Inhaltsverzeichnis für June 2022 in 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. RICHARD BARRETT One of the most gifted guitarists around Richard has been playing with Tony Hadley for over 20 years. He’s great in all styles but excels at blues and rock. 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. MARTIN COOPER A tutor at BIMM Brighton, Martin’s Rock columns show an incredible breadth of technique and style. His 2006 album State Of The Union is out on iTunes. CHARLIE GRIFFITHS Guitar Institute tutor Charlie first came to fame in Total Guitar’s Challenge…

So Covid finally hit me! I’m writing from my bed, full of aches and moans so the topic for today seems remarkably applicable; the pressures and expectations we put on ourselves. I don’t like being late, and while I sometimes cut my submission for this article down to the wire, I dread it being late. So here I am writing on my laptop when I should be curled up on the sofa watching mindless TV. It’s a pressure I put on myself, an expectation and something I commit myself to. When it comes to playing and practising guitar, we all have pressures and expectations of what we can or should be able to do. Many times it seems we are unaware of them, and bringing them out into the light…

ROBERT KNIGHT ARCHIVE/GETTY IMAGES ➊ Slow Acoustic Blues - B Minor We start with a simple acoustic guitar-driven blues in B Minor, from my new jam album Into The Blues, Vol. 7. B Minor Pentatonic scale (B-D-E-F#-A) is an excellent place to start here. So have fun! ➋ Groove Jazz II-V-I - G Minor Here’s a fun groove jam made for practising that essential building block of jazz; the II-V-I chord progression. Arpeggios are Am7b5 (A-C-Eb-G), D7 (D-F#-A-C) and Gm7 (G-Bb-D-F). ➌ Slow Jazzy Blues - A Minor Here we have a slow jazz-blues in A Minor, where A Minor Pentatonic (A-C-D-E-G) and the A Minor scale itself (A-B-C-D-E-F-G) are your first good points of call. For the Dominant chord (E7), use A Harmonic Minor (A-B-C-D-E-F-G#). ➍ Dusty Groove Blues…

STEVE VAI What do you think makes Joe Satriani unique? Joe is connected to the inspired melodies in his heart and has the musical ear and a command of the technique to manifest them in an effective and powerful way. What is your favourite JS track and why? Cryin’. Besides the flawless intonation, complete mastery of phrasing and finger tone, the melody is the voice of God flowing through a human. JOEL HOEKSTRA What do you think makes Joe Satriani unique? Joe writes great melodies and songs, not just technical showcases. What is your favourite JS track and why? Midnight. It’s just a very musical and unique tapping piece. STEVE MORSE What do you think makes Joe Satriani unique? Joe combines a great melodic sense with an exciting instinct for…

ABILITY RATING Info https://bit.ly/3joL0uI Key G Blues Tempo 140bpm Swing/Shuffle Will improve your… ✓ Stylistic awareness and authenticity ✓ Application of idiomatic vocabulary ✓ Expression and articulation The Gibson ES-335 was initially introduced in 1958. It was designed to combine the aesthetics of a regular arched-top f-hole styled semi-acoustic guitar with the volume and sustaining properties of a solidbody. This came courtesy of Ted McCarty’s inspired decision to include a solid centre block upon which you could mount both the pickups and the bridge, with just the sides left hollow to add a sense of moving air and allowing for greater dynamic range. Add to this a pair of Seth Lover’s revolutionary humbucking pickups and Gibson produced a match made in heaven. Needless to say, guitarists from of wide range…

A String Orchestra Inside Your Guitar To sound effective this piece requires a mute to be placed under the strings at the bridge (a rolled up sock will do!). This emulates the signature pizzicato sound for which the original string orchestra version is famous. As guitarists this presents an opportunity for ease of playing. Muted notes have very little sustain, meaning there is no need to hold notes much past their initial pluck. Ultimately this piece should feel light to play in the fretting hand since we release all notes immediately, so if you find that isn’t the case then practise seeing how little pressure you can get away with!…

Brought to you by… EXAMPLE 1 EASY LICKS SERGIO PIZZORNO This Kasabian style exercise uses C Minor Pentatonic scale to establish a strong melodic theme. Bars 1 and 3 focus on phrasing from the downbeats within the bar, whereas bars 2 and 4 shift to notes played on the ‘&’ of each beat. To add expression, BAG apply vibrato to each sustained note within the phrase. For the sound, select your bridge pickup, set your amp to a slightly driven tone and add a fuzz pedal. This achieves a warm, gritty sound and enhances the sustain on the longer notes. EXAMPLE 2 EASY LICKS JOE PERRY This riff uses short, staccato notes. This creates strong defined pitches and allows the space between the notes to become a part of the groove. Use…

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Missed one of our recent fabulous issues? Get one now while stocks last. NEVER MISS ANOTHER ISSUE Turn to page 61 to subscribe! MAY GT334 THE ROOTS OF VAN HALEN As well as having bags of talent, EVH took ideas from his heroes in a variety of styles. Check out who, and how to do it too! Plus: Brett Garsed video; Chris Cain, Allan Holdsworth, Allman Brothers, Doc Watson, Black Uhuru & more. MARCH GT331 FLY ROUND THE FRETS! Jamie Humphries brings you a superb lesson looking at how rock legato techniques have changed over the decades. It’s a great feature! Plus Jimi meets Jazz over the 7#9 chord; Lita Ford, Robben Ford, Tony MacAlpine & more! SPRING GT333 ROCK THE ‘80S The 1980s s aw huge strides in guitar…

FEATURE #2 VIDEO STEVE STEVENS Splash The Stash The amazing Top Gun guitarist joins GT for a one-off video masterclass to play and explain his brilliant solo. CLASSICAL TAB MANUEL DE FALLA Dance Of The Miller Declan Zapala arranges and transcribes this legendary Flamenco piece to challenge and inspire you. FEATURE #3 PAT MARTINO Jazz for blues guitarists What can blues players learn from one of the greatest jazz guitarists? John Wheatcroft has the answer! NEW SERIES! CHRIS BROOKS Economy picking mastery The superb Australian guitarist, writer and teacher returns to take the fear out of this important plectrum style. Learn to play great blues rhythm guitar with… BOOGIE, SHUFFLE & SWING! Many of us can knock out a decent blues solo but, when it comes to taking over on…

IT WAS late 1993 and I was chatting with one of Music Maker Publications’ bosses in our offices in Cambridgeshire. The techniques section of Guitarist, the magazine I edited at the time, had become a huge success, with articles like music editor Phil Hilborne’s transcriptions of great guitar solos often the first thing readers reached for. Instrumental rock was still ‘a thing’ but grunge was huge, as were glam metal and neo-classical rock. Guitar solos were still the rage and Steve Vai, and this month’s cover star Joe Satriani, had made having musical knowledge de rigueur. Guitar institutes and academies were springing up to take advantage of this new desire for guitarists to ‘learn properly’. So my boss and I reasoned we could hive off Guitarist’s technique section, build on…

I recall it as if it were yesterday. I descended the stairs to the subterranean Soho black hole that was Joe&Co, replete with armfuls of instruments and eternal hope of any early finish. Working for Paul Hart was always a delight. Composer, arranger, orchestrator, and multiinstrumentalist. Laid back, supportive and appreciative. Oh, yes. One other detail. The man was a total genius, in the true sense of the word. And certainly not one of the scores of relatively talented individuals to whom the term has been mis-applied. No. This is a man who could write a commercial for a symphony orchestra morning, within two hours of receiving the brief, have it copied and prepared by lunchtime, the musicians booked and the music recorded by the end of the afternoon. Often…

One-Handed Open-String Lick HERE’S A DESCENDING legato idea that, aside from the initial picked note, is played using only the fretting hand. Steve Vai and many other great players use ideas like this, as they sound great and they also look very cool. You wiill need to play the first of each four-note grouping with a fretting-hand hammer-on, followed by a hammer-on and then a pull-off to the required open string. This sequence then repeats in pretty much the same way on each beat for the entire line. Handling noise needs to be taken care of here. Gently rest your fretting-hand fingers on the strings either side of the one you are playing and mute them. A little palm muting will also help to stop unwanted notes or squeaks. The…

ABILITY RATING Info https://bit.ly/3joL0uI Key Various Tempo Various Advanced Will improve your… ✓ Whammy bar technique ✓ Legato technique ✓ Playing through key changes When it comes to instrumental rock guitar, Joe Satriani is one of the best loved and most revered of all. Unlike many guitarists to emerge from the ‘golden era’ of shred, with Joe it was always and remains melody first, as he crafted album after album of hookladened instrumentals. That’s not to say he can’t and doesn’t shred; when needed he can rip with the best, unleashing his terrific arsenal of legato, pick tapping and whammy bar licks. In reality he’s one of the most accomplished guitarists of the last four decades, as well as being a master of theory, with a deep knowledge of composition,…

ABILITY RATING Info https://bit.ly/3joL0uI Key C Tempo 122bpm Advanced Will improve your… ✓ Hybrid picking technique ✓ Playing over chord changes ✓ Intervallic soloing George Marios’s unique approach to modern soloing combines elements of rock, blues, jazz and country to create a style that’s jaw droppingly impressive, musical and inventive. He effortlessly uses highly developed techniques such as hybrid picking and legato to play complex lines that feature intervallic jumps, pleasing dissonance, and harmonic approaches, while his knowledge of music theory and its application combines to create amazing, inventive and imaginative guitar music. For this issue, George solos over Jason Sidwell’s track, If You Will. It has an upbeat Major tonality in a pop-rock-fusion style at a tempo of 122bpm, and features some interesting rhythmic elements as well as complex…

While all the examples presented today feature either bridge or the neck pickup independently, another great option with Gibson-style two volumes and three-way selector switch wiring is to engage both pickups by positioning the toggle in the middle and balancing the ratio between treble (bridge) and bass (neck) with their respective volumes. The only thing to be wary of is to never reduce either completely to zero, unless you’re after silence as this mutes the guitar completely. However Pete Townshend utilised this unusual property to great effect by turning the bridge pickup full up, with the neck completely off, switching the toggle rapidly between bridge and middle position to create a form of early ‘kill’ switch. Special effects aside, the main advantage to this blended volume method is a greater…

READ MUSIC Each transcription is broken down into two parts… MUSICAL STAVE The five horizontal lines for music notation show note pitches and rhythms and are divided by bar lines. TAB Under the musical stave, Tab is an aid to show you where to put your fingers on the fretboard. The six horizontal lines represent the six strings on a guitar – the numbers on the strings are fret numbers. GUITAR TECHNIQUES: HOW THEY APPEAR IN WRITTEN MUSIC… PICKING Up and down picking ▪ Tremolo Picking The first note is to be down-picked and the last note is to be up-picked. Tremolo picking ▪ Each of the four notes are to be alternate picked (down up-picked) very rapidly and continuously. Palm Muting ▪ Palm mute by resting the edge of picking-hand’s…

Brought to you by… MARK AND COLLEEN HAYWARD/GETTY IMAGES ABILITY RATING Moderate Info Key: Various Tempo: Various https://bit.ly/3joL0uI Will improve your ✓ Blending Major and Minor ✓ Large intervalic bends ✓ Fast hammer-ons and pull-offs Eric Clapton is one of the most famous guitarists in the world. His impact on generations is wide and far reaching, and still inspires today’s young blues and rock musicians. But what is it that makes Clapton so admired by players and music fans alike? Many guitar heroes have a plethora of aspiring players in their wake, but few attract a crowd that are in it for more than just the fretboard gymnastics. Eric’s Cream years feature some of his most inspiring, raw and authentic playing. It was blues in essence, but the band’s powerful…

Brought to you by… MIKE COPPOLA/GETTY IMAGES ABILITY RATING Advanced Info Key: Various Tempo: Various https://bit.ly/3joL0uI Will improve your ✓ Use of unusual techniques ✓ Two-handed tapping ✓ Playing beyond the frets Ron ‘Bumblefoot’ Thal is perhaps best known for appearing on Guns N’ Roses’ Chinese Democracy album and as their subsequent touring guitarist. But guitar lovers will have followed The Adventures Of Bumblefoot since that debut solo album of 1995. Since then, Ron has released a host of solo works, most recently Little Brother Is Watching in 2015. He is also a member of prog metal band Sons Of Apollo, with ex-Dream Theater’s Derek Sherinian and Mike Portnoy, plus Billy Sheehan on bass. Ron’s style is unique and delivered with jaw-dropping skill. From world-class picking and legato runs, to…

Brought to you by… ABILITY RATING Moderate/Advanced Info Key: Various Tempo: Various https://bit.ly/3joL0uI Will improve your ✓ Gypsy jazz technique ✓ Use of chord tones ✓ Playing in different keys We’ve worked through a collection of licks you can play over static chords, so now it’s time to explore a series of licks that work over the most common progression in gypsy jazz – the II-V-I sequence. These licks are played over both Major and Minor II-V-Is, in two of the most popular keys in the gypsy jazz repertoire: G Major and A Minor. If you develop some good vocabulary around Major and Minor II-V-Is, you’ll have something to say on a vast amount of the gypsy jazz repertoire, because nearly every tune uses these cadences. First up, some II-V-I…

Brought to you by… JORGEN ANGEL/GETTY IMAGES ABILITY RATING Moderate/Advanced Info Key: Various Tempo: 95bpm https://bit.ly/3joL0uI Will improve your ✓ Ability to outline chord changes ✓ Bending technique ✓ Blues-rock phrasing This month we’re looking at string bending. One trap that less experienced players sometimes fall into is playing bends into and out of notes that don’t make harmonic sense. The great players know which are the good notes to start and end bends on. This goes for masters from BB King (who used some wild bends but always sounded great!) to Jeff Beck and Steve Vai. Many players look to classic blues and blues rock players as the basis of their bending approach and this is probably a good idea. The great blues players all have a deliberate vibrato…

Try GT’s digital edition on PC, Mac, Laptop, Desktop or Tablet! 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.…

GT: What is it about guitar instrumentals JA: A good friend and songwriter came up with a great lyric "Words are made to lie" which is very appropriate, especially in today’s politics, to mention one thing. GT: What can an instrumental provide a listener that a vocal song can't? JA: One could say the same about a film, and I like the film better, because it has both. But the mystery in music is greater and takes your spirit to different places. If you can imagine Django Reinhardt playing Montmartre, at the Hot club du France, on only acoustic guitar with Stephan Grappelli on violin. The Nazis sat down in the same place and forgot about the whole ‘entartete kunst’ (forbidden art). Then you’ve achieved something - to give you…

The term ‘cluster’ refers to a group of three or more adjacent notes played together. Whether it’s a chord or not depends on the notes and context. So, three adjacent notes from the chromatic scale (say, C, C# and D) don’t fit conventional chord theory. It’s interesting, but only useful for special effects. HOWEVER, if we work from regular scales, we can create some useful sounds that do function as chords. The main problem is that the guitar isn’t ideal for playing notes close together, so we have to be crafty and use open strings. This restricts the keys and scales you can use, but E Minor (E-F#-G-A-B-C-D) works very well. For the substituted example, we’ve simply arpeggiated the notes in ascending order, but you don’t have to do that.…

SATRIANI IS comfortable playing blues, melodic ballads or hard rock, which he does with authenticity and conviction. Wearing his Hendrix influence proudly, Joe demonstrates his bluesy side on tracks like New Blues, House Full Of Bullets, and even Satch Boogie, all of which have a very different sound but highlight Joe’s Pentatonic phrasing and soulful bends. Legato plays a huge part in Joe’s style, as he traverses the neck with fluid three-notes-per-string phrasing. But as well as longer flowing lines he also executes legato in ‘stuttering’ bursts, as heard on Flying In A Blue Dream. Joe has put his own twist on the tapping technique. Avoiding the obvious Van Halen clichés, he often utilises the edge of the pick to execute lines, either for the fast trill effect in Surfing…

BAR 16 AM PENTATONIC CHORDAL RUN Although a short phrase, George uses the notes of Am Pentatonic (A-C-D-E-G) over an F#7 chord to create an ‘outside’ Altered Dominant feel. The effect of this sound is further pronounced by playing the notes in a ‘spread triad’ configuration, as opposed to the more conventional single-note line approach. These combined techniques make for a highly catchy and different sound. BARS 27-28 F LYDIAN RUN This fast descending lick that George plays so effortlessly on the video, implies an F Lydian (F-G-B-C-D-E) tonality. Using the notes of F Lydian mode’s parent scale of C Major (C-D-E-F-G-A-B), large intervals of a 6th are effortlessly incorporated in order to create rapid shifts of pitch. These large intervals help to create an eartwistingly impressive sound. The use…

ABILITY RATING Info https://bit.ly/3joL0uI Key C Tempo 60-200bpm Moderate Will improve your… ✓ Pizzicato technique ✓ Two-part melodic independence ✓ Open -chord fretting and shifting The 19th-century composer Johann Strauss II (aka Johann Jr) hailed from a family of prolific composers who were central figures in the popularisation of the Viennese waltz. Together, the Strauss family elevated the Viennese waltz from a simple peasant dance into something everyone all the way through to high society could enjoy. The Strauss ‘power family’ consisted of Johann Strauss Sr and his three sons: Josef, Eduard, and their eldest brother Johann Jr. Today Strauss Sr is perhaps most famous for ‘the Radetzky March’ which he was commissioned to write to commemorate Field Marshal Radetzky’s victory at the Battle of Custoza, but it is no…

JASON INTRODUCES… As you will have read, this is Neville Marten’s last issue as GT’s editor. He has had quite a journey with this magazine since he started it alongside Phil Hilborne in 1994, with (almost) countless lessons, interviews and writers flowing through his editorship. So it is with a degree of sadness to see him step down from the Big Chair but, that said, I’m very happy he’s still onboard for subbing articles and doing interviews, helping the team and me to continue making the greatest guitar tutorial magazine in the world. I mean, where else can a guitarist get access to professionally curated classical music, blues licks, genrehopping features, player analysis, and theory and technique focused tuition in print? Let alone for a pint or two of beer…

Brought to you by… STEVE JENNINGS/GETTY IMAGES ABILITY RATING Moderate/Advanced Info Key: Dm Tempo: 97bpm https://bit.ly/3joL0uI Will improve your ✓ Picking techniques ✓ Tight rhythm playing ✓ Theory knowledge American rock musician Nita Strauss is one of the premier female guitarits in the world. She was the first to receive the honour of a signature model from Ibanez, and has been one of the guitarists in Alice Cooper’s band since 2014, when she replaced Orianthi during a tour. Strauss has been on the cover of many guitar magazines, and was ranked number 1 in Guitar World magazine’s list of 10 female guitarists that you should know. Additionally, Nita has done numerous guitar clinic and workshop tours around the world (including performing at Future Publishing’s own UK Guitar Show in 2019),…

Brought to you by… ABILITY RATING Info Key: A Tempo: 100bpm https://bit.ly/3joL0uI Will improve your ✓ Syncopated guitar ✓ lines Palm muting ✓ Using arpeggios When one thinks of reggae guitar, the first thing that often comes to mind is the off-beat ‘skank’ rhythm. In issue 333 we kicked off this series by exploring some of the permutations of this rhythm, as used by Bob Marley and his various guitarists. But another important facet of reggae guitar is the use of single-note lines, which we introduced in last month’s article on Black Uhuru. One of the most well-known examples of single-note reggae guitar is found on the Marley classic, Could You Be Loved, and its signature muted intro played by Junior Marvin. Marvin recalled that Bob heard him playing around…

TIM MOSENFELDER/GETTY IMAGES ABILITY RATING Moderate Info Key: C Tempo: 95bpm https://bit.ly/3joL0uI Will improve your ✓ Travis picking ✓ Fingerstyle co-ordination ✓ Timekeeping Chet Atkins was born in Luttrell, Tennessee on June 20, 1924. His style was inspired by Merle Travis and his famed picking technique. Growing up poor meant he faced real challenges as a burgeoning guitarist, not least having to travel miles to find a power supply for his amplifier, as his home did not have electricity. A musical genius, Atkins took the Travis picking style and made it his own; while Merle used only thumb and first finger to pick the strings, Atkins combined his thumb, first, second and third fingers, hugely increasing his picking range. His style was also shaped by Django Reinhardt, Les Paul, and…

ALBUM OF THE MONTH BONNIE RAITT JUST LIKE THAT Redwing Records 9/10 “On this record, I wanted to stretch,” says Bonnie Raitt of this, her first album for six years. “I always want to find songs that excite me, and what’s different this time is that I’ve tried styles and topics I haven’t touched on before.” A few years ago, Bonnie was on tour with James Taylor and it was so popular that it kept getting extended into different territories. Then the world shut down and things would never be quite the same. She kept a presence, as many artists did, online and was vocal in environmental and political issues, but the promise of a relaxation of the worldwide lockdown meant that plans were forged for a new album. It gave…