Innehållsförteckning för June 2020 från Guitar Techniques

JOSEPH ALEXANDER After stints at Guitar Institute and Leeds College, Joseph launched Fundamental Changes. He’s since published over 40 tuition books and sold 350,000 plus. 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. He’s also rock legend Shakin Stevens’ touring and recording guitarist. MARTIN GOULDING One of the world’s foremost rock and metal guitarists, Martin teaches for dime-online.org and has written for many of…

Go to www.pocketmags.com, search for Guitar Techniques to purchase a single issue for just £3.99; or subscribe and enjoy GT with audio and animated tab on any device! * PLEASE NOTE: Only the Apple and Pocketmags version contains interactive tab and audio. Zinio and others do not. DISC AUDIO (PRINT VERSION ONLY) Sometimes the GT CD features some of the backing tracks as mp3 files due to space. These will be found in a folder on the CD-ROM section of the disc, accessible only via a computer, and will not work in a regular CD player.…

ALEXANDER MERTSCH GT: What is it about instrumentals that appeals to you? ADM: Instrumentals appeal to me because the guitar becomes the vocalist. The most effective instrument to touch the heart is the voice, but since I’m not known as a singer (and the world should be glad) the guitar for me becomes the second most expressive instrument to convey emotion. GT: What can an instrumental provide a listener that a vocal song can’t? ADM: The instrumentals that have inspired me have far greater degrees of implementation. The excursions musically can have a lot more ingredients, and a technical complexity well beyond the limits of a human voice. GT: Are there any tendencies with instrumental numbers that you deliberatlely embrace or avoid – rhythms, harmony, playing approach, tones, etc? ADM:…

FENDER DISCONTINUES ITS JAGUAR guitar. Introduced in 1962 the Jaguar is finally dropped from the production schedule in its unlucky 13th year due to disappointing sales compared to the cheaper Stratocasters and Telecasters. With its twin single-coil pickups and offset body shape (as first used on the Jazzmaster) it’s a sad loss but inevitably it will rise again in the hands of new-wave players. HANDSHAKES ALL ROUND AS AN AMERICAN APOLLO spacecraft docks with a Soviet Soyuz spacecraft in orbit for the first time; NASA launches Viking 1 as part of its Mars Mission; Rembrandt’s The Night Watch painting is slashed while on show in Amsterdam; and the Space Mountain attraction opens at Walt Disney World in Florida. GUILD INTRODUCES THE D-40C BLUEGRASS Jubilee Cutaway adding a sharp Florentine cutaway…

Up and down picking • The first note is to be down-picked and the last note is to be up-picked. Tremolo picking • Each of the four notes are to be alternate picked (down- & up-picked) very rapidly and continuously. Palm muting • Palm mute by resting the edge of picking-hand’s palm on the strings near the bridge. Pick rake • Drag the pick across the strings shown with a single sweep. Often used to augment a rake’s last note. Arpeggiate chord • Play the notes of the chord by strumming across the relevant strings in the direction of the arrow head.…

As a seasoned player and clinician, Jennifer has delivered masterclasses worldwide, helping players get the very best out of their practice time. Here, she looks at spicing up your technique by focusing on fundamentals such as vibrato, phrasing and bringing character into your playing. She also addresses the age old subject of developing speed and fluency on the guitar with a simple series of scale exercises – the very same regimen she used to temper her own technique early on in her career. The key here is to dedicate some of your practice to a daily workout, noting your progress on a chart. It takes patience and persistence, but you’re guaranteed to see results. Finally, Jennifer addresses some of the common pitfalls with picking-hand technique and the importance of trusting…

“TO GIVE AN IDEA OF HIS PRODUCTIVITY, IN ONE YEAR ALONE SCHUBERT COMPOSED OVER 20 000 BARS OF MUSIC” In this issue we return to a work by the great composer Franz Schubert. In his short life, Schubert produced a staggering body of over one and a half thousand works, including 20 string quartets, seven completed symphonies, several masses and operas and over 600 songs for piano and voice. To give an idea of the level of productivity involved, in one year alone he composed over 20,000 bars of music (half of them for orchestra). Despite this quantity of output, Schubert demonstrated a consistent diversity and creativity; and developed an individualistic and influential compositional style by his death aged only 31. Schubert’s skills were actually increasing at the time, and…

EASY LICKS STEVIE RAY VAUGHAN CD TRACK 17 With a Texas shuffle or triplet rhythm, slide up to each B note, voicing it again on the open second string and then continue downpicking to the open first string. Use pull-offs to move down the open E Blues Scale (E-G-B b -B-D) notes to cover the remaining open strings. EASY LICKS BO DIDDLEY CD TRACK18 Bo was the self-proclaimed inventor of the‘scratchy thing’which in this example is marked by X, signalling that you mute with the fretting hand. Using a steady alternate strumming technique, play the D7-G progression with conviction with the second finger hammering-on for the Dm7-D7 moments. INTERMEDIATE LICKS JAMES HETFIELD CD TRACK 19 Heavy palm muting is James’s signature picking technique. Pick down the B5 chord and pick…

DEBRA L ROTHENBERG / GETTY IMAGES ABILITY RATING Moderate/Advanced Info Key: Various Tempo: 130bpm CD Tracks: 30-40 Will improve your… Use of Diminished sounds Diminished vocabulary Chord substitution Diminished chords are among the most beautiful and useful harmonic devices in jazz. In conjunction with Major, Minor and Augmented, they form a cornerstone of triadic harmony. When extended further to incorporate the 7th, our three-note triad (R- b 3- b 5) usually goes in one of two directions to create a four-note Half-Diminished chord (R- b 3- b 5- b 7), or the Diminished 7th (R- b 3- b 5- bb 7). The full Dim7 structure can be said to be symmetrical, as each note is situated a b 3rd, or three frets apart, neatly dividing the octave into four equal…

In common music parlance, chromatic notes are ‘non-scale’ notes, the word ‘chroma’ being the Greek for colour. Certainly, chromatic notes are a great way of making your lead lines stand out. DAVID REDFERN / GETTY IMAGES So, 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 (12 notes in each octave instead of seven) for using to improvise over each chord. Crucially, they provide us with the opportunity to use tension (dissonance) and then resolve it (consonance), rather than just dwelling on consonant notes all the time. “IN COMMON MUSIC PARLANCE, CHROMATIC NOTES ARE ‘NON-SCALE’ NOTES, THE WORD ‘CHROMA’ BEING THE GREEK FOR COLOUR” Theoretically, each time you use a chromatic…

GT: You have a Fender Stratocaster with 22 frets and a Telecaster neck pickup. Can you tell us about that guitar? AC: I call my guitar the ‘working man’s guitar’. I put the Tele pickup in the neck, a Texas Special in the middle and a 59 humbucker in the bridge. I can take that guitar into any venue and find a tone that fits the room. The humbucker will take care of the neon light buzz and the Tele will give you the thick tone. The Fender Custom Shop told me I have the perfect guitar for a serious Signature series Strat because it’s one of a kind. I sure hope that happens some day! GT: Do you have a type of pick that you can’t live without? AC:…

WE HAD ACTUALLY commissioned our 30-Day Workout feature long before the dreaded Covid-19 took hold. But while this devastating virus has locked us down to keep us all safe, it also presents an opportunity to hone our techniques, either existing ones or those we may have previously deemed not suited to our taste, ability or style. Well, there’s plenty to get to grips with in this issue, so there’s no better time to sit down and engage with some good, targeted practice. Jason will discuss what’s in the Learning Zone starting on page 56, so I’ll describe the four front-end features. The already mentioned 30-Day Workout is a month’s worth (this is June issue, after all) of one-a-day lessons, each designed to address one particular technique. It’s a focused, 10-minute…

I’m sure you realise that magazine articles are written a bit in advance. This one I am writing mid March 2020 and it looks like things are taking a turn for the worse with COVID-19 spreading itself where it’s not wanted. By now everyone has probably been stuck at home for several weeks and starting to go a bit stir crazy – so I thought I’d share a few musical things to do that you might find fun, rewarding, and a useful way to spend some home time. RECORDING I still meet lots of musicians that have yet to explore recording and production. It’s a really fun thing to do and there is a ton of stuff to learn in the process. It’s no longer expensive to get a basic…

THIS MONTH’S LICK is in two parts: the first ascending and the second descending. Although they are rhythmically identical and both involve tapping, the approach is slightly different. The ascending part uses picking hand tapping, and the descending part uses fretting-hand legato onto adjacent strings after each initial tap, pull-off idea. Muting with both hands where possible is the key to minimising noise – or use a damping device like a hairband loosely tied round the neck. On my recorded version I used fretting-hand and picking palm muting. Experiment and use whichever works best for you. This is all written as‘nested tuplets’, so the tapped notes are phrased as quarter-note triplets (six notes per bar) and each of these is further subdivided by three – the tapped note plus two…

ABILITY RATING Info Key Various Tempo Various CD TRACKS 4-10 Will improve your… Alternate, hybrid and sweep picking. Legato techniques Two-handed tapping and string bending For the time being at least, most of us are having to spend more time at home. So what better opportunity to knuckle down and get those chops in order; hone what you already can do, or perhaps try a technique you’ve shied away from in the past? To that end we’ve created a targeted, 30-day workout. So let’s head to the (virtual) guitar gym and pump those silver strings. The programme has been designed to address common weaknesses in fretting and picking techniques. If you follow each day’s lesson carefully, we guarantee a noticeable boost to your abilities in just 30 days. JUAN NAHARRO…

Country guitar is one of those styles that turns the heads of guitarists no matter which genre they specialise in. Indeed, when I was a teenage metalhead 30 years ago it was the chicken pickin’ of Zakk Wylde and Steve Morse that drew me to it. Over subsequent years I discovered a world of country specialists from Albert Lee and James Burton to Brad Paisley and Brent Mason. It’s a huge world that you need to enter with an open mind as it means different things to different people – to some it’s the driving acoustic guitar of Hank Williams and Johnny Cash, while to others it’s the licks of Luther Perkins, Scotty Moore and the soloists that followed in their footsteps. When you get into the lead playing aspect…

Do you rely entirely on tab to learn classical pieces? If so you might want to consider improving your sight-reading because tab on its own misses the subtleties of polyphony. Polyphony is when music has two or more simultaneous lines as opposed to a musical texture with all one rhythm or voice. In polyphony the two or more lines can have entirely independent note values which need to be addressed for a true interpretation. This can only be fully appreciated when note values are properly understood. If your reading is really bad, you could get started with Solo Guitar Playing by Frederick Noad. Working through this together with a good sight-reader is ideal because it contains duos with student and teacher parts.…

ABILITY RATING Moderate/Advanced Info Key: Various Tempo: Various CD: TRACKS 23-26 Will improve your Country vocabulary Sense of melody Minor blues phrasing This month we get to unpick the style of American blues and country maestro Buddy Whittington. An extremely versatile player in all blues and roots styles, Whittington’s back catalogue provides us with a rich and unique feast. Buddy hails from Fort Worth, Texas, where he was inspired to pick up the guitar after listening to records by The Beatles, Rolling Stones, John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers, Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly, Jimmy Reed, Led Zeppelin, The Who and many fantastic local players. With this fantastic mix of influences from the British Invasion bands and the rhythm and blues and rock and roll bands of his home country, Buddy absorbed a wide…

WILLIAM GOTTLIEB/ GETTY IMAGES ABILITY RATING Easy/Moderate Info Key: Various Tempo: Various CD: TRACKS 41-44 Will improve your Fingerstyle technique Digital independence Syncopation and feel Syncopation describes what happens when the melodies we play don’t line up with the main pulse of the song. Syncopation is a common part of modern music. However, in fingerstyle blues it presents a challenge because our thumb still needs to be playing steady, un-syncopated quarter notes. So in essence we’re requiring our thumb to play ‘on’ the beat and our picking fingers to play ‘off’ the beat. This level of independence is obtainable, but it takes focused and careful practice. In this lesson, we look at how to master the syncopated playing that forms such a large part of the melodic vocabulary of fingerstyle…

Welcome to the latest instalment in our series on the Harmonic Minor scale, formula: R-2- b 3-4-5- b 6-7. However, it can also be visualised as a Natural Minor scale but with a Major 7th degree. Natural Minor: R-2- b 3-4- b 6- b 7 Harmonic Minor: R-2- b 3-4- b 6-7 Over the course of the series, we’ve looked at the five Harmonic Minor shapes based around the CAGED system, as well as the harmonised scale which consists of a family of seven diatonic chords, arpeggios and modes. More recently, we’ve been focusing on the fifth and most commonly used mode, the Phrygian Dominant: 1- b 2-3-4-5- b 6- b 7. This scale is commonly applied over V7 chords in Minor progressions as a means of heightening tension before…

JUN SATO / GETTY IMAGES Harmonic Major scale has a distinct structure that doesn’t correspond to any of the Major, Harmonic Minor or Melodic Minor modes. Its closest relative is in fact the Major scale (Ionian) as it only contains one different note, giving it a familiar yet uncommon quality. So think of it as the Ionian mode with a b 6, so the intervals 1-2-3-4-5-6-7 become 1-2-3-4-5- b 6-7. To make this simpler to visualise on the guitar, think of C Major scale (C-D-E-F-G-A-B), then simply flatten the A so it becomes: C-D-E-F-G-A b -B. We have kept Examples 1-4 in the key of C so you can become accustomed to the notes. Example 1 shows C Harmonic Major as a harmonised four-note chord. The notes along the fifth…

MORE OF THE WORLD’S BEST LESSONS… FEATURE #2 VIDEO GREG KOCH Hot licks video masterclass He’s one of the most astonishing players we’ve ever seen. Watch in awe as Greg rips out licks you’ll really want to learn! CLASSICAL TAB VIDEO FRÉDÉRIC CHOPIN Tristesse Bridget Mermikides arranges and tabs this saddest of sad tunes from the Polish genius of classical music. With video! FEATURE #3 40 INTROS & OUTROS To beef up your blues In GT310 Richard Barrett shows that the best way to impress with your blues is to enter and exit in style. TECHNIQUE & THEORY GREAT STUFF TO LEARN Minor and Major soloing Charlie gets melodic with Major using the IIm-V7-I progression, while Martin continues his Melodic Minor series. MORE GREAT LESSONS 30-Minute Lickbag Six…

Tap the links Finding your way around the magazine is easy. Tapping the feature titles on the cover or the contents page, takes you straight two the relevant articles. Any web and email links in the text are tappable too Animated tab & audio All the ’s main lessons have mag 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.…

My dear mother had a talent bordering on genius for aphorisms. Among other nuggets, I recall “If you don’t get what you like, you better like what you get.” Well, back in the day, when an Apple kept the doctor away and a Mac was an occasional item of weather protection, I dragged myself to The White Hart in Drury Lane, where I’d been asked to deputise in a regular Wednesday night jazz combo. However, I seem to recall more in the way of musical friction than combination. There was no money other than the ritual passing around of the hat, but I recall there being a smattering of misfits, poseurs and lost souls present. But enough of the band. Having fumbled, guessed and blundered my way through a selection…

DAVID REDFERN / GETTY IMAGES ➊ Slow Blues Jam (Dm) We start with a fun and easy slow blues in D Minor. You can get off to a good start here with D Minor Pentatonic (D-F-G-A-C), while also aiming for the arpeggios Dm (D-F-A), Gm (G-B b -D), B b maj7 (B b -D-F-A) and A7 (A-C#-E-G). ➌ Melodic Minor Groove (Am) Here’s a fun static loop jam based solely on the A Melodic Minor scale (A-B-C-D-E-F#-G#). It’s quite a curious sound, but it is a cool vibe to be able to whip out on any Minor chord when the time is right - and of course the Melodic Minor modes are extremely useful in general. ➍ Mixolydian Jam (C) We finish with this C Mixolydian vamp. It’s a bluesy…

Jennifer Batten’s continent-hopping career means her diary is always full: a clinic tour here, her renowned solo show there and, recently, she’s found herself in demand from Michael Jackson tribute acts, having toured with the man himself for 10 years back in the 80s and 90s. “Yes, I’ve done so many different things,” she tells us as we settle down in the GT studio. “It’s like you never know; when you wake up, there can be an email that shows up and I go, ‘Okay. Well, that’s what I’m doing in March.’” Spending so much time travelling has meant that she has refined her gear to be flight-friendly – we were impressed by the fact she knows the weight of everything she takes with her on tour. As an example…

You’ll be working on most of the favourite country techniques here from hybrid and chicken picking to open-string licks, pedal steel style bends and beyond. Some or all of this will be new so make sure you take the licks very slowly and always think about which techniques are being used. Also focus on what actual notes are being used and in what way, as it will be a big giveaway in how you get that proper country sound and where such licks originate – scale choices, targeting of notes, phrasing, ornamentation, etc.…

C BRANDON / GETTY IMAGES Formed in 1989, the classic line-up of OCS featured Steve Cradock on guitar and vocals, Simon Fowler on vocals and acoustic guitar, Damon Minchella on bass and Oscar Harrison on drums and vocals. Their 1992 self-titled debut album wasn’t much of a commercial success, even with three singles being released from it. It was their follow-up, 1996’s Moseley Shoals, which put the band on the map. This album featured their most famous hit, The Riverboat Song. TV presenter Chris Evans was so impressed with Ocean Colour Scene’s performance when he booked them as the first act to perform in his 90s show TFI Friday, he used the famous riff from The Riverboat Song to introduce every guest hence forth. OCS’s second album, Marchin’ Already was…