Guitar ColleXion

My Old Japan Fender Stratocaster with Bird's eye maple neck. I've upgraded with Semour Duncan Little 59' pickups and a Di'Mazio HM series, all single coil sized humbuckers. Gives forth a heavy sound but somehow I felt it sounded too warm for a taste. Still missed the old Fender Twang.







Another one of my favorites, a Takamini NP-65C plugged in Classical. It's sweet nylon strings that supports a fierce arched top body, versatile enough to play anything from Bossanova to Flemenco. Oh well, as for Flemenco, I can only call myself a wannabe.









This one has followed be through battles. One of my main weapons of not-so-mass destruction, but enough to kill. You see it, you know it. PGM-30, bought it in a promotion when Paul came to Singapore. It's a little different as the typical ones are Maple neck, mine's a Rosewood.







Inspired by one of my favorite Jazz guitarists, you know who when you see it. Love the Jazz tone and Chordal characteristics.









Another secret weapon of mine, newly purchased, second-hand but lethal. From the Rock Guitar-Guru himself. Yet to test it out on the stage though, but it sure sounds like it can blast a dragon tank! Japan made Ibanez JEM-77 2001 issue, enjoy.













Vox Tone lab SE. Powerful tool with amp simulators and 2 Vox pedals to control both expression and volume. Most importantly, it has a tube in it which provides a more natural harmonics than digital and transistor processors.











And this is me, the Devil of my guitars!

Melodic patterns VS Linear scales.

When practicing scales, many people practice it linearly. Hence when they apply the scale in improvisation, they end up playing melodies linearly. Another thing you can do for example, with the major scale is, instead of playing the scale linearly, you can play the scale in melodic patterns. For Example:

G Major Scale (Linearly)
E__3__5__7_________________________________________________________
A___________3__5__7________________________________________________
D____________________4__5__7_______________________________________
G____________________________4__5__7_______________________________
B_____________________________________5__7__8______________________
E______________________________________________5__7__8_____________

G Major Scale (2 note forward pattern). I will call this a 1-3 pattern.
E_3__7__5___7____________________________________________________________________
A_________3___5__3__7__5___7_____________________________________________________
D________________________4___5__4__7__5___7______________________________________
G_______________________________________4___5__4__7__5___7_______________________
B______________________________________________________5___7__5__8__7__8_________
E_____________________________________________________________________5__7__5__8_

G Major Scale (2 note backward pattern). I will call this a 3-1 pattern.
E_7__3___5___7__________________________________________________________________
A______3___5___7__3___5___7_____________________________________________________
D___________________4___5___7__4___5___7________________________________________
G________________________________4___5___7__4__5___7____________________________
B________________________________________________5___7__8__5___7___8____________
E____________________________________________________________5___7___8__5_______

G Major Scale (3 note Arpeggio pattern). I will call this a 1-3-5 pattern.
E_3__7___5______7__________________________________________________________________
A______5___3__7___5___3__7____5______7_____________________________________________
D___________________4______5____4__7___5___4__7___5______7_________________________
G________________________________________4______5___4__7___5___4__7___5______7_____
B____________________________________________________________5______7___5__8___7___
E________________________________________________________________________________5_

E_____________________________
A_____________________________
D_____________________________
G_____________________________
B_5__8___7_______________________
E______7___5__8__________________


You can create 3 note patterns, 4 note patterns, Arpeggio patterns, backward, forward, skip here skip there, whatever you can think of. By practicing this way, you will naturally be able to play riffs that are not confined to a linear pattern. The same applies to pentatonic scale, harmonic minor, melodic minor. I shall show more melodic patterns when I have time. Maybe you can try to figure out a 5-3-1 pattern.