Guitarists Influenced by Hendrix - Mike McCready Style

Michael Johnson >> Guitarists Influenced by Hendrix >>

Lesson Subject:
Guitarists Influenced By Hendrix II

What you learn: Mike McCready Style

Teacher: Michael Johnson

Michael: Hello class, we have a very cool subject for Guitarists Influenced by Hendrix. In this lesson you'll learn how to play using the style of Mike McCready of Pearl Jam! As many of you might be able to tell, Mike was heavily influenced by Hendrix. Mike would often add the "flowery" Hendrix type rhythm patterns and blazing leads. You can hear the licks and riffs your are going to learn in the lesson sample:

Michael: Let's get started! First we'll cover the chords for the first rhythm pattern.

Michael: These are mostly basic chords in the key of E. Learn the chords and play along with the first jam track:

Michael: For this section we will use the E Major Pentatonic pattern.

Michael: Here's the first lick:

Michael: First, try practicing the scale a few times to get use to the main pattern and then try the licks. Our first lick consists mostly of double stop licks, you start with a slide on the 9th to 12th frets (1st & 2nd strings), then a double-stop hammer-on using the 2nd and 3rd strings. These are very fluid sounding licks. Notice how you use the 3rd and 4th fingers while barring the 9th using the 1st finger. Here's the next lick:

Michael: This lick starts with a cool hammer-on using the G# to A on the 5th fret, the 1st finger is still in position to play notes on the middle 2 strings, it kind of sounds like a chord or arpeggio. Here's the next lick:

Michael: In this lick you jump to the Major Pentatonic box just in front of the main box pattern we have been playing in. Here's the patterns so you can visualize where you can play. I highlighted the notes I was referring to earlier.

Michael: Here's the next lick:

Michael: This lick has some very cool intervals, you hammer the 2nd and 3rd fingers at the same time.

Michael: OK, now let's jump to Part 2, this section uses more rhythm and counter rhythm patterns, a technique Pearl Jam uses often to create their sound.

Michael: First we take a common sequence of chords, here's the jam track you can play over:

Michael: Notice that layering the chords add a cool sounding groove to the riff. Now you can add a second guitar track that plays only rhythmic octave riffs.

Michael: You basically use the 1st and 4th fingers to play each octave while the 1st finger slightly mutes the 3rd string as you strum on all 3 strings. This add a counter rhythm to the first chords I gave you earlier for this section. Now you can add other chord rhythm patterns as well, here's another riff:

Michael: This section has another counter rhythm that can be applied as a melody as well. Basically most of these riffs are very simple, but the magic happens when you layer all the parts. Let's jump to the next section:

Michael: This section starts with a chord progression in E and then jumps to a hammer/pull-off lick in the open position. Here's a jam track for you to play over:

Michael: Here's the second part of the rhythm pattern:

Michael: Now let's try some lead licks you can play over this rhythm. In this section you can use the E Minor Pentatonic scale, here's the pattern you are going to use for the next few licks:

Michael: Here's the first lick:

Michael: This lick starts with a bend on the 3rd string and then descending the scale pattern and jumping to bend up to E at the end of the lick. Now you can jump to the 2nd box position of the E Minor Pentatonic scale pattern for the next lick:

Michael: You mostly bend the 17th fret/1st string for this lick. OK, now we jump back into the main scale pattern again for the next lick.

Michael: Well that's the last lick for this lesson. I hope this gives you a better understanding of how Mike McCready plays the guitar.

i_am_jacks_guitar: The Who have obviously influenced the Pearl Jam. How much do you think Pete Townsend has influenced Mike? As compared to Hendrix that is.

Michael: I assume The Who made quite an impact on Mike as many other contemporary guitarists, especially in rhythm guitar which is Pete Townsend's specialty. I think Jimmy Page influenced him as well.

Ryan: Tips on using a wah pedal?

Michael: The Wah pedal is a rhythmic instrument, think of it like playing a bass drum pedal. There is always some kind of rhythm pattern used when playing licks and using the Wah.

Michael: Bye all!

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