Innehållsförteckning för December 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 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 teaches for dime-online.org and has written for many of the world’s top guitar mags. CHARLIE GRIFFITHS Guitar Institute tutor Charlie first came to fame in Total Guitar’s Challenge…

TINA K About two weeks ago I had a shocking accident. I pulled down on a newly fitted removable tow bar to check I had pushed it in correctly, and I hadn’t. So out it came and crashed onto my fourth finger waiting directly beneath it on the concrete. Ouch was not the only word I used to describe the pain but all told it seems I’ve gotten off pretty lightly. It still hurts to play at times, but I was worried I might have shattered the bones in it. Okay sympathy seeker, you may ask, so why are you putting your little sob story in your column then? This injury has really got me thinking again about the ‘right fingers’ for the right things, and why so many great…

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…

Inspiration is food for your fingers. It’s essential to keeping them going. Whether it’s a new tune, a new approach or, let’s face it, a new guitar; any inspirational input does wonders for maintaining your playing and avoiding finger fatigue. In this article I’ve created 30 examples for you, to offer some fresh perspectives on the acoustic guitar and to feed those phalanges. The 30 examples are divided into six different categories, the first of which is Strumming. When it comes to strumming most intermediate players and above can throw in a casual and comfortable string slap to great affect; the act of focusing on the detail of that, such as where the percussive sound is placed, can change everything. I’ve created a handful of string slapping exercise here, which…

LICK 1 Motivic development and space [Verses 1 and 5] These opening motifs benefit from repetition and the use of space. The first motif is pre-composed and then, when repeated a second time, various aspects are tweaked and developed. The use of space here allows the busy backing track to do much of the work. LICK 2 Semiquaver syncopation [Bar 18] There are several places where Brett uses ear-grabbing rhythmic syncopation - this is where the notes are place on the off beats. This lick uses all of the off beats available and this use of syncopation lends a completely different feel than bluntly bashing through it using the same rhythm. LICK 3 Unison bends [Bar 68] Using unison bends is another ear grabbing way to bolster the tone and…

Muting unwanted bass notes is a necessary part of classical guitar technique if you want your playing to have harmonic clarity. It often occurs, when changing chords, that a bass note continues ringing into a new chord, and it clouds the harmony. For example, if you pluck an E chord with thumb and three fingers of the picking hand: 0XX100 and follow it with an A chord X0X220 again with thumb and three fingers, the low E will continue sounding into the A chord. To mute it, sit your thumb back onto the sixth string immediately after plucking the A chord.…

The Buckinghamshire gentleman that is Bernie Marsden is no stranger to any guitar enthusiast or straight-up music lover. His passion for the instrument comes across in every interview, which is no surprise given that he owns guitars that most people could only dream of playing, never mind owning. This stupendous collection houses ‘that’ 1959 Les Paul of course, a guitar nicknamed The Beast and borrowed by Joe Bonamassa on UK trips. However, it isn’t just a piece of collectable furniture to Bernie, as you can hear that exact same passion across all the music that he has been a part of. Since Whitesnake, Bernie has played with a variety of bands including Alaska and MGM but still manages to pack out a venue under his own name. Even in Whitesnake…

This month’s Nashville legend has actually travelled further than most to find fame in the country world. Keith Urban grew up in New Zealand before moving to the USA in his early 20s to pursue a career in the competitive country music scene. Born on October 26, 1967 in Whangarei in the North, he took up guitar at a young age and was influenced by Mark Knopfler and Fleetwood Mac’s Lindsey Buckingham. He began his career in the Australian country music scene appearing on various TV shows and touring the country as a sideman for various acts, most notably Australian Country superstar Slim Dusty. Urban released his self-titled debut album in Australia in 1991 and found chart success straight away. However, keen to establish himself as a writer and singer…

Welcome to this month’s column on developing fretboard fluency; the third part in our series exploring extended harmony. Continuing from last month’s lesson where we looked at the extensions of the II minor 7 chord, this month we’ll move on to extensions based around the IV major 7 chord, including major 7 b 5, major 9#11 and major 13#11 voicings arranged in five shapes on the fretboard. We’ll then move on to study two approaches for creating extended arpeggios: the first – simply adding the triad from the next consecutive scale degree to our basic major 7 arpeggio to cover all three extensions up to the 13th; and the second which is superimposing diatonic arpeggios from the 3rd, 5th and 7th of our ‘home’ IV major 7 chord, which as…

ITV / REX / SHUTTERSTOCK Yes, 3/4 time means three quarter-notes, or ‘downbeats’ per bar. This feel is traditionally referred to as a waltz, and goes back to the great classical composers, most famously Strauss’s The Blue Danube. The 3/4 feel has its place in pop and rock music too and can yield some often creative and interesting results. If we take The Beatles as an example the bridge sections of We Can Work It Out has a very clear ‘1-2-3, 1-2-3’ count. Note that this is is a very different feel to 6/8 time, which contains the same amount of quavers (6) but has a different feel. 6/8 is more like Norwegian Wood (1 and a 2 and a) in which each beat is divided up into triplets. These…

ULTRAPHONIX ORIGINAL HUMAN MUSIC Ear Music ★★★★★ George Lynch (Dokken, Lynch Mob and solo guitarist) and Corey Glover (Living Color vocalist) have formed a new band. We never saw it coming but the results are dynamic; Lynch terms the collaboration ‘like a fusion of early Chili Peppers meets King Crimson meets Judas Priest’. What’s interesting is that Corey’s soulful vocals - often the smoothest entry into Living Color’s funk metal songs - are enhanced in fresh ways here; sure there are rock burners (Lynch is full-on for Walk Run Crawl) but there are tracks on this 12-track CD that travel new pathways. One such song is Another Day where the guitar work is non typical; mid-tempo clean Strat chords, bluesy phrases, lovely rolling rasquedo-esque strumming and a solo that mixes…

FEATURE #2 ERIC GALES Blues video masterclass Eric Gales’s amazing playing combines power, speed and harmonic class. Let Eric show you exactly how he does it! CLASSICAL TAB JACQUES OFFENBACH Bacarolle Bridget transcribes a section from his most famous work, The Tales Of Hoffmann, for solo classical guitar. FEATURE #3 ALLEN HINDS Solos over Broadway Blues This fabulous player returns to GT with a new video masterclass series. Check out his gorgeous playing. TECHNIQUE & THEORY NEW THINGS TO LEARN Harmonics, Mixolydian 6ths... Learn impressive tapped harmonics and see how pulling out the 6th from Mixolydian can give cool new sounds. MORE GREAT LESSONS 30-Minute Lickbag Six more licks to test you Dan Patlansky Stupendous modern blues Bill Nelson Flowing rock legato lines Billy Gibbons His oft-neglected slide side Stochelo…

HAVE YOU EVER encountered what I call ‘fretboard blindness’? I ask because it happens to me sometimes due to anxiety on gigs, and I experienced a bit of it recently at our UK Guitar Show at Olympia. In fact myself, Mick Taylor of That Pedal Show, and Jamie Dickson of Guitarist, all did while playing our Experience Cream set. Our Eric and Jimi songlist was great; we’d rehearsed (although not quite enough) and were pleased we’d achieved a good turnout.We all had set pieces and improvised solos to play, so a good mix to get to grips with. But it was the end of a hectic first day at our first guitar show; the audience was our readers who we didn’t want to sell ourselves short in front of; and…

Those of you old enough to remember house calls by your local GP (ask your designated carer if in doubt) will recall the black leather valise that accompanied those visits, crammed with the tools of the trade: stethoscope, thermometer, sphygmomanometer (look it up) and other paraphernalia. Similarly, I recall waiting for the arrival of the nice lady from the film company at the end of a patch of movie sessions, as per the Union agreement. And of more relevance, the expensive attaché case that came with her, complete with eye watering piles of cash that complied with the rule of immediate payment for the orchestra upon completion. Most professions seem to accessorise themselves with a bag of bits: the electrician’s tool box, the footballer’s kit bag, the plumber’s holdall complete…

➊ E Minor Blues We start with this fun blues jam in the guitar-friendly key of E minor. Of course E Minor Pentatonic scale (E-G-A-B-D) will go far here, and you can also add more colour with E minor scale (E-F#-G-A-B-C-D), E Dorian (E-F#-G-A-B-C#-D) and also E Harmonic Minor scale (E-F#-G-A-B-C-D#). ➋ Blues In D Here’s a feel-good D major-based progression in the style of blues legend BB King. I suggest starting with D Major Pentatonic scale (D-E-F#-A-B), mixing in some D Minor Pentatonic (D-F-G-A-C) for extra blues colouring. The 7th arpeggios will come in handy too: D7 (D-F#-A-C); G7 (G-B-D-F); and A7 (A-C#-E-G). BOSTON GLOBE / GETTY IMAGES ➌ D Dorian Funk This little groove number was designed specifically with D Dorian mode practice in mind. The chord progression…

DUNCAN BRYCELAND / PHOTOSHOT Welcome to this slightly different take on improving your rhythm skills. As a vehicle to supercharge your rhythm we’ve picked 10 of our favourite rhythm guitar specialists in 10 contrasting styles. The players we have chosen may have dabbled with the odd single-note melody, but all have made their name mostly by playing ‘for the song’ and holding down the groove for the rest of the band. Also, we haven’t gone straight for all the obvious ones - there are of course some we couldn’t leave out, but we’ve also included one or two you may not expect, and left out a couple you might; no Lennon, Jimi or Bruce Welch, for instance. Rhythm guitar is sometimes overlooked in favour of flashy fretboard pyrotechnics. However, the…

Difficulty level is stretched to the max this month as Brett gives us a broadside of his favourite licks and tricks, in the final video of this incredible series with the Aussie prog-rock legato genius. The backing track starts with a riff that outlines E minor 11 tonality so Brett’s home scale choice for the verse sections is E Dorian mode (E-F#-G-A-B-C#-D). To this scale various chromatic notes are added which brings tension and an outside, fusion type sound. For the transcription we’ve used the key signature of E minor so you can see where all the alterations and chromatic tones are, including the major Dorian flavour tone of C# (6th). Brett also adds the rather moody sounding major 7th (D#): this note is also the 7th degree of E…

Slash is one of the most iconic of guitar heroes. He may not have redefined rock guitar in the way that Van Halen or Hendrix did, or been quite the household name as players like Clapton, but he and his style are instantly recognisable, and have been for the past 30 years. Of course, most well known for his role with Guns N’Roses in their heyday, as well as playing on Michael Jackson’s Dangerous album in 1991, he also went on to form Velvet Revolver with Duff McKagan, Matt Sorum and the late Scott Weiland. He now has a successful ‘solo’ career with Slash & The Conspirators, which includes Alter Bridge frontman Myles Kennedy. When GN’R’s success reached fever pitch, Slash was something of an anti-hero – in the days…

A true innovator, Ry Cooder has influenced virtually every slide guitarist that has come after him. Born In Los Angeles in 1947, Cooder’s first success was with Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band, joining on 1967’s Safe As Milk album. He also spent a brief time with Frank Zappa and The Mothers Of Invention. But what followed was an impressive career as a solo artist and sideman, always with slide guitar to the fore. In the late ’60s Cooder contributed to the Rolling Stones’ Let It Bleed and Sticky Fingers albums as well as playing with Lowell George’s Little Feat. The ’70s would see Ry release a string of solo albums that showcased his wide variety of musical influences and his inventive skills as a slide and rhythm player. Albums…

TERJE DOKKEN / GONZALEZ PHOTO / ALAMY Try a clean tone with compression, chorus and reverb on the chordal examples, and a warm overdriven tone for lead as it’s a great way to monitor your muting techniques (any unplayed strings can often result in dissonant overtones). The overdriven sound is also the tone of choice for many popular contemporary styles. This type of tone will lend a more fusion orientated sound when using jazz-based concepts, and easily integrate with your blues and rock vocabulary.…

NOVEMBER GT288 ELECTRIC MASTERY Our 50 Tips will improve every area of your playing. Reggae guitar is deeper than you may think; this article will amaze and inspire. Plus: learn the hymn, How Can I Keep From Singing (classical); watch Brett Garsed’s awesome video lesson, and so much more! OCTOBER GT287 ULTIMATE WORKOUT This warm-up-meets-workout focuses on four different styles with musical exercises covering a whole octave, fret by fret. It’s a phenomenal learning and chops building tool! Plus, learn all the styles for which Jimmy Page is rightly revered. And loads more! SEPTEMBER GT286 PLAY BETTER ACOUSTIC Summer still brings us blazing days and balmy evenings so what better time to up your acoustic chops with 50 Tips To Acoustic Mastery, Acoustic Blues In Three Tunings, super takes on…

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…

AUSTIN HARGRAVE GT: What is it about instrumentals that appeals to you? ML: You can travel down any road you like in an instrumental, even within the performance itself. Instrumentals give you the freedom to paint any and all emotions, and a great instrumental can be timeless. GT: What can an instrumental provide a listener that a vocal song can’t? ML: I do a lot of instrumentals and improvising at my shows; it gets very interesting when the whole becomes bigger than the sum of the individual players. I’m addicted to this, it’s like musical poetry that everyone experiences together. A great vocal song of course is just as powerful but in a very different way. The meaning of a vocal song is usually spelled out for you, which can…

WHILE MOST AMERICAN CATALOGUE guitars are considered as cheap alternatives to the likes of Fender and Gibson, the singlecut Barney Kessel models by Kay are definitely the exception. The K6700 Artist is a beautiful jazz styled hollowbody, fully bound with one or two ‘Kleenex box’pickups. The semi-solid K1700 Pro has a maple top is also presented with the same appointments; while the top range K8700 Jazz Special (which Barney himself uses on stage) has an upgraded tailpiece, tuners and Gibson style split block inlays. THE WORLD’S FIRST NUCLEAR ACCIDENT occurs when part of the radioactive core at Windscale Nuclear plant in West Cumbria catches fire. No measures were in place for such an incident so it was a best guess scenario but a combination of pumped water and turning off…

The range of available plectra can be bewildering, and prices go from pennies to £30 plus for some esoteric brands. There are no rules, but here are one or two generalisations to help you make the right choice: super thick‘extra heavy’or‘stubby’ picks work well for fast picking and hard riffing, and are often used for metal, fusion and jazz. Standard‘heavy’picks (1.0-1.2mm) are great all-rounders and will get you through most situations, especially if you switch guitars between songs - electric to acoustic, say. Thin or‘light’picks can excel when recording acoustic guitar as they add a pleasant shimmer. A good tip is to get to like readily available picks, as losing that one cherished plectrum can leave you in the lurch!…

Over the last few years I’ve realised that there’s a speed threshold for me. Once I cross that tempo threshold, I go from truly improvising in the moment and using my melodic creativity and imagination, to just letting my fingers do the walking and playing well-worn shapes and patterns. I try to extend that threshold every day by practising and sharpening my intuition so that I can keep the ideas fresh and interesting at any tempo. But of course it’ll always be a work in progress and that’s okay. It’s a personal journey so whatever represents‘slow’for you may be fast as hell for someone else. I wondered why I was so focused on playing fast in my younger years when all my major influences were incredibly melodic and tasteful players.…

In this instalment we tackle another beautiful work by the sublime musical master Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791). No brief introduction can do justice to his staggering skill, legacy, imagination and ludicrous - apparently effortless – productivity displayed in his brief and troubled life. But, in short, if the term ‘musical genius’ holds any meaning, then it’s hard to imagine anyone more deserving of that description than Mozart. “THE PIECE SITS WELL ON THE GUITAR, AND IS CHARACTERISED BY SLURS AND ARPEGGIOS MAINTAINING THE 12/8 UNDER THE MELODY” This particular arrangement is from his Requiem In D minor K626, a piece with an unusual and intriguing origin (mythologised, elaborated and distorted in Peter Shaffer’s 1979 play, Amadeus and the subsequent 1984 film of the same name). There is still some controversy…

EASY LICKS EXAMPLE 1 CARLOS SANTANA CD TRACK 35 This D Minor Pentatonic lick incorporates the 2nd/9th (E) note and is typical of Santana’s style. Ascend the D Minor Pentatonic scale (D-F-G-A-C), applying vibrato on the held notes and at the top, use pull offs to articulate the F, E and D notes in quick succession for that trademark Santana speed burst! EASY LICKS EXAMPLE 2 JOE SATRIANI CD TRACK 36 You could apply a chorus and delay to this picking pattern as you voice a Lydian sounding A5(#11) to an F maj 7 chord shape. Pick steadily with a waltz like 6/8 timing and light muting for a typical Surfing With The Alien-era Satch sound. INTERMEDIATE LICKS EXAMPLE 3 MUDDY WATERS CD TRACK 37 This basic open-position E blues…

If you can name any significant artist from the world of jazz, then the chances are that you’ll find them on Kenny Burrell’s resumé. This incredible ‘who’s who’ of jazz includes Louis Armstrong, Dizzy Gillespie, Billie Holiday, Chet Baker, Tony Bennett, John Coltrane and dozens of others. Duke Ellington famously went on the record to state that Kenny was his favourite guitarist and the two worked together many times. Add to this Kenny’s portfolio as a bandleader, with way over 60 albums released under his own name it’s clear that this is a guitarist you cannot ignore. At 87 he continues to perform, record and educate, and long may he continue. His influence outside the jazz world is similarly impressive with even Jimi Hendrix stating, “Kenny Burrell, that’s the sound…

In this current series, we’ve been looking at ways of using various scale intervals to create a variety of medium-paced ideas to fit in with your Mixolydian vocabulary. So far, we’ve studied 2nds, 3rds and 4ths, so logically in this lesson it’s the turn of 5ths. “STACKING 5THS IS A GREAT WAY TO ADD POWER TO YOUR PLAYING” - JOE AND STEVE Within the modes of the Major scale, each 5th interval will be one of two types: Diminished fifth = three tones Perfect fifth = three and a half tones To illustrate this, have a look at Diagram 1, which represents the notes of D Major (and any of its modes, of which A Mixolydian is the fifth). If you start from any note, and then move in any…

The Lydian mode is heard in countless sci-fi films including Superman, E.T. and Star Wars, as well as musicals such as Westside Story. Lydian is also closely associated with rock guitarists Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, Eric Johnson and John Petrucci, as well as jazz and fusion players like Pat Metheny and John Scofield. Check out Satriani’s Lords Of Karma, from Surfing With The Alien, or John Petrucci’s incredible solo on Under A Glass Moon, which incorporates Lydian mode; it features on Dream Theater’s album Images and Words.…

SOFT MACHINE HIDDEN DETAILS Dyad Records ★★★★ This new album from one of the prog rock’s most iconic bands (Allan Holdsworth was the guitarist back in the early ‘70s) celebrates the band’s 50th anniversary; a lot of years indeed. With three of the four musicians from the band’s ‘70s era (guitarist John Etheridge, drummer John Marshall and bassist Roy Babbington) there’s as much that harks back to the early years as looks forward to new terrains. With Theo Travis (solo artist and frequent Steven Wilson collaborator) on flute, saxophones and keys, the 13 tracks are exploratory, experimental and rich in ways few modern prog-rock-jazz albums manage; there’s a real sense of interplay and improvisation here. Etheridge has worn so many metaphorical hats during his career that hearing him here is…