Randy Rhoads Style Pentatonic Sequences


This "Lick Of The Week" guitar lesson from guitarlessons365.com shows how to play a pentatonic sequence in the style of the great Randy Rhoads. Randy Rhoads constantly incorporated fast pentatonic sequences into his solos to create a very dramatic effect.

He also played both legato and with straight alternate picking so we will cover both of those methods of playing within this video guitar lesson.

Randy Rhoads is one of the most influential guitar players to ever live. There is almost no metal guitarist walking the planet today that doesn't owe some debt of gratitude towards him. He is truly a legend.

Be sure to download the FREE TAB PDF below.

Randy Rhoads Style Pentatonics TAB PDF Download

It a good idea to practice the pattern on just one string set first before moving it across all the strings. That way the pattern will feel far more natural to you.

OK that's it, enjoy the Randy Rhoads pentatonic sequence!!

If these free lessons help you, please donate to keep new ones coming daily. Thanks!! πŸ™‚

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Randy Rhoads Style Pentatonic Sequences Guitar Lesson

14 Comments

  1. tweedguitar on March 23, 2011 at 1:20 pm

    Great lesson Carl ,
    Good to see your getting back into Lesson Mode.
    Hope your well.
    I’m keeping the site clean , it seems to be having a positive affect on raising awareness and reducing frequency of incoming offenders.
    warm regards
    tweedguitar

  2. thomas healey on March 24, 2011 at 11:45 am

    when does the next poll end shooting for mr crowley awfully close though great selection of songs best site on web

    • Carl Brown on March 24, 2011 at 1:56 pm

      Don’t worry, I have already shot the video lessons for Mr. Crowley. They just need to cook for a bit. :).. They will be up tomorrow at the latest.

      Thanks!! Carl…

  3. thomas healey on March 24, 2011 at 3:57 pm

    thats whats up carl good job

  4. Albert Naumkin on April 23, 2011 at 9:25 pm

    Great lesson Carl !!!

    Thanks for the hard work!

    The same is ready – Love gun – KISS!!!

  5. jake on May 10, 2011 at 8:37 pm

    great lesson carl! i am curious if you have ever considered doing a lesson on jeff loomis or buckethead

  6. catinthehat on September 14, 2011 at 9:05 pm

    Carl,please,i need help!!!

    I’m having problems with my legato technique and i don’t know what should i do. its not with this particular lesson,but hey its legato lesson so i figured to ask here?
    I have fast hands,my timing on the notes is right,but when i do fast runs with legato,those non-picked notes look a bit pale,in comparison to the picked ones (when I’m changing string). so it sound’s like the first note on the string I’m playing is accentuated while the others are much lower in volume. i tried playing close to the right of the fret,changing angles of my fingers,tried aggressively to hammer on/pull off,but nothing satisfies. I am talking about fast runs,that cant be done with alternate picking,and they are done with legato for the reason of speed boost.

    i also noticed how some players do it very fluently and without so much effort in fingers,so it made me think that maybe there could be problem with my guitar/strings also? my tapping technique is also very poor. i have no sustain with my notes,especially past the 12th fret. some improvements i find when i turn up the volume,but it still is not as fluent as i want it to be. i can not lower the action anymore on my strings,because it creates a buzz. is it the lack of sustain? or the volume? or is my technique off? i am self taught so that is very possible. i have Epiphone model 100.

    please help me and tell me the things that can kill the volume on the legato played notes,and what can i do to improve?
    ———————————————————————————
    i have also found this video that describes my problem. this is a video where Mark Tremonti does a legato/shred lesson. at the beginning when he’s showing the ascending pattern,2:05-2:15 minutes in,he sounds so wavy in volume,just like me,but when he starts playing for real,the notes all sound the same volume.

    this is the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbPsfqttfi0

    i am sorry for the lenght of the post,i just tried so hard to explain my problem,and i hope i succeeded.

    i love your site,especially the theory part,and hope you will be rewarded for all the effort you put into this. stay well!

    thanks again!

    • Carl Brown on September 15, 2011 at 11:11 am

      Hey, thanks for checking out my lessons. Just wanted to let you know that I will have a complete course on legato techniques coming to the site this fall. πŸ™‚

      For now though, since I can’t really see a demonstration of your playing technique, all I really help you with is your equipment setup. Most guitar players that rely on a lot of legato (ie. hammer-ons and pull-offs) in their playing use a setup to make it more easy on them. The first as you mentioned in your post is low action. That really is the quickest way to be able to make you legato playing easier. If you guitar’s action can’t go low enough without excessive buzzing I suggest taking it to a good setup guy and have a professional do the work for you. You would save yourself a bunch of trouble.

      As for the video you showed, the main reason why his playing sounds choppy when he is playing more softly is because the volume was rolled back on his guitar which not only decreases the gain but more importantly the natural amp compression. Compression has the effect of leveling out your signal. So if you have loud and loft notes in a passage you are playing, it will increase the volume of the lower ones and decrease the level of the louder spikes in your playing. You can buy a compression pedal that can do this for you as well. You will hear them used more on clean sounds to increase sustain and to level out the sound. You won’t hear compression added to distortion as much since there is already a natural element of compression going on when an amp is cranked, but some players still use it to increase their sustain even more.

      If you want me to take a look at your technique just send me a link to a video of your playing and I will let you know if I can see anything in that area that you could improve upon.

      Hoe this helps! Carl..

  7. catinthehat on September 19, 2011 at 7:04 am

    Carl!!! Thanks a million πŸ™‚

    Since i am self taught,all i could do is guess what my problem is,and you explained this stuff so well and patiently that i am impressed!!! That compression thingy sounds like exactly what i needed and i did not knew that something like that exists πŸ™‚

    Thanks so much,you are officially the best online tutor there is!!! i will be spending a lot of time wandering trough your site in the future,that’s for sure πŸ™‚

    i would send you the video,but unfortunately i don’t have any means of recording myself πŸ™ i am from Serbia,and we here only have essentials πŸ™‚

    thanks again,i am so happy that i found a site where my questions,which can be pretty “custom” sometimes,will be answered by someone who knows mysterious ways of guitar πŸ™‚ you my friend,will be widely recommended πŸ™‚

    Stay well,and keep fighting the good fight πŸ™‚ all the best!

    • Carl Brown on September 19, 2011 at 2:37 pm

      Hey thanks a bunch, glad I could help. πŸ˜€ Let me know if you have any other questiona in the future.

      Cheers! Carl..

  8. Rollo Brandon on December 5, 2015 at 4:24 pm

    Hey Carl,
    This really has helped me with my pentatonic workouts. I was wondering could you do a video that shows other types of scales and modes that Randy would work with and/ or , the song Believer on the Diary of a Madman album.

    Thank You Greatly.

  9. John Clarke on March 7, 2019 at 12:37 pm

    Great video Carl. You’ve taken me to places with the guitar I never thought possible.

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