This week, we’re digging into one focused exercise: playing a major scale pattern while cycling through the circle of fifths. The goal isn’t speed—it’s coordination between your hands and your mind. Internalizing the key sequence while maintaining steady playing builds the kind of mental clarity that transforms long-term fluency.
We’re back with another circle of fourths workout—same concept as last week, but this time using the C shape from CAGED. It’s deceptively challenging, especially when you’re trying to stay a step ahead of the key changes. This routine reinforces harmonic motion and strengthens your grip on key centers through pure repetition and focus.
This week’s routine uses the familiar E shape as a launchpad for navigating the neck through extended positions and string shifts. You’ll trace the circle of fourths while exploring how the E shape connects to others—training your ears and fingers to move with confidence and intention.
This week wraps up our circle of 4ths series by combining all previous shapes—E, C, hybrid—into one improvised, nine-minute scale workout. The challenge now is tracking key changes in real time while moving fluidly through positions without hesitation.
This week we’re digging into the bridge of Rhythm Changes—D7, G7, C7, F7—and using it as a launchpad for structured improvisation. You’ll cycle through root notes, shell voicings, arpeggios, and scales, then bring it all together over the full AABA form.
This week’s routine focuses on building key-centered vocabulary, using G major as the foundation. We explore scale sequences, diatonic triads, and chromatic approaches to craft fluid, melodic lines. The goal isn’t speed—it’s control, clarity, and deeper understanding of harmony in motion.
Back in B minor with the Strat and some overdrive, this week’s routine dials in position shifting and phrasing across the entire neck. Using the minor pentatonic as a vehicle, we explore transitions, 3NPS connectors, and single-string drills to build fluency and feel. Think of this one as your roadmap to instinctive, musical soloing—no matter the genre.
Pat Martino’s spirit meets top-string drop 2 voicings in this week’s routine—a chord melody workout that sharpens your ear and deepens your harmonic control. We’re focusing on melodic voicings where the top note guides the line, using inversions and diatonic chord scales across major and minor families. Listen close, play slow, and let the melody lead the way.
We’re unpacking Barry Harris’s 6th Diminished scale—a major scale with a ♭6 that lets us alternate between I and V without ever leaving the key. This week’s routine blends ear training, chord melody, and harmonic motion by connecting C6 and Ddim7 shapes up the neck.
We’re digging into descending groups of four across the five pentatonic positions—an intense but focused picking workout. It’s all about clean execution, pick slanting, and developing control within familiar shapes.
We’re flipping the script this week with ascending 4s through all five minor pentatonic shapes—a technical challenge that demands precision and control. With trickier picking patterns and more pinky rolls, this routine pushes you to clean up your motion and expand your comfort zone.
The Major Pentatonic Workout focuses on building a clear, musical understanding of the major pentatonic scale and how it connects directly to triads and chord shapes. We work through all five positions, apply the sound over chord progressions, and explore how major pentatonic relates to minor pentatonic and blues language. The goal is fluency and sound awareness, so you can confidently find and use the right notes anywhere on the neck as the harmony moves.
*More Modules To Come
The Modes course takes the mystery out of modal playing by showing how to hear each sound, apply it over real chord movement, and connect it directly to the fretboard. Beginning with Mixolydian and now expanding into Dorian, the lessons focus on chord context, arpeggio connection, and non diatonic movement so each mode feels like a usable colour rather than a memorised pattern. This series will continue to grow, gradually expanding to cover all seven modes and build a complete, practical modal foundation.
