Indice dei contenuti per June 2023 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. DECLAN ZAPALA Declan is one of the UK’s top classical guitarists and teachers. He is a Master graduateofRCM andhissolo arrangements are sublimely creative. 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 Charlie is a well studied guitarist who specialisesinhighendrockplaying and plays with top UK metal-fusion band Haken. His debut album is…

Okay my friend. We need to have a chat about scales! Scales are useful things to know, but knowing the scale patterns and knowing when and how to use them are very different things. So in the next few articles we’re going to take a look at various scales to help you determine whether you should be practising them. Then we’ll get into how you can use them to make music. This is my take on how it works, but those passionate about certain niches may disagree, and that’s fine - music is art and there are many perspectives. This is mine. Minor Pentatonic This five-note scale is used in many styles but most commonly in blues, because it can be used to improvise over a 12-bar blues, a common…

➊ Easy BluesVamp (E) We start with a fun blues vamp (E7-A7) made for practising the switch between the I7 (1) chord and the IV7 (4) chord. E Minor Pentatonic (E-G-A-B-D) works all over, but try E Mixolydian (E-F#-G#-A-B-C#-D) on the E7 chords and then switch to E Dorian mode (E-F#-G-A-B-C#-D) – aka A Mixolydian – for the A7 chords. ➋ Slow Blues -DMinor Here we have a simple and fun slow blues in D Minor, where the D Minor Pentatonic (D-F-G-A-C) and the D Minor Blues scale (D-F-G-Ab-A-C) are your first points of interest. For the Dominant chords (A7), use D Harmonic Minor (D-E-F-G-A-Bb-C#). ➌ Groove Jam (E) This one is a very open funky jam in the key of E. Experiment with riffing on chords like E9, Em9,…

VIDEO VIDEO & AUDIO https://bit.ly/426nebY ON VIDEO This month’s star video features LA guitarist Allen Hinds who creates a solo over Jason Sidwell’s sophisticated slow groover, Glow To Grow. The first part of the process, as Allen explains, is to organise a chord chart road map. We have written out the full chord sheet for you to study, and this is included both in the magazine and shown on the screen in the video. The tempo is a laid-back 86bpm which inspired Allen’s overall melodic approach, and allowed for moments of faster legato phrases. Glow To Grow is in the key of G Major for the most part but, as Allen reflects, there are always some unique chord changes in Jason’s tracks that keep him on his toes. Due to…

ABILITY RATING ✪ ✪ ✪ ✪ ✪ Moderate Info Key: C Major Tempo: 80bpm https://bit.ly/426nebY Will improve your ✓ Strumming technique ✓ Chord enrichment ✓ Creative use of the capo You normally associate the sound of modern country with Nashville, but The Shires is a British duo that has taken their spin on country across the pond. Comprising Ben Earle on vocals and guitar, and vocalist Chrissie Rhodes, they have found success on both the British and American country charts. Earle and Rhodes tried to kickstart their careers via TV show The X Factor, but fame failed to appear. Thankfully, both left the world of reality TV behind and met via a social media post in 2012. The Shires draw influence from Alison Krauss, Faith Hill, Lady A and…

ABILITY RATING ✪ ✪ ✪ ✪ ✪ Moderate Info Key: Various Tempo: Various https://bit.ly/426nebY Will improve your ✓ Chord based arpeggios ✓ Multi-position triads ✓ Cross picking Being an effective rhythm player is one of the most valuable skills a guitarist can have. Being able to accompany vocalists and lock in with a rhythm section in bands are must-have skills. Sure, playing solos and melodic lines can be fun, but this level of creativity can be applied to playing chords, too. Jimi Hendrix’s rhythm style is just as creative as his lead. And one way to achieve diversity and musicality with your rhythm playing is to incorporate arpeggios. Any chord shape can be turned into an arpeggio simply by picking individual notes within the chord rather than strumming them. This…

READY TO SUBSCRIBE? www.magazinesdirect.com WELCOME to our latest issue of Guitar Techniques. Do you like the cover for our Eric Clapton feature? I hope so as we spent a few weeks figuring out how best to present him. Eric has been a guitar hero for many decades so his appeal evokes different things to different people. For some, he is the shining light of the British blues scene because of his playing on John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers ‘Beano’ album. His tone and technique right from the arresting opener (All Your Love) reset the electric guitar for British players and countless others around the world. For others, he never bested his time with Cream, the Clapton-Bruce-Baker ‘super group’ (before the term was really in use) that featured Eric’s wonderful solos. One only…

ESSENTIALLY, these‘deluxe’versions of Minor 7th chords can add a little class to any chord progression – maybe not in heavy rock, but even then, these added notes can inform your melodic choices when soloing over the heaviest of metal… This is an enormous and fascinating subject, but we’re taking it on a small chunk at a time, though many of these principles hold true in other musical contexts too, so take your time to fully absorb the info here and you’ll start noticing it in use in all sorts of contexts, be that vocal melody lines, solos or chord progressions. Example 1 THIS E MINOR 9TH chord is essentially an E Minor 7th (containing the notes E-G-B-D) adding an F# from further up the scale. This is where the term…

GT: What is it about guitar instrumentals that appeals to you? SLP: As a guitarist I have a bias towards guitar-centric instrumental music, but I always find myself focusing on the expression of notes. I’m a bit of an overanalyser, so when I listen to instrumentals I focus a lot on those long, drawn-out notes that have tons of emotion. I also love those really tasteful phrases that you get out of guitar instrumentals, like anything you’d hear Jakub Zytecki play. GT: What can an instrumental provide that a vocal song can't? SLP: I think it’s important to note that music with vocals is just in an entirely different realm compared to instrumental music. Obviously I love working with both, but there are things that you can do in each…

Brought to you by… BEGINNER EXAMPLE 1 ROBBY KRIEGER (THE DOORS) This phrase is built from a descending, stepwise melody that runs along the second string. It also includes open B notes on that same string, after each fretted note. This is a simple and effective way to thicken the melody line while creating intervallic jumps within the sequence. To get the tone, use your neck pickup and set your amp to clean. Then add tremolo and a long reverb for some nostalgic, psychedelic shimmer.This phrase is built from a descending, stepwise melody that runs along the second string. It also includes open B notes on that same string, after each fretted note. This is a simple and effective way to thicken the melody line while creating intervallic jumps within…

NEVER MISS ANOTHER ISSUE Time to subscribe! MAY GT347 DAVID GILMOUR Fifty years on from Pink Floyd’s Dark Side Of The Moon we look at the playing of David Gilmour. Plus: Brett Garsed honours Allan Holdsworth; Troy Redfern slide licks; T-Bone Walker, Hubert Sumlin, Thin Lizzy, Tim Henson & tons more! SPRING GT346 JEFF BECK We honour the man that even the best players called The Guv’nor. With 10 Beck-isms and 3 mini pieces to play, this lesson will amaze and enlighten. Plus: Daniele Gottardo video, Gary Moore, Jason Isbell, 6 Country Pickers & more! MARCH GT345 12 STRAT BLUES PLAYERS The Strat is a mainstay of modern blues. We check out 12 who make California’s finest wail! Also: Carl Verheyen soloing video; play Hendrixstyle fiery Pentatonics, learn the tricky…

GT: GT: Do you have a type of pick that you can’t live without? SF: I prefer a 1mm standard pick. It’s super common, and it’s what I’m used to. GT: If you had to give up all your pedals but three, what would they be? SF: I’d keep my Analog Man, King Of Tone, MXR Carbon Copy, and maybe the JHS Mini Foot Fuzz. GT: Do you play another instrument well enough to do so in a band? If so, have you ever done it? SF: I started on drums, and I have gigged on the bass guitar before. Am I good enough to do it in a band? Not really, but it’s good to stretch out. GT: If a music chart were put in front of you, could…

VIDEO & AUDIO https://bit.ly/426nebY There have been few players as important to the shaping of the sound of blues-rock guitar as Eric Clapton. A true popular music superstar, the multi-Grammy winning Clapton has achieved iconic status, not only as a blues-rock guitar legend, but also as a mainstream artist who has enjoyed worldwide fame for decades, with songs such like the anthemic Layla, Wonderful Tonight, Rule The World, and My Father’s Eyes, as well as with his cover versions of songs including Bob Marley’s I Shot The Sheriff, or JJ Cale’s iconic, Cocaine. Clapton’s effect on the development of blues-rock guitar is a matter of modern musical folklore. At a time when young blues disciples such as he, Jimmy Page, John Mayall and Keith Richards were discovering and devouring the…

VIDEO & AUDIO https://bit.ly/426nebY ON VIDEO New York based Norwegian guitarist Lage Lund was awarded the prestigious Theolonius Monk International Jazz Guitarist award in 2005. And from that moment to this he has carved a remarkably successful career as both bandleader and in-demand sideman, with an ever growing portfolio of album releases to his name. Lund’s playing is both beautiful and complex. He expertly balances a cerebral approach to music with a heartfelt emotional intensity, but never without a lyrical and expressive quality to his sound. TECHNIQUE FOCUS Melodic Material From Chord Shapes A simple but effective conceptual approach you can adopt is to generate lines explicitly from chord forms. Guitarists from Django all the way up to Lage have used this device to generate motifs and melodic patterns that…

VIDEO & AUDIO https://bit.ly/426nebY Brought to you by… Few bands have been as iconic and timeless as the great Bon Jovi. Bringing the 1980s era of hair metal to the masses with their radio-friendly anthems, Bon Jovi paved the way for huge choruses, tight leathers and gratuitous guitar solos. While the band took its name from the legendary frontman himself, Bon Jovi was far from the solo act that some people assume. Richie Sambora joined the band in 1983 and was instrumental in the group’s success, being one of its main songwriters and producers for 30 years. As well contributing his iconic guitar solos to their greatest hits, he was also responsible for crafting the songs themselves. Richie is credited as having co-written their biggest anthems including Living On A…

VIDEO & AUDIO https://bit.ly/426nebY Plini hails from Sydney, Australia and is at the forefront of the newest generation of guitar heroes. As well as a host of EP releases, Plini has two albums to date: Handmade Cities from 2016 and 2020’s Impulse Voices. Plini cites Joe Satriani as an influence, which is evident from his melodic and vocal style of playing. The music also has a foot in progressive metal, with heavy riffs and syncopated rhythms. Songs like Electric Sunrise, Inhale and Pan are akin to Animals As Leaders and Periphery, but with very much their own Plini flavour. Plini is known for playing his signature Strandberg guitars, typically in Drop C# tuning (C#-G#-C#-F#-A#-D#), but for your convenience we have recorded these examples in dropped D (D-A-D-G-B-E). Our first example…

VIDEO & AUDIO https://bit.ly/426nebY Brought to you by… Robben Ford’s style is highly individual. No one plays quite like him, despite the fact that he has influenced most of the current crop of great blues guitarists. Unlike many blues players, Ford is also steeped in the jazz vernacular, and even played with the great Miles Davis. As the more sophisticated elements of Robben’s playing are in some ways the most unusual, for this article I’ve focused on that area slightly more than the blues side. Rest assured though, that he is also a killer blues guitarist and has obviously studied the greats that came before him. As with all blues players, it’s interesting to see how Robben navigates the chord changes. He is a master at it, and artfully states…

ABILITY RATING ✪ ✪ ✪ ✪ ✪ Moderate Info Key: G Tempo: 98bpm https://bit.ly/426nebY Will improve your ✓ Chord knowledge ✓ Fingerstyle playing ✓ Finger independence One of the things I’m most often asked is how to play walking basslines on guitar. Between my private students and the guitar retreats I teach, inevitably someone will ask me how to combine chords with walking basslines while keeping a swinging jazz groove. Being able to play chords and basslines at the same time is the ultimate accompanist’s skill for a jazz guitarist, whether jamming in a guitar duo or working with a singer. My chord and bassline approach sits at the core of my playing, so mastering it will give you a deep insight into my chord melody style. In this series…