Tabla de contenidos para February 2023 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. 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…

Following last issue’s article, I’m hoping you did a little song analysis and made some discoveries about what you like and what you don’t, and what you might like to explore in your own writing. Guitar students are usually more confident coming up with music than lyric ideas, and this is normal. If you've been practising something for a while then of course you should feel more confident with it. So how does one start writing lyrics, then? Without wanting to sound silly, I would recommend just putting pen to paper and seeing what comes out. You'll soon see what things need work, and can start to work your craft. You’ll obviously need a topic, some kind of story or emotion you want to express: heartache, loneliness, anger, happiness, finding…

VIDEO & AUDIO https://bit.ly/3DEmTDq ON VIDEO Greensleeves is one of those ‘ear worm’ pieces that everyone is either already very familiar with, or totally unaware that they are already familiar with. A traditional English folk song first documented back in 1580, Greensleeves is a song that has been deeply woven into popular culture for well over four centuries, referenced as far back as 1602 in Shakespeare’s The Merry Wives Of Windsor. It is a bizarre and almost absurd thought that over 400 years later, a folk song entirely unrelated to the business of selling ice cream should be chosen as the jingle piped out by ice cream trucks the world over. For many the tune of Greensleeves is better known as the Christmas carol What Child Is This? a poem…

Following last issue’s look at the formidable TJ Helmerich, this month we delve into the equally singular style of his partner in crime, Brett Garsed. TJ and Brett’s 90s albums Quid Pro Quo and Exempt are shred fusion masterpieces, which still connect jaws with floors today. Currently living in his native Australia, Brett has had a colourful career outside of niche instrumental guitar music, having toured and recorded with both US band Nelson and Aussie star John Farnham, as well as appearing on his country’s biggestselling album, Whispering Jack. Guitarists will possibly be more aware of Brett’s instrumental albums Big Sky and Dark Matter, along with his appearances on the Planet X albums, and with keyboardist Derek Sheridan and drummer Virgil Donati on the legendary Centrifugal Funk album alongside Frank…

This month’s modern country superstar travelled further than most to find fame on the Nashville scene. Keith Urban grew up in New Zealand before moving to the USA in his early 20s to make a name for himself in this competitive world. Born on October 26, 1967 in Whangarei, New Zealand, Urban started guitar at a young age and was influenced by rock legends Mark Knopfler and Fleetwood Mac’s Lindsey Buckingham. He started on the Australian country scene, appearing on various TV shows and touring the country as a sideman. He moved to Nashville in 1992 and initially focused on his band, The Ranch. However, after the band folded, Urban first made a name for himself in 1999 with his eponymous solo album. He soon found success on the country…

IT’S HARD TO OVERSTATE the importance of Hank Marvin and The Shadows when considering the electric guitar’s history. He and future Shadower, Bruce Welch were teenagers in the 50s, inspired by skiffle music (eg Lonnie Donegan) and US rock and roll (Buddy Holly) who journeyed from the North of England to London with high hopes. Their drive, creativity and good fortune resulted in a substantial body of music, ranging from movies with Cliff Richard to the many (mostly instrumental) albums The Shadows released, and a worldwide following that continues to this day. At the centre was Hank with his red Fender Stratocaster complete with whammy bar and a variety of amps and delay devices. An ambient, bridge pickup into clean amp tone is his trademark with which he coaxes melodies,…

Iwas sitting at home, torn between checking my overdraft or contacting the phone company to see if I'm still connected, when the contraption in the hall finally sprang into life. 'Twas an offer of employment that very evening at Park Lane’s Dorchester Hotel. I was to deputise for the guitarist in the Terrace Restaurant house band. Presumably, he’d been taken suddenly indisposed with a better offer. I dropped everything and whizzed off to the joy of a single yellow line parking space outside. George D’Souza greeted me on stage, a dapper, softly spoken gentleman who’d given up the saxophone for health reasons and now played bass guitar, some occasional flute and sang quite beautifully in the style of Nat King Cole. But for less money. He introduced me to the…

ON VIDEO Emiliano Sampaio is a Brazilian jazz guitarist, trombone player, composer and conductor. Born in 1984 in Sao Paulo, he studied music in Brazil and later in Austria. An incredible jazz guitarist, trombonist and master musician, he combines many musical influences and creates sophisticated and complex jazz in ensembles ranging from guitar, bass and drum trios to full-on orchestral, mixing big band with classical, creating marvellous and harmonically intricate sounds. VIDEO & AUDIO https://bit.ly/3DEmTDq In this video lesson, Emiliano takes us through five examples where he demonstrates a variety of his rhythmic and soloing approaches, including Brazilian folk influenced grooves like the north eastern Baion rhythm and the south eastern Choro. He shows us some of his jazz soloing ideas over these by playing lines that strongly utilise the…

Brought to you by… Five-time Grammy award winner Robert Cray is one of the longest-standing bluesman in the current scene. Still touring with his band, Cray has been active for almost 50 years. Born in the early 1950s in Columbus, Georgia, Cray’s musical journey began in his high school years, playing in bands and inspired by the famous bluesmen of the day. These included many of the usual suspects including Albert Collins, Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, and Freddie King. After playing in high school bands, it was in his early 20s that Robert decided to form The Robert Cray Band and pursue his career in music. This was directly due to seeing his heroes Freddie King and Muddy Waters in concert. In 1980 Cray released his debut album on…

Over the previous articles we’ve looked at how to play arpeggio shapes across the fretboard, and explored patterns for Major 7 and Minor 9 arpeggios, turning them into jazz licks by adding passing notes. This month we turn our attention to the Dominant chord in our II-V-I in C Major. We’ve looked at Cmaj7 and Dm9, so here our focus is on G7. However, as you expect in jazz, we’ll include an important alteration. The Dominant 7b9 is the sound of bebop in a nutshell. Charlie Parker used it extensively in his playing and it became deeply embedded in the sound of modern jazz. The b9 is perhaps the most widely used method of resolving the Dominant V chord to the tonic, with its descending semitone movement. It’s incredibly useful…

Our inspiration this month is Paul Gilbert’s amazing picking chops. Don’t be put off by this, as we’re looking at the approach rather than closely trying to emulate the great PG. Anyway it’s important to start by playing these examples slowly and perfectly. If you aim to play them too fast, too soon you’ll be programming your fingers to play in a messy and uncoordinated way. The first step is to get the picking hand used to groups of six (or three) before getting into more complicated patterns for the fretting hand. Therefore the first example features repeated groups of three notes with the beat subdivided into six notes per beat. Cementing the rhythmic feel of the six-note rhythmic groups with the picking hand will mean that the more involved…

MORE OF THE WORLD’S BEST LESSONS… FEATURE VIDEO #1 ERIC GALES Blues and Beyond Licks This stunning blues guitarist plays 9 of his favourite licks and riffs which we’ve tabbed in full. FEATURE VIDEO #2 JOHN WHEATCROFT 6 Favourite Gypsy Jazz Licks Wheaty is one of the UK’s best gypsy jazz guitarists. His new album, First Light, is out now. Check out the licks! CLASSICAL VIDEO GIUSSEPPE GIORDANI Caro Mio Ben Sung by the greatest opera singers including Pavarotti & Monserrat Cabbalé, Declan tabs it for you. FEATURE BILLY BUTLER Blues, Honky Tonk & Bebop You might not know his name but Billy was sideman to the stars with his bluesy-jazzy crossover style. Uptempo rock • Slow blues • Strummy DADGAD • Fingerpicked ballad STYLE STUDIES & MORE 30-Minute Lickbag…

➊ Easy Groovin’Jam (A Minor) We start with a fun and simple two-chord vamp in A Minor that goes from F Major 7 to A Minor. Use A Minor Pentatonic (A-C-D-E-G) to get started - and bring in plenty of blues feels using bends, vibrato and so on. ➋ Slow Blues (G) This jam is an easy-to-enjoy slow blues in G, where G Minor Pentatonic (G-Bb-C-D-F) and G Major Pentatonic (G-A-B-D-E) are great if you mix them judiciously. Dig in! ➌ Bossa Blues Jam (Dm) Here’s a bossa nova style blues jam in D Minor. Use D Minor Pentatonic (D-F-G-A-C) and D Minor scale (D-E-F-G-A-Bb-C) to get started. (This is track 8 from Quist’s fantastic jam album Into The Blues, Vol. 5). ➍ Jazz Funk Jam (G)…

To complete our feature Jon Bishop delves into the workings of the Shadows’ main man’s iconic style. So, prepare to enter a Wonderful Land of melodic joy that’s sure to get your Foot Tapping. ABILITY RATING Moderate Info https://bit.ly/3DEmTDq Will improve your… Ability to deliver a melody Key Various Tempo Various Use of multi-tap echo Use of the whammy bar ✪ ✪ ✪ ✪ ✪ Hank Marvin rose to fame in the late 1950s as the front man for The Shadows. His blend of American rock and roll, country and surf based guitar work coupled with catchy songs full of melodic pop sensibility catapulted the band to mega success. The Shadows also provided backing for British rock and roll mega star, Cliff Richard, and between them (together and as separate…

VIDEO & AUDIO https://bit.ly/3DEmTDq George Benson was born in Pittsburgh in 1943 and was playing ukulele and guitar in public before the age of 10. As a teenager he worked with organist Jack McDuff and recorded his first solo album, The New Boss Guitar, at 21. George joined the Miles Davis band in the mid 60s, featuring on albums Paraphernalia and Miles In The Sky. Benson continued his solo career with releases for both Creed Taylor’s CTI label and Warner Brothers. In 1976 he recorded the massively successful album Breezin’ and the following year won Grammys for Best Instrumental Performance, Best R&B Performance and Record Of The Year. From that point, Benson’s career has been staggeringly successful, remarkably diverse and prolific. He has amassed a legion of devoted fans across…

Grunge legends Pearl Jam formed in the now legendary music city of Seattle, USA in 1990. Along with Nirvana and Soundgarden they are probably among the most famous of all the grunge bands and have enjoyed a career that has spanned over 30 years and gone on to influence thousands of other rock and pop bands. Perhaps the group’s most iconic line-up consisted of guitarists Stone Gossard and Mike McCready, bass player Jeff Ament, vocalist Eddie Vedder and drummer Matt Chamberlain, although another notable drummer who has sat behind the kit is former Soundgarden skinsman Matt Cameron. The band has never been particularly visible as rock stars, and have often shied away from making music videos or doing interviews. Their debut album Ten has become one of the most legendary…

Palm muting, which is often associated with rock and metal guitar styles, is an excellent technique to add extra chunk and articulation to riffs, chords and at times, lead lines. Although often associated with the heavier side of genres, this technique dates back many decades and has been used by the likes of Buddy Holly in his hit That’ll Be The Day and in Bob Marley’s Stir It Up. Green Day’s Basket Case shows how the technique is a staple of the punk genre and thrash acts such as Metallica just wouldn’t sound the same without the sound of James Hetfield’s picking hand digging into the strings for tight palm-muted sections. The combination of palm muting alongside un-muted notes provides an excellent contrast in tone to create interesting rhythmical and…