Guitar Techniques

JIMMY PAGE. Where does one start when admiring Led Zeppelin’s guitarist? Riffs? Of course. His have shaped what rock music means all over the world, from Black Dog to Immigrant Song. Lead solos? Definitely, from dynamic blues phrasing to roaring flurries, his range is beyond impressive. Heartbreaker’s middle solo is just one example. Rhythmic elements? Absolutely, odd time signatures, syncopated darting between the beats and emphatic power statements are rife. For starters: Kashmir. Acoustic picking? His acoustic chops are as arresting as his electric abilities. Going To California and Tangerine are just two of my favourites. And so the list goes on. In short, there isn’t a guitarist that has staked more sonic ground, more imagination with more breadth to bigger audiences than Jimmy Page. He is, pretty much without…

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. DECLAN ZAPALA Declan is one of the UK’s top classical guitarists and teachers. He is a Master graduateofRCM andhissolo arrangements are sublimely creative. 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 COOPER A tutor at BIMM Brighton, Martin’s Rock columns show an incredible breadth of technique and style. His 2006 album State Of The Union is out on iTunes. CHARLIE GRIFFITHS Charlie is a well studied guitarist who specialisesinhighendrockplaying and plays with top UK metal-fusion band Haken. His debut album is…

GT:can’t live without? HC: I sure do, it’s a Jim Dunlop .73. It’s the only one I’ve found that has any grip on it. I don’t think it’s what they intended but the writing on it gives you something to hold on to. I can get by with an .88 but prefer a .73. GT: If you had to give up all your pedals but three, what would they be? HC: I guess a tuner doesn’t count, right? It’s an easy question for me, as I only use three basic pedals. They are a distortion pedal for soloing, a digital delay, and the Electro Harmonix Small Stone, which gives that round envelope you can vary the speed on, sort of like a flangy tremolo. GT: Do you play another…

you don’t feel it, you don’t do it. Do not try. Do not try to write,” "W I heard my hero Neil Young say on a TikTok clip. It echoes a brilliant poem by Charles Bukowski called So You Want To Be A Writer. Look it up. It holds a lot of truth, but not the whole truth. Is developing expression something that takes time and practice? There will be many questions here and a few stabs at answers, but this article is about uncertainty and an elusive definition… When you first start doing anything it’s likely to be clumsy - you need time to learn the fundamental skills that make the art. Right? But is expression related to skill or technique? When a child dances along with music, they…

THE PENTATONIC SCALE is a good friend to us guitarists, but there occasionally comes a time when we want to spread our wings a little and think outside ‘the box’. Many of us investigate harmony and theory books and websites, only to have our interest rebuffed with musical jargon and exercises that seem impossible to assimilate into our repertoire (that has taken many a long hour to acquire as it is). A good solution could be to start with a universal pattern (like the Pentatonic or ‘Blues scale’), then add in more informed note choices on a progressive basis. Taking a wellused fragment of chord progression (known in many circles as a II-V-I) we’ve arranged three scales or patterns in the same area of the fretboard to demonstrate how to…

Oddly enough, I find that the most stressful aspect of studio work is not the fear of failure. The nightmare of being handed a guitar part that you can’t sight read. Or then, having blundered through a stormy sea of semiquavers, discover that it’s technically beyond your ability due to tempo torture or musicality malfunction. Modesty, humility and other undesirable professional defects dictate that I must confess that any or all of the above can happen on occasion. But the thought doesn’t keep me awake at night clutching my Bonnie Raitt comfort teddy. In truth, my particular confidence crusher is the constant anxiety that something, somewhere along the human/instrument interface will let go with an accompanying bang, crash and involuntary four-letter outburst. To be followed by a silence in which…