix like a hot knife through butter. It is weird to think that someone like Steve Morse has no ears for tone, but it's his long experience playing live that led him to settle with this 'ugly' tone. After trying to get close to this "torn speaker cone" tone, I had the best results with my POD X3 Live.True!

[TheChuckNorris1997]

he has 4 pickups. nuff said

[kickthemothproject]

shockingly horrific tone

[OMERTA011]

@sixstringfretter yeah its his signature monster.. played it, loved it. but needed something like lukathers model.. but this is probably gonna be my next guitar.. anyway, you can go to the mm site and look at the specs.. it is too complicated to explain :)

peace

[videomoviedvd]

Steve Morse is an ok Guitar Instructor , but he is no Guthrie Govan