Tabla de contenidos para November 2020 en 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. 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 Charlie series. He’s also guitarist with…

GT: What is it about guitar instrumentals in particular that appeals to you? SH: They feature the guitar! I was about 10 years old when these erupted into being and they are a big part of the reason why I play the guitar in the first place. What’s not to like about them? The way this form of music has developed fascinates me. I’ve been allowed to develop my own style to incorporate my writing and recordings and so to release massive amounts of tracks that retell and continue moulding what are guitar instrumentals. It’s just fundamental to me, although, since it’s lost its pop-chart-hit sensibility I guess millions of folk don’t truly know of its existence or relevance to the guitar story. GT: What is it that an instrumental…

AFTER A SIX-YEAR GAP a new James Bond movie, Golden Eye is released with Pierce Brosnan in the lead roll. Philip Pullman’s novel Northern Lights (aka The Golden Compass) is published and the Independent newspaper starts The Diary Of Bridget Jones column. THE IBANEZ ICEMAN RANGE BURSTS into existence and features a striking new design. Part reverse body and part upside-down Rickenbacker style this bound black beauty is a real sight to behold. With four guitars and a bass to choose from there’s a lot on offer but the looks and thick meaty sounds will appeal mainly to the heavy metal brigade. The hard-tailed IC300 features twin humbuckers and great rock sounds. AS A ROCKET IS LAUNCHED FROM THE SPACE exploration centre in Norway ,it is briefly thought to be…

We asked an array of phenomenal guitarists three questions about the influence that Hendrix had on their own guitar development, on music in general, and on creative culture. Question 1: What did Jimi Hendrix mean to you as a player? JAN AKKERMAN I think he was a great musician and showman, but I had very different influences like Django Reinhardt, Wes Montgomery or the first rock pioneers, and all different styles because I used to play the accordion when I was six years old. So in short, NO secondhand blues licks. So in the beginning I didn’t pay too much attention. I did like Hey Joe and The Wind Cries Mary as compositions, but didn’t think much of it until I hooked up with Joachim Kuhn, a monster keyboard player…

It was October 1966, and God had gone missing. Scanning the Decca Studios in North London as John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers set up to record A Hard Road, producer Mike Vernon felt a sense of rising panic. “I said to John, ‘Where’s Eric Clapton?’ Mayall says: ‘He’s not with us any more, but don’t worry, we’ve got someone better.’ I said, ‘You’ve got someone better – than Eric Clapton?’ John said, ‘He might not be better now, but in a couple of years, he’s going to be the best.’ Then he introduced me to Peter Green.” “ TO MY MIND, A BLUES DOESN’T HAVE TO BE A 12-BAR PROGRESSION. TO ME, THE BLUES IS AN EMOTIONAL THING. IF A SONG HAS THE RIGHT EMOTION THEN I ACCEPT IT AS A BLUES…

Last year was both a busy and a notable one for Tora Dahle Aagård. She played with Paul Gilbert and Jennifer Batten, did a gig at The Royal Albert Hall, and released her first eponymously titled album. One reviewer noted her “playful virtuosity” and stage presence, while another applauded her “incredible talent” and dubbed her “the most courageous guitarist I have ever met”. Hugely popular on social media, her enthusiasm for both music and the guitar is infectious and yet she was a relative latecomer to the instrument… “When I was 14 years old, I saw School Of Rock with Jack Black,” she enthuses as we settle in the Guitar Techniques studios shortly before the shadow of lockdown. “There were these kids playing instruments and they were so young, but…

It’s always very good to warm up slowly when practising. Just 10-15 minutes of preparation can set you up for a really beneficial practice session and protect you against injury. One (of many) possible approaches to warming up is to take a very small section of a piece you are working on, and play it extremely slowly, focusing on relaxed precision, clarity of tone and efficiency of motion. In this way you can improve your technique, warm up optimally and imprint a secure muscle memory into the tunes in your repertoire.…

TIM MOSENFELDER / GETTY IMAGES Kenny Wayne Shepherd is one of America’s most successful blues-rock guitarists. With a 20-year recording career that started at just age 16, Kenny stepped into the spotlight back in the mid 90s. Completely self-taught, with only his dad’s record collection to learn from, Kenny picked things up by listening to cassette tapes over and over, one painstaking note at a time. This will be a significant contributor to his lyrical and musical phrasing, which usually comes from a deep immersion in the musical language of the style. Kenny’s vocabulary harks back to the blues players of a previous generation. In particular Stevie Ray Vaughan, most evident in his style of riffs and double-stops. That said, recently he has moved somewhat on from this. At the…

DREW FARRELL / PHOTOSHOT / GETTY IMAGES The Kooks have carved out a successful career in the world of guitar-led Brit rock and have kept the flame burning for UK artists in the process. Here we are focusing on the band’s rockier output from their 2006 debut Inside In/Inside Out and their 2008 follow-up album, Konk. Although The Kooks have featured a couple of line-up changes over their career, there have been two constant members; lead vocalist and guitarist Luke Pritchard, and guitarist (pianist, keyboardist and backing vocalist) Hugh Harris. Pritchard, Harris and original bassist Paul Garred met while they were students at the Brit School in Croydon, before moving to Brighton to study at the recently opened BIMM in the early 2000s. Fervent fans of rock’s royalty, their musical…

DOES IT SEEM impossible to you that Jimi Hendrix died 50 years ago? It certainly does to me. In the brief time between his ascent and demise, Jimi made the biggest impact of any guitarist before or since. Yes, there had been trail-blazing six-string innovators before he came along - Charlie Christian, Eddie Lang, Django Reinhardt, T-Bone Walker, Les Paul, Wes Montgomery, Chet Atkins, Maybelle Carter, Merle Travis, and many more. But Jimi emerged in a decade that was more ripe for new music than ever before, with avid TV audiences, the BBC’s new pop station Radio 1, and of course pirate ships pumping out the songs mainstream radio chose not to play. I watched The Jimi Hendrix Experience perform Hey Joe, and saw Cream playing I Feel Free on…

I wonder if everyone remembers the first time they heard Jimi Hendrix? I was about 14 years old and had been playing guitar for a number of years but somehow had never encountered the music. I remember reading an article about him in a guitar magazine and deciding on the spot to get to the local record store where I bought Are You Experienced on cassette tape. I remember feeling excited on the bus home (buying albums was a big deal back then) and when I got home I put it into my ghetto blaster, lay on the floor and transcended into another place. I remember feeling quite bewildered but in a great way. It was incredible. Genius. So different to anything else that I’d ever heard before and I…

Due to this year’s unique situation, Guitarist Of The Year competition will be a US-only affair, hosted by our sister magazines Guitar Player, Guitar World and Bass Player, along with our website www.guitarworld.com. There are four categories - Electric Guitarist, Young Guitarist, Acoustic Guitarist, and Bass Guitarist. How to enter Create and upload a three-minute (maximum) video to YouTube and then submit your nomination form online. You only have a short amount of time to show us your talent so make sure your sound and audio is clean and clear. We will not be accepting entry submissions via any other route. What are judges looking for? 1. We need to see you play! No promo-style band videos or miming (finger sync-ing), please. 2. Keep it musical. We’re all for fretboard…

Jimi Hendrix will go down in history as one of the most significant musicians of the 20th century. Even today, 50 years after his death, his influence is still profoundly felt. For many he was the ultimate electric guitarist. Hendrix was a musical visionary, a virtuoso, and an incendiary live performer (literally), accomplished songwriter and a skilled wordsmith. He was perceived as a social and cultural icon, lauded by both music fans and by his not insubstantial peers. Jimi’s playing was bold, hip, at times brutal and at times sophisticated. Super creative, very, very loud, and incredibly exciting for any guitarist around at the time when Jimi exploded on the scene. And that included most of the members of the UK’s rock elite such as Pete Townshend, Eric Clapton, Jeff…

When Hendrix emerged on the scene in 1966 he made an instant and massive impact on music and on guitarists in particular. Therefore, Question 2 is: What do you think Hendrix brought to the guitar? JAN AKKERMAN His style was very expressive to say the least. It is difficult to describe his technique because he didn’t care for that. I liked his tone on the Strat. I like the sound of single-coils like Fender or my Gretsch White Falcon. One of the reasons I couldn’t play a Fender is because the controls are always in the way. Jimi didn’t have that problem because he played upside-down so the volume pot was on the other side of the guitar. JENNIFER BATTEN He brought a renewed creativity as to what was possible…

Fleetwood Mac (1968) Just a year after Peter’s recording debut with The Bluesbreakers, Fleetwood Macreleased their first album in February 1968. It went on to reach No 4 in the UK album charts Mr Wonderful (1968) Fleetwood Mac's second release came just six months after the first, in August 1968, and was augmented by a horn section Black Magic Woman (1968) Allegedly Peter wrote Black Magic Woman about his girlfriend at the time. Santana’scover was a bigger hit two years later Then Play On (1969) Danny Kirwan joins the Fleetwood Macline-up for their third recording. It was to be Peter’s last with the band Before The Beginning 1968-1970 A collection of early live performances and sessions, this is a fantastic insight into the early days of Fleetwood Mac; it’s clear…

PAUL NATKIN / GETTY IMAGES Bob Seger is a native of Detroit, Michigan and, since his career built through the late 1960s into the 70s, has helped define the sound of American rock. One of his most successful periods came in the mid 70s with the renowned Silver Bullet Band, which in addition to Seger on guitar and vocals also featured Drew Abbott on guitar, drummer Charlie Allen Martin, keyboard player Rick Manasa and bassist Chris Campbell. Seger also often employed the services of the legendary Muscle Shoals rhythm section, and it was this collective ensemble that helped shape Seger’s sound. One of the prices of the success that came with it, however, was that Seger’s favour towards using these high-profile musicians on the records, led to internal conflict with…

EBET ROBERTS / GETTY IMAGES In this latest series, we’ve looked at five different ways of spicing up our lines using non-scale (chromatic) notes and, in this lesson, we are going to apply all five approaches in a single solo study. Before we start looking at the solo, let’s have a short recap of the various chromatic techniques that we’ve studied to this point. Chromaticism provides us with the opportunity to use tension (dissonance) and then resolve it (consonance), rather than just dwelling on consonant notes all the time. So far, we have looked at the following concepts: 1) Chromatic Approach-notes: either from a semitone above or below the target note. 2) Chromatic Bridging: whereby one note is linked to another (however far apart) by a consecutive series of chromatic…

FEATURE #2 VIDEO NILE RODGERS Six Funk Moves Nile brings you some of his favourite funky lead-meets-rhythm licks, up close and personally in GT’s video lesson. CLASSICAL TAB VIDEO GIUSEPPE VERDI Hebrew Slaves Chorus Bridget Mermikides has arranged and transcribed a stunning version of this evergreen from the Italian genius. FEATURE #3 VIDEO THE BEATLES Fingerpicking styles Check out the very different acoustic styles of the Fab Four’s John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison. TECHNIQUE & THEORY GREAT STUFF TO LEARN Rock legato & chord tapping Chris Brooks brings us the second in his new legato series; and Charlie Griffiths introduces chord tapping. Build an exciting new lickbag with... 50 ROCK LICKS! The term ‘rock’ encompasses many different styles. To make up our huge 50 Licks…

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.…

I am quietly confident that the Gibson guitar company would have sold considerably fewer examples of the Lester William Polsfuss Custom model had the gentleman not had the good sense to Americanise his moniker for professional purposes. But back in the Boring Twenties in Waukesha, Wisconsin, the putative inventor, innovator and genius had come to a conspiratorial arrangement with his teenage chum. He had attached a cord to the bedpost and dangled it from the window every evening. If anything interesting was happening guitar-wise at the solitary local club, his accomplice was instructed to run over to the the house and give the Yank a yank. (Sorry. It had to be done.) And as Mr Paul later recounted, it came to pass that he was woken one night by this…

M.O.A. / GETTY IMAGES Use these tips to navigate our bonus backing tracks ➊ Slow Blues (G) We start with an easy-going slow blues in the key of G. In terms of scales, you’ll get off to a great start by using the G Major Pentatonic (G-A-B-D-E), especially if you judiciously mix it with some G Minor Pentatonic (G-B b -C-D-F). ➋ Dorian Groove Jam This modal groove jam is focused on the funky sounding B Dorian mode. Use B Minor Pentatonic scale (B-D-E-F#-A), B Blues scale (B-D-E-F-F#-A) - as well as, of course, the great sounding B Dorian mode (B-C#-D-E-F#-G#-A). ➌ Chicago Blues (C) Here we have a fun and feel-good blues shuffle in C with a Chicago style turnaround at the end of each 12-bar cycle. Use C…

While it’s completely understandable that much of the analysis of Jimi’s playing is focused on his incendiary lead playing, he was also an incredible rhythm guitarist, expertly mixing genres to create a cohesive and highly original sound that was stylistically authentic, rooted in tradition and also unique and forward thinking. Serving his apprenticeship on the ‘chitlin’ circuit’ backing artists such as Wilson Pickett and Sam Cooke, and with stints in the backing bands of both Little Richard and Curtis Knight, Jimi certainly did his homework, and so should you. Make sure you devote time to studying rhythm guitar, as this is most likely to be the thing you’ll spend most time actually playing; plus it’s often the area that we work on the least.…

To gain an insight into which of the many sides of Hendrix’s extraordinary range of styles and moods made the most impact on our illustrious group of players, Question 3 is, of course: What’s your favourite Hendrix moment, and why? JAN AKKERMAN I still like Hey Joe, Spanish Castle Magic, etc, but I heard some experimental stuff which was pretty out as well. All in all he was one of the greatest artists in any scene. JENNIFER BATTEN My favourite Hendrix moment was going to a double or triple bill movie of all Hendrix films. It was total immersion when I was a young teen. My parents wouldn’t let me go see him live at my age, when my sisters went and saw a double bill with Jimi and Joplin.…

However tempting it may be to call this lesson ‘How To Play Like Peter Green’, such a promise would likely disappoint. The subtleties of Peter’s exquisite phrasing are renowned, and were praised by none other than BB King, who said they gave him “chills”. Nevertheless, there is actually no reason why we can’t learn a great deal from listening and emulating, hopefully imbuing our own playing with a little extra class and panache along the way. Rather than sitting down to practise alternate picking or learn exotic scales and arpeggios, these few pages are all about the phrasing – which is no less sophisticated but requires a more cerebral approach. Peter always makes each and every note count, giving the impression that he is always fully conscious of what he…

LEEMAGE / CORBIS / GETTY IMAGES Born in the same year as last issue’s featured composer JS Bach, the German-turned-British composer George Friedric Handel (1685-1759) is also regarded as one of the greatest and most influential composers of the Baroque era, and indeed the entire canon of Western Art Music. His remarkable catalogue of works has long been praised for both its technical skill and dramatic power. Among these, several pieces have been used at key historical events, during his lifetime and to the present day, and are embedded in popular as well as classical music culture. Zadok The Priest, for example has been performed at all 10 coronations from George II to Elizabeth II. His Water Music and Firework Music are regular – almost default – accompaniments to appropriate…

Brought to you by… EASY LICKS EXAMPLE 1 ANGUS YOUNG CD TRACK 25 This example is a great way of ending a rock song or maybe a blues improvisation in E. Bend slightly on the G note, travelling down the scale with staccato style picking, gradually slowing down to signal the end to the musicians around you. Push and pull the tempo of your licks while keeping within the metre. EASY LICKS EXAMPLE 2 BO DIDDLEY CD TRACK 26 Bo’s signature‘scratchy thing’tone is reproduced with light gain, angled pick and bouncy picking hand. Play off the A chord rolling up to the Major 3rd, using the Major Pentatonic G CAGED shape for embellishments. To end, finish off the A5 chord with a bluesy A Major Pentatonic (A B C# E…

STEPHEN FOURIE It’s great to be back in GT, this time looking at fretting-hand concepts covered in my Legato Guitar Technique Mastery book. Playing legato is about creating smooth, tied-together lines that contrast the staccato sound of picking. In the coming months, you’ll build technique, cover the fretboard extensively and apply musical concepts used by the most influential legato players on guitar. Tone and technique go hand in hand to create the sound of legato playing, so it’s important to get the right start. Amp compression and sustain are very useful for a legato-friendly tone to execute hammer-ons and pull-offs with clarity alongside picked notes. A typical signal chain for legato players includes humbucking pickups, a boost pedal, and a main gain source like a second drive pedal, or an…

ARUN NEVADER / GETTY IMAGES Sweep picking is a technique for moving from any string to a consecutive string in one fluid motion. You can sweep pick across two strings, or six strings and everything in between, in either an ascending or a descending motion. Sweep picking is typically used in jazz, metal and fusion to create fast, flowing arpeggio lines. Example 1 is a warm-up exercise designed to get both hands working in synchronisation across three strings. The approach here is to pick three ascending notes, then three descending notes. It’s important to note that your picking hand should move smoothly as one continuous downstroke and one continuous upstroke, not as six separate pick movements. Another way of thinking about it is to employ the ‘rest stroke’. If you…