Inhoudsopgave van August 2016 - 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! LES DAVIDSON Les has worked with Mick Taylor, Rumer, Jon Anderson, Pete Townshend, Tina Turner & more. He also runs a recording studio and teaches at BIMM London. CHARLIE GRIFFITHS Guitar Institute tutor Charlie first came to fame in…

NICK DELANEY “WHEN YOU HAVE WRITTEN NOTES TO PLAY YOU HAVE TO FIND OTHER WAYS TO PROJECT YOUR EXPRESSION” Being a first-hand purveyor of online ‘debate’ (and trolling!) one of the more common arguments I see is over ‘feel’ and ‘soul’ of certain guitarists – do those who play fewer notes, have more ‘feel’ than those who play a lot of notes? Does it matter? Please note that this is just food for thought (not concrete) and there are many areas in between and beyond. There are a few interesting thought streams to explore here though – and a good one to start with is what ‘expression’ means in a musical sense. When you ‘hear’ a musical idea in your head (or heart, or wherever it is you feel it)…

MICHAEL LAMONT “I ATTEMPT TO EMBRACE THE LYRICAL ‘MEANING’ OF THE SONG AND EXPAND ON IT APPROPRIATELY” GT:What appeals to you about guitar instrumentals? LJ: One of the first records that made an impression on me was The Shadows’ Apache. So the concept was baked into my musical consciousness from the beginning. GT:What can an instrumental provide that a vocal song can’t? LJ: Playing the tune without vocals puts the focus on the melody, although, with a familiar song the audience may be mentally filling in the missing lyrics. That familiarity can create an interesting live performance dynamic. It also leaves room for melodic, harmonic and textural embellishment. And it’s the player that sets the agenda, rather than following the singer’s lead. GT: Any tendencies that you aim to embrace…

1 Smooth Minor Blues (Cm) Here we have a blues progression in C minor, with a smooth groove jazz feel to it. Basically, the C Minor scale (Aeolian mode) works throughout. The notes are C-D-E b -F-G-A b and B b . Of course C Minor Pentatonic and the Blues scale will work great too. You could also try outlining the arpeggios for the chords – Cm7 (C-E b -G-B b ), Fm7 (F-A b -C-E b ) and Gm7 (G-B b -D-F). 2 A Mixolydian Groove This track is based on a two-chord vamp: A and G/A, which effectively creates a specifically Mixolydian context. A Mixolydian mode is the 5th mode of the D Major scale and contains the notes A-B-C#-D-E-F#-G. I also recommend playing around with the Pentatonic…

JOEY FOLEY / GETTY IMAGES “WHEN I WENT ON STAGE IN THOSE BUSH PUBS I REALISED I’D HAVE TO MOVE AROUND, BECAUSE I KNEW THAT WITH THAT SCHOOL SUIT AND CAP ON I’D BE A PRETTY GOOD TARGET”Angus Young ABILITY RATING Info Key Various Tempo Various CD TRACKS 18-34 Will improve your… Open chord voicings Understanding of slash chords Vibrato and string bending However good you recall that infamous group of Aussie/Glaswegian/Geordie miscreants AC/DC as being, whack on Back In Black and recoil in amazement at how brilliant they really are. It’s astonishing the level of power, tightness, excitement and sheer musicality this bunch of guys manages to convey. And despite recent upheavals due to illness and other troubles, they are out on the road again with Axl Rose fronting,…

“A BRIGHTER TEMPO IS MOST APPROPRIATE. PAY ATTENTION TO PLUCKING HAND FINGERING AND STRING CROSSING” ABILITY RATING Key Drop D Tempo 100 bpm CD TRACKS 35-36 Will improve your… Metric and rhythmic security Baroque repertoire String crossing This month we are tackling a work by the Baroque composer, guitarist and polymath Gaspar Sanz (1640-1710). Born in Aragon (a community in north-east Spain), Sanz graduated in theology but later studied organ and Baroque guitar; an instrument favoured from the 17th to the early 18th century that you might recognise from paintings such as Vermeer’s The Guitar Player. Smaller in length than the modern classical guitar, it generally consisted of five strings (each of them with two courses), with a tuning from high to low of E-B-G-D-A. These latter two strings were…

CLAYTON CALL / GETTY IMAGES “LONNIE SPENT HIS EARLY LIFE IN A RURAL FARMING COMMUNITY; THEY POWERED THE FAMILY RADIO FROM A TRACTOR BATTERY” ABILITY RATING Info Key: G Tempo: 185 bpm CD: TRACKS 40-42 Will improve your Blues-rock phrasing Use of double-stops Quick-fire Pentatonics As we lose yet another legendary guitarist we pay homage to the great Lonnie Mack. Born Lonnie McIntosh in 1941, Mack was an influential blues guitarist and so-called ‘blue-eyed soul’ singer from West Harrison, Indiana. Lonnie’s early life was spent in a rural farming community with no electric power. He recalls that both his mother and father played and sang country music and powered up their radio from a tractor battery so they could listen to the Grand Ole Opry, broadcast from Nashville. Lonnie started…

ZUMA PRESS, INC. / ALAMY STOCK PHOTO “A GUITARIST MUST BE ABLE TO TAP HIS FOOT WHEN HE PLAYS. YOU CAN FORGET ABOUT EVERY OTHER LESSON IN THE BOOK”Al Di Meola ABILITY RATING Info Key: Various Tempo: Various CD: TRACKS 57-71 Will improve your Picking dexterity Speed and fluency Rhythmic control Al Di Meola is one of the most influential guitarists of the 70s fusion explosion. From his earliest electric recordings with Chick Corea’s Return To Forever with bassist Stanley Clarke and drummer Lenny White, through his stunning acoustic trio with John McLaughlin and Paco De Lucia. Then, on to his impressive body of Latin and jazz-inspired recordings as a bandleader, Al Di Meola has been at the cutting edge of contemporary guitar for four decades – and he’s not…

DAVID LYTTLETON “IT’S NOT IMPORTANT TO KNOW THE NAME OF EACH TRIAD IN EVERY SCALE, BUT RECOGNISE ‘SHAPES’ IN EACH SCALE AS YOU PLAY THEM” ABILITY RATING Info Key: A (A7) Tempo: 120 bpm CD: TRACKS 74-76 Will improve... Extracting triads from a scale Using triads in soloing Developing triad-based lines In the previous lesson, we looked at ways of deriving triads from A Mixolydian to be used as the basis for new musical lines. Triads introduce harmonic motion into your line by imposing one chord sequence on top of another (in this case, the sound of moving triads over a static A7 vamp) making your lines sound a lot stronger than simple scale-step-based ideas. In this lesson, rather than play a triad from each note of the scale (as…

PAUL GILBERT I CAN DESTROY earMUSIC Most of you will be familiar with Paul Gilbert from Mr Big and Racer X, as well as clinics and demonstrations at guitar shows over the years. Any who have seen him will agree that he’s a great entertainer as well as a phenomenal player. And there’s plenty of that entertaining quality on this latest album. There’s a sense of humour to his lyrics and even his guitar work makes you smile because he’s just so darned good! He covers most styles but it’s his speed and accuracy that never fail to amaze: just check out the dual-tracked title song with its surprise ending and eye-watering pace. This is Paul’s 18th solo album, yet his songs always sound fresh and uplifting and he’s got…

FEATURE #2 INTROS & OUTROS Top and tail your blues! Richard Barrett has 40 fabulous intros and outros, guaranteed to make your entrances and exits more memorable TRANSCRIPTION SALUT D’AMOUR Edward Elgar Bridget Mermikides arranges and transcribes a beautiful piece by England’s melodic master VIDEO MASTERCLASS ROCK SOLOING With Brett Garsed Brett plays and describes a fabulous improvised solo over another cool Jason Sidwell track, Grasshopper CELEBRATION PASSION AND WARFARE 30th Anniversary This month’s Hard Rock celebrates Steve Vai and the incredible playing on his stunning landmark album Let the guitarists of Motown put... RHYTHM IN YOUR SOUL! Three guitarists propelled 1,000s of Motown stars to the top of the charts. But you can use their soulful mini-chords, 3rds and 6ths fills, groovy riffs and licks in almost any style.…

DURING MY YEARS on guitar mags, and having done a bit of teaching myself, one misconception still crops up: “If I learn that scale, I’ll be able to play like that person.” Every teacher will tell you how many times he or she gets asked to show a student the Mixolydian so they can sound like Larry, the half-diminished so they can sound like Robben, or the Harmonic minor so they can sound like Yngwie. Sadly, this ignores the fact that these players aren’t about ‘scales’. They’re musicians who’ve put in years of practice, done 1,000s of gigs, trained a naturally gifted ear and innate sense of taste to become the fabulous artists that they are. They’ve developed sublime touch and feel, and probably a few tasty chops into the…

THIS LICK IS the sort of phrase that you will hear in gypsy jazz. It’s based on chord tones and scale notes. The accompanying chord is G major (G-B-D) and the idea is to‘encircle’each chord tone by playing the scale note above, then a chord tone and then a semitone below the chord tone; then another chord tone. I use just fingers 1,2 and 3, as this is the way most gypsy jazzers would play it; it’s also easier to play up to speed like this. But feel free to use whatever works for you. And try to compose ideas of your own using the same concept around differing chord types.…

“I BELIEVE IT IS INCUMBENT ON YOU TO MAKE MORE OF AN EFFORT TO SHOWCASE FEMALE GUITAR TALENT” BACK TO THE FUTURAMA On a recent visit to Cornwall, I took the opportunity to visit Guy McKenzie (www.the guitarcollection.org.uk) and his fantastic guitar collection. I particularly like one of his guitars; it’s called a Futurama Coronado Automatic. My mother died in 1962 and in 1963 when I was 15 my father decided to buy me this guitar; I suppose to cheer me up. At the time it was unique and still looks so cool, so I am now on a mission to obtain this model again – I foolishly sold it for guitar lessons (well I was only 18). If there is anybody out there who could help me track one…

“AS BRETT CREATES THE MELODY TO SUIT THE CHORD USING BROKEN SCALES AND ARPEGGIOS, THERE ARE NO ‘SCALE SHAPES’ AS SUCH” ABILITY RATING Info Key: C minor Tempo: 90 bpm CD: CD-ROM Will improve your… Switching between tonalities Fluid rock fusion soloing Hybrid-picked 16th-note triplets Welcome to this issue’s masterclass series where we are going to look at how Brett tackles the third of Jason Sidwell’s backing tracks. This particularly tricky set of changes is entitled, Beyond The Void. As Brett explains, the track has many chord changes and there’s an almost classical feel. Brett decided on a smooth but not too forceful overdrive this month, even though his legendary legato style is still to the fore. Instead of getting too caught up in the theory side, Brett chose to…

One popular aspect of GT, you tell us, is our diversity of style, ability, technical approach and theoretical explanations. Take this issue: you’ve had a user-friendly analysis of the Altered scale (p12); a big overview of one of the world’s most popular rock bands, AC/DC (p28); a beautiful solo by Brett Garsed (p38) that, while filled with hugely impressive playing, shows just how good Brett’s ears are to navigate so many changes. Then there’s the last in Tim Lerch’s series on solo jazz-blues playing (p44); even if you only take a couple of chords from this, you’ll be the richer for it; and the jaunty Canarios by Gaspar Sanz (p54), a great fingerpicking workout that’s brimming with energy and upbeat major key joy! Theory, lead and rhythm, chords, genres, fingerpicking;…

LIVEPIX “HOTEI BLENDS HIS INFLUENCES IN A VERY ACCESSIBLE WAY, WITH GROOVES THAT WEAVE EFFORTLESSLY THROUGH HIS SONGS” ABILITY RATING Info Key: A minor Tempo: 168 bpm CD: TRACKS 43-44 Will improve your Blues-rock style Ensemble playing Creating of parts Tomoyasu Hotei is a legend in his homeland of Japan, having sold over 40 million albums during a 30-year career, as well as having featured songs in movies such as Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill. His song Battle Without Honor Or Humanity from the Kill Bill soundtrack has appeared in numerous TV commercials, video games and other films. If you write even one song that gets as much traction as Battle Without Honor Or Humanity, you’re likely to keep the wolf from the door for some while! Hotei was born from…

© WENN LTD / ALAMY STOCK PHOTO “THE SHOWBOATING ON TRACKS LIKE NEON WAS REPLACED BY ACOUSTIC PARTS THAT DEMONSTRATED HIS FINGERPICKING” ABILITY RATING Info Key: G/B Tempo: 84 bpm CD: TRACKS 72-73 Will improve your Picking hand articulation Fingerstyle timing Fast fretboard fills When I last covered John Mayer for GT way back in GT127, I focused on his complex, groove-based fingerstyle as found in tracks like Neon. At this time Mayer was heavily influenced by San Francisco eight-string jazz guitar legend Charlie Hunter and his fingerpicking featured deft, contrapuntal lines the likes of which had rarely been seen in the mainstream pop-rock sphere. Alongside this he showcased a deep knowledge of chords that resulted in memorable and creative strumming based tracks like his break-out hit No Such Thing.…

Welcome to this month’s instalment of Chord Camp. As you started out on your musical learning journey, you will have surely heard about triads. But you might not have realised that they are built from the four combinations of major 3rd and minor 3rd intervals. Hence a major triad is built from a major 3rd and a minor 3rd stacked on top of one another; a minor triad is built from stacked minor 3rd and major 3rd; a diminished triad from minor 3rd and minor 3rd; and an augmented triad from a major 3rd and major 3rd. G augmented is, therefore, G-B-D# (R-3-#5). Also, as this is a symmetrical shape (it can be repeated every four frets on the guitar), G augmented can also be seen as B or D#…

“WHEN PRACTISING, FOCUS ON ACCURACY TO PRODUCE A CLEAR NOTE RATHER THAN USING FORCE AS YOU WILL GET TIRED QUITE QUICKLY” ABILITY RATING Info Key: Various Tempo: Various CD: TRACKS 87-96 Will improve your Tapping accuracy Finger strength Power and control Most of us have dabbled in the classic Eddie Van Halen tapping method, using one of our picking-hand fingers to hammer and pull off notes on the higher frets, essentially extending the legato technique between two hands to create licks that wouldn’t otherwise be possible. Although EVH will always remain the king of tapping, the technique has evolved over the decades to utilise more than one finger from the picking hand. Multiple-finger tappers such as Kiko Loureiro, Jennifer Batten, TJ Helmerich, Chris Broderick and Ron Thal have used all…

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…

WITH MANY OF ITS GUITARS now being manufactured outside the USA, Fender officially develops the American Standard Stratocaster as the all-American built model. Although the main dealers are fully aware of the strategy the guitar itself (in all its vintage looking glory) will not be unveiled to the public until the January 1987 NAMM trade show. HALLEY’S COMET RETURNS and reaches its closest approach to Sun (Perihelion) and also makes its closest approach to Earth. In hot pursuit are three probes, the USSR’s Vega 1 probe and Japan’s Suisei and Sakigake. Soyuz T-15 transports two cosmonauts to the newly launched Soviet space station, Mir. The Space Shuttle Challenger tragically explodes soon after take off. INTERNATIONAL PEACE YEAR BEGINS The Pope and Mother Teresa meet in Calcutta; Spain and…

“WHEN YOU LEARN THE APPROACH OF PLAYING THE MELODIC MINOR A HALF STEP ABOVE THE V CHORD, YOU THEN JUST START BREAKING IT DOWN INTO MUSICAL PHRASES”Larry Carlton ABILITY RATING Info Key Various Tempo 120 bpm CD TRACK 3-17 Will improve your… Command of tension and release Melodic sophistication Application of theoretical concepts Got your thinking caps on? Good – we’ve got a lot to get through! I promise that there will be some sexy licks to learn at the end but let’s start with the theory bit – stick with it, as this will help you later on. It’s possible to view the jazz Melodic Minor scale as a Major scale with a lowered 3rd (R-2- b 3-4-5-6-7). This has a knock-on effect on all the subsequent…

“WALKING BASSLINES ARE REALLY EFFECTIVE WHEN COMBINED WITH CHORDS, PLAYED EITHER FINGERS OR HYBRID” ABILITY RATING Info Key: Various Tempo: Various CD: TRACK CD-ROM Will improve your… Walking basslines Jazz-blues comping Using approach chords Welcome to the final part of Tim Lerch’s video masterclass series. Tim is a Seattle-based jazz and blues guitarist and a fantastic player and teacher. In this series Tim has presented many excellent harmonic ideas in the context of a 12-bar jazz blues, so do check out the first two parts as they are a great foundation in this style of playing and you’ll want to be secure with the basic 12-bars jazz-blues form when going through this month’s lesson. The progression is presented in below, although be aware that this basic harmonic skeleton is often…

EASY LICKS EXAMPLE 1 SOUNDGARDEN CD TRACK 37 Most guitarists should be able to cope with this early Kim Thayil Soundarden riff. It sits neatly on the open sixth string descending chromatically; drop down from the 9th fret and bend the G note up a time for a 90s grunge turnaround. Use your bridge pickup with thick grungy distortion. EASY LICKS EXAMPLE 2 KEITH RICHARDS CD TRACK 37 Maintain downstrokes on the rhythm hand using an on-off chord pressure following the D chord with the fretting hand. Bar 3’s arpeggio should be picked as if it’s a Stones rhythm part with a loose‘Keith-strum’twisting wrist. INTERMEDIATE LICKS EXAMPLE 3 TOWER OF POWER CD TRACK 38 A classic and timeless funk band, this Tower Of Power idea is a typical riff where…

LIVEPIX “THE EXPLOSION OF GRUNGE LED TO WANING INTEREST IN HARD ROCK AND WHITE LION DECIDED TO CALL IT A DAY IN LATE 1991” ABILITY RATING Info Key: Various Tempo: Various CD: TRACKS 45-56 Will improve your Two-handed tapping String skipping Arpeggiated picking The White Lion tale started when vocalist Mike Tramp moved from his native Denmark to New York City and met guitarist Vito Bratta. They formed White Lion in 1983, were signed in 1984 and released their first album Fight To Survive in 1985. The album had some success, but things didn’t start to take off until Pride, in 1987. Full of solid rock songs fuelled by Bratta’s creative and technically brilliant guitar style, the lead single Wait made the top 10 and coincided with tours with AC/DC,…

JULY GT258 ABOVE THE 12TH FRET New licks to play and a whole new lickbag for the ‘dusty end’. Plus, we pay tribute to the staggering talent of Prince; Derek And The Dominos’ Key To The Highway tabbed and style lessons in Otis Rush, Ratt, Freddie Green, Eva Cassidy and more! JUNE GT257 FABULOUS CHORDS! Instant inspiration from our cover feature, Fabulous Chords! Learn new shapes, get great music ammo and compose a classic. Plus, Steely Dan’s Don’t Take Me Alive tabbed and studies in Mike Bloomfield, Blue Öyster Cult, Wes Montgomery and Ben Harper. MAY GT256 ACOUSTIC BLUES Four fantastic acoustic blues pieces for you to try – from simple to challenging. Learn BB King’s classic Three O’Clock Blues as re-imagined with Eric Clapton for Riding With The King.…

WHAT OUR RATINGS MEAN Buy it Excellent Good Average Bin it! JOHN MAYALL’S BLUESBREAKERS LIVE IN 1967 – VOLUME TWO Forty Below Records It’s always fantastic when live recordings from legendary artists are unearthed and assembled into albums, but even more important when a particular line-up was together for only a short period of time! Here we are presented with a second release from John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers that includes Peter Green, Mick Fleetwood and John McVie who would shortly break away to form Fleetwood Mac. Taken from a variety of gigs in 1967, the recording quality leaves a lot to be desired. And while a few missed beginnings is annoying, the quality of the playing is top class and that’s what makes this collection so important. Stormy Monday, So Many…

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…