Guitar Techniquesの September 2018 の目次

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 teaches for dime-online.org and has written for many of the world’s top guitar mags. CHARLIE GRIFFITHS Guitar Institute tutor Charlie first came to fame in Total Guitar’s Challenge…

THIS LICK FEATURES a device for using a pair of triad arpeggios on altered dominant (7 b 9, 7 b 9#11, etc) chords. It’s also effective when played against straight major or 7th chords for a slightly‘outside’effect. It involves alternating two triads a b 5 apart – in this case A (A-C#-E) and E b (E b -G-B b ); both coming from the A Half-Whole diminished scale. Notice how the end of the lick resolves via an A7 arpeggio idea to the I minor chord (Dm). A good resolution is vital for this idea to work effectively. It can be played as indicated using a mini-sweep picking scheme or with hybrid or alternate picking – just choose whichever method suits you best. Be sure to develop other similar ideas…

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 • 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 palm…

One of the problems that prevents players from experimenting with open tunings is the logistical issue of chord shape loss. Obviously all of your existing shapes go out of the window as soon as you mess with those tuning pegs. But think of this as an advantage, as it provides you with an opportunity to get creative and use your ear to find new and exciting sounds that would not be possible in standard tuning. But since a completely blank canvas can be a little daunting, we’ve provided six useful shapes for the three tunings featured here. These shapes are also needed to play the three tunes you will be learning. Check them out over the page.…

LICK 1 Melodic Minor lick [Bar 4] This opening lick uses the F# Melodic Minor to great effect. It is worth getting the mechanics of this one together as Brett plays similar licks throughout the solo. The wide intervals sound super effective. LICK 2 Blues style lick [Bar 25-27] This lick helps to release a bit of tension after all the intricate fusion licks that Brett kicks off with. The double-stop in bar 26 sounds best when pushed a little bit sharp, like Chuck Berry or Keith Richards. LICK 3 Three-note repeating lick [Bar 54 ] This idea uses a repeating group of three semiquaver notes. As there are four semiquavers per beat, the start of the pattern shifts around within the bar and this superimposes a cool syncopated feel.…

I was watching Steve Vai interview Joe Satriani on YouTube recently and a highlight was Steve’s story of Joe sending him home because he hadn’t prepared enough for his lesson (they were both in their teens). What couldn’t Steve do? Joe had tasked him to learn all notes on the fretboard so when Joe asked for an F# note on the B string (second string) and Steve froze, Joe knew he wasn’t ready. Steve’s walk of shame home was enough to make him refocus and step up another level; what doesn’t break you will make you stronger. For many guitarists, the unique layout of notes on the fretboard is enough for them to say ‘too hard’ to memorise or ‘I’ll sort it some day’. And if not tested in a…

ICONICPIX Motörhead is perhaps one of the most legendary rock bands of the past 50 years. Often cited as the original pioneers of heavy metal the group was formed in 1975 by bassist and vocalist Ian ‘Lemmy’ Kilmister, with the classic line-up consisting of Lemmy himself alongside ‘Fast’ Eddie Clarke on guitar and drummer Phil ‘Philthy Animal’ Taylor. Motörhead released 22 studio albums, and it was this trio that featured on the majority of the most classic recordings. Motörhead had a fair amount of UK chart success with their classic-era albums, the rifftastic rocker Ace Of Spades featuring early in their career. They have currently sold over 15 million units worldwide and influenced a number of other classic rock and metal bands including Metallica, whose drummer Lars Ulrich used to…

LIVEPIX Many people associate Chris Rea with Driving Home For Christmas and Road To Hell but beyond this is a 25-album career, with stadium tours and multi-platinum sales. Superb songwriter and more than accomplished guitarist, Chris Rea came to guitar at the relatively late age of 20, initially influenced by the early blues of Charley Patton and the slide playing of Joe Walsh and Ry Cooder. In 1979 he was Grammy nominated in the US for best new artist, and by 1987 he was supporting Queen and selling out Wembley Stadium. But the biggest breakthough came with number one album Road To Hell in 1989, which went on to become six times platinum in the UK. Slide has always been a mainstay of the Middleborough born guitarist’s playing. Though best…

The Aeolian mode often used in conjunction with the Minor Pentatonic scale contained within its formula, as can be found within much of Iron Maiden’s repertoire, with classic tracks such as The Trooper, Aces High, 2 Minutes To Midnight and Wasted Years all good examples. Another great example which captures the more sensitive and melancholic sound of the Aeolian mode can be heard on Joe Satriani’s ballad The Unforgiven, Part Two, from his classic 1989 release Flying In A Blue Dream.…

GRANT GREEN FUNK FRANCE, FROM PARIS TO ANTIBES (1969-1970) Resonance Records ★★★★★ Grant Green fans are in for a treat this year; we reviewed his live album, Slick last issue and while that was a one-CD release, Funk France boasts two! We’ve often said that to hear an artist live (or via a live recording) can often be the most illuminating, and Grant on stage was a firecracker. For example, Slick featured the Jobim classic How Insensitive (30-plus mins) while here CD1 features it at a shorter seven minutes long. It’s a crisper and more compact rendition, not least because Grant’s guitar is quite in your face; smooth but lots of treble so you can hear every articulation, making it perfect for enjoying and transcribing (not every jazzer plays with…

I PLAY WAY more acoustic than I do electric. I’ve owned some great flat-tops too, including vintage Martins, Epiphones and Gibsons (sadly all passed on due to house renovation); shiny new Taylors, Takamines, Collings, Yamahas and more. Currently my stripped-down but pleasing acoustic array comprises a Gibson J-200, a Martin D-28 and Dreadnought Jr (the latter kept at my sister’s in Istanbul), and a Yammy NTX classical. I’m no master of these fine instruments but it doesn’t stop me enjoying playing them, both at home and on stage. For me it stems back to 1970 when a friend brought round James Taylor’s Fire And Rain album, which totally turned my head from the distorted electric blues that had obsessed me since Cream and Hendrix. What were these weird chords? How…

LIVEPIX ➊ Gospel style blues (G) We start with a fun blues jam track in the key of G major, which features a gospel chord progression, similar to jazz-blues changes. Start by mixing G Major Pentatonic (G-A-B-D-E) and G Minor Pentatonic (G-B b -C-D-F) and zoom in on the arpeggios: G7 (G-B-D-F), C7 (C-E-G-B b ), C#dim7 (C#-E-G-B b ), E7 (E-G#-B-D), Am7 (A-C-E-G) and D7 (D-F#-A-C). ➋ 2-5-1 jazz practice (C) In theory, you can play C Major scale (C-D-E-F-G-A-B) all over this. That would result in D Dorian (Dm7 chords), G Mixolydian (G7 chords) and C Ionian (Cmaj7 chords) - all the same seven notes. Next up, try out some more advanced colours on the dominant chord (G7/G13) by using the G Diminished Half-Whole scale (G-A b -B…

KEN HIVELY / GETTY IMAGES “THERE ARE MANY BASIC THINGS THAT CAN LIFT YOUR PLAYING TO THE STANDARD OF A PRO. IMPLEMENTING SOME OF THESE CORE CONCEPTS CAN PROVIDE NOTICEABLE GAINS” Welcome to our mega, ‘50 tips to become a better acoustic guitarist’ behemoth. With such a broad base of techniques and ideas covered there’ll be something in here for everyone. The acoustic guitar is a beautifully expressive instrument that has been used in many a hit record, in all genres from country to hip-hop. Singer-songwriters armed with just a handful of open chords have written and recorded songs on acoustic guitar that have changed the face of popular music. No matter how technologically advanced music creation becomes, acoustic guitar-slinging singer-songwriters such as Ed Shearan and Jack Johnson continue to…

If it were possible the difficulty goes up yet another notch this month with Flight or Fight a fast track to navigate! As Brett explains the track really keeps you on your toes and the chord changes are quite challenging to tie in with. Brett uses a question and answer style approach in the verse section. This leaves lots of space and is a very effective way to separate and outline the phrases. The main scale Brett uses for these lines is F# Melodic Minor (F#-G#-A-B-C#-D#-E#). This scale provides an ‘outside’ style fusion sound and works great with the pacey tempo. We have written out a fingering for this scale so you can get it under your fingers. When the F#m chord changes to Bm, Brett tends to favour F#…

Amazing Grace is by all estimation the most famous hymn in the world; with over 3000 published recordings the largest number for any single work. This reflects its wide appeal, and importance to a range of cultures over the decades. In particular it might be said to be the soul of America, performed at key moments in its political and cultural history. From its first recording by the Sacred Harp Choir in 1922, Alan Lomax’s seminal 1939 ‘field’ recording in Alabama, the Decca 1951 gospel version by Sister Rosetta Tharpe (a seminal and woefully unknown figure of blues and gospel electric guitar), Sam Cooke’s 1963 (re) arrangement to its ultimate adoption by the likes of Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson, the hymn is omnipresent in Amercia’s turbulent history…

EASY LICKS EXAMPLE 1 LENNY KRAVITZ CD TRACK 19 Strike the fourth and third strings in a consistent downward manner, muting the strings lightly and applying pressure on the frets to voice the intervals. This gives the sound and feel similar to Kravitz’90s classic rock hits. EASY LICKS EXAMPLE 2 KEITH SCOTT CD TRACK 20 Sticking in the‘90s for the moment, Keith Scott recorded many of the intricate parts on Bryan Adams’records and is a fine and melodic guitarist. Pick this example with a clean sound and a chorus effect, paying particular attention to your timing when picking the arpeggios. INTERMEDIATE LICKS EXAMPLE 3 ERIC CLAPTON CD TRACK 21 We’re looking back to the Cream days with this example, which encompasses staccato notes with a great groove and wah-wah pedal.…

PACIFIC PRESS / GETTY IMAGES This New York based Norwegian is a monster guitarist. Metheny adores him, Kurt Rosenwinkel thinks his playing is ‘scary’, and once you’ve heard him play I’m sure you’ll be agree. Lage began to make waves at the turn of this century, after moving to America to receive scholarships at both Berklee and Juilliard. In 2005 he won the Theolonius Monk International Jazz Guitarist award and from then he has carved a remarkable career as both band-leader and in-demand sideman, with an ever-growing portfolio of album releases to his name. Lund’s playing is both beautiful and complex. He balances a cerebral approach to music with a heartfelt emotional intensity and a lyrical and expressive quality to his sound. There’s an underlying intelligence and intricacy to everything…

DAVID LYTTELTON Over the next few issues, we’re going to look at ways of developing some medium-paced ideas to fit in with your Mixolydian vocabulary. To do this we’ll be using various intervals, such as 2nds, 3rds, 4ths, 5ths, 6ths, 7ths and octaves. If you were asked to give an ideal blend between slow, medium and fast ideas for a well-balanced rock guitar solo, what would it be? 25% slow, 50% medium-paced and 25% fast? Even if you think that they should be evenly spread, the fact is that most self-taught rock guitarists do not play like that: especially metal players. Many heavy rockers switch between one extreme to another: that is, interesting ways of playing slow notes (such as using a whammy bar dive bomb, or a pinched harmonic)…

DAVID REDFERN / GETTY IMAGES The b 5 interval is sometimes called a ‘diminished 5th’ or a ‘tritone’ as it is three whole tones above the root note. Another way of thinking of it is ‘six semitones’. Historically it has been known as diabolus in musica, or the ‘devil’s music’ due to its dissonant quality. Famous uses of the b 5 can be found in Black Sabbath’s self titled tune, The Simpsons theme and Hendrix’s Purple Haze. In this lesson we will look at various ways of including the b 5 in different musical situations. The Blues scale is usually the first place in which we encounter the b 5, so for Example 1, we have a bluegrass lick played in the open position of E Blues. In this scale…

Give your playing the super-boost it deserves and... OVERHAUL YOUR CHOPS! Our Jam Track maestro and Bryan Ferry’s guitarist Jacob ‘Quist’ Quistgaard has created a great warm-up routine that doubles perfectly as a chops booster. Broken into manageable chunks you can use it for life, to keep your technique pin sharp! FEATURE #2 JIMMY PAGE His life in riffs, licks and solos Pivotal to the development of rock guitar, we examine every facet of his style in a fabulous 12-page feature. CLASSICAL TAB FRANZ SCHUBERT The Trout Quintet Bridget arranges a section of this glorious piece from the Austrian genius and tabs it for solo guitar. FEATURE #3 BRETT GARSED Improvises over King Bee Another wonderful solo from this stupendous blues, rock and fusion guitarist, fully tabbed and…

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 guitar instrumentals that appeals to you? TE: I love the challenge of trying to write instrumentals that can tell a story without words, that can paint a picture for the listener and that are interesting enough you want to hear it over and over. I always think the title is so important because it gives the listener a picture of what the writer is trying to say. So I choose my titles carefully - Determination, The Journey, Hellos And Goodbyes, etc. GT: What can an instrumental provide that a vocal song can’t? TE: An instrumental can allow the listener to make up his own idea about what the writer is saying. A good example is my song, Old Photographs. If you listen to that title,…

Conservation, reverberation and annihilation MARTIN INTRODUCES THE 00-21NY classical style guitar. Essentially a 00-21 with the scratchplate removed so it has a spruce top, rosewood back and sides and a mahogany neck with an unadorned rosewood fingerboard. The round soundhole has a three-stripe rosette, and the bridge is also rosewood with black-and-white dot string pins. The traditionally slotted headstock features chromed tuners with white buttons. Natural finish only. THE WORLD ’ WILDLIFE FUND (WWF) IS FOUNDED by the worlds top conservationists as a means to organise fundraising and to heighten public awareness to conservation issues.The Xingu National Park is created in Brazil; the AntarcticTreaty System comes into force to ensure that Antarctica will be used exclusively for peaceful purposes forever; and the world’s population reaches the four billion mark. THE…

EYE UBIQUITOUS / ALAMY For this perfect follow-on to Jon’s 50 Tips feature, which hopefully whetted your appetite for all things open-tuned, we will be looking in depth at three excellent tunings to lift your acoustic blues. Open tunings are often perceived to be a fairly recent innovation, having enjoyed a steady rise in popularity since the 1990s. Of course back in the ‘60s rock and folk musicians were experimenting with open tunings, but even they were not the first. In fact, most of the open tunings in use today can be traced back to the early days of Delta blues and its pioneers. These musicians were solo performers, so open tunings made self-accompaniment easier, they were fuller and louder sounding, plus they facilitated the use of slide technique and…

I’m far from an expert on this subject but very early on in my playing life an older, more experienced musician told me that I needed to follow the chords while I was soloing. I took this on board and began paying attention to even the simplest, diatonic chord progressions making sure I was marking the changes in a melodic sense. I guess as my initial band was a trio I had to make up for the fact that the chords vanished when I began playing single notes.For difficult chord progressions I’ll begin by looking at the connections I can make in terms of common tones and scale choices. I keep my scale choice fairly limited so I can focus on being musical and not bogging my brain down with…

Do you ever practise in front of a mirror? In music colleges you will find mirrors in most practice rooms and these are not just for checking your hair and make up. Looking at your own posture and hand positions is extremely helpful for improving your technique. Try sitting in front of a mirror with your guitar and look at your shoulders – are they level? Are you tensing, hunching or sitting awkwardly? Check put the hand positions and postures of really good players and then examine your own. Can you see any obvious differences or things you can do to improve? Try to be self-aware and strive for self-improvement every time you practise.…

The son of Texas musician Doyle Bramhall, Doyle II’s Dallas home was filled with blues and rock and roll. His first guitar arrived on his 14th birthday, a 1963 Harmony Rocket passed down from Lightnin’ Hopkins. Finding an instant ability to express himself the left-handed youngster didn’t stop to think about reversing the strings so has continued to play ‘upside down’. Doyle and his brother were childhood friends of Stevie Ray and Jimmie Vaughan. SRV often invited him to sit in on gigs and at 18 Jimmie recruited him for the Fabulous Thunderbirds. After Stevie’s death in 1990, Doyle and Charlie Sexton formed The Arc Angels with Double Trouble’s rhythm section and gained reasonable success with their self-titled album before disbanding. In 1996 Doyle introduced himself as a solo artist…

BETTMANN / GETTY IMAGES This month I’m starting a new series focusing on the great Nashville and country style guitarists and it seems fitting to begin with perhaps the greatest of them all – Chester Burton ‘Chet’ Atkins. There are few fingerstyle guitarists who can enthrall both the guitar playing audience and the wider public, but through his work as a picker, producer and writer Chet Atkins became a superstar of the country world. In fact, his influence within the genre was so great that he actually turned the music around to become popular again. Chet Atkins was born in Luttrell, Tennessee on June 20, 1924 into real poverty. Indeed, by the time he was playing electric guitar in his teens he used to have to travel miles to find…

REX / SHUTTERSTOCK The 10th part in our series follows on from our last lesson, where we worked through a multiple element ‘master exercise’ in E Aeolian, and with the associated chord, scale, arpeggio and intervallic pattern in 3rds and 4ths arranged in positions 1 and 4. This month we’ll revisit the same idea using 5ths and 6ths. In order to develop both legato and alternate picking approaches to scale and arpeggio playing in tandem, this month we’ll practice the Aeolian mode using a legato approach, with the minor 7 arpeggio executed using the sweeping technique in combination with hammer-ons and pull-offs. All intervallic patterns will be played as usual using alternate picking starting on a downstroke. Playing through the scale using intervals of 5ths and 6ths may be challenging…

WHAT OUR RATINGS MEAN ALICE IN CHAINS RAINIER FOG BMG ★★★★ This venerable Seattle band now having recorded as many albums with their new vocalist as with original Chains frontman Layne Staley, this third effort with William DuVall mirrors the late singer’s eponymous swansong with its intense melancholy and that trademark darkness wrought from Jerry Cantrell’s simple but brilliant riffing. Always more metal than the grunge tag with which they were bestowed (the ‘Seattle’ tag, perhaps), the punch of Red Giant and The One You Know effortlessly complement those pained dual vocal harmonies that conjure so many images, while the brighter strumming on the ballsy ballad Fly shows it’s not all doom and gloom. Furthermore, the emotive waves of atmospheric closer All I Am might be the best song yet…