These videos and audio files are bonus content related to the Holiday 2014 issue of Guitar World. For the full range of interviews, features, tabs and more, pick up the new issue on newsstands now or at the Guitar World Online Store.
Last month I devoted this space to the guitar-playing wizardry of the late Johnny Winter, who passed away this past July 16, 2014, at the age of 70.
Previously, we examined Winter’s brilliant fingerstyle country-blues work, along the lines of his playing on the track, “Forever Lonely,” from Muddy Waters’ King Bee album. This month, I’d like to show you how Johnny directed these ideas into a more aggressive and inventive style of blues-rock rhythm guitar.
Winter’s 1977 release, Nothin’ But the Blues, served as a turning point in his career, as he dedicated himself from this point forward to blues music. His follow-up album, White, Hot and Blue, released in 1978, was equally powerful, featuring such standout blues covers as “Walking by Myself,” “Messin’ With the Kid,” “Diving Duck” and “EZ Rider,” as well as the original composition, “One Step at a Time,” a rocking shuffle in the key of A.
The examples in this month’s column reflect the style and approaches Johnny used on this particular track.
Jimi Hendrix: Signature Licks, a book/CD pack by Guitar World's Andy Aledort that's available now at the Guitar World Online Store, offers a unique and thorough examination of 12 of Jimi Hendrix's greatest compositions.
Each song segment is presented with all of the guitar parts fully transcribed, plus accompanying audio on CD, as performed by a full band. All solos, as well as complex rhythm parts, are also performed slowly for easier consumption and understanding.
Performance notes, outlining chord voicings, scale use and unusual techniques are included for each song.
Songs include "Foxey Lady,""Hey Joe,""Little Wing,""Purple Haze" and more.
Last month, we examined the guitar genius of the great Duane Allman, who, as founder of the Allman Brothers Band, rose to prominence as one of the greatest and universally heralded blues-rock guitarists of all time.
In honor of the expansive new box set from Rounder Records, Skydog: The Duane Allman Retrospective, we focused on his single-note soloing on classic Allman Brothers’ cuts like “Stormy Monday” and “Whipping Post.” This month’s column is dedicated to Duane’s mastery of the art of slide guitar.
Duane possessed an instantly recognizable sound on electric slide, earmarked by masterful phrasing and smooth, “singing” vibrato.
Great examples of his slide guitar prowess include “Trouble No More” and “Dreams” from the band’s debut release, The Allman Brothers Band; “Don’t Keep Me Wonderin’,” from Idlewild South; “Statesboro Blues” and “Done Somebody Wrong” from At Fillmore East; and “One Way Out” from Eat a Peach.
He also lent inspired slide work to the title track and many others on the Derek and the Dominoes album Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs.
Incredibly, Duane had been playing slide guitar for only about a year at the time of the band’s debut release. He recalled, “I heard Ry Cooder playing slide on Taj Mahal’s debut album, and I said, ‘Man, that’s for me.’ ” Brother Gregg Allman concurs. “He just picked it up and started burnin’. He was a natural.”
For slide playing, Duane wore a small glass Coricidin bottle (Coricidin was a cold medication) on his ring finger. He usually played slide in open tunings, most often open E (low to high, E B E G# B E) and occasionally open A (E A E A C# E). He also played slide in standard tuning on songs such as “Dreams” and “Mountain Jam.”
In the early days, Duane would retune his gold-top Gibson Les Paul between songs in order to play slide. Later, co-guitarist Dickey Betts gave Duane a two-pickup 1961 Gibson SG/Les Paul Standard that was used solely for slide playing. The design of the SG, with its double-cutaway body, is well suited to slide work, allowing easy access to the upper regions of the fretboard.
Duane chose to wear the SG high on his body to facilitate navigating the board overall. The musical examples in this column focus on the use of open E tuning for slide. FIGURE 1 illustrates how to tune to open E: the sixth, second and first strings are tuned normally (E, B and E); the fifth and fourth strings are tuned one whole step higher (A to B and D to E); and the third string is tuned one half step higher (G to G#). The resulting tuning is, low to high, E B E G# B E. Strumming across all of the open strings sounds an E major chord.
The same is true when barring or placing the slide across all of the strings at the 12th fret. Likewise, barring a finger or placing the slide across all of the strings at any given fret will form a major chord, as shown in FIGURE 2. A great majority of slide licks in open E tuning are formed by moving back and forth between a two-fret span of the fretboard.
FIGURE 3 illustrates one such pattern, which forms an E hybrid scale, one that combines elements of E minor pentatonic (E G A B D) and E major pentatonic (E F# G# B C#). Two notes are sounded on each string at either the 10th or 12th fret, and three notes are sounded on
the fifth string with the inclusion of Gs, at the ninth fret.
Practice this pattern by first fretting normally, and then play it using the slide. Some basic rules for slide playing: For proper intonation, you’ll want to, in most cases, position the slide directly over and parallel to the fret wire. Apply only enough pressure against the string to sound a note clearly; do not allow the slide to “bang” into the frets. Also, lightly lay unused fret-hand fingers across the strings behind the slide to help suppress unwanted overtones and ghost notes.
When playing slide, Duane fingerpicked exclusively, using his thumb, index and middle fingers to pick the strings. A major element in the uniqueness of his sound was his pick-hand muting techniques: while one finger picked a string, the other two were used for muting.
For example, when he picked a string with his thumb, his index and middle fingers would rest lightly on the higher strings, muting them; when he picked a string with his index finger, his thumb would mute the lower strings; and when he picked with his middle finger, he would mute the string with his thumb and index fingers. This technique afforded Duane’s slide playing unparalleled clarity and precision. An essential slide exercise involves sliding back and forth between notes of the E hybrid scale, with careful attention paid to playing “in tune.”
FIGURES 4 and 5 offer two different ways one can practice sliding to and from each note in this position. One of the most common vehicles for slide soloing in blues and rock is the 12-bar blues shuffle. FIGURE 6 illustrates a basic shuffle rhythm part played in the key of E using open E tuning. Use only conventional fretting (no slide) to perform this part. FIGURE 7 offers an example of how to play a slide solo over this rhythm part: repeatedly moving the slide back and forth (higher and lower) on the fretboard creates the sound of a slide vibrato.
The “width” of this movement, as well as the speed, is every player’s choice; strive to keep the center of the vibrato movement over the fret for proper intonation. The aforementioned “Statesboro Blues” and “One Way Out” are celebrated slide guitar masterpieces. FIGURE 8 illustrates a “Statesboro Blues”-like solo, and FIGURE 9 offers a solo in the style of “One Way Out.”
Work through each example carefully, and for inspiration, listen to the recordings and pay strict attention to every detail in Duane’s articulation.
These videos and audio files are bonus content related to the January 2015 issue of Guitar World. For the full range of interviews, features, tabs and more, pick up the new issue on newsstands now or at the Guitar World Online Store.
Over the last two issues, I’ve devoted this column to the incredible playing of John Dawson Winter III, known to most of us as Johnny Winter.
Johnny was a blues-rock guitar legend of the highest order and is regarded worldwide as one of the genre’s greatest and most influential players ever. He was also a wonderfully warm person, and I feel very privileged to have had the chance to get to know him.
Johnny’s initial burst onto the worldwide stage occurred in 1969 with the release of his Columbia debut, Johnny Winter, and, following the release of his critically acclaimed 1971 live album, Live Johnny Winter And, the guitarist briefly retreated from the public eye to deal with heroin addiction.
He returned in 1973 with the stunning Still Alive and Well album, which opens with a positively burning rendition of the B.B. King classic, “Rock Me Baby.” Just as Jimi Hendrix had done at the Monterey Pop Festival with the same song, Johnny took “Rock Me Baby” and completely reworked it into a tour de force of ferocious blues-rock virtuosity.
In the video below, Joe Satriani, Tosin Abasi (Animals as Leaders) and Guthrie Govan (the Aristocrats) sit down for a video conference with Guitar World Senior Editor Andy Aledort.
The topic? Their approach and thoughts about guitar, technique, inspiration and, of course, the upcoming G4 Experience.
More than a show, more than a seminar, more than a backstage pass, the G4 Experience will give you musical inspiration and ideas that will keep you playing for years to come.
For the G4 Experience, Satriani, Animals as Leaders (featuring Abasi, Javier Reyes and Matt Garska), the Aristocrats (Govan, Marco Minnemann and Bryan Beller) and Mike Keneally will be performing, teaching and offering attendees a chance to jam.
All of these players will be sharing their knowledge and musical insights with the campers and doing unique, close-up performances. The event also will feature Aledort, Doug Doppler, Bruce Bouillet and Stu Hamm.
The event takes place June 28 to July 2, 2015. For more information, visit g4experience.com.
These videos and audio files are bonus content related to the February 2015 issue of Guitar World. For the full range of interviews, features, tabs and more, pick up the new issue on newsstands now or at the Guitar World Online Store.
All things that are truly great only become greater with the passing of time, an attribute that can certainly be applied to the incredible music of the legendary Jimi Hendrix.
The power, passion, individuality and influence of Jimi’s instantly recognizable style are more apparent now than ever and his legacy will continue to grow as the years pass.
This month, I’d like to explore the intricacies of Hendrix’s soloing style with specific attention on phrasing, melodic content and groove.
One of the earmarks of Jimi’s 1969/1970 Band of Gypsys period was a focus on fat, funky grooves, provided by one of the rock’s greatest rhythm sections—drummer Buddy Miles and bassist Billy Cox.
The line-up of Jimi, Buddy and Billy occurred in order to fulfill a contractual obligation for an album, and the three musicians subsequently recorded the truly revolutionary Band of Gypsys album live, on New Year’s Eve, December 31, 1969. Throughout each track, Miles and Cox lay down a rock-solid foundation while Hendrix soars above, delivering consistently iconic performances.
Jimi Hendrix's stature as rock's greatest guitarist is by now an absolute and indisputable fact. In this month's edition of "In Deep," I'll examine his genius within the realm of rhythm guitar.
Let’s begin with a breakdown of the intro to the live version of “Little Wing,” transcribed in this issue [see page 136 of the December 2011 issue of Guitar World]. Before we begin, keep in mind that, as was his nature, Jimi never played any song exactly the same way twice.
Live or in the studio, he always strove for spontaneously inspired performances of every song. For guitarists, this offers a vast treasure of musical lessons to be learned when studying any one of Hendrix’s compositions.
This version of “Little Wing,” recorded at what is acknowledged as the Jimi Hendrix Experience’s greatest live performance—on February 24, 1969, at London’s Albert Hall—differs in many subtle but fascinating ways from the studio track heard on Axis: Bold as Love.
In the pickup and through bar 1, Jimi first strikes muted strings by lightly laying his fret hand across the fretboard. This is followed by an expressive slide down from the 12th fret; Jimi barres across the top two strings while lightly fretting the sixth string at the 12th fret by wrapping his thumb over the top of the fretboard.
Across beats three and four, he works off a 12th-position Em7 chord shape, striking different pairs of strings in conjunction with single notes to create a “chord/melody” effect.
In bar 2, Jimi plays a third-position G major chord by fretting the sixth-string bass note with his thumb and choosing not to barre the index finger across all six strings or fret the A string with the ring finger, which frees up his pinkie to embellish the chord with fast hammer-ons and pull-offs on the G and high E strings. The same approach is used for bar 3 over Am.
Notice how he moves smoothly from sounding pairs of strings to single notes while weaving an evolving and forward-moving rhythm part. Back over Em7 on bar 4, Jimi uses the seventh-position shape to execute a series of delicate hammer-ons and pull-offs, setting up the chord change to Bm in the next bar, which is also played in seventh position.
Using Bf to shift down to Am in fifth position, on beat two he begins with a ring-finger barre across the D, G and B strings at the seventh fret to hammer up to the ninth fret on the D string with the pinkie. This is followed by a full arpeggiation of C on beat three into incorporation of C/E on beat four, sliding up to E on the A string’s seventh fret.
Bar 7 features Hendrix’s signature “sliding sus2” voicings, as Gsus2 slides up to Asus2 and then down to Fsus2. Though the thumb is used to fret the low bass notes throughout, keep this finger loose as to limit the amount of pressure that the palm of the hand exerts against the back of the neck. In bars 8 and 9, Jimi utilizes fifth-string-root voicings of C and D major, wrapping up the intro with chord-melody figures based on D/Fs.
Let’s now expand on the rhythm techniques Jimi uses on this version of “Little Wing.” In FIGURE 1, I begin with the same G major voicing found in bar 2, but I incorporate more elaborate hammer-ons and pull-offs on the top three strings as well as utilize quick finger slides and hammer-ons based on the G major pentatonic scale (G A B D E).
Another great example of Jimi’s inventiveness with this chord form is heard on his Monterey Pop version of Bob Dylan’s “Like a Rolling Stone.” In FIGURE 2, I fret only the sixth, fourth and second strings while sliding between G and Fsus2 chord voicings, incorporating the open G string throughout to provide a powerful sustaining quality.
Similar in execution is Jimi’s rhythm part to the intro and verse sections of “Love or Confusion” from Are You Experienced. In FIGURE 3, I emulate this part by adding quick hammerons and pull-offs on the B and G strings within both the G5 and Fsus2 voicings. The “sliding sus2” chords of “Little Wing,” alluded to in FIGURE 4, also appear in another great Hendrix ballad, “Castles Made of Sand.” FIGURE 5 offers an extended version of sliding these chord forms up and down the fretboard.
Now let’s apply these techniques to a few chord progressions. In FIGURE 6, I move from sixth-string-root G, Am, Bm and C voicings back to G while adding quick hammers and pulls within each voicing. In FIGURE 7, a similar approach is taken for C-Bf-F along the lines of Hendrix’s classic “The Wind Cries Mary.” Live versions of this song reveal great inventiveness over the one chord, F, along the lines of FIGURES 8 and 9.
In FIGURE 10, fifth-string-root voicings are used to illustrate other chord embellishment ideas. As always, feel free to experiment with your own inventions once you have these techniques firmly under your fingers.
The last example, FIGURE 11, illustrates a few more commonly used Hendrix techniques for embellishing a sixth-string-root chord, with quick hammer/pulls on the G string followed by a chord resolution to A/Cs. You’ll hear great examples of this on Jimi’s “Bold as Love.”
These videos and audio files are bonus content related to the March 2015 issue of Guitar World. For the full range of interviews, features, tabs and more, pick up the new issue on newsstands now or at the Guitar World Online Store.
When going to an open jam, it’s important to be prepared to improvise over any one of the dozens of standard blues-type songs that are routinely played at jams all over the world.
Along with the typical 12-bar and eight-bar blues forms, there are a few specific songs that feature their own distinct patterns and forms.
One of these tunes is the Albert King classic, “Born Under a Bad Sign,” a track covered brilliantly by Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker on the essential Cream album, Wheels of Fire.
Cream played the song in the key of G, but it was originally recorded by King in the key of C#. The following examples are played in the song’s original key of C#.
In this edition of In Deep, we’ll examine some of the signature elements of the brilliant blues-rock guitarist Gary Moore’s stunning, immediately identifiable guitar style.
Born in 1952, in Belfast, Northern Ireland, Moore picked up the guitar at the age of eight, inspired by the music of Elvis Presley, the Shadows and the Beatles.
But his strongest influences were John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers guitarists Eric Clapton and Peter Green, as well as legendary electric blues progenitors Albert King, B.B King and Albert Collins. Another important influence was Jimi Hendrix; Moore would regularly include Hendrix’s slow blues “Red House” in his live shows.
Though Moore was often seen playing a beautiful Fiesta Red 1961 Strat, his signature sound is more closely associated with the beloved 1959 Les Paul Standard that he played for many years (see sidebar on page 36). He purchased that guitar from Peter Green in 1970 and, fittingly, used it to record his 1995 tribute to his mentor, Blues for Greeny.
Often, Moore would begin a song using the warm tone of his Les Paul’s neck pickup, with which he would perform melodic, vocal-like lines, then switch over to the bridge pickup for his solos to achieve a more aggressive and biting sound.
Moore often employed a fair amount of gain—courtesy of Marshall heads (often JTM45s), 4x12 basketweave Marshall cabinets and Marshall Guv’nor and Ibanez Tube Screamer pedals—and was known for conjuring tremendous sustain, such as the celebrated “endless note” featured in his live performances of his classic song “Parisienne Walkways.”
A great way to approach incorporating Gary Moore–style licks into your playing is to start with the most essential scale for blues/rock soloing, the minor pentatonic. FIGURE 1 shows the A minor pentatonic scale in fifth position.
The fingering I use for this scale is index-pinkie on the low E string, switching to index-ring finger for the rest of the scale. One of the unusual things about Moore’s style is that he preferred to use his middle finger in conjunction with his index for a great many of his licks, similar to the fretting approach of Gypsy jazz great Django Reinhardt. When playing this type of scale in this position, Moore would often use his index and ring fingers on the top two strings and the low E string but would switch to index-middle for all the other strings.
Occasionally, Moore would stick with the index-middle approach across virtually all of the strings, along the lines of FIGURE 2. In this lick, I start by barring the index finger across the top two strings at the fifth fret and use the middle finger to execute the quick half-step bends on the B string, as well as the fast hammer-ons and pull-offs across the B and G strings.
FIGURE 3 details a “traditional” fingering for descending the minor pentatonic scale in this position within groups of 16th-note triplets.
A staple of Moore’s soloing style was to unleash fast flourishes of notes, executed with free-form “crammed” phrasing that rushed over the top of the groove. He would balance these fiery blasts with simpler, more vocal-like phrases that would effectively pull his improvisations back into the groove. For many of these runs, Moore would rely on quick hammer-on/pull-off figures between pairs of notes on a given string, as demonstrated in FIGURES 4a and 4b.
In FIGURE 5a, I apply this concept to every string as I descend A minor pentatonic in a symmetrical fashion. FIGURE 5b offers a similar, albeit simpler, idea, and FIGURE 5c presents a similar approach applied to an ascending lick.
Further permutations on this concept are shown in FIGURES 6a–c. Once you’ve got a handle on these, try moving to other areas of the fretboard and apply the concepts to other keys, as demonstrated in FIGURES 7a and 7b.
FIGURE 8 offers an example of soloing in Gary’s style over a medium straight-eighths funk groove along the lines of his cover of Albert King’s “Oh, Pretty Woman.’
The title track of Moore’s hit album Still Got the Blues (a complete transcription of which appears in the May 2011 issue of Guitar World) featured a “cycle of fourths” chord progression more common to jazz than blues or rock.
FIGURE 9 is a melodic solo played over this type of progression in the key of Am. Notice that each phrase makes direct reference to the accompanying chord by targeting its third. Also, bar 6 features a fast pull-off lick to the open high E string, a technique Moore utilized in a great many of his solos.
These videos and audio files are bonus content related to the April 2015 issue of Guitar World. For the full range of interviews, features, tabs and more, pick up the new issue on newsstands now or at the Guitar World Online Store.
Part of my role as a member of former Allman Brothers Band guitarist Dickey Betts’ band, Great Southern (along with his son, guitarist Duane Betts), is to provide improvised rhythm guitar parts to songs that oftentimes develop into long jams with many instrumental solos.
In this type of musical environment, it’s essential for the rhythm guitars to keep the accompaniment interesting and moving forward while also laying down a solid groove for the soloists to play over.
Many of these songs—like “Blue Sky,” “In Memory of Elizabeth Reed” and “No One Left to Run With”—feature soloing sections built upon repeating chord vamps.
In this endeavor, I have developed a rhythm guitar approach that I can use in any of these jamming-type situations, which is to explore small chord voicings that connect to one another via voice leading techniques, such as close voicing.
Randy Rhoads, one of rock’s most brilliant and original guitarists, made his name on the strength of his spectacular playing on Ozzy Osbourne’s first solo efforts, Blizzard of Ozz and Diary of a Madman.
In this edition of In Deep, we’ll take a look at the live version of the Ozzy/Randy classic “I Don’t Know,” included with the 30th anniversary remaster of Blizzard.
Let’s begin with a quick rundown of Randy’s gear. On Blizzard of Ozz, Randy tuned his guitar to concert pitch (A=440) and used a standard .009–.042 string set.
For Diary, he tuned down one half step and switched to a set of .010–.046 strings. His main guitars during his time with Ozzy were his 1970 white Les Paul Custom, his custom-made Karl Sandoval polka-dot Flying V and his custom-made Jackson Flying V guitars: one black, and one white, which he christened the Concorde.
Randy’s primary amplifiers were Marshall model 1959 100-watt heads, most likely early Seventies versions with metal fronts, and he used a variety of MXR effect pedals, such as the Distortion +, Stereo Chorus, Flanger and 10-Band Graphic Equalizer, along with a Vox Cry Baby wah.
For the live version of “I Don’t Know,” Randy added a subtle twist to the song’s intro. As shown in FIGURE 1, after sliding down from the 17th-fret A root note on the sixth string, he plays a sequence of power chords—A5, B5/A and C5/A—against a palm-muted open A-string pedal tone, followed by G5-D5 and then a restatement of the opening theme.
In bar 8, he performs a series of pull-offs across all the strings except for the high E. For the first three C-B pull-offs on the B string, use a hard pick attack and your thumb graze the string to create the squealing “pinch harmonics” (P.H.), as Randy does.
On the studio version of the song, Randy played a simpler version of this pull-off lick, as illustrated in FIGURE 2a. In every version of “I Don’t Know,” Randy played something slightly different in this spot, which comes right before the verse vocal enters. Another signature variation is to play fast pull-offs on the G string from different fretted notes, as Randy often did at the end of the first chorus. An example of this is shown in FIGURE 2b.
The primary riff appears many times throughout the song, and Randy always spun variations on it, such as adding artificial and natural harmonics in different spots. FIGURE 3a includes a pinch harmonic on A in bar 1 and natural harmonics (N.H.) over both the G and D chords in bar 4. A natural harmonic is sounded by lightly laying a fret-hand finger directly above a specific fret as you pick the string. FIGURE 3b offers a string-bending variation that Randy would use across bars 3 and 4 of the riff.
Another great variation is the “neck-bending” trick shown in FIGURE 4. After sounding a natural harmonic at the G string’s fifth fret, secure the body of the guitar while pushing against the back of the headstock, which will cause the note to drop in pitch.
Exercise caution, however—Slash once cracked the neck on his favorite Les Paul by pushing just a little too hard. Randy’s adventurous nature inspired him to creatively interpret each section of the song, as he often did during the pre-chorus as well. FIGURE 5 illustrates his approach to the first pre-chorus on the new live version. Notice the ways in which he approaches the figures over F/G in bars 2, 4 and 6.
The bridge of “I Don’t Know” shifts to half time, and here Randy arpeggiates most of the chords in the progression by picking each note individually in succession and allowing them to sustain. See FIGURE 6. Randy’s live guitar solo includes a few subtle differences from the one he plays in the studio version.
The first four bars, based on the G blues scale (G Bb C C# D F) in 15th position, are shown in FIGURE 7. FIGURE 8 illustrates the next four bars, wherein Randy bends the B string while tapping onto the fretboard three frets higher with the edge of the pick, then trills between the open G string and Bf at the third fret while pushing on the string behind the nut, raising the pitch.
FIGURE 9 shows the end of the solo, with bars 1 and 2 based on a melodic “shape” that chromatically descends the fretboard, moving into a classic G blues scale/Aeolian (G A Bb C D Eb F) lick in bar 3.
This video is bonus content related to the July 2011 issue of Guitar World. For full print reviews, lesson tabs and more, look for the July 2011 issue of Guitar World on newsstands now! In this series of videos, Guitar World's Andy Aledort will break down everything you need to know to play the newly released live version of Ozzy Osbourne's "I Don't Know," featuring the otherworldly guitar playing of the late Randy Rhoads. The full transcription of the song, along with detailed notes can be found in the July 2011 issue of Guitar World. Figures 2-4
This video is bonus content related to the July 2011 issue of Guitar World. For full print reviews, lesson tabs and more, look for the July 2011 issue of Guitar World on newsstands now! In this series of videos, Guitar World's Andy Aledort will break down everything you need to know to play the newly released live version of Ozzy Osbourne's "I Don't Know," featuring the otherworldly guitar playing of the late Randy Rhoads. The full transcription of the song, along with detailed notes can be found in the July 2011 issue of Guitar World. Figures 5-6
This video is bonus content related to the July 2011 issue of Guitar World. For full print reviews, lesson tabs and more, look for the July 2011 issue of Guitar World on newsstands now! In this series of videos, Guitar World's Andy Aledort will break down everything you need to know to play the newly released live version of Ozzy Osbourne's "I Don't Know," featuring the otherworldly guitar playing of the late Randy Rhoads. The full transcription of the song, along with detailed notes can be found in the July 2011 issue of Guitar World. Figure 7
This video is bonus content related to the July 2011 issue of Guitar World. For full print reviews, lesson tabs and more, look for the July 2011 issue of Guitar World on newsstands now! In this series of videos, Guitar World's Andy Aledort will break down everything you need to know to play the newly released live version of Ozzy Osbourne's "I Don't Know," featuring the otherworldly guitar playing of the late Randy Rhoads. The full transcription of the song, along with detailed notes can be found in the July 2011 issue of Guitar World. Figure 8
This video is bonus content related to the July 2011 issue of Guitar World. For full print reviews, lesson tabs and more, look for the July 2011 issue of Guitar World on newsstands now! In this series of videos, Guitar World's Andy Aledort will break down everything you need to know to play the newly released live version of Ozzy Osbourne's "I Don't Know," featuring the otherworldly guitar playing of the late Randy Rhoads. The full transcription of the song, along with detailed notes can be found in the July 2011 issue of Guitar World. Figure 9
These videos and audio files are bonus content related to the May 2015 issue of Guitar World. For the full range of interviews, features, tabs and more, pick up the new issue on newsstands now or at the Guitar World Online Store.
When Joan Jett recorded the title track to I Love Rock ’N’ Roll, which was a cover version of a song originally released in 1975 by the British band the Arrows, little did she know that this pagan battle cry would in time earn her status as one of rock’s most iconic figures.
Upon its release in 1982, the song stayed at Number One on the Top 100 chart for seven weeks and has since been named Billboard’s 56th greatest rock song of all time.
Now, more than three decades later, Joan is still rockin’ hard, and rock and roll is still alive and well. In this extended edition of In Deep, we’ll examine the roots of true rock and roll guitar and its essential, foundational elements that were chiseled into stone by the style’s founding father—the immortal Chuck Berry—the man whose playing would inspire and inform many of the world’s greatest rock bands, from the Beatles and the Rolling Stones to AC/DC.
One of the small handful of records regarded as the “first” rock and roll song is “Rocket 88,” recorded in March 1951 by Jackie Brenston and his Delta Cats. Brenston was actually a horn player and singer in guitarist/keyboardist Ike Turner’s band, the Kings of Rhythm, and he is credited with writing “Rocket 88.”
roduced by Sam Phillips in Memphis and released on the Chess label, “Rocket 88” went straight to Number One and it’s incredible success enabled Phillips to launch Sun Records.
A true original, the late, great virtuoso guitarist Duane Allman led the Allman Brothers Band into rock history with his ferocious, deeply expressive and trailblazing guitar work.
Rounder Records offers ample testimony to the beauty as well as the breadth of Duane’s recorded work in the new, beautifully compiled box set Skydog: The Duane Allman Retrospective. In this edition of In Deep, we will examine some of the key elements of Duane’s signature style as a lead guitarist.
One of the best examples of the genius of Duane Allman can be found on the timeless, classic live album, At Fillmore East (1971), which captures the Allman Brothers Band live in concert at the peak of their powers.
Duane’s razor-sharp articulation and masterful touch abound, starting with the slide guitar tour de force “Statesboro Blues,” through the smoldering slow blues “Stormy Monday” and continuing through the fiery, aggressive solos performed on “Whipping Post,” “You Don’t Love Me” and other great tracks.
Duane’s rich, warm tone was achieved via his main ax, a 1958 tobacco sunburst Gibson Les Paul Standard, played through Marshall “Plexi” 50- and 100-watt heads, usually running two 4x12 Marshall bottoms. For additional distortion, he very occasionally used a Dallas-Arbiter Fuzz Face, usually in the studio.
A key to Duane’s virtuosity was the fact that, like Jimi Hendrix, he had extensive experience as a session guitarist, working closely alongside R&B greats like Wilson Pickett, Aretha Franklin and King Curtis. Through his studio work, Duane had developed a great sense of rhythm as well as a keen understanding of economy, in terms of phrasing.
This understanding resulted in improvised solos that remained cohesive and conversational no matter how long they stretched out or how far they roamed from the original starting point. For this column, let’s use two of Duane’s signature songs, “Stormy Monday” and “Whipping Post,” as our points of focus.
“Stormy Monday,” written and originally recorded by blues great T-Bone Walker, is played in the key of G. For soloing, Duane relied primarily on a few standard “bluesapproved” scales. FIGURE 1 illustrates a scale most guitar players are well familiar with, G minor pentatonic (G Bf C D F), as played in third position. FIGURE 2 illustrates the G blues scale, which is the same as G minor pentatonic but additionally includes the flatted fifth (f5), Df.
Most blues players move alternately between minor and major pentatonic scales based on the same root note. Eric Clapton and B.B. King are two great examples of guitarists whose solos are almost always based on a combination of these two scales. FIGURE 3 illustrates the G major pentatonic scale (G A B D E) in an extended pattern that diagonally traverses the fretboard from third to 12th positions.
Duane often used a soloing device that can be traced to B.B. King, one of his biggest influences. King’s signature soloing approach combines the notes of minor and major pentatonic scales in a very specific fretboard pattern, or “shape.” The pattern, known as “B.B.’s box,” is illustrated in FIGURE 4.
This small handful of notes can be ordered and phrased in nearly an infinite number of ways, resulting in many great blues licks. FIGURES 5–8 offer four different ways in which Duane would use this shape as a jumping off point to improvised solo ideas.
PART ONE OF THREE
Now let’s focus on soloing over a 12-bar slow blues form along the lines of “Stormy Monday” and in the style of Duane Allman, as illustrated in FIGURE 9.
I begin in bars 1 and 2 with a melodic idea based on G major pentatonic, but in bar 3, I morph into G minor pentatonic by overbending the second, A, up and step and a half to the fourth, C. At the end of bar 4 into bar 5, I apply the overbending technique to E, the sixth, bending that note all the way up to the G root note, repeating the melodic motif into bar 6.
When performing these bends, line up additional fingers behind the fretting finger—for example, reinforcing the ring finger with the middle finger or both the middle and index—to help it push the string. Doing so will give you better pitch control and stability when bending. The same is true for bend vibratos.
Throughout the remainder of the example, I limit my movement to the eighth and 10th positions to demonstrate that a great amount of melodic invention can be found without moving up and down the fretboard. The intent here is to create lines that are expressive and vocal-like while also evoking a bit of the Duane-like focused intensity.
For his “Whipping Post” solo, Duane drew primarily from the A Dorian mode (A B C D E Fs G), two fretboard patterns of which are shown in FIGURES 10 and 11. Both patterns are very useful for soloing, so you’ll want to memorize them thoroughly.
FIGURE 12 offers an eight-bar solo along the lines of Duane’s “Whipping Post” solo. The song is played in 12/8 meter, which affords a lot of room for rhythmic creativity, and Duane made the most of the opportunity every time he played it. I begin this solo with a wholestep bend from the A root up to the second, B, followed by subtle movement down through the notes of the A Dorian mode.
In bar 2, I play a quick repeated hammer/pull phrase that emphasizes two notes of a G major triad (G and B) before moving into a line based on A minor pentatonic (A C D E G).
Bar 5 offers a unique rhythmic superimposition that Duane used often. Another classic Duane-ism is illustrated in bar 7, as quick pulloffs on the top three strings alternate back and forth in an ascending-and-descending manner.
Try using your index and ring fingers to execute this phrase as well as your index and middle fingers and index and pinkie, or a combination of any of these. The aim should be, as always, clarity in execution.
These videos and audio files are bonus content related to the Holiday 2014 issue of Guitar World. For the full range of interviews, features, tabs and more, pick up the new issue on newsstands now or at the Guitar World Online Store.
Last month I devoted this space to the guitar-playing wizardry of the late Johnny Winter, who passed away this past July 16, 2014, at the age of 70.
Previously, we examined Winter’s brilliant fingerstyle country-blues work, along the lines of his playing on the track, “Forever Lonely,” from Muddy Waters’ King Bee album. This month, I’d like to show you how Johnny directed these ideas into a more aggressive and inventive style of blues-rock rhythm guitar.
Winter’s 1977 release, Nothin’ But the Blues, served as a turning point in his career, as he dedicated himself from this point forward to blues music. His follow-up album, White, Hot and Blue, released in 1978, was equally powerful, featuring such standout blues covers as “Walking by Myself,” “Messin’ With the Kid,” “Diving Duck” and “EZ Rider,” as well as the original composition, “One Step at a Time,” a rocking shuffle in the key of A.
The examples in this month’s column reflect the style and approaches Johnny used on this particular track.
Jimi Hendrix: Signature Licks, a book/CD pack by Guitar World's Andy Aledort that's available now at the Guitar World Online Store, offers a unique and thorough examination of 12 of Jimi Hendrix's greatest compositions.
Each song segment is presented with all of the guitar parts fully transcribed, plus accompanying audio on CD, as performed by a full band. All solos, as well as complex rhythm parts, are also performed slowly for easier consumption and understanding.
Performance notes, outlining chord voicings, scale use and unusual techniques are included for each song.
Songs include "Foxey Lady,""Hey Joe,""Little Wing,""Purple Haze" and more.
These videos and audio files are bonus content related to the January 2015 issue of Guitar World. For the full range of interviews, features, tabs and more, pick up the new issue on newsstands now or at the Guitar World Online Store.
Over the last two issues, I’ve devoted this column to the incredible playing of John Dawson Winter III, known to most of us as Johnny Winter.
Johnny was a blues-rock guitar legend of the highest order and is regarded worldwide as one of the genre’s greatest and most influential players ever. He was also a wonderfully warm person, and I feel very privileged to have had the chance to get to know him.
Johnny’s initial burst onto the worldwide stage occurred in 1969 with the release of his Columbia debut, Johnny Winter, and, following the release of his critically acclaimed 1971 live album, Live Johnny Winter And, the guitarist briefly retreated from the public eye to deal with heroin addiction.
He returned in 1973 with the stunning Still Alive and Well album, which opens with a positively burning rendition of the B.B. King classic, “Rock Me Baby.” Just as Jimi Hendrix had done at the Monterey Pop Festival with the same song, Johnny took “Rock Me Baby” and completely reworked it into a tour de force of ferocious blues-rock virtuosity.
In the video below, Joe Satriani, Tosin Abasi (Animals as Leaders) and Guthrie Govan (the Aristocrats) sit down for a video conference with Guitar World Senior Editor Andy Aledort.
The topic? Their approach and thoughts about guitar, technique, inspiration and, of course, the upcoming G4 Experience.
More than a show, more than a seminar, more than a backstage pass, the G4 Experience will give you musical inspiration and ideas that will keep you playing for years to come.
For the G4 Experience, Satriani, Animals as Leaders (featuring Abasi, Javier Reyes and Matt Garska), the Aristocrats (Govan, Marco Minnemann and Bryan Beller) and Mike Keneally will be performing, teaching and offering attendees a chance to jam.
All of these players will be sharing their knowledge and musical insights with the campers and doing unique, close-up performances. The event also will feature Aledort, Doug Doppler, Bruce Bouillet and Stu Hamm.
The event takes place June 28 to July 2, 2015. For more information, visit g4experience.com.
In this video from the vast Guitar World archives, Andy Aledort shows you how to play "Babe I'm Gonna Leave You," a track from Led Zeppelin's debut 1969 album.
An acoustic masterpiece, this song features a bittersweet circular chord progression presented as ringing, fingerpicked arpeggios. Particularly noteworthy is the way Jimmy Page spins numerous subtle melodic variations on the theme throughout the song (check out the one at 3:40 in the original recording), sweetening the aural pot with dramatic dynamic contrasts.
This might be one of the most perfectly recorded and mixed acoustic guitar tracks ever. Notice how, in the song’s intro, the “dry” (up-front and un-effected) acoustic guitar is in the left channel while the right channel is mostly “wet,” saturated in cavernous reverb.
Jimi Hendrix's stature as rock's greatest guitarist is by now an absolute and indisputable fact. In this month's edition of "In Deep," I'll examine his genius within the realm of rhythm guitar.
Let’s begin with a breakdown of the intro to the live version of “Little Wing,” transcribed in this issue [see page 136 of the December 2011 issue of Guitar World]. Before we begin, keep in mind that, as was his nature, Jimi never played any song exactly the same way twice.
Live or in the studio, he always strove for spontaneously inspired performances of every song. For guitarists, this offers a vast treasure of musical lessons to be learned when studying any one of Hendrix’s compositions.
This version of “Little Wing,” recorded at what is acknowledged as the Jimi Hendrix Experience’s greatest live performance—on February 24, 1969, at London’s Albert Hall—differs in many subtle but fascinating ways from the studio track heard on Axis: Bold as Love.
In the pickup and through bar 1, Jimi first strikes muted strings by lightly laying his fret hand across the fretboard. This is followed by an expressive slide down from the 12th fret; Jimi barres across the top two strings while lightly fretting the sixth string at the 12th fret by wrapping his thumb over the top of the fretboard.
Across beats three and four, he works off a 12th-position Em7 chord shape, striking different pairs of strings in conjunction with single notes to create a “chord/melody” effect.
In bar 2, Jimi plays a third-position G major chord by fretting the sixth-string bass note with his thumb and choosing not to barre the index finger across all six strings or fret the A string with the ring finger, which frees up his pinkie to embellish the chord with fast hammer-ons and pull-offs on the G and high E strings. The same approach is used for bar 3 over Am.
Notice how he moves smoothly from sounding pairs of strings to single notes while weaving an evolving and forward-moving rhythm part. Back over Em7 on bar 4, Jimi uses the seventh-position shape to execute a series of delicate hammer-ons and pull-offs, setting up the chord change to Bm in the next bar, which is also played in seventh position.
Using Bf to shift down to Am in fifth position, on beat two he begins with a ring-finger barre across the D, G and B strings at the seventh fret to hammer up to the ninth fret on the D string with the pinkie. This is followed by a full arpeggiation of C on beat three into incorporation of C/E on beat four, sliding up to E on the A string’s seventh fret.
Bar 7 features Hendrix’s signature “sliding sus2” voicings, as Gsus2 slides up to Asus2 and then down to Fsus2. Though the thumb is used to fret the low bass notes throughout, keep this finger loose as to limit the amount of pressure that the palm of the hand exerts against the back of the neck. In bars 8 and 9, Jimi utilizes fifth-string-root voicings of C and D major, wrapping up the intro with chord-melody figures based on D/Fs.
Let’s now expand on the rhythm techniques Jimi uses on this version of “Little Wing.” In FIGURE 1, I begin with the same G major voicing found in bar 2, but I incorporate more elaborate hammer-ons and pull-offs on the top three strings as well as utilize quick finger slides and hammer-ons based on the G major pentatonic scale (G A B D E).
Another great example of Jimi’s inventiveness with this chord form is heard on his Monterey Pop version of Bob Dylan’s “Like a Rolling Stone.” In FIGURE 2, I fret only the sixth, fourth and second strings while sliding between G and Fsus2 chord voicings, incorporating the open G string throughout to provide a powerful sustaining quality.
Similar in execution is Jimi’s rhythm part to the intro and verse sections of “Love or Confusion” from Are You Experienced. In FIGURE 3, I emulate this part by adding quick hammerons and pull-offs on the B and G strings within both the G5 and Fsus2 voicings. The “sliding sus2” chords of “Little Wing,” alluded to in FIGURE 4, also appear in another great Hendrix ballad, “Castles Made of Sand.” FIGURE 5 offers an extended version of sliding these chord forms up and down the fretboard.
Now let’s apply these techniques to a few chord progressions. In FIGURE 6, I move from sixth-string-root G, Am, Bm and C voicings back to G while adding quick hammers and pulls within each voicing. In FIGURE 7, a similar approach is taken for C-Bf-F along the lines of Hendrix’s classic “The Wind Cries Mary.” Live versions of this song reveal great inventiveness over the one chord, F, along the lines of FIGURES 8 and 9.
In FIGURE 10, fifth-string-root voicings are used to illustrate other chord embellishment ideas. As always, feel free to experiment with your own inventions once you have these techniques firmly under your fingers.
The last example, FIGURE 11, illustrates a few more commonly used Hendrix techniques for embellishing a sixth-string-root chord, with quick hammer/pulls on the G string followed by a chord resolution to A/Cs. You’ll hear great examples of this on Jimi’s “Bold as Love.”
In this edition of In Deep, we’ll examine some of the signature elements of the brilliant blues-rock guitarist Gary Moore’s stunning, immediately identifiable guitar style.
Born in 1952, in Belfast, Northern Ireland, Moore picked up the guitar at the age of eight, inspired by the music of Elvis Presley, the Shadows and the Beatles.
But his strongest influences were John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers guitarists Eric Clapton and Peter Green, as well as legendary electric blues progenitors Albert King, B.B King and Albert Collins. Another important influence was Jimi Hendrix; Moore would regularly include Hendrix’s slow blues “Red House” in his live shows.
Though Moore was often seen playing a beautiful Fiesta Red 1961 Strat, his signature sound is more closely associated with the beloved 1959 Les Paul Standard that he played for many years (see sidebar on page 36). He purchased that guitar from Peter Green in 1970 and, fittingly, used it to record his 1995 tribute to his mentor, Blues for Greeny.
Often, Moore would begin a song using the warm tone of his Les Paul’s neck pickup, with which he would perform melodic, vocal-like lines, then switch over to the bridge pickup for his solos to achieve a more aggressive and biting sound.
Moore often employed a fair amount of gain—courtesy of Marshall heads (often JTM45s), 4x12 basketweave Marshall cabinets and Marshall Guv’nor and Ibanez Tube Screamer pedals—and was known for conjuring tremendous sustain, such as the celebrated “endless note” featured in his live performances of his classic song “Parisienne Walkways.”
A great way to approach incorporating Gary Moore–style licks into your playing is to start with the most essential scale for blues/rock soloing, the minor pentatonic. FIGURE 1 shows the A minor pentatonic scale in fifth position.
The fingering I use for this scale is index-pinkie on the low E string, switching to index-ring finger for the rest of the scale. One of the unusual things about Moore’s style is that he preferred to use his middle finger in conjunction with his index for a great many of his licks, similar to the fretting approach of Gypsy jazz great Django Reinhardt. When playing this type of scale in this position, Moore would often use his index and ring fingers on the top two strings and the low E string but would switch to index-middle for all the other strings.
Occasionally, Moore would stick with the index-middle approach across virtually all of the strings, along the lines of FIGURE 2. In this lick, I start by barring the index finger across the top two strings at the fifth fret and use the middle finger to execute the quick half-step bends on the B string, as well as the fast hammer-ons and pull-offs across the B and G strings.
FIGURE 3 details a “traditional” fingering for descending the minor pentatonic scale in this position within groups of 16th-note triplets.
A staple of Moore’s soloing style was to unleash fast flourishes of notes, executed with free-form “crammed” phrasing that rushed over the top of the groove. He would balance these fiery blasts with simpler, more vocal-like phrases that would effectively pull his improvisations back into the groove. For many of these runs, Moore would rely on quick hammer-on/pull-off figures between pairs of notes on a given string, as demonstrated in FIGURES 4a and 4b.
In FIGURE 5a, I apply this concept to every string as I descend A minor pentatonic in a symmetrical fashion. FIGURE 5b offers a similar, albeit simpler, idea, and FIGURE 5c presents a similar approach applied to an ascending lick.
Further permutations on this concept are shown in FIGURES 6a–c. Once you’ve got a handle on these, try moving to other areas of the fretboard and apply the concepts to other keys, as demonstrated in FIGURES 7a and 7b.
FIGURE 8 offers an example of soloing in Gary’s style over a medium straight-eighths funk groove along the lines of his cover of Albert King’s “Oh, Pretty Woman.’
The title track of Moore’s hit album Still Got the Blues (a complete transcription of which appears in the May 2011 issue of Guitar World) featured a “cycle of fourths” chord progression more common to jazz than blues or rock.
FIGURE 9 is a melodic solo played over this type of progression in the key of Am. Notice that each phrase makes direct reference to the accompanying chord by targeting its third. Also, bar 6 features a fast pull-off lick to the open high E string, a technique Moore utilized in a great many of his solos.
