NEW SERIES: SHAUN BAXTER’S CREATIVE ROCK USE CHROMATIC PASSING NOTES TO BRING YOUR SOLOS TO LIFE!
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MAY 2018
MAK ING YOU A BETTER PLAYER SINCE 1994 1994
E IK L IK Y L P L A
JOE BONAMASSA
86 Solos, chords, licks, scales & jam tracks
Learn his masterful electric elec tric blues phrasing Powerful rock riffs and soloing ideas tabbed Play authentic Mississippi style acoustic licks
BRETT GARSED His soloing masterclass on video will amaze you!
R OCK
AUDIOSLAVE Tom Morello meets Chris Cornell for some mind-blowing ideas L IC A C L A SS IC US OC US E FO IQ U E F ECH N IQ T EC
Drop D Tuning Play dark power chord riffs and fabulous acoustic blues tunes in this exclusive 10-page lesson!
PROKOFIEV Romeo & Juliet transcribed NS ! ESSO NS E L E L ES MO MO R
STYLE STUDIES Walter Trout: his fieriest blues licks tabbed Leonard Cohen: mournful acoustic picking Howard Roberts: exquisite American jazz
ISSUE 282 282 } MAY MAY 2018 2018 Just a few few of your your regular regular GT technique experts...
RICHARD BARRETT Another of our top tutors, Richard has been a regular on GT, Total Guitar and Guitarist for years. He’s also a longtime member of Tony Hadley’s touring band.
JON BISHOP Jon is one of those great all-rounders who can turn his hand to almost any style. No ‘Jack of all trades and master of none’, he nails every one with ease!.
CHARLIE GRIFFITHS Guitar Institute tutor Charlie first came to fame in Total Guitar’s Challenge Charlie series. He’s also one of the UK’s top rock, metal and fusion guitarists.
PHIL HILBORNE The UK’s origina originall magazi magazine ne guitar guitar tutor tutor,, Phil’s something of a legend. A great player, he’s currently touring Europe with the Champions Of Rock show.
PAT HEATH BIMM Brighton lecturer, ESP product demonstrator and all-round busy musician, Pat brings you six cool licks each month in 30-Minute Lickbag.
HARRISON MARSH Harrison has taught guitar for over seven years. With an ALCM diploma he teaches all levels and ages via Skype, as well as face to face in Somerset, UK. UK .
RONAN MCCULLAGH Ronan works with major labels and TV alongside playing live and teaching at BIMM in London. He also holds clinics and masterclasses across the UK.
www.myfavo www.myfavourite urite magazines.co.uk
WEL WELCOME
SHAUN BAXTER One of the UK’s most respected music educators, Shaun has taught many who are now top tutors themselves. His Jazz Metal album is considered a milestone.
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RECENTLY I WAS involved in a gig at Bristol Jazz & Blues Festival to mark 50 years since Cream’s dissolution. dissolution. There were three guitars, bass and drums and we’d done the the same same last last year for Jimi Hendrix’s Hendrix’s debut album, album, Are You You Experienced. I mention it because, while several of the guys involved revered Hendrix, they didn’t have quite the same uncurbed admiration admiration for Clapton, Bruce and Baker. This was all to change once we got down to learning the set. One guitarist, a great mate and equally great player, has always expressed mild disdain for EC. But after boning up on the tunes at home he said: “How does he do that ‘major-minor’ thing? I don’t understand it and I’m really struggling with it.” The bassist, an equally equally fabulous fabulous musician stated, “Until I started playing this stuff I never knew that the licks I’d learned from my prog heroes, all came from Jack.” We had had several several get-togethers get-togethers and each time the appreciation for the compositions compositions and the players grew. After the gig, which went extraordinarily extraordinarily well, we all agreed that it was a better night than last year, and that the music was more interesting, rewarding and fun to play. The reception from the
sold-out crowd seemed to confrm this. My point is, going back to the source (okay, they weren’t the source, the source, but you know what I mean), mean), can can often often reveal qualities that we hadn’t hadn’t previously previously realised were there, there, and therefore not appreciated. Joe Bonamassa, like Eric Clapton before him, is a scholar of blues and rock. He’s done his homework; gone back to where it began for him him,, then delved further to reveal these artists’ own idols and inuences. You may recall Justin Sandercoe extolling the virtues of this approach in last month’s column. Richard Barrett’s superb cover article offers a short-cut to Joe’s huge range and abilities and is crammed with brilliant stuff to learn. Once you’ve feasted yourself on all things Bonamassa, Bonamassa, don’t forget to revisit Cream, Free, BB, Rory, Gary, Eric J, SRV et al , to remind you of who inspired Joe. Then do a bit of research to discover the guys that turned them on them on so much that they dropped everything to dedicate their lives to becoming a blues or rock musician. See you soon.
Neville Marten, Editor
[email protected]
CHECK CHEC K OUT OUR AMA A MAZING ZING DIGITAL EDITION Guitar Techniques’ iPad* edition is now even better!
BRIDGET MERMIKIDES Guildhall and Royal Academy trained, Bridget is a Royal College of Music examiner, a respected classical player and award-winning blues guitarist.
STUART RYAN Head of Guitar at BIMM Bristol, Stu is an acoustic guitar virtuoso who performs throughout the UK. His latest book/CD The Tradit Tradition ion is availa available blenow. now.
JUSTIN SANDERCOE One of the most successful guitar teachers ever, justinguitar.com justinguitar.com is a mine of information, and his YouTube YouTube channel boasts almost 500,000 subscribers!
IAIN SCOTT For over 25 years Iain has taught in the UK’s top schools and academies, as well as a stint at GIT in LA. He can also boast playing with the legend Brian Wilson!
JOHN WHEATCROFT A phenomenal guitarist, John is a master at all styles but a legend in Gypsy Jazz. His new album Ensemble Futur is out now on iTunes and Amazon.
Tap the links Finding your way around the magazine is easy. Tapping Tapping the feature titles on the cover or the contents page, takes you straight to the relevant articles. Any web and email links in the text are tappable too!
Animated Animated tab & audio audio All the mag’s main lessons have the audio built in with a moving cursor that shows you exactly where you are in the music. Simply tap the ‘play’ button and you’re off - you can fastforward or scroll back at will.
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DISC AUDIO �PRINT VERSION ONLY� Sometimes the GT CD features some of the backing tracks as mp3 files due to space. These will be found in a folder on the CD-ROM section of the disc, accessible only via a computer, and will not work in a regular CD player.
May 2018
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CONTENTS TURN TO PAGE 28 NOW FOR OUR LATEST SUBSCRIPTION OFFERS
• C O N T E N T S • M A Y 2 01 01 8 •
LEARNING LEARN ING ZONE
Joe Bonamassa channels Creamera Clapton with an early ’60s Firebird
LESSONS INTRODUCTION
57
Music editor Jason Sidwell rides into town with another action-packed lessons section.
30-MINUTE LICKBAG
58
BLUES
60
Pat Heath has six new licks, from lazy stroll to four-minute mile. See you at the finishing line? Ronan McCullagh looks into the playing of one of our favourite rocking blues guitarists, the wild and wonderful Walter Trout.
ROCK
64
Martin Cooper delves into the playing of Audioslave’s Chris Cornell and Tom Morello.
JAZZ
68
John Wheatcroft meets a legend of jazz guitar and guitar design, Mr Howard Roberts.
ACOUST ACOUSTIC IC
74
Stuart Ryan reveals the nylon-string picking style of Canadian folk legend, Leonard Cohen.
CREATIVE ROCK
78
Shaun Baxter begins a new series, focusing on chromatic passing notes for sophistication.
SLIDE
84
Harrison Marsh examines the toneful countryblues style of Lit tle Feat’s Lowell George.
FRETBOARD FLUENCY
COVER STORY
88
Martin Goulding takes to the sky as he navigates the airy Lydian mode in 5ths and 6ths.
IN THE WOODSHED
92
Charlie Griffiths examines an under-employed bending approach, as he pulls those lower strings up by a semitone, tone and minor 3rd.
FEATURES
WELCOM WELCOME E
COVER STORY
JOE BONAMASSA Blues, rock, acoustic & more
EXCLUSIVE VIDEO!
REGULARS
3
Nev discusses the benefits of looking back
INTRO 16
Bonamassa has forged an astonishing career and is now one of the top selling guitar artists of all. Richard Barrett highlights some of his best licks, all fully tabbed with backing tracks.
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Justin Sandercoe, Scott Henderson, Mitch Dalton, Jam Tracks, One-Minute Lick and more.
USER USER GUID GUIDE E
BRETT GARSED MASTERCLASS The Race To Wonderland Wonderland 40 Great friend of GT and master musician Brett plays and explains a sublime solo on Jason’s, The Race To Wonderland. Wonderland. It’s It’s legato-a-go-go!
12
Our easy-to-follow musical terms and signs.
FRETBOARD MAP
14
Learn where all the notes are on the neck.
SPECIAL FEATURE
DROP D TUNING Blues and rock style
SUBSCRIPTIONS 30
Just tuning the lowest string down a tone can open up huge possibilities. We offer dark-toned rock riffs and low-down acoustic blues to learn. N I W D O O G E I T S I R H C : R E V O C & E V O B A
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Save time and money; get GT delivered to your door. Print and digital editions available!
BACK ISSUES
94
If you missed a copy from the last six months.
ALBUMS ALBUMS
95
Latest guitar CDs reviewed and rated.
SIXTY SECONDS WITH...
CLASSICAL TAB
PROKOFIEV Dance Of The Knights
96
Grammy-winning singer, songwriter, actor and more, the multi-talented Rick Springfield.
50
Also known as Montagues & Capulets or Romeo & Juliet, Bridget Mermikides tabs this delightful piece from the Russian master.
NEXT NEXT MONT MONTH H
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British R&B Invasion. Freaking With Phrygian. The Nutcra Nutcracker cker.. George George Harriso Harrison n slide, slide, Albert Collins, Bruce Welch, Tuck Andress and more!
Brett Garsed will astound you with an amazing solo
May 2018
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Intro FOOD FOR thought Justin Sandercoe of justinguitar. justinguitar.com com lends lends GT his insight as as one of the
world’ world’ss most successful g guitar uitar teachers. This Thi s month: Chicken In The Corn.
H
aving just sold a couple of kidneys and bought a lovely new acoustic guitar, I was reminded by a timely YouTube video that a quality instrument does not the great song make! If you’ve not seen it yet and have a few minutes to spare, check out Brushy One String playing his song Chicken In The Corn. It’s a great example of musicality and groove being far far more more important important than than anything else. The dude is playing an average at best classical guitar with just just one string. And he rocks! How? My Food For Thought this month explores exactly why something like this works and the lessons we can all learn from it. There are three main elements that have really lifted this song into something pretty special, and helped the video get over 16m views on YouTube and a whole lot of publicity. These elements all have everything and nothing to do with guitar for many guitarists. Let’s start with what should be the priority for every musician, the song. The melody of the chorus is super catchy, fun, repeated a lot and memorable. The rapping parts tell a cool story and the structure is textbook pop, very well arranged to make the most of the simple parts. I think it does us all good to stay aware of the song – great guitar playing in a rubbish song is unlikely to reach many people or stir many souls. The guitar is there to complement the song, even on a guitar instrumental – it’s just the tool to express the melody or harmony. It’s also worth staying aware of the importance of an arrangement and the way a great producer can use the arrangement of parts to really help the song. These days many people are working on their their own productions without the benet of a producer, and I think it’s vital that these people, particularly, learn to arrange and layer parts to help the song. This is best learned by revisiting some of of the albums that move you and deliberately listening
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May 2018
This month Justin talks about songs, arrangements and a good back story
out for the arrangements and how they’re working. The second big element in the song is the groove and this, of course, is essential for most all music. But particularly vital for simple groove based music, obviously. This song has a strong backbeat that Brushy Brushy gets by hitting hitting the guitar, but pay attention to where and how he adds adds ‘drum lls’ too. Groove is intrinsically deeper
would be be a great example example – try playing the simple Chicken In The Corn riff and make it groove and feel so good that anyone listening is infected with it – you’ll know when it’s happening because you’ll feel great in yourself. Strive to have that feeling whenever you play. The last part of this viral video hit is the story. In these days of short attention spans, fake news and viral possibilities, the story
IF YOU’VE GOT SOMETH SOMETHING ING GOOD GOING ON MUSICALLY, THEN A GREAT STORY CAN REALLY REA LLY HELP GET GET PEOPLE’S PEOPLE’S ATTENTION ATTENT ION than that though, and he’s really got it going on. It feels good. Developing the groove is something that will not only make you feel better as as a musician but will earn earn respect from piers piers and and punters alike. Drummers, bass players and great programmers (like Dr Dre) spend countless hours working on and and developing developing groove groove and it’s something overlooked by many guitar players. This one
aspect can really grab people. In this case it appears that everything is as it seems (from Brushy’s website and and some casual but but not particularly deep investigation). investigation). But the case of a well-known blues musician fabricating much of his past life to create a new persona, is a lesson on how people love a good back story story – even if it’s not not true. I’m not saying for a second that we should all go around making up
stuff about where we’re from or whatever, but if you’re courting mass attention (most songwriters?) then be aware of your story and if it might be interesting to the general population. If you got something good going on musically then a great story can really help get your attention. It’s something that PR companies have been using for decades of course but, again, these days many musicians do their own marketing (as well as everything else) so just be aware; take notice of what grabs grabs your your attention, attention, and think about how you can use these things to help your own career. Groove and time feel are things I’ve raved about plenty in these columns. But thinking outside the usual guitar box into elements you may have missed like songs, arrangements and marketing, might just help you to make a career out of a hobby. Safe travels! Get more info and links to related lessons on all Justin’s GT articles at www.justinguitar.com/gtmag www.justinguitar.com/gtmag
K A N I T
Intro
shena henan nigans igans SESSION s The studio guitarist’s guitarist’s guide to happiness happiness and personal fulfilment, fulfi lment, as related by session ace Mitch Dalton. This month: Strike Strike Up Up The Band!
A
t some point in what might be described loosely as a ‘career’, a guitarist’s thoughts turn to the idyllic notion of writing, arranging and performing his own music and presenting it to rapturous audiences in prestigious venues across the land. This fantasy often manifests itself half-way through recording a cat food commercial, in the midst of a TV variety show or even when becalmed on the M25 calculating the approximate number of hours late you’re going to be for the gig. In short, it seems like a good idea at the time. But before plunging into this putative world of creativity, self expression and fullment, ask yourself this inconvenient question: why are so many bandleaders a tad, well... grumpy? Is it nature or nurture? Were they born with a metaphorical silver baton in their collective foul mouths or did the tinsel ’n’glitter lure of Showbiz somehow turn them into sociopaths whose one remaining buddy is Jack Daniel’s? Let’s take an alliterative look at the root cause of the misanthropy behind the the music, the angst beneath the adulation and the breakdown behind the the beat. First off, you’re gonna need a hip combo to back you, daddy-o. For the sake of your sanity, you will be advised to restrict yourself to two or three top sidemen in your very own groove machine. In my experience the ideal number would be none, but this this is rarely practical. practical. Having hired the best available talent in their price range, you may consider that a day of rehearsal can only enhance the experience for audience and band alike. However, there’s little point in performing an availability check too early, merely to be disappointed later. Let’s say for the sake of argument that you request collective free dates in the month before the gig. If you’re lucky, you’ll nd two days that t. Thus encouraged, you choose one and book a prestigious rehearsal establishment with free parking and an intermittently functioning
coffee machine. And a snip at £10 per hour. You email conrmation to your paid accomplices. Within 30 minutes, minutes, the bassist texts you with minimum remorse to announce that has he has just taken a session on that morning. You put the kettle on and rebook your chums and venue for the one remaining day in the merry month. Next morning your keyboard genius
modest entertainment. With but a token addition to the greyness of your receding hairline, hairline, you repair repair to to the telephone for no more than a day and a half, hire a willing replacement, mail the music and CDs in advance of the rehearsal and continue with the remainder of your life. Which at this point consists mainly of writing and arranging new material in every spare
APPARENTLY YOUR YOUR MASTER WORKS WORKS ARE ALL TOO DIFFICULT, DIFFICULT, TOO EASY, TOO COMPLEX OR TOO LIGHTWEIGHT LIGHTW EIGHT colleague shares the news that he must be away by 5pm at the latest that day. Consequently, you arrange to cram the two three-hour sessions into one day by foregoing a formal lunch break and bringing a bag of Value Sandwiches, Sandwiches, to be distributed to the needy on an ad hoc basis. A week later, your your drummer drummer rings in a panic with the news that the superstar guitarist with whom he’s touring has added an extra date in Holland on the very day of your
moment, formatting it in Sibelius with the the aid of a 10-year-old child and printing it out, should your computer happen to be on speaking terms with the malevolent device residing beside it. (Top tip: Never underestimate the time it takes to stick all those pages of A4 together. And the the quantities quantities of paper and tape involved. Laugh if you must. But ignore me at your peril.) Fast forward to the great day itself (we’ll omit the reaction of your
colleagues at rehearsal to those agonisingly wrought tunes, which is not dissimilar to the distaste one sees when the cat has dragged something unpleasant into the house; apparently, your master works are all too difcult, difcult, too easy, easy, too complex or too lightweight often simultaneously). Somehow, after weeks of stress, the pieces of the jigsaw stumble into place. Parking. Set-up. Soundcheck. A bite bite to eat. And nally. nally. The gig. Where you discover that you you have forgotten entirely how to play the guitar; you appear to be reading unplayable music beamed from another planet, and those hilarious links between tunes die in the air the instant they escape your quivering lips. Don’t say you weren’t warned. I’ll be back next month. Meanwhile, here’s Lottie with the news and travel in your area. For more more on Mitch and and his musical exploits with the Studio Kings, go to: www.mitchdalton.co.u www.mitchdalton.co.uk k Mitch ponders the premise of forming one’s own band to play one’s own music
May 2018
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Intro INSTRUMENTAL
inquisition!
Guitar Guitar instru instrumentals mentals have supplied some of of music’s music’s most evocative moments. moments. We aske asked d some top guitar gu itarists ists for for their take on this this iconic iconic movement. movement. Today we meet one one of the the finest fusion guitarist guita ristss of them all: all : the brilliant brilliant Mike Stern. Mike Stern with his wellworn Yamaha signature guitar
GT: What is it about guitar instrumentals that appeals to you? MS: I love the sound of guitar, so that’s what appeals to me. GT: What can an instrumental provide a listener that a vocal song can’t? MS: I really like a vocal approach. I have been singing along with my guitar but even without the voice involved, I like to say something with melodies. melodies. Sometimes Sometimes you can play things instrumentally that are impossible to sing. GT: Are there any tendencies with instrumentals that you embrace or avoid (rhythms, harmony, playing approach, tones)? MS: I don’t think of it that way. When I’m writing a song, song, I try to make sure to carry the emotion behind the the inspiration inspiration of the song. If it’s exciting, if it’s sad, I want to keep that. What I include or exclude comes naturally as I’m writing. The heart comes frst.
GT: Is a typical song structure verse, chorus, middle eight, etc always relevant for creating a good instrumental? MS: No. I don’t mind a typical song form. But it doesn’t have to be that. GT: How useful is studying a vocalist’s vocalist’s approach when it comes to creating guitar melodies? MS: Very, very useful. For me, it’s very important important to try try and sound as vocal as as possible. possible. GT: How do you start writing one; is there a typical approach or inspiration for you? MS: Writing is a big challenge for me. It’s usually 10% inspiration, 90% perspiration. For most people, I think that holds true, if you are trying to write from the heart, and not mechanically. GT: What do you aim for when your performance is centre stage for the duration of the piece? 8
May 2018
E E L E N I R D N A S
