Eric Johnson: Lead Guitar Lesson @ GuitarInstructor.com

In this excerpt from one of Eric Johnson's master class lessons at Guitarinstructor.com, he demonstrates damping and picking techniques used to produce his amazing pentatonic phrases.

[@carlosclaptrix]

Just magic. He talks so rational, yet his melodies sound emotional.

[@jakeritchie3805]

Damn I love that strat. Eric Johnson is on the shortlist of 3 best, but I can't get over that strat

[@JohnGuitarSolo]

@GuitarInstructor Still one of the guitar worlds best instructors by a country mile !! Thank you for sharing this guitar lesson excerp guitar instructor

[@joeydeandre8001]

Great guitar player.. He looks like an angel!

[@JohnGuitarSolo]

@GuitarInstructor Clearly a world class guitar instructor , thank you for sharing this one

[@cazz3000]

yer i have that song, it is really good and has a lot of feel for that type of piece, i dont know how he makes solo acoustic guitar compositions sound so complete and heartfelt EJ has been my favourite player for years now, well above all the shredders

[@SoundMusicVideo]

I agree ! Right up there with players like Greg Koch , and James Marshall Hendrix THanks again for sharing guitarinstructor

[@trabrex7697]

He loves that one Clapton lick. Always plays it when he's messing around.

[@JohnGuitarSolo]

Guitarinstructor nice job on the new video ! would love to see more of eric johnson's licks

[@Kwbull6]

that dampening tip is exteremely helpful. EJ rules!

[@33Hossa18]

Hello god

[@samswank]

I saw Eric play a bunch in clubs here in Dallas in the early 80's. Made it kind of hard to get too cocky about one's own playing.

[@cm0220ster]

He used to use an old Chandler TUbe Driver, the pedl I believe has actually tubes in it. GIlmore occasioally used one as well. There are two basic types of "distortion": overdrive, more of a bluesy kind of tone, and distortion, used in a lot of classic rock and metal. He uses more of an overdrive. There are also the older Fuzz type pedals, a little different flavor. SOme of the newer boutique pedal have one of each on each side. Very versatile.

[@SoundMusicVideo]

You really gotta love these Hal Leonard Guitar Lesson DVD's Joe Bonassa , Greg Koch, Albert Lee, Doug Boduch , all amazing instructors @ guitarinstructor

[@JohnGuitarSolo]

@GuitarInstructor Yes what is ? Thanks for sharing the guitar dvd trailer John

[@SoundMusicVideo]

@GuitarInstructor Fantastic Guitar Instructor

[@wileypayote]

greg koch is awesome. I saw him promote fender guitars at Wardbrodt music in Madison Wisconsin in '04 or '05 and he blew my mind. then he played a little guitar later and that was cool too

[@ZenDriveSeven]

Listen to how long that last note rings out at 2:14. Very subtle, but very nice!

[@sharpsound2011]

Easy for you to say Eric! With those freaking alien fingers you have! I have these short handicapped fingers! LOL. I traded guitars with you once at a Musician's Friend in Knoxville, TN. Love your music man! Been listening to Bloom today. Rock on!

[@mexistratman1]

@GuitarInstructor Wise words, thanks so much for the tip :)

[@kenp3L]

@GaRhythym Sorry, but I have checked the OED (which is widely regarded as the accepted authority on the English language) on this, and it supports my position. *Dampening* means to make damp or to moisten. It can also mean to dull, deaden or diminish the force or ardor of, depress, or deject. So it would be correct to say, "The accident dampened the spirits of the travelers." However, if one refers to reducing the action of an oscillating body, it's *damping*.

[@raphaelblochb]

such a genious

[@Taraalcar]

"First I'm gonna shred a bit here, and then do this thing with my hand and shred a bit there" Genius. I just wish he spoke English.

[@azkeyz]

Mr.Johnson , I notice things go better when I use the techniques you're outlinning here in this video. a big help. I'm working hard on finding a method to merge your style with that of buckethead. I know that may seem strange to you but my brain said do it , and my brain is not usually wrong about this sort of thing. and thoughts on this from you would be of interest , namely the buckethead binge and grab track mixed with your cliffs of dover techniques.

[@Jazz...]

@earlbrown33 He uses a bit of delay and reverb but his tone is all in his fingers.

[@neochase1]

crazy good !

[@SoundMusicVideo]

I would rather see more Guitar Lesson's from John 5 , than John Denver ! Always an impressive video guitar lesson @ guitarinstructor

[@GuitarInstructor]

@Previewexcerpt Yes it is.

[@SIRONEDRAGON]

very cool

[@JohnGuitarSolo]

On the Music Path is an iPad app that features master classes from world-renowned musicians accompanied by complete notation and tab synchronized to the teacher's playing. Caught Eric over there

[@RickyLandi]

1:37 Oh, after all, it was time to adding a human touch to this God

[@svenzia]

@VaughanF1 I love him for the same reason

[@EddieWeldon46]

learn your modes, 1. Ionian,2.Dorian,3Phrigian,4.Lydian,5.mixolydian,6Aloloian,7.locrain the modes are made up of the 7 notes of the major scale so try this if you know the major scale just take like a. A power cord and play the fith note of the a minor scale which is E so play that E to E and you will be play the phyrigian mode then just mix that with the minor pentatonic I hope this helps

[@BryanDraughn]

I'm getting true stereo on this vid! sounds good!

[@TonyAab]

re: Torfinnmadssen In the same way that you've learned playing in those scales, you can learn to play in only the notes of each chord, by mapping those notes accross the fretboard, then playing slowly through until each becomes second nature. However, to make use, the change between playing in one and the other must also be practiced. Alternatively, lookup "modes" (Ionian, Dorian etc) or learn new scales such as true tone and spanish gypsy and look for blending shapes between them.

[@kalox007]

Excelente video y por supuesto Eric un verdadero Maestro. El problema de este video es que en el tercer lick Eric toca notas que en el video no se escuchan, alguien sabe porqué o es que fueron "muteadas" a propósito?

[@GuitarInstructor]

@Ignore14 I believe it's from The Art of Guitar.

[@jacquilinebaby7481]

He is the best

[@StratMatt777]

Fully diminished or only half diminished? :) These youtube commenters are truly amazing... they always have to be smarter than everyone else and correct them- even EJ! It matters not what the subject matter of the video is- it spans ALL subject matters. No matter what, youtube draws out the "experts" (living in their parent's basement). Unbelievable, isn't it?

[@Deliquescentinsight]

Dampening is actually THE big key to clean playing - the novice will leave all strings open & a mess results, learning how to apply subtle dampening separates the accomplished.

[@jimmydriveway]

Yes, that’s what he just said.

[@kenp3L]

I have a minor correction touching upon word meaning. He said that one of his techniques is "dampening" when what he surely meant to say was "damping." The former means to apply moisture to and the latter means to progressively diminish oscillation (of guitar strings in this case). Surely he doesn’t want to get his guitar wet.

[@thearabianmage]

kenp3L my guitar gets wet every time it hears him play -edit- I know you wrote this comment five years ago but I couldn’t resist

[@___717.]

.... weird boner alert

[@TurtleRocker12]

Joe Mofo dampening is the correct word form. To dampen means to make wet or moist but it also means to make something less intense such as in the case of sound. The term is sound dampening, not damping

[@godwhyisthistaken]

nice

[@GuitarInstructor]

When he is playing using his "dampening" technique you will see that the sound is quieter, almost muted.

[@DavidSoekana]

Great guitar player!

[@GuitarInstructor]

@kenp3L Thanks for the info.

[@SoundMusicVideo]

Does this guitar lesson come with a Free chord and scale book

[@datBdat]

@jclev99 ">Carl Verheyen....." Thanks for mentioning Carl Verheyen. I've never heard of him, but I just checked him out and he's Great!!! Thanks again!

[@theothertroll]

@JohnGuitarSolo - buy a concert ticket or DVD

[@GabrielRamos-iw1ek]

How does he make that harmonic with the finger??

[@GeneralGuitFiddle]

@kenp3L But then how is he going to keep it clean at high volume levels?!

[@alexrd6499]

que chingon suena eso...

[@Ignore14]

@HalLeonardDVD what is the dvd?

[@Harryson6]

ERIC!!

[@niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiick]

i agree

[@vincentlussier8264]

I find that guitarists like this don't really show you very much of what they do. Of course I couldn't expect them to spoonfeed us with every note but slow a riff down and break it down to increments for us. Just one riff! It wouldn't' kill him and we sure won't know a grain of sand worth compared to the desert of knowledge he has! I mean Christ, the guy is totally off the planet out in freaking Pluto compared to most of us!

[@DannyPeel]

@kenp3L He said damping.

[@screenpuller]

Thanks, kenp3L, now I can't watch this without picturing him dabbing at his bridge with a moistened sponge! LOL XD

[@TomMilleyMusic]

the violin tone is really more of his rig than how he picks. he plays the same when he plays on a clean setting but the violing tone isnt really there. but his technique helps as well. they are all parts of a puzzle.

[@earlbrown33]

how oculd i get his tone as far as effects?

[@micahguitar14]

EJ's art of music makes me like lower than dirt

[@montyburns9991]

guitarinstructor.com is beyond awesome btw... seems whatever you search for and they have a video, a tab, everything. It is run by Hal Leonard (big music publishing giant)

[@TinyCatBand]

why he didnt teach about pentatonic runs

[@inquisitor4635]

Zakk holds the copyright, the trade mark and the patent.

[@Ignore14]

dampening has to be one of the hardest things to learn when playing guitar. I've been playing for a few years and it's really hard to get the notes to come out clean without unwanted noise.

[@Jazz...]

@yngwieisking: You guys seem to be missing the point. A great player is going to sound great regardless of the equipment they're using. Great equipment, with all the bells and whistles is only going to enhance the sound. Sure if you gave EJ a Sears Strat through a Peavey Rage 158, he's not going to sound like he does in the studio but he's still going to sound like Eric Johnson. And he's still going to sound better than some kid who just started but has a pro rig.

[@brandon5pennies]

if you guys like johnsons pentatonic leads check out shawn lane

[@steveo27545]

Fenderbenders advice is good stuff, I am not good at this, but it is true if you can make the sound with your mouth it will help I leaned the lead to cliffs of dover by singer it first. If there is tab for these lesson let me know somebody email me please and God Bless Steve

[@zero2kx]

His intention was never to show how to play like EJ. Why would you want to be a clone of someone else? Take the little tips he gives and use it in your own style. He explained the "flowing" sound by using upstrokes.

[@benhimovitz]

0:51 sustain?

[@soaring138]

What for a scale ???

[@ntrbluesx]

Yep kids thats called proper technique!! No rubber bands or bobbls on the first fret here!!

[@Chromatype]

EJ is an exotrope!

[@employee0]

I Don't mean to correct your correction but to Dampen also means to DULL, DEADEN or DEPRESS, which I'm fairly certain (like 99.9%) is what he meant. Let's just appreciate his amazing talent and worry less about definitions of words and more about the message being conveyed.

[@gamergeek3000]

if there is a string you aren't playing, stop it from vibrating, with whatever finger, or part of either hand that you aren't using--right hand palm of picking hand, or fingers that are not fretting a note.

now it's clear ;)

I'm not english so I don't understand the "dampening" thing... what does he mean?

[@brandon5pennies]

ha for a second i thought when you said dampening that you meant like wrapping a rag around the neck cause that's for people who can't play clean dampening only makes for better technique

[@CW96ACDC]

how did he learn to play like that

[@blackscarab1]

dampen the strings!! why didn't i think of that before?!!! : ))) thank u for the advice!!!

[@BLUEGENE13]

damping is not for everyone i realized it all depends on how you think as a guitar player

[@KhalilDaou01]

john carmack?

[@leomanl]

my sentements exactly

[@wileypayote]

the only thing I don't like about ej, is that sometimes he plays things that you can hear, and they are really cool and hard, but it gets lost in his clean sound. pump up the volume ej and play more distortion.

[@eweeparker]

My favorite is the "beginner" videos. There are always huge smart asses that pick apart a beginner video, not realizing that they are caught red-handed watching the damn thing in the first place. Idiots. Anyway, I completely agree. :)

[@elekbuzz]

whats up with EJ:s tone nowadays?

[@Toxxic88]

Dampening also known as palm muting

[@Dreamdancer11]

@beowulf20s Well you know how the usual theme is....since i cant play for shit and let alone understand what he is doing lets throw something random out there and maybe ill make myself seem knowledgeable.Who knows...maybe ill earn some thumbs up in the process and feel good about myself.

[@ANICON2006]

..from the Master himself.. listen to E.J.!!

[@8teeSixed]

So clehneis, lets hear YOUR style and tone

[@SoundMusicVideo]

Wolf Marshall does a guitar lesson @ guitar instructor like this one , only his guitar sound is not as impressive as Eric Johnson . Would really love to h ear Greg Koch , or Doug Boduch cover this guitar style God BLess , and thanks for sharing the excerpt guitar lesson trailer

[@ejtonefan]

there is no better Eric Johnson technique teacher than Troy Grady's Cracking The Code series!

[@josuedavid3786]

Al pacino?

[@sweetnothing1977]

@icanpeeyee Then you need to listen to Lonely in the Night.

[@Sergioantoniox]

what an axeman!

[@leomanl]

if every one keeps opinions on this to the video about the music and his teaching it would be an ideal world but shit happens

[@kd350]

Hold on there...in the motorcycle world many people mis-pronounce dampening as in stopping the movement of shocks or steering stem. There it's damping. Are we not doing the same here, stopping or muting strings hence the proper term is DAMPING. To dampen something is to wipe with a damp cloth. Not good for the fretboard.

[@robertscoggin]

Fastidious to a fault. More famous than funky...

[@DaigoParry]

Bob Scoggin Fastidious to a fault. Absolutely.

[@myfairvanity]

he changes position so fast it looks like missing frames.

[@callasexperience]

watch the old steel players

[@cole12890]

i have that guitar strap

[@birdiejoehoaks]

if by "nuts" you mean brilliant, then yes.

[@Puertorico2494]

@kenp3L Who cares if he said dampening?.....Geek >.>