Innehållsförteckning för February 2019 från 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. 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!. 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. MARTIN GOULDING One of the world’s foremost rock and metal guitarists, Martin…

I just put an order in for a new custom guitar with Gray Guitars and I’m super excited about it. But hey, it’s been a while since I bought a new one – at least 18 months! So how many guitars should you own? How many is too many and when is the right time to buy a new one? Well Einstein got it right with his magic formula of F = X+1 where F is the optimal number of guitars and X is your current number of guitars. A simple formula but effective and hard to argue with. Let’s start at the beginning. I would always recommend that your first guitar should be an electric. Some may argue, but that’s my opinion (maybe a debate for another column?) but…

HERE WE HAVE a couple of ideas that illustrate the technique of combining artificial harmonics with fretted notes, known as‘harp harmonics’. Hold down the appropriate chord then sound the strings using either your picking-hand thumb and third finger, or pick and third finger while touching the harmonic‘node’point 12 frets above the note in the chord fingering (see tab). The notes should then alternate between harmonics and picked notes. This sounds more complicated than it really is. If you are accurate with both hands and approach with a light touch everything should be fine; just let the notes ring into each other where possible. A touch of chorus, compression and delay will make everything sound sweeter and Eric Johnson-esque. Also, check out players such as Lenny Breau, Chet Atkins and…

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…

When you meet Josh Smith, it soon becomes apparent, that he’s as big a gearhead as you’re ever likely to meet. Everything in his signal chain is there because it’s survived rigorous comparisons to other units in its class – and his style is a riotous mix of red raw country, searing blues and the slickest jazz that simply stupefies the senses. He’s been playing since he was three years old when his father surprised him with a guitar for his birthday. “I banged it around for a bit, then at six I asked to have lessons,” he laughs when we sit down for our chat. By the time he reached 12, Josh started attending blues jams in his native Florida. “The first time I went I got up to…

Last month we started with the first in a new series of six video masterclasses with LA session legend Allen Hinds. Each month one of the six performances will be transcribed and then analysed from a technique and music theory point view. You can then learn the techniques and concepts with a view to broadening your vocabulary and musicianship. The backing track and chord chart is included to practise with. In part two we are going to look at Jason Sidwell’s funky pop-style track, Palm Drive. As Allen explains, his main focus at the beginning of the track is on creating simple, funky motifs and phrases that help to push the groove along. The wah-wah pedal is employed to great effect and really adds that funky edge. Allen explains he…

“THE ARRANGEMENT WORKS WELL FOR GUITAR. IN FACT IT ALMOST FEELS WRITTEN FOR IT, WITH GUITARISTIC MELODY AND ACCOMPANIMENT” The European classical music tradition had been firmly established by the 18th century around the heritage of German, Italian and French composers. However from the 19th century there was a growing desire from composers of other nationalities to celebrate, develop and incorporate into the ‘classical’ tradition the folk and traditional music of their respective home countries. Important composers of this music nationalism movement included among many others Grieg (Norway), Sibelius (Finland), Bartok (Hungary), Chopin (Poland), Albéniz (Spain), Elgar (UK), Copland (US), the Russian Mighty Five (Balakirev, Cui, Mussorgsky, Rimsky-Korsakov and Borodin), and the Czech composer Bedrich Smetana (1824-84). Smetana was a musical prodigy and dedicated composer whose musical style was closely…

EASY LICKS EXAMPLE 1 JOHNNY MARR CD TRACK 31 In The Smiths Johnny was brilliant at stacking parts, often using double-stops and triads. Therefore triads are the feature of this musical passage. Focus on picking out a clean sound with a chorus effect on the top three strings, moving your first, second and third fingers around the shapes I have transcribed. EASY LICKS EXAMPLE 2 JOHN CHRIST CD TRACK 32 This guitarist plays for Danzig and is responsible for some awesome open chord riffs. Voice an A5 powerchord with vibrato using a low distortion and heavy strumming hand. Slide a C shape chord up to D using the open third string as a‘drone’. INTERMEDIATE LICKS EXAMPLE 3 JOHN FRUSCIANTE CD TRACK 33 Select a high-gain amp setting, but keep a…

CLAYTON CALL / GETTY IMAGES Ronnie Montrose is one of the great unsung heroes of rock guitar. Ronnie led the bands Montrose and Gamma in the 1970s and ’80s, and worked as a session player with top flight acts including Van Morrison, Herbie Hancock, The Edgar Winter Group and The Neville Brothers. His career blossomed again in the early 2000s, up until his tragic suicide in 2012. After the release of the first Montrose album, Ronnie was often cited as one of the most influential players in hard rock, even though he never made ‘household name’ status like some of his contemporaries. After forming the band Sawbuck in 1969 and touring as an opening act for bigger bands of the day, Montrose was offered the chance to join Van Morrison’s…

JEFF MOORE / PHOTOSHOT Often referred to as ‘The King of Ragtime Guitar’, Blind Blake is one of the finest old-time blues guitarists you are likely to hear. Indeed, his playing is so impressive that jaws still hit the floor in disbelief at his technical prowess, speed and swagger. As with many of the blues greats, little is known about Blake’s life. His birthplace is thought to be Jacksonville, Florida and it is possible that his name is either Arthur Blake or Arthur Phelps. What we do know is that he recorded around 80 songs for Paramount Records during the 1920s and early 1930s. As with Robert Johnson there is very little photographic evidence with, as far as we know, only one authenticated shot of Blake in existence. However, his…

Compared to other interval-types, it is relatively rare to see 7ths used as the basis for musical ideas; however, as the fundamental nature of this column is to explore every dark musical recess in order to yield new ideas, I’ve decided to include them here. Within the modes of the Major scale, each 7th interval will be one of two types: • Minor 7th = 10 semitones • Major 7th = 11 semitones To illustrate this, have a look at diagram 1, which represents the notes of D Major (and any of its modes, like A Mixolydian). If you start from any note, and then move in any direction (clockwise or anti-clockwise) to another note that’s six notes away (in other words, with another five scale notes in between), the…

BOBBY BROOM & THE ORGANI-SATION SOUL FINGERS JazzLine ★★★★ The thick woody tones of a jazz guitar have been a staple of players for many decades; it’s truth, devoid of effects and amp gain, and speaks much of a musician’s style and vocabulary. Following the lineage of icons such as Grant Green, Wes Montgomery and George Benson, Bobby Broom might be a new name to you but he’s been honing his craft for years, and Soul Fingers features chops in abundance. In a mostly organ, drums, guitar setting the 10 tracks are a variety of wonderful covers that span The Beatles (Come Together, While My Guitar Gently Weeps), Steely Dan (Do It Again), Seals & Crofts/The Isley Brothers (Summer Breeze) and Michael Jackson (I Can’t Help It). There’s plenty of…

FEATURE #2 ROBBEN FORD Blues video masterclass Robben has one of the most desirable blues-meets-jazz styles of all. In this masterclass he reveals his secrets. FEATURE #3 ALLEN HINDS Solos over Magnificent This month Allen plays a glorious solo over a tricky Jason Sidwell tune written in 7 and 4 time signatures. CLASSICAL TAB CHARPENTIER Te Deum - Prelude Bridget tabs this fanfare by the 17th century composer, used in TV series Outlander and as Eurovision’s theme. TECHNIQUE & THEORY NEW THINGS TO LEARN Tri-tone double-stops & modes It’s that devil’s interval again, this time played as diads; plus harmonise the Melodic Minor scale in 7ths. Play like nine of the greatest... ROCK & ROLL LEGENDS! Rock and roll mixed elements of blues, jazz and country. It ignited the ’50s…

I WAS CHUFFED when we came up with this month’s cover feature on a ’70s blues-rock theme. We wanted a UK and Ireland slant but not to go straight for the household names. I remember hearing these bands brand new, and I bet many of you recall a similar excitement back in the day. I suggested groups that meant something to me; that had either pushed my playing on through emulation of an approach I hadn’t previously heard, or who simply inspired me to play their songs in my latest beat combo. I’d grown up with The Beatles, got into The Kinks, The Who and so on; then Mayall and the British blues boom, then the original electric bluesmen like the Kings, then Cream, Hendrix, etc. But I went completely…

The title ‘Self Employed Musician’ carries with it any number of assumptions, most of them utterly erroneous. But I’ll refrain from trotting out clichés describing sleep patterns which begin and end at 3 (am and pm), heroic consumption of craft beers and an intimate relationship with the Department For Work And Pensions. The reality is very different. And without engaging in some critical self-analysis, can be as dark as a dawn December commute wearing prescription Ray-bans. So the next time you engage an itinerant ukulele player in conversation, I’d avoid patience-testing enquiries as to what ‘real’ job he undertakes when not attempting to entertain the great unwashed. Unless you’ve a thing about A&E departments. First off, the combination of constant insecurity and the reliance on random offers can be more…

➊ G Minor Blues We start with this fairly slow and easy-to-approach blues in G minor. Use G Minor Pentatonic (G-B b -C-D-F) and the G Minor scale (G-A-B b -C-D-E b -F) as a starting point and then add a tasty F# leading note from G Harmonic Minor (G-A-B b -C-D-E b -F#) for the dominant (D7) chords. ➋ Am Groove Blues Here we have a fun groove-based blues in A minor. A Minor Pentatonic (A-C-D-E-G) as well as A Minor scale (A-B-C-D-E-F-G) will work great throughout the track. I also recommend playing around with the 7th arpeggios: Am7 (A-C-E-G), Dm7 (D-F-A-C) and Em7 (E-G-B-D). DAVID REDFERN / GETTY IMAGES ➌ Bb Jazz Blues Here’s a standard 12-bar jazz-blues in the common jazz key of B b (because horns…

The early ’70s was blues-rock’s heyday; an antidote to the bubblegum pop and prog rock sounds that pervaded the scene at the time. In this feature we’ll be focusing on eight of the best of these bands; some household names and others less well known but equally important, musically. THIN LIZZY. After the early days with Eric Bell on guitar, the band moved to a twin-lead line-up featuring Scott Gorham and either Brian Robertson or Gary Moore. Using harmony lead (usually in 3rds) and ‘crunchy’ minor 7 chords (think Boys Are Back In Town), Thin Lizzy created their trademark sound. FREE. The original minimalist blues-rockers, Free featured the talents of Paul Kossoff on guitar. Aficionados still debate how the riff in Alright Now should be played, and his minimalist soloing…

Anyone who has witnessed one of Josh Smith’s live performances comes away in awe of the man’s ability to fuse jazz, blues and country into one impressive package – with a feel and musicality that has to be seen to be believed. Armed with a T-style guitar strung with a set of 13s, his playing is both fluid and seemingly effortless. Josh was open as can be when it came to showing us some of the ideas behind his extraordinary music. And while the following eight examples only hint at the depth of knowledge - both instinctive and learned - behind what he does, they should certainly give you something to think about. In fact, we’d be surprised if you don’t come away with several new ideas to add fresh…

LICK 1 [Bars 22-23] G6/9 R&B fill The G6/9 chord sounds great here and Allen includes a classic R&B style fill. The fill in bar 23 features a sliding perfect 4th interval, which is a classic soul, funk and R&B device for filling out the sound without over-cluttering. LICK 2 [Bars 27-28] Semiquaver syncopation Allen opens his solo with some ear-grabbing rhythmic syncopation. Syncopation means playing off the beat and using this concept adds sophistication. If you are more used to playing music styles that feature rhythms that fall on the beat, this one may take some getting used to. LICK 3 [Bar 37] Descending Dorian line Here Allen uses the semiquaver (16th-note) rhythmic subdivision and descends the E Dorian mode. The grouping of the notes creates a catchy motif…

Technical exercises such as scales, arpeggios slurs etc, are great for developing our playing and benefit us greatly when practised regularly. However, this is a time consuming pursuit and can end up giving us no actual music to play. If this is a familiar problem for you then skip exercises and instead take an awkward section of a piece you are learning and practise in a purely technical manner. Slow, precise movements in both hands, focusing on absolute accuracy will improve technique while securing the repertoire you are working on.…

MICHAEL PUTLAND / GETTY IMAGES Jimmy Page is a member of the guitar superhero squad and for good reason. Known for his work with Led Zeppelin, for his life as an in-demand session guitarist, his contribution to The Yardbirds, The Firm, and with David Coverdale and Paul Rodgers, Page is the ‘complete’ musician. As well as the ability to express himself on the guitar, his work as a producer, arranger and composer are groundbreaking. Even his iconic onstage stance is the blueprint for many a rock guitar hero: eyes closed, head back, guitar at his knees... that’s the Page vibe. Jimmy’s style has many sides but beneath it all is that raw, dynamic blues vocabulary furthered by the language of rock and roll that took Jimmy’s ear as a youngster.…

Welcome to the first in a new series designed to develop your playing and vocabulary; to help you to think like a jazz player and increase your range of options. And what better place to commence than with intros and endings? DAVID REDFERN / GETTY IMAGES We can make a musical indication of which direction we intend to travel in an intro or ending, by selecting one of two harmonic events, often using the exact same idea in both instances. The tonic I chord sounds resolute and complete. It has no real desire to move and is like the musical equivalent of a full stop, so the perfect candidate for an ending. The V chord, however, sounds far from resolved, a bit like the word ‘and’ when used as part…

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. Every fancied trying the percussive acoustic style? Now’s your chance with our easy video lesson. Plus: Mozart, Ry Cooder, Kenny Burrell, Slash, Bernie Marsden & more. 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…

Welcome to this month’s column on developing fretboard fluency, with the first part in a series of columns looking the Melodic Minor scale. This scale is built on the interval formula: R-2- b 3-4-5-6-7, and can be visualised as the Major scale (Ionian mode) with a b 3rd degree. From this formula, we can also identify the associated four-note ‘home’ chord as a minor-major 7, with the formula: R- b 3-5-7. Perhaps most recognisable as the exotic second chord in the intro to the Led Zeppelin track Stairway To Heaven (Am maj9), this chord is more often found in Latin jazz progressions, with the major 7th degree usually resolving up a semitone to the root of the tonic minor chord. “THE MINOR-MAJOR 7TH IS MOST RECOGNISABLE AS THE SECOND CHORD…

STEVEN WILSON HOME INVASION: CONCERT AT THE ROYALL ALBERT HALL Eagle Rock ★★★★★ Riding on the wave that hit Progsville with his To The Bone album, Steven Wilson, ‘the most famous musician most people have never heard of’’, took up residence at The Albert Hall in March 2018 for three sold-out nights; the third represented here in DVD or Blu-Ray, twin CDs, five LP vinyl (March 2019) and streaming. Surrounded by a crack band that includes the effortlessly virtuosic Alex Hutchings on guitar, and prog-royalty Nick Beggs on bass plus some astounding visual effects, Wilson strides through a set that draws from his back catalogue and To The Bone itself. The music sets off with Nowhere Now, followed by Pariah which sees vocalist Ninet Tayeb join Steven in a powerful…

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…

GRETSCH REVAMPS THE COUNTRY CLUB Stereo guitar with two humbucking pickups, two volume controls and five selectors. Otherwise the all-hollow archtop with bound body and ebony fingerboard looks pretty much the same but sounds much better. Chet Atkins’Workshop LP is released showing Chet playing a one-pickup Gretsch Tennessean on the cover. As this was the cheapest of his signature archtop guitars sales increased! George Harrison buys himself a decent guitar: a second-hand ‘57 Gretsch Duo-Jet. THE GOLDEN HOFNER APPEARS IN THE Selmer catalogue and steadily gains in popularity as a result, but only with those who can afford it - people like Tommy Steele and Bert Weedon. The thinline body version makes its debut but dimensionally falls short of the aptly named Verithin that also appears on the scene. Ultimately…

You might think that the vibrato styles in this article sound a little‘old fashioned’by modern standards. To my ears it is far more musical than the post‘80s, wide metal vibrato that is still prevalent today. It was certainly applied in a more discerning way by the blues-rock guitarists; notes often sustained with vibrato being gradually applied, sometimes no vibrato would be added at all. This is more akin to the way a vocalist would use the technique. You can check just how conscious your application of vibrato is by playing a solo without any vibrato (record yourself for the brutal truth!); you may be surprised by the results.…

Integrating chord tones with scale based licks adds colour and sophistication. But, as with any powerful idea, you don’t want it to feel like,“Here come the chord tones!”; better to mix them into the stew to add flavour. The strong chord tones in a dominant blues are root, 3rd, 5th and b 7th, with the 4th less so.‘Colour’tones and extensions like b 5th, 6th, 9th are also great to experiment with. Learn where root, 3rd, 5th and b 7th are in each chord in the progression, and aim to land on them on‘down’beats. Try this in the key of A: hit the root of the IV chord (D) on beat 1 as the chord changes; and then the 3rd of the V chord (G# in the E chord) on beat…

I’m not sure I do any hybrid picking in the conventional way. I tuck a small Dunlop Jazz III pick in between the knuckles of my first and second fingers which allows me to pick the strings with my fingers. I’m not sure how this first started but it just evolved that way. This is why I am not an advocate of insisting on any player or student doing anything other than what’s comfortable to them. Much of my inspiration for using fingers is from listening to a lot of Jeff Beck; Jeff always gets a great tone using just his fingers. In addition to Jeff, I grew up listening to The Allman Brothers and always loved the way fingers sound when playing electric slide guitar.…

Les Paul and Marshall or Telecaster into a Supro amp were favourite Page tones. He also loved the sound of the amp in a hallway which you can replicate with a digital room reverb and a short, almost slap-back delay. Also this month try holding the pick further back, as Jimmy does, and playing with a lighter grip to see how this affects your sound. Jimmy recorded with the amps loud so it’s more power amp drive we’re after than front-end gain; a nice overdrive pedal and use of the guitar’s volume pot to control gain is the way to go.…

As we’re dealing with conceptual ideas you can use any guitar you like, including acoustic. Pick a little closer to the neck to warm the tone up and set your amplifier to a clean tone with a small amount of reverb and you’re good to go. A heavy-ish pick helps, and aim to have the action not so low that you get fret buzz, a factor that can often be disguised by distortion. While we’re on the subject, many of these lines and ideas, particularly the single note ones, would sound great with a more overdriven tone too. As always, feel free to explore.…

MICHAEL OCHS ARCHIVE / GETTY IMAGES Arguably Liverpool’s biggest export, and almost certainly the most successful and influential band of all time, in a few short years The Beatles released some of the most important records ever, from 1963’s Please Please Me up to their final studio album Let It Be, released in 1970. Throughout this relatively short career, the band’s output became more complex and diverse as each album was written. With producer George Martin and manager Brian Epstein at the helm, John Lennon and Paul McCartney, and later George Harrison and even Ringo Starr, wrote and recorded hit after hit. With 17 number one UK singles, and half a billion album sales worldwide, the Fab Four literally changed the face of pop music. Our lesson this month concentrates…

You can play all of these examples with either a more vintage Strat type trem, or with a Floyd Rose if you have one. The tuning stability is usually better with a locking nut, or locking tuner equipped guitar. If you don’t have those, just keep checking your tuning throughout. We will be using the whammy bar to both lower and raise pitch, so you will need to be able to pull the bar up as well as down. If you have a Strat type guitar, the tremolo cavity might not allow for pulling up on the bar, so you may need to grab a screwdriver to loosen the springs in the back and bring the tremolo plate away from the guitar body. Aim to be able to pull up…