Horizontal Guitar

Juampy Juarez explores using the whole fretboard to break out of strict position playing. Most guitarists learn the instrument through 'pentatonic box' positions and never move beyond them; playing horizontally — running lines along single strings, up and down the neck — develops fretboard mastery and lets melodic ideas flow. Juampy points to great players who work this way, including Allan Holdsworth, John Stowell, and John Scofield.

What's covered

• Playing scales horizontally on each single string: pentatonic, melodic minor, diminished, and the symmetrical (whole-half tone) scale
• Two- and three-notes-per-string fingerings for horizontal playing
• New intervals and double stops from adjacent and non-adjacent strings — major thirds, fourths, sixths, and minor sevenths hiding inside the pentatonic
• Finding chords inside the pentatonic (sus2 and minor shapes) for intros, endings, solos, and chord melodies
• Left-hand technique for the wide stretches horizontal playing demands
• Improvising on a C7 blues with a whole tone scale — possibly the first time you've heard this approach to the blues
• Combining scales, such as integrating the melodic minor with the symmetrical scale

In Juampy's words: it's a powerful tool for playing more melodically — break outside the box and change your technique and mindset. With many new patterns, licks and intervallic ideas, plus new chords and phrases to use over famous standards and blues, your improvisation palette will expand a lot.