Lance Ruby

Lance is a Guitar instructor at JamPlay.com

Guitarist and educator Lance Ruby recently opened his teaching studio in Fort Collins, Colorado after earning his Masters of Jazz Studies from the University of Northern Colorado studying with Steve Kovalcheck. A Utah native, Lance completed his Bachelor’s degree in Guitar Performance from Utah State University studying with Corey Christiansen. While in Utah, Lance co-founded the soul/funk band Danger 5 and has continued in this project with lead singer Dani Armour. Sin... (more)

Lance currently offers 25 guitar lessons at JamPlay, with 25 intermediate lessons.

Lance Ruby's contribution to JamPlay

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Beginner 0 Lessons

Intermediate 25 Lessons

Biography Read Up

Lead and Melody Practice

The pentatonic scales provide a foundation for many of your favorite rock, blues, and pop songs. In this pack, Lance Ruby guides you through these simple scales so that you can play melody and lead guitar. As you learn basic techniques like phrasing, hammer-ons and pull-offs, common minor bends, and more — you’ll be well on your way to unlocking your full musical voice.

Mentally Preparing to Practice

What constitutes practice? What is good practice vs poor practice? The act of practice itself is a skill that can be learned and improved upon. This pack, presented by Lance Ruby, is a primer for guitar practice: mental preparation, setting short-term and long-term goals, repetition, creative exploration, and beyond. You’ll learn when to focus on something and when to move on. Plus, you’ll get a full sample practice plan so that you can see what a quality practice session really looks like.

Blues Genre Study

Are you familiar with prolific blues guitarists like Buddy Guy, BB King, and Stevie Ray Vaughn? In this pack, Lance Ruby puts these blues legends at center stage, focusing on their backgrounds while also teaching you about their musical approach. It’s good to have an understanding of the genre you’re playing and even better (or more fun at least) to be able to incorporate some of their licks into your own style!

The Complete Scale & Arpeggio System

When approaching lead guitar, soloing and melody creation, key components are necessary to have under your fingers. These include scales and arpeggios, as well as theoretical and practical knowledge of the fretboard. Lance Ruby takes these core concepts and techniques and transforms them into an easy to follow system to jump start your lead playing.

The Complete Scale & Arpeggio System Introduction

Lance Ruby will kick off this series by introducing and discussing his scale and arpeggio system. This series is designed to give you a familiarity with the fretboard from a scale and arpeggio standpoint so that you can begin the transformation of that knowledge in to playing lead guitar.

2:50 Runtime

0.0 Difficulty

Box 1 and Box 2

Let's get started with the primary tools that you'll use for this course: Box #1 and Box #2. In this lesson, Lance will introduce you to his scale and arpeggio system.

31:45 Runtime

2.0 Difficulty

The Rules of Combining

There are specific rules to the ways Box #1 and Box #2 can be combined. Here, Lance will cover the rules of the combinations going forward.

30:50 Runtime

2.5 Difficulty

Getting it Under Our Fingers: Intervals

Intervals are just one of the ways to commit Lance's system to memory. In this lesson, Lance will discuss intervals as well as some useful tools for implementing his system into our improvisations.

32:02 Runtime

2.5 Difficulty

Getting it Under our Fingers: Groupings

Another very useful method of memorizing and utilizing this system is via grouping. Next, Lance will discuss grouping and how to apply this technique to the box system.

32:53 Runtime

3.0 Difficulty

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Practical Use for the Box Patterns

Let's shift our focus to improvisation. In this lesson, Lance will discuss the use of melody and phrasing in coordination with his system to improvise on the fly.

12:09 Runtime

2.5 Difficulty

Introduction to Modes

Modes. We've all heard the word and cringed at the confusion that it entails. Here, Lance will discuss the history and origination of the modes while preparing us to tackle each mode individually.

9:58 Runtime

2.5 Difficulty

The Dorian Mode

In this lesson, Lance will give us a full breakdown of the Dorian Mode and how to apply it to his box system.

42:33 Runtime

3.5 Difficulty

The Phrygian Mode

Let's continue our deep dive into the modes with the Phrygian Mode.

27:16 Runtime

3.5 Difficulty

The Lydian Mode

Now it's time to continue our modal journey with the Lydian Mode.

26:19 Runtime

3.0 Difficulty

The Mixolydian Mode

Moving right along, now let's tackle the Mixolydian Mode.

26:25 Runtime

3.0 Difficulty

The Aeolian Mode

Time to cover one of the most popular modes - Aeolian, which is also known as the Natural Minor or Minor Scale.

27:33 Runtime

3.0 Difficulty

The Locrian Mode

Let's close out our section on modes with the ever-challenging Locrian Mode.

27:54 Runtime

3.0 Difficulty

Connecting With One String

Finally, a system to unlock the fretboard! In this lesson, Lance will discuss combining his box system with single-string scales in order to unlock the full fretboard horizontally and vertically.

16:30 Runtime

3.0 Difficulty

Major 3 Note Arpeggios

Let's shift gears to arpeggios. Here, Lance will discuss the difference between arpeggios and triads, as well as how to apply his box system to this incredibly useful improvisational tool.

21:56 Runtime

3.0 Difficulty

Minor 3 Note Arpeggios

Now let's look at those three note major arpeggio shapes and make the minor.

20:07 Runtime

2.5 Difficulty

Major 4 Note Arpeggios

Now, we're transitioning to four note arpeggio shapes. We'll start with major.

22:21 Runtime

2.5 Difficulty

Minor 4 Note Arpeggios

Now that you have your major 4 note arpeggios under your fingers, it's time to make those minor.

19:14 Runtime

3.0 Difficulty

Dominant 4 Note Arpeggios

Alright, it's now time to learn the Dominant 4 note arpeggios across the fretboard.

18:48 Runtime

3.0 Difficulty

Playing the Changes - Blues

In this lesson, Lance discusses what it means to "play the changes" and gives you some ideas on how to start doing so.

19:24 Runtime

3.5 Difficulty

Playing Through the Changes - Blues

Now that you have an idea about what playing the changes constitutes, lets start talking about how to play through those changes as they happen.

11:39 Runtime

3.5 Difficulty

Playing the Changes 2-5-1

Just like we did with the Blues changes study, we'll now break down the changes for the classic 2-5-1 turnaround. You'll start by learning the changes, then in the next lesson you'll play through them.

12:52 Runtime

3.5 Difficulty

Playing Through the Changes 2-5-1

Now that you've got a good idea about the changes occurring in the 2-5-1 turnaround, it's time to apply them musically and play through those changes.

14:10 Runtime

3.5 Difficulty

Connecting Arpeggio Scales

At this point you should have a working knowledge of modal scales, arpeggio patterns and how changes are played. Now you'll take that knowledge and connect arpeggio scales across the fretboard.

20:23 Runtime

3.5 Difficulty

Getting the Most Out of This System

To close out this lesson series, Lance discusses and demonstrates some of the key concepts and takeaways, as well as what you should continue to do to get the most from the system.

15:54 Runtime

0.0 Difficulty

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Lance Ruby

Lance is a Guitar instructor at JamPlay.com

Lance Ruby

Lance Ruby's contribution to JamPlay

Beginner 0 Lessons

Intermediate 25 Lessons

Biography Read Up

Lead and Melody Practice

Mentally Preparing to Practice

Blues Genre Study

The Complete Scale & Arpeggio System

The Complete Scale & Arpeggio System Introduction

Box 1 and Box 2

The Rules of Combining

Getting it Under Our Fingers: Intervals

Getting it Under our Fingers: Groupings

Practical Use for the Box Patterns

Introduction to Modes

The Dorian Mode

The Phrygian Mode

The Lydian Mode

The Mixolydian Mode

The Aeolian Mode

The Locrian Mode

Connecting With One String

Major 3 Note Arpeggios

Minor 3 Note Arpeggios

Major 4 Note Arpeggios

Minor 4 Note Arpeggios

Dominant 4 Note Arpeggios

Playing the Changes - Blues

Playing Through the Changes - Blues

Playing the Changes 2-5-1

Playing Through the Changes 2-5-1

Connecting Arpeggio Scales

Getting the Most Out of This System

Learn more about Lance Ruby