1.

This group of licks and phrases center around the B minor pentatonic scale. The
first measure starts off by running up a simple Bm7 arpeggio followed by a quick
series of chromatic notes.

***Adding these types of quick chromatic runs is something Guthrie does often to
break up his phrases - it's very effective for making simple pentatonic licks sound
much more complex***

He continues from there riffing off the pentatonic scale throwing in a b5 a 9th and
another chromatic note (b9) sliding into the root (B note). But besides those
"color" tones ... it's all straight B minor pentatonic.

The next part of this solo can be viewed as a 3 note per string type of idea, where
Guthrie plays 3 notes on a set of strings then moves up to the next position on the
neck and plays another multi string 3 note per string idea. He continues up the
neck in several more positions but begins to play 3 notes on the B string and only
1 note on the E string. Take notice of how this pattern is not just your typical 3
note per string sequence ... Guthrie cleverly mixes scale patterns with chromatic
patterns ... while mixing in slides and hammer ons.

And to end this section of the solo Guthrie plays a great chromatic pattern. With
the exception of the beginning of this sequence, the pattern/shape used is the same
... just moved up, down and back up ... and repeated all the way up the neck.

2.
This solo excerpt begins with a nice chromatic walk up on the low E string ... all
proceeded and followed by E minor pentatonic riffing.

What comes next is the meat of this idea ... it's an ear catching string skipping
lick that simply walks up the neck chromatically. It's a nice three finger hammer-
on and pull-off stretch on the G string with a single pivot note being played on
the high E string. The first shape can be looked at as an Em7 arpeggio starting
with the b7 ... and then that minor 7 arpeggio is just moved up a half step each
time.

Take notice of how in almost all the things Guthrie plays he always does a great
job mixing things up ... and this is a perfect example. He starts out with a
chromatic idea (notes close together) ... then goes into some pentatonic stuff
(which is easy on the listeners ears) ... then he gets into a wide interval idea
(using notes far apart as opposed to notes close together in the chromatic
idea) ... and then he starts adding a lot of tension by quickly walking the shape
up chromatically disregarding any sense of key or home base tonality.

Guthrie is a master at pushing and pulling the listeners ear.

3.This is a relatively short idea, however it's one that uses a technique that is
repeatedly used by Guthrie to move from one position the next. Instead of just
walking up or down a normal scale you will find that he'll often throw in a
chromatic note or a series of chromatic notes to move his hands to a new position
of the neck.

He does this often when playing a flurry of 16th notes ... which makes what could
be a boring sounding group of scale sequences sound so much cooler.

This lick is based primarily out of B minor pentatonic with some chromatic notes
thrown in. Also observe the beginning notes where he uses bends to grab the
listeners ears with familiar blues phrasing before he gets into some more modern
sounds with the chromatic notes.
4.This idea is just an insane barrage of notes. It's pretty straight forward in
moving through scales that complement the chords that are being played underneath.

If you simplify things you can view everything in terms of pentatonic scales with
some additional notes thrown in. So over the C#m chord you can clearly see the C#
minor pentatonic scale but starting on a note outside the scale (B natural note ...
the major 7th of C#) hammering on to the C# note (the root note). It continues
from there playing C# minor pentatonic throwing in a b5 (blues note) and a minor
6th (from the dorian scale).

But with all that said ... again ... it can been seen simply as a pentatonic scale
with a few added "colors".

Then we move to the F#m chord where ... you guessed it ... we have what can be
viewed as F# minor pentatonic stuff with a few extra notes added (the b5 and the
minor 6th again). He also adds a 9th before coming down what can be seen as an
F#m9 arpeggio.

Analyzing the notes and scales is all well and good, however sometimes the bigger
takeaway is looking at shapes and contour as opposed to theoretical jargon. This
is a perfect case in point!

Take notice of the wave like motion of this fast and furious series of notes. If
you look at the standard notation, you see the wave of notes go up then down ...
then up a lot more ... then down again ... an so on. All leading to a final higher
note bend. Guthrie doesn't just sequence a bunch of notes together in a strict
order (1-2-3-4-5-6 ... 1-2-3-4-5-6 ... and then move up to the next set of 6 notes)
... he's always phrasing things slightly differently and turning things upside down
and back again. His lines never sound like pre rehearsed patterns.
5.The majority of ideas played here are based out of the E major pentatonic scale
while mixing in some descending three note triad arpeggios. The first two
arpeggios are a G# minor triad and an E major triad which leads into that familiar
1st position shape of C# minor pentatonic (E major pentatonic). This is all being
played over an E major 7th chord.

The chord progression then goes down a half step to a diatonic diminished vii chord
(D# diminished). Here Guthrie chooses to outline the chord tones with a jazzy
technique of approaching each chord tone from a half step below and seamlessly
moves into a diminished scale before walking back down chromatically on the B
string.

Then Guthrie beautifully revisits the motif of using three note traid arpeggios by
walking up a C# minor triad over the C#m7 chord before finishing off this section
of the solo back in C# minor pentatonic (E major pentatonic). This all happens
while the chords underneath slide from C#m7 to Bm7 to Amaj7.
6.At this point of this solo the chords are alternating back and forth between a B
major and an A major chord.

Over this Guthrie starts by playing a C# minor pentatonic run that leads into a
really cool sequenced A major 7th arpeggio. But before he gets to the arpeggio
sequence ... in typical Guthrie fashion ... he slips in some chromatic notes! Also
pay attention to the chromatic notes he slips in on the B and E strings after he
runs back up the sequenced A major 7th arpeggio.

Next comes a little phrasing with a bunch of notes that he soulfully bends.

Guthrie then works his way down two more 7th arpeggios on the B and E strings (this
time an E major 7th arpeggio and a C# minor 7th Arpeggio). Then he moves into a
long scale run. Again pay attention to how he doesn't just run up and down a
typical E major scale. He starts by using all chromatic notes on the E and B
string (F#, F, E, D#, D, C#). Then he continues by playing mostly notes from the E
major scale while occasionally throwing in more chromatic notes.

It's in adding these random chromatic notes from time to time that makes everything
Guthrie plays sound just a little cooler then if he were to just play straight 5 or
8 note scales. It's all about adding "color"!
7.For this series of measures Guthrie is playing over a C# minor chord. An obvious
scale choice here would be the C# minor pentatonic scale, which is the basis of
what he plays here. However, for most of this he replaces the b7 scale tone with a
Major 6th scale tone. This is a great scale that is a prominent sound with guys
like Matt Schofield, Robben Ford, Larry Carlton and so many other amazing guitar
players.

Three things to focus on within these measures filled with brilliance are things we
have and will continue to touch upon ... elements of Guthrie's playing that really
define his sound. The first is his use of bends ... where he chooses to throw them
in ... his command of everything from subtle bends to extreme and aggressive
bends ... and the creative ways he substitutes a bend in the middle of an arpeggio
or a scale run.

Throughout this series of ides Guthrie uses soulful quarter note bends to add a
great deal of tension which really makes a five note pentatonic scale sound so
cool!

The second thing to take notice of is Guthries insistence on throwing in chromatic

notes to spice things up. This is another one of those things that he does all the
time and it again, makes a simple 5 note scale or 3 note arpeggio sound like so
much more. He does it several times in this example and each time it's slightly
different. The first time it's just a single note thrown in as a passing tone
between two scale tones. The second time he mixes several chromatic notes while
ascending up a scale which leads into a cool descending dominant 7 arpeggio. The
third time he walks up a series of 4 notes chromatically on the B string (again,
take notice of how he makes even that just a little slicker by adding in a slide
between the last two notes ... this is subtle ... but truly makes such a difference
in sound).

The third thing that sticks out in this example is Guthrie's phrasing. He has a
way of mixing in ear jarring staccato phrases into his solos that throw the
listener off balance just enough to be drawn in but not too much to where it's off-
putting or strange. This is a great device to use when soloing. It would be well
worthwhile to explore in your own playing ... just be careful not to use it too
often and make sure it has some sense of rhyme and reason or it could easily come
across as random gibberish.
8.In this excerpt of what is arguable one of Guthrie's most popular JTC solo's we
once again see a great example of how Guthrie uses his staccato type phrasing to
grab the listeners attention.

Not only is this type of phrasing technique called upon often by Guthrie, but it's
the way he combines it with small three to five note repetitive motifs that makes
things interesting and unique. Pay attention to how he twists and turns and
offsets the rhythmic timing by adding a single note or an added rest form time to
time.

This Idea is being played over a Cm9 chord which is preceded by a G7b9 chord.
Guthrie leads into the staccato phrase by climbing up a sequenced Bb minor
pentatonic scale. This is a great way to introduce some of the altered notes when
playing over an altered dominant chord. In this case he is playing over an altered
G7 chord ... so he plays a minor pentatonic scale up a minor third. This gives you
the #9, b5, #5, b7 and b9 ... all the juicy sounds for a healthy adventurous
musician to play over altered chords!

Next we get into the featured staccato phrase. This is a relatively simple phrase
consisting of notes right out of the C minor blues scale (pentatonic scale with a
b5 added). It's really just repeating the same 3 and 4 note phrase while
alternating between the Bb and C notes as pivot notes. Choosing these two notes as
the pivot notes really emphasizes the chord that is being played here because these
are the b7 and the root of the Cm9 chord. Also pay attention to how he turns the
phrase around by adding an extra 16th note rest at one point as well as repeating
the C pivot note twice instead of going back to the Bb note.

To end this set of ideas Guthrie plays a series of sequenced four note arpeggios on
the B and E string (Eb Major, G minor, Bb major and a Bb major 9). This is a great
way of getting up and down the fretboard quickly in a really melodic way.
9.This lick was selected to examine how Guthrie takes a simple pentatonic scale and
mixes in legato and hybrid picking to come up with a sound that is extremely fluid
and slick sounding.

This is all C# minor pentatonic with a b5 note added in from time to time.

The beginning of this lick takes place on the D, G and B strings and there are
really only 6 notes being used over and over again. While most people would fall
into playing repetitive patterns or sequences, Guthrie never seems to have that
issue. Take notice of how he sometimes plays three notes on one string then he'll
play one note on the next string or he skips a string or at the very beginning he
plays one note on each string which nicely breaks up the pentatonic scale like an
arpeggio.

There are a combined total of over 30 notes being played (made up of only 6 actual
notes) before he begins to descends to the A and E sting and in all those notes
he's twisting and turning them into non-repetitive ideas that flow smoothly into a
flurry of notes.

The other part of this that makes is so slick is his right hand picking technique.
He uses the combination of the pick with his middle and ring fingers to pluck the
strings. This gives some of the notes a great plucking of popping sound that's
similar to what you might hear in some country guitar licks.
10.his is the first of two ideas we'll breakdown from the jam track called East
City Central Lights. In this section of Guthrie's solo there are several really
cool things happening. The first is something that might often be easily
overlooked but is a very important part of making a solo have flow and allow
certain parts to really stand out. If you notice Guthrie hardly ever just shreds
throughout an entire solo. Doing that would just make everything sound like a
bunch of notes going on and on. What Guthrie does so impressively is he tells a
story ... there always seems to be a beginning, middle and an end.

In this section of the solo he starts out phrasing very melodically ... sliding
into notes ... holding a note while adding vibrato. But he's building some tension
and momentum by slowly climbing up one note at a time. He plays a few notes then
lands on the B note, then he plays a few more notes and lands higher up on an E
note then he plays a few more notes and pauses on a higher Ab note and finally he
plays a few more notes and slides into an even higher B note which all leads to the
crazy flurry of a billion legato notes.

What this does is it builds the solo up slowly to somewhat of a crescendo before
going into a crazy fast legato line. It's what makes the legato line stand out so
much ... it's all about contrast.
As for the legato line, take note of how it starts with some slick hammer ons and
pull offs while mixing in some slides. It's a cool way of getting a lot of milage
out of just a few chromatic notes. After that it's a pretty straight forward
descending legato lick ... but as always Guthrie mixes it up so that it isn't just
a pattern of running down a scale sequence.

Later Guthrie returns to a concepts that we discussed in an earlier lick where he

walks up an arpeggio (in this case it's a Gb Major Arpeggio) and approaches each
note of the arpeggio with a note a half step below. He then follows this off with
some more chromatic movement and another arpeggio.

He finish this part of the solo with a great descending chromatic type idea on the
high E string. But to make it "Guthrie-esq" ... instead of just simply running
down a chromatic scale he plays a few chromatic notes then he pivots to a single
note on the B string and he repeats this all the way down the fretboard.

One more thing to pay attention to here ... something that might again, go easily
unnoticed ... is the pattern of notes that he plays in this sequence. Most people
might play two chromatic notes on the E string then one note on the B string ...
then repeat that pattern. This would make for a very uniform 3 note triplet
pattern. But to make the pattern sound so much cooler Guthrie breaks up what could
be a monotonous three note pattern by going between two notes on the E string, one
note on the B string ... then three notes on the E string and again a single note
on the B string ... then he repeats that pattern.

This is an hugely important part of how Guthre makes things just slightly different
from the norm.

11.In this second section of the solo from East City Central Lights we take a look
at Guthrie once again building a solo up slowly.

During this entire part of the solo Guthrie chooses to tuck his pick away and use
his fingers to get a fatter tone and some great plucking sounds out some of the
notes.

One of the main things to focus on here is how he masterfully manipulates the notes
that he bends at the beginning. He goes perfectly between bending notes up a whole
step to a step and a half back down to a half step bend. Having this type of exact
control of each pitch when bending a note is something that takes some work. It is
something that can quickly and easily sound out of tune and sound like you're just
flailing around without any understanding of the notes you're actually shooting
for.

Imagine playing the first note too flat and then a higher note too sharp ... that
makes for a really wide gap in out of tune pitches. Then again you can just tell
everyone that it's what you were going for ... you were just being artistic and
meant to sound like you were playing "outside" notes.

Later in this part of the solo Guthrie does some more of the staccato type of
phrasing. This time he skips strings and pivots off of notes on the G and E
string. Again take notice of how he offsets the phrasing by inserting a rest from
time to time.

Before Guthrie ends this section of the solo with a long legato run, he leads into
it with a chromatic walk up on the E string. Going from the Db note to the Ab
note. He again bounces off pivot notes on both the G and B string while walking
up.

12.We selected this section of Guthries Robben Ford Special solo to talk about one
main concept that he uses very effectively over an Altered Dominant 7th chord.

But before we get into that we should also touch on one other thing that is typical
in Guthrie's playing which really sets him apart from most guitar players. While
most guitarists unfortunately only learn a few positions of a scale pattern and
have troubles connecting the patterns fluidly up and down the neck, Guthrie does
not suffer from this ... fretboard knowledge is one of his biggest strengths.

Take notice of how in the beginning of this solo section (as well as during almost
everything Guthrie plays) he walks down from position to position (starting from
the 22nd fret moving methodically down to the 3rd fret) while phrasing. There is
hardly a time when you will see him jump from a scale pattern at the 15th fret to
another position of that scale pattern all the way down at the 5th fret. This is
part of what makes everything he plays sound so connected. It never sounds like he
plays a lick then jumps to another lick an so on. Everything is connected ... and
avoiding big position shifts because of lack of fretboard knowledge is something
that keeps it all sounding so seamless and smooth.

As for the Altered Dominant 7th concept that Guthrie uses here, it's a concept that
allows you to get all those cool "outside" or "altered" tones while simply thinking
in terms of a simple pentatonic scale.

The concept is ... when playing over an Altered chord ... you can play a minor
pentatonic scale down a whole step from the root of the chord. In this case
Guthrie plays a G minor pentatonic over an A7#5 chord.

The reason this works is it gives us our b7, b9, #9, 11(or 4th) and the #5 (almost
all of the Altered notes). It's a great way to easily get altered sounds over an
altered chord without having to think too much about a whole new scale pattern.
13.Very few guitar players could combine so many concepts and ideas into 9 measures
of a solo as Guthrie so masterfully does in the last 9 bars of his solo for Groove
On.

And while many guitarists might attempt such an ambitious feat, most would sound
like they just crammed a bunch of unrelated ideas, licks and concepts together ...
ultimately creating several measures of guitar gymnastics and non-musical mayhem.
This is the complete opposite of what Guthries resulting solo sounds like.

At the beginning of this solo section for Groove On Guthrie starts out by walking
up an arpeggio which leads into phrasing for a full measure with just three simple
notes on the B string (15th fret, 17th fret and 19th fret). He makes it sound
extremely musical and melodic by reaching back and uses a concept that we touched
on earlier ... bending a single note to different pitches and having complete
control of the accuracy of the pitches.

After this he walks down what can be looked at as either a D major scale with a few
notes missing or a D major 7 arpeggio being approached by a scale tone below.
Either way you decide to look at it, the bigger takeaway is "how" he walks down the
scale/arpeggio. Instead of just running down a scale he adds so much more
character by playing a single note on each string and following each note played
with a note that is a scale tone lower. And instead of just returning to that
original fretted note on each string, he adds flavor by bending into each one of
those notes. This is a really slick sounding way of running down a scale/arpeggio.

Guthrie then follows this up by walking back up a scale. But again notice how he
doesn't just play a straight scale. He starts by playing two notes per string on
the A and D string (reminiscent of a pentatonic pattern) then he runs up an
arpeggio on the D, G and B string, after which he plays 3 notes on the B string and
4 notes on the E string (reminiscent of a major scale with a chromatic note added
on the E string). Just another interesting way to get away from playing straight
scales.

Over the E7#9#5 chord Guthrie mixes in some Altered scale stuff. The Altered Scale
is the 7th mode of the Melodic Minor scale. This scale gives all those tasty tones
over an altered chord (b9, #9, b5, #5).

Next up is a really cool string skipping bit of mayhem over another altered chord
(F#7#9). This could be viewed as simple chromatic lick. If you pay attention to
just the notes on the high E string (and the B string at the end) it just walks
down chromatically from the C note to the E note. All the while pivoting off of
notes on the lower strings. Another unique way to play what could just be a simple
scale run.

And to finish things off here Guthrie plays some octave displaced major third
intervals..
14.Here we have another great example of how Guthrie effortlessly blends together
so many great concepts and ideas in the course of only a few measures. In what
could have been just a flurry of random 16th notes and 16th note triplets which
would have been an avenue of contentment for most guitar players, Guthrie heads in
a more sophisticated and refined direction.

He starts this section by phrasing with a few nice bent notes and walking up
several notes of a scale in a nice rhythmic way. Then he bends a few more notes
with a whole step, half step and a step and a half bend ... all extremely musical
and soulful.

Next Guthrie starts the flurry of 16th notes. He begins with a group of chromatic
notes and quickly shifts positions three times. Each time pivoting off of notes on
the B and G strings.

Then he does a position shift with 3 notes on the G string, one note on the D
string and three notes on the G string again. This combines two points of interest
that we touched on previously. The first is how he gets a "saxophone" type unison
note by playing the E note on the D string followed another E note on the G string
for the position shift. The next thing to notice is how this is really a chromatic
scale idea. It's walking down three chromatic notes then back up three chromatic
notes. It's kind of like a call and response thing.

In the next measure we see Guthrie shift several positions on the G and D string.
Again, as we discussed before, take notice of how he hardly ever does large
position leaps. He almost always connects positions seamlessly, often with unison
notes or chromatic notes or just by shifting down a half or whole step in scale
tones.

Guthrie then follows up the position shifts with some great pentatonic type
phrasing and some nice bends. This leads into a short arpeggio run into a scale
run with some typical chromatic notes added in for spice.

Then we see Guthrie recall the position shift motif that he used in measures prior
where he walks chromatically down three notes on the G string then plays a single
note on the D string ... shifts position using the unison note on the G string and
continues to climb up chromatically three notes on the G string.

From here he plays a descending surge of legato notes which finally resolves on the
root note of the last D chord.

14,In this short three to four measure idea we take a look at another example of
how Guthrie mixes up his phrasing and note groupings when playing a fast passage
filled with tons of notes.

As is typical with Guthrie's style we notice that unlike most guitarist that might
take the simple route of playing easily recognized sequential scale patterns,
Guthrie does quite the opposite.

Here he starts by running down a few notes of a scale on the E and B strings. This
quickly leads into a pivoting type lick that bounces between notes on the B and G
strings. After this he continues down the scale on the G, D and A strings while
skipping a few notes in the scale. Next he starts to climb back up the scale in
his usual non-pattern oriented way. Take notice of how he throws in a quick
chromatic passage on the B string.

As Guthrie begins to walk back down he starts to throw in some shapes/patterns that
he moves down in whole steps (one note on the B string, two notes on the G string
and one note on the D string). What comes next is another staple of Guthrie's
playing ... teasing the listeners ear with a flurry of chromatic notes. Notice how
this pattern is really a series of four notes moved down a half step on the G
string (the frets are 8, 7, 6, 5 then back up to 7, 6, 5 and 8 on the D string,
then back up to 6, 5 on the G string. Each phrase starts one note lower then the
previous group of notes).

After the flurry of chromatic notes he plays a one note per string pentatonic type
arpeggio which leads into a position shift. Notice how he gets a great unison note
out of the position shift from the 8th fret F note on the A string to the 3rd fret
F note on the D string. This is a cool saxophone way of phrasing and getting notes
to double up.
15.Here we have another great example of how Guthrie effortlessly blends together
so many great concepts and ideas in the course of only a few measures. In what
could have been just a flurry of random 16th notes and 16th note triplets which
would have been an avenue of contentment for most guitar players, Guthrie heads in
a more sophisticated and refined direction.

He starts this section by phrasing with a few nice bent notes and walking up
several notes of a scale in a nice rhythmic way. Then he bends a few more notes
with a whole step, half step and a step and a half bend ... all extremely musical
and soulful.

Next Guthrie starts the flurry of 16th notes. He begins with a group of chromatic
notes and quickly shifts positions three times. Each time pivoting off of notes on
the B and G strings.

Then he does a position shift with 3 notes on the G string, one note on the D
string and three notes on the G string again. This combines two points of interest
that we touched on previously. The first is how he gets a "saxophone" type unison
note by playing the E note on the D string followed another E note on the G string
for the position shift. The next thing to notice is how this is really a chromatic
scale idea. It's walking down three chromatic notes then back up three chromatic
notes. It's kind of like a call and response thing.

In the next measure we see Guthrie shift several positions on the G and D string.
Again, as we discussed before, take notice of how he hardly ever does large
position leaps. He almost always connects positions seamlessly, often with unison
notes or chromatic notes or just by shifting down a half or whole step in scale
tones.

Guthrie then follows up the position shifts with some great pentatonic type
phrasing and some nice bends. This leads into a short arpeggio run into a scale
run with some typical chromatic notes added in for spice.
Then we see Guthrie recall the position shift motif that he used in measures prior
where he walks chromatically down three notes on the G string then plays a single
note on the D string ... shifts position using the unison note on the G string and
continues to climb up chromatically three notes on the G string.

From here he plays a descending surge of legato notes which finally resolves on the
root note of the last D chord.
16.This melodic solo consists of everything you would expect in a slower tempo
tune. It incorporates lots of short phrases, a heavy use of chord tones as well as
vocalist style bends. But as usual per Guthrie's standards, he stretches beyond
what might be customarily expected by throwing in some nice arpeggios and chromatic
lines to offset and contrast with the smooth melodic passages.

The first chromatic idea is played over a Db major 7th chord. He starts by playing
three descending chromatic notes on the G string then he skips stings and plays the
same descending three note chromatic pattern on the E string. He then plays the
same three note pattern on the B string but this time proceeds the pattern with a
single note on the 9th fret.

Then Guthrie goes down an arpeggio pattern that could be somewhat difficult to
discern exactly what he is doing because it ends up being a shape that most of us
don't typically play. But this is yet another way Guthrie brilliantly disguises
simple arpeggios or licks. In this case he is running down a simple Db Major 7th
arpeggio but he eliminates the Major 3rd from the pattern. He plays the Major 7th
to the 5th to the Root to the Major 7th to the 5th. If you were to throw in the
Major 3rd in between the 5th and the Root the arpeggio shape would suddenly become
easily recognizable to most.

He follows this up with more melodic phrasing including some cool phrasing with
chromatic notes.

Guthrie then gets into some arpeggio ideas over the Bb11 chord and the G7 chord.
Notice how he phrases by doubling up each note over the Bb11 chord while over the
G7 chord he approaches the Major 3rd interval in both octaves of the G7 arpeggio
with the Minor 3rd a half step below. Again proving ... Guthrie hardly ever opts
for the typical way of playing things. Some might refer to this as creative
genius!
17.In this example we breakdown a very quick lick but one that can help anyone who
sometimes finds it difficult to make arpeggios sound musical or have some trouble
trying to mix arpeggios with normal pentatonic phrasing.

This is a simple two octave D major arpeggio (starting on the Major 3rd and
throwing in the 9th on both the G and E string). To get a "soft" tone out of this
Guthrie uses his fingers to pick the notes.

After the arpeggio he eases into a legato line and slides up to the G note on the E
string which puts him in that familiar 12 fret position E minor pentatonic scale
(also called a G Major pentatonic scale in this case).

From here he transitions from the legato stuff into some typical pentatonic
phrasing by walking down a chromatic run on the E string.
18.This second excerpt from Guthrie's solo on Rendezvous is relatively straight
forward but there is still a lot of juicy bits to it. It starts out with some
typical but soulful pentatonic type phrasing adding in some nice bends.

Then as we approach the E7#9 chord Guthrie slides up into an arpeggio and then
comes back down that same three note arpeggio. This can be viewed in several
different ways but if we think back to something we talked about on a previous
lick, we can apply a similar thought of concept here. The E7 chord is an Altered
chord (with an altered or #9). So most of the time we are aiming for those altered
tones (b9, #9, b5 and #5) to outline this chord sound. There are many ways to do
this but one way of thinking is to play a minor/Major 7 arpeggio up a half step
from an altered chord (giving us the b9, Major 3rd, #5 and the Root). This is
essentially what is being played here minus the 7th degree of the arpeggio.

What follows is some tasteful phrasing using only a handful of notes.

19.For the last two "Licks" we'll take a look at two different sections of
Guthrie's Too Cool for School solo.

This first of two excerpts starts with yet another unique way Guthrie runs up a
chromatic scale. The main three notes that he walks up are an A, A# and B note
(the 5th, 6th and 7th fret of the E string). But in Gruthie's way of always making
things slightly off center and interesting he approaches each of those notes with a
note below and bends up into the target note. This adds more tension and contrasts
well when leading into the final target C# note that he bends and sits on for a
second.

After this Guthrie eases into a different type of chromatic run where he walks
straight down a series of chromatic notes on the G string. But towards the end of
this chromatic line he begins to alternate between a single chromatic note on the D
string. This is another creative way of moving between positions on the neck.

He then walks up playing some E Major pentatonic stuff which leads into a cool 4
note phrase that he moves down a half step when he gets to the G7 chord (this is
again another great way to think chromatically).

Guthrie ends this section by playing some more chromatic stuff on the B and G
strings.

It's pretty amazing how 80% of the ideas here are chromatic influenced however it
never sounds like he is just noodling up and down consecutive notes.
20.For this final Lick that we'll look at in this package we'll advance ahead a bit
in the Too Cool for School solo.

Guthrie continues to come up with new ways of playing chromatic ideas while keeping
them all extremely musical. The first chromatic idea here is a simple walkup on
the B string from the 9 fret to the 12 fret (notice how he breaks up a 4 note
chromatic run by throwing in one note on the G string).

The second chromatic idea here takes place in that 12th fret position of the all
too familiar E minor (or G Major) pentatonic scale. Between bending the 15th fret
of the B string up to the unison note on the 12 fret of the E string Guthrie starts
to throw in three chromatic notes on E string (12th, 13th and 14th frets). He
plays around in this area a bit turning the phrase around a bunch of times before
he starts to climb chromatically up the E string while pivoting off the B note 12th
fret on the B string.

To finish this off he eases back into phrasing with the pentatonic scale.

Between just these last two "Licks" we've seen Guthrie introduce more then a
handful of ways to create interesting licks and phrases with chromatic movement at
the heart of the ideas. Never again should any of us be content to just play a
chromatic scale straight up and down!