1.

This phrase demonstrates what Al was talking about in the Motifs section of th
e tutorial. Note how measures 1 and 3 use a similar pattern, but played a 4th ap
art. And then measures 2 and 4 give contrasting responses. For the scale lines i
n the middle, he's using a lot of A minor pentatonic (A C D E G) with the added
F note. All of these notes are in A Aeolian, but you can get cool melodic sounds
by concentrating on just a subset of the available notes.
2.The start of this phrase features some string skipping, like Phrase 1, but wit
h a different selection of notes. That Bb (11th fret, B string) in measure 1 is
a chromatic ornament, just to decorate the main melody line. You'll be seeing a
lot of them in the other phrases. We also have another example of how Al takes a
smaller subset of notes from the full Aeolian (A B C D E F G) scale... in measu
res 3-4 he uses a repeating A-B-C-E-G pattern.
3.The line at the end of measure 2 continues what we mentioned in Phrase 2... Al
plays a pattern using just the notes A-B-C-E, which then moves up an octave (an
d partly another octave). Mostly, this phrase will give you a great legato worko
ut, moving between 3-note-per-string shapes.
4.The chromatic passing note (a Bb) at the beginning gives a smoother shape to t
he first line, which then descends via a subset of the Aeolian scale, using the
notes A-B-C-E-G. You could also think of it as an Am9 arpeggio. Al sticks with t
hese notes through most of measures 1-4, but then introduces the F note in measu
re 5, to fit the Dm chord. He then makes extensive use of the notes D-E-F-A-C (a
Dm9 arpeggio).
5.There's some motif development in the first two measures... note how Al imitat
es the first phrase, but using higher notes. There are more chromatic decoration
s in measures 5-6... these are quick hammer-ons, so you don't get time to hear t
he dissonance.
6.This one is a great study in fretboard knowledge. The first two licks move bac
k and forth from the 1st string to the 5th string, and from the 19th fret to the
4th fret. We get a proper arpeggio workout in measures 5-6, so make sure you un
derstand what Al talked about in the Essentials section of the tutorial!
7.Again, be sure to concentrate on the tutorial before learning this phrase. Thi
s is all about rhythm. We have a lot of funky offbeats in measure 1, and then we
start flowing between 16th notes, 32nd notes and 16th-note triplets.
8.Here's another great example of motif development. The first two licks start w
ith a chromatic descent and then an arpeggio phrase... the first time we're usin
g an Am7 sound, and the second time we're using a D major sound (although there'
s still an Am chord in the backing track).
9.The first two licks continue the theme from the start of Phrase 8... little ch
romatic descents leading into arpeggio shapes. The ascending arpeggio phrase in
measure 4 is the pattern we saw in Phrase 3... A-B-C-E. This time, Al sequences
the notes in a "ladder" pattern instead of playing them in a straight ascending
line.
10.This is a more intense version of what we did in Phrase 2 and Phrase 3 - Al u
ses smaller subsets of the Aeolian (A B C D E F G) scale to build patterns, whic
h are somewhere between scales and arpeggios. There's a descending C-B-G-E-D in
measure 1, and ascending A-B-C-E-G in measure 2 and then A-B-C-E in measure 4. T
hen we move to a three-string arpeggio workout, sliding between the top and bott
om notes in order to change position smoothly.