Play like Eric Johnson in 10 Days
Step inside the melodic world of Eric Johnson’s signature style.
Advanced guitarists
If you're a fluent lead guitarist looking to add a melodic prog sound to your playing, this class is for you.
10 days
Kyle will guide you through 10 days of step-by-step instruction with daily practice plans and assessments.
Step up your soloing
You’ll leave this class with a new toolkit of prog-rock–inspired sounds you can use to blend Eric Johnson’s style into your own playing.
Take the next step
Once you've mastered this challenge, keep learning with more advanced Challenges and guided Learning Pathways.
What you'll learn
Each day, Kyle Blackman breaks down a concept or technique at the core of Eric Johnson's iconic style. By the end of this class, you'll have a treasure trove of new chordal and improvisational skills inspired by one of the greatest rock guitarists of all time.
- Solo with more fluidity.
- Improve your speed and accuracy.
- Shape your tone and dynamics.
- Master colorful pentatonics and arpeggios.
Curriculum
Stay focused with this step-by-step learning program designed by our expert team of music educators.
Your guided learning experience
In this 10-day Challenge, Kyle will help you break out of habits that are holding you back. From spread triads and arpeggios to sweep picking and phrasing techniques, you'll learn how to apply Eric Johnson's classic moves in your own playing.
Spread triads and pentatonic colors
We’ll kick off the Challenge by exploring spread triads: one of Eric Johnson’s favorite tools for accessing an expansive sound.
You’ll learn how to spread your chord shapes across the fretboard and dial in your tone for maximum clarity.
From there, you’ll combine these chordal ideas with the pentatonic scale to expand your soloing vocabulary.
Picking intensive + outlining chords
Eric Johnson’s picking approach is the engine behind his fast and fluid sound. In this section, you’ll build the control and consistency needed to move cleanly across the strings.
Then, you’ll apply that foundation to "playing the changes" by combining arpeggios with pentatonic shapes inside the CAGED system.
2NPS and phrasing
Two-note-per-string (2NPS) ideas are a powerful way to build speed and connect the fretboard. They’re also a key part of Eric Johnson’s fluid sound.
After you work through a series of 2NPS licks, we'll shift focus to phrasing. This conceptual lesson on how Eric Johnson approaches melody creation will help you blend what you're learning into your own playing style.
Day 7. Common chords
Explore open and closed triads the way Eric Johnson uses them. In this lesson, you'll turn simple chord shapes into melodic, voice-led ideas that expand your fretboard and harmonic vocabulary.
Day 8. Cliffs of Dover
This lesson brings together everything you’ve worked on. You’ll learn a performance inspired by Eric Johnson’s legendary instrumental Cliffs of Dover, drawing on the melody, chordal movement, pentatonic fluency, and compositional approach that make the original so iconic.
Day 9. The diminished arpeggio
Enter the diminished realm. These chords might sound intense at first, but they’re more approachable than they seem, and they’re a key part of Eric Johnson’s harmonic language.
Day 10. Classic Eric Johnson moves
For your final challenge, you’ll bring everything together combining the soloing, harmony, and phrasing skills you’ve developed throughout the class. Using signature Eric Johnson–inspired ideas, you’ll take the next step toward capturing his sound in your own playing.
Days 1-2. Spread triads and pentatonic colors
Learn how to break up chords using wide-interval triad voicings and extension notes like the 6th. Then, rethink the pentatonic scale using these spread triads, as well as arpeggios and targeted color tones.
Day 1. The spread triad move
You’re probably familiar with triads, but Eric Johnson’s unique use of spread triads completely changes the sound and feel of these three go-to notes. Learn how moving the 3rd up an octave can help you outline chords with more style.
Day 2. Adding color to the pentatonic scale
Now, we’ll apply that spread-triad concept to the good ol’ pentatonic scale. When combined with wide intervals and a focus on color tones, this technique is revolutionary for improvising within the 5-note scale.
Days 3-4. Hone your speed and fly through arpeggios
To play as fast as Eric Johnson, you must study his careful approach to picking. Kyle shows you three approaches to picking that will make fast lines easier to handle. Then, you’ll use these approaches to outline chords like Johnson using sweep-picked arpeggios.
Day 3. Picking approach
Before you scale the Cliffs of Dover, you need the right tools. Kyle will guide you through the three essential picking techniques that Eric Johnson uses constantly: speed picking, sweep picking, and hybrid picking. You’ll also zoom in on how you hold the pick and where you pick.
Day 4. Outlining chords
Now that you have the speed down, you’ll study how Eric Johnson outlines chords using blazing arpeggios. We’ll use the C and D shapes of the CAGED system to build up to Johnson’s speed and precision.
Days 5-7. Master the fretboard
In these lessons, Kyle will show you three more vital concepts to master on your way to unlocking Eric Johnson’s sound: the use of two-notes-per-string pentatonic runs, careful phrasing, and creative chord voicings.
Day 5. Two-string groupings
Eric Johnson is best known for creating riffs that travel the fretboard at lightning-fast speeds. His secret? Playing pentatonics horizontally along two or three strings. Kyle shows you how to apply this concept to navigate the entire fretboard cleanly and quickly.
Day 6. Phrasing
If a solo is a conversation, phrasing is the creation of the musical sentences that contribute to the bigger picture. You’ll learn how Johnson uses octaves, unexpected notes, and the Mixolydian scale to craft his unique voice. These techniques will help you start shaping your own tone.
Day 7. Common chords
While Johnson is best known for his lead tone, the other half of his playing is made up of interesting chord voicings and a crystal-clean tone. Kyle will guide you through spreading out your triads and adding extensions like the 9th, as well as using simple triads to harmonize the melody.
Days 8-10. Cliffs of Dover and other Johnson moves
In these final lessons, you’ll dive deeper into the creative mind of Eric Johnson through studying his Grammy Award-winning song Cliffs of Dover. You’ll study his solo in the song, as well as his use of diminished arpeggios throughout the track. Finally, you’ll add some quintessential Eric Johnson moves to complete your technique toolkit.
Day 8. Cliffs of Dover
You’ve heard it. You’ve probably tried to play it. It’s Eric Johnson’s masterpiece and one of the greatest examples of expert guitar playing. That’s right! Today, Kyle is gonna walk you through some licks inspired by Johnson’s solo in Cliffs of Dover and discuss how to apply them to your own playing.
Day 9. The diminished arpeggio
Playing the diminished scale on guitar is so fun because it’s symmetrical and repeats across the entire fretboard. Eric Johnson uses the sound of the diminished scale to add tension to his solo in Cliffs of Dover. Kyle shows you how to play over these passing chords both in this song and your own playing.
Day 10. Classic Eric Johnson moves
To complete your Eric Johnson journey, you’ll study some more stylistic techniques that Eric Johnson has used throughout his career. These include five-note arpeggios, Hendrix-inspired bending, and writing licks that span three pentatonic positions.
Performances
Now that you’ve gotten all the tricks and concepts down, it’s time to apply them musically with three performance pieces all inspired by different Johnson classics, including SRV, Cliffs of Dover, and Manhattan. You’ll need all the skills from this class to master these challenging tunes.
REAL students
Don’t take our word for it, take theirs
What guitarists love about this course
FULL REFUND, NO QUESTIONS ASKED
Improve your playing or get your money back
We’re so confident that we can improve your playing that we’re underwriting your membership with a 60-day satisfaction guarantee.
Your Instructor
Kyle Blackman
Take your playing to new heights with Kyle Blackman’s genre-spanning lessons focused on rethinking scales and developing show-stopping speed.
Explore LessonsWhat’s in every Pickup Music membership?
Try free for 14 days
1,000+ Lessons
All skill levels
Interactive tabs
Track your progress
Daily practice plans
Live lessons every week
Limitless learning.
All-inclusive access to every instrument and course.
.avif)
.avif)
Frequently asked questions
The most structured approach to learning music
