Tabla de contenidos para August 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 TonyHadley’slongstandingguitarist Richiehasworkedwitheveryonefrom 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 State Of The Union is out on iTunes.…

IF YOU superimpose one whole chord over another whole chord, you get a ‘polychord’. This concept is admittedly not common in rock and pop music. They gained limited exposure in 20th century classical music, for instance Stravinsky’s The Rite Of Spring. But with care, they can be used more widely. Taking a simple progression, we’ll glue some new chords on top. The upshot is often that you’re just taking a roundabout route to a perfectly normal extended-chord type (like the A9sus4 above), but that doesn’t matter. Isn’t the joy of travel supposed to be about the journey, rather than the arrival? YOU’LL discover fairly quickly that the polychord is best suited to an ensemble situation, where the component chords can be shared among multiple instruments. We’re working with just one…

Using a capo A capo is a great way to play in different keys using‘open’chord or arpeggio shapes. These are more resonant and‘guitaristic’than their barre chord equivalents. We have used a capo to help create the sounds and textures in our Rod Stewart and Paul Simon style pieces. A capo sounds particularly effective on acoustic guitars and it also helps to lower the action in higher positions, making the guitar easier to play. Always use a capo that’s adjustable so you can set it for the right amount of pressure to get well-intonated, buzz-free results all over the neck. Regular use of a capo is also a great way of learning the CAGED system, as you will soon learn that a D shape with the capo at the 2nd fret…

Robben Ford is one of the most significant of all electric guitarists. He has maintained a successful solo career as a blues singer, guitarist and composer, with a stream of blues flavoured releases. Robben has also had an illustrious career as session player to the stars, with credits that include Miles Davis, Joni Mitchell, George Harrison, Little Feat, Michael McDonald and many more. In recent years he’s also pursued collaborative projects along with fellow legendary guitarists Larry Carlton, Mike Landau and John Scofield. An expert at mixing orthodox blues phrasing with sophisticated swing and be-bop lines, evidence of his earlier jazz roots, he’s just as at home juxtaposing Pentatonic ideas with symmetrical Diminished scale and Melodic Minor modal action. Robben is able to integrate these concepts in an expressive and…

PAUL NATKIN / GETTY IMAGES Many people would have first noticed Otis Rush’s name as composer of the song All Your Love, the opening track on John Mayall’s legendary Beano album with Eric Clapton on guitar. Perhaps one of the blues world’s most unsung heroes, Rush hailed from Mississippi, but moved to Chicago in the late 40s, still in his teens, and made a name for himself on the local circuit. He signed a deal with Cobra records and released his first single, I Can’t Quit You Baby in 1956. He had some initial success with this, getting to number 6 on Billboard’s R&B chart. He was with Cobra for almost a decade, but the label went bankrupt, so in 1960 he moved to Chess, where he released a number…

LIKE ALL GUITARISTS, I recall getting my first guitar like it was just yesterday. In fact it’s almost 56 years, but I will forever treasure the moment. My father was ex-RAF, very gingoistic and he abhorred pop music. At first he refused to let me have a guitar since it was clearly spawn of the devil. My mother, on the other hand was a musician who loved all types of music. After much reasoning and cajoling she finally persuaded him I might actually stick at it. The thing was, I had to save up half of the whole eight guineas (£8.40 in today’s money) for the Rosetti Lucky 7 I’d set my sights on. It was dark to light red sunburst with a cutaway and f-holes. I didn’t realise the…

NICK DELANEY This last week I re-recorded all the lessons on E-shape barre chords that I first filmed nearly 10 years ago. I like to think that I have improved as a teacher since then and for sure the audio and video quality is better… but I experienced some unexpected revelations too. One of the amazing things about teaching online is that feedback can often be brutally honest. I ignore the haters, but those with constructive feedback are a key to growth. So before remaking the videos I went through all the YouTube comments, the website and forum comments to take every bit of feedback I could. In the ‘old days’ (ha ha) we teachers used to get feedback from the students in the room but with everything moving more…

➊ Super Slow Blues (Dm) We start with a very slow 12-bar in the key of D Minor. In terms of scales, you’ll get off to a great start by hitting up the good old D Minor Pentatonic scale (D-F-G-A-C) and adding feeling via bends, vibrato, slides and legato. ➋ G Dorian Jam This hypnotic groove jam contains a two-chord vamp, specifically designed for exploring G Dorian mode (G-A-B b -C-D-E-F). The chords are Gm and C – and it is worth noting that you can also simply use G Minor Pentatonic (G-B b -C-D-F) and G Minor Blues scale (G-B b -C-C#-D-F). ➌ Lydian #2 Jam Here we have a very different type of jam. It is a groove jam based on the sixth mode of the A Harmonic…

JAMIE McCARTHY / ROGER KISBY / FRANK MICELOTTA ARCHIVE / KEN HIVELY / GETTY IMAGES Sting’s album Unplugged features tracks from his solo repertoire, from The Police and various covers. Dominic Miller accompanied him on guitar. The MTV Unplugged albums by Clapton, SRV, Nirvana, Paul Simon and REM are essential listening. Rod Stewart’s fantastic performance is found on Unplugged... And Seated, and features longtime collaborators Ronnie Wood and Jim Cregan on guitars.…

LICK 1 BARS 16 & 17 16TH NOTE SYNCOPATION Alex often starts his phrases off the beat and this adds a sophisticated edge to the phrasing. The rhythms used in this lick are pretty much off the beat from start to finish! The 16th note subdivision in the track has a slight shuffle feel and this is another key component of Alex’s delivery. LICK 2 BAR 30 & 31 QUARTER TONE BENDS Alex often pulls various notes slightly sharp. The notes selected are often ones that are held onto or at the end of the line. The quarter bend adds a little tension to the sound and this can be released to create a pleasing cadence. LICK 3 BAR 57 TO 60 CHORD STABS To end the…

AS IF THE NAMES Superlocrian and Altered scale are not enough, you also find players and teachers (Jamey Aebersold’s educational material springs to mind) making reference to this collection of notes as the‘Diminished Whole-Tone’scale. It takes this name from the similarity that part of it has with these two symmetrical structures, with Diminished scale based on a series of whole-step (tone, or two frets), half-step (semitone, or one fret), whole-half and so on, while the Whole-Tone scale is built, as you might expect, from a series of consecutive two-fret gaps. The Altered scale step pattern is: Root-half-whole-half-whole-whole-whole-whole; then second octave, half-whole and so on. This means that from the Major 3rd all the way up to the octave we have five notes exactly as we’d find them in the Whole-Tone…

GETTY IMAGES Uriah Heep formed in London in 1969. Over the years a number of musicians have passed through the ranks, including bassist Bob Daisley, drummer Chris Slade, keysman Ken Hensley, and original singer David Byron. Guitarist Mick Box is the only remaining original member. When the band released its debut album … Very ‘Eavy…Very ‘Umble in 1970 it showcased the rock guitar talents of Mick Box, who has always been the sole six-stringer, and the fiery Deep Purple style keyboard playing of Ken Hensley. Uriah Heep steadily built up a following throughout the early 1970s, as the writing and touring teamwork of the main band members continued to flourish. However, towards the middle of that decade tensions began to rise and this led to the departure of David Byron,…

In this series we are looking at Altered scales that can be played over Dominant chords to create outside-inside tensions in our playing. This month, our Altered scale originates from the Diminished scale. This scale has a symmetrical construction that alternates half step, whole step, half step, and is known as the Dominant Diminished or simply the Half-Whole Diminished scale. The symmetrical nature of the scale, with its interval pattern that repeats every three steps gives it a predictable layout on the fretboard. This makes it easy to compose licks that repeat and move in Minor 3rds (a distance of three frets), and is a technique that musicians like saxophonist Michael Brecker and many others have used so effectively. This month, rather than play over the II-V-I sequence, we’ll use…

ETHAN MILLER / GETTY IMAGES This current series of lessons has been devoted to employing different intervals within the Mixolydian scale. In this penultimate instalment, we are going to combine all of the simple (within one octave) and compound (beyond one octave) intervals that we’ve studied so far. Basically, an interval is the distance between two notes and Diagram 1 provides useful reference information on the distance between a pair of notes within any mode of the Major scale (like Mixolydian). Up until now, we have tended to focus exclusively on one interval at a time. It’s good to start with that approach because, apart from avoiding having too much to think about, such a limitation will force you into digging deep within each concept, helping you to establish a…

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.…

Imagine a recording studio, long ago and far away. Imagine a facility equipped with 240 volts, instant coffee and carpet, if you were lucky. A recording area miked up for electric guitar, bass and a decent piano, set at ninety degrees to a Fender Rhodes electric keyboard. Imagine separate booths for drum kit, percussion and acoustic guitar. It’s easy if you try. (Sorry. It had to be done.) On a clear day, the magic happened in the control room. This housed a desk which resembled the flight deck of the Starship Enterprise but often populated by more people with funny ears. In one corner stood the intimidatingly bulky tape machine, spinning its hugely expensive two-inch tape at warp speed, simultaneously heating the room to Hell’s Kitchen Centigrade. Was it Lansdowne?…

THIS MONTH’S PIANO-INFLUENCED lick is mostly constructed using a mixture of three-note chromatic lines followed either by a chord tone or an extension note. There are four of these lines in total targeting in order: the root (A), b 7 (G), 13 (F#) and 5 (E). As well as looking at the function of these target notes it is also worth noticing how the chromatic approach notes relate to the underlying chord as well. It’s a little tricky to play this fast and cleanly, mostly because of the frequent string skips. I have written a suggested fretting-hand fingering for the entire phrase. However, I strongly recommend that you use this as a starting point and amend it to suit your approach. This point particularly applies to the notes played at…

The acoustic guitar is a beautifully expressive instrument. It’s been used on thousands of hit records in all genres, from country to pop, blues to rock, grunge even hip-hop ( Govan Rascal anyone?). Singer-songwriters armed with 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 and performance becomes, acoustic singer-songwriters such as Ed Sheeran and Justin Bieber continue to keep this simple instrument prominant in the public’s minds. The Unplugged format of stripped-down acoustic performances, pioneered by the innovative cable channel MTV, is as strong as ever, and these days many performers feature an ‘acoustic section’ in their live shows. For inspiration we have chosen 10 artists and bands that have…

This month we have another tastefully crafted solo courtesy of fusion wizard Alex Sill. Jason’s track Buoyancy clocks in at a 108bpm and features a number of non-diatonic chords and key changes, so we have chosen an open key signature (no sharps or flats). This will make it easier to see clearly how the note choices relate the chords. The track starts with a II-V (F#m7 b 5-B7) that Alex sets the scene with some pre-composed single-note phrases that feature mainly chord tones to align with the changes. While the intro suggests a move to E Minor, the verses are actually based around E Major, and even that is a loose reference as F# chords (suggesting E Lydian), G chords (suggesting E Dorian) and D chords (suggesting E Mixolydian) all…

IT NEVER HURTS to be reminded of the benefits when working more difficult passages up from slower tempos. It’s also worth noting that the process doesn’t have to be looked at from some rigid, militaristic perspective. I like to look at it as being able to have more control over the individual motions and nuances of lines so that they can properly and more fully be expressed at quicker speeds rather than feeling forced. Not having control at slower speeds inevitably encourages gaps and bad habits in one’s playing. I recommend finding specific tunes, or parts of tunes, and use them as etudes that involve the type of technique and precision you’d like to develop. This way you can apply the technique in a realistic musical context rather than always…

In this issue we are focusing on two fundamental techniques of the classical guitar: the free stroke (‘tirando’) and rest stroke (‘apoyando’), and how we control them in order to balance a melody with its accompaniment. While a pianist might achieve this by altering the dynamics between their two hands, the guitarist must learn to accomplish it within the picking hand. I have devised two exercises to address this skill and this in turn will allow us to play the wonderful Study No.18, Opus 35 (published in 1828) by the Spanish composer and perhaps first virtuoso of the instrument, Fernando Sor (1778-1839). Sor was a successful performer, respected teacher and prodigious composer (his work includes two operas, nine ballets and three symphonies). However, it is with the development of the…

EASY LICKS EXAMPLE 1 JONNY BUCKLAND CD TRACK 41 This sequence is based around a Coldplay style arpeggiated, open D Major chord. The notes beneath move around D, A, C and B, to add harmonic interest and imply other chords. A melodic hook is added on the treble strings. Take note of the picking sequence and keep the arpeggiated notes ringing. Johnny often plays a Telecaster with humbuckers, so select your bridge pickup for a bright, crisp sound. Then, add a touch of overdrive and delay. EASY LICKS EXAMPLE 2 DAVID GILMOUR CD TRACK 42 This riff creates conversational phrasing by stating a question, via the figures played in open position, then a musical answer played up the neck on the treble strings. Don’t rush the notes when changing position,…

ETHAN MILLER / GETTY IMAGES Steve Vai’s otherworldly playing and unique musical voice has been both astounding and inspiring guitarists since 1990, when he released his landmark album Passion And Warfare. It’s arguably one of the most important guitar instrumental albums ever recorded, and here we examine some of Steve’s best known techniques. Example 1 is all about finger tone and giving life to the notes. Steve’s unique circular vibrato is a huge part of the DNA of his playing. The concept is to combine the classical push-pull vibrato with the more bluesy string-bending style. For classical vibrato, the hand moves side to side in the direction of the string, in order to stretch and slacken it. This makes the note subtly bend above and below the pitch being fretted.…

Fueled by the sound of early garage rock and punk, The Libertines’ life as a band was short lived. It ended in a spiral of disputes between dual frontmen and guitarists Carl Barât and Pete Docherty. Forming in London in 1997, the classic line-up was completed by bassist John Hassall and drummer Gary Powell. The band recorded two albums, 2002’s Up The Bracket and 2004’s The Libertines before splitting up. A third album, Anthems For Doomed Youth was released in 2015 when the band briefly reformed. The Libertines sound has always been very raw, with the songs taking the front seat rather than a polished production and perfect playing. Libertines songs are classic anthems for a jaded youth, and include the anthemic Can’t Stand Me Now and Don’t Look Back…

ALBUM OF THE MONTH STEVE CROPPER FIRE IT UP Provogue 8/10 The legendary Steve Cropper of Booker T and The MG’s, Otis Redding and Blues Brothers movie has a new album out and the 13 tracks make for great listening! His biting Peavey T-type guitar, Fender amp and spring reverb tone is still something of wonder, making these instrumentals and songs both nostalgic and modern. Bush Hog Part 1 is a swampy instrumental groover, vibing with blues phrases and tasty 6th slides. Fire It Up is soulful with a great upbeat groove and Roger C. Reale’’s emphatic vocals are reminiscent of Joe Cocker. I’m Not Havin’ It has Steve’s rhythm guitar magic all over it with numerous great strumming and riff parts. As typical of Steve’s Booker T work,…