The foundational skill of the Eric Johnson lead style is the ability to play two-note per string passages at high speed. The archetypal example of this in modern guitar playing, and also the cornerstone of Eric’s sound, is the pentatonic scale. Starting at the top of the box position, on a downstroke, produces the classic down-up sequence on each string.

And of course, the ideal mechanical system for playing this is downward pickslanting. Eric is almost exclusively a one-way pickslanter, maintaining a pronounced downward pickslant at nearly all times. This pickslant is more aggressive than Yngwie’s, such that it is easily visible even on standard definition concert footage like the classic 1988 Austin City Limits performance that forms the crux of our investigation.

Just as in Yngwie’s playing, the downward slant of the pick causes it to break free of the plane of the strings on every upstroke, so that moving to the next string of the pattern incurs functionally zero loss in efficiency or speed. But because Eric’s style emphasizes two-note- per-string patterns, string changes happen more rapidly than they do in three-note-per-string diatonic sequences. And it’s probably because of the perceived difficulty of switching strings so frequently that players have historically tended to avoid the pentatonic scale for straight-line scale playing.
And as Eric’s style so clearly demonstrates, this is a huge missed opportunity. The pentatonic scale is, by its very two-note-per-string design, perfectly efficient. That most guitarists instead focused their time on the vastly more sophisticated problem of three three-note-per- string fingerings is of course highly ironic. This is especially true considering how few players have ever succeeded in solving it.

So if the principal challenge of high-speed 2nps picking isn’t speed per se, then what is it? It’s hand synchronization. And the answer is the same one we’ve seen in Yngwie’s playing: chunking. In this case, building chunks of metrically divisible units with so few notes per string entails chunking across the strings. If we imagine a simple straight-line pentatonic scale as sixteenth note triplets, then a sensible six-note chunk is the simply the first three strings. And repeating this six-note pentatonic chunk yields a sextuplet figure that is common in Eric’s playing:

Pentatonic Chunk - Upper

 

The fact that the chunk itself encompasses string changes is incidental. Don’t think about it. Downward pickslanting has already solved the problem of unnecessary stringhopping to maneuver between the strings. The primary challenge here is simply synchronizing the start time of the chunk, so that the initial downstroke and fretted note coincide.
Matching this upper sextuplet is its lower-octave counterpart:

Pentatonic Chunk - Lower

 

The landmark notes in both sequences are the initial downstroke. In the upper sextuplet that’s the first note on the high E string, commonly fretted with either the pinky or, in Eric’s case, the ring finger. And in the lower octave sextuplet, it’s first note on the D string, which is the tonic or root if we’re thinking in natural minor as Eric often does. Linking the two sequences, while focusing principally on the landmark notes, produces the full six-string box position pentatonic straight-line scale with the triplet feel intact.

Are we playing a six-string scale? Yes. Are we thinking about six- string scale playing in the process? Not really. We’re simply connecting two units together, like images in a flipbook, to produce the illusion of unbroken movement. Practicing the chunks separately, until they’re repeatable without overt concentration, is how that fluidity is achieved.
Of course this entire process also works in reverse, for ascending pentatonic scales:

Pentatonic Box - Asc

 

In this orientation, the sextuplet landmarks are the initial downstroke on the low E string, the initial downstroke on the G string, and if you like, a final landmark downstroke on the first string index finger at the end of the scale.

The ability to play 2nps sequences while ascending through the strings is critical in Eric’s vocabulary. The downward pickslant itself doesn’t care whether the pick is moving to the next higher or next lower string. Just as with Yngwie’s six-note pattern, the difference of a quarter inch in either direction does not detract from the base efficiency that dwps provides.

But even with proper chunking, the speed with which the straight-line pentatonic scale changes strings still means that the picking hand must track those string changes, like the tone arm on a turntable, pretty quickly as the lick makes its way across the neck. The feeling of needing to overtly execute this movement can be unfamiliar — again, because most patterns simply do not traverse the fretboard so fast.

We can slow down this tracking, while still maintaining high picking speed, by organizing the sextuplet chunks into overlapping units:

Pentatonic Sixes - Desc

 

This cascading sextuplet pattern is a common pentatonic sequence among downward pickslanters, and occurs frequently in the vocabularies of many players who lean on one-way dwps as a core strategy. And it is a totally apt illustration of the difference between three different, yet simultaneous kinds of speed: finger speed, string-switch speed, and string-tracking speed.

The tempo of the pattern is unchanged from the straight-line pentatonic scale, so its finger speed — and of course, its picking speed — is identical. Likewise, the lick still changes strings just as frequently as the straight-line scale, so the frequency of the string changes is also identical.

But because the lick resets its travel across the fretboard every three strings, the speed of its string tracking is effectively reduced by a third. As a result, it’s easier to tackle this sequence without needing to pay overt attention to string tracking, instead letting the hand adjust subconsciously every one or two repetitions. This makes the overlapping sextuplets lick a great practice vehicle for mastering the fast parts of the fundamental pentatonic chunk — picking speed, finger speed, and string change speed — with minimal unfamiliar distraction.

Like the straight box, this process also works ascending as well:

Pentatonic Sixes - Asc

 

The second foundational skill in the Eric Johnson universe turns out to be the solution to a mystery we set up long ago, in Season 1 of Cracking the Code. In Episode 6, watching Eric’s seminal Austin City limits performance for the first time, his pentatonic predilection was immediately clear. And he was certainly using two-note-per-string fingerings to satisfy it — that much was also clear from the videotape. Fingerings like these were already a challenge to execute with picking, thanks to the high rate of string change. But at least I could play them via legato, with an initial pickstroke and a pulloff on each string:

Pentatonic Legato

 

But within moments of training the SK-1 on the the licks in the performance, it became clear that something was different about Eric’s pentatonic phrasing. His sequences often contained an unusual alteration: an extra note, on a string by itself. This extra note was arbitrarily tacked on the end of an otherwise typical descending pentatonic sequence, instantly transforming an even-numbered sequence into an odd one.

Most often this was a fifth note, tacked onto the end of a sequence of four:

Fives Chunk

 

Repeating this five-note sequence fully picked, as it sounded like Eric was doing, was immediately problematic. The odd number of notes caused the order of the pickstrokes to flip, so that the initial pickstroke of each sequence was precisely the opposite of the one that came before it. The whole rolling sequence was a disaster of stringhopping unpredictability:

Fives Stringhopping

 

The bizarre, off-kilter feeling of attempting to navigate the flow of pickstrokes and string changes was like running an obstacle course with one bare foot and one high-heeled boot. And despite spending weeks with this, I experienced absolutely zero improvement in fluidity or accuracy.

Fast forward to the Volcano Lick. This bit of VHS spelunking revealed Yngwie’s solution for navigating the string changes of this unorthodox fretboard pattern. One of the many baffling challenges of the Volcano Lick was its inclusion of a single note, on a string by itself. This was a perplexing speed bump, and it was exactly like the challenge of the fives sequence.

As much of a mess as the Volcano Lick was to navigate with pure alternate picking, its solution was equally ingenious: sweeping. By using a downward sweep, in line with his downward pickslant, Yngwie could connect that single note effortlessly to the next higher string, and begin the pattern anew. The addition of sweeping to the downward pickslanting toolbox made possible an array of sophisticated string-switching sequences that would be challenging even for elite alternate pickers.

In this new world of Pop Tarts and downward pickslanting, it was immediately apparent that sweeping was also Eric’s solution to the fives pattern. In fact, this connection was so obvious, that I can no longer remember if I even referenced the Austin City Limits tape directly, or if I simply began instinctively translating Yngwie’s approach — which was quickly becoming second nature — straight over to Eric’s:

Fives - Desc

 

By simply utilizing a downward sweep to play both the fifth note of the pattern and the initial note of the next one, the final string change of the fives sequence was solved elegantly and efficiently, just like the repetitions of the Volcano Pattern. As an extrapolation of this solution, I quickly began practicing this solution across all six strings, in both directions, by linking the ascending and descending halves of the lick with a sweep at the turnaround point:

Fives Connected

 

But this was mechanical practice, and Eric’s playing was always relentlessly musical. One reason for this was meter — or, more appropriately, the lack thereof. Though these patterns were undoubtedly chunked into units of five and six in his mind, the way they overlayed the tempo of his compositions was almost always free- time. By intentionally avoiding rhythmic cues in the underlying song, the free-fall of Eric’s descending lead lines was conceptually distant from the almost mathematical structure of Yngwie’s single-string baroque patterning, and a world away from the rigidly metronomic triplet feel of the late ’80s shred players.

Another reason was phrasing. Eric rarely played the fives pattern unadorned. Instead, he drew upon a collection of short pickups, used as lead-ins to the fives pattern:

Classic Fives

 

This ascending burst of pentatonic fanfare is like the sonic equivalent of Superman rocketing away from the phone booth. And it’s an instantly recognizable component of the lyrical Eric Johnson lead style. The initial downstroke on the D string root can be connected to the G string via sweep, or simply played as an independent downstroke with a tiny pause for dramatic effect. The next two strings of the motif, down-up on the G, and down-up on the B, lean on dwps for their efficiency. Dwps also powers the dramatic intervallic jump from the B string to the high E string. By effectively skipping one note on the way up — the index finger on the top string — Eric intensifies the upward movement of the phrase as it launches into the stratosphere.

This also means that the physical connection to the lick’s apex on the top string reuses the ring finger, by way of a barre from the final note on the B string. Separate fingers could be used, but it would be crowded. The barre is the most economical way of playing the same fret on adjacent strings, and it is almost always Eric’s fingering choice for this type of connection.

The descending side of the lick is then principally the fives pattern, exactly as we’ve seen it so far. Three repetitions of the pattern take the cycle to the D string, where Eric dispenses with the fives sequence altogether, and simply plays one repetition of the lower-octave pentatonic sextuplet chunk. Just as in the initial straight-line pentatonic scale solution, this chunk begins with a downstroke on the D string and finishes six notes later with an upstroke on the low E string. Following the chunk, Eric plants a definitive downstroke back again on the D string — skipping the A string in the process — to cap the phrase.

And thus, we have the classic fives lick. Its distinctive combination of ingredients — the pickup, the pattern, the chunk, and the cap — recurs so often in Eric’s improvisation that it is perhaps the single most representative example of his musical intentions. The lick’s trademark flow, darting quickly upward, then sequencing downward, is like climbing up a mountain, tumbling down the other side, and somehow — impossibly — landing surefooted at the bottom. Perhaps more so than any other single phrase in his lexicon, the classic fives lick perfectly encapsulates the drama and precision of the soaring Eric Johnson lead style.

The classic fives pickup is just one of a handful of interesting variations on the pickup concept. Here’s another that uses a short diatonic melody at the top of the lick:

Maj7 Pickup

 

This brief diatonic melody, neatly embedded with the classic fives lick, is a dash of seasoning that evokes either major seventh or minor ninth flavors, depending on whether the lick is played against a major or minor backdrop. It’s the same fingering either way, of course — it’s simply the surrounding musical context that changes. This tabula rasa quality of Eric’s harmonic sensibility, ambiguously major or natural minor, and nearly always “inside” the key signature, is a hallmark of his improvisational style.

Here’s a similar mechanical sequence in the neighboring pentatonic position just to the left of the box position:

Fifth Position Pickup

 

In this variation, the turnaround at the apex is entirely pentatonic, and requires a larger fretboard stretch to outline the minor third at the top. We can apply the pattern of fives to the lick’s descending side, such that we arrive at the sixth string on a downstroke.

Yet another variation employs legato as part of the diatonic apex melody:

Melodic Legato Pickup

 

Now this is interesting, because at first glance, the pull-off would seem to be redundant. The top string of this variation has four notes, which could very simply be solved with pure alternate picking: down, up, down, up. And yet, the pull-off between the second and third note effectively omits a pickstroke. This requires Eric to return with a single upstroke for the final note on the string, to activate the dwps efficiency. It works. But it also seems like too much work. What’s going on here?

Sometimes, picking patterns exist in a player’s vocabulary not specifically because they are necessary in a given situation, but because they were originally necessary somewhere else. And to find out what the situation was that may have originally required this particular combination of picking and legato, we need to look on a whole different string:

Legato Turnaround

 

Now this makes more sense. Here’s an interesting phrase that recurs frequently in Eric’s box-position soloing that allows him to quickly reverse the melodic flow of lick by using a pulloff. In this instance, the pulloff is necessary because the number of notes on the B string requires it. Starting on a downstroke, and using pure alternate picking to play five notes on the B string would of course terminate on a downstroke. And that’s no good if we’re a downward pickslanter. But a single pulloff fixes all that, forcing the last pickstroke to be an upstroke, creating a solution that works in all cases.

And it also seems somewhat… familiar. Where have we seen this technique of forcing upstrokes with legato before? Of course. We may not be playing the harmonic minor scale, here but the concept is identical. Yngwie uses strategic pulloffs in descending 3nps scale runs to force upstrokes on strings that would otherwise have three picked notes. Eric is simply doing it here with five notes on a string.

Or is he? If we look at the patterning involved, the first two notes on the B string are really just a continuation of the sweep fives sequence. So in reality, it’s only the last three notes on the string that form a unit — a chunk, if you will — that requires the pulloff escape hatch. And the fingering supports this. That longer stretch to reach for a third pentatonic note on the B string is simply not very common in Eric’s playing. It seems clear that this somewhat atypical fingering choice was the original catalyst for the legato escape hatch. The resulting pattern is interesting directional twist that Eric often uses for variety in box-position improvisation.

So the “escape hatch” sequence we’ve come to understand in Yngwie’s playing — down, up, pulloff — turns out to be instrumental in several cases within Eric’s vocabulary as well. In fact, going one step further, it’s not even really an Yngwie or an Eric thing: it’s a downward pickslanting thing. In any primarily one-way downward pickslanting style dependent on upstroke string switching, we are very likely to also see the use of pulloffs to force upstrokes, as a way of expanding the variety of fast string changes that are possible. And very often, those pulloffs will occur at the end of three-note sequences that start on downstrokes.

In fact, given its fundamental role in one-way dwps strategies, it’s worth turning this concept into a bit of an Eric-sounding exercise by repeating it across the strings the same way we did with the fives lick:

Legato Turnaround Exercise