Guitar Specials 51 (Sampler) by Future PLC

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Rhythm & Soloing

50 Essential Chords 50 Unmissable Licks

pop blues rock jazz rockabilly funk slide chords

USER GUIDE

Tab User Guide You can get more from this magazine and DVD-ROM by understanding our easy musical terms and signs... Relating tab to your fretboard 2

GUITAR TECHNIQUES MAGAZINE Guitar Technique Examples - Picking

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GUITAR TECHNIQUES MAGAZINE USER GUIDE

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GUITAR TECHNIQUES MAGAZINE Guitar Technique Examples - Picking

GUITAR TECHNIQUES MAGAZINE USER GUIDE GUITAR TECHNIQUES MAGAZINE Guitar Technique Examples Guitar - Picking Technique Examples - Treble Clef And Tablature

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SYLVIA PITCHER / tIM MOSENFELDER / GETTY IMAGES

Edward Van Halen: his amazing style changed rock music forever

The great rock and roll writer and guitarist Carl Perkins

Contents 04 TAB USER GUIDE

Our tab guide makes navigating the music in your Electric Heroes magazine simple

06 SCALE shapeS

These scales form the basis of much of the material found within the magazine

08 cool CHORDS

These are the chords you’ll encounter in so many guitar styles from rock to blues, pop, country, funk and jazz

10 ELECTRIC POP

The two great bands we focus on here lit up the 60s and beyond with literally hundreds of amazing songs. Check out the guitar styles of George, John, Paul, Keith, Brian, Mick and Ronnie! 10 The Beatles 16 The Rolling Stones

26 ELECTRIC BLUES

There are 10 great blues licks in the final piece of this special issue of Guitar Techniques, so we’ve concentrated on three very different areas here, from three blues Kings to a true British legend and a raucous but talented upstart from Detroit 26 The Three Kings 34 Peter Green 37 Jack White

40 ELECTRIC ROCK

Again, we’re looking at three legends in completely different rock styles – from perhaps the greatest electric guitarist of all, to his natural successor and a player who’d rather layer musical textures than speedy streams of notes 40 Jimi Hendrix 50 Eddie Van Halen 56 U2’s The Edge

60 ROCK AND ROLL & ROCKABILLY

These two intertwining genres are so closely linked as to share almost all of the same musical DNA. Also incorporating elements of country and jazz, rockabilly is one of the most exciting and indeed fulfilling guitar styles to play, whether Elvis P, Chuck B, or Mr Setzer 62 Rockabilly Licks 66 Rockabilly Soloing

68 electric slide

If you’ve not tried this fabulously evocative guitar technique then you’re in for a treat! Focusing on the greatest electric slide players ever, we guide you through 20 brilliant examples in both regular tuning and bluesy open E. 68 10 Slide Licks in Standard Tuning 72 10 Slide Licks in Open E Tuning

76 50 Chords You Have to Know

As if our earlier chords feature wasn’t enough, here we look at some specific chords beloved of particular players. You’re going to recognise many of them! These are then put into musical context, in rhythmic ideas and progressions, so you get a better idea of how they fit into place and how you might make your own chord sequences work when writing songs

86 50 fabulous licks

There’s enough in this monster feature to keep you going for months! Maybe years! We’ve chosen five great musical categories and selected a host of their greatest players, laying their styles bare for all to see. If you’re not a funk fan – try them! If you hate country – try them! If jazz ain’t your thing – try them! It’s amazing how satisfying it can be to insinuate a hot country lick into a distorted rock solo, a jazz run into a blues, or a funky chord lick into a rock and roll rhythm. Go on: try as many as you can and be the hottest player on your block! 88 10 Blues Licks 90 10 Rock Licks 92 10 Country Licks 94 10 Jazz Licks 97 10 Funk Licks

Play Like Your Electric Heroes \ 5

POP THE BEATLES

on the disc

folder 1

The Beatles These four Liverpool lads began the 60s singing simple, joyous pop songs but saw out the decade with brilliant and complex arrangements that paved the way for progressive rock. Will improve your…

KEY Various TEMPO Various DVD Folder 1

✔ Rock and pop vocabulary ✔ Compositional skills ✔ Construction of guitar parts

he Beatles will go down in history as the greatest and most influential band of all time. Taking all the best bits from rock and roll and making it their own, they were instrumental in the evolution of contemporary music from its blues-R&B based roots into a highly original eclectic mix ranging from delicate acoustic ballads to screaming heavy rock. All of this to massive critical acclaim and huge commercial success, at last count achieving over 1.1 billion sales worldwide. John Lennon and Paul McCartney were not only two of the most unique vocalists in contemporary music, but also the greatest songwriting partnership of the rock era. George Harrison too was a strong composer, penning some of the band’s most enduring tunes. With Ringo Starr’s innovative drumming providing the group with its solid anchor and almost as many hooks as the guitars and vocals, the band’s sound was the perfect sum of Lennon’s sarcastic wit, McCartney’s romanticism and Harrison’s sophistication. It’s worth bearing in mind that most Beatles guitar parts were tailor-made to fit the composition; they didn’t just shoehorn in a bunch of pre-learnt licks. Harrison, McCartney and Lennon all played very different styles; and always came up with the perfect part every time. The trick to creating simple yet melodic, memorable guitar parts is to make sure you

can sing everything you can play. As a creative musician your imagination, not your fingers, is your greatest creative tool, so make sure you use it as often as possible. Here are 10 examples, each one representing a classic Beatles guitar moment or stylistic trait. Why not use each example as a springboard for your own ideas, taking each concept and composing an original part using different chord voicings, your own favourite chord sequences or mixing up the rhythms? Even if it takes you Eight Days A Week it’ll be worth it! JW

As a creative musician your imagination is your greatest tool

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It’s difficult to pinpoint one specific signature Beatles tone as the styles they covered were so varied. It’s more a case of finding the perfect sound to match each part, but generally we’re talking a warm but sparkling tone with whatever effects suit the moment. Go easy on the gain and vary the tone by experimenting with different pickup, volume and tone settings.

listening suggestions The entire Beatles back catalogue is a must for any serious music fan wanting to plot their growth from mop tops to serious innovators. If not, the ‘greatest hits’ album 1, or the ‘red’ and ‘blue’ compilations of the early and later years are great. Alternatively, get a copy of the DVD box set Anthology, lock your door, close the curtains, turn your phone off and sit back and see what all the fuss was about.

10 / Play Like Your Electric Heroes

DAVID REDFERN / GETTY IMAGES

Info

THE BEATLES POP At the height of their powers The Beatles were untouchable

Play Like Your Electric Heroes \ 11

POP THE STONES GUITARISTS

on the disc

folder 1

The Rolling Stones As this iconic band’s career busts the 50-year barrier, we celebrate The Stones’ four fabulous fretsters: Keith Richards, Brian Jones, Mick Taylor and Ronnie Wood. Will improve your…

KEY Various TEMPO Various DVD Folder 1

✔ Rhythm skills ✔ Slide playing ✔ Part writing

he Rolling Stones are among the most influential bands in the history of contemporary music, second only to The Beatles. They were, and still are, frequently cited as ‘the greatest rock and roll band in the world’. Not bad for a quartet of pensioners! Early line-up changes were triggered by Brian Jones’ departure and tragic death in 1969. Jones was quickly replaced by ex-John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers’ guitarist, Mick Taylor. Taylor quit the band five years later and was replaced by Ronnie Wood in 1974. Since then the line-up has remained unchanged, apart from the departure of bassist Bill Wyman in 1993, which – at least from a guitar playing perspective – has had the least impact on the band’s sound. Changes in second guitar personnel have given rise to three distinct-sounding eras, often identified as the ‘Brian Jones period’, the ‘Mick Taylor period’ and the ‘Ronnie Wood period’. In this feature we will be highlighting the different techniques and approaches of each player (including Keith Richards) and exploring how each guitarist has used his approach to define the sound of The Stones during that specific era.

From an early age Keith Richards was fascinated by Chicago bluesmen such as Muddy Waters and Jimmy Reed. His style is primarily riff based – he’s often called ‘the walking riff’ – but he’s no slouch when given the chance to let rip with a wailing blues solo. In 1968 Ry Cooder showed Keith how to play in open G tuning; this changed The Stones’ sound forever when Keith removed his sixth string to improve the clarity of the five-string chord shapes. He has played on and off in this tuning ever since. You will need to re-tune to play our three Keef examples, but removing your sixth string is optional (you could always tune the sixth string up to G so it’s in unison with the fifth and then simply barre all six strings to play chords). Brian Jones helped to pioneer ‘The Ancient Art Of Weaving’ (as Keith describes The Stones’ twin-guitar sound) in the early days of the band. Jones was also influenced by Chicago blues players and experimented with open tunings even before Keith. He also played slide guitar on many early Stones classics, giving the band an authentic, primeval sound that their biggest rivals The Beatles could only dream about. We’ve kept all of the Jones-style examples in standard tuning, but you will need your slide and capo to hand. Mick Taylor is regarded by many as ‘the best guitarist The Stones ever had’. His playing was, and still is, lyrical and heartfelt. Equally adept at soloing with or without a bottleneck (in standard tuning) Mick was definitely the most accomplished soloist to grace the band’s ranks. He also played solid, grooving rhythm on both

Brian Jones played slide guitar on many early Stones classics, giving the band an authentic, primeval sound The Beatles could only dream about

electric and acoustic and is said to have co-written several of the band’s riffs during this period (these were never credited and Jagger and Richards refute the claim to this day). Taylor’s slide example here is in standard tuning; Mick uses a glass slide so, for the most authentic results, we’d suggest the same. Ronnie Wood has become the longest surviving ‘second guitarist’, notching up an impressive 40 years of service. Wood had already hit the bigtime with the Jeff Beck Group (as bassist) and The Faces when he joined The Stones’ ranks in 1975. His authoritative riffing style and Chuck Berry inspired licks blend effortlessly with Richards’ playing, marking a return to The Ancient Art Of Weaving that Richards first explored with Jones back in the 60s. It’s been said that Ronnie was always destined to be a Stone! He also plays great slide but the three examples here focus on his conventional soloing technique and riffing approach. PC 5

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Since we’re dealing with four players, each with his own distinct identity and tone, it is very difficult to recommend a single ‘one size fits all’ sound. However, crystal clean tones are not what The Stones are about so you’ll find the above settings are a good starting point. You could add a Tube Screamer or similar in front of your amp to add a little more gain for solos. In the final jam you could use switchable reverb and EQ to achieve different sounds on the fly.

listening suggestions For Brian Jones era try the ’66 compilation, Big Hits (High Tide And Green Grass). The Atlantic Records compilation Made In The Shade (1975) includes classics of the Mick Taylor era, Brown Sugar and It’s Only Rock ‘N’ Roll. Although it contained some 70s outtakes, Tattoo You (1981) was the band’s last multi-platinum album and spawned the huge hit Start Me Up. It features strong interplay between Richards and Wood.

16 / Play Like Your Electric Heroes

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Info

Ron and Keith and The Ancient Art Of Weaving

Technique Focus None of the examples in this tutorial requires a high level of out-and-out technique; what they do demand is a solid sense of time and a strong groove. It’s a good idea to practise with a metronome before you play along to the backing tracks. Focus on your timing; keeping your playing simultaneously tight and loose is not easy. For the slide tracks, you’ll find the bottleneck is easier to control when you wear it on your third finger, as this will also allow you to rest your first and second fingers on the strings behind the slide to mute unwanted harmonics. Use your picking hand fingers to mute unplayed open strings. If you’re already a slide player, this should present no problem; if you’re not, you’ll find this will take time to master. When playing with a slide, always position it directly above the fret – not behind it as you would when fretting, otherwise all your notes will sound flat.

Play Like Your Electric Heroes \ 17

ROCK JIMI HENDRIX

on the disc

folder 3

Jimi Hendrix From space-age blues to celestial chord shapes and arty jazzrock soloing, we guide you through the building blocks of one of the most amazing players ever to have walked the planet. Will improve your…

KEY Various TEMPO Various DVD Folder 3

✔ Chord inversion knowledge ✔ Blues and rock vocabulary ✔ Understanding of dynamics

t was Jimi’s former employer, 50s rock’n’roll legend Little Richard, who neatly captured the essence of the Hendrix phenomenon: “He gave it all to you,” the piano-playing singer raved about his ex-sideman’s meteoric rise to superstardom in 1967. “And that’s what you want, isn’t it? You want it all.” Richard didn’t just mean the Hendrix school of over-the-top showmanship that landed him the Wild Man Of Borneo tag in the 60s. Or his mastery of sound effects and outrageous stage antics that rewrote the script for live rock. Little Richard was referring to the encyclopaedic Hendrix repertoire that drew on all threads of American music that had gone before – and some that hadn’t been invented by then! Blues, rock, pop, folk, jazz, country and even fusion explorations all found their way into the Hendrix sound – which we could describe as ‘total electric vision’. A sound that was arguably the creative peak in the history of modern guitar music. Forty-five years after Hendrix’s death (can it really be that long?) the man still represents the crossroads where all musical styles, cultures and emotions seem to converge. And while other great blues and rock players have introduced new styles and techniques along the way – Van Halen, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Steve Vai etc – and the level of general expertise has risen dramatically since Hendrix’s day, the

Seattle-born axe-man remains the ultimate guitar figure: the complete guitarist, if you will. Let’s take the blues as an appropriate starting point. While purists like Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf would claim that Hendrix betrayed the traditions of this quintessential American art form, he was original precisely because (aided by his Seattle upbringing) he had no axe to grind about the various Chicago, Texas, Delta and other blues styles. He worshipped legends from Robert Johnson to Buddy Guy – and, indeed, Muddy himself. Just take the incredible Voodoo Child (Slight Return): the recurring verse riff is a direct and reverential tip of the hat to a Muddy famous lick. Hendrix was the crossover king in every sense, idolising our own Eric Clapton and the world beyond the blues including Curtis Mayfield’s soul stew, Bob Dylan’s folky roots and the envelope-pushing jazz explorations of Miles Davis and John Coltrane. It all added up to a magical blurring of the guitar boundaries that we have attempted to distil into 10 brief studies. Hopefully we can encapsulate for you the styles and origins of the Hendrix formula. Jimi must have had a good idea of what he was doing musically – many bluesmen don’t and it has little affect on their playing or composition. In order to construct his Little Wing-type rhythm parts he would have known how chord inversions worked and which extensions – 6th, b7th 9th etc – worked best. To come up with the unique and spiky Purple Haze intro and chords, he will have understood the major-minor clash of the #9 chord and the equally dissonant b5 interval. And to play such authoritative blues as Red

Jimi is sitting on the top of the mountain for tone and vibe Eric Johnson

House or Hear My Train A Comin’ he will have studied the masters in great depth; while a track like All Along The Watchtower shows he understood all about pace, structure and arrangement of music in general. In order to gain the most from this feature we recommend you look beyond the tab. Use it to show you the kind of things Jimi played, but think too about why those chords sound the way they do; work out how Jimi seamlessly switched between minor and major Pentatonics; and hear how many ways he created a note – slides, hammer-ons, pull-offs etc – or used his guitar’s tones to create so many moods ranging from excitement to sadness and beyond. Although no technique monster like Eric Johnson or John McLaughlin, Jimi really was a giant of the guitar. We may never see his like again, but we can learn what made him great and perhaps weave something of his magic into our own playing. DP

3 8

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Every Hendrix song contained a palette of sounds, whether from his guitar’s pickup selector (he loved a Strat’s middle pickup) and control knobs, or the plethora of fuzz, wah, rotary speaker, echo and other effects. Jimi’s basic tone was clean but powerful. He often used Fender amps in the studio with fuzz added for Purple Haze-type tones. Live, it was Marshalls and effects. Set your amp loud and clean, then add effects. Experiment with your guitar’s controls and your picking position along the string too.

listening suggestions Hendrix’s three studio albums: Are You Experienced? (1967), Axis: Bold As Love (1967) and Electric Ladyland (1968), should be in everyone’s collection. They show Jimi’s breadth of playing, compositional skill and incredible range of tones and styles. To hear him play live and witness every aspect of his playing, check out the incredible Hendrix In The West, with extraordinary Red House and Little Wing renditions.

40 / Play Like Your Electric Heroes

DAVID REDFERN / GETTY IMAGES

Info

Minor JIMI HENDRIX Blues Lesson ROCK JImi and the infamous white ‘Woodstock’ Stratocaster

Play Like Your Electric Heroes \ 41

ROCK & ROLL & ROCKABILLY

on the disc

folder 4

Rock And Roll & Rockabilly In this lesson we touch upon a genre that is based on rock and roll, jazz and country – but all blended together to create a mega-cool style that’s known and loved as rockabilly! Will improve your…

KEY E (main track) TEMPO 190bpm DVD Folder 4

✔ Fingerstyle technique ✔ Rockabilly sound ✔ Jazz-country soloing

ockabilly is an exciting fusion of several music styles, most notably country, blues and jazz. The goal of this lesson is to equip you with some solid rhythm and lead techniques to help you get an authentic rockabilly sound. There are 10 examples to study, all inspired by famous players. The licks highlight important areas of the rockabilly vocabulary including double-stops, chord tones, chromatic passing notes and endings. In the second part of the lesson there’s a solo to learn and study. You can try out all the licks and ideas covered in the article over the backing track provided in the folder. The canvas chosen for the solo and examples is a dominant 12-bar blues progression in E. This progression uses the chords of E7-A7-B7 and is often referred to a I7-IV7-V7. The 12-bar blues is a very popular song form in rock and roll and rockabilly and we can spice up this progression with some extra chord changes. We can use the II7 chord (F#7) to lead into the V chord (B7) and I’ve included this change in chorus 3 of the solo. We can also use the IV7 chord (A7) in bar 2 of the 12-bar as a ‘quick change’. Both these concepts are designed to give the soloist more options and to increase the harmonic excitement.

TECHNIQUE FOCUS thumbpick or hybrid? Many rockabilly players use a thumb pick. The thumb pick is a plectrum that clips firmly onto the thumb of the picking hand and requires no extra fingers to hold it. One of the advantages of using a thumb pick is that you can easily maintain a full fingerstyle technique for double-stops and chords. The fretting hand’s thumb can freely play the bass notes while the first, second and third fingers (referred to as ‘i’, ‘m’ and ‘a’) can play the melody notes. The thumb pick helps with bass note definition and sounds great when used in conjunction with palm muting and a slapback delay. The thumb pick can also double as a plectrum to pick single note lines and chords. Another method is hybrid picking, a technique that employs a regular pick in conjunction with the second and third fingers of the picking hand. With the hybrid technique you lose some of the freedom that the thumb alone has and, since you need the first finger to hold the pick, that is out of commission too. But you can get great results with hybrid picking; plus this technique has the advantage of bolting on to your existing style. We used hybrid picking in our examples. The rockabilly image is a strong part of the genre and big-bodied archtop guitars have become synonymous with the style. In particular the Gretsch range is a great favourite – indeed an almost mandatory accessory – and the Bigsby vibrato bar is also a popular addition to the set-up. Amps tend to be Fender – the Bassman is a common choice among rockabilly guitarists. Another important part of the sound is the short, single repeat echo originally provided by tape machines and referred to as ‘slapback’. Units like the Watkins Copycat and Binson Echorec gave early British and American players live access to these slapback sounds, whereas today we can set up a delay pedal or virtual effects to perform a similar function. Accuracy is vital when playing these styles as the clean tones associated with it are pretty

Rockabilly is an exciting fusion of several music styles, most notably country, blues and jazz

unforgiving. But these exciting guitarists laid down the gauntlet for the likes of Clapton Page and Beck, so join them and have fun! JB

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Although rockabilly is most associated with Gretsch guitars and Fender amps, in reality any clean set-up will get you close – Telecasters work great! To get the sound with your own rig, select the bridge pickup on your guitar and plug into a clean amp. If you have a boost or compression pedal, connect it between the guitar and the amp. Set your delay pedal to a short setting with one repeat. The repeat should be almost as loud as the original note. The whole effect will sound best if you use minimal reverb.

listening suggestions There are so many great rockabilly recordings to choose from. Elvis Presley’s Sun recordings sound as fresh today as they did in the 50s and the track Baby Let’s Play House pretty much set the rockabilly template. For some more contemporary offerings check out Jeff Beck’s tribute to Cliff Gallup (of Gene Vincent fame) entitled Crazy Legs; but anything by Brian Setzer or Eddie Cochran will get your foot tapping!

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SYLVIA PITCHER / REDFERNS

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ROCK &Minor ROLL & Blues ROCKABILLY Lesson Carl Perkins with an early Gibson ES-5

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SOLOING 50 LICKS

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50 Fabulous Licks We’ve looked at a range of great guitarist’s styles, specific techniques, chords and more. Now we offer you a whole new lickbag from the worlds of rock, blues, jazz, country and funk. Will improve your…

KEY Various TEMPO Various DVD Folder 7

✔ Lick repertoire ✔ Stylistic knowledge ✔ General fretboard skills

e have 50 extremely cool licks spread over five popular styles – blues, rock, country, jazz and funk – for you to try. Every lick involves different techniques or concepts, so learning them should prove more stimulating than simply reproducing a series of notes. These are real-world licks that can slot straight into your existing lickbag. Dive in and select any that take your fancy from certain styles; or use the feature as a ‘lick dictionary’ to refer to when looking for something for a particular musical moment. If every style has its own genetic code, then each lick is a fragment of that code. After each example has been learned and digested, it should prove a springboard to creating another lick and then another – and with any luck these will be just as good as the original. The principle behind all of this is about helping you to build your own vocabulary and eventually develop your own voice. Blending different styles is a great way to do this. You might never have tried jazz or funk, but a brief delve into either section here is bound to awaken an interest. Remember, the crosspollination of styles can be very cool; a jazz lick in blues, or a country lick in rock etc.

You will find examples from different periods and inspired by some incredible players. They involve techniques like legato (hammer-ons and pull-offs etc), string bending and vibrato, plus alternate, hybrid, economy, sweep and finger picking. You will find plenty of explanation in both the music and the text. It’s also vital that you move the licks into other keys and to different fretboard positions once you’ve learnt them – luckily, this is pretty easy for many, if not most, of the examples. Some of the licks have a ‘geometric’ design whereby they take advantage of the fretboard layout; some can be more conceptual, while others may be more dependent on a certain technique. Every style has different guidelines, so it’s no coincidence that you might find rock and country teaching you about technique, whereas the jazz and blues licks would possibly give you more conceptual material. Often highly technical things can be physically difficult to learn but easy to understand. Yet when dealing with ideas it is often quite the opposite. You might struggle to deal with concepts, like superimposing a simple three-note arpeggio, or finding where the interval you’re looking for is on that portion of the neck you’re exploring. Thankfully (as with everything) with a bit of practise you’ll soon have it pictured in your mind and it will start to make sense. Finally, a few general notes about technique and expression, and how they can change the vibe dramatically. A be-bop line in eighth notes that sound like the great modern jazz guitarist Pat Metheny, would travel back 30 years in time just by eliminating the effects, most of the

You might find rock and country teaching you about technique, whereas jazz and blues is more conceptual

hammer-ons and pull-offs and by introducing a more ‘marching’ swing feel. And the process is reversible: if you take a busy Charlie Christian or Wes Montgomery lick (both fabulous jazz pioneers), add some effects, hammer-ons and pull-offs and quarter-tone bends, you’ll find yourself sounding closer to jazz-blues man John Scofield. And that economy-picked rock lick would sound much more like it came from early 70s Deep Purple if played with furious alternate picking. The point is, licks are only notes and it’s what you do with those notes – including the tone you choose, or what guitar, amp or pedals – that gives them your specific voice. There’s enough information in this one feature alone to keep you busy for months. And if you experiment, expanding the licks, trying different keys and adding your own twist, it could literally stand you in good stead for years.Ready? Okay, deep breath, and off we go! GC 5

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Each of these genres is associated with its own particular guitar and amp set-ups, so go for something that suits. On the recorded tracks its Strat and Tele for everything, switching between pickups for country twang, jazzy warmth, hard-edged rock, meaty blues or bright-toned funk. However, keep away from extreme tones when learning new licks, as too much effect – be it distortion, echo, flange or whatever – can mask technical deficiencies and actually hinder the learning process.

listening suggestions Rock: Deep Purple, Made In Japan; AC/DC, Back In Black. Blues: Derek And The Dominoes, In Concert; Albert King, I’ll Play The Blues For You; SRV, Texas Flood. Country: Brent Mason, Hot Wired; Brad Paisley, Mud On The Tires. Funk: Sly And The Family Stone, Dance To The Music; James Brown, everything! Jazz: Wes Montgomery, Smokin’ At The Half Note; Pat Metheny, Still Life Talking.

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Larry MARANO / GETTY IMAGES

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50 LICKS SOLOING Modern rock pioneer Ritchie Blackmore

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