Table of contents for March 2016 in Guitar Techniques

RICHARD BARRETT One of the best players around, Richard is adept at most styles but truly excels in the bluesier side of rock. He currently plays with Spandau’s Tony Hadley. 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! PHIL CAPONE Phil is a great guitarist who specialises in blues and jazz. He teaches at ICMP in London, writes for GT and Total Guitar and has published 10 top tuition books. LES DAVIDSON Les has worked with Mick…

“YOU GUYS ARE RELENTLESS. EVERY MONTH MORE MATERIAL ARRIVES IN MY MAILBOX TO CHALLENGE ME” BACK ISSUE APP I graduated from Berklee and GIT and played for over 22 years with the last 12 having a pretty disciplined approach. Then I didn’t play for a long time, but always knew I would again. When I started putting in my second run at the 10,000 hour thing, I came across your magazine and after a few months subscribed. That was early 2010. Every month there’s always something that appeals to me and I have gone through a lot of the articles over the years. But you guys are relentless. Every month more material arrives in my mailbox to challenge me saying: ‘Hey, do you know this?’ Then every few months an…

1 Slow Rock Jam (Am) We start with a slow acoustic guitar-infused jam in A minor. A minor Pentatonic (A-C-D-E-G) works throughout the track. In terms of seven-note scales, I’d use A Natural minor (A-B-C-D-E-F-G) for the ‘verse’ sections and A Dorian mode (A-B-C-D-E-F#-G) for the ‘chorus’ sections (where the chord sequence goes: C-D-Am). 2 Acid Jazz Funk Jam (E) Here we have a fun, acid-jazz style funk track. Harmonically speaking there are two sections. The main section is based on an E7#9 (aka the ‘Hendrix’ chord) and the B section is an A9 (IV9). E minor Pentatonic (E-G-A-B-D) works great throughout. To get more jazzy colours, use the E Half-whole tone scale (E-F-G-G#-A#-B-C#-D) on E7#9 and A Mixolydian mode (A-B-C#-D-E-F#-G) on A9. 3 Reggae Blues (Am) Essentially, this is…

“SOR USES A TYPE OF HARMONIC DEVICE THAT DOESN’T QUITE FIT IN CONTEMPORARY ROCK OR POP CHORD-NAMING TERMINOLOGY” ABILITY RATING Info Key Various Tempo Various CD TRACKS 28-29 Will improve your… Playing in 6ths Harmonic and fretboard awareness Left and right hand coordination Once again we return to the work of one of the founding fathers of the classical guitar, the Spanish composer and perhaps first virtuoso of the instrument, Fernando Sor (1778-1839). In addition to being a busy performer, respected teacher, prodigious composer in a range of contexts (including two operas, nine ballets and three symphonies), Sor’s enduring influence on the development of the classical guitar can not be overstated. His hundreds of guitar works, studies, lessons and exercises, have forged generations of classical guitarists from student to master…

ANDREW LEPLEY / GETTY IMAGES “FOCUS ON NOTE PRODUCTION AND HUBERT’S UNORTHODOX TIMING, PLAYING STYLE AND VIBRATO...” ABILITY RATING Info Key: Various Tempo: Various CD: TRACKS 36-39 Will improve your Chicago blues playing Authentic feel Playing with fingers Best known for his many years spent backing Howlin' Wolf, Hubert Sumlin enjoyed a long and illustrious career in The Wolf Pack until his death in 2011. His contribution to the development of early electric blues guitar and singing style is hugely significant and has become a template for the style known as Chicago electric blues. Born in Greenwood Mississippi in 1931, Hubert was raised in Hughes, Arkansas picking up his first guitar at the age of eight. While his earliest influences are unknown, Howlin Wolf was certainly a childhood hero and…

David Lyttelton “MANY PLAYERS FIND THAT THE ‘CORRECT’ MIXOLYDIAN SOUNDS TOO PRETTY WITH EXTENDED USE OVER A DOMINANT 7 CHORD” ABILITY RATING Info Key:A (A7) Tempo:120 bpm CD:TRACKS 44-46 Will improve your… Minor and dominant integration Knowledge of scale intervals Blues-rock vocabulary over the neck In this new series, we are looking at building a working vocabulary of lines, in all five CAGED shapes, that combine Mixolydian with the minor Blues scale over a dominant chord or tonality. Strictly speaking, the Mixolydian mode fits best over a Dominant 7 chord because it contains all the relevant chord tones. However, the minor Blues scale is also used as a form of tension. This is because many players find the 'correct' Mixolydian sounds too pretty with extended use over a dominant 7th…

LIVEPIX “PORNOGRAFFITTI IS AN ALADDIN’S CAVE OF RICHES, FULL OF FUNKY RIFFS PLAYED WITH EASE AND CONFIDENCE” ABILITY RATING Info Key:Various Tempo:Various CD:TRACKS 59-71 Will improve your… Rhythmic phrasing Two-handed tapping Syncopated riffing Boston-based band Extreme formed in 1985 and released their debut album in 1989. Although it contained some great hard rock songs – Kid Ego and Little Girls, to name two – it didn’t quite propel the band to superstar status. For the track Play With Me, guitarist Nuno Bettencourt borrowed a section of Mozart’s Rondo Alla Turca, which gave a hint of what a guitar genius he was and also prompted the producers of Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure to include the song in the movie’s soundtrack, giving the band a taste of worldwide exposure. A year…

DALLE / IDOLS / PHOTOSHOT “A CAPO WOULD HELP JONI SING WITHIN HER REGISTER AND ALLOW HER TO CHOOSE CHORD SHAPES SHE LIKED” ABILITY RATING Info Key:D major Tempo:83 bpm CD:TRACK 90 Will improve your… Strumming with muted chords Knowledge of open D tuning First finger barre chords Born in Fort Macleod, Canada, in 1943 Joni Mitchell relocated to the US in 1965 and settled in southern California. Her talent as a songwriter was immediately obvious with classics like Big Yellow Tax, Chelsea Morning and Both Sides Now heralding the arrival of an exciting new voice on the American songwriting scene. The aforementioned songs were quickly covered by other folk artists that served to spread her name and appeal even further. She released her debut album Song To A Seagull…

TRANSCRIPTION #1 DREAM THEATER The Looking Glass Huge dirty riff, cool clean arpeggios, odd time signatures and a monster solo packed with every trick in the book! TRANSCRIPTION #2 GEORGE FRIDERIC HANDEL The Hornpipe Bridget Mermikides arranges and transcribes this stirring piece from Handel’s legendary Water Music. ACOUSTIC VIDEO LESSON CREATIVE ACOUSTIC With Chris Woods Chris continues his new video series with a look at the modern acoustic guitarist’s favourite tuning: DADGAD. ELECTRIC VIDEO LESSON ALLEN HINDS EXCLUSIVE Chilled Vanilla This month Allen breaks out his Strat for a smoothly distorted solo over a chilled-vibe piece. Text and tab by Jon Bishop. An in-depth musical study on the... GENIUS OF ERIC CLAPTON! Not for nothing is he revered as one of the most important and influential guitarists of all time.…

I CAN’T PLAY fast. I’ve got a few quickish licks that come out for high days and holidays but that’s about it. I never learnt to do the blur of alternate-picked notes at which guys like John McLaughlin and Al Di Meola excel; I never mastered speedy legato in the Bill Nelson, Allan Holdsworth vein and I never managed to put it all together like Guthrie Govan or Steve Morse. So this issue is especially for me (and others like me, of course!). I’ve never wanted to do tapping, or sweep picking either, as I always think you get that, ‘Here comes my huge sweep-picking lick,’ or, ‘Now it’s my big tapping moment’ scenario going on. It seems unnatural. I’d much rather insinuate new ideas into my playing than ‘bolt…

“THE MUSOS I PLAY WITH SOUND GREAT PLAYING ANYTHING. I’M LUCKY THAT THEY PUT UP WITH ME!” GT:What appeals to you about a guitar instrumental? BG: It allows listeners to come up with their own interpretation of what the song means emotionally, without a lyric guiding them in any particular direction. It doesn’t necessarily have to be a guitar instrumental but I suppose I’m drawn to them seeing as I am a guitar player. Well, guitar owner on some days! GT:What tendencies do you aim to embrace or avoid? BG: As long as I can come up with a strong melody without being too predictable, I’ll pursue the idea and try to make a song out of it. GT: Is a typical structure still intro, verse, chorus, verse? BG: Seeing…

“I RUN A CLEAN AMP CUSHIONED WITH A SECOND FUZZY, CREAMY AMP. I PREFER AMP BREAK-UP TO PEDALS” GT: Do you have a type of pick that you can’t live without? LD: My favourite plectrums are made of stone for electric and wood for acoustic. Fingerpicking is at the heart of my relationship with the guitar but some songs call for plectrum. I love the concept of guitar as a percussion instrument and attacking it as such. GT: If you had to give up all your guitar pedals but three, what would they be? LD: The Radial JX-2 Switchbone is crucial, splitting the signal to two amps with phase and polarity switches as well as a tuner out and a quiet mute switch and a nice boost. The Switchbone and…

LIVEPIX “SMALL ERRORS YOU FORGIVE YOURSELF FOR AT HOME MAY LEAD TO COMING UNSTUCK WHEN PLAYING IN PUBLIC” GEORGE CHIN / ICONICPIX “CREATING LINES OF NOTES WITH MINIMAL PICKING HAND INPUT REQUIRES STAMINA AND CONTROL” CHRISTIE GOODWIN “WHENEVER YOU APPROACH A NEW TECHNIQUE IT’S VITAL TO LOOK AT EVERY ASPECT AND MAKE SURE YOU’RE DOING IT AS EFFICIENTLY AS POSSIBLE” ABILITY RATING Info Key Em/Am Tempo 90bpm CD TRACKS 4-25 Will improve your… Alternate picking Economy picking Legato playing It’s an undeniable thrill to hear someone really nail a fast, technical passage on any instrument. While not everyone wants to make this their main goal, there are few players that would turn down the chance to improve their technical facility in one way or another. So, where do you start?…

MICHAEL PUTLAND / PHOTOSHOT “SECTIONS OF THE PRESS HAD ALREADY DUBBED BLIND FAITH ‘SUPER CREAM’ BEFORE THEIR ALBUM WAS EVEN IN THE SHOPS” ABILITY RATING Info Key:A Major Tempo:140 bpm CD:TRACKS 40-42 Will improve your… Rhythm work Fretboard knowledge Laid-back blues soloing Blind Faith issued just one record: their eponymous 1969 album. Nevertheless the line-up was immense, featuring Eric Clapton, his Cream compatriot Ginger Baker on drums and, almost as legendary, singer-organist Steve Winwood. Family’s bass player Ric Grech completed the band that was originally put together to be a stress-free side project for all. Clapton and Winwood were bored with the commerciality of Cream and The Spencer Davis Group, but when the line-up is this stellar it’s inevitable that record companies will get involved. This they did, pushing the…

Typically, chords are built from scales using stacked 3rd intervals (every other note). You make ‘7th’ chords from four ‘3rds’ in sequence (1-3-5-7). Add another 3rd interval to this sequence (1-3-5-7-9) and you produce 9th chords. So in the key of C major it goes like this: Cmaj9 is: C (root), E (3rd), G (5th), B (maj 7 b ), D (9th). G9 is: G (root), B (3rd b ), D (5th), F ( 7), A (9th). Dm9 is: D (root), F ( 3), A (5th), C ( b 7), E (9th). You can also simply 'add' the 9th interval to a major triad to produce 'C add 9' or C (9). C add 9 is C (root), E (3rd), G (5th), D (9th). These chords are commonly found in…

LFI / PHOTOSHOT “IMPROVISATION IS ABOUT KNOWING YOUR TOOLS, KNOWING WHAT NOTES SOUND RIGHT OVER WHICH CHORDS”John Scofield ABILITY RATING Info Key:Various Tempo:Various CD:TRACKS 72-89 Will improve your… Access to all 12 tones Playing over static harmony Rhythmic intent and phrasing John Scofield’s style continues to evolve, encapsulating the best elements from jazz, rock, blues, funk and soul to create a sound that’s unmistakably ‘him’. ‘Sco’ picked up his first guitar aged 11 and learned the hits of the day. In his early teens he developed a keen interest in rock and blues guitarists such as Hendrix, Clapton and BB King, influences that can still be clearly heard in his playing. By the time he reached 16 he was a fully-fledged jazzer with a small but intelligent record collection including…

WHEN YOU PLAY ALONG WITH THE TRACK, THE ‘FEEL’ OF EACH BAR CHANGES DEPENDING ON THE BACKBEAT PLAYED BY THE DRUMMER ABILITY RATING Info Key:Am/Cm Tempo:120 bpm CD:TRACKS 91-92 Will improve your… Reading of odd time signatures Ability to follow signposts Reading of leger lines This piece is inspired by progressive rock bands like Rush, Yes, Gentle Giant and Dream Theater. One of the common threads between all of these bands is the use of odd time signatures. Odd times can lead to more interesting rhythms and a more creative approach to the ‘feel’ of the piece, often changing numerous times within a song or section. Have a look at the chart for this month’s piece and you’ll notice that there are various time signatures throughout: 4/4, 5/4, 7/8,9/8, 7/4,…

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 Songs and lessons have the audio built in, with a moving cursor showing you exactly where you are in the music. Simply tap the‘play’button then 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 or smartphone. PLUS! Get a FREE iPad/iPhone sample of GT. For full details and how to receive our digital edition regularly, go to bit.ly/guitartechniques (if you…

THE FINAL FOUR bars of a blues progression are where you either set things up to go into another chorus or prepare for an ending. Here we see both of these concepts. The lick is in G and consists of one bar of the V chord (D7), one bar of the IV chord (C7), and either a two-bar‘turnaround’ or one bar of the V chord followed by an ending. Blues and rock players will often play scale-based licks that‘target’a few important notes but don’t follow the chords in the same way as seen here. Notice how the thinking is always centred on the chord of the moment, and is thus not so scale-based. On the fourth beat of bar 1 the two notes B and A b form part of…

IN THE USA ALASKA AND HAWAII are admitted into the Union to become the 49th and 50th states respectively. TV audiences delight to episodes of The Twilight Zone, Rawhide and Bonanza (the first ever weekly TV show to be broadcast in colour), Barbie Dolls appear in the toy shops and Boeing puts its 707 airliner into service. RICKENBACKER DECIDES TO CEASE production of its Combo 600 and 800 guitars. These single and double-pickup models are struggling against the popular Fender and Gibson products in spite of the recent 800 upgrade to a single horseshoe treble pickup and a bar pickup at the neck. The current catalogue shows both models with a‘cresting wave’body but none have actually been built. CLIFF RICHARD AND THE DRIFTERS (Hank, Bruce, Jet and Tony) play their…

GRAHAM LOWE / GETTY IMAGES “WHEN I WOULD SING SOMETHING, HE WOULD RESPOND WITH THE GUITAR AND IT WAS JUST SUCH A NATURAL CHEMISTRY”Paul Rodgers on Paul Kossoff ABILITY RATING Info Key Eminor Tempo120bpm CD TRACKS 26-27 Will improve your… Timing Vibrato Emotive blues soloing Recorded during the sessions for their final album Heartbreaker in late 1972, Wishing Well remains one of Free’s most enduring hits – even though it’s far from typical when compared to the majority of their previous output. Their unique blend of soul and rock had usually been topped with Paul Rodgers’ peerless vocals and Paul Kossoff’s extraordinary guitar skills – all in the context of stripped down arrangements, with minimal use of effects or other ‘modern’ production techniques. On this track, we find a much…

EASY LICKS EXAMPLE 1 NIRVANA CD TRACK 30 Approach this with straight downstrokes and a fuzzy, overdriven tone. Harmonically, Kurt Cobain’s songwriting used powerchords that seemed disconnected from one key (ie non-diatonic) but still with melody and‘shape’. Use moderate distortion and your bridge pickup. EASY LICKS EXAMPLE 2 BLACK SABBATH CD TRACK 31 Tony Iommi was the pioneer of metal riffs and would find great moody melodies by moving a chord up and down the sixth string in a simple but effective manner. Decent levels of distortion are needed here, but go for a fat, smooth tone and not a harsh, edgy one. INTERMEDIATE LICKS EXAMPLE 3 RAINBOW CD TRACK 32 Soon to play a set of one-off electric gigs again, Ritchie Blackmore usually played using a single-coil tone with…

“ANY PLAYER WITH GOOD EARS CAN GET AROUND THIS ENTIRE PROGRESSION BY SWITCHING THE MAJOR AND MINOR 3RDS”Allen Hinds ABILITY RATING Info Key:G Tempo:116 bpm CD:TRACK CD-ROM Will improve your… Major and minor integration Blues and fusion lead work 16th-note syncopation Regular readers will know that two issues ago we started a six-part video masterclass series with LA session guitarist Allen Hinds. Each month, he solos over a backing track by Jason Sidwell, which is transcribed and analysed from a technique and music theory point view. This then facilitates the learning of approaches to broaden your vocabulary and musicianship. The backing track and chord chart are, of course, included for you to work from, in addition to a full transcription of Allen’s performance from the video. In part three we…

FEBRUARY GT252 CLASSIER SOLOING! Take Larry Carlton and Robben Ford’s lead to create dazzlingly musical solos; learn SRV’s Tightrope and Un Bel Di Vedremo from M. Butterfly - both full tab; discover our Top 10 Wacky Scales! Plus, style studies: Robin Trower, Def Leppard, Johnny Cash & more! NOVEMBER GT249 LEARN THE BLUES SHUFFLE Master this vital style with 11 rhythm and lead examples to play. Plus, part two of our picking series. Learn economy picking and play fast and fluid – just like the pros! Tabbed is the full version of Gary Moore’s Parisienne Walkways plus an amazing three-minute live outro solo. JANUARY GT251 CLAPTON, TAYLOR, GREEN Play like three Bluesbreaker titans. Discover their influences and where their styles differed. Learn Pat Metheny’s Have You Heard with its astonishing…

“PERCUSSIVE APPROACHES ARE NOW AN ESSENTIAL PART OF THE CREATIVE ACOUSTIC ARSENAL FOR ALL ABILITY LEVELS” ABILITY RATING Info Key:Various Tempo:Various CD:TRACK CD-ROM Will improve your… Rhythmic feel String percussion On-body percussion Over the next four issues, I’ll be opening up the creative acoustic toolbox and sharing some exciting ideas. We’ll be getting stuck into the percussive side of playing; looking at both string percussion and on the guitar body. Percussive techniques have been around for donkey’s years, but in the past decade they have become even more widespread. These techniques don't just feature in pyrotechnic viral videos and niche finger-style events, they can be found in mainstream pop and are equally at home in classical music and a huge range of folk genres. Percussive approaches are now an essential…

WHAT OUR RATINGS MEAN Buy it Excellent Good Average Bin it! Album of the Month STATUS QUO ACCEPT NO SUBSTITUTE – THE DEFINITIVE HITS Universal The change from late 60s pop group to 70s rockers was a transformation most of us couldn’t see coming, yet the de-sophisticating and beefing up of the Quo was an inspiration and, as they say, the rest is history. And what a success story it is with the hits still coming! There’s some live stuff included here and the odd B-side and curio like Gerdunula but it’s all one hell of a good listen. As guitar players you can’t fault Francis Rossi and Rick Parfitt – for what they may lack in finesse they more than make up for in style, muscle and performance quality.…

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 quickly.…