Table of contents for January 2016 in Guitar Techniques

RICHARD BARRETT One of the best players around, Richard is adept at most styles but truly excels in the bluesier side of rock. He currently plays with Spandau’s Tony Hadley. 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. No ‘Jack of all trades and master of none’, he nails every one with ease! PHIL CAPONE Phil is a great guitarist who specialises in blues and jazz. He teaches at ICMP in London, writes for GT and Total Guitar and has published 10 top tuition books. LES DAVIDSON Les has worked with Mick…

EMILE HOLBA BAXTER THE FUTURE I’ve been loving Shaun Baxter’s ongoing series where he explains the merits of breaking licks down into smaller ‘cells’ of notes that can be then duplicated over various octaves. Early on in the series he split the neck into three pairs of strings – six and five, four and three, and two and one. He pointed out that doing this gets rid of the awkward major 3rd between the third and second strings. It means that anything you play on the lowest pair, right down at the bottom of the neck on the bass strings, can be repeated on any other pair, anywhere on the fretboard. This, of course, means that speedy cells can be bolted together to make exciting – and quite impressive –…

1 Blues in G Let’s get started with this riff-based blues groover in G, which you can try and pick up the riff – or just solo along with. For your soloing, I’d start with G minor Pentatonic (G-Bb-C-D-F) and G minor Blues scale (G-Bb-C-C#-D-F). You can also mix in some G Mixolydian (G-A-B-C-D-E-F) and G Dorian mode (G-A-Bb-C-D-E-F). 2 Funky Dorian Blues (Am) Based around a standard blues form, this jam track uses the chords Am-D-Em as the basic I-IV-V progression. This means A Dorian mode (A-B-C-D-E-F#-G) actually fits the whole way through. You can, of course, also just stick with A minor Pentatonic (A-C-DE-G). And why not play around with the 7th arpeggios as well? Am7 (A-C-E-G), D7 (D-F#-A-C) and Em7 (E-G-B-D). A neat trick is to create…

MICHAEL OCHS ARCHIVES / GETTY IMAGES DAVID REDFERN / GETTY IMAGES ABILITY RATING Info Key VariousTempo 76bpmCD TRACKS 11-20 Will improve your… Fretboard knowledgeCoordinationImprovisation in any style Welcome to the second and final instalment of our Pentatonic Boot Camp. Here’s hoping you’re ready to take all the info from the first lesson and learn to apply it in any and every key, all over the fretboard – including those pesky ‘flat’ keys we guitarists often avoid. Actually, though that may sound a daunting task, you’ll find the application of all this info surprisingly rewarding and intuitive, as long as you’re willing to put in some time working through it, and exploring the different shapes (as little as 5-10 minutes a day will get results, as long as it’s regular) to…

EASY LICKS EXAMPLE 1 CLAPTON SLOW BLUES CD TRACK 22 The tonality of this slow blues lick changes from minor to major Pentatonic; approach this Strat style line with a slow and controlled ascent, slightly accenting the notes on beats 1 and 3 to keep time. The vibrato at the end should be measured and accurate to reflect the feel of the lick. EASY LICKS EXAMPLE 2 R.E.M. CD TRACK 23 REM often used 6/8 time for their classic ballads and guitarist Peter Buck loved to pick licks and riffs out of the chord progressions. Be controlled in your timing but play the arpeggios with authority. This example is applicable to any chord pattern you can create yourself. INTERMEDIATE LICKS EXAMPLE 3 EXTREME CD TRACK 24 Nuno Bettencourt was very…

ABILITY RATING Info Key:G major Tempo:97bpm CD:TRACK CD-ROM Will improve your… String bending techniqueSoloing vocabularyGeneral lead playing Six months ago this series was begun: six, two-minute long backing tracks by Jason Sidwell were sent to Allen Hinds to solo over and then discuss to camera. Each month, one of these performances will be transcribed and analysed. You can then learn the techniques and concepts with a view to broadening your vocabulary. The backing track is included to practise over. In part one we look at a track entitled Driving South. Allen has taken a country-style approach using his vintage Fender Tele and included some fusion and rock-based ideas. The chords and groove in Driving South give it a country gospel type feel. As Allen explains, the track is predominantly in…

Livepics ABILITY RATING Info Key:VariousTempo:VariousCD:TRACKS 48-59 Will improve your… Rock riffingHard rock soloingVibrato and feel In their 32-year career Bon Jovi have released 13 albums and continue to sell out arenas the world over; making them one of the biggest rock bands in history. The partnership of Richie Sambora and Jon Bon Jovi lasted from 1983 until Richie’s departure in 2013. Currently on live lead guitar duties is Canadian Phil ‘X’ Xenidus, who is a prolific and respected session guitarist; his skills will be heard on the forthcoming release. No Bon Jovi guitar role call would be complete without mentioning Dave ‘the snake’ Sabo, who was Jon’s neighbour. Although he played with the band for a while he never recorded with them following his own success with Skid Row. As…

ABILITY RATING Info Key:E Tempo:90bpm CD:TRACKS 80-81 Will improve your… Reading skillsTheory knowledgeMusical versatility This month’s reading piece is focused on semiquavers, or ‘16th-note’ rhythms, which are so called because there are 16 evenly-spaced notes in each bar. Sixteen notes is a lot of information to take in so we usually split them up into four smaller groups of four notes, which are counted ‘1 e & a, 3 e & a, 3 e & a, 4 e & a ’. As you count, move your pick alternately in down and up strokes, placing the down strokes on ‘1 &, 2 &, 3 &, 4 &’ and the up strokes on all the ‘e’ and ‘a’ subdivisions. As it happens this is how we would tend to do it intuitively,…

GT HAS MANY Bluesbreakers fans among its readers. There’s a lot of love for Clapton and Green, and huge respect for Mick Taylor who had the unenviable task of following both Eric and Peter into the band at just 18. These guys were the UK’s first generation of electric blues guitarists; they all learnt from the acknowledged electric masters – all the usual suspects – but Green was also directly influenced by Clapton; and Taylor, in turn, by them both. In this special feature, Jon Bishop looks at the playing styles of these three British guitar institutions, all of whom went on to either form or join the biggest bands in the world: Clapton with Cream, Green with Fleetwood Mac and Taylor, of course, with the Stones. In this article…

SANDERS PHOTOGRAPHY GT:What is it about guitar instrumentals that appeals to you? AT: Well, certainly the sound of the instrument itself. It’s never mattered to me whether it was nylon classical, twangy surf, warm jazz, fuzzy Yardbird, Marshall scream, country spank or whatever... I’ve always been enamoured with the sound and look of the instrument. My earliest musical memory was the realisation that my favourite part of the Beatles’ I Saw Her Standing There was the section when they weren’t singing. The guitar solo! GT:What can an instrumental provide that a vocal song can’t? AT: Language is finite, music is limitless. I believe that we have only scratched the surface of what the guitar is capable of. I’m not talking about technical ability, but true expression of emotion. Jeff Beck…

IAN STAFFORD GT: Do you have a type of pick that you can’t live without? CM: Jim Dunlop, 0.46mm in pink. The pink is the important bit funnily enough. I used to go to loads of jam sessions from around 12 years old and my dad was forever lending plectrums out, which were never to be seen again, so he bought pink ones. Strangely he always got them back at the end! GT:You have to give up all your pedals but three... CM: I could limit that question to one, and it’s the one that everyone should have and use: a tuner. I’ve seen people with fantastic gear and a great sound except for the most important thing, they’ve got an out-of-tune guitar. Personally I use a Boss TU3, as…

ABILITY RATING Info Key ATempo 170bpmCD TRACKS 4-8 Will improve your… Recognition of individual style traits Articulation and finger vibrato British blues-style soloing British bands like The Yardbirds and John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers were a breading ground for hot, young guitar talent. Many of the most iconic guitarists of the generation passed through at least one of the two bands, including Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton (who was in both) Peter Green, Mick Taylor... the list goes on. Green would go onto great things with Fleetwood Mac (alongside Mayall musician John McVie), Taylor joined The Rolling Stones and Clapton formed Cream with another (brief) Mayall cohort, Jack Bruce. In this month’s feature we are focusing on the soloing style of Bluesbreakers-era Eric Clapton, Peter Green and Mick Taylor. We aim…

ABILITY RATING Info Key VariousTempo 55bpmCD TRACK 21 Will improve your… Bass, melody and chord separation Fretting hand slurs with held chordsFast single line runs If there’s one composer who embodies the spirit of Spanish classical guitar music it’s the virtuoso guitarist and composer Francisco Tárrega (1852-1909), whose contribution to the discipline is huge. Many of his works, such as the tremolo masterpiece Recuerdos de la Alhambra (GT135), Pavana (GT215), Gran Vals (of Nokia fame) (GT201), Prelude In E minor (GT181), Lágrima and Danza Mora have been staples of the classical guitarist’s repertoire for over a century. These are, of course, in addition to his transcriptions for solo guitar of music by composers from Bach to Schubert. His Asturias (GT149) is an essential part of the solo guitar repertoire. Tárrega…

HOWARD DENNER / RETNA / PHOTOSHOT ABILITY RATING Info Key:VariousTempo:VariousCD:TRACKS 28-31 Will improve your Authentic blues phrasingStrong finger vibratoPlaying for the song When Robert Cray came onto the scene in the mid 80s with albums such as Bad Influence and Strong Persuader he, and artists such as Stevie Ray Vaughan, ushered in a new interest in the blues. The genre found itself on the back burner after hard rock’s rise with Van Halen at the helm, and the synth-pop that pervaded the early part of the decade. So for blues lovers he was a musical breath of fresh air. Cray’s songs tended to be just that – songs rather than simple 12-bar blues – and often related to domestic issues: Right Next Door (Because Of Me), Smoking Gun and Guess…

David Lyttelton ABILITY RATING Info Key:Am Tempo:120bpm CD:TRACKS 34-35 Will improve your… Three-notes–per-string ideasPentatonic shape recognitionAdvanced legato techniques The aim of these lessons is to help you to break out from the restrictions of playing the Pentatonic scale two-notes-per-string. This will help you to avoid guitar clichés and provide you with the opportunity to create new sounds using the most useful, flexible and commonly-used scale in popular music. Arranging the scale three-notes-per-string has its challenges. First, there are the large stretches required by the fretting hand. Take your time with this and build up your strength over weeks or even months. If you overdo things at the start, you risk getting various repetitive strain injuries. Secondly, when visualising the scale, you’ll have to widen your vision to take in two…

ABILITY RATING Info Key:VariousTempo:VariousCD:TRACKS 60-77 Will improve your… Legato techniqueMelodic sophisticationRhythmic control Tim Miller is most definitely a standout player on the current jazz scene. A staggeringly fluent guitarist, Tim’s super-clean and articulate legato technique, coupled with his keen harmonic awareness and unique approach to tone combine to create a remarkable modern sound. You may notice traces of last month’s artist Allan Holdsworth, but with more than enough original concepts and approaches it’s no exaggeration to say that Miller is one of the most unique and forward-thinking voices in jazz guitar today. Tim Miller received his first guitar at age 10 and was initially drawn to the instrument after hearing (that well-known jazz guitarist!) Eddie Van Halen. Over the following years, Tim expanded his listening to include players such as…

DECEMBER GT250 BLUES-ROCK BOOTCAMP Beef up your soloing with our Pentatonic blues-rock workout; learn Satriani’s Always With Me, Always With You and discover why so many top players use hybrid picking. Plus: O Sole Mio tabbed, Allan Holdsworth, Chris Rea, Richard Thompson, Dokken and more! NOVEMBER GT249 LEARN THE BLUES SHUFFLE Master this vital style with 11 superb rhythm and lead examples to play. Plus, part two of our picking series. Learn economy picking and play fast and fluid – just like the pros! Tabbed is the full version of Gary Moore’s Parisienne Walkways plus an amazing three-minute live outro solo. OCTOBER GT248 SORT OUT YOUR PICKING An exclusive lesson in part 1 of our picking series. Banish sloppy alternate picking and enjoy more accuracy, speed and tone. Plus, get…

RELATING TAB TO YOUR FRETBOARD HAND LABELLING Here are the abbreviations used for each finger: Fretting hand: 1, 2, 3, 4, (T) Picking hand: p (thumb), i (first finger), m (second), a (third), c (fourth). CHORD EXAMPLE The diagram represents the G chord in the photo. The ‘O’ symbol is an open string, and a circled number is a fretting finger. Intervals are shown below. SCALE EXAMPLE The diagram shows the fret-hand fingering for the A major scale (root notes in black). The photo shows part of the scale being played on the fourth string with first, third and fourth fingers. NUT & FRETBOARD The fretbox diagram above represents the fretboard exactly, as seen in the accompanying photo. This is for ease of visualising a fretboard scale or chord quickly.…

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 Songs and lessons have the audio built in, with a moving cursor showing you exactly where you are in the music. Simply tap the‘play’button then 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 or smartphone. PLUS! Get a FREE iPad/iPhone sample of GT. For full details and how to receive our digital edition regularly, go to bit.ly/guitartechniques (if you…

Licks that involve open strings are used in all styles. The trick is to be aware of how the notes function in relation to the underlying chord. In this lick, for instance, we are using all the open strings except the second. The underlying chord is Am7 and so the open strings function thus: E = 5, A = Root, D = 4, G = b7 and the B would have been 9. From this we can see that all the open stings b are fine to use. Our lick uses notes from A Blues scale A-C-D-E -E-G. In Bar 1 we have a country-jazz influenced Am (A-C-E) arpeggio with an E-E b -E line on the first string. In Bar 2 the open third string is played as a…

ERNIE BALL PRESENTS A NEW take on the Music Man Silhouette with the Standard model offering three single-coil pickups and a hardtail, although other pickup formats and vibrato block are also available. Finishes include cherry sunburst and a range of custom colours. With their distinctive 4/2 tuner arrangement on the headstock, 24-fret fingerboard and deep cutaways, this is a winning design. NASA LAUNCHES THE GALILEO SPACECRAFT with a mission to study Jupiter for two years before plunging into the giant planet’s atmosphere to report some final data. As it journeys further into space, Voyager II passes Neptune and sends pictures of the planet back to Earth. The 486 series of microprocessors is launched by Intel and Microsoft Office is released for the first time. OVATION INTRODUCES THE LATEST MODEL in…

EPA EUROPEAN PRESSPHOTO AGENCY B.V. / ALAMY ABILITY RATING Info Key NumerousTempo 150bpmCD Tracks 9-10 Will improve your… Picking technique Jazz soloing vocabulary Use of chromatic notes Have You Heard was recorded in 1989 by The Pat Metheny Band and is featured on the acclaimed album Letter From Home. The song features some lovely lead guitar work and an extended, improvised guitar solo. These lead lines are a combination of classic jazz vocabulary and showcase many of Pat’s tricks and concepts. The line-up on the recording consists of drums, percussion, bass, piano, harmonium, keyboards, horns and electric guitar. The track has a Latin tinged feel with a combination of 7/4, 5/4, 4/4 and 3/4 time signatures and an upbeat tempo of 150bpm. From a compositional point of view, Have You…

ABC PHOTO ARCHIVES / GETTY IMAGES ABILITY RATING Info Key:A Tempo:133bpm CD:TRACKS 32-33 Will improve your… Rock rhythmFinger vibratoBlues-rock soloing Bad Company were formed in 1973 in London by vocalist Paul Rodgers and drummer Simon Kirke from Free, as well as Mott The Hoople guitarist Mick Ralphs, plus King Crimson bassist Boz Burrell. A bona fide super group of the highest order, they tasted huge success in the 70s, their first three albums achieving top five status in both the UK and USA. Being born of several previously successful bands, Bad Company didn’t need to cut their teeth on the bar band circuit, and signed a major label deal on both sides of the Atlantic, their debut album reaching number 1 in the US upon its release. By the end…

Sus2 and sus4 chords occur when the 3rd is missing from a major or minor chord and the 2nd or 4th note is used in its place: ie the 3rd is ‘suspended’ for the moment. Sus2 chords are built using the root, 2nd and 5th of any major scale (so in C this would be C-D-G). Sus4 chords comprise the root, 4th and 5th of a major scale (C-F-G). EXAMPLE 1 SUS2 AND SUS4 (FOURTH AND FIFTH STRING ROOTS) TRACK 36 Bar 1 shows Fsus4 (R- b 4-5) dropping b to Fsus2 then b resolving to a F chord (R-3-5), a common move in all positions up the neck. Bar 2 shows the movement in the opposite direction, B sus2 to B sus4 and back to B triad. This type…

BRENT PERNIAC / PHOTOSHOT ABILITY RATING Info Key:C Tempo:81bpm CD:TRACK 78-79 Will improve your… Fretting hand thumb controlClean fingerpicking styleGeneral feel and timing Part of Southern California’s 60s ‘golden era’ of singer-songwriters, Jackson Browne began his career performing in the coffee shops of Los Angeles. As soon as he graduated from high school in 1966 Browne was performing live as a member of The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and was able to hone his songwriting skills within the decade’s vibrant music scene. Towards the end of the 60s he left California for New York and became a fixture on the Greenwich Village scene. His songwriting developed here, especially when he contributed to his then girlfriend and Velvet Underground chanteuse Nico’s debut album. Moving back to LA he met future Eagles…

WHAT OUR RATINGS MEAN Buyit Excellent Good Average Binit! Album of the Month STEVE HACKETT PREMONITIONS: CHARISMA RECORDINGS 75-83 Virgin/Universal With his album release rate showing no signs of letting up, it’s amazing that there’s anything left in Hackett’s archives. Yet this 14-disc set boasts 67 previously unreleased live tracks, radio broadcasts, remixes and studio material. His first solo album, Voyage Of The Acolyte, was released 40 years ago, so this offers a fitting tribute to one of the UK’s greatest guitarists. All the major tracks are here and his two biggest albums, Spectral Mornings and Please Don’t Touch, are given the Steven Wilson treatment with new stereo mixes and 5.1 surround sound. Acolyte and Defector also get pseudo 5.1 mixes on DVD without Wilson’s input, but still the sound…

TRANSCRIPTION #1 STEVIE RAY VAUGHAN Tightrope You’ve had Sophisticated Blues, now here’s something straight between the eyes from the Texas Titan himself. TRANSCRIPTION #2 GIACOMO PUCCINI Un Bel Di Vedremo Bridget Mermikides arranges and transcribes this beautiful piece from Puccini’s opera, Madame Butterfly. SPECIAL FEATURE TOP 10 WACKY SCALES Push the boundaries with scales that don’t show up on a blues jam! Milton Mermikides goes off the beaten path with 10 enigmatic scales. VIDEO SPECIAL FEATURE ALLEN HINDS EXCLUSIVE Part 2 of 6 This LA guitar great plays and discusses his exquisite approach and technique in six specially recorded, brand new tracks. The Larry Carlton, Robben Ford approach to... SOPHISTICATED BLUES! Why do these guys sound so GOOD? What do they know that we don’t? Is there a secret scale?…