You made it, well done. I hope you've got a lot out of this course and that the jam tracks have given you a real chance to use these techniques and actually enjoy playing them. In this final lesson I want to pull everything together, remind you of the key habits to hold onto as you keep practising, and point you towards some songs and artists that will help you take everything further. Come back to this lesson whenever you need a refresher, and revisit any of the earlier lessons whenever a technique needs a bit of attention.

What You'll Learn

•       A recap of symmetry and economy picking from the scale lessons

•       Key reminders for legato technique, relaxation, fingertip position, and gain

•       How to keep developing arpeggios and sweep picking from here

•       Song recommendations matched to each technique area

•       Bands and guitarists to explore that reflect the style and techniques of the course

In Detail

A recap of symmetry and economy picking from the scale lessons

I revisit the core habits from lessons 2 to 4: looking out for symmetry within shapes as the key to building speed, using economy picking as the default approach for all scale and horizontal runs, and applying fretting-hand muting to keep things clean. I demonstrate a passage at a healthy pace as a reminder that you don't need to play flat out, controlled, musical playing always sounds better than a messy blur.

Key reminders for legato technique — relaxation, fingertip position, and gain

The legato recap centres on three things: keeping the hand as relaxed as possible at all times, staying on the tips of your fingers to avoid wrist kinking, and using gain to help hammered and pulled-off notes sustain evenly. These habits compound, the more consistently you apply them, the faster and cleaner your legato will become.

How to keep developing arpeggios and sweep picking from here

I recap the arpeggio shapes and the sweep picking introduction from lessons 8 and 9 and point out some natural next steps: exploring dominant seventh arpeggios, learning different sweep shapes, and building the cycling lick up to higher speeds. What we've covered in this course is a great foundation, there's a whole world of arpeggio vocabulary to discover from here 

Song recommendations matched to each technique area

For scales and horizontal runs: Paranoid by Black Sabbath, it's in E and perfect for drilling all seven shapes over a real riff. For legato: any Randy Rhoads solo, with Crazy Train and Mr. Crowley specifically recommended, his solos are more accessible than they sound and feature legato throughout. For arpeggios: Iron Maiden, particularly Fear of the Dark and The Trooper, which are built on exactly the kind of arpeggio shapes we've covered.

Bands and guitarists to explore that reflect the style and techniques of the course

I'd point you towards UFO and Michael Schenker for neoclassical metal and horizontal runs, Scorpions, Rush (Alex Lifeson is great for neck-traversing runs), and New Wave of British Heavy Metal acts like Saxon, Judas Priest, Diamond Head, and Tygers of Pan Tang. All of these artists showcase the techniques from this course in a live musical context, and most have great tutorials out there to support your listening.