Tabla de contenidos para Spring 2021 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. RICHARD BARRETT Tony Hadley’s longstanding guitarist Richie has worked with everyone from Roger Daltrey to Ronan Keeting, and is currently working on his own album. 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 COOPER A tutor at BIMM Brighton, Martin’s Rock columns show an incredible breadth of technique and style. His 2006 album…

MIKE POLITO X2 GT: What is it about guitar instrumentals that appeals to you? JH: It’s nice to be able to bring a melody that isn’t limited to the style of the human voice. I also think people are more forgiving about a writer experimenting harmonically and structurally because the skids have been greased in that genre. GT: What can an instrumental provide a listener that a vocal song can’t? JH: I would say less constraints on what the melody for a song can be. They also leave the mental visualisation open to the listener as they aren’t being specifically ‘told’ what the song is about. GT: Any tendencies you aim to embrace or avoid – rhythms, harmony, playing approach, etc? JH: I’d say that depends on the song. Whether…

LET’S LOOK at what most people do. This kind of musical scenario is quite common in the stylistic area between funk, soul and old-style R&B, so we’ll take an imaginary James Brown groove, suggesting E Major or E7 chords. We don’t want to clump around with full barre chords, so the options are usually partial chords, like the first three shapes here. Or you could slide into that classic funky E9 shape. But you’ll feel empty and unfulfilled, won’t you? You’re a creative artist, damn it! You might as well be playing Mustang Sally or Wonderwall. What we need is… new shapes! STARTING LOW, this chord has two important features. The sweeter sounding 13th (C#) takes us away from the straight 7th sound. And then the root is the highest…

As you can see with some of the options listed in the examples accompanying this article, there are other Pentatonic choices available, rather than just the regular Major (R-2-3-5-6) and Minor (R- b 3-4-5- b 7) varieties. However, there are some rather unique and magical properties that these two immensely useful set of notes both possess. The most dissonant intervals in music are widely acknowledged to be the Minor 2nd (C-D b , one fret apart), and therefore by inversion, Major 7ths (C-B, 11 semitones away, one fret less than an octave), along with the tritone (C-G b , six frets, or as the name suggests, three tones). Our favourite Pentatonic options contain none of these pesky dissonances and are in fact the only possible combination of five notes that…

When we think of electric blues there are few guitarists that spring more readily to mind than Albert, Freddie, and BB King. Of the three, BB is considered not only a forefather, but also a cornerstone in the development of electric blues. Music icons including Lennon, Clapton, Hendrix and U2, and modern greats Robert Cray, Jonny Lang and Joe Bonamassa have cited him as both an influence and inspiration. His unique phrasing and distinctive vibrato made his style instantly recognisable, and lent his music accessibility even to those who might not otherwise be drawn to blues music. BB was born in Mississippi in 1925, and as a child sang in the gospel choir at his local church. The minister there played guitar and taught BB his first chords. Soon BB…

Formed in 2002, Arctic Monkeys is one of those bands that emerged as a result of MySpace, a social media platform that preceded Facebook and gave artists the opportunity to promote their music on the internet. The band recorded a number of demos, and two EPs which fans shared, thus creating a massive online following. The debut album, Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not, remains the fastest-selling debut album in UK chart history. Its success was largely down to the loyalty of these many fans, and of course the songwriting genius of frontman and guitarist Alex Turner, whose clever social commentary and an ability to write catchy melodies and memorable riffs, was compelling. Guitarist Jamie Cook joined the line-up to share riff and soloing duties with Turner,…

THIS ISSUE HAS is crammed with features that I know will intrigue and enlighten you. Leading the charge is a delve into the wacky world of harmonics. This fascinating sound appears in almost all musical genres, in some form or other. I’d been playing for some time, knew dozens of songs and could even string adequate solos together, when I first realised harmonics even existed. This might sound weird, but I honestly hadn’t. It was when a friend of my brother’s came round and picked up my guitar. He put his fretting hand on the strings at the 12th fret, strummed the top few and this strange, ethereal sound jumped out. I asked him what it was and he couldn’t believe my ignorance. He showed me the basic technique and…

NICK DELANEY When I started out on guitar, it was mostly learning by ear. Mum had a Beatles songbook but I was more into The Stones and so I spent hours with the record player trying to figure out where to put my fingers to make those sounds. I never really thought much about rhythm, I guess I just absorbed it as I was learning by ear. It was all just to memory, no writing it out, learning songs during the week and then playing them to death at band practice on the weekend. But as I got more into teaching I realised that rhythm was a real struggle for many people and, because I had very little understanding of it, I found it very hard to explain and help…

➊ Dirty Blues Shuffle (D) We start with a slow 24-bar blues in the key of D. In terms of scales, you’ll get off to a great start by hitting up good old D Minor Pentatonic (D-F-G-A-C) and adding feel via string bends, slides, vibrato and other inflections. ➌ Slow Jazz-Blues (C) Here we have a slow jazz-blues jam in C. Use C Minor Pentatonic (C-E b -F-G-B b ) as a starting point for maximum blues effect. Then add some C Major Pentatonic (C-D-E-G-A) and try to catch some of the chord tones (arpeggios) along the way. ➍ Texas Blues Jam (G) We finish with a flamin’ Texas blues shuffle in G. Try mixing G Minor Pentatonic (G-B b -C-D-F) and G Major Pentatonic (G-A-B-D-E). G Major Pentatonic works…

GT: Do you have a type of pick that you can’t live without? A: I sure do. It is funny to think about such a small piece of material being so important as far as technique, tone, and comfortability with the guitar. If I don’t have my Dava Delrin pick, it’s over. They come in lots of colours, so depending on my mood, I pick them. Blue, red and white are my fav, since they match my guitar (even though typically no one notices but me). My favourite thing about them is that they have the break in the middle. If you choke up on them, they become a ‘hard’ pick. When you back off, and let the break give the pick some give, they become a comfortable medium. I…

This month we are looking at another tastefully crafted piece of playing, courtesy of fusion wizard Alex Sill. For his solo on Digging Deep, Alex favours a combination of sophisticated phrasing, clever note choices and a modern sounding, overdriven tone which makes this one an essential, if challenging, study piece. Jason’s ballad clocks in at a sedate 80bpm with an E Major key signature. For clarity and ease of use we have labelled the sections with rehearsal marks. Section A provides us with emotive movement between E Major and A Minor. Alex navigates these two chords with the E Major scale (E-F#-G#-A-B-C#-D#) and A Dorian (A-B-C-D-E-F#-G). The focal two notes that Alex targets when outlining the change from E Major to A Minor is G# (the Major 3rd of E…

Here we return to the work of musical genius Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) with the second movement Romance (Andante) from his Serenade no.13 for Strings in G Major K525, as . I arranged the famous first movement back in GT241, but this second slow part of the composition is just as well known, easily as beautiful, and still full to the brim with Mozart’s characteristically effortless charm. Although completed in 1787, the piece was not published until decades after Mozart’s death, and why or for whom it was written remains a mystery. Despite the uncertainty of its origin, Eine Kleine Nachtmusik is undoubtedly one of the best-known pieces of the entire classical repertoire. composition, Mozart had already written an amazing body of work. This included 38 symphonies, 37 concerti for…

I’ve used a biting overdriven humbucker tone and a swung boogie feel for this issue’s Rhythm Roost offering. When using overdrive it’s very easy for chords to lose clarity, so two aspects that will help are: 1) reduce low-string playing (let the bassist earn their keep!) and; 2) use smaller string combinations derived from barre chord shapes. Both these factors are at work here to create a fun-to-play, clear to hear rhythmic ‘ear worm’. The first three bars are G7 based while the fourth bar moves to F, where descending double-stops provide colourful closure. Notice the initial G7 rhythm is a three-beat phrase that repeats twice, rounds off at bar 2’s beat 4 then partially repeats in bar 3. This creates an infectious tension against the 4/4 drum groove. The…

This month we look at the style of Leslie West, lead guitarist and founding member of the American rock band, Mountain. Leslie sadly passed away towards the end of last year. He had formed Mountain with bassist Felix Pappalardi who was at the time producing Cream. In fact, Rolling Stone magazine went on to call Mountain a louder version of Cream. Along with Pappalardi the band included drummer Corky Laing and keysman Steve Knight. The Cream connection didn’t end there, with the second Mountain single being written by Cream bass player Jack Bruce. Leslie West and Corky Laing also released two albums with Jack Bruce. Mountain perhaps never achieved the commercial success they deserved, but Leslie West has long been a favourite of music aficionados and guitarists alike. His style…

In this current series, we’ve been looking at ways of exploring specific intervals within Mixolydian mode, and this lesson we’ve arrived at 6ths. Within the modes of the Major scale, 6ths will be one of two types: • Minor 6th = four tones • Major sixth = four and a half tones To illustrate this, Diagram 1 presents the notes of D Major and any of its modes (the A Mixolydian is its fifth mode). If you start from any note, and then move in any direction, clockwise or anti-clockwise, to another note that’s five notes away (in other words, with four scale notes in between both notes), the distance is either a perfect 6th (mostly) or a Diminished one ( b 6). Sixths sound soft and melodic, similar to…

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.…

JORGEN A NGEL / GETTY IMAGES THIS MONTH’S LICK is a fiery ascending idea that has been partly inspired by Jeff Beck and John Petrucci. It relies heavily on open-string legato and, with the exception of the final five beats, the whole phrase is played entirely on the fourth and third strings. Note-choice-wise it mostly uses G Minor Pentatonic – G-B b -C-D-F. Notice also that there is a bluesy b 3-3 (B b -B) at the end of bar 1. The 6th (E) and 2nd (A) are also both used once each. These could be viewed as being‘borrowed’from G Dorian – G-A-B b -C-D-E-F. It’s fairly fast, and it’s easy to accidentally get some unwanted handling noise. So keep things as clean as possible. I mute the sixth and…

Harmonics are basically ‘overtones’ (additional musical frequencies normally higher than the original note) that resonate naturally around a note when a string is plucked. On a guitar, we can pinpoint some of these and play them as isolated notes in their own right without necessarily hearing the original note. These are what we generally refer to as ‘harmonics’. On the guitar we are lucky because there are numerous approaches we can use to achieve harmonics, with each approach using a different technique that gives a unique sound which in turn can create a different musical mood or feel. We can use both an acoustic or electric guitar for most of the harmonic techniques, with the characteristics of the instrument adding to the musical flavour. For example, natural harmonics played on…

As we’ve seen in previous months, the connections between the musical approaches adopted by blues and jazz guitar players are often greater than the differences. There are huge amounts of crossover, in terms of note selection, rhythmic phrasing and even technique, all shared across the wide range of related genres broadly falling under the umbrella of blues and jazz. The intention of this month’s article is to explore these connections further and shine a light on the musical potential of playing familiar musical ideas in unfamiliar places to create new and often unexpected, modern sounding ideas, the kind you might hear in the playing of modern blues and jazz artists, such as Robben Ford, Oz Noy, Scott Henderson and many more. learning process when you can make clean and clear…

I always find the most beneficial practice is produced when I warm up nice and slowly. Very often my warm-up will consist of a tricky passage of a piece I am currently working on but broken right down into its technical components. Then I will repeat this many, many times with absolute precision and, only when every note feels comfortable and secure will I start to push the tempo. This type of work kills two birds with one stone, since it improves your technical skill while simultaneously building security into your musical repertoire!.…

Over the last two columns we’ve looked at a Minor chord substitution idea that helped us to quickly access classic bebop vocabulary that we can play over a jazz-blues. This month, we’ll look at two new Major chord substitution ideas that will open up more fresh insights you can explore, in order to bolster your playing. The first idea is to play Major arpeggios a tone (whole step ) down from the Root of each Dominant chord in the blues sequence. In our G blues, this means that over chord I (G13), we’ll play F Major arpeggios (F6, Fmaj7 and Fmaj9 are all good choices). And we’ll hear how an Fmaj7 arpeggio sounds over the G13 chord. “This month we’ll look at two new Major chord substitution ideas that will…

EPSILON / GETTY IMAGES Improvising over a blues can be as simple or complicated as you want to make it. The usual starting point is to use the minor Pentatonic from the tonic chord and have fun playing licks and bending strings to your heart’s content. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this, as players like BB King have proven for decades. However, if you want to inject a bit of jazziness to your licks then it is simpler than you might think. In this lesson we will take a common blues chord change; the I chord moving to the V chord. This could be A7-E7, Am7- E7 or the same relative chords in any other key. The trick is as simple as changing one note. Start by playing your…

FEATURE #2 VIDEO ALEX SILL Age Of Shadows This wonderful fusion guitarist plays and explains his solo on another of Jason’s fantastic backing tracks. CLASSICAL TAB VIDEO PIETRO MASCAGNI Cavaleria Rusticano Bridget Mermikides arranges the intermezzo, best known from films Raging Bull & The Godfather 3. FEATURE #3 THE CROSSROADS Mike Stern - bebop Hendrix This month Wheaty shows how this great fusion guitarist turns Jimi-style blues into scorching fusion licks. NEW SERIES VIDEO THE RHYTHM ROOST Swing In 7 Jason Sidwell continues his rhythm guitar video series with a great lesson designed to nail 7/8 time signature. Spice up your licks and solos with the... UBER BLUES SCALE! Based around your favourite Minor Pentatonic shapes this mega scale incorporates all the notes you need to play…