Table of contents for May 2024 in Guitar Techniques

SIMON BARNARD Simon is agraduate of ACM and The Guitar Institute, holding aMasters 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 aMaster graduate of RCM and his solo 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 Atutor 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 awell studied guitarist who specialises in high end rock playing and plays with top UK metal-fusion band Haken.…

GT: Do you have atype of pick that you can’t live without? CM: Not really, I use a standard medium gauge by Dunlop. Most players I know use a heavy pick but I always like to have a bit of flex in my pick. GT: If you had to give up all your pedals but three, what would they be? CM: I would have to keep my Hoochie Momma pedal (made by Tim Brown) because it gives me a lot of that old Bluesbreakers tone. The other pedal would be the Fulldrive 2 by Fulltone. With that pedal I come to my own area of sound and some of that Albert Collins tone that I really like. And of course I need my tuning pedal. GT: Do you play another…

In this feature we’re going to look at how to get some country-blues flavour into your playing. Listening to iconic country-rock bands such as The Allman Brothers, The Flying Burrito Brothers and Eagles, legendary players like Joe Walsh, Don Felder, Dickey Betts, Clarence White, Glen Campbell, Albert Lee and Ray Flacke, and more recently Brent Mason, Vince Gill, Keith Urban and Tom Bukovac, will give you an idea of how these guitarists combine classic blues sounds with a more country flavour. If you’re familiar with blues, you will doubtless be aware of how we use the Minor Pentatonic scale (R-b3-4-5-b7) as a basis for much of the classic vocabulary, but when we play country music, much of our vocabulary comes from the Major Pentatonic scale (R-2-3-5-6). This is because so…

ON VIDEO Texan virtuoso Eric Johnson is no stranger to readers of this magazine or to any self-respecting fan of both great guitarists and good music. From his earliest fusion recordings in the early 70s with The Electromagnets, through his session work with artists such as Cat Stevens and Christopher Cross, collaborations with Steve Vai, Mike Stern and Joe Satriani, on to his ever expanding collection of releases as a solo artist, Eric has consistently produced cutting-edge guitar-based music. He has roots in the blues but is not afraid to push the boundaries with flawless playing and meticulous attention to detail and tone. He’s back on tour this year with Joe Satriani and Steve Vai, recreating the classic G3 line up, and his playing and artistry is as cuttingedge,…

“The Bends was followed by one of the most influential albums of the 20th century, OK Computer.” Radiohead made a huge impact on music in the latter years of the 20th century and into the 21st. Along with bands like U2 and REM, they recorded some of the most classic songs in recent memory. Formed in Oxfordshire, England in the mid 1980s by school friends Thom Yorke on lead vocals and guitar, Ed O’Brien and Jonny Greenwood also on guitar, Jonny’s brother Colin on bass, and drummer Philip Selway. They found solace and inspiration in their school years from music, and would rehearse on Fridays which led to the formation of the band called On A Friday. Their musical influences are wide ranging, and include rock, jazz and avant garde…

Brian Stetzer revitalised the rockabilly scene with his band The Stray Cats in the early 1980s, during the time he was living in the UK. After the initial success of the band and his various solo projects, Setzer had a fantastic second wind with his Brian Setzer Orchestra which adds jazz and swing influences to the rockabilly core. A jazz enthusiast from an early age, Setzer blends Charlie Christian-tinged inflections into his lines and shows a sophisticated way of navigating the chord changes. This approach is not that surprising for a rockabilly player, but the more complex music that his band plays really brings this aspect of Brian’s playing to the fore. In the big band setting, Setzer is very involved in the arranging process and his obvious grasp of…

Americana is a century-old musical melting pot where country, blues, folk and bluegrass collide. Originally this music would have been performed on banjos, fiddles and mandolins with guitars arriving later. The earliest known guitarists in this style would have been the country music pioneers like Hank Williams and mandolin genius Bill Monroe. Americana came into its own via artists like Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Elizabeth Cotton and The Carter Family, blending country, blues and folk to create the genre’s blueprint sound, before superstars like Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash made it their own. “Today Americana is shaped by hard-edged artists like Steve Earle and Jason Isbell” Today it’s shaped by hard-edged artists like Steve Earle, and other Americana heroes like Jason Isbell, Chris Stapleton and Lucinda Williams. Fingerpicking is at…

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.…

As I get older, I find myself worrying about the future of music and how much it has all changed, and nearly always for the worse. And then I see something like Hi Ren (by Welsh singer-songwriter Ren Gill) and I realise that I’m just getting older and ‘the kids’ will figure it out, and make something amazing from the new and exciting tools that are available to them these days. Let me start by encouraging you to go find the Hi Ren video on YouTube and then sit down and give it some serious attention. I’ll warn you in advance that it is NOT for kids, or suitable for listening to on speakers at work. There is a lot of swearing and the subject matter is dark and powerful.…

1 Easy Rollin' Blues -A Minor We start with a relatively straightforward but fun blues jam in A Minor, where your reliable friend the A Minor Pentatonic scale (A-C-D-E-G) is a great place to begin your improvational journey. 2 C Minor Groove Jam Next up is a groove jam in C Minor (main chords Fm9 and Cm). Use C Minor Pentatonic (C-Eb-F-G-Bb) and C Minor scale (C-D-Eb-F-G-Ab-Bb) to get started. Try adding jazzy slurs and trills. 3 Super Slow Blues (E) Here's a very slow blues in E, where you can mix E Major Pentatonic (E-F#-G#-B-C#) and E Minor Pentatonic (E-G-A-B-D) for some bluesy vibes. Fast licks over this slow tempo sound great! 4 Sweet Groove -A Minor We finish with a fun groove vamp in A Minor. Try the…

ON VIDEO Hammer-ons and pull-offs have served guitarists faithfully over the decades, evolving from subtle embellishments through to trills and flamboyant flurries of notes. During the 70s, players like Jimmy Page (Stairway To Heaven), Eric Clapton (Crossroads), Paul Kossoff (Alright Now), Alvin Lee (I’m Going Home), and Jimi Hendrix (Little Wing) saw the potential for legato technique to facilitate Pentatonic licks that generated speed without requiring much effort from the picking hand. By 1978, Van Halen’s self-titled, debut album saw Eddie expanding the hammer-on and pull-off concept to the picking hand, making way for tapped arpeggios sequences along the strings on songs like Eruption. In the 80s, Joe Satriani took legato a stage further by combining it with three-notes-per-string scale shapes, making way for fast, cascading sequences across the fretboard.…

This month’s piece comes in the form of a short prelude from Coleccion 8a de Ejercicios y Preludios para Guitarra, which is an unpublished collection of 15 exercises and preludes by the 19th-century Spanish guitarist, composer, and educator, José Ferrer. With a charming melody and chirpy upbeat harmonic flavour, this piece is the 14th out of the aforementioned collection and is similar in vein to Ferrer’s Ejercicio No.7 Op.51 which we covered in GT347. Both pieces explore some of the core aspects of classical guitar technique, as was the way with a great deal of Ferrer’s creative output. The original score for this is held in the archives of London’s Royal Academy of Music and can be viewed online via their digital archive which, at the time of writing, is…

Since the release of the Kill Em’ All album in 1983, Metallica have established themselves as the undeniable architects of the thrash metal subgenre. Metallica’s music has real purpose and authority, and is held in high esteem by many music greats outside the world of metal. The unrelenting pace and ferocity of James Hetfield and Kirk Hammett’s riffs took the metal world by storm, and paved the way for generations to come. Much of Metallica s intensity comes from the speed and accuracy of James Hetfield’s palm-muted down picking. This provides the aggression and attack that drives the band’s songs along. Kirk Hammett and James Hetfield often make effective use of chromatic movement, too, which brings extra drama and tension to their single-note riffs and chord sequences. NEXT MONTH Jamie…

This month I’m starting a new series focusing on the acoustic legends from the 1960s folk, rock and pop scenes. We start off with Bob Dylan, an artist who emerged as a folk musician but had an impact way beyond the confines of the genre. Robert Zimmerman was born on May 24th 1941 in Minnessota. His early influences were rock and roll artists like Little Richard and Buddy Holly but it was when he went to the University of Minnesota in 1959 that he really developed a passion for American folk music, drawn by the melancholy and depth this material offered. As with many of the folk artists of the 1960s, inspiration came in the form of Woody Guthrie whom Dylan befriended. Dylan was also influenced by Ramblin’ Jack Elliott…

In case you’re not sure, a double-stop is when two notes are played simultaneously, regardless of the interval used. This technique was originally first documented in the 17th century, and has been used by guitarists since the dawn of the instrument. Double-stops, also known as diads, or dyads, are often used in jazz to allow the guitarist to explore chord-based soloing, without having to tackle full chord voicings. Rock and roll from the 1950s is another good example, and Chuck Berry’s guitar introductions to songs such as Johnny B Goode and Roll Over Beethoven are built around this technique, forging an exciting new guitar sound in the process. Buddy Holly’s Heartbeat and Hank Marvin’s playing on Summer Holiday are other examples of double-stops in pop-rock, along with Van Morrison’s classic…

READY TO SUBSCRIBE? www.magazines direct.com WHILE AMERICA is often remembered for hamburgers, highways and Hollywood, it is music that typically resonates as its most revered essence. Blues, jazz, and rock and roll are all primarily considered as American originated, with a breadth of vocabulary and star players unmatched anywhere else in the world. For the benefits of this issue though, I’d also add country - a heartland genre that’s all about great songs, emotional expression, and of course great guitar playing. In this issue, Andy Saphir (a busy UK country player) takes a look at amalgamating country, blues and rock - basically, where the ‘good chops and great licks’ live. With a brief to consider players as diverse as The Eagles’ Joe Walsh, the UK virtuoso Albert Lee, Dickey Betts…

Today we’ll look at some of the alternatives should you wish to replace ‘standard’ open chords with something more vibrant, to use alongside standard voicings in a two-guitar line-up, or as an overdub. The most reliable way is to know which notes make up each chord and where else these can be found on the neck. But it can be fun to turn this approach on its head and try familiar shapes in unfamiliar places, working out what notes are happening where afterwards. Though using this can be a bit hit-and-miss, it does often lead to ideas that might remain undiscovered with amore structured approach. So I’ve taken four ‘standard’ chords: G, Em, Cand Am. Mixing higher fretted strings with open ones also gives some wide intervals within the chords,…

GT: What is it about guitar instrumentals that appeals to you? MP: I’ve always loved the freedom of improvised music, and there’s something to the flow of a great improvised guitar solo that I find really appealing. GT: What can an instrumental provide a listener that a vocal song can't? MP: Like a good book or movie, it leaves things open to interpretation. You can almost assign any meaning to it, and that sometimes can be wildly different than what the composer had in mind. GT: Are there any tendencies that you aim to embrace or avoid - rhythms, harmony, playing approach? MP: I always try to write the things that I really hear. So in that sense I avoid writing out of concepts, for instance aiming to write a…

ON VIDEO This month GT is thrilled to present an exclusive video lesson from Swedish jazz virtuoso Ulf Wakenius, with seven fully transcribed examples that showcase a broad range of melodic ideas, chord voicings, concepts and approaches. Ulf is perhaps best known for his work with the legendary jazz pianist Oscar Peterson, performing in his trio with the equally incredible Danish double bass virtuoso, Niels-Henning Orsted Peterson. Wakenius also toured and recorded with jazz royalty, Ray Brown’s trio, and along with his successful career as a solo artist he has collaborated with an impressive list of A-list guitarists, including Pat Metheny, Martin Taylor, Biréli Lagrène, Jimmy Rosenberg and many more. Perhaps the most touching of his recent collaborations, though, is Father & Son, the album he released with son Eric,…

There are few figures in blues history as notable as Muddy Waters. Born McKinley Morganfield in 1913, Muddy was cetral to the evolution of the genre, from its beginnings as the folk music of the southern states to the electrified Chicago sound that served as a bedrock for all later guitar-based music. Like many early blues artists, Muddy’s musical education came from church. Singing in Sunday service and emulating local musicians gave him a rich education and deep connection to the country-blues tradition. By his teens he was supporting his powerful voice with intricate guitar work and harmonica embellishments, but his career would really take off when he moved to Chicago in the early 40s. Arriving in the big city, Muddy realised he would need to amplify his guitar in…

Allan Holdsworth was born in Bradford, Yorkshire in 1946. An early member of bands like Soft Machine and UK, in the 80s he released a slew of masterpiece albums that changed the landscape of jazz and fusion guitar. His style was so influential that his name is mentioned by the likes of Van Halen, Satriani, and Vai as one of the greatest guitarists to have walked the planet. Allan had a linear melodic style that defied tradition. He also possessed a unique self-taught perception of theory and and the guitar fretboard, quite removed from the more formulated structures we are used to today. His approach was idiosyncratic and his music sounds almost alien. Although he would use jazz-inspired ‘outside’ harmony, he would also often use typical scales and modes, albeit…

Welcome to another column from the folks at JTCguitar. If you want to be a master of metal soloing, you need to work HARD at your picking technique. Legato and tapping are of course great, but when you want to dig in and add real impact to your solos, only super-tight picking can deliver. Think of players like Paul Gilbert, Steve Morse, Al Di Meola, Gary Moore, Yngwie Malmsteen, Frank Gambale, John McLaughlin, and so many others in many and various styles and genres, not all of them metal. However, since this column is dealing with that very subject, today we have Greek metal star Gus G to help you fine-tune your picking skills. A supremely gifted player who can most definitely be added to that illustrious list, Gus has…