Okay, the taskmaster is back. It’s time
to practice. Keep in mind that this lick has
six notes, a triplet feel, and should work
well over a shuffle groove. As always, start
slow and make sure the picking strokes are
correct. Don’t pick more often than you
need to. The biggest mistake students make
with this is they start moving the Color
TVs.;You;don’t;have;to.;And;the;lick;will
fall apart if you do. Move the Refrigerators
only. I want that lick firmly embedded
in the part of your brain that acts out of
instinct and habit. That takes three weeks.
It’s well worth it to experience a revolution.
All right. You’re back again. There is
no bad news. Only good. “That’s the
Way You Do It” has so many applications
and variations that I don’t know where to
begin. Or maybe I do. All we did here was
add a couple of notes with our left hand.
Our Refrigerators remain the same. You’ve
already put in the practice for this picking
pattern, so there’s a good chance it will
work immediately. That’s why I’m going
to rename it, Money for Nothing.
At a medium tempo this will sound
like 16th-notes. But as it speeds up, I’ve
found that the picking accents can make
it sound like 16th-note triplets. I really
like how this fools the ear. It’s actually
using eight notes to sound like nine. It’s
almost like someone smuggled in an extra
Color;TV.;This;will;sound;good;over;a
shuffle groove, and could be written like
this next example.
To give you a small taste of where you
can go with these techniques, I’ll give you
two more variations. Both keep our picking pattern the same, but use different
fingerings and note choices. The first uses
notes from the blues scale and a shape
that’s easy for the left hand. I’m too deep
into my metaphor now to call this one anything but, Chicks for Free.
The next example, Maybe Get a Blister
on Your Little Finger, has a bigger left-hand stretch and is a great way to play a
blistering minor-7th arpeggio.
I have taught some of these phrases
before using clearly notated videos and
tablature. But after watching students play
them, I realized that the exact picking pattern is crucial to making these work. In
almost every case, the problem was that the
student was applying old picking habits
and trying to pick too many notes. This
left them tangled up and unsuccessful.
That's the Way You Do It
That's the Way You Do It
™™ ™™ oe J oeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoe
44 &
≤
˙
™
™
™
™
Money for Nothing
™™ oeJ oeoeoeoeoe
Money for Nothing
44 &
™™ oeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoe
≤
™
™
≥
86
≥≤
5
56
≤≥
8
5
86
≥≤
5 568
7
7
˙
™
™
Chicks for Free
44 & oeJ
Chicks for Free
™™ ™™ oeoeb oeoeoeoeoen oeoeoeb oeoeoeoeoen oe
≤
™
™
≥
543
5
≥≤
≤≥
≥≤
345
543
345
5
˙
™
™
Maybe Get a Blister on Your Little Finger
™™
oe
J
oeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoe
Maybe Get a Blister on Your Little Finger
44 &
™™ oeoeoeoeoe
≤
≥
≥≤
™
™
17
14
12
≤≥
12
≥≤
12
14
17
17
14
12
12
14
17
˙
™
™
15
15
The solution is to pick less. This requires
less motion and very specific coordination.
When going from string to string, you’ve
got to pick it. When playing more than
one note on the same string, you only have
to pick the first note and not the others.
You’ve got to move those Refrigerators. You
don’t;have;to;move;those;Color;TVs.
