Innehållsförteckning för May 2018 från Guitar Techniques

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 Another of our top tutors, Richard has been a regular on GT, Total Guitar and Guitarist for years. He’s also a longtime member of Tony Hadley’s touring band. 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!. CHARLIE GRIFFITHS Guitar Institute tutor Charlie first came to fame in Total Guitar’s Challenge Charlie series. He’s also one of the UK’s top rock, metal and fusion guitarists. PHIL HILBORNE The UK’s original magazine guitar tutor, Phil’s something of…

TINA K "IF YOU’VE GOT SOMETHING GOOD GOING ON MUSICALLY, THEN A GREAT STORY CAN REALLY HELP GET PEOPLE’S ATTENTION" Having just sold a couple of kidneys and bought a lovely new acoustic guitar, I was reminded by a timely YouTube video that a quality instrument does not the great song make! If you’ve not seen it yet and have a few minutes to spare, check out Brushy One String playing his song Chicken In The Corn. It’s a great example of musicality and groove being far more important than anything else. The dude is playing an average at best classical guitar with just one string. And he rocks! How? My Food For Thought this month explores exactly why something like this works and the lessons we can all learn…

THIS LICK USES both picking and fretting-hand tapping to create a flowing, descending and ascending triplet-based phrase. This sort of idea has been used by Greg Howe, and similar ideas can also be heard in Edward Van Halen’s playing. It uses notes from B Dorian (B-C#-D-E-F#-G#-A); and all the triads commonly derived from that mode with the exception of C#m (Bm, D, E, F#m, G#dim and A). If played accurately this sort of idea should sound fluid and keyboard-like. The best way to achieve this is to make sure that all the position shifts are smooth and as handling-noise free as possible and that all the notes, whether tapped, pulled-off or hammered-on, are equal in volume. As usual you should aim to develop similar ideas of your own, using arpeggios…

GT needs you! We’re on the hunt for the best new guitar talent and if you’re reading this you’re already one step closer to lifting the trophy and walking away with a prize booty from the top names in guitars. Previous winners include Guthrie Govan, Dave Kilminster and James Bell (check out James’s winning 2011 Young Guitarist performance on Guitarist’s YouTube channel), so this could be your springboard to similar greatness! We’re working alongside our sister titles Guitarist, Total Guitar and MusicRadar.com to find our 2018 Guitarist of the Year, Young Guitarist of the Year and Acoustic Guitarist of the year at our brand new UK Guitar Show on 28 and 29 September 2018. Lots more details on this exciting London, Olympia event soon! So how do you get involved?…

ZUMA PRESS / ALAMY " DROP D TUNING SOUNDS HEAVIER AND THE EASY FINGERING OF POWER CHORDS ALLOWS FOR COMPLEX CHORD RIFFING " ABILITY RATING Moderate/Advanced Info Tempo Various Key D minor & D major CD TRACKS 11-14 Will improve your… Rock and blues playing Knowledge of a basic open tuning and its use Fingerstyle technique. This month we are going to examine the wonders of drop D tuning. As the name suggests, to arrive at drop D from standard tuning you simply drop (or lower) your guitar’s sixth string by a tone from E to D. If tuning by ear simply take a reference note from the open fourth string’s D note. If you are using a digital tuner you may need to change the mode to bass guitar…

" AUDIOSLAVE RELEASED THEIR FIRST ALBUM IN 2002, SELLING OVER 160,000 UNITS IN THE FIRST WEEK OF RELEASE IN THE US " ABILITY RATING Moderate Info Key: E minor Tempo: 81bpm CD: TRACKS 29-31 Will improve your… Part building Tone choices General technique Formed in 2001 by Soundgarden’s Chris Cornell and Rage Against The Machine trio of Tom Morello on guitar, Tim Commerford on bass and drummer Brad Wilk, Audioslave managed to not only blend the sound of their previous outfits but also forge a new identity that harked back to Led Zeppelin from the 1970s and the grunge and rock bands of the 1990s. They released three albums during their six-year career and sold over eight million albums worldwide in that time. Cornell left the band in 2007 citing…

" EACH CAGED SHAPE PROVIDES OPPORTUNITES TO EXECUTE IDEAS THAT ARE MORE DIFFICULT IN THE OTHER FOUR" ABILITY RATING Moderate/Advanced Info Key: A (A7) Tempo: 120bpm CD: TRACKS 50-52 Will improve your… Chromatic knowledge Tension and resolution Fluidity when soloing In common music parlance, chromatic notes are ‘non-scale’ notes. The word ‘chroma’ is the Greek word for colour and, certainly, chromatic notes are a great way of catching the listener’s ear. Whether thinking in terms of painting pictures or creating flavours, chromatic notes will add colour and spice to your playing, providing you with nearly twice as many notes to choose from (12 notes in each octave instead of 7) when improvising over each chord. Crucially, they provide us with the opportunity to use tension (dissonance) and then resolve it…

ERNESTO RUSCIO / GETTY IMAGES ABILITY RATING Moderate Info Key: Various Tempo: Various CD: TRACKS 68-77 Will improve your… Knowledge of the fretboard Unusual bending techniques Finger strength and stamina Bending on the low strings is a great way to add a different texture and nuance to riffs. In this trip to the woodshed we will look at five rock and metal riffs taking inspiration from players like Tony Iommi, Steve Vai and Dimebag Darrell. While we are used to string bending the treble in the context of bluesy lead licks, the lower strings have a different feel and tension. Get used to the string tension by practising bending the strings in semitone, tone and minor 3rd increments. With enough practice, you will learn how far you need to move…

RECENTLY I WAS involved in a gig at Bristol Jazz & Blues Festival to mark 50 years since Cream’s dissolution. There were three guitars, bass and drums and we’d done the same last year for Jimi Hendrix’s debut album, Are You Experienced. I mention it because, while several of the guys involved revered Hendrix, they didn’t have quite the same uncurbed admiration for Clapton, Bruce and Baker. This was all to change once we got down to learning the set. One guitarist, a great mate and equally great player, has always expressed mild disdain for EC. But after boning up on the tunes at home he said: “How does he do that ‘major-minor’ thing? I don’t understand it and I’m really struggling with it.” The bassist, an equally fabulous musician…

CTK / ALAMY ➊ Boogie Blues (E) We start with a fun boogie blues in the vein of John Lee Hooker and ZZ Top. Use E Minor Pentatonic (E-G-A-B-D) and E Major Pentatonic (E-F#-G#-B-C#) as a starting point. Then try adding E Mixolydian (E-F#-G#-A-B-C#-D) and E Dorian (E-F#-G-A-B-C#-D) into the mix. ➋ Jazz BluesWaltz (Cm) Here’s a cool C minor jazz-blues in 3/4 time. C Minor Pentatonic (C-E b -F-G-B b ) is a good place to start, as is C Minor scale itself (C-D-E b -F-G-A b -B b ). For the A b 7 chords, try A b Lydian Dominant (A b -B b -C-D-E b -F-G b ); and for the G7 chords, C Harmonic Minor (C-D-E b -F-G-A b -B) will work great. ➌ Funk Jam…

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 shape…

ABILITY RATING Advanced Info Key: E minor mostly Tempo: 130bpm CD: TRACKS CD-ROM Will improve your Changes playing Rock fusion lead work Use of hybrid picking The difficulty level is stretched high with an up-tempo rocker to navigate as we start our new, eight-part video series with fusion maestro Brett Garsed. In this first episode Brett tackles Jason Sidwell’s composition, The Race To Wonderland. Brett’s home scale for the verses is E Dorian (E-F#-G-A-B-C#-D: see scale diagram), with chromatic notes added for tension and an ‘outside’ fusion sound. Our key signature is Em so consult the notation to see where the alterations and chromatic tones are, including the major 6th Dorian flavour tone of C#. For extra spice the verse riff has a 7/8 feel played against the drums, which…

EASY LICKS EXAMPLE 1 BUDDY HOLLY CD TRACK 19 Open chords form the basis of Buddy’s rhythm and indeed lead playing, and here we demonstrate a simple I-IV-V riff, played with a steady 8th-note muted rhythm, while accenting on the second and fourth beat of each bar. Use a clean sound with a short spring reverb for authenticity. EASY LICKS EXAMPLE 2 STEVE CROPPER CD TRACK 20 This is a classic Major Pentatonic lick that resolves over four bars. It is played with the fingers and should involve a slight‘popping’technique against the fretboard with the plucking hand. Single-coils, small valve amp tone and close attention to timing will help you to nail that Booker T & The MG’s Stax sound. INTERMEDIATE LICKS EXAMPLE 3 ALEX LIFESON CD TRACK 21 The…

“ MUSIC IS AN ART FORM AND IT’S SUPPOSED TO BE JOYFUL. WORK HARD BUT ENJOY THE EXPERIENCE”Howard Roberts ABILITY RATING Moderate/Advanced Info Key: Various Tempo: Various CD: TRACKS 32-47 Will improve your… Jazz vocabulary Time-feel and swing Negotiation of chord changes Howard Roberts lived his musical life to the full. He was a member of the Wrecking Crew, a collection of first-rate session musicians that throughout the 1960s played on countless sessions for television and film, along with a staggering amount of hit pop records. He was also a fantastic jazz guitarist and produced a steady stream of albums as a bandleader to great critical and commercial acclaim. Roberts dedicated the latter part of his career to education, writing a number of excellent books and articles and along with…

“DESPITE ROCKY RELATIONSHIPS WITHIN THE BAND, LITTLE FEAT CREATED A UNIQUE SOUND MIXING GENRES AND INFLUENCES” ABILITY RATING Moderate Info Key: Various Tempo: Various CD: TRACKS 53-60 Will improve your Slide playing in open A Country-blues slide licks Laid-back groove and feel Despite earning huge respect from fellow musicians and those in the know, Lowell George remains largely ignored by posterity. In addition to providing lead vocals and slide guitar to seven albums as a founding member of Little Feat, he also worked as a producer for artists including the Grateful Dead, as a successful session player, as part of Zappa’s Mothers Of Invention and as a solo artist. All this in a career that ended with his death in 1979 aged just 34, after a life of alcohol and…

Album of the Month WILL MCNICOL DRAGONFLIES, FROGS AND BUTTERFLIES Will McNicol There’s something about a classical guitarist that ‘converts’ to steel-string acoustic. You can hear it with Clive Carroll who gets a big, rich tone from an instrument that many make sound brittle and small. It’s a similar thing with Will McNicol; the dedication to nail pedicure and awareness of picking angle sure pays off! The comparison fits perfectly here, as Clive co-produced with Will as well as offering a little mentoring. The result of which is a hugely listenable solo guitar album, brimming with dynamics, harmonic colour, strong melodies and solid compositional structure. The title track is precise, brimming with major chords, intricate fretting, lively dynamics and a well realised melody. The dropped C tuning of the waltzy…

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…

SANDRINE LEE GT:What is it about guitar instrumentals that appeals to you? MS: I love the sound of guitar, so that’s what appeals to me. GT: What can an instrumental provide a listener that a vocal song can’t? MS: I really like a vocal approach. I have been singing along with my guitar but even without the voice involved, I like to say something with melodies. Sometimes you can play things instrumentally that are impossible to sing. GT: Are there any tendencies with instrumentals that you embrace or avoid (rhythms, harmony, playing approach, tones)? MS: I don’t think of it that way. When I’m writing a song, I try to make sure to carry the emotion behind the inspiration of the song. If it’s exciting, if it’s sad, I want…

CORT’S NEW SUNSET I SEMI-HOLLOW, singlecut guitar is a real attention grabber! This set-neck model has a maple top on a chambered mahogany body and the mahogany neck features offset rectangular white pearl inlays on a rosewood board. The TV Jones Classic and Classic Plus pickups offer a choice of traditional tones or a more modern edge. Chrome hardware includes Grover tuners, a roller bridge and a Bigsby B50 tailpiece. AFTER MISSIONS THE SPACE SHUTTLE Endeavour takes its final flight on the back of a modified 747; a North Korean Earth observation satellite explodes shortly after launch, much to the concern of the United Nations Security Council; Earth observes the transit of Venus across the face of the sun, and the next one won’t take place until December 2117, over…

“A GENUINE AND VERY KNOWLEDGABLE GUITAR ‘GEEK’, JOE PLAYS JUST ABOUT EVERY CLASSIC GUITAR DESIGN YOU COULD NAME” ABILITY RATING Moderate/Advanced Info Key Various Tempo Various CD TRACKS 4-10 Will improve your… Fretting-hand dexterity Alternate picking Vocabulary and improvisation Joe Bonamassa took up guitar at the tender age of four, inspired by his father’s collection of British blues records. By the age of 12, he was spending most weekends gigging in and around the New York area using his tried and trusted ’72 Strat, Rosie - a present from his father. Surely the young Joe would have been delighted to forsee the astonishing collection of vintage guitars and amps he was to amass over the coming years, along with a bewildering assortment of signature models. A genuine and very knowledgeable…

" THE MAIN DIFFICULTY IS IN PLAYING THE FAMILIAR MELODY WITH SUPPORTING BASSLINE WHICH REQUIRES PRECISION AND STAMINA" ABILITY RATING Moderate/Advanced Info Key E minor Tempo 96bpm CD TRACKS 17-18 Will improve your… Separation of two voices Fretboard harmony Fretting-hand stamina A major figure of 20th century music, the Russian composer, pianist and conductor Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953) had a unique and vibrant musical voice. His startling and radical musical individualism somehow managed to appeal both to his musical peers and admirers (including Stravinsky and Ravel) as well as a wide audience. The use of harmonic dissonance, polytonality, eclecticism, experimentalism, odd time signatures, angular melodies and inventive orchestration throughout his huge body of work of eight ballets, nine concertos, nine piano sonatas and seven symphonies, places him firmly in the genre…

“WITH TECHNOLOGY EXPANDING AT THIS PACE, WE’RE LOSING OUR HUMANITY AND OUR ABILITY TO CONNECT WITH EACH OTHER” Walter Trout ABILITY RATING Moderate/Advanced Info Key: Various Tempo: Various CD: TRACKS 25-28 Will improve your Speedy Pentatonic playing Vibrato on bends Blending of major and minor As a teenager Walter Trout dreamed of leading his own band playing his own music. But he would have to wait patiently as life presented him with many scenic detours. Trout’s career started on the Jersey coast scene of the late ’60s and early ’70s but it wasn’t long before a sideman gig in Los Angeles presented itself with R&B singer Percy Mayfield. Trout’s blinding playing meant he never really had to search out a gig as he went from one gig to the next…

“MOST OF THE TIME ONE IS DISCOURAGED BY THE WORK, BUT NOW AND AGAIN BY SOME GRACE SOMETHING STANDS OUT” Leonard Cohen ABILITY RATING Easy/Moderate Info Key: C Tempo: 50 bpm CD: TRACKS 48-49 Will improve your… Plucking rhythms in 6/8 Knowledge of sus chords Fretting barre chords Hallelujah! It’s one of those tracks that sends tingles down your spine and I, like many others, first became aware of it thanks to Jeff Buckley’s staggering cover on his debut album, Grace. The composer of the track was of course Leonard Cohen and it first appeared on his 1984 album Various Positions. Although Cohen’s place in the pantheon of great songwriters was already assured, the fresh exposure that Buckley’s cover provided gave his career a second wind and introduced him to…

ROB VERHORST / GETTY IMAGES ABILITY RATING Moderate/Advanced Info Key: C Lydian Tempo: 120bpm CD: TRACKS 61-67 Will improve your: Legato, sweeping, alternate picking Strength, stamina, timing, accuracy Muting, barring, rolling Welcome to this month’s column, with the sixth part in our series looking at developing fretboard fluency. Following on from last month’s lesson, where we worked through a multiple element ‘master exercise’ in C Lydian (C-D-E-F#-G-A-B), and with the associated chord, scale, arpeggio and intervallic pattern in 3rds and 4ths arranged in positions 1 and 4, this month we’ll revisit the same idea using 5fths and 6ths. In order to develop both legato and alternate picking approaches to scale and arpeggio playing in tandem, this month we’ll practice the Lydian mode using a legato approach, with the major 7…

“I WAS LIVING IN ENGLAND WHEN I FELL IN LOVE WITH GUITARS SO IT WAS LIKE ALL BRITISH KIDS, HANK B!” GT: Do you have a type of pick that you can’t live without? RS: I use medium Fender basically but I rub the edges along the strings and notch the pick so it pulls on the strings a bit. It’s like playing with a metal pick. I get them made in Australia and they do great graphics on them. GT: If you had to give up all your pedals but three, what would they be? RS: I’m not a pedal guy unless I need a bit more hang time on the notes. I prefer to match a guitar with an amp for the sound. In the studio I use…

FEATURE #2 FREAKIN’ WITH PHRYGIAN Schenker, Maiden... Flamenco? Phrygian with its root to b2 interval is perfect for Spanish licks and great in heavy rock, metal and more. Try it now! CLASSICAL TAB TCHAIKOVSKY Dance Of The Reed Pipes The ‘Cadbury’s fruit and nut case’ TV ad gets the full Bridget treatment. Play the tab, and watch the video! STAR VIDEO LESSON BRETT GARSED The Maple River After last month’s awesome solo Brett takes another shot at one of Jason’s tracks and doesn’t leave us wanting! THINGS TO LEARN STRING PULLS AND MODES Big string skips & passing notes Go from some of the biggest interval leaps to the smallest in next month’s In The Woodshed and Creative Rock! How the Brits discovered blues and launched the... R&B INVASION! As…