MusicRadar Guitar Techniques | Blog RSS Feed

Quick licks: intermediate #11

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 09:30:00 +0000

Intermediate lick one: Jazz blues comping

A cool organ trio type blues accompaniment based on a G7 chord vamp reminiscent of jazz fingerstylist Charlie Hunter. The triad chord pattern is on top and the bass line is on the bottom to help develop a complete rhythm guitar style. A neck pickup with the tone rolled off a bit is the way to go.

Intermediate lick two: Judas Priest style riffing

There is nothing subtle here - just pure heavy riffing in the classic Priest tradition. Make sure all of the open fifth strings are palm muted as indicated and use an aggressive pick attack. A generous amount of valve crunch and a bridge position humbucker are mandatory!

Quick licks: easy #11

Sat, 11 Feb 2012 09:00:00 +0000

Easy lick one: Scotty Moore style

Our first lick was inspired by Scotty Moore's trademark rhythm style on the early Elvis Sun recordings. For an authentic Memphis tone try a little tape style slap-back delay, amp reverb, and a strong, confident picking hand to make the notes pop out with authority.

Easy lick two: Angus Young style lead

It's never too early to get into some AC/DC style licks and this one can help develop your alternate picking and fretting hand dexterity and strength while sounding cool all the while. Keep your fingertips close to the fretboard when playing this one and work your way up slowly to the 120bpm tempo.

Gear advice: what's the difference between glued in and bolt-on necks?

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 10:46:00 +0000

Every month, Guitar Techniques attempts to answer guitarists' questions with expert and practical advice. Here we bring you some timeless nuggets of gear buying wisdom from our archives…

The question

Dear GT

This might sound a bit strange, but it's been bugging me for ages and no one I ask seems to know the answer. Why do some guitars have necks that are screwed on to the body and others that are glued on?

Lance

The answer

The quick answer is that glued in necks represent the traditional way of building an instrument and can be seen as a throwback from the violin building industry, which dates back a few hundred years.

Bolt-on necks represent a relatively new building tradition, which was popularised by Leo Fender in the 1950s. Leo was an engineer and he considered that having replaceable necks meant fewer spoiled instruments as defective necks could be very quickly replaced, whereas glued-in necks which were found to be faulty after manufacture often weren't.

Sound wise, guitar folklore insists that glued-in necks offer greater sustain and bolt-on more dynamics and 'twang'.

60 seconds with… Al Di Meola

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 17:30:00 +0000

© ANDRZEJ GRYGIEL/epa/Corbis

From the GT archives - A minute with a great guitarist is enough to discover what really makes them tick. This time we quiz Al Di Meola…

Who was your first influence to play the guitar?

Elvis, Ventures, Beatles.

What was the first guitar you really lusted after?

A Guild Starfire.

What do you think was the best gig you ever played?

The one in fourth grade with my pal George where I realised for the first time the power the guitar could have with winning over the girls!

And your worst playing nightmare?

When back in the '80s the Synclavier hook-up to my guitar glitched during a piece we were playing and this super-loud squeal blasted through the PA and would not shut off - seemed like an eternity!

What's the most important musical lesson you ever learnt?

Alternate picking, loose wrist, chords, scales and arpeggios. Sweep picking is for cissies!

Do you still practise?

Yes, it's my meditation and I love more then anything to read music as part of the routine.

Do you have a pre-gig warm-up routine?

Yes.

If you could put together a fantasy band with you in it, who would the other players be?

Steve Gadd, Jan Hammer, Anthony Jackson.

Present company accepted, who's the greatest guitarist that's ever lived?

Ralph Towner.

Is there a solo you really wish you had played?

I'm sure there is.

What's the solo/song of your own that you're most proud of?

Any one off [latest album] Pursuit Of Radical Rhapsody; also the electric solo off of a CD called Kiss My Axe on a tune called Global Safari.

What would you most like to be remembered for?

The depth of the compositions followed by having my own voice on the guitar in a particularly unique, articulate percussive way - not to mention also being a nice guy - hopefully!

How to: select the right scale

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 18:52:00 +0000

Every month, Guitar Techniques attempts to answer guitarists' playing posers and technical teasers with expert and practical advice. This time we delve deep into the theory behind selecting scales for improvisation...

The question

Dear GT

I've read various sources of rock and jazz theory and there seems to be two approaches of selecting the right scale to improvise with.

For example over a G7 some say use G Mixolydian as it's the dominant 7th mode of choice; others say use C major as it's G7's I chord.

Likewise, for a G7 altered chord, some say G altered scale (or G Superlocrian) whereas others say Ab melodic minor (ie over a dom7, use melodic minor up a semitone). I appreciate both are 'right' but can you tell me the pros and cons of each approach for practising and improvising?

If it helps I've heard Frank Gambale likes the substitution approach but Mike Stern prefers the 'from the root' approach – maybe one is easier for fretboard and the other for theory?

Pete

The answer

A lot depends on what type of person you are, how good your ear is and how you process information.

When it comes down to teaching modes we have found that all some pupils need is for us to tell them to play a C major scale over an E minor chord (arriving at the Phrygian mode) and their ear will pick up on the pseudo-flamenco characteristics of that mode without any further input.

Others need to know the maths – play the major scale a major third below the root of the minor chord you're playing over, etc. Both ways are valid, as they arrive at the same destination, but let's take a look at how the different systems work.

To make sure everyone knows the distinction between the two processes, take a look at the example below: the first scale is C major, with an E minor chord symbol, whilst the second is the E Phrygian scale - the third mode of C major.

Both examples contain essentially the same information, but set out in a way that involves a slightly different learning experience.

The sound achieved should be the same, providing that any tutorial is embellished with information about playing off chord tones.

In other words, it would be possible to play the C scale over E minor and it sound wrong or disjointed because the player is still thinking that the notes C, E and G are the important target notes (example below), whereas he or she should be thinking E, G and B (only one note different, but it makes a big difference to phrasing).

The difference in approach to teaching or learning this one fact would be on the one hand, learning the Phrygian mode in all keys and understanding where it can be used; or thinking that in order to take advantage of the mode's sonic thumbprint you'd need to approach a minor chord by playing the major scale sited a major third beneath its root. To us, the latter route is more complicated, but we were always hopeless at remembering formulae at school.

We're hoping that the logic of applying these different approaches is clear. From here on, the two methods don't really differ too much, even when we look at the area of jazz or fusion harmony.

It's a well known fact that both these styles of music call for an extended form of harmonic and melodic content. Knowing which scale or mode fits where is, of course, very important. As you suggest in your letter, the formula for playing over a dominant seventh chord resolving to a tonic is to play the Superlocrian (example below) which is the seventh mode of the melodic minor scale.

Here, once again, you have the choice to either learn this as a scale in its own right, or as a formula. As long as you observe that the chord tones in G7 (as that's the example you've given) are G, B, D and F and that the mode itself contradicts this by offering the basic triad of G, Bb and Db, then it should be possible to arrive at the type of dissonant sounds that the music calls for.

This is usually where the confusion arises and why this kind of 'related scale' thinking needs to be supplemented with some additional information, otherwise the G Superlocrian and the G7 chord you're trying to play over will remain strangers.

A lot of people seem to think that it's always going to be a perfect fit and virtually haemorrhage with fear when they realise it's not.

Let's break the scale down. In the last example we have the following notes and intervals. We think this is the easiest way to quantify (and remember) it:

In other words, everything is flat except the tonic. We guarantee that if you were to play this scale in its raw form over an unsuspecting G7 it would sound pretty terrible.

But what it leads us towards is all the altered intervals in a bunch. If we look at altered 7th chords for a moment, we'll see that we can have G7b9, G7#9, G7#5, G7b5 (example below) and that's only for starters.

But the G Superlocrian contains all of those intervals and, to apply a kind of directive from the jazz harmony rule book; if it works in a harmonic context, it will also work melodically, too.

If we were to play over a G7b9–C maj7 chord change, we might play something like the example below. Are we playing a scale, though? We don't think we are, but analysis of what we did might suggest that we're quoting from G Superlocrian.

Similarly, if we were to play over G7#5–Cmaj7, we might play the phrase in the example below. Once again, when all the jazz Sherlocks come along with their magnifying glasses, they may conclude that again, we're quoting from G Superlocrian. But actually we're not thinking that way at all...

This brings us to the most important lesson anyone can learn about related scale theory: scales are to music what the alphabet is to literature. They are undeniably an important structural part of music, but it doesn't end there and if your goal is to learn all your scales and modes so that you can shred like some kind of jazz ninja, you've missed the point.

We once went to a masterclass with the late, great Joe Pass and he said we shouldn't ask him anything about modes because he didn't know anything about them. Joe had what he called an 'altered' scale (example below) similar to the Superlocrian.

The important thing was that he knew what sounds it gave him and had the taste and discretion to use it magically every time.

We have had the privilege to interview many of the world's top jazz and fusion players, including Scofield, Metheny, Robben Ford, Martin Taylor, Larry Carlton and many more. And not one of them has ever told us that they apply any theoretical knowledge when they are playing. They left it behind them years ago, rightly regarding it as a means to an end and not the end itself.

We'll leave the last words to jazz legend Charlie Parker. When asked what advice he would give jazz students he said: "Learn your scales - then forget all that shit and just play!"

That was the year: 1959

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 14:22:00 +0000

Buddy Holly, sadly lost in '59.

Another trip back through time and the pages of GT. This time we look back at the world of guitars, music and international events in the late '50s...

1959

Vega produces the 1200 guitar, a stereo model that sports twelve individual pickups grouped into two blocks of six with huge individual round pole pieces set in a diagonal configuration. The look of this hollowbody guitar is dominated by the pickups and the poor choice of two gold sparkle scratchplates.

Guitar instrumentals are becoming increasingly popular with Bert Weedon's Guitar Boogie Shuffle, Santo & Johnny's Sleepwalk and Duane Eddy's Peter Gunn Theme. Guitars are also featured heavily on Eddie Cochran's C'mon Everybody, Paul Anka's Lonely Boy and young James Burton plays a blinding solo on Rick Nelson's single, It's Late. Jimi Hendrix buys his first electric guitar!

A plane crash kills Ritchie Valens, The Big Bopper and Buddy Holly; Guitar Slim dies as does Billie Holliday; but it's a good year for births. Bryan Adams, Susanna Hoffs (The Bangles), guitarists Richie Sambora, Brian Setzer and Steve Stevens and singers Robert Smith, Morrissey and Suzanne Vega. Meanwhile Elvis is still in the US Army.

Dense fog brings chaos to Britain; the Mini is launched onto the UK market as 'the people's car' and costs £500; the first section of the M1 is officially opened between Watford and Rugby; the Mermaid Theatre opens in London; postcodes are introduced; import tariffs are lifted; Juke Box Jury debuts on BBC TV; and Goldfinger is the new James Bond novel from Ian Fleming.

Fidel Castro leads a revolution in Cuba and overthrows the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista; Alaska becomes the 49th US state; the Saint Lawrence Seaway is opened; and a rare occultation of Venus and the star Regulus gives astrophysicists the chance to determine the diameter of Venus and its atmospheric structure. The event will next occur in 2044.

Cliff Richard and The Drifters are big business as the live debut album Cliff is produced, and Living Doll climbs tothe top of the charts, with Hank B Marvin using a borrowed semi-acoustic guitar for the session. Marty Robbins is in El Paso, Ritchie Valens sings of La Bamba and Buddy Holly says It Doesn't Matter Anymore.

Selmer imports the Resonet Grazioso guitar from Czechoslovakia, changing the name to Futurama. Inspired by the Fender Stratocaster, this was the nearest thing available in the UK with a solid body, maple or rosewood board, three single-coil pickups and a curious switch block. And at 55 guineas it was affordable to the young George Harrison.

Harmony introduces the Stratotone Jupiter H49 with a spruce top, chambered body, pair of DeArmond Golden Tone pickups and a blender control. Its Les Paul inspiration is undeniable as is also the case with the new Framus Hollywood 5/132. Available with one, two or three pickups, this solidbody guitar is a new venture for the company.

Subscribe to Guitar Techniques and get a FREE Marshall MS-2 Amp and a set of Elixir Strings!

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 12:40:00 +0000

Subscribe to Guitar Techniques today and get a FREE Marshall MS-2 Amp, a FREE set of Elixir strings, plus a saving of 20% off the cover price! That's welcome gifts worth £42 and 13 issues per year delivered straight to your door, all for just £28.49 every six months!

The Marshall MS-2 is the ultimate in portable battery/mains operated micro amps, packing Marshall Tone into a tiny case measuring just 140 x 110 x 60mm. With a classic Marshall design, this mighty micro Marshall has switchable clean and overdrive modes and a single tone control.

Elixir Strings for electric guitar give you great tone that lasts 3-5x longer. Elixir Strings deliver the presence, punch, and detail of the finest conventional strings while extending tone life and clean, new-string feel.

Great reasons to subscribe
- Save 20% off the cover price
- Get a FREE Marshall MS-2 Amp
- Get a FREE set of Elixir Strings
- Every issue delivered free to your door

Simply click here to subscribe today to take advantage of this offer!

Alternatively, call 0844 848 2852 and quote special offer code GTQW19.

This offer is for new UK subscribers paying by Direct Debit only. Overseas subscribers can also subscribe for less here .

Offer ends: 29th Feb 2012.

What strings do you use, Marcus Bonfanti?

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 17:09:00 +0000

From the Guitar Techniques archive, we ask a famous guitarist all those little questions you really do want the answers to… This time, blues maestro Marcus Bonfanti.

Do you have a type of pick that you can't live without?

I use Dunlop 1mm picks. I've used them since I was about 18 and never thought about changing. I do need to bite 'em in good though before I use 'em - don't like 'em too smooth and slippy.

If you had to give up all your pedals but three, what would they be?

I couldn't be without my Danelectro Wasabi trem pedal, or my Carl Martin Hydra Boost, they are monsters. I couldn't give up my Boss TU-2 tuner 'cos I switch from standard to open G and open D a lot - without it there'd be more tunin' than playin'.

Do you play another instrument well enough to be in a band?

I used to play trumpet to a real good standard. I'm a decent bass player - played on my first record and for a few bands and on a few sessions. I'm no Scott Wiber though (bass player on my record).

If a music chart were put in front of you, could you read it?

Yeah I can now. I learnt a few years back because I got offered a gig in a pit band for the musical West Side Story. First rehearsal they put a big score in front of me. I had no clue, just about got through the session and that night I stayed up all night learning how to read music on guitar.

I'm real glad I did it cos I probably wouldn't have bothered otherwise.

Do guitar cables really make a difference? What make are yours?

I had to go through my guitar case for this one. It's a big mixture - a Fender one, some Piranha ones and a nice posh Whirlwind one. So to answer the question it looks like I don't think cables make a difference.

Is there anyone's playing (past or present) that you're slightly jealous of?

Where do I start? I suppose most guitar players I like inspire me or blow my mind more than make me jealous, but I'd love to have Buddy Guy's recklessness, Muddy's feel and Freddie King's tone.

Your house/studio is burning down: which guitar do you salvage?

My Gibson Hummingbird True Vintage every time. I have some real nice guitars but that one is special; it's so good to write songs on and it just sounds great.

That guitar and me go everywhere together; we've been through a lot of gigs and sessions together. It's MY guitar.

What's your favourite amp and how do you set it?

I own a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe, which is a great gigging amp, fits easily in cars and vans and is light enough to lug about.

I have it set on the clean channel, almost all the treble rolled off, a lot of bass and mids, a bit of reverb and then I turn it up till it just breaks up (about 5 on the padded input).

My resonator sounds great through it. I'm about to buy a Vibrolux though...

What kind of action do you have on your guitars?

I like a high action 'cos I play a lot of slide stuff; also it suits the heavy gauge strings I use. My mates don't like using my guitars cos they are tough to play.

What strings do you use?

On my Hummingbird I use D'Addario Bluegrass (12-56); my resonator is strung with Rotosound flatwounds (12-52); and my Tele with D'Addario heavy gauge (12-54).

I like to feel I'm really playin' them bends! Also they hold well for 'down' tuning.

60 seconds with… Buddy Whittington

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 18:08:00 +0000

From the GT archives - A minute with a great guitarist is enough to discover what really makes them tick. This time we speak to Texan blues player Buddy Whittington...

Who was your first influence to play the guitar?

One of the first was Phil Baugh - my dad brought home his Country Guitar LP in '66, been trying to learn it ever since.

What was the first guitar you really lusted after?

Actually it was the Silvertone in the '64 Sears Roebuck catalogue, the blue one with the kid in the red blazer playing it. $49.99!

What was the best gig you ever played at?

It would have to be a tie between John Mayall's 70th Birthday Concert and opening for ZZ Top through the mid-western US in 1995 - good work if you can get it!

And how about your worst playing nightmare?

Having to play the Eureka Springs Blues Festival in cut-off jeans, a T-shirt and flip-flops - my suitcase didn't show up! Purty scary for me, and especially the audience!

What's the most important musical lesson you ever learnt?

LISTEN! And stay out of the singer's way.

Do you still practise?

I try to play something new every day, usually something melodic with cool chords - Redd Volkaert!

Do you have a regular pre-gig warm-up routine?

Usually when I put a new set of strings on, I'll play a little to get 'em stretched out so I'm in tune on the gig.

If you could put together a fantasy band with you in it, who would the other players be - they can be dead or alive?

Ray Charles on piano and vocals, Eldon Shamblin on his prototype '54 Strat, a gift from Leo himself! A guitar owner could learn a LOT bein' around those gents.

Who's the single greatest guitarist that's ever lived?

I think all the greatest ones have been married - somebody had to pay the rent.

Is there a solo you really wish you had played?

Amos Garrett's Midnight At The Oasis solo ranks right up there; he's superhuman. That and Pagey on Heartbreaker - can you imagine just dreamin' that up?

What's the solo/song of your own that you're most proud of?

I'm proud of any of 'em that people remember, and may know the words to.

What would you most like to be remembered for?

Being a good husband and dad.

How to: count out triplet time signatures

Tue, 17 Jan 2012 17:47:00 +0000

Every month, Guitar Techniques attempts to answer guitarists' playing posers and technical teasers with expert and practical advice. This time we look at counting a triplet-based time signature...

The question

Dear GT

I was trying to play through the transcription to Toto's Hold The Line in August's issue of GT and ran across a fundamental problem: I don't know how to count my way through a bar of 12/8. This means that some of the slightly 'off ' timing in this tune is almost impossible to get from the written transcription.

I can listen to the original song and pick the phrasing up by ear, but I think it's time that I really come to terms with this deficiency and learn to count properly. Is there any chance that you could offer some guidance?

Pete

The answer

It's be tempting to think that counting through a bar of 12/8 involves counting up to 12 very quickly each time, but that's not the case.

Most time signatures that end in '8' are what we call 'triplet based', meaning that instead of 12 individual beats, you have in fact got four, in very much the same way as a bar of good old 4/4.

It's just that each of the four beats is split into three (see the example below). In other words, triplets.

If you think of the intro to Hold The Line, David Paich's keyboards outline the 'three' feel from the start. The verbal patter to count through a bar is:

ONE-two-three TWO-two-three THREE-two-three FOUR-two-three

Listen: Toto - Hold The Line

This helps outline the fact that the four main beats - the one, two, three and four - are all split into three. Try counting along with the track and you should see that it's a perfect fit.

We've given a couple of examples of the way 12/8 pans out rhythmically in the example below, with the counting regime outlined above. It should help you make headway with the transcription.

Quick licks: advanced #10

Fri, 13 Jan 2012 17:15:00 +0000

Advance lick one: Eric Johnson lead

A Pentatonic line based around Eric Johnson's trademark lead style. The line is based around a G major chord using both the G major pentatonic (G, A, B, D, E, G) and D major pentatonic (D, E, F#, A, B, D) scales similar to Johnson's approach.

Follow the position shifts and picking carefully (Eric may favour crossing strings with the same stroke where possible, though). A thick sustaining lead tone with a good bit of analogue delay works just fine here.

Advanced lick two: Wes Montgomery octaves

Here's a workout for octaves playing in the jazz genre using your picking hand's thumb with all downstrokes - watch out for blisters!

Harmonically this line features Wes-approved arpeggios and the use of a dominant diminished scale in bar 2 over the G13b9 chord (G, Ab, Bb, B, C#, D, E, F, G).

Watch your timing as this is at a ballad tempo (46bpm) and use a clean, dark neck pickup sound. You could use a pick (downstrokes) but thumb is more warm toned.

That was the year: 1969

Tue, 10 Jan 2012 17:53:00 +0000

© Corbis

Another trip back through time and the pages of GT. This time we look back at the world of guitars, music and international events as the '60s drew to a close...

1969

Apollo 11 lands on the moon and the world is amazed as we watch the first moon walk live on TV.

Maiden voyage of the Queen Elizabeth 2 ocean liner; both the Boeing 747 and Concorde perform their maiden flights; the Harrier Jump Jet enters service with the RAF; the new Victoria Line of the London Underground is opened by the Queen; the halfpenny ceases to be legal tender; and Swansea is granted city status.

The Beatles get legal as George, John and Ringo start proceedings against Paul. John Lennon marries Yoko Ono eight days after McCartney marries Linda Eastman.

Noel Redding quits the Jimi Hendrix Experience, Mick Taylor joins the Rolling Stones and almost a month later Brian Jones is found dead in his swimming pool.

Jimi Hendrix headlines the Woodstock Festival, Chuck Berry plays at the Toronto Peace Festival and Lennon decides to quit The Beatles after his performance there.

Eponymous albums are all the rage and include Led Zeppelin's debut, Free, Santana, Mott The Hoople, Crosby, Stills & Nash, Blind Faith, The Band, Neil Young, Chicago Transit Authority, The Doobie Brothers, The Velvet Underground and Yes.

Outstanding British albums include The Who's Tommy, Family Entertainment by Family, King Crimson's In The Court Of The Crimson King, Goodbye by Cream, The Beatles' Abbey Road, A Salty Dog by Procol Harum, Spooky Tooth's Spooky Two, Stand Up by Jethro Tull, Fleetwood Mac's Then Play On and From Genesis to Revelation by Genesis.

Gibson reintroduces the '50s designs of the Les Paul now that the man himself is part of their advisory team. However they also produce the Les Paul Personal, a mighty strange beast with low impedance pickups, expanded electronics and a microphone socket fitted on the upper body edge.

As the name implies it's based on Paul's own instrument of the day but it fails to rank highly on the popularity charts.

The British Musical Instrument Fair in London sees the launch of the Vox Giants, a range of guitars and a bass, spearheaded by the VG 12, a Gretsch-styled 12-string guitar manufactured in Japan.

As such it's an entirely new look for Vox and features a bolt-on neck, gold-plated hardware, painted f-holes plus a bound neck and body.

Fender unveils their Rosewood Telecaster, a weighty beast that is essentially a basic Tele but with a solid rosewood body and neck.

It is strangely charismatic and popularised by George Harrison using one during The Beatles' performance on the roof of the Apple building in London.

To ease the player's burden later models would feature hollowed chambers within the body but these early ones are a real man's guitar.