Table of contents for November 2022 in Guitar Techniques

AS FAR AS THE progression of the guitar goes, few time periods have been as creative as The British Blues Invasion of the mid 60s. While the earlier British Invasion saw The Beatles then other bands like The Rolling Stones and The Yardbirds grab America’s attention, it was the stunning guitar skills heard in blues-based British music that uniquely enthused those young Americans. As it is well documented, UK guitarists had been so inspired by BB King, Albert King, Buddy Guy and more, that they adopted the music for themselves before taking it back to the States. And to much celebration. In this issue we’re spotlighting this special period by focusing on the most revered of those British blues heroes. They are of course Eric Clapton, Peter Green, Mick Taylor,…

In music theory, the 3rd is a very important note. More than just the third note in a scale, it’s also the middle note in the triads that form the basis of most chords. It has Major and Minor variants and this distinction defines whether the resulting chord is itself Major or Minor. It’s VITAL! But you know what? Few people like a smart-arse. So let’s get rid of it! CHORDS WITHOUT 3RDS are by nature ambiguous, with no explicit Major or Minor quality. Usually, though, we tend to work with simple sus2 or sus4 chords, created by taking a triad and pushing the 3rd up or down to the 2nd or 4th (‘suspending’ the 2nd or 4th). Those chords have a distinctively hollow, austere sound, but there’s a lot…

GT These two albums were a product of lockdown, looking though older recordings and choosing the best from them. How much music is in your vault and how did you quantify what was to be released here? EJ: I have quite a few more pieces of music in the tape vault. I just started pulling stuff out and I think I pulled out 28 pieces of music. Three of them were not worth finishing particularly. So I ended up with a double album of 18 songs plus a seven-song outtake record which will also be released. GT: How did you decide what pieces were going to go on each album, and have you themed or fitted them into time periods? EJ: I just tried to put them in an order…

ABILITY RATING Moderate/Advanced ✪ ✪ ✪ ✪ ✪ Info https://bit.ly/3Sm87X3 Key Various Tempo Various Will improve your… ✓ Picking and fretting hand speed ✓ Use of unusual scales ✓ Prog style odd note groupings Haken guitarist and long-time GT contributor Charlie Griffiths says his debut solo album, Tiktaalika, allowed him free rein to put all his favourite thrash, prog, and unusual scale choices, plus all his riffing and soloing approaches into one single body of work. “One thing I will never tire of,” says Charlie, “is thrash riffing of the Hetfield downstroke variety. I’m yet to find something that warms up the picking hand and forearm more effectively than hopping from string to string while holding down constant eighth notes. “As well as metal I’m a huge prog rock…

Eric Johnson is a masterful guitarist. He is world renowned for his formidable technique, impeccable tone, and a perfectionist approach. He has an unwavering devotion to his craft and has risen to legendary status among the guitar community. He may not be the first name that comes to mind when considering blues guitarists, as his long career has seen him covering a wide range of genres from rock, to jazz fusion, folk, and even country, but the blues influence on his musical choices, his tonal palette and his influence on many modern blues guitarist cannot be denied. Born in 1954 in Austin, Texas, Eric was part of a very musical family and began playing piano in his early years, before switching to guitar at age 11. He absorbed a vast…

Arpeggios are a mainstay of jazz guitar soloing vocabulary. Scale runs certainly have their place and can be incredibly effective, but overuse them, or fail to be creative with them, and they can begin to sound boring and robotic. Arpeggios, on the other hand, beautifully spell out the chord changes and ground our melodic lines in the underlying harmony. Jazz standards have rich harmonic progressions, so the ability to seamlessly articulate those changes with arpeggio-based lines is a great skill to own. In this series of lessons, we’re going on a jazz guitar arpeggio bootcamp! We’ll follow a five-step method you can use to master any arpeggio and, more importantly, turn it into authentic jazz vocabulary. Arpeggios are usually taught as simple box shapes. This is helpful to begin with,…

The EBow is a hand-held device that provides endless string sustain. Here’s what Wikipedia says: ‘The EBow uses a pickup in an inductive string driver feedback circuit, including sensor coil, driver coil, and an amplifier, to induce forced string vibrations. The EBow drives one string at a time, producing a sound reminiscent of using a violin bow on the strings.’ EBows have been used on many iconic records by artists such as The Blue Oyster Cult, U2, Big Country, Andrew Gold, and Radiohead. The manufacturer says that the EBow uses ‘Direct String Synthesis’ and in many cases the sounds produced are like those of a monophonic synthesiser. However, there are challenges with the EBow, and one of these is string crossing. It takes practice to evenly jump from one string…

VIDEO & AUDIO https://bit.ly/3Sm87X3 ABILITY RATING Moderate ✪ ✪ ✪ ✪ ✪ Info https://bit.ly/3Sm87X3 Key Various Tempo Various Will improve your… ✓ Blues and blues-rock licks ✓ String bending and vibrato ✓ Stylistic awareness The aim of this feature is to focus on many of the concepts employed by five of Great Britain’s best-loved blues guitar players from a hugely important time in contemporary music. The so-called British Invasion of the American charts was a cultural phenomenon that kicked off in the early 60s, spearheaded by bands like The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Herman’s Hermits and others. Prior to this British artists had not really crossed over into the US mainstream. The British Blues Boom followed a couple of years later, and this month we have selected five guitar…

Tomo Fujita has been a professor at the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston for over three decades. In this time he’s taught literally thousands of students in person and in recent years he’s extended this reach by actively engaging with the on-line community to great effect. Previous Berklee students include wonderful players such as Eric Krasno from Soulive and Adam Smirnoff from the band Lettuce, although undoubtedly Fujita’s most well known association is with superstar sensation John Mayer, who Tomo famously encouraged to abandon his studies at Berklee after one semester, to commit fully to achieving his true potential as an ambitious talented songwriter and artist. It’s a decision that proved to be pivotal in establishing Mayer’s remarkably successful career. TECHNIQUE FOCUS Sound trumps theory We can view…

String bending separates the guitar from most other polyphonic instruments. The ability to manipulate the pitch of a note by a value less than a semitone, add vibrato akin to that of a vocalist, and bend notes in an emotive manner is something that gives guitarists their unique voice. Many players spring to mind when we think about string bending; the soulfulness of David Gilmour, the emotive touch of Eric Clapton, the modern manipulation of Steve Vai, and the wild style of the late Dimebag Darrell are all examples of how string bends can separate one player from the next. Within this month’s article I’ll touch upon various approaches to string bending, from a variety of playing styles and contexts. One of the technique’s most exciting aspects is that it’s…

Last week I stumbled onto a guitar forum and was pretty shocked by many questions about practice and direction and I realised that many people do not realise the power of learning songs. I don’t notice the same problems within my own online community, probably because I try to emphasise this idea a lot in my courses. But let’s break it down. Most people prefer learning songs to practising technical exercises. There are benefits to doing technical stuff, working with the metronome and things like that. But exercises should be targeted very specifically for skills that will enable you to play songs you want to learn. I recommend that beginners stick with a program and trust the process. When you know very little it can be hard to make sound…

➊ Slow Blues - C Minor We start with a simple and fun slow blues in C minor, where the C Minor Pentatonic (C-E-F-G-Bb) and the C Minor scale (C-D-Eb-F-G-Ab-Bb) are your first points of interest. For the Dominant chords (G7), use C Harmonic Minor (C-D-Eb-F-G-Ab-B). ➋ I-VI-II-V Jazz Practice (G) Here’s a medium swing jazz jam in G Major. The I-VI-II-V is an essential building block of jazz. Chords are Gmaj7-E7-Am7-D7. You can use G Major scale (G-A-B-C-D-E-F#) on all the chords, except on E7, where the A Harmonic Minor scale (A-B-C-D-E-F-G#) does the trick. ➌ Sweet Groove Blues - A Minor Here we have a fun groove blues in good old A Minor. Use A Minor Pentatonic (A-C-D-E-G) to get started, and hit that A Harmonic Minor scale…

ON VIDEO Bartok was born in Hungary in 1881 and was performing his own piano compositions in public aged just nine. His life in music was colourful and diverse; he was composer, concert pianist, educator, and Ethnomusicologist (before the word existed!). He spent his early professional years in Hungary, completing his studies in 1903 at the Royal Hungarian Academy of Music in Budapest. He was later appointed a member of the faculty in 1907. Nationalist pride swept through Hungary during Bartok’s student days and this led him to explore traditional Hungarian folk music, discovering that it was in fact the music of the Roma community. Thus began a lifelong obsession with the origins of his country’s musical identity. He travelled throughout Hungary and neighbouring countries recording and documenting over 10,000…

ON VIDEO Regarded as probably the finest acoustic guitar player on the planet, Tommy’s incendiary live shows and breathtaking technique have won him legions of fans across the globe. However, beyond his terrifying chops, Tommy is also a gifted composer, particularly when it comes to slower, melodic material. When discussing Tommy’s style and technique people usually focus on his use of a thumbpick and the Travis picking element of his playing. However, he also frequently uses the pick and fingers technique (hybrid picking) especially when playing slower, ballad style pieces. Although you could play this month’s piece fingerstyle (and you may find it easier this way) it’s worth working on this with a pick for several reasons. First, the pick can give you a crisp, even sound that you may…