Innholdsfortegnelse for February 2021 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. JON BISHOP Jon is one of those great all-rounders who can turn his hand to almost any style. He’s also rock legend Shakin’ Stevens’ touring and recording guitarist. CHRIS BROOKS Chris is Australia’s busiest guitar content creator and go-to online rock tutor. See his many books at chrisbrooks.com and www. fundamental-changes.com CHARLIE GRIFFITHS Guitar Institute tutor Charlie first came to fame in Total Guitar’s Challenge Charlie series. He’s also guitarist with top UK metal-fusion…

GT: What is it about guitar instrumentals in particular that appeals to you? KF: The thing that is so wonderful about the guitar in general, is the amount of control you can have over the note. You can strike the note hard or soft, use vibrato, slides, semi bends and so on. So what I love most is when a player can phrase like a vocalist. And really make the note sing. For instance players like BB King, Larry Carlton, Otis Rush and Michael Landau have so much expression in their playing. Very exciting! GT: What do you think an instrumental can provide the listener that a vocal song can't? KF: Well some things are the faster picking techniques. Obviously playing more than one note. Sometimes I feel you don't…

HAVE a look at this first progression, using big old campfire chords. We guitarists tend to think of chords as blocks, as single musical units. But a chord is a collection of notes (called ‘voices’, harking back to choral music), each of which has a purpose. The technique of voice leading involves the movement of voices from one chord to another, and the aim is to find the smoothest and most elegant routes. This is especially important in choral singing, where you don’t want big unnecessary jumps making the individual lines difficult to sing. TO keep things simple, we’re using four-note chord shapes, but this is fairly arbitrary… the concept of voice leading can be applied to any size or type of chords. Most importantly, look at the notes we’re…

The opportunity to talk to the man who popularised many of today’s guitar techniques, was one I was not willing to miss. So I cancelled my Friday gig, and at nine o’clock the phone rang. The interview coincided with the release of the album, For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge, and the Edward Van Halen signature model from Ernie Ball/Music Man. Although not quite available at the time of the interview, I proposed that the Van Halen model was an important and interesting guitar... EVH: It’s a fine instrument – my main guitar now. I hooked up with Sterling ‘Biff’ Ball about six years ago when the Ernie Ball Company made me some pure nickel strings with slightly heavier cores [Ernie Ball 5150 sets]. They last a little longer, don’t break as…

The difficulty goes up a notch or six (!) this month as we begin a six-part video soloing series with Alex Sill, guitarist from fusion drummer Simon Phillips’ band, Protocol (Alex follows Andy Timmons and Greg Howe). In part one we examine a new Jason Sidwell track entitled Rebel With A Cause, over which Alex blazes. Alex’s solo is considerably advanced and will take time to digest, but your efforts will be repaid. While the notation and rhythms look intimidating in places, the phrases are often centred around creating a strong melody and outlining the underlying chords/harmony. A key aspect is Alex opens and later restates a memorable melodic statement. This provides a solid platform for his improvisation later and a musical component for listeners to latch onto. To get…

This month’s lesson explores the idea of playing the same note on two different strings, exploiting the contrasting tones and allowing us to create great rhythmic interest with just a single note. The origins of this device in jazz can be traced back to saxophonists such as the legendary Lester Young (Lester Leaps In) and they refer to this technique as ‘false fingerings’, jumping between a note at the exact same pitch, albeit with a subtly different timbre. Guitarists were quick to notice this simple but ear -catching device and, by accident rather than design, a piece of classic saxophone vocabulary went on to define one of the mainstay sounds of swing, jazz, blues, and classic rock guitar. Players as diverse as Hank Marvin to Joe Satriani, Pat Metheny to…

Funk guitar rhythms that catch listener’s ears and make them want to groove have been around for many decades. Championed by early legends like Jimmy Nolan (James Brown) and Leo Neocentelli (The Meters) all the way up to today with Mark Letteri (Snarky Puppy) and Cory Wong (Vulpeck), funky rhythms are a vital component to being a well rounded guitarist. This example is a short 8-bar figure that uses a clean electric tone (neck and middle pickups on a S-type guitar into a Fender Pro Kemper profile) for a snappy sound and good note clarity. The key is E Dorian (E-F#-G-AB-C#-D), common to countless funk, pop and blues songs, with some slippery b 5 (B b ) moments that reference E Blues Scale (E-G-A-B b -B-D). There are also some…

ABC PHOTO ARCHIVES / GETTY IMAGES The Steve Miller Band was formed in San Francisco in 1966 by its founder and eponymous lead singer and guitarist. Along with bass player Lonnie Turner, rhythm guitarist James Cooke, drummer Tim Davis and keyboard player Jim Peterman the band signed as The Steve Miller Blues Band to Capitol/EMI Records in 1967. Shortly afterwards the name was changed to the The Steve Miller Band to broaden the appeal. They were soon doing gigs and supporting acts like Chuck Berry at the Fillmore West Auditorium in San Francisco. Additionally, Boz Scaggs joined on guitar and they continued to play festivals for the rest of 1967. The following year The Steve Miller Band recorded their debut album at Olympic Studios in London, under the direction of…

DANIEL KNIGHTON / GETTY IMAGES In this current series, we’re looking at ways of using various intervals to develop a range of useful vocabulary when using Mixolydian mode. In the previous lesson, we started with the smallest intervals (2nds); here we take the next logical step and look at 3rds. Intervals are a great way of developing soloing approaches that have distinct flavours. Each interval-type has its own innate character, and this is something that we can use to our advantage in order to control the musical complexion of what we create when improvising. Compared to other intervals, 3rds (like their inversion, 6ths) sound soft, sweet and melodic, and form the basis of Western harmony (tertiary harmony).Technically speaking, 3rds come in two types: • Minor 3rd = three semitones •…

WHEN I WAS learning to play blues I did so by copying my heroes. At first it was Eric Clapton and Peter Green, because I got to them before being introduced to the three Kings, Otis Rush, Elmore James, Buddy Guy and so on. But I did get to them because, what was so great about both Eric and Peter, was that they were quick to point back to the players that had inspired them. And so in our house we acquired albums by all of the aforementioned, and many more. Something I quckly noticed was that every player had something distinct about their style that the others didn’t. What was weirder, was they were all playing from largely the same palette of notes, but painting very different musical pictures…

The last couple of weeks I have been working on a series on 12-bar blues arrangements, primarily aimed at beginners. But I’ve been learning loads myself. It’s been super interesting and fun and something I would encourage all of you to try out. When we improvise we are composing on the spot. But many times when you learn a new concept it’s pretty hard to just compose with it right away, and that is why I feel that learning set arrangements (I call them studies) can be very helpful, for both the arranger and the learner. I’m just releasing one later today which is a study on the use of the 6th interval in the blues. It’s a classic blues move used by most of the great masters and I…

➊ Slow Blues Jam (F#) We start with a slow blues in the key of F#. In terms of scales, you’ll get off to a great start by mixing the F# Major Pentatonic scale (F#-G#-A#-C#-D#) with F# Minor Pentatonic (F#-A-B-C#-E). ➋ C Dorian Vamp This modal two-chord vamp (Cm-F) comes from my album Groovin’ Through The Modes, Vol. 2 and is focused on C Dorian mode. Use C Minor Pentatonic (C-E b -F-G-B b ), C Minor Blues scale (C-E b -F-F#- G-B b ) - as well as of course C Dorian mode (C-D-E b -F-G-A-B b ). ➌ Latin Jazz Blues (B b ) Here we have a jazz-blues jam in B b with a Latin style feel. Hit up B b Major Pentatonic (B b -C-D-F-A) and…

Blues music is universally considered to be one of the most emotionally charged forms of artistic expression that the world has ever seen. Legendary blues guitarists with styles and sounds as musically diverse as BB King, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Jimi Hendrix, Otis Rush, Albert King, Buddy Guy, Eric Clapton and countless more all possess one crucially defining quality: the ability to move audiences, taking them on an emotional ride during each and every performance, conveying the feelings of heartbreaking tenderness, brutal raw passion, spine-tingling beauty, life-affirming jubilation and much more. And often delivered with just six strings, and regularly using just five notes and three chords. A common feature of all these great blues artists is their sheer authority, confidence and control over everything they play. It’s easy when you’re…

This month we celebrate one of the most important guitarists the world has ever known. Almost certainly the most significant six-stringer since Hendrix, Edward Van Halen completely changed the face of rock music. In today’s world full of technically amazing players in all styles, younger generations may not understand just how Eddie changed the game. But if you’ve played rock guitar in the decades since Van Halen blew onto the scene, it is he you have to thank for what your craft has become. Before Eddie, rock soloists were merely playing a heavier version of the blues. But in 1978 with the release of Van Halen, Eddie transformed the art overnight with the now iconic Eruption. He pioneered two-handed tapping, whammy bar techniques and harmonics, and redefined the benchmark for…

Alex used his Kiesel‘Little Bastard’headless guitar (bridge pickup) into a Fender Deluxe Reverb‘65 Reissue amplifier. His rich distortion is courtesy of a Tube Screamer set at 8 into a RAT pedal set at 3 for extra colour. Reverb is from his MXR Reverb, set at 4. To duplicate this tone, use a bridge humbucker and a smooth overdriven tone with plenty of sustain and be prepared to experiment with the guitar’s controls to achieve the desired sound. Add ambient reverb for a sophisticated studio touch.…

A perennial bugbear of the fledgling guitarist is that on stringed instruments the same note can almost always be located in a number of alternative locations on the fretboard, providing a great excuse for lousy sight-reading skills as a fringe benefit. However, rather than considering this factor as a debilitating encumbrance, all of the players we have mentioned definitely didn’t, and therefore don’t subscribe to this viewpoint. Consequently they utilise this characteristic to great musical effect, welcoming the timbral diversity that each new location for a given note at the same pitch, but with a unique tonal shape, has to offer. With this in mind, why not consider re-fingering and re-locating any musical idea that you encounter, perhaps from within these very pages, and consider the sonic differences, along with…

One of the few (only) benefits about this year is the extra time many of us have had to do the things we enjoy. From what we’ve seen and heard from GT readers, this is the opportunity to engage more with the guitar. Learning, listening, watching, studying, practising, recording and composing, it’s been great to see so many readers enthusing about what this magazine means to them. While we’re all missing the opportunities to get out to gig, network, attend jams and one-to-one lessons, it’s heartening to appreciate how integral GT is for many people’s music making. We’ve certainly not let you down this issue; an Expressive Blues presentation, an EVH analysis, a new soloing series with LA fusion stunner Alex Sill, False Fingering concepts for blues and jazz, the…

PAUL NATKIN / GETTY IMAGES Recently we’ve looked at fretting, hammer-on, pull-off and sliding technique, fretboard coverage and scale sequencing, and creating colour with chromatics and wider intervals using scale number systems. Before putting strategies to use in this month’s solo, let’s talk about personalisation. Even within the established parameters of legato technique, there are options favoured or discarded by different players in pursuit of an original sound. Take pull-offs, for example. The late, great Allan Holdsworth, a pioneer of legato in rock and fusion, reportedly detested the sound of fingers pulled off the string to generate notes, choosing to use descending hammer-ons instead. “It’s important not to gate-keep a technique. It belongs to us all and it’s crucial to use what sounds and feels right to you” By contrast,…

This month we will be using artificial harmonics to hopefully inspire a new dimension to your licks. These are often used by Eric Johnson and Steve Morse, who follow in the lines of Lenny Breau and Chet Atkins. The concept is similar in that we are playing a note with the fretting hand and using the picking hand to add an artificial harmonic. This creates a different tone, akin to fretting a note at the 12th fret compared to playing a natural harmonic at the 12th fret; the pitch is the same, but the tonal quality is different. This technique allows us to play harmonic melodies and add vibrato and bends too. A good example is in Deep Purple’s Sometimes I Feel Like Screaming, featuring Steve Morse on guitar. Rather…

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 two 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.…

My daughter, who must be referred to as Ms X as part of the witness protection scheme, has with characteristic foresight and planning, installed herself in the Coronavirus capitol of the known universe. University. Needless to say, by taking all the recommended precautions she contracted Covid within several minutes of returning to Plague Central, and spent 10 days incarcerated in her cell, staring at the damp wallpaper. Nevertheless, I concede that she has chosen well. She is studying Music, arranged in a broad series of modules. Having schlepped around the UK with her, taking in various cities along the way, I would suggest that her course is at least the equal of anything available elsewhere with regard to relevance, modernity and progressive thinking. Without wishing to embarrass the young lady,…

STEPHEN LOVEKIN / GETTY IMAGES HERE WE HAVE a straightforward blues shuffle lick that’s typical of the blues-rock vocabulary heard in bands such as The Allman Brothers and other southern-styled acts. It’s based upon Minor 3rd double-stop shapes that move in sequence up the neck. In bar 1 we have C# (3rd) and E, (5th), followed by E and G (5th and b 7). Bar 2 features F# and A (6th and root) followed by A and C (root and b 3). It’s surprising how cool such a simple concept can sound. Lastly, there’s a short closing motif in bars 2 and 3 that initially targets the root (A) - then the b 7 (G) - finally ending on the root. Bend the C note (on the‘4 and’of bar 2)…

A characteristic of blues inflections and decoration is the use of microtones, the minute subtle gradients of pitch found in between each semitone. It’s quite the done thing to flatten the 5th ever so slightly, blur the distinction between Minor and Major third and slightly raise the flattened 7th, but only ever so slightly. It’s crucial that you do a good bit of listening to develop this facet of your playing. You’re aiming to achieve the same degree of melodic freedom possessed by the human voice. It’s enlightening to consider the startling similarities between the expressive and fluid rhythmic delivery of BB King in both his guitar playing and his vocals.…

Eddie was a master rhythm guitar player. He is of course known for his two-handed tapping licks and wide stretch legato antics, but it was his impeccable sense of time-feel that made him really stand out. Much of what he played was slightly half-swung, much like other groove based genres like blues, funk and soul. To really get his ideas to sit right and to sound‘in the pocket’, you’ll need to consciously sit behind the beat and avoid the temptation to rush through the notes. This goes for both picking and fretting-hand techniques, so don’t rush those legato phrases or rush the arpeggiated chords.…

Pablo de Sarasate (1844-1908) was born in the Southern Basque Country, an eclectic and diverse region of North Eastern Spain. Son of a military musician, Sarasate’s staggering prodigious skill at the violin was revealed from the age of five. He was giving public performances at eight, attended the Paris Conservatoire at age 12, where he won its highest performance award, and was already a fully professional concert violinist by his mid-teens. Such was his fame and respect as a violin virtuoso, that he even appears in fictional literature of the time: Sherlock Holmes and John Watson attend one of his concerts in Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Red-Headed League, and his influence may well linger in Sherlock’s well-known infatuation with the violin. Sarasate wrote exclusively for the instrument (with piano and…

EASY LICKS EXAMPLE 1 DAVE GROHL CD TRACK 36 The repeated rhythm needs to be articulate and punchy. Use the side of your picking hand to mute each rest, add definition and ensure the chords and rests last for the correct duration. For the octaves, use the tip of your first finger to mute the sixth string and the inside of this finger to rest against the unplayed strings. EASY LICKS EXAMPLE 2 CHUCK BERRY CD TRACK 37 Note duration and clarity can become an issue when playing double-stops. Use your first finger to play the notes at the 5th fret and your third finger to perform the slide. Finger pressure needs to be maintained, to keep both notes ringing and clear. Use a decent amount of pick attack, to…

JO HALE / GETTY IMAGES Supergrass was formed in Oxford in 1993 by guitarist Gaz Coombes, along with Mick Quinn on bass and Danny Goffey on drums. Gaz’s brother Rob contributed keyboards along the way, and officially joined the other members in 2002. Releasing their highly successful debut album, I Should Coco, in 1995, Supergrass took the UK music scene by storm. The album was nominated for the Mercury Music Prize in 1995 while the feelgood single Alright won an Ivor Novello award the same year. This, on top of trawling NME, Q, and Brit awards. Gaz Coombes’ guitar work in Supergrass was never overly flash, and there was never a great deal of soloing on the songs, but when he did play lead it was always catchy and hummable.…

REB BEACH A VIEW FROM THE INSIDE Mascot 9/10 Reb Beach is best known for his work with Winger and Whitesnake, pumping out energetic riffs and blazing solos, so to hear him on a new instrumental album is quite something. This 10-track collection takes the time-honoured guise of lead guitar melodies and solos with a band and Reb has rich vocabulary to maintain interest. Black Magic is the opener, an uptempo rocker with a rich tone that should please fans of Joe Satriani. Little Robots has an infectious bluesy groove that nods towards Steve Morse but with a typical Reb tapping solo. Aurora Borealis features Reb’s vibrant guitar in a jovial Celtic-tinged piece brimming with nice chords and dynamic band sections. Dipping into intricate funk work, Attack Of The…

FEATURE #2 VIDEO ALEX SILL Swagster Guitarist in Simon Phillips’ fusion band Protocol, Alex is a stunning musician who plays and explains his solo in detail. CLASSICAL TAB VIDEO GIUSEPPE VERDI The Drinking Song Bridget Mermikides arranges for you one of Verdi’s most famous pieces - perfect to learn for those Christmas festivities! FEATURE #3 THE CROSSROADS PT3 Josh Smith, ‘Early Swing Lines’ Wheaty demonstrates how Josh Smith uses ideas from the early swing players to inform his fantastic modern blues. NEW SERIES THE RHYTHM ROOST Playing over a 12/8 groove Jason Sidwell continues his new video series that aims to sharpen up your rhythm chops, feel and timing. MORE GREAT LESSONS 30-Minute Lickbag Six new licks to test your mettle Jazz Chops (new series) From Fundamental Changes…