Greg Howe

 

What is Shred? Hey guys, welcome to the frst o hopeully numerous columns I’ll be contributing here at Premier Guitar in rotation with Rusty Cooley and occasional guests. It’s ery cool to be on board! I suppose at this point I should o"cially swear in# $I solemnly swear to do my best to simply delier useul inormation that you would li%ely not be able to get elsewhere.& 'id I (ust use the word simply) Hmm, well the concept is simple, I suppose. *hen again, so is s%ydiing. +h well, I’m always up or a un challenge. ow, out o courtesy, I eel obligated to prepare you up ront or what will undoubtedly be iewed as a healthy dose o opinion-based rhetoric infltrating the installments that ollow. orry guys, but it’s necessary i I’m going to ma%e a serious attempt at in(ecting some new lie, and some resh perspectie, into this somewhat e/hausted sub(ect o  shred. 0ctually, shred is still a term that conuses me. Perhaps I’m missing something. I’m pretty sure it reers to an approach to soloing or lead playing that relies heaily on the use o ast passages. Great! 1asy enough 2I always do well up to this point3. o why, then, do I get strange loo%s when I point out my aorite shredders) Is there something odd about being a an o +scar Peterson, Charlie Par%er or iccol4 Paganini) 0t this point in a conersation, as it becomes apparent that my choices don’t seem to 5ualiy, I usually fnd mysel see%ing clarifcation. 0ter all, the aboe-mentioned artists certainly ft the defnition. 0nd right about at this point, I’ll fnd mysel responding to some som e remar remar% % ab abou outt gui guitar tar e/ e/clu clusi siity ity.. I am re remi mind nded ed o my bl blat atant ant o oer ersig sight, ht, an and d respond appropriately with something li%e, $0h-ha, now I see the light6 the term only applies to guitar playing. Great! I thin% I’e got it!& +%ay, so let me ma%e sure I’m clear. Playing ast on the guitar is called 7shredding’ and playing ast on the piano is called6 7playing ast)’ & 0m I really the only one who thin%s there’s something odd about this) Is there really nothing weird about the act that there is suddenly a word assigned to a particular method o note deliery... a method that people hae obiously been using or centuries) Is it possible that this ery dilemma helps orm the basis o the sort o obsessedwithspeed spe ed min mindse dsett tha thatt see seems ms to per permea meate te so mu much ch o the the gu guita itarr co commu mmunit nity) y) I $as astt playing& gets its own word, then why should all the other arious methods o note deliery be depried o theirs) 8hy no words or playing slow, or or playing loud, or or playing outside, or sot, or with ibrato, or in the poc%et, etc) I thin% one could ma%e the argument that the word shred has basically helped create the category o $hred&9not that there’s necessarily anything wrong with that, but I’e (ust neer understood understood the real need or purpose. uch a category would seem to lend itsel to the encouragement o a disproportionate amount o deelopment in one area. Perhaps we’e all seen some eidence o that. 0nyone amiliar with my music %nows that I en(oy ast playing as much as any diehard $hred& $hre d& afcionado afcionado.. It’s un and it’s cool, but I (ust don’t place it on a pedestal. It’s simply one o many things to do. :ost accomplished musicians, on any instrument, hae the ability to turn on the aterburners when the need arises. ;ut with non-guitar-playing musicians, the ability to pump out notes at high speed seems much less li%ely to be i iewe ewed d as ha hain ing g an any y mor more e or les less s a alu lue e tha than n the ot other her ma many ny ab abili ilitie ties s the they y li% li%el ely y possess. 0s a guitarist who is oten associated with the deliery o speedy lic%s, you might thin% that I’d automatically denounce those who wal% tall in their no-shred pic%et lines. ectie in aoiding this dilemma is to remoe the category o $hred& rom my mind, and instead (ust deal with music. It’s 5uite simple, but ery e>ectie, because the thought process shits rom see%ing shapes that wor% well with se5uences to see%ing musical lines that sound good at any speed. I’ll admit that there are a lot o great lic%s and lines that simply aren’t practical to play at high speeds, and a lot o the fngerings and lic%s that wor% well with speed are oten shy o musicality. ;ut I promise we can fnd comort in %nowing that there are tons great ones that also contain an abundance o musicality. *hose are, o course, the ones I’ll be e/ploring with you.

As the Notes Burn Hey guys, welcome bac% to the continuing saga o $0s the otes ;urn.& In this episode Greg Howe decides to put into e>ect the wisdom o a true mentor and genius by the name o ?ran% @appa, whose aluable adice was subtly displayed in te/t orm on the ront coer o his ABA release, Shut Up ‘n Play Yer Guitar. 8hat will result rom haing ta%en such adice) Guess you’ll need to stay tuned in order to fnd out. ;ut here’s a clue# this month’s episode came awully close to being entitled $Dess ;lab, :ore *ab!& +%ay, so now that you’re fnished cheering and celebrating oer the implications o that clue, let me brieEy preace this stu> by pic%ing up rom where I let o>. I owed to present lic%s and lines that would not only lend themseles to our ability to e/ecute at high speed, but that would also contain a leel o musicality beyond (ust the deliery o mundane mathematical se5uences designed solely or the sa%e o securing note rapidity.   the G ma(or chord scale3 rom which some o the lic%s are designed. Example 2 *his e/ample basically utili=es a C ma(or th arpeggio. Example 3 *his e/ample utili=es an ?Jminb arpeggio, which is one o my personal aorites to use. Exam Ex ample ple 4  *h *his is e/ e/am ampl ple e de demo mons nstr trat ates es th the e us use e o th the e e/a /act ct sa same me lo long ng rand random om se5uence used in the preious e/ample, now being applied to an 1 minorth arpeggio. combines s parts o e/ampl e/amples es K and L, thus creating a Example Exa mple 5  *his e/ample basically combine longer lic% that eatures K separate superimposed 2oerlaid3 tonalities. Example 6 *his e/ample utili=es both an 0 minor th and a ; minor th arpeggio. Exam Ex ampl ple e 7  *his e/ampl e/ample e utili=es both an 0 minor th arpeggio and a G ma(or th arpeggio. I you get comortable with this lic%, you may want to try attaching e/ample K or  to the end o it in order to create a much longer lic% that would ultimately contain a ariety o tonal characteristics.

 

Punh! "e#ato Punchy Degato is a term I use to describe a hybrid te/ture containing both legato and staccato characteristics simultaneously. 0side rom this te/ture being relatiely common in the world o high-speed oerdrien guitar playing, it also happens to be the te/ture I personally preer most when it comes to playing ast. +ne o the methods that I use to achiee this te/tur te/ture e inoles the use o partial barr barreing, eing, which is, 5uite simply, the idea o Eattening the tip o one or more o the fngers o your retting hand oer two or more strings in order to perorm high-speed lic%s with minimal fnger motion. 8ith many guitarists, this techni5ue is commonly perormed within the blues bo/ area, since the nature o that ret lineup completely lends itsel to this approach. erent rom that o the o inde/ fnger. the *hetips inde/ fnger’s main to be a mini-capo, whereas the purpose Eattening o other fngers oer two or more strings during ast lic%s is generally to introduce optional or wider interal interplay.  *he ollowing e/amp e/amples les are in the %ey o 1b ma(or6 better %nown to the guitar community as C minor.  *he frst ew e/amples e/amples are basically rrepetitie epetitie e/ e/ercises# ercises# shor shortt se5uences intend intended ed to get you comortable with barreing. *he later e/amples show how these e/ercises can be incorporated into scale shapes or the purpose o randomly inserting less predictable interals, as well as achieing that punchy legato te/ture.  

Example 1:  Basic 4-note barreing sequence using the C blues box.

Example 2: Variation Example 3:  requiring two fingers to barre Variation--altering between the first two the high-E and B strings. examples.

Example 4:  12-note ariation--adding the ! string "blues note#.

 

Example 5: 1$-note sequence on three strings.

Example 6: Variation--1%-note sequence.

Example 7: &2-note sequence using common scale shapes.

Example 8: 'escending run

Example 9: (scending and descending run using preious examples

 

$ammer%ons &rom No'here Hammer-ons From Nowhere 2H?3 is a term I came up with a long time ago in order to proide students with tab notation that described the idea o hammering on to a string that was not preiously retted. :ost o us are 5uite amiliar with the term hammer-on, which is o course a techni5ue perormed by orceully bringing a retting-hand fnger onto a string that was preiously retted or preiously sounded in order to e/ecute a new note without haing to simultaneously pic% it. 0 typical hammer-on hammer-on will always be higher in pitch than the note that preceded it, howeer with H?, this is not necessarily the case. +ne o the adantages to using H? is that you can basically hammer-on to any string you choose and produce results in which a hammered note ends up being lower in pitch than the one preceding preceding it. In act, the H? concept actually lends itsel to the idea that a hamm ha mmer ered ed no note te is low lower er in pitch pitch than than the the pr prece ecedi ding ng no note. te. *hi *his s can resu result lt in man many y unusual and unorthodo/ unorthodo/ se5uences, many o which can inole huge interal (umps that easi ea sily ly simu simula late te lic% lic%s s an and d pa pass ssag age es mo morre co comm mmon only ly as asso soci ciat ated ed wi with th ad ada anc nced ed fnge fn gerp rpic ic%i %ing ng te tech chni ni5u 5ues es.. *h *he e mo most st blat blatan antt e/a /amp mple le o this this ca can n be he hear ard d on th the e 1/traction album, in the unaccompanied acoustic guitar instrumental piece called $0 'elicacy.&  *he frst ew e/amp e/amples les are basically repetiti repetitie e e/er e/ercises cises consisting o short se5uences in order or you to get comortable with the whole concept o H?. *he later e/amples online at premierguitar.com illustrate more comple/ se5uences, some o which include the use o open strings. Note: 8hen using a lot o distortion and gain, I fnd that rolling way bac% on the guitar’s olume %nob, along with applying palm muting with the pic%ing hand, signifcantly helps in achieing clarity and articulation with these types o ideas. 0lso, or tone reasons, I oten use the second fnger o my pic%ing hand 2hybrid pic%ing3 in place o upstro%es, but this is not necessary.

 

$ammer%ons (rom E)er!'here* 8hile writing the lead song $ic% It 0ll +er& rom my frst album, Greg Howe, I stumbled across a concept that went on to become a %ey component in my oerall note deliery style. *apping is a term generally associated directly with two-handed guitar playing. It’s basically a techni5ue perormed by orceully bringing one or more o the fngers o the pic%ing hand toward the retboard and onto a string in an e>ort to e/tend the role typically occupied e/clusiely by the retting hand. ;ecause o this, tapping will oten inole the use o hammer-ons and pull-o>s, whereby the fngers o the retting hand play se5uences that are synchroni=ed with the tapping hand. *his is usually or the purpose pur pose o cre creatin ating g lig lightni htning- ng-ast ast rep repetit etitie ie se5u se5uence ences, s, ot oten en ino inolin ling g inte interal rals s that would otherwise be di"cult or impossible to fnger conentionally. 0 ery typical tapping se5uence that you’re li%ely already amiliar with goes something li%e this# *ap a note at the AKth ret o the high 1 string with a pic%ing hand fnger, then pull it o> to the frst fnger o the retting hand located at the th ret o the same string, and then hammer-on to the th ret o the same string with the th fnger o the retting hand and start s tart oer. ;ecause o the act se5uences, that it is almost always fngercontain o the a right 2or pic%ing that initiates these tapping lic%saoten sorthand o bac%ward li%ehand3 note order, which in combination with the distinct te/ture they possess due to the complete absen ab sence ce o any pi pic% c% att attac% ac%,, ma% ma%es es the them m 5u 5uite ite ea easy sy to re reco cogni gni=e. =e. How Howee eer, r, the these se

 

characteristics become much less obious when tapped se5uences are initiated with a fnger o the retting hand rather than the pic%ing hand.  *here are also many practical adanta adantages ges to this appro approach. ach. *he most signifcan signifcantt adantage is that it can become easier to start creating lines or passages as opposed to  (ust repeti repetitie tie se5uences. In my opinion this helps to bring a sort o %eyb %eyboardist’s oardist’s perspectie perspecti e to the retboar retboard, d, which, in turn, could help to inspire uni5ue and resh ideas.  *his approach approach also llends ends itsel to the e e/ecu /ecuting ting o some o th the e most outra outrageous geous sound sounding ing all-out shred lic%s I’e personally eer perormed or heard.  *he frst ew e/amples below illustrate the concept concept in its most basic orm. 8 8e’re e’re utili=ing the se5uence 2hammer-tap-pull3 hands ta%e responsibility retting di>erent inersions o the while same the triadlet orand the right purpose o deliering the triad inor a ast triplet ashion. *he last ew e/amples below get into more comple/ se5uences, some o which include huge string s%ipping. Example 1+ Basi se,uene usin# t'o A ma-or triad shapes

Example 2+ .dential se,uene usin# A minor triads

Example 3+ .dential se,uene usin# diminished triads

Example 4+ /ariation on diminished arpe##io

 

Example 5+ "i0 &rom i0 it all o)er utlines+ B ma-or % ( ma-or %  min7

Example 6+ Strin# s0ippin# se,uene 'ith ota)es

Example 7+ Strin# s0ippin# li0 &or an!  ma-or related mode

 

Example + Strin# s0ippin# tappin# li0 'ith hu#e inter)al -umps

ote# *apping with the retting hand is ery similar to $Hammer-+ns ?rom owhere& 2which I discussed in the last article3 in the sense that the success o e/ecution will largely be dependent on one’s ability to whac% the strings hard with the fngers o their retting hand. ;ecause o this, all taps with the retting hand will be notated as hammerons. 0lso, It can be helpul to use a string dampener to eliminate e/cessie string noise particularly with some o the e/amples that inole intense string s%ipping. I you don’t hae one you might try using a piece o cloth tied frmly around the guitar nec% at the frst ret.

isplaed Aents and Pol!rh!thms +ne o the most important aspects o improisation, at least or me, is the ability to steadily delier a stream o AQth notes 2our notes per beat3 containing interesting and somewhat unpredictable lines within the conte/t mid-as toAK high-tempo music scenarios. Playing AQth notes at a typical mid-tempo speedosuch bpm is not necessarily a di"cult tas% or many guitarists, howeer to do so in a manner that doesn’t rely on the use o oerly predictable se5uences or pre-rehearsed lic%s can oten proe to be a bit more challenging.

 

+ne o the methods I’e ound to be ery helpul in assisting with this 5uest is displacin displacing g the accents in these sets o ours, resulting in a particular %ind o polyrhythm. *he arious o"cial defnitions o the word usually include language that goes something li%e, $the simultaneous sounding o two or more independent rhythms.& I this concept were new to me, that defnition would li%ely be o little alue, so beore we try to ma%e use o  this concept let’s frst try to understand it. ?or our pu purpo rposes ses,, a po polyr lyrhy hythm thm wil willl be de defne fned d as an od odd-n d-num umbe bere red d se5 se5ue uence nce or grouping o notes used in the conte/t o a time signature or which they were not originally intended. In this case, all odd groupings will be AQth notes 2our notes per beat3.  ?or e/ample, 1/ercise A illustrates a ery simple se5uence in G ma(or that descends three notes at a time rom each consecutie lower degr degree ee o the scale, implying a triplet 2three notes per beat3 eel. *he natural tendency is to %eep counting to three as we play it in or order der to ens ensur ure e tha thatt the de desig sign n o the se5 se5ue uence nce re remai mains ns con consis sisten tentt wit with h the correlating numbers.

Howeer, 1/ercise K shows how that same e/act se5uence could be played in a AQth note 2our note per beat3 ashion. 0s you can see, nothing actually changes other than our perception o how the se5uence is heard within the conte/t o the rhythm. In this case we’re using a three-n three-note ote se5uence while counting to our, which means that rom a our-note-per-beat perspectie, we no longer hae a series o identical se5uences. In act we would now get three di>erent se5uences containing our notes each. *his polyrhythm would generally be reerred to as three-into-our.

ince the dominant characteristic o a polyrhythm is that it guarantees the rhythmic displacement o se5uenced andOor accented notes, the use o polyrhythmic ideas within passa pa ssage ges s lic%s can and be e ery ry he help lpul ul in bri bring ngin ing g ab abou outo t mo more crea creati tie ee/amples an and d les less sillustrate predi predicta ctabl ble e sounding lines. *he highlighted sections thereollowing the actual se5uence being used, while the dotted lines illustrate the AQthnote conte/t in which they’re being applied.

 

Passin# 8ones +ne o the approaches I’e ound to be ery e>ectie in spicing up solos is the use o  passing tones. Passing tones are oten regarded as scale tones residing between two chord tones. 8hile this may be accurate by o"cial defnitions, it seems to me that the oerly ague nature o such a defnition does ery little to proide useul inormation to someone genuinely interested in e/ploring this concept. o, or the sa%e o practicality, passing tones might best be thought o as notes residing between two scale tones that are a whole tone apart. ?or e/ample, any one o the ollowing notes could be used as passing tones in a C ma(or scale application# application# CJ, 1b, ?J, 0b or ;b. imply put, a passing tone is basically a non-harmonic tone maintaining the primary unction o transitioning rom one scale tone to another.  *hey are embellishme embellishments nts that can sere to add d depth, epth, tension tension,, and an oeral oeralll element o  sophistication to almost any solo i used fttingly. *raditionally, it has been taught that passing tones should all on wea% beats or upbeatsF howeer, I don’t personally adhere to that rule unless the specifc soloing section seems to lend itsel to that approach. In most cases 2but not all3, it would generally be considered musically inappropriate to land on or linger on a passing tone. ;ut again, this really is sub(ectie territory, and the only rules that should eer really be obeyed are the ones that enable you to sound your best.  Historically, the recurring use o specifc passing tones within the conte/t o traditional scales sca les ha has s o oten ten resul resulted ted in pe perm rmane anent nt mo modi difca fcatio tions ns whe where reby by th the e case pa passi ssing ng tone e is subse5uently included as part o the modifed ersion. uch is the withton many contemporary scales, most notably the bebop scales and the classic blues scale. *here is still some debate as to whether or not the modded ersions 5ualiy as legitimate scales at all. :y personal opinion is, $8ho cares)&  *he ollowing e/amples are designed to imply a ' tonality. *hey’re basically comprised o ' :i/olydian notes 2same notes as G ma(or3 along with passing tones. 8hile these lic%s initially seem to imply a ' tonality, they can also wor% e5ually well in the ollowing G ma(or related modes# 'orian, playing the lic%s oer an 0m chord, and Dydian, playing the lic%s oer a C ma(or chord. Example 1

Example 2

Example 3

 

Example 4

Example 4B

 

9olor&ul Strin# S0ippin# In an ea earli rlier er col colum umn, n, I tal tal% %ed a lit little tle bit ab abou outt the con concep ceptt o sup super erimp imposi ositio tion n wit with h arpeggios arpegg ios in order to emphasi=e colorul non-chord tones. *he goal with superimpositio superimposition n is simply to achiee tonal results similar to those you’d get by e/panding a basic chord with the inclusion o e/tensions.  *here are seen notes in most common scales, so the only way to put emphasis on certain notes is simply to either play them more oten than others, or to play the others less oten. Comprised o only certain notes o a scale, arpeggios can be ery helpul in assisting with this tas%. ;y laying an arpeggio and its tonality oer the top o whateer chord is being addressed, we are putting emphasis on specifc notes. ?or e/ample, i you li%ed the tonal color o a 'mQ chord, you could achiee that 5uality either by oeremphasi=ing the Qth o a ' minor scale or by playing an arpeggio that automatically deliers the appropriate notes. In this case, an ideal arpeggio would be ;mb, as it consists o the e/act notes 2;S'S?S03 that orm a 'mQ chord. uperimposing is a great melodic tool. Howeer, the complaint I occasionally hear rom players new to this idea is that switching seamlessly between scales and arpeggios sometimes proes to be a bit cumbersome. ;ut this is only a complaint when the intent is misunderstood. Playing arpeggios is not actually the goal here. *he goal is to produce color col orul ul pa passa ssages ges by emp empha hasi= si=ing ing sel select ect no notes tes wi withi thin n a sca scale. le. *h *he e bl blata atant nt use o  arpeggios is one way to achiee that goal, howeer more subtle approaches are oten more e>ectie.  *he th-string root root arpeggio shapes that I’e coered in the past are ideal or modiying, and we did so last time by adding notes to them. *his time we will modiy them by eliminating eliminati ng the th- and Knd-string notes entirel entirely y and adding notes to the Ast-, Lrd-, and high th-strings. ;y doing this, we will hae essentially transormed these shapes into three-note-per-string ideas that still enable us to ta%e adantage o the tonal 5ualities that the unmodifed arpeggios would hae deliered in the conte/t o superimposing. 1/amples AS illustrate the new three-note-per-string shapes that result rom modiying all seen arpeggios rom the G ma(or chord scale. *he nice thing about this concept is that you can app apply ly almo almost st any thr three-n ee-noteote-per per-str -string ing se5u se5uence ence you may alr alread eady y be comortable with to these new shapes.

 

1/amples  and B eature typical three-note-per-string-type se5uences being applied to the new shapes. *ry

:aster ;ltra%( ;ltra% (ast