dendler
Verified buyer
08/26/25
Rock Pattern Soloing
Angus is a very talented and experienced musician, instructor. Have many courses by him.
Take 5: Rock Pattern Soloing
Accelerated Study Program for Adding More Energy and Flash in Your Rock Soloing
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Angus Clark
Educator
Genres
About this course
One of the most effective ways to introduce more flash, speed, and energy into your rock solos is to harness the power of pattern licks. By studying and drilling patterns that work with the scales and chord tone knowledge you already have, you’ll be able to pull off the rapid-fire, attention-grabbing lines that you hear in all your favorite rock solos.
This Rock Pattern Soloing edition of Take 5 from Angus Clark is an accelerated curriculum designed to introduce more flash, speed, and energy into your rock solos is to harness the power of pattern licks. By studying and drilling patterns that work with the scales and chord tone knowledge you already have, you’ll be able to pull off the rapid-fire, attention-grabbing lines that you hear in all your favorite rock solos.
”We’ll start this course with a quick primer where I’ll explain some of the fundamentals of working pattern-based lines into your solos. We’ll talk about left and right-hand synchronization and the three main approaches to pattern licks: scale-based patterns (both pentatonic and diatonic), arpeggio patterns, and ergonomic patterns.”
After the primer, Angus will guide you through 5 pattern soloing performance studies, progressing from basic to more advanced applications of the approach.
Angus will explain and demonstrate all of the key concepts and approaches along the way. You’ll get standard notation and tabs for all of the Performance Studies. Plus, Angus includes all of the rhythm tracks for you to work with on your own. In addition, you’ll be able to loop or slow down any of the videos so that you can work with the lessons at your own pace.
Grab your guitar and let’s Take 5 with Angus Clark!
TrueFire’s Take 5 courses feature an accelerated curricular approach to help students get up to speed quickly on a particular style or technique. Each Take 5 course starts with a primer on the particular style or technique and then guides the student through 5 performance studies progressing from basic applications to more sophisticated approaches.
This Rock Pattern Soloing edition of Take 5 from Angus Clark is an accelerated curriculum designed to introduce more flash, speed, and energy into your rock solos is to harness the power of pattern licks. By studying and drilling patterns that work with the scales and chord tone knowledge you already have, you’ll be able to pull off the rapid-fire, attention-grabbing lines that you hear in all your favorite rock solos.
”We’ll start this course with a quick primer where I’ll explain some of the fundamentals of working pattern-based lines into your solos. We’ll talk about left and right-hand synchronization and the three main approaches to pattern licks: scale-based patterns (both pentatonic and diatonic), arpeggio patterns, and ergonomic patterns.”
After the primer, Angus will guide you through 5 pattern soloing performance studies, progressing from basic to more advanced applications of the approach.
Angus will explain and demonstrate all of the key concepts and approaches along the way. You’ll get standard notation and tabs for all of the Performance Studies. Plus, Angus includes all of the rhythm tracks for you to work with on your own. In addition, you’ll be able to loop or slow down any of the videos so that you can work with the lessons at your own pace.
Grab your guitar and let’s Take 5 with Angus Clark!
TrueFire’s Take 5 courses feature an accelerated curricular approach to help students get up to speed quickly on a particular style or technique. Each Take 5 course starts with a primer on the particular style or technique and then guides the student through 5 performance studies progressing from basic applications to more sophisticated approaches.
What you'll learn
- Navigate between different pentatonic box positions smoothly
- Apply 4-3-1 and 4-2-1 fingering patterns across multiple string sets
- Execute three distinct rock soloing patterns with chromatic embellishments
- Insert chromatic and blue notes into pentatonic scales musically
- Understand the fundamentals of pattern-based rock soloing
Release date: 12/05/2018 • 0h 49m runtime
Sample lessons
Level 5: Rock Pattern Soloing
Overview
Level 5: Rock Pattern Soloing
Performance
Level 5: Rock Pattern Soloing
Breakdown
What's included
18 lessons • 5 charts • 5 Jam Tracks
Take 5: Rock Pattern Soloing
Hi, I'm Angus Clark. Welcome to Take 5: Rock Pattern Soloing.
Fingering patterns, picking patterns, sequencing, and the combination of these elements are powerful tools for any guitarist. They aren't the be-all and end-all of musical expression, and that's fine.
This Take 5 course is your opportunity to take a few minutes to pick through some of the most useful and ubiquitous pattern-based licks in the rock genre and figure out when and where you can use them to your benefit in crafting memorable, energetic solos. I cover a lot of ground in the course, so don't hesitate to follow up with us at TrueFire with questions, we're here to help!
Alright, grab your guitar and let's get started!
Fingering patterns, picking patterns, sequencing, and the combination of these elements are powerful tools for any guitarist. They aren't the be-all and end-all of musical expression, and that's fine.
This Take 5 course is your opportunity to take a few minutes to pick through some of the most useful and ubiquitous pattern-based licks in the rock genre and figure out when and where you can use them to your benefit in crafting memorable, energetic solos. I cover a lot of ground in the course, so don't hesitate to follow up with us at TrueFire with questions, we're here to help!
Alright, grab your guitar and let's get started!
Rock Pattern Soloing
Why Pattern Licks?
Technical perspective: Once you've nailed the hand-synchronization of a basic pattern, you can then apply it across different scale types (diatonic, pentatonic), and different tone sets (scalar or arpeggio-based).
Musical/harmonic perceptive: Patterns can be used to create motivic development, which has the ability to drag the listener's ear through any notes "outside" the key or harmony before landing back "inside" the key. It's a great way to break down the door of playing notes outside the key.
Ergonomics: We can capitalize on fingering patterns that are easy on the hands to get some speedy playing happening fairly quickly.
The licks are organized into pentatonic, diatonic, arpeggiated, and ergonomic. For each, we will look at how we can move them across or along the neck. We'll also look at what ancillary benefits come out of using each pattern.
Technical perspective: Once you've nailed the hand-synchronization of a basic pattern, you can then apply it across different scale types (diatonic, pentatonic), and different tone sets (scalar or arpeggio-based).
Musical/harmonic perceptive: Patterns can be used to create motivic development, which has the ability to drag the listener's ear through any notes "outside" the key or harmony before landing back "inside" the key. It's a great way to break down the door of playing notes outside the key.
Ergonomics: We can capitalize on fingering patterns that are easy on the hands to get some speedy playing happening fairly quickly.
The licks are organized into pentatonic, diatonic, arpeggiated, and ergonomic. For each, we will look at how we can move them across or along the neck. We'll also look at what ancillary benefits come out of using each pattern.
Level 1: Rock Pattern Soloing
This is a pop/rock groove in F minor, where we'll be using patterns on the pentatonic scale.
Level 1: Rock Pattern Soloing
This is a quick solo that uses patterns to move through the F minor pentatonic scale. You'll see me use the basic pentatonic box, and then a couple of the patterns move to what I call the "lower extension" and "upper extension".
Level 1: Rock Pattern Soloing
The first lick is the most legendary pentatonic pattern known to man, which is essentially descending 3's. If you play it as triplets, it's the "Good Times Bad Times" run. If you play it as eighths or sixteenths, it has a nice shifting accent quality that I'm using in this solo.
The second lick is descending 3's with a double-picked first note in ascending sequence.
The third lick is a "jump down two notes, backup one note" sequence. It's a two note sequence played in a triplet grouping, so again we have a shifting accent, which is something I enjoy doing.
My last point here is that as you speed any of these up you should look for ways to smooth out the sound using hammers and pull-offs. Particularly on the second pattern.
The second lick is descending 3's with a double-picked first note in ascending sequence.
The third lick is a "jump down two notes, backup one note" sequence. It's a two note sequence played in a triplet grouping, so again we have a shifting accent, which is something I enjoy doing.
My last point here is that as you speed any of these up you should look for ways to smooth out the sound using hammers and pull-offs. Particularly on the second pattern.
Level 2: Rock Pattern Soloing
This next study is in A minor, and we're going to work on ascending and descending "fours" both in position and along the neck.
Level 2: Rock Pattern Soloing
Lick 1: Ascending fours in the pentatonic box. This is a pattern that routinely gets overlooked, and is perhaps more challenging than many people think. Get it down!
Lick 2: Descending fours on the natural minor scale. If you've watched any of my other lead courses you'll know that I'm a big fan of having your diatonic and pentatonic scales seamlessly integrated on the neck, so here's me putting that into practice.
Lick 3: Ascending fours on the natural minor scale. Forgive the gratuitous position shift here, I just wanted to get higher on the neck.
Lick 4: Pentatonic pattern lick moved along the neck. I love licks that move along the neck. This two-string pattern is emblematic of a whole bunch of pattern licks that are super useful and you see guys like Zakk Wylde put to good use.
Lick 2: Descending fours on the natural minor scale. If you've watched any of my other lead courses you'll know that I'm a big fan of having your diatonic and pentatonic scales seamlessly integrated on the neck, so here's me putting that into practice.
Lick 3: Ascending fours on the natural minor scale. Forgive the gratuitous position shift here, I just wanted to get higher on the neck.
Lick 4: Pentatonic pattern lick moved along the neck. I love licks that move along the neck. This two-string pattern is emblematic of a whole bunch of pattern licks that are super useful and you see guys like Zakk Wylde put to good use.
+ 11 more lessons
Reviews
17 results
Addahia
Verified buyer
11/02/24
Fenomenal training
Angus is an amazing teacher. This course was a bit challenging for me but it was also an excelent course to improve my dexterity.
solinski
Verified buyer
01/02/21
Great teacher and course
Angus is an awesome player and teacher. He explains clearly not only what he does, but why he does it. The Jam tracks and Guitar Pro files are very helpful. This course is a great way to learn pentatonic scales in a practical way. I learned a great deal from this course.
jcomito
Verified buyer
11/09/20
This course really helped me visualize how to approach the fret board. There is a lot of solid fundamental information but also a number of helpful items I had not yet encountered.
jrneal
Verified buyer
05/13/20
Stepping up your basics
Helpful course for those who want to step their game up a notch. Angus has good explanations for those who need simple (Like me) and more detailed theory for those with a broader knowledge base. I liked it.
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