I like getting useful information laid out smoothly and by someone who is not flashy or full of show off. Good teacher.

You ever have the right guitar lesson/video come to you at just the right time? This is that.

Brian, you are such a great teacher. So many people with advanced knowledge (of anything really, not just music) forget what it’s like to be a beginner and end up teaching in a way that seems obscure and hard to follow. Thank you for all your work!

Probably one of the, if not the most genuine guitar lessons I've ever watched.

Hey, Brian - Love your "fireside chats" on the different aspects of playing guitar. Please keep 'em coming!

Thanks Brian, this lesson really tied up a lot of things I've wondered about for a long time. Simple and valuable lesson.

Unbelievably great lesson! I’m 7 days out of open heart surgery and I can’t wait until I’m able to walk down to my office and am allowed to pick up one of my guitars! Fantastic emotional lift! Thank you and God bless you, Walt

Thanks Brian.... I can't thank you enough for all the knowledge that you us....just incredible....the way you educate .....it's like you are the right professor teaching the students exactly what they need to know..... There are many greats on U Tube ........but noone is as good as you..........God bless you for your efforts....👍

As always a cracking lesson Brian. So simple in theory but yet exactly hits the nail on the head for many of us out here and also reaffirms for people that they are doing the right things too, That's a really important concept for me that's often forgotten, it's not always about learning but sometimes its ensuring that your own theory is actually correct. Many thanks.

I love this type of instruction. Thanks for taking the time to share your knowledge.

Great question. Great answer. Thank, Brian!

Wow, absolutely ground breaking for me! You asked in another video what was a groundbreaking moment, this is one for me. Thank you Brian. I have been with you for about three years, last week a friend commented what a guitar player I was, hmm- three years ago I didn't know anything beyond the third fret, with your direction I guess I can finally say "I play the guitar" that too is groundbreaking.

What a tremendously informative lesson, thank you!!

Great! One of most useful lessons and advices I have found on the net! And I dig hard. Subscribed emediately!

Another superb lesson. Thank you Brian.

Fantastic information. Very inspiring. Thank you Brian!

That just helped me sooooo much. I am a beginner and that just made everything make so much more sense ! Thank you.

Another superb lesson expertly taught. Geo J

Thanks Brian! Echoing others, this is great 👍

Thank you for such a valuable lesson.

thank you for a great lesson, right to the point

Your " The Light Bulb Man " Cause it's like light bulbs always going off ,when you teach. I consider my self still an intermediate player. But your like Frosting on a Cake you smoothly fill all the low spot and transitions in guitar information I've picked up over the years. If I could only practice as much as Ive learned ,I'd be a much much more confident and better player. That time will come soon. But in the mean time I watch and listen to " The Light Bulb Man!" Thank you for I think I've been listen for two years now. So Thank you! Thank you, Thank you .

this was extremely helpful

I love how you bring it all down to Earth for us, Brian, it is so helpful! Btw I love the music room background here, very eye-pleasing 😍🙂

Just got the premier membership. Finally starting to understand theory better. It’s only been a week. Great stuff.

Love this, very useful information

Really, really helpful. Thanks. You are the best.

FINALLY! Someone has explained it to me after literally decades of me not understanding what turns out to be quite a simple concept. THANK YOU!

Brian, thanks for this lesson, really helpful and easy to understand.

Brian, this lesson is possibly the best I've seen from you. It summarised so many aspects related to music in general and cleared up some hazy areas in my mind. All of a sudden the whole concept of improvisation, which I'm certain is the 'Holy Grail' for so many of us, just seems so much simpler than ever before to me. I now feel I have a new license to be free and expressive, armed with so much knowledge gleaned from so many of your earlier lessons. For once I can say that the light bulb truly went on this time. I'm so much more excited about playing than ever before, and I've been playing for well over 50 years! Since joining Active Melody I've been playing and learning for hours every week, but this lesson ties it all together so well. Thank you so much.

Now I know what to do! Loved the licks and open jams

Working my way through all your VLOGs. OMG light bulbs lighting up here. How come nobody says this so directly?!?!?! Wonderful.

Another fantastic lesson! 👏👏👏

Awesome!!! You're the coolest teacher!!!

This video just flashed up on m notifications! Looking forward to watching this when I get home. I’ve asked this question many times on various other channels

Nice lesson. Very helpful. Thanks Brian!

Great lesson and remarks!

Thanks so much, you explained it so much understandable and useable

Excellent tutorial. Thanks!

Awesome! That's what I was looking for. Thanks a lot. God bless you.

Very instructive explanation of the use of minor pentatonic scales...a must! Thanks 🎶🎶🎶

I’ve seen these concepts explained before but never so clearly outlined. That first lick is really melodic and stylish. 👌

Great demonstration of the concept. There's a lot of good players out there but not many good teachers. Great job Brian!

Great lesson Brian. Thank you

Very good explanation. Thanks

Your vids are very helpful thanks man

Loved it. Cant wait to practice a bit of it.

Another great lesson !

Great vid! Thank you

Wow this info is awesome my friend we are blessed having you😜

That is SUCH a great lesson. I agree with others; what a great teacher.

a very cool lesson Brian. Thanks

Great info!!

He is absolutely right when he says " let your ear tell you, it will pull your fingers to where they need to go" Excellent point!!!

Great lesson 👍

Great lesson - THANK YOU!

That was great. Thank you. You made it understandable . Instead of about YOU, like so many others trying the same.

You are a star man !!! Thank you.

Brian, thank you once again for yet another aamazing lesson! Do you have a way of teaching to where we can use it in our plant almost immediately with a little practice and dedication. Your able to convey a sense of feeling that has helped me to develop more of a sense of feeling, thank you again !

This is a nice way to really get started with soloing. It helps to have your phrasing to show how good simple ideas are!!, (play is just like this....says BB King). Um...OK. Beginners get sideways trying to learn too much too fast vs making music. You are helping people to make music and step out and take a chance with a basic framework. Very good lesson. One of the most rewarding times I have had as a musician were helping our friends kids with guitar. All the kids would play Black Sabbath intros and licks and they would all show off to each other. I would check in on them and give pointers, etc. I asked them if anyone knew a song from start to finish, no one knew a song all the way through. I told them to pick a song and learn the intro and the verses and chorus and ending...so they could perform it all by themselves. Fast forward a number of weeks and I show up to a 4th of July party and upstairs in the barn, (converted to be a party room, bar, music, pool table, etc...the Hoopie Room). They had a drum kit and amps!!. I am not a drummer but can keep a song going. Two brothers, (maybe 9 and 12) said, "we know Highway to Hell all the way though". I said lets play it. I did the drums and they played the rhythm parts. I coached them up on the pentatonic box and said when we get here...you play rhythm and you play notes of this scale. Make anything up, just keep soloing. Then nod when you are done and you will switch...the other kid plays solo while the first solo kid takes on the rhythm. Gave it a few run throughs and got the whole party together...cranked up the amps, (Orange Tiny Terror and some VOX thing with one tube) and performed. It was so much fun and the look on those kids faces. We got a huge round of applause and we were really rocking. It ranked up with with some of my best gigs. The joy on their faces and reading their minds.....OMG I AM REALLY DOING IT....They had some real moments where they were making up some nice lines. Anyhow, this lesson feels like a much more informed way to move to the next level and solo. Great job...and thanks for the lesson. I hope folks take this and run with it.

Thanks so much for this!

That was definitely a lightbulb lesson for me Brian, I'll be going over lesson EP130 again to revise mixing the major and minor.

great lesson...thanks

Good explanation Brian. We are told to resolve back to the root note..or whichever we started the lick on. Which we can do, but we don't have to. I find always doing that starts to sound a bit tired, boring after a while. Staying in key is good, and easier, less to think about as you rightly say. Targeting chord tones, adding say a Major 3rd or sharp 6 to minor pentatonic adds flavour..you have a few more blue notes at your disposal if you think of them as such..and of course the usual blue note..Adding the 2nd is another option..there's many options available. Following chord changes does sound more sophisticated, but to me not so much if you do that all the time, I tend to do that at certain times, when I want a different "voice". Like when you're talking with someone you both have a different voice. Again it adds some spice to things. Targeting chord tones while staying in key again I see as another way to add a little more flavour, a few sprinkles so to speak. Given chords will often share a note ..or two, targeting those will sound fine over those chords, even if one chord does not have a shared note. I tend to bend to common notes a fair bit.. So always a good idea to know the chord tones of each chord and which ones might share notes. I look at it as if I were baking a cake, you have lots of ingredients but you don't use all of them at the same time.. It depends what cake you want. But you can add more ingredients to your cupboard as you go. The pentatonic is a great scale by itself, eventually though you might want to add a new ingredient. Trick is to just use the ones you need and don't over egg the puddin' ..Or cake.. Best advice in this video? Trust your ears..if it sounds right then it probably is right, you'll know if it isn't.

I have often wondered about this very thing, I have asked myself a million times how to use licks ; so I have been playing for 28 years and I do not know one lick. I assumed until I knew how to use them there was no reason to learn them. I understand the concept of using licks now so I must learn some thank you so much BRIAN

This is 🔥 Brian!

Very good lesson!

Omg I love you for this information thank you!

part 1 HOLY SHIT!!!! That is simple yet very profound information .considering so many people will not advance for so many reasons understanding how to use the pentatonic’s . I did all this intuitively from day one and then got pushed wayward trying to understand theory which confused me and made my playing regress significantly . I wish I understood this simple information much earlier as a BASE of which I could wander out from to learn stuff but then return to as the thing I enjoy most and am best at is improvising over tracks or making my own backing backing tracks and doing the same thing and creating “songs” that although not always structurally right in regards to patterns and symmetry like a pop song still sound like music and are often pleasing . I want to improve in regards to structure and keeping the “count” right for the rhythms I lay down over drum tracks . But now I know why when I stop thinking I and other people think I play well and the second I try to think or get obsessed with landing on root notes I sound like garbage . Man, it is very dangerous what you learn and when and from who . You have to go with your instincts . Man this is true with ALL THINGS IN LIFE , INCLUDING things that are complicated like music. If your a musical genius stuff will come to you but sometimes if your not or struggle with certain things it’s Ok to stick with the pentatonic thing and JUST HAVE FUN which will allow you be creative in those times when you just want to have fun or be expressive. Don’t need to stay in the “boxes” all the time or stagnate but neither do you have to eschew the simplicity as hack , for simpletons or played out if that’s where you are finding your creative juices flowing . The internet HAS FUCKED MUSICAL EXPRESSION UP. There are so many virtuoso guitar players because of info available to so many that more outliers have emerged in regards to technique , ability and understanding including little kids who play technically better then virtually any player besides a few masters from early in the last century and in many cases “blow the pants “ off of rock guitar hero’s from the 60s 70s when electric guitar music and playing was really taking off In regards to technique . Even the virtuoso stunt guitarists like Vai as an example that seemed so unique in that ability have 10 year old asian girls with TEENY FINGERs playing some of his compositions and techniques . Shredders abound . Same with great blues young blues players who would have been 100% thought to have been to the crossroad to achieve their level of playing as a young person are not in short demand considering it is not a terribly popular art with the advent of things like rap that is a different skill set and all the digital tools that remove the need to play an instrument and sometimes don’t even need actual understanding of music and just a good ear for what sounds good to create something decent . I have a mess of learning difficulties including dyslexia that expresses differently then many people think of , I read like a beast, meaning with ease , speed and great comprehension but I can’t see what somebody else is actually doing on a fretboard watching a video it’s all jumbled to me. Can’t quickly look at strings and name them besides the high and low e . However I can remember patterns on the neck , patterns of chord shapes and other patterns even if I don’t understand what they really signify and if I don’t try to hard to grasp them conceptually and just let stuff flow and do on intuition I produce results MUCH BETTER then when I try the opposite . I started in my 30s and my instructor I had for a couple months (and never again) said he never saw somebody advance so quickly young or old to fly around the neck with speed , accuracy , feel an emotion so quickly . I practiced 10 hours a day and went from not playing to learning the a minor pentatonic scale and playing over backing tracks and flying around , bending and all kinds of stuff to the point that many people believed I was a “player “ and my instructor wanted me to play an open mic (I guess he wanted to say here is an older student of mine after playing for 2 months or whatever) .

Awesome video ... great !

good tutorial, interesting stuff for certain, thanks

This was great, an expanded video on which notes to aim for etc when playing over the chords would be good? But more on how to play over the chords I guess I’m trying to say. I’m at that stage where I want to start to figure out how to get out of playing in the key of the song solely. Thank you, great video 🙏

Thank you!

Major (not a minor) lightbulb moment. Thank you very very much, brilliant stuff

Simple but profound. Thanks...

Very nice thank you so much

Really. Well. Explained!

A great little lesson

Perfect video for the intermediate player looking for direction on lead guitar, but overwhelmed by the concept of following chord changes. "Just get in there and let your ear guide you." I like that.

I really like your lessons

I’ve been playing guitar for 20 years now and did not know that. Thanks!

Thanks Brian! Also - cool looking peach tele!

“Let your ear tell you.” Something I’ve learned over the last few months after finally investing in a better electronic setup. Trust in the direction your feelings take you!

Best teacher by far!

What a precious vid, thank u🇫🇷👍🏼🍒

All these years I've been over-thinking this....Thanks!

Thx Brian 👍

wow! an eye-opener/ lightbulb moment for a beginner.

Man you're a good teacher.

I really Like Your Video"s there helping me Heaps Thanks

Nice one Brian.

Greetings from London. If I had that hat I'm sure I could play guitar. You've got me mesmerised. I'm convinced you could make music out of my bicycle brake wire.

Thank goodness someone else had the same question I have.

That looks like an extremely comfortable and laid back room Brian 👍👍

dont usually comment on teaching vids but for those who are tryin to get their heads around lead guitar its a pretty good video.

Beautiful guitar. Love the color. Who's the maker?

Great lesson. Finally, I got it. If the song is in the key of A, you can play A minor or A major pentatonic or mix. BUT if the song is in the key of Am ONLY I can use Am pentatonic. I was enjoying my subscription on Active Melody.com , until the covid came and I had to prioritize expenses. too bad. Keep the good work Brian .

great lesson. guitar needs to be centered more in the shot. your one of my favorites

This is really helpful, it makes you realise it’s not that complicated. I just need to work on getting the tempo right.

Great video man! Thank you. What glasses are you wearing?