Guitar Techniques 317 (Sampler) by Future PLC

THE FINEST GUITAR TUITION ON PLANET EARTH 317 FEBRUARY 2021

& JAMS

YOU

IST

LICKS

FEEL

SOLOS

BLUES

75 AN MOR E T H

Improve your

U A BETTER G

Use pro tricks and tips to breathe new expression & style into your solos

TWO NE W SERIES

RHYTHM ROOST

Tribute to

VAN HALEN We unearth a 20-year-old interview and present a brand new musical homage

BOOST YOUR FUNK CHOPS

In easy-to-digest bite-size chunks

THE CROSSROADS

WHERE BLUES MEETS JAZZ

From Charlie Christian to Chuck Berry

PLAY } BLUES

ON THE CD

TRACKS 4-11

BEING MORE EXPRESSIVE With The Blues John Wheatcroft shows us that ‘it ain’t what you do it’s the way that you do it’, as he demonstrates how to put more expression into your solos.

ABILITY RATING Info Key Various Tempo Various CD TRACKS 4-11

Moderate/Advanced Will improve your… Articulation Rhythmic phrasing Blues vocabulary

lues music is universally considered to be one of the most emotionally charged forms of artistic expression that the world has ever seen. Legendary blues guitarists with styles and sounds as musically diverse as BB King, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Jimi Hendrix, Otis Rush, Albert King, Buddy Guy, Eric Clapton and countless more all possess one crucially defining quality: the ability to move audiences, taking them on an emotional ride during each and every performance, conveying the feelings of heartbreaking tenderness, brutal raw passion, spine-tingling beauty, life-affirming jubilation and much more. And often delivered with just six strings, and regularly using just five notes and three chords. A common feature of all these great blues artists is their sheer authority, confidence and control over everything they play. It’s easy when you’re getting this style together to become so engrossed in learning licks, scales, shapes and tunes that you can brush over the finer points of delivery. Funnily enough, it’s

TECHNIQUE FOCUS Microtones & ‘blue’ notes A characteristic of blues inflections and decoration is the use of microtones, the minute subtle gradients of pitch found in between each semitone. It’s quite the done thing to flatten the 5th ever so slightly, blur the distinction between Minor and Major third and slightly raise the flattened 7th, but only ever so slightly. It’s crucial that you do a good bit of listening to develop this facet of your playing. You’re aiming to achieve the same degree of melodic freedom possessed by the human voice. It’s enlightening to consider the startling similarities between the expressive and fluid rhythmic delivery of BB King in both his guitar playing and his vocals.

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mastery of these very skills that will take you one step closer to achieving the levels of expression, touch, tone and feel of the best. If you consider and act upon the following aspects of your playing, you will absolutely make a noticeable improvement. Dynamics: Play a note as quietly as you possibly can so that it is barely audible. Now play your favourite lick at this volume. Next hit your initial single note as hard as possible. Really whack it; the worse thing that can happen is that you break a string. Now play

match perfectly. How close did you get? Phrasing: The two most important things here are rhythmic placement, where you start and end each group of notes in relation to the pulse; and rests, where you leave the silences and gaps that punctuate your ideas. Try playing your favourite lick starting on beat one. Now repeat this but hold back and play it from beat two. How about moving this to the ‘and’ of beat one? Take the same lick but select a note from the middle of the phrase and leave it out, creating a rest midway through the line. You’ll see lots of examples of this type of stuff in the following four musical examples, each exploring a particular set of expressive ideas in a contextualised study that will help you to organise your playing in such a way as

“There is no better way to ruin a potentially fantastic blues solo than to add a couple of well-placed dodgy bent notes” the same lick at this volume. You’ve just defined your dynamic range. Most players only utilise a fraction of it when they play. How much do you use? Vibrato: As a general rule the more gain you use then the wider and more intense the vibrato. You’ll need to address two different types. Regular fretted and bent notes. The bent variety has greater potential for high-gain styles as you can approach your target note from below as well as above. Eric Clapton is a dab hand at this technique and you can clearly hear his influence in Gary Moore, Joe Bonamassa, Eric Johnson and even rock players such as the recently departed Eddie Van Halen. Bending: There is no better way to ruin a potentially fantastic blues solo than to add a couple of well-placed dodgy bent notes. Try this exercise (best with fixed bridges). Play your first string open. Next play the D note, 7th fret, third string and bend it up a tone. Hold it when you think you’re in tune. Now cut it off and quickly replay the first string. They should

to integrate these concepts into your solos. While you could also see this a great way to harvest new licks, it’s important to work with the ideas outlined in the text, as this will allow you to create an infinite amount of soloing and compositional material along uniquely personal, lines. As always, enjoy! 5

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Most players agree that a good amp with a couple of select pedals is best. We want one good tone with progressive degrees of ‘more’ or ‘less’, varying the gain using the guitar’s volume and/or a drive pedal. This, in conjunction with pickup type, can have a dramatic effect. Experiment!I used a Gibson ES-335 with the same (virtual) amp settings, adjusting guitar volume and pickup change for each example. Add delay or reverb to taste.

BEING MORE EXPRESSIVE { THE BLUES

DAVID REDFERN / GETTY IMAGES

BB King is the benchmark of blues expression

TRACK RECORD Eric Clapton’s fifth Crossroads Festival was a mammoth concert in Dallas Texas. As with all the Crossroads Festivals it’s been documented on DVD and CD and is an object lesson in feel and expression. Crossroads 2019 features Eric alongside heavyweights like Jeff Beck and Buddy Guy, but also includes current blues and contemporary artists such as Marcus King, James Bay and Lianne La Havas.

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PLAY } BLUES

ON THE CD

TRACKS 4-11

EXAMPLE 1 ARTICULATION CONSIDERATIONS

CD TRACK 4

Our first solo study breaks down into several specific and distinct sections. vibrato. Ex1i) to 1k) continues this articulation theme with an ascending line Ex1a) to 1h) outlines the exact same four-note phrase, although each executed slides,- hammer-ons and bends. Being MoreinExpressive With Thewith Blues John Wheatcroft instance the articulation is varied to include slides, bends, unison bends and

GUITAR TECHNIQUES 3 1 7

Ex 1 Articulation considerations

©»¶¢ Swing Shuffle Blues # # ∑ & # 44

a) Straight with vibrato A7

~~~

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~~~

8 10

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e) Two bends

f) Bend/slide combo

~~~

5 8 (10 )

7 (9)

g) One unison bend

~~~

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j) Hammer-ons

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~~ 7

12 14

k) Bends

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17 19

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BU 9

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3 BU

√ # # # n œj œ~~ œ & E B G D A E

~~~

h) Two unison bends

E B G D A E

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d) One bend

E B G D A E

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E B G D A E

c) Two slides

b) One slide

17 (19 )

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17 19 ( 21 )

BU 17

20 17

20 ( 22 )

1/4

17 20

BU 17 19 ( 21 )

BU 17

17 20

19 ( 21 )

PLAY } ROCK

ON THE CD

TRACKS 12-17

EDWARD VAN HALEN Interview & Tribute

In 1991 Guitarist magazine was offered a rare interview with Edward Van Halen. Master of the EVH technique, Phil Hilborne leapt at the chance and here it is, 20 years on, to mark Eddie’s sad passing...

he opportunity to talk to the man who popularised many of today’s guitar techniques, was one I was not willing to miss. So I cancelled my Friday gig, and at nine o’clock the phone rang. The interview coincided with the release of the album, For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge, and the Edward Van Halen signature model from Ernie Ball/Music Man. Although not quite available at the time of the interview, I proposed that the Van Halen model was an important and interesting guitar... EVH: It’s a fine instrument – my main guitar now. I hooked up with Sterling ‘Biff’ Ball about six years ago when the Ernie Ball Company made me some pure nickel strings with slightly heavier cores [Ernie Ball 5150 sets]. They last a little longer, don’t break as easily and they have a great tone. The gauges I use start with a 40 and end with a 9. Then about a year ago he approached me about building a guitar. I was kind of shopping around for a company that would make me one anyway, and since he’s

EVH: It doesn’t pull up at all. It just sits flat on the body. Actually I’ve never had mine pull up – I don’t know how other people use them. The problem is that I rest my palm fairly heavily on the bridge when I play, and if it pulls up, or just floating a little, it sounds like a warped record!

PH: You are known for using guitars with one pickup at the bridge; why have you changed? EVH: I could never find a guitar where both pickups sounded equally good. But we finally figured out that what we needed was two completely different kinds of pickup. I used to have a problem where if the front pickup sounded good the rear one would sound like shit, and vice versa. So we’ve overcome that with these new pickups. Their frequency response is totally different; the front one tends to be a little brighter. If you put that one in the bridge position it would probably sound like someone was chucking razor blades at you! PH: Does this guitar have just a single volume control, like your others have always had?

“I took my Strat apart, gouged a hole out for a humbucker, and then I didn’t know how to put the damned thing back together again” only a couple of hours away, it was the choice thing for me to do. We’re real happy with it!

PH: I’ve only seen it in pictures so far. What’s the guitar’s basic construction? EVH: It’s a two-pickup instrument, and the pickups have been designed jointly between us and DiMarzio. You can only get these pickups in this guitar. The front and rear pickups are totally different, and not interchangeable. The body is basswood and comes with either a bound flamed maple or bound quilted maple top, and the guitar has a 22-fret maple neck. I really hope people check it out and see the thought that has gone into it. PH: Does the tremolo pull up very far? Has it got a back rout or anything? 24

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EVH: Well, it does, but it says ‘tone’ on it instead of ‘volume’. I figure that when you turn it up, you get good tone, right? (laughs)

PH: I assume the guitar has a locking nut? In the past you played guitars without locking nuts. Are you tempted to go back to that approach? EVH: Well, trying to keep a Strat in tune without the locking nut was a pain in the ass! I used to have to string the guitar a certain way, use oil and have a brass nut with big grooves in it, so the locking nut helped. But sometimes I wonder, because in the old days I always used a non-locking nut and I didn’t have a problem. H: The ideas behind your old one-pickup Strat were widely copied. Did you ever find that a little frustrating?

EVH: No, it was actually quite a compliment. The funny thing is that it was all a mistake: the main reason I used one pickup was because I took my Strat apart, took a chisel to it and gouged a hole out for a humbucker, then, and after I’d taken it all apart I didn’t know how to put the damn thing back together again. So that first guitar all really came about by accident.

PH: What’s the band currently involved in? Have you finished the new album yet? EVH: We’re just about done with it. Everything is not all finalised. But it is very different from what we have done before. One of your countrymen, Andy Johns is working with us – he’s a great bloke! Don Landee did our last eight albums so we decided to give him a break – we also wanted a bit of a change as well. We’re looking for an early summer release for the album – May, June [1991]. PH: I believe you have a new studio at home, and I presume the album was recorded there? EVH: Yeah… well, it’s the same studio – 5150 – except that we have added an identical room to the one we already had, so now we have two big rooms. The new one is so we can get a live drum sound now, instead of using effects. PH: Is it the same line-upon this album? EVH: Yeah, Sammy Hagar, Mike Anthony, my brother Alex and Me. PH: Did you record all the backing tracks live? EVH: Yeah. Obviously, solos are overdubbed, but there are still a few tracks where I just played the solo live, like in the old days. PH: Are there any solo guitar spots on this album? Like an Eruption or a Spanish Fly? EVH: No, there’s nothing like that at all. It’s just a lot of good tunes. PH: Do you play keyboards on this one? EVH: I wrote five keyboard tunes altogether, but I think we’re only using two of them. I actually play acoustic piano on one song –

INTERVIEW & TRIBUTE { EDDIE VAN HALEN

TIM MOSENFELDER / GETTY IMAGES

Eddie enjoying his uniquely shaped signature Music Man guitar!

February 2021

PLAY } ROCK

ON THE CD

Sammy Hagar recorded four chart-topping albums with EVH

TRACKS 12-17

EVH: Diver Down was a weird place for me. That’s when I built my studio, because I was ticked off at the situation where half that record was covers. So I said, ‘Okay guys, I’m building my own studio and we can do it my way…’ Put it like this; I would rather bomb with my own music than make it with someone else’s!

PH: What amps and effects did you use? EVH: In the studio I just go straight into the amp. I don’t use any effects at that stage – any chorus and reverb is added at the desk. On this album I used a Soldano amp on a couple of tracks, and also an old unmodified, four-input, 1967 Marshall plexiglass model – just one top and one cab with everything turned all the way up. I use a Variac with it, which is a voltage line resistor; I run my amps at about 89 volts instead of 120 volts. Using the Variac you can control the sound a little better – it’s not quite as loud and if you re-set the bias on the inside of the amp to run at 89 volts, you get maximum output from your tubes and the overall level is quieter. Also, the amp doesn’t blow up!

PH: How do you approach songwriting? Do you ever write with other members of the band? EVH: I normally just pick up a guitar and start jamming, and if something comes out we put it on tape. If nothing comes out I just put the guitar down and go home (laughs). I pretty much write all the music myself and then show it to the guys. Then they’ll say things like, ‘Make this part twice as long’ or, ‘Cut that part short’… PH: Do you ever work with sequencers? EVH: No, if I do keyboards I would always rather learn how to play the parts than use sequencers; I’m not a great technician. Actually, Thomas Dolby helped me out on a couple of things, to help me get the computer stuff working. I actually hate sequenced music, and although it takes a little longer to play it all yourself. I’d always rather go for the feel than that perfect computer shit. PH: Did you play the Ernie Ball/Music Man guitar exclusively on the album? EVH: I used it on more or less everything apart from a couple of tunes where I needed a Fender Stratocaster for that direct kind of Strat sound. PH: And the Steinberger and Ripley guitars? 26

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EVH: I did actually use the Steinberger on one track, but I haven’t used the Ripley Stereo guitar at all on this record.

PH: On Top Jimmy from 1984 you used the Ripley guitar in unusual D-A-D-A-C-D tuning; how did you come up with that? EVH: I had this melody in my head and I just tuned the guitar to the melody and that was it. PH: On the early albums you would detune by a semitone, but you don’t do that any more...

“I hate sequenced music, and although it takes longer to play it all yourself, I’d rather go for the feel than that perfect computer shit” EVH: We detuned back then because we couldn’t sing very high. I used to hate tuning down; and it’s especially hard for a bass player because the strings get real floppy.

PH: That semitone difference tends to make the music seem a little ‘darker’ EVH: Yeah, but it also depends if you are playing in Major or Minor keys too. As Nigel Tufnel says in Spinal Tap, ‘D Minor, that’s the killer shit, right?’ (laughs) PH: Looking back on the past eight albums, there seemed to be a big change in direction between your fifth and sixth [Diver Down and 1984]. Was that a conscious decision?

PH: You use delay and harmoniser live. How do you hook these up to the old model Marshalls, which don’t have any send or return facility? EVH: I plug my guitar straight into the amp head and that amp goes into a ‘dry’ cabinet. They then take a feed from that into a Bob Bradshaw rack, which then goes into the other cabinets. I have my own cabinets all over the stage because I hate depending on anybody else when it comes to monitoring. I also do all my own effects switching from an onstage Bob Bradshaw pedalboard. PH: On the early albums you used analog pedal effects, such as phasers, flangers, choruses and so on. Do you prefer the sound of digital now?

PAUL NATKIN / GETTY IMAGES

which is a first for me. I wrote the song quite a while ago and I always imagined Joe Cocker singing it – it’s kind of a Feeling Alright kind of groove. I used an old 1902 Steinway piano that sounds just great.

PH: Do you run your amps at the same voltage when you’re touring outside of the States? EVH: Oh yeah, we use step-down transformers for that. I have this other unit which I plug all my gear into. It’s a thing that lighting dimmers use, and in fact I actually bought it from the lighting company. I used to have such trouble with buzz and stuff coming through because I was plugged into the same source as the lighting rig, so I asked them what they used to get a clean, constant voltage supply and they sold me one of their line voltage controllers/conditioners, which keeps the voltage clean, isolated and constant. Then I plug my Variac into that. When it sounded the way I liked, I asked someone to measure it and find out what voltage it was and it just happened to be around 88-89 volts.

PLAY } FUSION

ON THE CD

TRACKS 18-19

ON VIDEO

ALEX SILL Video Masterclass Pt1

In the first of a six-part video series, Protocol’s fusion maestro Alex Sill showcases the secrets of his style by demonstrating a stunning solo over a brand new track. Jon Bishop is your guide. ABILITY RATING Info Key Various Tempo 104bpm CD TRACKS 18-19

Will improve your… Rock and fusion soloing

Advanced ✪ ✪ Switching between tonalities Use of semiquaver syncopation

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he difficulty goes up a notch or six (!) this month as we begin a six-part video soloing series with Alex Sill, guitarist from fusion drummer Simon Phillips’ band, Protocol (Alex follows Andy Timmons and Greg Howe). In part one we examine a new Jason Sidwell track entitled Rebel With A Cause, over which Alex blazes. Alex’s solo is considerably advanced and will take time to digest, but your efforts will be repaid. While the notation and rhythms look intimidating in places, the phrases are often centred around creating a strong melody and outlining the underlying chords/harmony. A key aspect is Alex opens and later restates a memorable melodic statement. This provides a solid platform for his improvisation later and a musical component for listeners to latch onto. To get more mileage out of his initial melodic idea, Alex repeats the phrase up an octave, a classic improvisational concept; check out Joe Satriani who does this a lot. Overall the combination of sophisticated phrasing, clever note choices and a rich overdriven tone makes this piece ideal for medium/long term study. The backing track and chord chart are included, in addition to a full transcription of Alex’s performance from the video. Despite this one’s advanced technical and harmonic content, there’s bound to be numerous new techniques, licks or phrases to excite you. If you find one you like then memorise and/or alter it so it becomes your

Still in his 20s Alex Sill is already a monster player

own. Then, once you have mastered some of the concepts in Alex’s solo, why not try creating a solo of your own over Jason’s vibrant track? Can you dream up a melody (head) and then improvise and build on it, as Alex has? As usual for our artist video features, we have tabbed out playing examples after the soloing performance so you have get an insight into how he functions. As Alex explains, large sections of the piece feature a Gm11 chord context so he suggests a

“A key component worth highlighting is Alex opens and later restates a memorable melodic statement. This provides a solid platform for his improvisation later” 34

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Bb Major 9 arpeggio is a useful ‘ingredient’ to solo with. The Bbmaj9 arpeggio contains the notes Bb-D-F-A-C and we have tabbed out Alex’s fingering for this in Example 1. The reason Bbmaj9 works well is if you take away the G root note, Bbmaj9 has the same notes as Gm11. In Example 2, the notation shows how Alex demonstrates a fundamental Bbmaj9 arpeggio. Alex then outlines the concept of extending the fretboard with Bbmaj9 in Examples 3, 4 and 5. Focused practice on extending arpeggio fingerings like this creates more options and establishes a very useful roadmap from which to outline Gm11. In many ways, it’s evocative of Larry Carlton’s ‘super arpeggio’ soloing approach he favoured in his early career. Back then, Larry would consider various higher triads that would suit a chord; for a Gm7 chord he may opt for Bb, Dm, C and/or Am arpeggios during a phrase. For the final Example 6, Alex adds the E Natural as a passing tone. The E is the #11 (#4) of Bb Lydian (Bb C D E F G A) but functions as the Major 6 for G Minor. This ultimately creates a refreshing Dorian sounding G Minor 13 tonality (G A Bb C D E F). Have fun until part two next issue! 6

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Alex used his Kiesel ‘Little Bastard’ headless guitar (bridge pickup) into a Fender Deluxe Reverb ‘65 Reissue amplifier. His rich distortion is courtesy of a Tube Screamer set at 8 into a RAT pedal set at 3 for extra colour. Reverb is from his MXR Reverb, set at 4. To duplicate this tone, use a bridge humbucker and a smooth overdriven tone with plenty of sustain and be prepared to experiment with the guitar’s controls to achieve the desired sound. Add ambient reverb for a sophisticated studio touch.

VIDEO MASTERCLASS PT1 { ALEX SILL ALEX SILL ON LEGATO I THINK MANY GUITARISTS are introduced to legato by associating it with hammer-ons and pull-offs performing rapid lines. While these things are aspects of legato technique, I don’t think they get to the core of what it involves. Legato, in its most simple and fundamental sense, is characterised by as little space as possible between notes, creating a smooth sound. Keeping one’s fingers close to the fretboard is an integral part of this, and also improves accuracy and timing. Going further, fretting-hand finger strength and the independence of each finger are fundamental aspects of good legato. If these aspects are developed, it gets us away from an indistinct, inaccurate and flailing type of legato technique. Good legato involves each note having an identity and being clearly articulated. Solid legato skills end up positively affecting other aspects of playing as well, such as synchronising fretting and picking hands when alternate picking as well as choice of tone - ie, pick pronunciation or legato pronunciation. GUITAR TECHNIQUES MAGAZINE 3 1 7

REBEL WITH A CAUSE - Chord Chart

CHORD CHART

©»¡º¢ b 4 &b 4

VERSE 1 G m11

INTRO

.. ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ ’

3, 11

b &b ’ ’ ’ ’ 7, 15

CHORUS G5

Alex and his amazing legato stretching

’ ’ ’ ’

B 5

C 5 D5

’ ’ ’ ’

VERSE 2 Gm11

’ ’ ’ ’ ..

’ ’ ’ ’ G5

’ ’ ’ ’

B 5

’

B 5 C5 D5

’

b &b ’ ’ ’ ’

’ ’ ’ ’

b &b ’ ’ ’ ’

’ ’ ’ ’

CHORUS G 5 D5

MIDDLE SECTION Gm

B 5

C5 D5

’ ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ ’

b &b ’ ’ ’ ’

’ ’ ’ ’

’ ’ ’ ’ b

E maj7

’’ ’’

VERSE 3 Gm11

B 5 C5 G 5

’’’’ ’ ’

’ ’ ’ ’

Gm blues scale riff

’ ’ ’ ’

’

’ ’ ’ ’ Gm

’ ’ ’ ’

’’ ’ ’

A 7

B 5 C5 D5 G5

’

N.C.

’’’’

’ ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ ’

’ ’ ’ ’

N.C.

’ ’ ’ ’

b &b ’ ’ ’ ’

’ ’ ’ ’

b &b ’ ’ ’ ’

’ ’ ’ ’

CHORUS G5 D 5

F5 B 5

C5 D5

’ ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ ’’

F5 B 5

B 5

’’’’ ’ ’ ’ ’

F5 B 5

F 5 D 5 A 5 D5 F5 G5

’ ’ ’ ’

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PLAY } BLUES & JAZZ

ON THE CD

TRACKS 20-29

THE CROSSROADS Pt2

From Charlie Christian to Chuck Berry Continuing to connect the dots between blues and jazz, John Wheatcroft shows how a saxophone cliché helped define the sound of swing, jazz, blues and rock and roll guitar. ABILITY RATING Info Key C Blues Tempo 160 CD TRACKS 20-29

Will improve your… Fretboard knowledge

his month’s lesson explores the idea of playing the same note on two different strings, exploiting the contrasting tones and allowing us to create great rhythmic interest with just a single note. The origins of this device in jazz can be traced back to saxophonists such as the legendary Lester Young (Lester Leaps In) and they refer to this technique as ‘false fingerings’, jumping between a note at the exact same pitch, albeit with a subtly different timbre. Guitarists were quick to notice this simple but ear -catching device and, by accident rather than design, a piece of classic saxophone vocabulary went on to define one of the mainstay sounds of swing, jazz, blues, and classic rock guitar. Players as diverse as Hank Marvin to Joe Satriani, Pat Metheny to Stevie Ray Vaughan

TECHNIQUE FOCUS Multiple Note Locations A perennial bugbear of the fledgling guitarist is that on stringed instruments the same note can almost always be located in a number of alternative locations on the fretboard, providing a great excuse for lousy sight-reading skills as a fringe benefit. However, rather than considering this factor as a debilitating encumbrance, all of the players we have mentioned definitely didn’t, and therefore don’t subscribe to this viewpoint. Consequently they utilise this characteristic to great musical effect, welcoming the timbral diversity that each new location for a given note at the same pitch, but with a unique tonal shape, has to offer. With this in mind, why not consider re-fingering and re-locating any musical idea that you encounter, perhaps from within these very pages, and consider the sonic differences, along with the respective technical demands? Guitarists such as Eric Johnson and Larry Carlton do this.

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Moderate ✪ Bending and sliding accuracy Stylistic awareness

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and countless more have all assimilated this approach into their vastly different and hugely stylistically broad repertoire of licks and phrases. The exciting news is that after working through this material, you can add your name to the list too, so on with the music. We begin with a collection of five classic phrases, starting with the guitarist whose name John Lennon suggested would be a

note of the associated C Minor Pentatonic scale, with both bends and slides, loosely divided into blues and jazz stylistic definitions - although, as we’ve seen, it’s perfectly acceptable to mix approaches. We round things off, again with a pair of cohesive and complete 12-bar studies that typify these ideas in both rock and roll and swing/jazz styles. As is so often the case, these musical phrases are the absolute tip of the iceberg, so make sure you do some serious listening and get comfortable with the concept of creating rhythmic and melodic variations to allow you to create licks, lines and phrases of your own

“Players as diverse as Hank Marvin to Joe Satriani, Pat Metheny to Stevie Ray Vaughan, have all assimilated this device into their licks” good substitute for the phrase ‘rock and roll’, the fireball that was Chuck Berry. This phrase is resplendent with a number of ‘false fingered’ notes between the third and second strings, using rapid bends to bring the lower-string notes up to pitch. We adopt a slightly different sliding approach for the Charlie Christian inspired idea that follows. Charlie is perhaps the player that deserves credit for bringing this technique to the attention of the guitar world with his amazing improvisations on tunes such as Solo Flight. Next up its T-Bone Walker’s turn to showcase his take on this remarkably versatile device, followed by the Gypsy jazz legend Django Reinhardt, who firmly puts his own stamp on this concept with two takes on the same idea featuring both slides and bends. We round these musical examples off with some vintage Eric Clapton, again showcasing both slides and bends but with a half-time classic rock and blues feel. We progress to a pair of technical studies that progressively move this technique with an associated motific phrase through each

design. Once you’ve learnt the examples and solos as written, use these ideas with the associated backing tracks to compose, improvise, or a combination of the two, and come up with some solos of you own. And don’t forget, as a certain Mr Jagger so eloquently said; it’s only rock and roll (and jazz, and blues, and rock)... but we like it! 4 3

5 3

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TREBLE

REVERB

As we’re dealing with musical concepts here you can choose any tone you like, although for classic jazz the consensus is to select the warm tone of a neck position humbucker and pick a little closer to the fingerboard. For the blues examples, consider adding a good overdrive pedal and pick a little more aggressively, a touch closer to the bridge. On the GT audio, I used a Gibson ES-335 for all the examples, using neck pickup for the jazz and bridge and neck for the blues ideas.

FROM CHARLIE CHRISTIAN TO CHUCK BERRY { THE CROSSROADS

MICHAEL OCHS ARCHIVES / GETTY IMAGES

“The origin of the device known as ‘false fingerings’ can be traced back to jazz saxophonists such as Lester Young (Lester Leaps In)”

Chuck Berry: even some of his stage moves were inherited from T-Bone Walker. (Inset): jazz guitar innovator, Charlie Christian

TRACK RECORD The film Hail! Hail! Rock‘n’Roll (Universal) sees Chuck Berry paired with an all-star band, including Keith Richards and Eric Clapton. Charlie Christian’s The Genius Of Electric Guitar (Sony) is a mine of musical gold. Likewise, T-Bone Walker: The Complete Imperial Recordings (EMI) is a must listen. Also try: Django (Reinhardt) In Rome 1949-50 (JSP) and Eric Clapton, From The Cradle (Warner Bros).

February 2021

PLAY } CLASSICAL

ON THE CD

PABLO DE SARASATE Zortzico d’Iparraguirre

TRACKS 30-31

ON VIDEO

Bridget Mermikides introduces us to the music of the Spanish virtuoso violinist Pablo de Sarasate with this wonderful arrangement for solo classical guitar.

ABILITY RATING Info Key D Tempo 145bpm CD TRACKS 30-31

Moderate/Advanced Will improve your… Playing in 5/8 time Split chords Connecting melody with chords

✪✪✪✪✪

literature of the time: Sherlock Holmes and John Watson attend one of his concerts in Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Red-Headed League, and his influence may well linger in Sherlock’s well-known infatuation with the violin. Sarasate wrote exclusively for the instrument (with piano and orchestra), and particularly enjoyed composing fantasies based on operatic themes, and Spanish dance influenced works like this one. The venerated music critic and playwright George Bernard Shaw said that, although there were many great works of music written for violin before him, Sarasate was perhaps the first violinist to compose great violin works. Here I’ve arranged his wonderful Zortzico d’Iparraguirre op.39, composed around 1896. A Zortzico is a dance rhythm from Sarasate’s homeland of the Basque Country, and is characterised by a compelling 5/8 rhythmic structure. This is revealed not as five similar beats, but a few different beat groupings such as a) ‘long’ three-quaver beat, followed by a ‘short’ two-quaver beat (bar 3 shows this clearly), or b) one plus one plus two quaver pattern (bar 6), or c) one quaver, followed by two two-quaver dotted rhythms as in bars 1 and 2. At first it’s probably worth counting carefully to ensure you are playing these groupings correctly, but Pablo de Sarasate: ultimately it should be absorbed a prodigious violinist so it feels entirely natural. and composer This rhythm is not an attempt

ablo de Sarasate (1844-1908) was born in the Southern Basque Country, an eclectic and diverse region of North Eastern Spain. Son of a military musician, Sarasate’s staggering prodigious skill at the violin was revealed from the age of five. He was giving public performances at eight, attended the Paris Conservatoire at age 12, where he won its highest performance award, and was already a fully professional concert violinist by his mid-teens. Such was his fame and respect as a violin virtuoso, that he even appears in fictional

to be modernist or progressive, but is deeply embodied and encultured. In fact, such ‘asymmetrical’ (also known as ‘additive’, ‘limping’) rhythms appear in a whole range of global folk music from Greece, Eastern Europe, North Africa, India and South America, and it’s a deeply rewarding musical experience once absorbed. In addition to absorbing this rhythm, there is another important feature worth

“Sarasate even appears in fictional literature of the time: Holmes and Dr Watson attend one of his concerts in Conan Doyle’s The Read Headed League” mentioning. This is originally a flamboyant duet composed specifically for violin and piano. To emulate the ‘roll’ a violinist must perform when playing chords, I’ve incorporated ‘split’ chords in bars 1, 37 and 73. Here the picking-hand thumb plays the bass notes before the fingers play the higher notes in a similar violinistic flourish. This is not an elementary piece but it’s well worth unlocking its mysteries. As a dance rhythm with five quaver beats per bar the beats are grouped as three notes then two per bar so the stronger emphasis is on beats one and four. The melody needs to be fairly lively and the dotted rhythms crisp and clean. The semiquaver of each dotted rhythm is almost always followed by a chord. If you play the semiquaver usng rest stroke, that same finger can pluck the adjacent string in the following chord without having to readjust its position - please watch my accompanying video for a closer look at this technique. NEXT MONTH Bridget arranges Brindisi (The Drinking Song) from Verdi’s La Traviata

TRACK RECORD Of all the versions available of this fascinating piece I find that Ruggiero Ricci plays the tune with real flair on his 1959/61 recordings available on the album, Ruggiero Ricci Plays Sarasate (Naxos 2016). For a more modern recording – but still retaining the authentic feel – check out Diego Tosi On Sarasate: Complete Works For Solo Violin And Piano Vol. 3. (Solstice 2010). 50

February 2021

9000

ZORTZICO D’IPARRAGUIRRE { PABLO DE SARASATE PLAYING TIPS

CD TRACK 31

Play the first chord and bass notes momentarily before the upper chord; then the thumb strikes the sixth and fifth strings simultaneously. Play the last note GUITAR TECHNIQUES 3 1 7

(B) in bar 17 (second string, 12th fret) with the fourth finger, so that the fretting hand is in position to grab the 9th-fret barre on beat one of bar 18.

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