Índice para March 2019 em 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. 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. RICHARD BARRETT One of the finest blues and rock guitarist we know, Richard is a stalwart columnist for Total Guitar, Guitarist and GT. He’s also Tony Hadley’s touring six-stringer. 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!. MARTIN GOULDING One of the world’s foremost rock and metal guitarists, Martin…

Anyone who explores music theory will start to see mathematical patterns – they’re all over the place. In this article I’d like to share with you some ideas on using numerical patterns applied to scales – I call them ‘melodic sequences’ and they’re super useful, often sound great and are awesome exercises to help your fingers break out of old patterns. You will find that the things you practise are the things you play when you improvise and so running scales up and down can be a dangerous thing to practise too much, since they rarely sound cool in an improvisation. However, melodic sequences can sounds really musical and are in my opinion a much more fun and usable thing to practise – and the king of them all is…

THIS IDEA IS BASED around a chord of A7, where repeating pedal tone notes are drawn from the triad of A Major (A-C#-E), and the interspersed three-note lines use two A7 chord tones (A to C#, E or G) that are always connected by a regular scale note dawn from A Mixolydian (A-B-C#-DE-F#-G). It seems complicated in text but if you play the lick it will make complete sense. You might find the phrasing of this idea tricky to master: it enters with a‘pick-up’note (on‘4&’) and then all the following phrases are actually in 3/4 time – played against the underlying 4/4. Superimposing note groupings or time feels can be very effective, but also sometimes a little disorientating. It worked well for Jimmy Page though, when he wrote the riff…

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). 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 shape quickly. 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. CHORD EXAMPLE (WITH CAPO) The blue line represents a capo – for this A chord, place it at fret 2. Capos change the fret number ordering – here, the original fret 5 now becomes fret…

This is the early days of guitar equipment so we are talking tweed and blackface tones. But any amp set clean or with slight breakup will do the job. Aim for clean tones with slapback delay or big reverbs and set the treble high – 7 or 8 will do it. Many of these guys would have been playing Strats and Teles, or Gretsch or Gibson hollowbodies so anything in this broad style will do fine for that early rock and roll sound. I used a Fender Custom Shop 52 Telecaster and a Bassman profile in the Kemper throughout.…

While you may think of Robben Ford as a player who plumbs every scale under the sun from which to forge flashy solos, that couldn’t really be further from the truth. Robben is more about selecting the best sounding note to place over the underlying chord at the most perfect moment. And while he does of course dip into Mixolydian, Dorian, Diminished and Altered scales he’s just as often heard making bounty out of good old Pentatonics and the Blues scale. His watchwords, therefore, are great timing, impeccable note choice, and pulling out the right guitar tone for the job. Ford is one of those rare guitarists that’s straddled jazz, blues and pop in almost equal measure, and always at the highest level. Not only did he tour with blues…

Once again we up the anti and challenge session ace Allen Hinds to improvise a two-minute solo over Jason’s odd-time backing track. The tune features sections of 7/4 which Allen explains is challenging as odd meters are something he finds odd! Allen advises that even though odd meters don’t come up that often it’s still good to have a few tricks up your sleeve for when you do have to tackle them. Allen gives a good tip of breaking the 7/4 bar into a 4/4 and a 3/4 bar. This helps the groove to feel more natural. Allen counts 1, 2, 3, 4 and then 1, 2, 3 as he’s soloing which helps his notes fall on the correct beat. Allen starts by delivering a rhythm part that fits in…

LICK 1 [Bar 16] Whammy scoop and tapping harmonics The D triad in bar 14 benefits from a scoop upwards from the whammy bar. Allen also expands on this idea in bar 16 by including a tap harmonic on the 19th fret. To achieve this effect simply hit down directly on the strings at the 19th fret to release the harmonic. LICK 2 [Bar 28] A Minor Blues scale A Minor Blues (A-C-D-E b -E-G) sounds great for most of the track and Allen uses it in several places. Check out where the pull-offs are and make this descending run as fluid as possible. LICK 3 [Bar 29] Altered scale lick Bar 29 features the E7/A chord. For this super cool sounding lick Allen uses the E Altered scale, which…

STEVE SNOWDEN / GETTY IMAGES Fletcher plays a huge array of guitars. In fact he can regularly be seen using all the usual suspects. But a Telecaster with a P90 in the neck position seems to display Kirk in a pretty special way. Therefore a classic style electric into a Fender-toned amp with a dollop of overdrive is what we are after here (for the recording I used a Fender Thinline Telecaster into a Fender Bassman style amp simulator in my DAW). Opt for medium overdrive, using the guitar’s volume to clean things up, then add a hint of ambient reverb.…

If you look at the history of popular contemporary music there was a point, a little less than a century ago, when the distinction between what constituted blues and what defined jazz was arbitrary to say the least. Many artists were widely regarded as masters of both (Bessie Smith and Lonnie Johnson spring to mind). Countless blues artists were happy to expand their sound with jazzy overtones (the mighty Robert Johnson for one, and later on the equally talented T-Bone Walker), while the concept of a jazz musician without a deep understanding of the blues was considered impossible. To quote Count Basie, jazz was created as a highly successful attempt at ‘swinging the blues.’ As time has progressed the distinction has grown wider, with the blues being associated with a…

DAVID WARNER ELLIS / GETTY IMAGES Formed in 1962 as The Scorpions by south-east London singer-guitarist Francis Rossi and bass player Alan Lancaster, the fledgeling group went through a number of names including The Spectres and Traffic, before settling on The Status Quo in 1967. This year, too, Rick Parfitt - whom Rossi had met at Butlin’s holiday camp - came onboard and ‘Status Quo’ as they were now monikered, scored their first hit with Pictures Of Matchstick Men. When most people think of Status Quo they bring to mind a string of good-time rock anthems produced throughout the ‘70s and ‘80s. However, their first two albums were pure psychedelia: Picturesque Matchstickable Messages from 1967 and Spare Parts in ‘69. Neither was particularly successful, and while Matchstickable Messages didn’t even…

Welcome to this month’s column on developing fretboard fluency, with the second part in our series looking at the Melodic Minor scale. As we saw in last month’s lesson, this scale consists of the formula: R-2- b 3-4-5-6-7. But you can also visualise it as a Major scale with a b 3rd or, from a minor perspective, a Natural Minor scale with a raised 6th and 7th. This month, we’ll continue our study of this scale by taking the root, 3rd, 5th and 7th degrees from each consecutive note and arranging it as a family of diatonic 7th chords along with their respective modes. This will give us a harmonised scale with the seven chords following the order: I (m/maj7), ii (m7), III (maj7#5), IV (dom7), V (dom7), vi (m7…

FEATURE #2 VIDEO DAN PATLANSKY Blues video masterclass South African guitarist Patlansky is a modern blueser making big waves. Dan reveals his style one on one. FEATURE #3 VIDEO ALLEN HINDS Solos over Nightlife This month Allen plays a deliciously slippery solo over this laid-back fusion track then explains his moves. CLASSICAL TAB VIDEO MARIA THERESIA PARADIS Sicilienne This glorious cello piece was played at 2018’s Royal Wedding. Bridget transposes it wonderfully to guitar. TECHNIQUE & THEORY NEW THINGS TO LEARN Melodic Minor & Hammer-ons Martin G delves deeper into this intriguing scale, while Charlie G has us hammering on from nowhere. You know you’ve always wanted to... PLAY GREAT SLIDE! Everyone loves slide but few really master it. Yet your name doesn’t have to be Allman, Trucks or Landreth…

ROCK AND ROLL is where modern guitar playing started for a host of now famous players. Whether it’s Clapton and Keith Richards citing Chuck Berry, Jimmy Page bigging up Scotty Moore, Jeff Beck saying Cliff Gallup was his man, Mark Knopfler’s stating of his love for Hank Marvin, or George Harrison’s fixation with Carl Perkins, Paul McCartney with Buddy Holly, or Albert Lee and Jimmy Bryant; these players from the previous generation certainly ignited something. Especially so over this side of the pond. We’ve covered rock and roll before in GT, but thought the time was right to take a fresh look. So we asked Stuart Ryan - usually our Acoustic columnist but also a fabulous electric player - to take it on. Stuart also took the immense trouble to…

I think it’s about time (or more accurately, long overdue) that I confronted the inner child in me and the outer anorak in my loyal readership, and treated you to a rundown of what future historians will fail to call, ‘The Mitch Dalton Electric Guitar Collection’. And what one fine day eBay will doubtless refer to as, ‘Job lot of assorted fretted instruments for sale - opening bid £5.’ To be scrupulously and unusually fair to myself, I’ve never been much of a collector of guitars per se, purchasing instruments during my career solely on the basis of ‘fitness for purpose’ (or any other hackneyed media phrase that you may care to insert here). My theory as to why I drool not at gold-plated pickups, fail to salivate at the…

JORGEN ANGEL / GETTY IMAGES ➊ Blues Jam (Ebm) We start with this easy-to-approach blues in E b minor. Use E b Minor Pentatonic (E b -G b -A b -B b -D b ) and E b Minor scale (E b -F-G b -A b -B b -C b -D b ) and then add E b Harmonic Minor (E b -F-G b -A b -B b -C b -D) for the dominant (B b 7) chords. Or think E Minor if you’ve tuned a semitone (half-step) down, Hendrix style. ➋ Riffy Rock Jam (A) Here’s a fun rockout in A. You can use A Minor Pentatonic (A-C-DE-G) and also A Dorian mode (A-B-C-D-E-F#-G) and since both the minor and the major 3rd (C and C#) are featured you…

If the 1940s saw the arrival of the first guitar legends in the form of Les Paul and Django Reinhardt, then the ‘50s arguably saw the emergence of the guitar hero. As this new musical genre rock and roll arrived, so too did the fresh medium of television to many households across America. All of a sudden young guitar rebels were getting exposure like never before via the nation’s mainstream media. Some, like Buddy Holly and Eddie Cochran, were superstars whose light would shine bright but short. Others, like Scotty Moore and James Burton, were ace sidemen who would forge long, successful careers and go on to see how their contributions to rock and roll would shape virtually everything that came after. And in often surprising ways. Across the pond…

MICHAEL OCHS ARCHIVE / GETTY IMAGES Try: Buddy Holly – Buddy Holly (1958); Cliff Gallup – Gene Vincent & His Blue Caps (1957); Scotty Moore – The Guitar That Changed The World (1964); Eddie Cochran – 12 Of His Biggest Hits (1960); Dick Dale –King Of The Surf Guitar (1963); Johnny Cash – At Folsom Prison (1968); Jimmy Bryant and Speedy West – There’s Gonna Be A Party (1960); James Burton – Elvis Presley ’68 Comeback Special (1968).…

Like all great blues and jazz-blues players Ford is a master at exploiting major-minor ambiguity. To this end Robben will often replace the Minor Pentatonic’s b 7 with the Major Pentatonic’s 6th. This note is also the major 3rd of the IV chord and the 9th of the V chord, and landing on these notes at the right moment (on a strong down beat) lends a ripe flavour to your solo. Add the 9th and the scale becomes Dorian mode. Include the b 5 and major 3rd and we get an‘uber’scale that includes elements of major and minor, plus the sophistication of Dorian and Mixolydian modes. But try what Robben calls the ‘Major 6 Pentatonic’ first, as it can bring new sonic spice to your solos.…

If you play too slowly you will bore yourself to death but too fast can often be too fast for you to function well. So you have to kind of slow down a little while remembering where you are in the phrase. I believe the chemicals in your brain that allow you to multitask and see a new scale before the chord gets there is the same, whether two chords or 10 chords. Start with arpeggios while trying to nail chord tones on the strong beats of the bars; this is a good way to sound melodic and ‘make the changes’. For beginner‘changes classes’, I suggest students vamp on a progression like C minor to E b minor and make them stay in one position for both chords, not simply…

Te Deum is a motet – a multi-part piece for voices – written in the latter part of the 17th Century by the French composer Marc-Antoine Charpentier (1643-1704). Charpentier was a prolific and well-respected composer, and also a music theorist of the Baroque era - a musical period of rich diversity and transition. “TE DEUM’S PRELUDE IS WRITTEN IN D MAJOR, A KEY THAT CHARPENTIER DESCRIBED AS ‘JOYFUL AND VERY WARLIKE’” Because of this, his large body of works including masses, operas, oratorios and other works is brilliant and diverse and means he is now one of the most popular and recorded composers of the era. Te Deum remains one of his best known works, a wonderful six-movement piece with an unusual history. It only entered the relatively modern era…

EASY LICKS EXAMPLE 1 GREEN DAY CD TRACK 24 Approach this idea with steady alternate picking over the D major chord. This part is a little tricky as there’s a stretch up to the A note on the first string using the fourth finger. It all leads up to the D major finishing chord at the final bar. EASY LICKS EXAMPLE 2 PARAMORE CD TRACK 25 Play this powerchord riff quickly, if anything pre-empting the beat (we usually tell you to lay back on it). The pauses should be short and sharp using the strumming hand to mute the chords (indicated with rests in the notation). It’s the kind of idea you could vary, from verse to chorus for instance. INTERMEDIATE LICKS EXAMPLE 3 RICHIE SAMBORA CD TRACK 26 This…

FEBRUARY GT291 BRITISH & IRISH BLUES-ROCK Play like the legends of ‘70s blues-rock: Taste, Thin Lizzy, Bad Company, Whitesnaske and more! Josh Smith and Allen Hinds blues and fusion video masterclasses. Plus: Smetana’s Vltava tabbed; The Beatles, Ronnie Montrose, Jimmy Page, Blind Blake and lots more! JANUARY GT290 THE GENIUS OF BRIAN MAY To coincide with the new Queen blockbuster we bring you a full Brian May style study: licks, acoustic ideas, delay & full piece. Plus: Eric Gales and Allen Hinds video masterclass; Offenbach classical; Billy Gibbons, Stochelo Rosenberg, Dan Patlansky & much more! DECEMBER GT289 RHYTHM SKILLS! Taking a cue from 10 of the greatest rhythm players we examine how to up your own game. Ever fancied trying the percussive acoustic style? Now’s your chance with our easy…

CLAYTON CALL / GETTY IMAGES As we’re dealing mainly with conceptual ideas almost any guitar will work. One choice facing the modern jazz guitarist is whether you go down the flatwound route, for a more traditional smooth and warm tone à la Wes Montgomery or George Benson; or to go for the brighter tone of roundwound strings. This choice is becoming more popular, favoured by players like Martin Taylor, Lage Lund and Jonathan Kreisberg. Either way, you should select the neck pickup and dial in a balanced and clear tone at the amp.…

Today we conclude this series on intervals with octaves. An octave is a thoroughly consistent interval: basically it goes from one letter to its namesake 12 semitones higher or lower. The waveforms created by an octave is more stable than other intervals because it is perfectly divisible (a note an octave higher is exactly twice the frequency, and vice versa), and so work well using distortion. DAVID REDFERN / GETTY IMAGES As this is the final instalment let’s remind ourselves of the sort of experimentation and exploration to aim for when developing this particular concept. You should aim to apply these Mixolydian principles to every pattern of the other scales that you know - shifting ideas up and down the length of the neck as well as staying within the…

ANDREW BENGE / GETTY IMAGES Three-notes-per-string scale shapes are a great way of accessing the maximum available notes anywhere on the neck. These positions make full use of all four fingers and cover more frets than the traditional five-postion, or CAGED system shapes. As every string has the same number of notes, three-notes-per-string shapes lend themselves to patterns very well. Here we have five approaches based in the A Minor, or A Aeolian shape, position 1. This scale has no sharps or flats, which makes it very simple and accessible to learn. The notes in the scale are A-B-C-D-E-F-G and the intervals read as: 1-2- b 3-4-5- b 6- b 7. For this A Minor scale shape, there are three fretting-hand fingering patterns depending on which string you are playing.…

STEVE HACKETT AT THE EDGE OF LIGHT InsideOutMusic ★★★★★ Another prog opus from one of the genre’s original architects! Steve Hackett has discovered a new lease on prog life in recent years, in no small way thanks to his Genesis Revisited project, dedicated to that band’s earlier work. Bolstered by the venue-filling appeal of that material, Steve’s solo work has flourished. Following 2017’s The Night Siren, At The Edge Of Light once again stakes its claim in the heartland of melodic progressive rock. It’s classic stuff, embellished with orchestra and choirs, plus ethnic instrumentation including the tar and duduk, which couch Steve’s soaring guitar lines perfectly. Beasts In Our Time rates as our standout track, but every number shows a guitarist who has never rested on his laurels. If you’re…

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 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. PLUS! Get a FREE iPad/iPhone sample of GT. For full details and how to…

DANNY SANCHEZ GT: What is it about instrumentals that appeals to you? MR: As a guitar player, there are a lot of different things I listen for with instrumental guitar music, or even instrumental music in general: the song, the melody, the phrasing, vibrato, tone and having some chops in there is cool, too. It doesn’t matter if it’s fast or slow, it just has to say something. GT: What do you think an instrumental can provide a listener that a vocal song can’t? MR: I guess that depends on the listener and on the particular piece of music. I think with a vocal and a lyric, the message is clear; but with instrumental music, there is, maybe, more left to the imagination. A great melody is a great melody,…

LEO FENDER BUYS OUT PARTNER George Fullerton from their joint G&L venture. Sadly production of the G&L Interceptor X-body is discontinued due to disappointing sales over its short life span. The eye-catching guitar was presented with a deep forearm scoop, a Dual Fulcrum vibrato and a choice of three MFD single-coil units or two Offset MFD humbuckers. But of course as the model ceases to be it becomes highly collectable. THE FASTEST CIRCUIT OF M25 BECOMES a late night event for boy racers following the opening of the completed M25 London Orbital motorway by Margaret Thatcher. The Prime Minister also officially opens the Japanese owned Nissan car factory in Sunderland, its first in Europe. The MetroCentre shopping mall is opened in Tyneside; Family Credit is introduced and there’s a rush…

There is much to learn from playing rock and roll and some of the higher tempo solos may take you by surprise. From a rhythm point of view there is everything from Cliff Gallup’s rockabilly 6th chords to Buddy Holly’s clean raking technique. These players would use open and barre chords but also employed voicings higher up the neck and lovely, subtle partial voicings as in the Eddie Cochran example. You’ll also delve into a soloing vocabulary which draws from several sources from the blues and Minor Pentatonic scales to jazz and rockabilly inspired phrases which hint at the colour of modes like Dorian and Mixolydian.…

How did you get involved with this meeting of minds in the Supersonic Blues Machine (Kenny Aronoff on drums, Fabrizio Grossi on bass with collaborators Lance Lopez, Billy Gibbons, Steve Lukather and others)? “I met Fabrizio a little over three years ago. He connected me with Mascot Records and I wound up signing with them so that was very nice. So he sort of asked me out of the blue. Steve Lukather I have known since he was 19 and I don’t even remember how old I was when we first met. I think the only time we have ever played together was just a few years ago. We went to Japan with Bill Evans and Randy Brecker, Soul Bop, and did some shows there. That is the only time…

Ford’s solo breakthrough was Talk To Your Daughter (1988), which stunned us with tone, fire and musical sophistication. The title tune, plus Help The Poor and Ain’t Got Nothin’ But The Blues ripped a swathe through the samey blues that pervaded the era. Later albums with his band The Blue Line saw a less overdriven tone and a more classic blues style, but all Robben’s material is top notch listening.…

Allen used his original Fender Stratocaster’s bridge pickup into a small Red Plate valve amp. The Strat’s tone and volume were set to taste. Any electric guitar will work well for this month’s performance; just dial up a creamy, light and responsive overdrive and be prepared to experiment with the guitar’s controls to achieve the desired sounds. Set your chorus pedal with a fast rate and lots of depth for that Leslie speaker style wobble. A bit of reverb or delay can of course be added for that final professional touch.…

Do you have an awareness of your posture when you practise? I started making short video lessons just over a year ago and I noticed when watching that my guitar looked too low down and I was slightly hunching and having to reach too far. I have since raised my guitar higher - I combine a footstool with a Gitano guitar rest to get the height and angle I need. I have also noticed that if I am tense I grip the guitar too tightly with my right arm causing pressure to the inside forearm and therefore restriction on the picking-hand fingers. When I catch myself doing it I make a conscious effort to relax the grip and move my elbow slightly further forwards over the guitar.…

Every now and again a new blues player emerges who leaves us gobsmacked. Kirk Fletcher is one of those guys. You will have heard his name a lot recently (not least in these pages) as he has been busy working the blues circuits of Europe and now bases himself in Switzerland. Although you might be familiar with Kirk as frontman you might not be aware of his lengthy journey to this point, as a busy sideman. Pinetop Perkins, James Cotton, Hubert Sumlin, Charlie Musselwhite, Cindi Lauper and Doyle Bramhall Sr, are just some of the artists that Fletcher has backed. But it was his friendship with Kim Wilson and a three-year spell with The Thunderbirds that launched his career. More recently, Kirk has been part of two projects with close…

The Killers were formed in Las Vegas in 2001 by frontman Brandon Flowers and guitarist Dave Keuning, with bass player Mark Stoermer and drummer Ronnie Vanucci Jr following in 2002. They have ad huge commercial success with each of their five studio albums, and played many successful tours, including venues such as the Royal Albert Hall (recorded for a live album), Wembley Stadium and Madison Square Garden. Additionally they have also appeared at massive global events such as Live 8. Flowers and Keuning got together after Flowers had departed a synth pop band called Blush Response. The singer realised that his future was in rock rather than pop after he watched Oasis play in Las Vegas. Unlike the UK band The Killers still employ lots of synth in their songs,…

MIIKKA SKAFFARI / GETTY IMAGES American singer-songwriter John Mayer melds awesome fretboard skills with well-crafted songs to huge mainstream appeal. Since gaining prominence on the back of his acoustic smash, No Such Thing, Mayer soon broadened his output to include electric blues-rock in a stunning band that included British musos Pino Palladino and Robbie McIntosh. While electric is Mayer’s main focus, he is actually a fleet fingerpicker with a jazzy-funky sensibility. His first release was the self-produced EP Inside Wants Out, a collection of songs where his acoustic guitar and vocal skills set him apart from the legion of also-rans. For this study I have taken my cue from the Inside Wants Out EP, which also made its way onto Mayer’s major label debut, Room For Squares. Mayer’s playing often…

For most of my guitar life, I have achieved my rock tone by getting about 75% of distortion from the amp and then an extra 25% from an overdrive pedal (usually a SD-1 Boss Super Overdrive); however, for this series, the amp has been clean (Fender Blues Deluxe) and all the distortion has come from a pedal (in this case, a Zendrive) in the manner of players such as Robben Ford. Again, as mentioned before, try to get away with as little gain as possible so that you have got a real core to your sound.…

POLYPHIA NEW LEVELS NEW DEVILS Rude Records ★★★★ Do you think Animals As Leaders are uniquely ‘other worldly’? Not to take anything away from that iconic band but American YouTube sensations Polyphia are developing into something at least equal in creating ear-opening progressive guitar instrumentals. This is the quartet’s third album, is highly produced and leans on hip-hop and trap (syncopated southern hip-hop) stylings with angular drums and bass. On top of this, guitarists Tim Henson and Scott Le Page weave impressive six-string arrangements augmented by special guests such as Music Man toting shred whiz Jason Richardson and YouTube’s neo-soul star guitarist, Mateus Asato. It’s a broad array of music that is unique, very modern and will work your hi-fi’s sub woofer hard. Top tracks include Nasty (with Jason), Saucy…

GT: Do you have a type of pick that you can’t live without? WE: I have never used a pick as I started playing on acoustic guitars and various slide guitars such as Weissenborn and Dobro. I developed a fingerpicking style and over the years began to apply the technique to electric guitars as I wanted to develop my own style and sound. In place of a pick, I do have my signature Ben Harper Slide which I can’t live without. GT: You have to give up all your pedals but three: which ones stay? WE: First choice would be my Tube Screamer as I just love that creamy drive and how it pushes the tubes in my amp to create that overdriven sound. Second, my Stymon Timeline; I really…