Lesson Download Store
DVD Lesson Store | Lesson 31 - Blues Box 5 - The Major Root BoxMarch 16th, 2008 |
Box 5 has finally landed! For those of you that love the song "Life without you", or songs like "While We Cry" by KWS, or "Yellow Ledbetter" by Pearl Jam, this is a box you must become intimately familiar with. In the free version of this lesson I cover:
- Review of Box 5 structure
- Explanation of each main note in this box and it’s purpose.
The extended lesson (30 minutes) covers these topics as well:
- Hidden notes in Box 5
- Auxiliary notes in Box 5
- Slide-in technique
- Transitions in/out of Box 5
- And last but certainly not least: Hendrix style hammer on chords. I’ll do a whole lesson on these technique later, but I cover the basics of how this chording technique is used in Box 5.
As usual the extended lesson is offered in HD and small versions for a small fee in the Lesson Download Store. Pick it up today, take your playing to another dimension. (alright that’s probably a little more dramatic than it really should be, but that’s how I felt when I learned this on my own so many years ago 
).
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July 10th, 2008 at 2:37 pm
Hi, i think youre doing a great job on these scales, but what i dont get is that you use a mix of the minor and major pentatonic and lock it into boxes on fixed places… this is all nice to the ear, but what if you want to go bb king and youre playing in the 5th box? you just slide down the entire neck to get a different harmonic sound color? that kind of beats the point of a scale that goes all over the neck…
nevertheless, this scale has been very useful for me, what im doing now is learning the minor and major pentatonic scale all over the neck, and have it in my mind so i can change the harmonic sound color anywhere on the neck… im not offending you or people that only use this scale, but we must keep the things said above in mind
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Anthony Stauffer ( StevieSnacks Teacher ) reply on July 10th, 2008:
Hi Peter,
I think what you’re missing is that I’m not teaching scales. It’s actually kind of the opposite. What I’m teaching are the 5 most used positions on the fretboard by Stevie Ray Vaughan, and the shapes of the boxes are a reflection of the licks he played there.
The changing “sound” of these boxes does mean you have to pay attention to when you’re using them exactly because they’re not scales. While a lot of people have watched these lessons who aren’t after the SRV sound, because this is a SRV centric site, what I’ve taught here is a reflection of how he played, not strict theory.
So Box 3 and Box 5 differ from the others because that’s how he played in those positions.
Hope this helps!
Anthony
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peter reply on July 10th, 2008:
hmm yeah it is really interesting i think i see what you mean now
so, stevie played with this altered ’scale’ mainly. now a question: if i want to use this in new own works, and i want to use that major box 5 sound, i’m forced to go to that box? (wherever it is on the neck) of course, the most interesting thing to do is to be able to play all these signature ’styles of sounds’ in the position youre in at the moment
im sorry for asking, but using this freely and controlling the way it sounds seems a little strict and awkward to me :s
[Reply]
Anthony Stauffer ( StevieSnacks Teacher ) reply on July 10th, 2008:
I think what’s hard to wrap your head around if you come from a more traditional music background is realizing that Stevie’s style and sound was not based on scales, it was based on specific licks played on specific strings and therefore at specific places on the fretboard. When he did an Albert King style bend, he always played it on the high E string, and always in the Box 2 position.
When he played that fat Hendrix style chord on the root note, with the hammer ons, he always played it in the box 5 position, because you can’t get that sound playing it anywhere else.
So it’s not about limiting, but rather looking at the mechanics of how he got that sound, which is tied very strictly to positions on the fretboard.
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peter reply on July 11th, 2008:
aah i get it now! this has been very helpful! thank you man
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April 19th, 2008 at 8:42 am
Once again an awesome lesson from this site. It should be renamed Stevie meals because theres so much in these lessons yet they are taught well and not over whealming. Keep up the good work.
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Anthony Stauffer ( StevieSnacks Teacher ) reply on April 19th, 2008:
hehe,
when i started this I had every intention of keeping the lessons under 7 minutes, but it’s hard to teach a very well rounded, smooth style of playing in 7 minute increments. I guess the Podcast is the new Snack Bar.
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March 25th, 2008 at 7:07 am
Hey Anthony,
First of all, thanks for your free lessons. I ran into your videos on youtube. I will defenitely be purchasing some of your HD full length lesson videos in the near future. I’m not much of a guitarist but I love the music, especially SRV. I’ve only seen a few of your videos but looking forward to the rest of them. Your SRV style and tone is what I’ve been after for a while. Hopefully I can get there to incorporate my own style with it. Again, thanks Anthony.
-Juan
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Anthony Stauffer ( StevieSnacks Teacher ) reply on April 19th, 2008:
Hi Juan,
I’ll be doing actual lessons on the gear elements necessary to get that tone in the future. Right now I’m focusing on the playing, but the gear is a big part of what I love as well.
Thanks for writing.
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March 23rd, 2008 at 7:15 am
On your box 5 video, what is your equipment list? I see the Mexican strat and p/u’s. Which amp and pedal did you use on this particular video? Were they the same as the video on box 4? Thanks, the site is great!
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Anthony Stauffer ( StevieSnacks Teacher ) reply on March 23rd, 2008:
The settings for this lesson were exactly the same as the Box 4 lessons, as were my clothes because I filmed them back to back
I didn’t use too many pedals for most of the lesson but for the part where I play a portion of “Life Without You” I kick on my Nobels ODR-S and my two Boss EQ pedals as detailed in my gear demo pages.
http://www.steviesnacks.com/?cat=14
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