Indice dei contenuti per Spring 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…

Once upon a ten-to-one-with-possible-overtime, I arrived at Thames Television’s studios in fashionable Teddington. So fashionable that, needless to say, they eventually shut it down and flogged the site for luxury riverside apartments. Ho hum. An elderly gentleman was struggling up the steps to the music studio, laden with piles of ancient manuscript, which looked as if they would have been better served displayed under glass in a Jerusalem museum. I confess that my immediate thought was, “Well, whatever this gig is, there ain’t gonna be a pension at the end of it.” And so it was to prove, although for very different reasons. I deposited my gear and headed off for a restorative canteen breakfast complete with stunning views evoking the annual Thames Boat Race. Upon my return, I inquired…

VIDEO & AUDIO https://bit.ly/3BvSmVy ABILITY RATING Easy to Moderate Info https://bit.ly/3BvSmVy Key Various Tempo Various Will improve your… ✔ Stylistic awareness ✔ Timing and tone production ✔ Stylistic awareness Lead and rhythm techniques Welcome to our 1980s guitar extravaganza. The aim of this lesson is to take inspiration from the key guitar styles of some of the 1980s’ biggest selling artists. Both rhythm and lead guitar ideas are covered, and we’ve notated each of these in the 14 stylistic examples. There are also four mini performance pieces to learn, and by the end of working with these, your ’ 80s guitar trick bag should be fully topped up. The 1980s was a decade of excess. Big shoulder pads, power dressing and expensive production values were to the fore. The ’…

VIDEO & AUDIO https://bit.ly/3BvSmVy ABILITY RATING Moderate/Advanced Info https://bit.ly/3BvSmVy Key C7 Blues Tempo 110bpm Will improve your… ✔ Dominant 7th vocabulary ✔ Use of tension, release and colour ✔ Phrasing and expression Simply put, Eric Clapton is a phenomenal musician and one of the most important blues inspired players to plug in an electric guitar. Clapton’s career has been extensively documented and he’s still remarkably accessible, with a long and varied recorded output and a healthy performing and touring schedule approaching half a century in duration. Joe Bonamassa had this to say recently after Clapton guested with him at the Royal Albert Hall, ‘He plays and every phrase is in the right place. That’s a gift’. Eric employs incredible quality control over his improvisational vocabulary. You’ll never hear him play…

VIDEO & AUDIO https://bit.ly/3BvSmVy Brought to you by… EXAMPLE 1 EASY LICKS ALEX KAPRANOS This exercise uses repetition to establish a strong melodic hook, as often heard in the music of Scottish band Franz Ferdinand. Each phrase starts on the ‘&’ of beat 1. So, try counting in eighth notes (1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &) to set up the timing. Apart from the last note in each bar, all notes need to be staccato (short in length and detached from the other notes). So, relax your fretting finger after each note to create an abrupt stop. For the tone, use your bridge pickup and a medium level of gain. EXAMPLE 2 EASY LICKS JERRY CANTRELL The E Minor chords strummed with a slow upstroke and semitone bends. Lave…

NEVER MISS ANOTHER ISSUE Turn to page 36 to subscribe! APRIL GT332 GO GLOBAL! Add new flavours to your playing with 10 cool scales from around the world. Dan Patlansky blues-rock video masterclass; new Gypsy Jazz series; play two Christone ‘Kingfish’ Ingram style solos; Joe Pass intros/endings. Plus much 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! FEBRUARY GT330 10 CHICAGO BLUES GIANTS Learn the authentic Chicago blues licks of the mighty Buddy Guy, Otis Rush, Elmore James, Mike Bloomfield, Hubert Sumlin & more. Also in this issue: Greg Howe, Big Country, Mateus…

VIDEO & AUDIO https://bit.ly/3BvSmVy Brought to you by… ABILITY RATING Moderate/Advanced Info Key: D Tempo: Various https://bit.ly/3BvSmVy Will improve your ✔ Gypsy jazz technique ✔ Use of chord tones ✔ Playing in different keys Welcome to my second in this series looking at playing gypsy jazz. You may remember that in last month’s article we looked at how to build a range of gypsy jazz licks around various Dm7 chord shapes. This month we move on to look at some static Dominant chord licks. In gypsy jazz, an A7 chord might resolve to either D Minor or D Major, so the lines you learn here will serve two purposes. The examples are notated in the key of D Major, so we’re viewing the A7 as a V chord. I’ve deliberately…

ALBUM OF THE MONTH EDGAR WINTER BROTHER JOHNNY Quarto Valley Records 10/10 Johnny Winter has a special place in countless guitar fans’ hearts for being such an exciting and inspiring guitarist and writer. This new album by his brother Edgar has been years in the making and is an all-star tribute to him featuring Joe Bonamassa, Billy Gibbons, Steve Lukather, Keb Mo, Derek Trucks and Robben Ford to name just a few. It’s a big album too with 17 tracks linked to Johnny and crammed with unique lineups; Johnny B Goode has Edgar and Joe Walsh on vocals with David Grissom and Phil X on guitars. Mean Town Blues features Edgar on vocals and Joe Bonamassa on slide guitar. Billy Gibbons sings fantastically on I’m Yours And I’m Hers, and Michael…

READY TO SUBSCRIBE? www.magazinesdirect.com THE 1980s WAS a strange one for music, and it saw my world change out of all recognition. In 1980 I was a guitar repairer for Gibson’s UK operation in Braintree, Essex. At that time some of us would go over to Rotterdam to quality control incoming consignments; I’d spend a week in England and a week in Holland. Then one day parent company Norlin decided to close Braintree and move the whole operation to Rotterdam, so our services would no longer be required. My friend and fellow Gibsonite, Martyn Booth and I made a deal with the landlords of the building that housed the old Gibson repair shop and took it over, spray booth, the Gibson lacquers, specialist tools and all. As Don’t Fret Guitar…

VIDEO & AUDIO https://bit.ly/3BvSmVy GT: What is it about guitar instrumentals that appeals to you? FG: The great thing about instrumental music is that it stimulates the listener’s imagination. When there’s a lyric, then the focus is on the meaning of the words and, to some degree, the music becomes secondary. With instrumental music it’s front and centre. When I hear songs on a movie soundtrack with singers under dialogue I find it very distracting. Most times instrumental music works better in movies unless of course there is no dialogue. From a guitar perspective, I love instrumental music because it allows my guitar to become the singer. I approach melody as if I was a singer, to portray the emotion and sentiment purely from the guitar. GT: What can an…

VIDEO & AUDIO https://bit.ly/3BvSmVy ABILITY RATING Advanced Info https://bit.ly/3BvSmVy Key E Major/C# Minor Tempo 225bpm & 75bpm Will improve your… ✔ Use of string skipping ✔ Constructing and playing a melody ✔ Blending alternate picking and legato Paul Gilbert exploded onto the 1980s rock scene with his exilliarating solos and powerhouse riffing, like a blend of Eddie Van Halen and Yngwie Malmsteen with extra bite. Since the days of his bands Racer X and Mr Big, he has maintained a fabulous solo career; his recent Christmas album, ‘Twas being a case in point. Furthermore, he is a busy educator both online and at his USA guitar camps. This issue’s exclusive track, That’s Too Much Like Work was created after he decided that a piece by Jason Sidwell had a few…

VIDEO & AUDIO https://bit.ly/3BvSmVy ABILITY RATING Moderate/Advanced Info https://bit.ly/3BvSmVy Key G Major Tempo 75bhp Will improve your… ✔ Playing of barrés ✔ Picking-hand & thumb independence ✔ Ascending and descending slurs Bach’s six infamous Cello suites are some of the most widely transcribed and performed works of concert music in existence, despite the fact that no documented manuscripts were written by Bach himself - those we rely upon today were in fact penned by his wife, the singer, Anna Magdalena Bach. Despite having said this, the guitar world does in fact lay claim to the only known manuscript of a Cello suite actually signed by Bach himself, but it takes the form of the Lute Suite No 3 in G Minor (BWV995) which is a version of Cello Suite No…

VIDEO & AUDIO https://bit.ly/3BvSmVy Brought to you by… KEVIN WINTER / GETTY IMAGES ABILITY RATING Moderate/Advanced Info Key: Various Tempo: Various https://bit.ly/3BvSmVy Will improve your ✔ Melodic narrative ✔ Major Pentatonic vocabulary ✔ Bending accuracy & control There are few popular music icons who had the level of impact on music and contemporary culture than Prince. Although most widely known for his disco, soul and funk sensibilities in his most famous releases, Prince was actually one the most diverse and musically rich artists pop music has ever known. His love for a wide range of genres clearly helped feed his ever increasing creative output. He loved artists like Earth Wind And Fire, Joni Mitchell, Stevie Wonder, Jimi Hendrix, Parliament Funkadelic, The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, Carols Santana, Miles Davis, Larry…

VIDEO & AUDIO https://bit.ly/3BvSmVy Brought to you by… STEVE THORNE / GETTY IMAGES ABILITY RATING Moderate/Advanced Info Key: Various Tempo: Various https://bit.ly/3BvSmVy Will improve your ✔ Alternate picking ✔ Legato playing ✔ Sweep picking Vinnie Mooore’s style is technically advanced, with fast, accurate alternate picking, fluid legato, and classical style arpeggios. We have five examples covering key elements of his style, starting with an E Aeolian melody using Minor 9 arpeggios and scale sequences. Sequencing a scale is a great tool to develop dexterity, picking accuracy, and to gain an arsenal of improvisational tools. Lick 1 uses a sequence of four, which means descending through four notes, starting from each note of the scale in sequence. This creates a cascading pattern that can be applied to any scale or mode.…

VIDEO & AUDIO https://bit.ly/3BvSmVy DANIEL KNIGHTON / GETTY IMAGES ABILITY RATING Moderate Info Key: E Major Tempo: 100bpm https://bit.ly/3BvSmVy Will improve your ✔ Travis picking technique ✔ Finger/thumb independence ✔ Timekeeping and groove Country legend Merle Travis was born in Kentucky on November 29, 1917. It’s unusual for a technique to be named after a guitar player - tapping isn’t called ‘Van Halening’ - but this happened in the case of Merle Travis. When Travis picking, your thumb plucks a bassline, typically palm muted and alternating each beat on the fourth and sixth strings, while the remaining fingers pick melodies, chords or both on the remaining strings. The technique demands complete independence between the picking hand thumb and fingers - while the thumb plays the bass strings ‘on’ the beat…

FEATURE #2 VIDEO BRETT GARSED Sizzle! The legato and slide guitar master takes a dazzling solo over Jason’s track Sizzle, then explains his moves. CLASSICAL TAB ANGEL VILLODO El Choclo Declan Zapala arranges a popular song by the Argentinian composer, extolling the virues of the corn cob. FEATURE #3 ALLAN HOLDSWORTH Guitar genius John Wheatcroft looks at a unique and complex guitarist, the like of which we’ll never see again. NEW SERIES! REMI HARRIS Gypsy jazz for all Remi continues his exciting series showing you some of his favourite licks in this thrilling guitar style. The guitar greats that helped to form the style of… EDDIE VAN HALEN! No great musician gets there without the help of those that went before. With some it’s clear - Jimi + Albert =…

I had a rotten old-school cold a few weeks back. Couldn’t talk at all, so no filming, limited meetings, and while I still had lots of ‘work’ to do, I tried to get a good chunk of practice in too. But I noticed something scary that I’d never noticed before. Something I’m sure that has been growing for some time but for some reason it hadn’t been quite as blatant as it was last week, and it’s triggering change. I made a little list of some things that I wanted to get back into my practice routine, a couple of classic pieces and some Joe Pass arrangements. I sat down to practice and before I’d even got through revising the first page of the Bach Lute Suite, I’d picked up…

THIS MONTH’S LICK features two ideas frequently heard in the playing of Michael Schenker. The first of these, in bars 1-4, is a repeating bending lick that starts off with a Blues scale derived semitone bend of A (4th) to Bb (♭5) which is followed by the ‘target note’ of B played again (either twice or once) on the second string. Notice how all the bends apart from those in bar 1 are all ‘tone/two-fret’ bends. Also, be aware of the underlying ‘3-3-2’ rhythmic accents. These accents fall on the first, fourth and seventh ‘eighth’ notes and are vital to the idea’s syncopated feel. The second idea in bars 5-7 is a ♭3rd legato/whammy bar impersonation idea that travels from Em Pentatonic/Blues scale (5th-♭7) chromatically down to the E Major Pentatonic…

GT: Do you have a type of pick that you can’t live without? JS: I use all kinds of picks when recording but rely almost exclusively on ‘extra heavy’ standard shaped celluloid picks made by D’Addario. They have the right amount of mass for creating a variety of tones, and they’re big enough to do all kinds of tricks. However, I’ve been playing around with the Duralin Black Ice picks lately. They give a very focused tone. GT: If you had to give up all your pedals but three, what would they be? JS: I would keep my VOX signature pedals: the Big Bad Wah, Satchurator and Time Machine DDL. The first run of these were really special sounding. GT: Do you play another instrument well enough to do so…

Perfect for virtually all steel 6 string acoustic, electric or hybrid nylon string guitars. WORTH £39.95 Print Only JUST £26.50 – EVERY 6 MONTHS Saving 34% Print + Digital Bundle JUST £34 – EVERY 6 MONTHS Saving 48% FREE WELCOME GIFT* TO ORDER ONLINE VISIT www.magazinesdirect.com/GTQ/A27C OR CALL 0330 3331113 AND QUOTE ‘A27C’ TERMS AND CONDITIONS: Offer closes 1 June 2022. Offer open to new subscribers only. Direct Debit offer is available to UK subscribers only. Advertised rates payable by 6 monthly Direct Debit. Please allow up to six weeks for delivery of your first subscription issue. The full subscription rate is for 12 months (13 issues) and includes postage and packaging. If the magazine ordered changes frequency per annum, we will honour the number of issues paid for, not…

I HOPE YOU’VE enjoyed the issue so far, from ’80s guitar (p14) to Bach fingerpicking (p44), Paul Gilbert’s exclusive video track (p26) to mixing 3rds and 7ths for soloing (p38). You will have also enjoyed our regular articles with Justin Sandercoe (p8) and Mitch Dalton (p9); two unique UK musicians earning a living with the guitar, albeit via very different pathways. In particular, I expect reading Justin’s article will resonate with you, as it did with me. Time can be very difficult to handle when it comes to guitar playing, especially when it’s not directly related to an end goal involving money, such as attending a lesson, giving a lesson, gig prepping or performing. Personal music development is tricky enough to carve a notch of time out in the day…

VIDEO & AUDIO https://bit.ly/3BvSmVy Brought to you by… DONALD KRAVITZ / GETTY IMAGES ABILITY RATING Moderate Info Key: Em Tempo: 95bpm https://bit.ly/3BvSmVy Will improve your ✔ Rock rhythm playing ✔ Legato and picked notes ✔ Theory knowledge Born in Australia to Greek parents, Orianthi Panagaris has played for rock and pop legends such as Alice Cooper, for whom she toured as part of the band, and Michael Jackson. Orianthi was was rehearsing for Jackson’s ‘This Is It’ shows when the singer died in 2009. She has also recorded with Steve Vai, Dave Stewart and Michael Bolton, as well as recording an album with ex-Bon Jovi guitarist Richie Sambora. Orianthi has been named one of the greatest ever female guitarists by Elle magazine and in 2010 was voted Breakthrough Guitarist Of…

VIDEO & AUDIO https://bit.ly/3BvSmVy Brought to you by… ABILITY RATING Easy Info Key: A Tempo: 72bpm https://bit.ly/3BvSmVy Will improve your ✔ Skank rhythm ✔ Percussive chords ✔ Single-note reggae lines In the late 1950s Jamaican ska music came about as a fusion of traditional Caribbean mento, and R&B music from America. Guitarists would sometimes play on the ‘off’ beat with a light swing feel, and it was this off-beat, along with a lively tempo and a walking bass line that soon became known as ska. Ska is still very much alive today, even though it’s gone through several waves in popularity. Certain ska artists slowed down the tempo in order to aid dancing. This created the style known as ‘rocksteady’, some time in the mid 1960s, and it was from…

VIDEO & AUDIO https://bit.ly/3BvSmVy Brought to you by… TIM MOSENFELDER / GETTY IMAGES ABILITY RATING Moderate/Advanced Info Key: G7 Tempo: Various https://bit.ly/3BvSmVy Will improve your ✔ Command of moving harmony ✔ Knowledge of arpeggio use ✔ Legato phrasing This month we again focus on Mixolydian mode, but this time we’re doubling the rate of movement from quavers (eighth notes) to semiquavers (16th notes). Getting more deeply into this scale will give your playing a sound that’s much more ‘inside’ the harmony than simply trying to shoehorn stock blues phrases in there. We’ll start by revising the scale then move onto some scale pattern practice, in order to hint at the great Robben Ford’s approach. Alternating ascending and descending 3rds makes a useful pattern that many great players have employed as…