Learning to Fly

How to Shred Rock leads Using Pivot Arpeggios

The goal to building single-note playing technique and increasing speed is a popular and passionate one among many improvising guitarists in a variety of musical styles. While there are several paths one can follow to develop the finger strength and dexterity required to perform fast, clean licks and runs, you’ll find there’s much to gain by taking a small fragment of a scale or arpeggio and drilling on it until it becomes comfortable and seemingly effortless to perform. In this lesson, I’d like to show you what I find to be a particularly effective approach to achieving this objective, and that is to use what some call a “pivot” arpeggio as a musical springboard to generate cool-sounding repetition licks that flow and work well in a variety of musical contexts. We’ll begin by focusing on a popular arpeggio-based pivot lick that has been employed by many rock, metal and jazz players alike. As you work through the examples and concepts presented in this lesson, you’ll hopefully learn how to generate your own variations based on a single musical idea. Doing this will no doubt expand your repertoire of licks, so this is a worthwhile pursuit for any aspiring lead guitarist. Let’s get started!
     At the core of this lesson is the aforementioned pivot arpeggio, which may be thought of as a major seven shape. After a quick listen to Gary Moore’s opening guitar solo in “End of the World,” from his classic album Corridors of Power, you’ll locate the origin of this timeless and breathtaking legato phrase. During the middle section of Moore’s solo, you’ll hear him distinctly perform a fluid legato repetition lick (performed in two different fretboard positions) that has since filtered into the playing of countless other