Innholdsfortegnelse for April 2019 i Guitar Techniques

SIMON BARNARD Simon is a graduate of ACM and The Guitar Institute, holding a Masters degree in music. He teaches, examines and plays everything from rock to jazz. SHAUN BAXTER One of the UK’s most respected music educators, Shaun has taught many who are now top tutors themselves. His Jazz Metal album is considered a milestone. RICHARD BARRETT One of the finest blues and rock guitarist we know, Richard is a stalwart columnist for Total Guitar, Guitarist and GT. He’s also Tony Hadley’s touring six-stringer. JON BISHOP Jon is one of those great all-rounders who can turn his hand to almost any style. No ‘Jack of all trades and master of none’, he nails every one with ease!. MARTIN GOULDING One of the world’s foremost rock and metal guitarists, Martin…

I’ve been reading (and thinking) a lot about the future lately. Maybe it’s fatherhood or the chaotic state of the world at the moment. But the author Yuval Noah Harari has brought up some fascinating ideas about music and art that I’d like to share and explore with you. His book Homo Deus should be required reading for all humans. We can try to hide from it if we wish, but technology is coming at us fast, and the advancements in many areas can arrive very quickly. Big data is collecting info on us from every direction and getting to know us better than we know ourselves. These are incredible and helpful in areas like medicine and car safety, but scary in marketing and in the manipulation of consent. Yes,…

HERE’S A TYPICAL‘old school’question and answer jazz lick. It’s played over a static A7 chord and uses a swung triplet, eighth-note feel. It’s not too hard to play and can be re-used in blues, country and rock. Based on a mixture of ideas the overall thinking is chord-tone orientated rather than scale-based. There’s a lot of chromaticism involved, which adds colour and connects the chord tones smoothly. Also, there’s a b 3 (C) that’s bent slightly sharp to add a bluesy feel. For further inspiration I would thoroughly recommend you listen to players such as Charlie Christian, Joe Pass, Martin Taylor, Frank Vignola and the wealth of stylistically similar players. As usual, you should aim to develop similar licks of your own.…

RELATING TAB TO YOUR FRETBOARD HAND LABELLING Here are the abbreviations used for each finger: Fretting hand: 1, 2, 3, 4, (T) Picking hand: p (thumb), i (first finger), m (second), a (third), c (fourth). NUT & FRETBOARD The fretbox diagram above represents the fretboard exactly, as seen in the accompanying photo. This is for ease of visualising a fretboard scale or chord shape quickly. CHORD EXAMPLE The diagram represents the G chord in the photo. The ‘O’ symbol is an open string, and a circled number is a fretting finger. Intervals are shown below. CHORD EXAMPLE (WITH CAPO) The blue line represents a capo – for this A chord, place it at fret 2. Capos change the fret number ordering – here, the original fret 5 now becomes fret…

EBET ROBERTS / GETTY IMAGES There’s a host of great albums that feature slide. Here’s some that every guitarist should own: At Fillmore East, Allman Brothers Band (1971); All Things Must Pass, George Harrison (1970); Paris, Texas, Ry Cooder (1984); Nick Of Time, Bonnie Raitt (1989); South Of I-10, Sonny Landreth (1995); Irish Tour ‘74, Rory Gallagher (1974); Who Else!, Jeff Beck (1999); The Derek Trucks Band, Derek Trucks (1997).…

When playing straight blues or blues-rock Dan says that, as he’s not a jazz player he approaches ‘outside’ playing from a different perspective. He looks at ‘home based’ notes and ‘outside’ notes and explains how he joins up the five Pentatonic or CAGED shapes to map out the entire neck, therefore unlocking its mysteries. Each shape has its own idiosyncrasies, with the fretting fingers falling on different intervals in each shape (first finger on the first string in shape 1 Minor Pentatonic falls on the root; but in shape 4 the same finger on the same string tends to pivot off the b 3rd.) This allows the player to extract a subtly different feel depending on where they are on the neck, which strings they favour, which ones they bend…

LICK 1 [Bars 3 & 9] Tapping harmonic and whammy bar The Gm11 chord fingering sounds great here and Allen brings it to life in various ways. If you tap fast and firmly 12 frets above the fretted note, a rather ear-catching harmonic punctuation point is created. Adding a volume swell and whammy bar shimmer is also effective. LICK 2 [Bars 26-27] Semiquaver (16th-note) syncopation Allen opens his verse 2 solo with some ear-grabbing rhythmic syncopation. Syncopation means playing off the beat and using this concept adds sophistication to the sound. If you are more used to playing music styles that feature rhythms that always fall metronomically on the beat, this one may take some getting used to. LICK 3 Bar [36-37] G Minor Pentatonic run Here Allen uses the…

I confess that I am guilty of not talking much about dynamic range. As classical guitarists I believe our first aim tone-wise is to produce a good quality sound as our default position. This involves a number of factors including caring for our nails, producing a consistent tone and volume with each finger, angle of attack on the string, trajectory of the pluck and so on. A good default place to pluck the string is just inside the sound hole - tone here is strong and warm. Next, experiment with tonal contrast by plucking closer to the fretboard (sul tasto) – this gives a sweeter, softer warmer sound - and try plucking closer to the bridge (ponticello) for a harder, more brittle tone. A whole palette of subtle tonal colours…

Billy Gibbons needs no introduction to the readers of this column but if you have just arrived to planet Earth and are new to the sounds of the Rev please stop all that you are doing, buy a few ZZ Top records, and lock yourself away with your guitar for a year. You won’t be disappointed with the music of this band and will get a glimpse into what Houston Texas is capable of giving to the world of music. Seriously, what is in the water there? When most people think of Gibbons or his band ZZ Top the Eliminator album usually springs to mind. But I would like to pull your attention to the group’s first album, brilliantly titled ‘ZZ Top’s First Album’ and released in 1971. This album…

WILLIAM GOTTLIEB / GETTY IMAGES We’re dealing mainly with conceptual ideas here so use any guitar you like. For a classic jazz tone select the neck pickup and dial in a clear amp tone; picking closer to the neck for warmth, or for more Django-like bite as close to the bridge as you dare. Many top players, including Robben Ford and Biréli Lagrène flip the pick around and address the string with the curved rear shoulder, rather than the point, for a less percussive and more rounded tone.…

Recently, we have explored a range of approaches in order to develop repertoire in all five CAGED shapes of Mixolydian mode (Diagram 1). Over the next few lessons, we’ll be stringing ideas together to create medium paced solos so that you can play each from start to finish. In this first lesson, we’ll begin with triads. The studies will feature melodies as well as lines, and display a balance of approaches (space, rhythmic denominations etc) to help make each sound musically cohesive. Although contrived to a certain extent so that we can prise in as many relevant concepts as possible, each idea will feature and be flanked by articulations (bends, slides, vibrato) and Mixolydian or Blues scale vocabulary to allow you to hear each concept in a natural setting. Our…

MARCH GT292 PLAY ROCK & ROLL This lesson with all examples in full video is one of our most exciting yet. Rock and roll when played by the greats is just so cool and exciting. You will learn tons that can be applied to other styles too. Plus: Dan Patlansky blues video lesson, John Mayer and more! FEBRUARY GT291 BRITISH & IRISH BLUES-ROCK Play like the legends of ‘70s blues-rock: Taste, Thin Lizzy, Bad Company, Whitesnaske and more! Josh Smith and Allen Hinds blues and fusion video masterclasses. Plus: Smetana’s Vltava tabbed; The Beatles, Ronnie Montrose, Jimmy Page, Blind Blake and lots more! JANUARY GT290 THE GENIUS OF BRIAN MAY To coincide with the new Queen blockbuster we bring you a full Brian May style study: licks, acoustic ideas, delay…

ERIC GALES THE BOOKENDS Provogue ★★★★★ If you thought that Eric Gales’ 2017’s Middle Of The Road album showed him back on form, then fasten your seatbelts and return your tray tables to their full upright and locked position because you’re in for a rockin’ ride. From the opening Whammy Pedal fuelled notes of The Bookends, Gales affirms that he is one of the most capable and exciting guitarists on the planet. And from there it just gets better. From the rapid-fire acoustic intro to Something’s Gotta Give to the extended slow blues of How Do I Get You, it’s like Hendrix meets Stevie Wonder at a King’s X dinner party. Check out Reaching For A Change. Excellent!…

SLIDE! IT’S ONE of those things, isn’t it? If you’re anything like me, whether it’s Bonnie Raitt, George Harrison or Derek Trucks there’s something about a great slide player that evokes more than the notes themselves. I suppose it’s the ultimate expression on the guitar, especially when the player has mastered a great slide vibrato (weirdly, George often used no vibrato and yet remains one of the most expressive of all slide guitarists, and one of my favourites). But my slide playing is rubbish. I’ve done it live many times, in exposed situations too, but I’ve always felt like I was skating on thin ice - and on someone else’s pond, too! I’m actually in the process of putting some of my own songs down, and have decided one of…

NATHAN WEST ➊ Rockin’Blues (D) We start with this stompin’ blues in the key of D. Both D Major Pentatonic (D-E-F#-A-B) and D Minor Pentatonic (D-F-G-A-C) will work a treat on this jam. You can also tune to open D of course (D-A-F#-D-A-D) and get a slide out! ➋ Latin Jazz Blues (Cm) Here’s a Cm Latin style jazz-blues. C Blues scale (C-E b -F-F#-G-B b ) and Natural Minor (C-D-E b -F-G-A b -B b ) are both great. As are the arpeggios. Cm: C-E b -G. Fm: F-A b -C. A b 7: A b -C-E b -G b . G7: G-B-D-F. Dm7 b 5: D-F-A b -C. ➌ GWholeTone Scale Jam This Whole Tone (G-A-B-C#-D#-F) jam will probably feel a little different. As the name suggests, all…

This is a look at modern blues-rock slide so doesn’t feature legends like Elmore James who obviously influenced them all. But whether you love the sound of slide but don’t know where to begin, or want to take your playing to the next level, this feature is for you, as we’re analysing eight celebrated exponents of the art, from the 1960s on. DUANE ALLMAN. Legend has it that, following an arm injury in 1968 Allman picked up a bottle of Coricidin pills that he’d been given to ease the pain and instantly started jamming along to a Taj Mahal album. He played in open E tuning with a glass slide on his third finger. GEORGE HARRISON. After the Beatles, Harrison’s slide technique literally soared. His instantly recognisable style was characterised…

Audiences all over the UK are discovering Dan Patlansky. There’s a definite buzz about the man with the battered ‘60s Strat and a dazzling take on modern blues rock – and it’s getting louder. Settled into our studios, we chat about Dan’s new album, Perfection Kills and mention that it’s his third European release. “In the big scheme of things it’s my ninth album,” he laughs, “But it’s the third album I’m releasing in the UK…” The other albums are available in his native South Africa, but recent years have seen him spread his wings and start touring all over the world, often sharing the stage with such stalwarts as Joe Satriani and recently Joanne Shaw Taylor. The new album has also seen Dan take over production duties. “The last…

This month star video features the fourth instalment from LA session guru Allen Hinds with a track written by Jason entitled Nightlife. As Allen explains the track is mainly in G minor with a straight 8th feel and a tempo of 100bpm. At the start of the track Allen follows the rhythmic kicks with double-stops made up of 4ths. The 4th interval has an open, modern sound beloved of fusion players and works well with a little overdrive. The Gm9 chord benefits from a swell of the volume pedal and a scoop of the whammy bar. This provides a keyboard-like sound and is very effective. On the second eight bars of verse 1, Allen adds some G Dorian (G-A-B b -C-D-E-F) blues licks in the gaps between the stabs. This…

The Arctic Monkeys formed in 2002 in Sheffield, UK comprising Alex Turner on lead vocals, guitar and piano, Jamie Cook on guitar and piano, Nick O’Malley on bass and drummer Matt Helders. Their album, titled Whatever You Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not, is the fastest selling debut album in UK chart history. Among other accolades the band have won seven Brit awards, including Best British Group three times, and also been nominated for three Grammy Awards. Their debut also won the Mercury Prize in 2006 and they have headlined Glastonbury on two occasions. They were also one of the first bands to come to people’s attention via the Internet – their initial demo CD was given away at gigs and promptly file shared online by fans. This served…

For many, bluegrass is synonymous with Dukes Of Hazard-style car chases and Deliverance. In fact, it is a vibrant style that sits at the cornerstone of American folk music. The guitar as a lead instrument is actually a relatively new phenomenon in this genre. For much of its history bluegrass showcases the fiddle (aka violin) and mandolin as melody and lead instruments with the guitar mostly serving rhythm duties. It is important to remember that bluegrass groups don’t normally feature a drummer so the percussive sound of a strummed guitar serves a crucial back-up role. Many of the most respected guitarists are revered equally for their lead and rhythm playing. Originally, bluegrass players used tortoiseshell picks but these are (rightly) no longer available. In their place are some fantastic plectrums…

The Melodic Minor scale comprises the formula: R-2- b 3-4-5-6-7, and can be visualised either as a Major scale with the 3rd degree lowered, or as a Natural Minor scale with the 6th and 7th degrees raised. Last month, we harmonised the scale into a family of seven diatonic chords, alongside their corresponding modes: I m/maj7 – Melodic Minor ii m7 – Dorian b 2 III maj7#5 – Lydian Augmented IV dom7 – Lydian Dominant V dom7 – Mixolydian b 6 vi m7 b 5 – Locrian natural 2 vii m7 b 5 (or more commonly treated as a V7alt) – Superlocrian This month, we’ll work through the diatonic arpeggios that correspond to our seven harmonised chords and modes, arranging them in one area of the fretboard using the CAGED…

Tap the links Finding your way around the magazine is easy. Tapping the feature titles on the cover or the contents page, takes you straight to the relevant articles. Any web and email links in the text are tappable too! Animated tab & audio All the mag’s main lessons have the audio built in with a moving cursor that shows you exactly where you are in the music. Simply tap the ‘play’ button and you’re off - you can fast-forward or scroll back at will. Play the videos Certain articles have accompanying videos full of useful insight and additional information. Once again, tap the play buttons to enjoy video masterclasses on your iPad (recommended) or smartphone. PLUS! Get a FREE iPad/iPhone sample of GT. For full details and how to…

GT: What is it about instrumentals that appeals to you? MB: I approach instrumentals and songs in exactly the same way. They need to be ‘complete’ musically in their basic form. Sometimes a song I have written becomes an instrumental and the opposite happens as well. Taking away the impact that words have for the listener, I’m left with a clear vision of a finished piece of music and I have total control of the end product. GT: What can an instrumental provide a listener that a vocal song can’t? MB: I think the listener will focus on a vocal performance and the lyrical content with a song. An instrumental focuses on the guitar (or mandolin etc) and the construction of the music is much more apparent. This gives the…

BURNS LONDON IS FORMED  by Barry Gibson with Jim Burns acting as consultant. First guitar produced is the Burns Legend Deluxe based on the original Marvin guitar with scrolled headstock, three Rez-O-Matic pickups, distinctive scratchplate and vibrato system. It’s a great guitar, available in white or green sunburst, and brings the name Burns back into the market. SOUTH AFRICA’S CULTURAL BOYCOTT  finally ends and Paul Simon tours there; Disneyland Paris theme park officially opens; at the Wimbledon Championships Steffi Graf wins the Women’s Singles and Andre Agassi the Men’s; Ferrari announces it will be building and designing its F1 cars in Britain; and, following his 26th Grand Prix win, Nigel Mansell announces his retirement from Formula One racing. A tribute concert for the late Freddie Mercury is held at Wembley…

The first thing to consider is positioning: where you would normally fret a note (behind the fret) wire is not where you want your slide to glide to. Always position the slide directly above the frets to avoid sounding flat (you may need to raise your action and/or use heavier strings to achieve this). Next lay your first finger on the strings behind the slide to dampen unwanted overtones. Finally, always use string damping (or “string guarding” as Sonny Landreth calls it). This is easier to achieve when playing fingerstyle because you can simply rest the fingers that aren’t picking on their respective strings. If you’re playing with a pick, you will need to develop a ‘hybrid damping’ technique by placing your remaining fingers (second, third,…

After our chat about his new album, Perfection Kills, we thought we’d quizz Dan for some insights into his playing approach. He rewarded us with a treasure trove of licks and riffs, as well as his ‘slap’ technique: more often heard on the bass guitar, this is a thing that quite a few guitar players are incorporating into their style. We also asked Dan to play a 12-bar blues with enough licks to keep your practice schedule full for weeks, and he was more than happy to oblige. Patlansky speaks openly about his route to becoming the guitarist he is today, via players such as Clapton, the Kings and especially David Gilmour and Stevie Ray Vaughan, and has no trouble revealing these influences in his playing, while retaining a more…

I use the Melodic Minor and some Diminished, sometimes Spanish Phrygian (sometimes called Phrygian Dominant; mode five from the Harmonic Minor). Learning and understanding the way a V7-I resolution works really opened a lot up to me. On the V7 chord the sky’s the limit as regards scale options so the more variety one has to offer, the better. I had a Japanese student a couple years ago and he was a great player but could sound a little one dimensional over the V chord because he used the Melodic Minor at every opportunity. The Melodic Minor is a bit like having dark chocolate for every meal: too much for every sitting! So I think it’s important to mix it up; straight Blues scale, some Mixolydian, maybe a little Diminished…

“A DEDICATED TEACHER SHE HELPED ESTABLISH THE FIRST SCHOOL FOR THE BLIND, WHICH BRAILLE LATER ATTENDED” Maria Theresia von Paradis (1759-1824) was an extraordinary musician growing up at an equally extraordinary time in cultural history. Despite receiving care from the legendary physician Franz Mesmer (from whom the word ‘mesmerise’ was coined), Paradis succumbed to blindness from a very young age, but continued her education in music theory, composition, singing and piano from tutors such as Antonio Salieri (a pivotal musical figure and peer of Mozart, rather unfairly depicted for dramatic effect in the movie Amadeus). Paradis quickly demonstrated pianistic and singing mastery, as well as uncanny listening and memory skills, memorising dozens and dozens solo piano and concerto works, and performing them internationally to much critical acclaim. She commissioned new…

EASY LICKS EXAMPLE 1 THE BEATLES CD TRACK 30 This E major example is a little like something Paul McCartney might play. It involves grouping 3rds, syncopating off the open second string. Dedicate three fingers to this example (p, m and i); p (thumb) and m (second finger) do the work, while i (first finger) plays a B ‘drone’. EASY LICKS EXAMPLE 2 BRIAN MAY CD TRACK 31 Attack this riff with a strong down-stroke, a powerful driving tone and a chorus effect to replicate Brian’s sound. The rests are important in this example; use the fleshy part of the strumming hand to momentarily stop the strings from ringing. INTERMEDIATE LICKS EXAMPLE 3 JOE BONAMASSA CD TRACK 32 This lick is a B minor Pentatonic idea (B-D-E-F#-A) with a passing…

There is much debate as to why the combination of notes we call major in music is generally considered to be happy, while the minor equivalent conveys a feeling of sadness. I’m inclined to concur with Leonard Bernstein’s assertion that this is related to the minor 3rd’s distant location in the harmonic series, rather than the gold, silver and bronze locations (discounting octaves) afforded to root, perfect 5th and major 3rd, the notes we require to create a major triad. All this conjecture can be left for another day, if we all agree to the basic assumption that major equals bright and happy, while minor is dark and sad. Of course, dark and sad might be exactly what we’re looking for when attempting to convey the brooding emotion related to…

Traffic formed in 1967 in Birmingham, England and released seven studio albums between 1967-’74, reuniting 20 years later for their final recording. The classic line-up comprised Steve Winwood (vocals, guitar, keyboards), Jim Capaldi (drums, vocals), Chris Wood (flute, sax, keys) and Dave Mason (vocals, guitar, sitar, bass). But Winwood was already a star. At just 15 he’d joined The Spencer Davis Group (Keep On Running, Gimme Some Lovin’, I’m A Man) as lead singer, organist and guitarist. He left SDG in 1967 to form Traffic with Capaldi, Wood and Mason, releasing their first album, Mr Fantasy in 1967 on Island Records. Mr Fantasy featured four singles: Paper Sun, Hole In My Shoe, Here We Go Round The Mulberry Bush and No Face, No Name, No Number. The former two featured…

This technique is the same as a regular hammer-on, but in this case we are using it to initiate the string, rather than the traditional method of following a picked note with a hammer-on. Hammer-ons from nowhere are very useful for creating smooth legato lines across multiple strings as the pick sound can disrupt the flow, so this omitting of picking as much as possible can open up new possibilities. One technical aspect to consider is cleanness, especially when playing with gain. Dropping your finger on to the fretboard will make all of the strings vibrate, so we need to use muting to have a nice clear single note. Start by hammering on to a note with your first finger. Utilise the underside of your finger to mute any strings…

STRATOVARIUS ENIGMA: INTERMISSION 2 Ear Music ★★★★ Fans of Deep Purple, Malmsteen and UFO will love this release by the Finnish band, Stratovarius. It’s jubilant power metal with tight riffs and blazing solos from guitarist Matias Kupiainen, orchestral and synth arrangements from Jens Johansson (Rising Force, Jonas Helborg) and dynamic vocals from Timo Kotipelto. With 16 tracks - including three new songs and four orchestral arrangements of popular Stratovarius tracks - there’s a lot to hear and, with Matias on six-string, much to admire. Wielding a Finnish made Ruokangas guitar (no Strats here!), his vocabulary flows with Phrygian Dominant sequencing, gallop rhythms, sextuplet runs and jubilant sweep arpeggios. Opener Enigma is a mid-tempo rocker with huge vocals, pounding drums, thick orchestration and blazing harmony shred guitars. Kill It With Fire…

GT: Do you have a type of pick that you can’t live without? IR: I use a D’Andrea Pro Plec, 1.5mm gauge. It’s perfect for playing both electric and acoustic guitars as well as mandolin. It’s very similar to the Fender turtle-shell pick I used when I started in the early ’70s. It is very smooth for all types of playing. It was introduced to me by New York jazz guitar great Jonathan Kreisberg. It was like going back home after all these years playing the ‘wrong’ pick. GT: If you had to give up all your effects pedals but three, what would they be? IR: Always a tough one. But lately I’ve gone back to what I really like in the universe of effects pedals, so it would be…