Struggling with Pentatonic runs - unlearning

Hi - i've been playing guitar for the better part of a decade, and I've progressed nicely in many ways, done a lot of solo studies and things through GuitarTricks, but one thing that constantly challenges me is descending pentatonic runs - not necessarily fast ones either -

Specifically, I mean things like the closing solo in Comfortably Numb, that first descending pentatonic lick, https://youtu.be/GqzeJpn-5I8?t=34...

when i was a much less experienced player, I rushed through this and started playing it fast before I had it under my fingers, and as such deeply ingrained it wrong.

Looking for advice on fixing a lick you've played wrong a bunch, and also just general advice on learning pentatonic runs...

Thanks!

Originally Posted by: thegreenscommittee

Specifically, I mean things like the closing solo in Comfortably Numb, that first descending pentatonic lick, https://youtu.be/GqzeJpn-5I8?t=34

The best way to get a long, complex lick down is to break it into managable chunks & drill them until they are second nature. Then gradually put them together.

The first half of that lick is similar to this classic blues type lick.

https://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=1614

Tricky bend & picking across several strings! Go slow & just do that section until you can really get it right.

The second half of that lick is kind of decending sequence. Exercises like this can help with that sort of line.

https://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=185

You really just need to work the first box for that lick. But they are all great to use as exercises & have under your fingers. I do all of these everyday as part of my warmup!

Fine points to consider:

1. Break the lick down into as many small chunks as necessary for you to drill them.

2. Go slow to make sure you have the chunks right & repeat them until they feel comfortable.

3. Work toward making your picking motions as small, tight & minimal as possible. Just enough to graze the string to get across, then stop & reverse direction. Slant the pick slightly until it feel easy to graze over the string. You don't want to feel like the pick is getting "caught" on the string.

Practice a lot. :) Best of success!

I am also working on this solo. One helpful thing is what one of the youtube guys doing those videos said:

With all those blues scale runs that turn up, of course you can do them note for note, but it's not really necessary. They are all slightly different from each other and the important thing is to vary slightly from one to the other, but not play them exactly as on the record. Gilmore doesn't do that either on stage.

Originally Posted by: MaxM81

With all those blues scale runs that turn up, of course you can do them note for note, but it's not really necessary. They are all slightly different from each other and the important thing is to vary slightly from one to the other, but not play them exactly as on the record. Gilmore doesn't do that either on stage.

Good observation. That's the goal of the lessons I linked: to isolate those managable chunks or small units. Those are the bits that get reused, recycled & with variations. That's how you develop a library of licks. Or a vocabulary or repertoire of things to play & to make variations upon.

At some point you actually have to work on some series of notes, or some specific physical motion. Because those are the building blocks of what you will use when you play licks, totally improvised or planned, or anywhere in between those 2 extremes.

Hope that helps!