Guitar Techniques 305 (Sampler) by Future PLC

305

50 Essential...

PENTATONIC LICKS

Solos, chords, licks & jam tracks!

Grab yourself a whole new bag of Pentatonic and Blues scale licks. All styles. All levels. What’s not to like?

ZAKK WYLDE

Learn the fiery hard rock style of Black Label Society’s axe man

Classical Play Harry & Meghan’s wedding tune: Lord Of All Hopefulness

TOMMY

EMMANUEL

Acoustic Masterclass Learn from the master how Merle Travis & Chet Atkins approach fingerpicking

ALBERT KING Two solos in the style of the Velvet Bulldozer!

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TRACKS 4-7

50 Indispensable Pentatonic Licks! Need a spurt of inspiration? Then join Andy Saphir and get your fingers around 50 nifty licks guaranteed to spice up that flagging repertoire. ABILITY RATING Info Key Various Tempo Various CD TRACKS 4-7

Easy/Moderate ✪ ✪ ✪ Will improve your… Pentatonic knowledge (Major and Minor) Stylistic breadth and awareness General lead guitar prowess

et’s start with a question: What makes a guitar solo memorable? Of course there’s no single answer, but the one I’m thinking of is ‘the lick that jumps out and makes you think... Wow! Now that was nice.’ I’m talking about that elusive set of notes that gives a musical, structured, catchy, sometimes flashy, feel to a solo, and which can instantly identify a player (BB King’s ‘high root-note stab with slide’, for example). So, just think of a lick as a succinct sentence, the perfect few words with which to convey your meaning. Learning licks is actually a great way to increase your musical vocabulary. It gives you ready-made musical sentences that may be ideal for your purposes, while also benefitting your playing by improving abilities in musical, technical and stylistic aspects. Licks can also act as a platform to introduce new ideas into your playing, by setting you challenges you might otherwise never have imagined. Another, perhaps counter-intuitive, point of having a great lick vocabulary, is what it can bring to your improvisational skills. Although you night naturally think of licks-based improvisation as pretty ‘non spontaneous’ (a musical ‘painting by numbers’ if you will), learning licks helps to improve phrasing and gives you an instinctive feel for what ‘sounds right’. And when you’ve learned enough of them, you’ll have absorbed the musicality and technical prowess to naturally deliver their influence and phrasing - without replaying them note-for-note every time. The combination of this and true spontaneity can help you to sound very slick and professional, and also identify you as a player. Anyway, let’s face it, learning new licks is great fun! For this feature, I’ve put together a mammoth lick collection in an eclectic range of styles for your delectation. They’re presented in no particular order of difficulty, but are grouped stylistically, in a variety of

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keys and just three or four bars in length. They are all are Pentatonic based, and grouped into two lots of 25; the first set being Major Pentatonic, and the second Minor Pentatonic, with both groups featuring a variety of musical and technical approaches. There can’t be many GT readers that aren’t familiar with the concept of Pentatonic scales. But, just in case, the ‘standard’ variants are... Minor Pentatonic: Root-b3-4th-5th-b7th Major Pentatonic: Root-2nd-3rd-5th-6th Although we know that there are other

WE WOULDN’T SUGGEST LEARNING ALL 50 LICKS IN ONE GO, BUT SEE WHICH ONES YOU LIKE AND CONCENTRATE ON GETTING THEM RIGHT

types of scales and therefore countless more licks we could create, we’re keeping this collection almost entirely Pentatonic for the reason that so much of the classic guitar canon we’re familiar with, incorporates this sound. From metal to jazz, funk to country there they are, those five notes that seem to create a seemingly endless repertoire of fantastic and familiar sounding lines. We often find that certain musical styles favour the Major Pentatonic over the Minor, and vice versa. For example, country uses a lot of Major Pentatonic because so many country songs are written in Major keys. On the other hand rock and metal (which both stem from blues) tend to be more Minor Pentatonic. Of course blues, with its well-known harmonic ambiguity, is equally split between the two. Naturally these are generalisations, not ‘rules’, as both scales can be heard in pretty much all popular music styles. In addition to the straight Pentatonic licks,

I’ve also included a few Blues scale licks at the end of each group. The Minor Blues scale is essentially the Minor Pentatonic with one extra note, the b5, which creates a six-note (hexatonic) scale. This b5th is used mainly as a passing note, and lends a darker, even bluesier feel to Minor Pentatonic licks. It can be found in most styles, including pop, blues, rock, blues-rock, fusion and jazz. But it can also be heard as a ‘resolved’ note, most usually in a rock or metal setting, to provide a sinister, unsettling feel to a lick or riff. The Major Blues scale takes the Major Pentatonic and adds the b3rd, this time spelling out: R-2nd-b3rd-3rd-5th-6th. The additional b3rd note adds a bluesier tonality to a Major Pentatonic lick, making it sound less obviously ‘happy’. You might even hear it referred to as the ‘Country’ scale. Naturally, being just a collection of separate licks you can dip in and out as you like. We wouldn’t suggest learning all 50 in one go, but see which ones you like best and concentrate on getting them right. Although some are clearly more technically challenging than others, they should all be approached slowly and methodically. I’m sure you’ll find some new, interesting and challenging ideas in this selection. And remember, this is a feature you can return to again and again! 5 3

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You could use any tone imaginable for these licks. But it makes sense not to go mad with distortion and effects, as these can mask sloppy technique. So go for a pleasing tone that works across most styles; why not try neck pickup with a light overdrive and just a touch of delay and ambient reverb. Use the above settings as a guide and add drive and delay to taste.

50 GREAT { PENTATONIC LICKS Pentatonics can be sophisticated like Larry Carlton...

...low down and dirty like Keith Richards...

ANDREW LEPLEY / MICHAEL PUTLAND / PETER KRAMER / PAUL NATKIN / GETTY IMAGES

...smooth, slick and funky like Chic’s Nile Rodgers...

...or fast, furious and exciting like Angus Young!

TRACK RECORD Our 50 licks cover most music styles, so here’s a few suggestions of where to listen out for them using some ‘best of’ packages: Chuck Berry, Greatest Hits; George Benson, Ultimate Collection; Larry Carlton, Very Best Of; Booker T & The MG’s, Best Of; Albert King, The Very Best Of; Ozzy Osbourne, The Essential; Chic, Dance Dance Dance; AC/DC, Hits; The Rolling Stones, Jump Back; The Beatles, 1

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ON THE CD

TRACKS 4-7

MAJOR PENTATONIC LICKS CD TRACKS 4-5 GUITAR TECHNIQUES MAGAZINE 3 0 5 shape 1, this is a typical country lick 1 of D Major Pentatonic. Avoid over using vibrato with these country licks. LICK 1: Using D Major Pentatonic (D-E-F#-A-B) GUITAR TECHNIQUES MAGAZINE 3 0 5 50 Great Pentatonic Licks incorporating string bending. Make sure 3bends accurate. LICK 4:Licks This open-string D Major Pentatonic run is a typical country picking Great Pentatonic GUITAR TECHNIQUES MAGAZINE 0 5 are confident and50 MAJOR PENTATONIC LICKS 50one Great Pentatonic Licks LICK 2: A similarly styled country lick using D Major Pentatonic, this imitates approach. The idea is to let as many of the notes ring as possible in order to GUITAR TECHNIQUES MAGAZINE 3 0 5 MAJOR PENTATONIC LICKS 50first Great Pentatonic Licks a pedal steel guitar and has a held bend bar. Make achieve a lush, cascading effect. Hybrid picking or fingerstyle would be ideal. GUITAR TECHNIQUES MAGAZINE 310 5 beats 1 and 2 of the MAJOR PENTATONIC LICKS Lickacross Lickin1bar two. The final bending 50 lick Great sure you PENTATONIC let the A note sustain usingPentatonic LICK 5:Licks Another well used country technique is using ‘6ths’ as we find in this D MAJOR LICKSthrough LickE1 position 3PENTATONIC major Pentatonic is a typical ‘steel’ bend. Major Pentatonic idea. The first bar is a series of ‘6th’ shapes. Approach the first MAJOR LICKS E 1 LICK 3: This country lick uses a typicalLick linear E approach, going through shapes 4, 5 and three pairs of notes as ‘shapes’ to be fretted together as a chord fragment. Lick 1 E j E œj

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ON THE CD

CD-ROM & 8-9

Tommy Emmanuel

Interview & masterclass As a prelude to Tommy’s video tutorial, David Mead talks to the acoustic maestro about another side of his seemingly tireless life as a musician – the recording studio…

ommy Emmanuel is one of the busiest musicians on the planet. When he’s not on tour somewhere around the globe, he’s in the studio producing more virtuosic acoustic music. But as far as his recorded output is concerned, Tommy is not one to stand still or allow himself to be pinned down to a single style or format. On the contrary, he’s always up for trying new things and working with different musicians from all sorts of complementary styles. During a recent stopover at our studios to record a series of tuition videos, we took the opportunity to sit down and talk about his attitude to recording, the instruments he uses and the strategies he employs to get the very best out of his instrument every time. We thought that a good place to start would be his last solo album, Accomplice One, which found the itinerant Aussie partnering up with hand-picked musicians in order to produce an album of duets. As ever, the schedule was frenetic, tracking down fellow instrumentalists whose diaries were brimful with gigs and finding that narrow window of opportunity to record together – and taking the time to lay down a couple of extra tracks to keep in the can for the album’s yet-to-bereleased sequel. It would appear that the pace in the studio was pretty unrelenting, too… “I always wanted to do a recording with some of my favourite singers and players that were available. I had a long list of people. Of course, the reason it’s called Accomplice One is because there’s going to be a …Two. I already have stuff set aside for that. Basically, I’m busy and everybody else is busy as well, so I had to record it when people became available. Ricky Skaggs came in one morning and I told him the song, Song And Dance Man, and he just took it and sang it as if it was written for him. So we got that done pretty quickly. Then I asked him to grab his acoustic guitar and I told him a song called Flatt Did It,

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which is a song that Chet [Atkins] and Doc Watson had done together. So he played the other part. I have a recording of Ricky and me doing that song that’ll be on the next Accomplice album.”

That sounds like a very productive session. “That’s one morning’s work! Then Jason Isbell came in and we did Deep River Blues and that took about 10 minutes. He got his electric guitar out and I had another song that I had written and he took a solo on that and that’ll be for the next album as well. It’s a bit like a Little Feat kind of thing where he plays this dirty slide sound; it’s really, really good, he’s great at that. Bryan Sutton and David Grisman came in and we cut six songs in the

just sat side by side, no headphones or anything, just mic’d up. He played his old Martin D-18 and I played my Maton and we cut the song on the first take. Then I overdubbed some harmonies with him singing and we had a cup of coffee and then Guy Fletcher, who was running the board, mixed the track and mastered it and gave me the finished product. From the time I arrived to the time I left with the finished product was less than an hour. It was all done.”

It makes you wonder why Pink Floyd took eight months to record Dark Side Of The Moon, really... “There’s a lot going on in that. This was just two geezers with acoustic guitars!”

WHAT I GO FOR WHEN I’M RECORDING IS THAT THE GUITAR SOUNDS AS NATURAL AS POSSIBLE morning and it was all just like a gig. I said, ‘How about this song?’ And we just ran it down and said, ‘Okay, you take the first solo, you take the second solo,’ blah, blah. ‘Okay, let’s go!’ So we just played.”

So you recorded together in the studio instead of using remote studios and sending each other the parts? “Nobody emailed their part in. It was us playing live in the studio, that’s why the album sounds the way it does. While I was here in England I contacted Mark Knopfler and he agreed to play on my album but it had to be one of his songs. He doesn’t play on other people’s songs and I said, ‘That’s great because I love everything you’ve ever written…’ So he invited me into the studio and I went to Chiswick and what a beautiful place he’s got, incredible. So the song’s a bit like a comedy song [You Don’t Want To Get You One Of Those]. It’s a bit like a Randy Newman song. So he showed me the song and then we

So, talking of guitars, did you use your Maton all the way through the album? “On tracks like Borderline, the track I did with Amanda Shires, I used a Martin D-28 because it really suited the track. At the studio I had two Matons, I had my Larrivée, I had the Martin D-28 and another guitar made by a guy named David Taylor. They were my choice of steel string acoustics for recording. On some of the tracks I used the Larrivée and on the track with Jack Pearson, that was my old Gibson Kalamazoo from the 30s, it’s kind of a Django-y sort of sound. Actually I played electric guitar and bass and drums on the album as well.” How did you decide who played what during the sessions? “What I did is I created the track with whoever was singing and played the rhythm. JD Simo and I did Sitting On The Dock Of The Bay and that was recorded with JD singing and me playing rhythm and then he put all these slide

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ON THE CD

CD-ROM & 8-9

I CAN THROW ANYTHING AT JERRY DOUGLAS AND HE JUST THROWS IT BACK. WORKING AT THAT LEVEL IS REALLY CHALLENGING...

parts on and then left. I put my vocal part on and then I put bass and drums on. I came back the next day and tried some electric guitar parts, just like a Hammond organ sound. I used an SG Gibson and used a plug-in that had a Leslie speaker sound and that gave me what I was looking for.”

How do you go about selecting a guitar for a specific track? Do you have particular sounds already in your head? “You try it out. You see what sounds the best for which track. When I did Deep River Blues, my Maton sounded so good, but I put some new strings on the David Taylor guitar and ended up using that because it just sounded a little bit bigger and I got a bit more bass out of

German acoustic guitar that he’d just got and it sounded great. I just used the Maton with a mic on it. I didn’t plug it in, I just put a mic on it and it sounded great.” Have you got any special mic’ing techniques for your acoustics in the studio? “I’m not an expert on recording. I know what a good sound is but it’s all about how good the engineer is. And that’s why I use certain people to record me because I like their work. I respect their sounds – I know they know what they’re doing. I got Brad Benge to record me and mix it and then I got Marc DeSisto in Los Angeles to master everything. That’s the right combination. “The microphones of choice are usually Royers or Neumanns, sometimes AKG. I use

JASON ISBELL CAME IN AND WE DID DEEP RIVER BLUES AND THAT TOOK ABOUT 10 MINUTES it. That was the reason. Then the Borderline track that I used the D-28 on, it just had a classic acoustic sound. It’s a D-28 that I bought in Singapore off a guy and I had the neck reset and so it was really beautiful to play. It’s just a classic sound and I like to have a Gibson J-45 and Martin D-28, a Larrivée, I like to have those sounds because they’re iconic sounds – you have that sound in your head, you’ve grown up with that sound on people’s records. Even when Paul McCartney’s playing acoustic, it’s usually a Martin or a Gibson, that’s the sound. I use my Maton on quite a few tracks and it really recorded well. When Clive Carroll and I did that Irish medley of tunes, Clive used a 32

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Brad to record me because he has a choice of mics and he has certain mic’ing techniques that I haven’t seen other engineers do. He really captures the sound of the guitar. It doesn’t sound like there’s any EQ on it. It’s flat; we record everything flat and when you hear it in the headphones you hear all the detail. You hear the rich texture and you hear the woodiness of the instrument. It’s not too boomy or one frequency cancelling out another one. It’s totally even and that’s what I go for when I’m recording. I want the guitar sounds as natural as possible.”

What about future projects? “The next album to come out is an album

called Heart Songs and it’s me and John Knowles. It’s all love songs. That’s already been done, we recorded that nearly two years ago in LA. I’m trying to remember the name of the studio. It was a wonderful place – it was a studio where The Mamas And Papas recorded California Dreaming and all that stuff. So it’s a 60s style studio with all original old mics and stuff and a Trident English desk and that’s how we recorded it. It’s arrangements of beautiful songs, like Somewhere (There’s A Place For Us), How Deep Is Your Love, I Can Let Go Now, the Michael McDonald song, Where Is Love?, from Oliver… There are so many beautiful songs on that album. John and I will tour with that album next January where we’re playing all across America. So that’s the next project. “I’ve started writing for my next solo project too and that’ll be the next recording thing. It will be totally solo, and then after that it will be Accomplice Two. So that’s about the next five years of my life mapped out for me! Jerry Douglas and I have enjoyed working together and we’ve got two tours this year and, who knows, we might get a live album out of it, improvising together and having fun. He’s a good singer, too; we sing together and it’s great having a master like that to work with. I can throw anything at Jerry and he just totally throws it back. Working with someone at that level is really challenging and a great experience, that’s for sure.” For all Tommy’s news, plus info on gigs, CDs and tons of other unique merchandise, please visit www.tommyemmanuel.com

LESSON } VIDEO

ON THE CD

CD-ROM & 10-16

Rocco Zifarelli Video Masterclass pt4

ON VIDEO

For the fourth in this six-part series, Rocco demonstrates some phenomenal lead work over a fusion-style groove entitled The Moonlight Marauder, with Jon Bishop as your guide. ABILITY RATING ✪ ✪ ✪ ✪ ✪ Advanced Info Key: G minor Tempo: 155bpm CD: TRACKS 10-16

Will improve your Fretboard articulations Fast rock and fusion soloing Navigation of chords and keys

his month we welcome back Ennio Morricone’s incredible guitarist Rocco Zifarelli, to take on another Jason Sidwell penned track. It’s a slick fusion style offering called The Moonlight Maurader, designed to test Rocco’s inventiveness and technique to the limit. As you will see, once again our hero doesn’t disappoint! The tempo is 135bpm so it’s good to have a fretboard roadmap established prior to setting sail on such a freeform-improvised solo. As Rocco explains, the track starts out in the key of B Minor and the standard approach for this type of harmony is to opt for B Dorian

mode. B Dorian is built off the second degree of the A Major scale (B-C#-D-E-F#-G-A) but you can also view it as B Minor Pentatonic with added 6th and 9th (G and C#). The track is however rather more harmonically advanced than just the one key, and requires other scales and concepts to be employed so as to navigate it effectively. Luckily, Rocco meticulously talks us through his chosen options and demonstrates them in the video. To help you conceptualise these we have notated 14 of the demonstrated examples from Rocco’s chat (see examples 1 to 14 after the solo’s transcription). By studying these you should be able to memorise the various fingerings and scale shapes required. We have provided a chord sheet to further assist you, and help to inform you which of the harmonic choices goes where. Rocco starts out by doubling the track’s central riff and also plays some funky 16th-note chords. Rocco Zifarelli playing octaves on his Agostin

For the chorus and powerchord sections he switches between B Minor Pentatonic, B Blues scale and B Dorian mode to create his seamless, flowing lines. In the tutorial chat Rocco also demonstrates other concepts such as double-note phrasing, inspired by listening to saxophone players like Michael Brecker. Other effective ideas that Rocco pulls out include unison double-note ideas and the stacking of notes in 4th intervals. The simultaneous combination of two Pentatonic positions is also exploited, along with string skipping. There is sus2 section too, that moves between G Major and Bb Major scales. It would be an incredibly daunting task to memorise Rocco’s entire solo. But as always when learning from great players, the best idea is to select licks or phrases that tweak one’s ear, and learn them first. Doing this can often unlock other areas of their style that may previously have looked impossible. So, once you have mastered some of the concepts in Rocco’s solo why not blend some of his ideas with your own, to come up with a new solo over Jason’s bespoke rock fusion track. Good luck, and have fun! NEXT MONTH Rocco solos over Jason’s Fortitude which is full of unique chord changes 6

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Rocco used his Agostin Custom into a Kemper profiler. The neck and middle pickup selection is very complimentary to this style. Rocco uses 0.10 gauge Ernie Ball strings and a heavy pick. Any electric guitar will work well; simply dial up a smooth overdriven tone and experiment with the guitar’s controls to achieve the desired results. A bit of compression, reverb or long delay can be added for that professional touch.

TRACK RECORD Since 1997 Rocco has performed regularly and tours internationally with the renowned film music composer Ennio Morricone. He’s appeared on the stages of the most prestigious theatres and arenas in all the greatest locations around the world. Rocco’s own albums include, Lyndon, and the new Music Unites with a virtuosic rendition of The Untouchables movie theme. 36

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LESSON } VIDEO

ON THE CD

THE MOONLIGHT MARAUDER GUITAR TECHNIQUES MAGAZINE GUITAR 3 0 5 SOLO

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strumming. Various backing track riffs are played in unison and these act as punctuation points to the funky strumming.

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CD-ROM & 10-11

Moonlight Marauder - TRACK - Jon Bishop transcript

[Bars 1-5] After a drum fill Rocco gets into the groove by doubling the main riff. CHORUS 1 [Bars 6-21] Here he spices things up with some funky Bm13 chord

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March 2020

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PLAY } CLASSICAL

ON THE CD

TRACKS 17-18

ON VIDEO

Traditional Irish (Slane) Lord Of All Hopefulness Bridget Mermikides has created a stunning arrangement of this beautiful traditional Irish melody, more famously known as Lord Of All Hopefulness. ABILITY RATING Info Key D Tempo 90bpm CD TRACKS 17-18

Moderate ✪ Will improve your… Combining melody with bassline Absorbing 3/4 and 6/8 metre Broken chord playing

n this issue we will be tackling the beautiful Irish folk song Slane, which is now perhaps best known as the melody of the hymn, Lord Of All Hopefulness. This melody is also used in other hymns, such as Be Thou My Vision, Lord Of Creation, To Thee All Praise. However, perhaps closer to the stylistic roots of Slane are the traditional Irish

✪✪✪✪

tunes With My Love On The Road and The Banks Of The Bann. It has been quite common practice for folk songs to be appropriated for Christian Hymns, and when a title is not known the place of origin is used as the title of the melody for publication. The 1931 published version of Lord Of All Hopefulness (with lyrics by the English writer Jan Struther (1901-53) lists the melody as ‘Slane’ after the

to Celtic traditions) and is a deeply satisfying musical technique once absorbed. I have indicated this ‘flexible metre’ in the score with the 3/4 and 6/8 symbols side by side, and the arrangement plays with these two feels – for example from bar 17 there is a 3/4 feel in the melody against a 6/8 in the bass. This bar is worth using as a little exercise if you’ve not done this sort of thing before. Other techniques include grace notes (bars 7 and 11) which provide an expressive ornament reminiscent of the Irish fiddle or flute. The verse from bar 33 onwards mimics a harp where the arpeggios should over-ring with a cascading campanella effect. As always, the tab captions will help with these technical details so you can enjoy the musical expression within.

THE MELODY IS ENTIRELY DIATONIC. THIS GIVES IT AN ACCESSIBLE, SINGABLE AND SPACIOUS QUALITY WHICH NEXT MONTH Bridget arranges Christopher Gluck’s Dance Of The Blessed Spirits SHOULD BE CAPTURED IN THE PERFORMANCE TECHNIQUE FOCUS Picking-hand fingers

Do you pay much attention to your picking hand’s second and third fingers (‘m’ and ‘a’)? As classical guitarists we are often so focused on alternating first and second fingers that the others can be overlooked. But spending just five minutes (regularly) playing basic scales with m and a can really benefit your technique. Try repeating a oneoctave scale on the top three strings with m and a, slowly but with a full tone. Practise it with both rest stroke and free stroke and watch the results.

TRACK RECORD It is instructive to hear how this melody is reinterpreted in different contexts. So you might check out: the acapella version of Banks Of The Bann by the Norfolk Broads (2017 DK); or the version for voices, fiddle and accordion Begley/Diarmada (2012 Ceol); the Choir of Kings College performance of Lord Of All Hopefulness (2015 Kings College); or by the York Minster Choir (2011 Parlophone). 50

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HULTON ARCHIVE / GETTY IMAGES

Jan Struther wrote the hymn lyrics

hill of that name, near Lóegaire in County Meath, Ireland. The melody of Slane is entirely diatonic (meaning from one key and mostly Pentatonic - in fact it only uses six of the seven notes of the Major scale). This gives it an accessible, singable and spacious Celtic quality which should be captured in the performance. It is in 3/4 time (three crotchet beats per bar), but this can be felt as 6/8 time (two groups of three quaver notes). This 3x2 vs 2x3 metric ambiguity is found in a range of folk music cultures (from West Africa to Latin America

SLANE { TRADITIONAL IRISH GUITAR TECHNIQUES MAGAZINE 3 0 5 GUITAR TECHNIQUES MAGAZINE 3 0 5 Lord of All Hopefulness - arr. Bridget Mermikides PLAYING TIPS CD TRACK 18 GUITAR TECHNIQUES MAGAZINE 3 0 5 Lord of All Hopefulness - arr. Bridget Mermikides GUITAR TECHNIQUES MAGAZINE 3 0 5 Lord of All Hopefulness arr. Bridget Mermikides Remember to tune your sixth string from E to D for this piece. The opening atmospheric quality. The ornaments at bars 7 and 11 are added to give a Celtic Lord of All Hopefulness - arr. Bridget Mermikides GUITAR TECHNIQUES 3 0 melody 5 section consists of a simpleMAGAZINE rendition of the with a very sparse bassline. sounding character. Do your best to play them clear and crisp. At bar 17 the

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March 4 2020

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LESSON } BLUES

ON THE CD

Albert King

Brought to you by…

This month Phil Short dives deep into the expressive ‘Mississippi meets Memphis’ finesse of the legendary and irreplaceable Albert King. Classic Albert, with pipe and one of his later, custom-built Flying V guitars

TRACKS 25-26

Although his early work was of a more traditional blues nature, Albert embraced the sound of soul and in 1967 released Born Under A Bad Sign, on Stax, with Booker T & The MG’s; and, in 1972, I’ll Play The Blues For You. Both albums blend Albert’s blues sound with gospel and funk orchestration, giving him a contemporary and hip sound, while retaining his unmistakable guitar voice. Albert was famous for using the Gibson Flying V (possibly because of its symmetrical shape; the same reason Paul McCartney chose the Hofner Violin bass). Albert popularised its bold and distinctive shape way before the crushing hi-gain tones of those that adopted it as an instrument for rock or metal. Part of Albert’s unique bending style was due to the unusual tunings that he favoured. Reports vary on exactly how he tuned his

ALBERT BLENDED BLUES WITH GOSPEL AND FUNK FOR A HIP AND CONTEMPORARY SOUND, WHILE RETAINING HIS UNMISTAKABLE VOICE guitar: Steve Copper said in a Guitar Player interview that it was C-B-E-F#-B-E (low to high) during the 60s Stax sessions; while Gary Moore, who also worked with Albert, stated that it was regular intervals but dropped down to C (C-F-Bb-Eb-G-C). For our two studies we remain in standard tuning. This month’s solos provide examples of Albert’s more traditional blues playing, and also the funky soul style adopted on his move to Stax records. Both studies focus on his use of string bending, on leaving space, and on using thematic ideas for improvisation.

Info Key: Various Tempo: Various CD: TRACKS 25-26

Will improve your Expressive bends Awareness of space Rhythmical feel

he fabulous Albert King, original name Albert Nelson, was one of the most influential blues guitarists of all time. One of the so-called Kings Of The Blues, Albert was one of the leading blues players of his generation, alongside fellow heavyweights, BB and Freddie King. Legend has it that Albert was such a big admirer of BB that he adopted the same stage name just to be

associated with the legendary bluesman, often claiming he was his half brother. From his side, BB King only ever claimed Albert as a dear friend, but is reported as referring to him as a “brother of the blues”. Regardless of this, Albert influenced and inspired many of the great household names in guitar history; Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, Jimi Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughan just to name a few. But what was it about Albert that inspired this generation of now legendary players? With regards to his guitar playing, it was his wonderful vocal quality, singing sustain, expressive vibrato and powerful string bending technique. Albert loved large bends, often pushing (pulling) his strings a tone and a half for big, crying notes.

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Albert used Flying Vs by Gibson, Dan Erlewine, Tom Holmes and others. There’s some debate about whether his pickups were wired differently, to give his sound that nasal, out-of-phase quality. Any low to medium output guitar will do (a Tele with both pickups on does a great Albert!). If your guitar is quite mid heavy, compensate by scooping the mids to help re-create his ‘hollow’ sound. He often used a phaser, too , with a splash of reverb.

TRACK RECORD Albert has released a huge number of studio and live albums and been featured on a large number of compilation albums. He is probably best known for the major album and single, Born Under A Bad Sign recorded with Booker T & The MG’s on Stax. Crosscut Saw is also one of his most loved and referenced tracks from that album, featuring his silky smooth vocals and beautifully expressive guitar tones. 58

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MICHAEL OCHS ARCHIVE / GETTY IMAGES

ABILITY RATING ✪ ✪ ✪ ✪ ✪ Moderate

NEXT MONTH Phil gets into the fiery Telecaster stylings of the fabulous Roy Buchanan

LESSON } ROCK

ON THE CD

Black Label Society This month Martin Cooper checks out the heavy riffs and speedy Pentatonic lead lines of Zakk Wylde’s Black Label Society.

TRACKS 27-28

Brought to you by…

Zakk is one of the most visually iconic guitar players of the past three decades, and his on stage energy while playing his striking bulls-eye graphic Gibson Les Paul Custom with EMG pickups has been seen on stages and in videos around the globe for over 30 years. The track this month is in the key of E Minor (E-F#-G-A-B-C-D) as are many heavy metal songs, and this means that we can rely on the open sixth string for riffing duties and as an anchor point to much of the harmony. It is also an ideal key for soloing, and also one of those keys that’s perfect for we guitar players to learn how to fly around the fretboard!

EVEN THOUGH THERE’S PLENTY OF METAL STYLE AND AGGRESSION IN BOTH RHYTHM AND LEAD PARTS, IT’S STILL ROOTED IN THE BLUES

ABILITY RATING ✪ ✪ ✪ ✪ ✪ Moderate/Advanced Info Key: E Minor Tempo: 91bpm CD: TRACKS 27-28

Will improve your Speedy alternate picking Pentatonic soloing Theory knowledge

akk Wylde needs little introduction in rock guitar circles, but for the uninitiated, he rose to very swift prominence as the 21-year-old guitar prodigy in Ozzy Osbourne’s band, with his fiery Les Paul playing drawing comparison to his foremost influence, Randy Rhoads. Wylde had begun playing guitar at the age of eight and often used to practise for 12 hours a day as

a teenager. During and after several lengthy and productive stints in Osbourne’s touring and recording band Zakk also formed the southern rock influenced band Pride & Glory for which he was also lead singer (the band toured with Whitesnake on their 1994 Greatest Hits tour), and the heavy, riff based band Black Label Society. It’s the sound of Black Label Society that we’re looking at, and this is the band in which Wylde has been the front man of for over twenty years. It has also previously featured Rob Trujilo from Metallica and Alice In Chains bassist Mike Inez in the line-up. The band is an aggressive blend of heavy riffs and bluesy Pentatonic shred soloing and also features Wylde handling lead vocal duties.

NEXT MONTH Martin examines Georgia’s mega cool southern rockers The Black Crowes 7 8

7 4

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Zakk Wylde has used his famous ‘bulls-eye’ Gibson Les Paul Custom, his own Wylde Audio range with EMG pickups, and classic Marshall JCM800 heads. So, aim for a classic metal humbucker tone if possible, as it’s the most ‘classic’rock sound we want. Zakk also often uses a wah pedal, chorus and other effects. Take the above settings as your starting point, then add effects like reverb and delay to obtain the preferred ambience.

TRACK RECORD Zakk Wylde has featured on many Ozzy Osbourne albums, as well in Pride & Glory, and solo albums including Book Of Shadows. His output with Black Label Society began in 1999 with the Sonic Brew, and included the song Bored To Tears. There is also a live DVD available called Boozed, Broozed And Broken Boned and a Greatest Hits album, which includes many of the most well-known songs. 62

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SERGIONE INFUSO / CORBIS / GETTY IMAGES

Zakk Wylde playing his Odin Holy Grail axe

There’s some Blues scale concepts in the solo (the Bb note, 15th fret, third string), but this is definitely there for a more ‘heavy metal diminished 5th’ sound for than a bluesy feel. There is also a C# note in the double-stop phrase in the fourth bar of the solo that adds some A Mixolydian (A-B-C#-D-E-F#-G) colour. So, even though there’s plenty of metal style and aggression to both rhythm and lead parts, it’s still rooted in the blues, with a few southern rock elements added (and, even though we don’t feature any here, Wylde is a very accomplished country player, too.

LESSON } JAZZ

ON THE CD

Walking basslines John Wheatcroft gives us the lowdown on walking basslines, adding an extra dimension to your playing and adding a real spring to your step. Joe Pass: ane of the early masters of walking bass

TRACKS 29-34

low-string work, given that it usually has the longest reach and is conveniently in the middle of your hand, therefore allowing the other fingers to work both higher and lower on the fretboard. There are six musical examples that follow, beginning with a simple bassline construction, adding chromatic and scalewise connections and followed by the addition of some fragmented but harmonically appropriate chord voicings. These build up to a pair of cohesive studies around a 12-bar blues in A Minor, one juxtaposing a melody and half-note bass line, while the final example walks in quarter notes around the same progression with three-note syncopated

MY STYLE HAS BECOME SOMETHING OF A ONEMAN ORCHESTRA, WITH A LOT OF INDEPENDENT BASS LINES WHILE I’M WALKING CHORDS

Tuck Andress

Info Key: Various Tempo: 130bpm CD: TRACKS 29-34

Will improve your Bass line vocabulary Management of small voicings Syncopation and independence

hether you are creating solo jazz guitar arrangements or improvising an accompaniment behind a singer or other instrumentalist, the ability to multi-task, delivering the crucial elements from two contrasting parts at once, can be a real asset to your playing. One impressive and musically effective combination is to mix a walking bass pattern, rather like you’d hear from an upright double-bass player, and punctuate this with syncopated chord voicings, much like what might be played in the left hand by a good jazz piano player. The principle challenges here are firstly to choose the right notes and rhythms, usually either half notes (minims) or quarter notes

(crotchets), to provide either a two or four-in-the-bar feel to the bass. The higher, usually fragmented chord voicings will rely upon a combination of rhythmically resolute downbeat figures and propulsive forwardmoving upbeat syncopations. Once you’ve figured the notes out, the really tricky thing is to establish the correct feel to each part. It’s no use giving the impression of two players playing at once if both of these ‘virtual players’ sound terrible. You have to approach each part to produce the best sound for each; so bass players generally adopt a legato or ‘long’ feel to each note, while the syncopated piano chords would generally be shorter and more staccato, with the occasional long chord for contrast. It’s your job to deliver both of these feels at the same time, usually by holding bass notes down as long as possible while releasing pressure quickly on the higher partial chords to provide bounce and snap. With this in mind it’s usually best to employ a different digit for bass duties than you’d use for treble, often reserving the second finger for much of the

NEXT MONTH John examines how to harmonise notes in multiple ways. 5

GAIN

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You can use pretty much any guitar sound here, but the popular choice is neck pickup with a warm, balanced clean tone. While you can employ a combination of pick and fingers to play these ideas, the common consensus is to delegate the fingers to chord voicings and melodies, and reserve the flesh of the thumb to create a warmer and smoother bass tone.

TRACK RECORD Virtuoso by Joe Pass is essential listening and contains rich pickings for any aspiring jazz guitarist. Reckless Precision from Tuck Andress is chock full of incredible bassline action. Likewise, anything from Martin Taylor is worth searching out. Rising star, Pasquale Grasso is definitely one to look out for. His most recent EP, Solo Standards Volume I (Sony 2019) is simply staggering. 66

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GETTY IMAGES

ABILITY RATING ✪ ✪ ✪ ✪ ✪ Moderate/Advanced

chord stabs in appropriate locations. One of the best things you can do to improve your knowledge of walking bass lines on guitar is to go directly to the source. Listen to some really great jazz bass players, either upright or electric, and transcribe any ideas that take your fancy. It’s also a great skill for any guitar player to be able to double up on bass, although you really do need to consider this a different instrument with a completely unique function in the ensemble, not just as a guitar with missing strings tuned an octave lower. It really is great fun and you’ll develop a whole new appreciation and understanding for any music that you’re playing.

LEARNING ZONE

WALKING BASSLINES EXAMPLE 1 ESTABLISHING BASIC BASSLINE PRINCIPLES

CD TRACK 29

We begin by setting out some basic concepts to generate walking basslines. In 1a we establish our intended harmonic motion, in this instance based around a jazz 12-bar sequence in the key of G. 1b fleshes out the front portion

of each bar by decorating each temporary I chord with a three note figure based around a tonic – semitone below – tonic pattern. In 1c we consider the transition to each new event, this time selecting the semitone above.

JAZZ CHOPS - Walking Bass - by John Wheatcroft

GUITAR TECHNIQUES MAGAZINE 3 0 5

Ex 1 Establish basic bass line principles GUITAR TECHNIQUES MAGAZINE 305 JAZZ CHOPS - Walking Bass - by John Wheatcroft 1a) Establish bass motion

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˙ E˙ 7 E˙ 7 ˙7

œ G7 œ G7 œ œ3

77 3 each temporary G Decorate I chord

E B G D E A B E G 13 D E A B E G 13 D E A B E G 13 D A E 13

D7 3

w A m7 w A m7 w w5

7 3 each temporary I chord Decorate

œ C7 œ C7 œ œ3 3

œ œ œ 2 œ

˙ ˙ ˙ ˙3

D7 2

˙ A7 ˙ A7 ˙ ˙5

D7 2

5 5 5

˙ D7 ˙ D7 ˙ ˙5

5 5

March 2020

LESSON } NEOCLASSICAL SPEED

ON THE CD

TRACKS 35-36

Brought to you by…

key’ motion) with his wrist planted loosely on the guitar bridge. Multi-String Even Numbers. Phrases containing even numbers of notes per string are played with alternate picking, using downward picking orientation, (GT302), to ensure easy clearance during string changes. Ascending Odd Numbers. Economy picking strokes are used to push through lower strings to higher strings, (GT303). With the pick in downward orientation, the sweep motion is a logical choice. Descending Odd Numbers. To maintain the comfort of the even number strategy (end strings on upstrokes, begin new strings on

Speed finale Join Aussie shredmeister Chris Brooks as he concludes his series looking at strategies for gaining speed, Yngwie Malmsteen style. ABILITY RATING ✪ ✪ ✪ ✪ ✪ Advanced Info Key: Em, Am Tempo: 160bpm CD: TRACKS 35-36

Will improve your Endurance Combining techniques Harmonic vocabulary

ver the last few lessons, we’ve explored some conventional and unconventional strategies in our breakdown of Yngwie’s much admired, seldom revealed picking mastery. Let’s recap on the system so that you can not only perform Yngwie-style lines with authenticity, but use these ideas to create your own furious picking lines. When Malmsteen relocated to the USA in the midst of the Los Angeles hair-metal scene in 1982, new standards were set almost overnight regarding hard rock styling, technical vocabulary and picking fluidity in the post-Van Halen era. Guitar enthusiasts clamoured to understand what they were hearing and, for a time, assumed that the power behind Malmsteen’s high-speed skillset was the result of strict alternate

picking. Early instructional books and videos often taught from the pure-alternate picking perspective as well. To quote American psychologist Abraham Maslow, if all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. As we’ve seen in the last three lessons, alternate picking certainly has its place, but the bigger take-away from this series is about systemising your strengths, whatever they be. By taking note of what works best in your playing, you can build a system around it. Malmsteen’s defiance in many aspects of his career has polarised guitar fans for decades, but it’s that refusal to conform which created a unique and solutions-oriented approach to speed picking. Consider that when working on your own technique or musical style. When attacking the neoclassical rock vocabulary using the Malmsteen blueprint, keep in mind that each idea will fall into a category which will then have a prescribed mechanical solution. Single String Picking. This is of course an alternate picking approach. Malmsteen uses a heavy dose of forearm rotation (‘turning the

GUITAR ENTHUSIASTS ASSUMED THAT THE POWER BEHIND YNGWIE’S HIGH-SPEED SKILLSET WAS THE RESULT OF STRICT ALTERNATE PICKING downstrokes), a pull-off is placed at the end of lines with an odd note remaining, (GT303). Lone Note Exception. To avoid inside picking or changes to picking orientation, singles note on higher strings in sequences and pedal-tone licks are played with an upstroke to allow the next string to begin with a downstroke as usual, (GT304). This final lesson forms a single piece that brings together all of the above. The end goal is to be able to play it whole after getting a handle on each phrase. Happy Shredding! NEXT MONTH We begin a new fingerstyle blues series from Joseph Alexander 5 3

7 3

GAIN

BASS

MIDDLE

TREBLE

REVERB

Unusually for a player with such a heavily driven tone, Yngwie is a Strat man through and through, following his hero Ritchie Blackmore. He also has his fretboards scalloped to aid finger vibrato, is a Marshall man and runs his amps hot. You could either use the above settings with a good distortion pedal; or dime the preamp to 8 or 9 and add delay/reverb.

TRACK RECORD As well as his phenomenal speed and incredible playing accuracy, endurance is one of the first things listeners picked up on in Yngwie Malmsteen’s early recordings. Listen to the Marching Out album (1985): streams upon streams of 1/16th notes are present in his solos without any signs of mechanical fatigue or loss of momentum. He truly was, and still is, a (rising) force of nature! 74

March 2020

STEVE THORNE / GETTY IMAGES

Yngwie Malmsteen: among modern rock guitar’s most important figures

9000

LESSON } PSYCHEDELIC

ON THE CD

Vanilla Fudge

TRACK 37

Brought to you by…

Simon Barnard delivers a hearty scoop of Vanilla Fudge; the original pioneers of heavy psychedelic arrangements of modern classics.

the tone and sustain of the ES-335 model. However, he also played a number of SGs and Les Pauls during this period. Nowadays Martell is still a fan of the Gibson instruments, but has been spotted playing other brands such as the modern ESP Eclipse model. Amp-wise, Martell was usually seen plugged into Marshall plexi heads and accompanying 4x12 cabs. Martell shared both lead and rhythm duties with organist Mark Stein. The huge sound of Stein’s Hammond B3 gave Martell a solid harmonic foundation over which to play melodic single-note guitar fills and solos. Martell also knew the power of playing huge

THE HUGE SOUND OF STEIN’S B3 ORGAN GAVE MARTELL A SOLID HARMONIC FOUNDATION OVER WHICH TO PLAY FILLS AND SOLOS

ABILITY RATING ✪ ✪ ✪ ✪ ✪ Moderate Info Key: Am Tempo: 80bpm CD: TRACK 37

Will improve your Mixolydian phrasing Single-string lines Heavy rhythm playing

anilla Fudge formed in 1965, originally as The Pigeons, before signing to Atlantic Records in 1967. They switched to Vanilla Fudge after label boss Ahmet Ertegun declared his dislike for the name. At this time, the line-up was Mark Stein (vocals, organ), Tim Bogert (bass, vocals), Vince Martell (guitar, vocals) and Carmine Appice (drums, vocals). This classic line-up recorded five albums between 1967 and ‘69 before going their separate ways in 1970. They recorded sporadically from 1984, but never regained their early success. This month’s column focuses on the group’s initial period, taking inspiration from the albums Vanilla Fudge (1967), The Beat Goes On (1968), Renaissance (1968), Near The Beginning (1969) and Rock And Roll (1969). Although these featured some original material, the band was better known for

extended arrangements of some popular songs of the day. Their biggest hit was a version of The Supremes’ Holland-DozierHolland classic, You Keep Me Hanging On. Known for their flamboyant and passionate performances, vocal harmonies and true musicianship, the rhythm section of Bogert and Appice was as solid as it was intricate, while Stein and Martell shared lead and rhythm duties to add extra layers to the sound. With strong vocal performances from all members added to the mix, The Fudge producing some of the genre’s most electrifying and creative performances. Guitarist Vince Martell cut his teeth studying classical and jazz guitar at a young age before getting into blues and rock music. Martell has been a huge fan of blues music since discovering the genre, and is quoted as saying that the blues, “is the core of the soul translated into music and voice; the simpler the better and the deeper it reaches the listener”. Martell befriended Jimi Hendrix after touring together, with the two sharing their love for the blues and experiences in the US armed forces. Martell favoured Gibson guitars during his time in Vanilla Fudge, and was a huge fan of

distorted chords to add to the weight of Stein’s Hammond. Martell would often switch between clean and overdriven sounds, incorporating fuzz tones at times to make his solos stand out in the mix. Our piece is written around a descending pattern in A Minor, at the slow tempo so often favoured by the band. It features a number of lead and rhythm ideas favoured by Martell. It can be challenging playing at slower speeds, so aim to ensure that you don’t push against the tempo, as the Fudge was all about maintaining that real laid-back feel. NEXT MONTH Simon sets his hat on fire as he enters The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown 5

6 7 9

GAIN

BASS

MIDDLE

TREBLE

REVERB

Vince Martell liked to beef up Stein’s already meaty B3 sound with heavy guitar chords, riffs and solos. Favouring Gibson guitars, usually the bridge pickup, through cranked Marshall amps, what we want is a tone that seems like your amp is dimed to the limit but still retaining clarity. Use the above settings but perhaps kick the front end with light overdrive and reverb.

TRACK RECORD Classic ‘heavied-up’ cover versions to listen to would be You Keep Me Hanging On (Supremes), Bang Bang (Cher) and Eleanor Rigby (Beatles) from their self-titled debut album. A quick YouTube search will bring up some excellent videos of the band in action, a ‘must watch’ to witness the passion in their performances. Bogert and Appice would go on to form a legendary trio with Jeff Beck. 78

March 2020

KEITH MORRIS / GETTY IMAGES

Vanilla Fudge L-R: Vince Martell, Carmine Appice, Tim Bogert