Guitar Strength: Some Paul Gilbert-Style, Sequenced String-Skipping Arpeggios Posted 03/30/2012 at 9:03am | by Scott Marano

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Guitar Strength: Slippery, Sliding, Open-Voiced, String-Skipping 7th Arpeggios

One of the especially cool things about a guitar is the fact that there are almost always at least a few ways to play the same notes.

This fact allows (and forces) us guitarists to explore the different possibilities available through experimentation with alternate fingerings, picking strategies and phrasing. Often, while there are many ways to play the exact same notes, there is usually a ―magic‖ fingering and picking pattern that allows for the easiest and most effective execution of the phrase.

As an advocate of this ―following the path of least resistance‖-type of efficiency, guitar guru Paul Gilbert has come up with a great deal of influential ideas, but one of his most useful and technically streamlined is that of string skipping arpeggios. With this technique, instead of playing the common ―finger-rolled barre‖ or similarly inefficient sweep picked arpeggio shape depicted in Example 1a, you would move the B string note to its equivalent on the G string and switch to alternate picking instead of sweep picking (Examples 1b and 1c).

Examples 2a-c and 3a-c show the major and minor flat 5 shapes, respectively.

Note that your roots are both the D string note and the index finger E string note, and that the pattern conveniently has an ―outside‖ picking pattern with all of the down-strokes falling on the downbeats when alternate picking is used.

The efficiency of these shapes can be further enhanced by the use of convenient legato phrasing when adjacent notes are found on the same string. When performing the arpeggios this way, the right hand still moves as if it were alternate picking, simply moving rhythmically without making contact with the string when a note is phrased legato. This allows for a better physical connection with the groove through the down-picked downbeats, which gain a sharpened attack following the preceding unpicked upstrokes, while allowing the licks to be played easily and cleanly at accelerated speeds.

Example 4 is a demonstration of the ―up and down‖-style arpeggios commonly heard in sweep-picking-type progressions, but the combination of the rhythmic picking and legato gives the lick a completely different feel. Pay extra attention to the movement of your right hand in even 16th notes, regardless of whether the note being played is picked or not. Try this type of lick with your favorite progressions, moving the shapes (major, minor or minor b5) relative to the D or E string roots.

Another benefit of these shapes is their ability to be sequenced into many melodically and rhythmically interesting patterns that would be nearly impossible (and completely impractical) to perform via any other means.

Check out example 5 for some ideas that should inspire you to master this concept and come up with your own permutations using your own progressions. Try practicing each bar as their own pattern and then combine both as a repeating pattern.

For a twist on this sequencing idea, check out Example 6, inspired by late '80s/early '90s guitar hero Nuno Bettencourt of the band Extreme (check out their Pornograffitti album for some awesome guitar playing and tone). For those of you old enough, think Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure at the mall and you’ll get the idea.

Finally, Example 7 is my homage to Paul Gilbert, featuring a Bach-inspired progression in a keyboard-esque (but much cooler on a distorted guitar!) sequence. Be aware of the slight fingering shift in bar3, C to C#m (b5), and the movement of the shape between the 14th and 11th positions in the 4th bar.

Use this technique with face-melting leads, but also look into the potential to use it as a clever, percussive rhythm guitar approach (especially when used with varying degrees of palm muting and dynamics). These shapes also sound great when synced up rhythmically with a digital delay, Gilmour/Edge-style.

Get down the patterns, focus and get some speed with them with proper physical movement, plan out a few sequences and progressions of your own, turn it up, then LET GO of yourself and feel the MUSIC. Happy shredding!

Tapper's Delight: 20 Challenging Tapping Licks Posted 06/17/2013 at 12:18pm | by Guthrie Govan

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Guthrie Govan guides you through 20 challenging tapping licks!

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Last Licks: How to Perform Fretboard Tapping

Fretboard tapping has earned a bad name in certain sectors of the guitar community. Some players dismiss it as a technique suitable only for perpetrating the worst possible kind of overblown, unmusical histrionics, preferably played through a wall of amps that ―go to 11.‖

If you feel that way, then you probably haven’t even managed to read this far. But for those of you who are still undecided about tapping, I would urge you to view the technique simply as an easy way to play notes you could never reach otherwise.

If you think of your tapping fingers as extensions of your fretting hand, you’ll find it easier to imagine how this technique can benefit virtually any style of playing.

Track Record In the world of rock, Van Halen’s self-titled 1978 debut album heralded a tapping craze that soon caught on like wildfire. In the years following the album’s release, gifted guitarists such as Randy Rhoads, Joe Satriani and Steve Vai used the technique in their own landmark recordings. If you want to hear tapping taken to new heights of invention, check out Freak Kitchen by Mattias Eklundh and Normal by Ron Thal (a.k.a. Bumblefoot). Tone For tapping, many players opt to use their guitar’s bright-sounding bridge pickup and a heavily distorted, or at least overdriven, tone, which serves to compresses the dynamic (volume) range of the electric guitar’s signal, amplifying the quieter notes and increasing sustain, although players like Stanley Jordan manage to tap with a very clean, neck-pickup sound. When tapping with a clean tone, you’ll find that a compressor can even out dynamics and add sustain.

Technique Most tapping is performed on one string at a time using either the middle or index finger of the picking hand, depending on if, and how, you’re holding a pick. Some players will momentarily tuck the pick into their palm or cradle it in the crook of one of their knuckles when they go to tap and

maneuver it back into its normal position (typically between the thumb and index finger) when they go to pick again.

This magician-like sleight-of-hand can take a bit of practice to attain, and for this reason many players prefer to just keep the pick in its normal place and tap with the closest available finger, typically the middle. Experiment and use whichever technique works best for you. Eddie Van Halen holds his pick between his thumb and middle finger and taps with his index finger, and Rhoads tapped with the edge of his pick, which produces a very distinct articulation. (Listen closely to Rhoads’ classic solos in Ozzy Osbourne’s ―Crazy Train‖ and ―Flying High Again‖ to hear the subtle difference in his tapping attack.)

Your speed and proficiency will increase if you minimize your movements and keep all relevant fingertips close to the strings when not in use so that they never have far to go at any given time. Depending on whether or not you’re holding a pick when tapping, you may find that resting, or ―anchoring,‖ the thumb or heel of your tapping hand to the top side of the fretboard helps stabilize and steady the hand and increase the accuracy of your tapping movements.

The easiest way to train the fingers of your tapping hand is to learn from the way you perform hammer-ons and pull-offs with the more experienced fingers of your fretting hand. The following principles hold true for both hands:

• If you’re hammering a note, the force of your hammering motion will dictate its volume. The harder you hammer/tap, the louder the note. • If you’re pulling off to a note, its volume is a function of how far you flick the string sideways (either toward the floor or ceiling) with the finger responsible for fretting the preceding note. This sideways flicking, or pulling, motion actually serves to pluck the string again and is what keeps it vibrating. If you were to just lift the finger directly off the string, the following note would be weak and barely audible. (Note that when tapping with a pick, the ―pulled-off‖ note tends to be louder than normal due to the pick’s hard surface striking the string.)

Muting Distortion amplifies the sympathetic vibrations of unfretted strings. When tapping, you should make a concerted effort to dampen any idle strings with various parts of both hands, something that requires a bit of practice and experimentation to figure out and master. To that end, many players will place a piece of foam or fabric against the strings in front of the nut. In addition, a cheap elastic-core hair tie stretched over the headstock and positioned over the fretboard is convenient for damping the open strings.

If you’re new to tapping, allow your fingertips time to toughen up and develop the necessary calluses. Hopefully, the rest will become clear as we go. We have a lot of licks to look at in this lesson, ranging from classic hard rock and metal lines to sequencer-like patterns and bluesy runs to jazzy arpeggios, so let’s dive in.

This is arguably the most versatile approach to tapping. A lick like this could sit comfortably in any rock, metal, blues, country or fusion context without necessarily invoking visions of Eighties-era spandex fashion statements. The recorded performance of this example on this month’s CD-ROM

may sound reminiscent of Eddie Van Halen’s tone, but players of diversely different styles, ranging from Billy Gibbons, Brian May and Larry Carlton, have all dabbled in this approach.

There’s a strong argument here for using the middle finger of your pick hand to tap. By doing so, you can retain the pick in its conventional position and easily revert to picking at a moment’s notice. You can improve your accuracy if you anchor the heel of your tapping hand to the wound strings. This will also help mute unwanted string vibration while it allows you to keep a grip on the pick. One tricky aspect of tapping a bent note like this is that the string moves closer to its neighbor (in this case, the D string), so you have to be extra careful to ensure that your tapping finger only makes contact with the G string. Try to bend the G string with your fret-hand ring finger while you simultaneously push the D string up slightly with the tip of that hand’s middle finger. This can help create more clearance between the two strings and provide a little more margin for error.

The following five examples serve as a great tapping primer, and there’s no other way to play arpeggio ideas like these with the same level of fluidity.

FIGURE 2 presents a classic Van Halen–style single-string triad tapping lick. This is the famous ―Eruption‖ triad. To make this sound effective, the tapping finger must execute a strong pull-off as it leaves the ninth fret, thus ensuring that the Cs at the second fret rings out as prominently as its predecessor. You should also attempt to preserve a strict triplet rhythm, with every note equal in duration and volume.

Incidentally, there’s no single ―right‖ way to execute a pull-off with the tapping finger. Some players prefer to flick the string upward, while others find it easier to flick it downward. Experiment with both approaches to find out which integrates more easily with the natural angle of your tapping hand and allows you to dampen the idle strings more effectively.

FIGURE 3 is a variation on the previous figure. Here, the order of two notes played by the fretting hand is reversed. It’s important that you become familiar with both approaches so that you can move on to ideas like the one shown in FIGURE 4, where the arpeggio goes all the way down and back up again, enabling you to move away from the ubiquitous triplet rhythm and phrase licks in even 16th notes.

Here’s another twist, reminiscent of Van Halen’s tapping licks in ―Spanish Fly‖ and ―Hot for Teacher‖ and Satriani’s ―Satch Boogie.‖ In this lick, the first finger of your fretting hand has to pull off to the open A string, preferably without disturbing the D string in the process. As ever, careful attention to damping and accurate timing of each note are the keys to making this lick flow clearly. To sound the

very first note, pluck the open A string with your tapping finger. Once you’ve gotten the string moving, all the subsequent open A notes are pulled-off to with the fretting hand.

FIGURE 6 demonstrates how you can outline a chord progression with triad inversions. Notice how the lick lets you arpeggiate four different chords without moving either hand far from its starting point. This is done by analyzing the component notes of each chord and placing them so that they all fit into roughly the same area of the fretboard.

The tapping sequence is similar to that found in FIGURE 5, but since we’re tapping the highest note twice, the sequence is now six notes long. Players such as Rhoads and Nuno Bettencourt have used this variation to great effect.

This next example isn’t reminiscent of any rock players and is intended to show how you can use tapping to create something a little bit different. If you start by looking purely at the B-string notes, you’ll see that the tapped notes outline a rhythm known in Latin music as the 3:2 clave: if you’re a fan of the bossa nova style, you’ll have heard this rhythm before. In this example, the fretting hand essentially does whatever is needed to fill in the gaps between the all-important tapped notes.

Once you’re familiar with the phrasing pattern, include the notes on the high E string, which adds a harmony to the B-string notes. Try tapping with either your index and middle fingers or the middle and ring (on the B and high E strings, respectively). The trickiest part here is arching your fret-hand fingers sufficiently so that the open E string is not muted by the underside of your index finger. Try to think like a classical player, keeping the thumb of your fretting hand based around the middle of the back of the neck.

FIGURE 8 demonstrates how you can use tapping in conjunction with finger slides to cover a lot of the fretboard in a short amount of time and achieve a smooth legato effect. The note choice here is derived from the A Aeolian mode (A B C D E F G), but you can design similar licks using the notes of any seven-note scale.

At slow speed, it can be tricky to squeeze seven evenly spaced notes into each beat—most of the popular music we hear tends to divide the beat into twos, threes or multiples thereof, so a grouping of seven might sound a little unfamiliar—but you’ll find that this becomes less of a problem at faster tempos. Simply aim to nail each new beat with a tapped note, and you’ll find that the notes in between will tend to distribute themselves evenly as you speed things up.

Here’s an interesting twist on the single-string scalar tapping approach. The first 10 notes look normal enough, but by the 11th you see that the fretting hand has leapt past the tapped note, to the 12th fret to perform a fret-hand tap, also known as a ―hammer-on from nowhere.‖ The tapped note needs to be held at the 10th fret as the fretting hand quickly zooms up to the 12th fret, and you’ll need to be careful to ensure that the two hands don’t collide.

This lick won’t be for everyone, and it’s not particularly easy. On the other hand, it’s a useful approach whenever you’re trying to work out a fingering for something and it feels like you simply don’t have enough strings. This bypassing technique also has a certain flamboyant visual appeal, so it should come as no surprise to learn that Steve Vai was employing it as far back as the early Eighties.

This example is inspired by Bumblefoot. The important part here is the first half of bar 1; the lazy approach would be to play two evenly spaced groups of five, but you get a wholly different effect if you prolong the two D notes (at the 10th and 22nd frets) and squeeze all the other notes into a shorter space of time. If you’re having trouble with the seven-fret stretch here, you could instead play 13-15-16-17 on the first string instead of 13-15-17-20. It doesn’t sound quite as cool to me, but it’s still a great lick.

Regarding the rhythmic phrasing of this lick, in FIGURE 8 we saw how an odd number of notes tends to be distributed evenly throughout a beat as you increase speed. Sometimes, however, it can

be fun to resist that tendency and preserve a more distinct rhythmic contour, as we do here. The ear can still identify distinctions between the rhythmic values of the notes even when they are played at ridiculously high speeds.

Here’s something a little more conventional. The idea is to play a blues lick with the fretting hand while highlighting certain notes by tapping them an octave higher. This is somewhat reminiscent of Nuno Bettencourt’s or Mattias Eklundh’s soloing styles. The most challenging aspect of this lick is that you have to clearly and loudly hammer the first note on each new string with your fret-hand’s index or middle finger. This may feel a little weird at first, given that the index finger spends the bulk of its time acting more like a fleshy capo rather than as an independent hammering digit, so focus on executing the first-finger hammer-ons as cleanly as possible. This will be time well spent, as some of the subsequent licks will require much the same skill.

With regard to the final bent note: your tapping finger’s only role here is to hammer the note and then keep the string pushed down onto the fret while the fret-hand middle finger bends the string. As indicated, hammer the last note in the bar 1 with your middle finger, but once the tapped note has been initiated, there’s no harm in enlisting the fret hand’s ring finger to assist with the bend. As always, do whatever it takes to perform the job with the least amount of effort, pain and intonation issues.

Now for some more Van Halen–style fun. This lick is loosely modeled on a famous lick from ―Hot for Teacher,‖ and it’s based on the A blues scale (A C D Ef E G). As with FIGURE 5, there’s a strong argument in favor of plucking the first note of the lick with your tapping finger. After that, each new string is greeted by a hammer-on, courtesy of the fret-hand’s ring finger. Hopefully you’ll find this easier than the first-finger hammering required in the previous example.

FIGURE 13 illustrates a scalar fingering approach favored by players like Greg Howe (who is featured in this month’s Betcha Can’t Play This, page 32). The fingering doesn’t incorporate any particularly wide intervals, and you could feasibly play the whole of the first two bars using strict left-hand legato, but by using the tapping hand to share some of the work you should be able to get more volume out of the lick while sparing your fretting hand from undue fatigue.

Here’s the downside: the tapped notes often fall in unusual places within the bar (rather than, say, on the downbeats), so this approach may feel a bit unnatural at first. Having said that, Howe’s exemplary playing is ample testimony to what can be done with this approach if you devote some time to it.

Here’s another scalar tapping concept. Most players would simply hammer the first note on each string with the first finger of the fretting hand, but the approach suggested in the tab here is based on the way Reb Beach (of Winger, Dokken, Night Ranger and now Whitesnake) would do it. Reb taps with his middle finger, so for ascending sequences he’ll use the ring finger of his tapping hand to pluck the first note on each new string. This may feel odd at first, but it undeniably gives you more volume and definition, particularly if you prefer not to use a lot of distortion.

If you go to any guitar show or music fair and head toward the ―pointy guitar‖ booths, you’ll hear a veritable army of players churning out the following lick furiously and repeatedly. It’s a simple example of a ―sweep-and-tap‖ arpeggio, which can be viewed in three sections.

Section 1 (the first five notes) involves dragging the pick downward across the strings in a single stroke to outline the first five notes of this C major arpeggio. Ideally, each fret-hand fingertip should relax slightly at the end of its designated note to ensure that only one note is ringing at a time. By moving the whole picking hand downward as you sweep, you should be able to utilize your palm for a bit of extra string damping. High-gain settings are pretty much de rigueur for this kind of lick, so you can never be too careful when it comes to muting unplayed strings with both hands.

Section 2 (beginning with the sixth note) requires that you hammer the G at the 15th fret while bringing your tapping finger into position. The first three notes of beat two should then remind you very much of what we did back in FIGURE 3.

Section 3 involves the last three notes of beat two. You could either sweep these notes with a single upstroke of the pick, or do what most players prefer and use fret-hand hammer-ons while repositioning the picking hand for the next big downstroke sweep on beat three.

Note that most of this lick involves techniques other than tapping, yet that one tapped high C note makes all the difference, adding a pleasingly soft quality to the top half of the arpeggio and contrasting nicely with the more percussive sound of sweep picking.

FIGURE 16 is an example of another approach to playing arpeggios, this one incorporating more taps, plenty of fret-hand hammer-ons and no sweeping whatsoever, resulting in a more fluid sound. Check out shredders like Scott Mishoe to hear this approach in action. This example marks the first instance in which we’ve encountered a slid tapped note. You’ll find the key here is to slide with authority and to ensure the fingertip is constantly pushing on the string. Otherwise you run the risk of losing the note, particularly as you slide back downward. However, don’t press the tapping finger against the string any harder than is necessary, as doing so will create excessive friction that will slow you down and actually make the tap-and-slide more difficult than need be.

Here’s the same concept applied to a blues scale. Note that this and the preceding pattern are symmetrical, essentially featuring the same shape on each subsequent pair of strings.

This run starts out as a signature Paul Gilbert string-skipping lick, then moves into tapping territory. Musically, all the notes (apart from that pesky C in bar 2) are from a Gm7 arpeggio (G Bf D F), but the overall effect is closer to that of a warp-speed G minor pentatonic (G Bf C D F) blues lick. The slides toward the end of bar 1 span four frets, so they’re a little trickier than the single-fret slide in FIGURE 16, but the principle is the same.

Here’s another arpeggio-playing approach that incorporates string skipping and tapping. Michael Romeo of Symphony X is rather partial to this approach.

If you’re not averse to a bit of fret-hand stretching, FIGURE 20 offers a versatile approach to playing major seven arpeggios. It has the same symmetrical qualities as FIGURES 16 and 17 and incorporates string skipping by cramming each octave’s worth of Cmaj7 arpeggio notes (C E G B) onto a single string.

Guitar Strength: Get “Scary” with These Rut-Busting Licks Inspired by “Mr. Scary,” George Lynch

Posted 10/31/2013 at 4:33am | by Scott Marano

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Scott Marano offers up some rut-busting licks inspired by “Mr. Scary” himself, George Lynch.

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Interview: George Lynch Discusses His New Solo Album, 'Kill All Control'

Since the early 1980s, soulful shred sensei Lynch — AKA "Mr. Scary" — has challenged the boundaries of his abilities, constantly evolved with the times and kept his playing fresh.

While Lynch’s adventurous style is difficult to emulate, bust out of a rut and get some harmonically fresh and physically engaging ―Scary‖-ness in your playing with these ―Mr. Scary‖-inspired licks!

Scary lick 1 is an E diminished 7 (E, G, Bb, Db) symmetrical string skipping tap pattern on the G and high E strings. The diminished7 arpeggio pattern (R, b3, b5, bb7) can be visualized on the guitar as notes occurring every three frets from the root on the same string (For example, an open E string root would use the 3rd, 6th, 9th, 12th, 15th, 18th and 21st frets in a repeating single string E dim7 arpeggio).

Since G is a note in E dim7, and G and E are both open strings, symmetrical fretting works across both strings and all the way up the fretboard. The pattern in the lick on both the E and G strings is frets 9, 12, 15, 18, 21 (on the high E). Tap the 18th fret with your pick hand middle finger and fret the 9th-12th-15th stretch with index-middle-pinky, respectively (the 21st fret is slid into with a slide of the tapping finger with the note still ringing after the initial tap at the 18th).

Scary Lick 1a is the lick in 4/4 time with an ―accelerator‖ shift to sextuplets from sixteenths (6s from 4s) on beat 3. Scary Lick 1b is the pattern looped evenly in ¾ time (also try looping it indefinitely over 4/4 time for a trippy off-center effect). Check out how this lick grabs your attention yet blends seamlessly in an E Dorian/Blues context (as it has the E and G from Em, the Db/C# from E Dorian, and the Bb from E blues).

Scary Lick 2a features a major triad shape ascending diagonally up the fretboard a tritone (A.K.A. ―The Devil’s Interval," and the Diabolus in Musica) at a time. Kirk Hammett famously ―borrowed‖ a lick similar to this Lynch lick on a certain …And Justice For All track. Lynch’s version can be heard in his searing ―Kiss of Death‖ solo (Back for the Attack, Dokken). Notice the fingering in the notation and move the triad shapes up a string and position at a time using economy picking. Scary Lick 2b is a sequence with the shapes using a ―1-2-3, 2-3-4, 3-4-5‖ type pattern.

Scary Lick 3 uses Lynch’s infamous ―Gothic Octave‖ shape (illustrated in the lick as the 4th, 5th and 9th frets on the E and A strings, played across 3 octaves), with tapped notes a fret higher than the pinky notes in the shape. There are a lot of ―cluster‖ notes interacting inside of this lick, yet the clusters are spread out intervalically, so there’s also a lot of attention-grabbing movement in it.

This lick will work (in different ways) when played quickly and with conviction in F#m/A Major, C#m/E Major and G#m/B Major. Try ending it with some more tap sliding to the ―money‖ notes in the key that you’re trying to fit it in.

Practice these licks until you’re comfortable with performing them at a brisk pace, and then try channeling the spirit of Mr. Scary by using these licks as a springboard for further experimentation in and around them. Dial in a deadly tone, get fiery with your phrasing, and rock a vicious vibrato.

Guitar Strength: Rip Up the Fretboard with Three-Note-Per-String Pentatonics Posted 10/25/2013 at 11:49am | by Scott Marano

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As guitar players' tastes and abilities evolve, and they begin to gravitate toward an appreciation for, and desire to learn, more technically demanding music, the pentatonic scale often gets a bad rap.

It's often considered cliché and not as impressive as three-note-per string (3NPS) diatonic scales. But if you love loud, distorted guitar, somewhere early on in your development as a player you were turned on to the minor pentatonic ―box‖ shape, such as the Am pentatonic in Example 1A, and its adjacent shape, the C major (A minor’s relative major) ―box‖ in Example 1B.

Mindful of the redundant notes shared between the shapes, Example 1C combines the two boxes into one 3NPS scale.

Unfortunately, while this 3NPS fingering immediately opens up a myriad of technical possibilities for re-harmonizing any already perfected diatonic run, there can sometimes be a problem with repeated ―double‖ notes as you cross from string to string.

Example 2 shows how this problem can be an asset by utilizing a fairly popular 3NPS pattern with the new pentatonic fingering.

As a coincidence of the pattern’s contour, the lick emphasizes the repeated notes on adjacent strings (three times in a row in beats 1 and 3, and 2x in beats 2 and 4 of each measure). Play it hard, tight and rhythmic, and manipulate the dynamic differences between the picked notes and the palm-muted legato hammers and you’ll see the possibilities!

Example 3 combines tapping and legato and avoids any doubling/repeated notes while creating a cool melodic sextuplet pattern of ―down 5, up 1, restart one higher." Be sure to note the ―hammer-on-from-nowhere‖ that begins the latter third of each sextuplet and the subsequent hammer-on to the next higher note in the scale.

Start slow and hit/pull every note hard and in rhythm until you get the feel for the tapped ―launch‖ of each sextuplet. I expect you’ll immediately see how this same pattern can be re-purposed with notes

from diatonic 3NPS scales. I recommend experimenting with combinations of this and the same pattern using the related 3NPS diatonic scales.

Explore different string crossings/directions, string skipping, etc., while alternating and mixing different permutations of the basic lick.

Emphasizing the "pentatonic-ness" of the fingering, Example 4A is an extremely-easy-to-execute picking pattern that climbs the neck through the remaining positions of the scale and demonstrates the visceral power of these combined fingerings when they’re torn through appropriately.

Example 4B is a variation on the same pattern with an intelligently applied legato phrasing in the second half of each beat (Rip into the upstroke that launches the pulls).

As always, I encourage you to use these examples as an inspiration to explore the possibilities of this concept all over the fretboard, in other keys and with your own variations.

Guitar Strength: Getting Slithery and Sleazy, Slurring with Slash Posted 10/16/2013 at 5:04pm | by Scott Marano

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Get slithery and sleazy with Slash in the latest edition of "Guitar Strenght."

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His playing is like a drink, a drink known as the New Jersey Turnpike, a drink that can be made only at the end of the night -- from the spillover from the bartender’s bar mat and the squeezings of a bar rag.

Slash is like a sponge that has soaked up the most intoxicating ingredients of the best music since the dawn of electric-guitar-based rock and roll, and wrung out a grimy, adventurous and uniquely tasty concoction that never ceases to inspire.

He is the reason I play guitar, my musical messiah. As Axl Rose said in 1988 during Guns N’ Roses’ timeless performance captured onLive at the Ritz, ―In a world he that he did not create, but he will go though as if it was his own making: half man, half beast … I’m not sure what it is, but whatever it is, it’s weird and it’s pissed off and it calls itself SLASH.‖ Slash is a guitar player’s guitar player, drawing deeply and effortlessly sharing secrets learned from greats such as Jeff Beck, Joe Perry, Brad Whitford, Billy Gibbons, Keith Richards, Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Ron Wood, Michael Schenker, George Lynch, Edward Van Halen, Dave Mustaine, James Hetfield and countless others.

While many of Slash’s signature licks and moves are hard to pin down, one thing that can be easily integrated into any guitarist’s vocabulary is his use of slurs.

Slash’s playing is obviously built around his uncanny knack for melody, yet that melodicism is seasoned with a greasy, gritty quality that exudes his individuality and makes his melodies all the more memorable (see "Estranged").

On a purely mechanical level, the means for Slash’s achieving the fluidity to allow his individuality and style to shine through come from his use of slurs in his phrasing: hammer-ons, pull-offs and slides. As another benefit of these techniques, Slash is able to assert his personality by using these slurs to bend the beat to his will, ―bobbing and weaving‖ as he feels.

Example 1 is a Slash-inspired lick based around the 5th position Am pentatonic scale, with the addition of the 2nd/9th from the Am scale (the 7th fret of the high E string). Notice the rhythmic change in feel from triplets to quintuplets in the first bar and the various rhythmic feels in the second bar (―gallop," ―reverse gallop," triplet and quintuplet). A deeper look inside the lick will show Slash’s use of typical blues/rock licks such as those found in beats 1 and 2 of the second bar, which become more effective when surrounded by semi-diatonic slurs. Fingered as Slash would, note also the return to the middle-finger note on the high E (7th fret) after the ring-finger note on the B (8th fret) throughout the line.

Example 2 (―When I come home late at night, don't ask me where I've been. Just count your stars I'm home again‖): Here is a lick similar to something Slash would use that plays within the Am pentatonic scale box and adds the 2nd/9th (high E, 19th fret). Note the rhythmic contour of the lick (which also come across as an accident of its melodic contour). Feel it!

Example 3 (―Besides, you ain't got nothin' better to do. And I'm bored."): Inspired by one of Slash’s takes on the Am blues scale (Am pentatonic plus the b5-Eb-D string, 13th fret) this lick kicks off slippery with a slide. Note the rhythmic shifts and the resolution to the b7 of the key (G, G string, 12th fret).

Example 4 (―It all fits so right when I fade into the night‖): Rife with ―Slash-isms," this lick combines the rhythmic shifts of the previous examples with a scale derived from classic blues clichés (Dm pentatonic with the ―Dorian‖ note- the 6th- 12th fret on the B string and the major 3rd- G string, 11th fret). This lick can be used as a substitution in a blues/rock setting when jamming in the D Dorian position of A minor, or used as a bad-ass lick in D minor, depending on the feel you’re looking for. Be sure to nail the (almost Steve Vai-ish) slides in the last bar.

Example 5 (―Wake up late, Honey, put on your clothes. Take your credit card to the liquor store. That's one for you and two for me by tonight.‖): This mostly diatonic lick in Am (with a brief step into A Harmonic minor) channels the spirit of one of Slash’s most epic solos and really works the rhythmic push and pull between the picked notes and the slurred notes. Pay attention to the percussive, muted notes and let the hammer-ons and pull-offs just flow. Let your pick hand relax and connect with the phrasing. Use a 1-2-4 fingering for the notes on the D and G strings and a 1-2-3 fingering for all of the patterns on the B and E strings and be aware or the melodic contour as it interacts with the dynamics and the rhythmic ―give and take‖ surrounding the beat.

Example 6: (―But if you could heal a broken heart, wouldn't time be out to charm you?‖): This lick is inspired by some of Slash’s best ―bouncing‖ through a scale in a pseudo-flamenco style (once again occasionally flirting with Harmonic minor, Slash does this often), really feeling the rhythm and skipping through the scale contour accordingly, switching positions when necessary to fit the contour of the lick (beats 1, 2 and 4 of the 2nd bar). Wrap the lick up by getting inside of the melodic feel of its latter half, and get as ―personal‖ as you can with the phrasing.

Example 7 (―Everybody needs somebody. You're not the only one.‖): Here is a re-imagining of one of Slash’s most famous licks. In Am and referencing A Harmonic minor, this lick ties together many Slash-ims. Get used to the notes used in the line and experiment with your own melodic and rhythmic variations inspired by it. Have fun and JAM!

Slash will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame this weekend with Guns N’ Roses, and deservedly so. If for some reason you don’t own or haven’t listened to Guns N’ Roses' Appetite for Destruction in its entirety, for whatever reason, check it out NOW!

Guitar Strength: Go Funk Yourself with Nuno Bettencourt’s “Porno” Tapping Posted 09/20/2013 at 12:30pm | by Scott Marano

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Hailed by Guitar World as a ―fretboard wizard‖ and voted ―Best New Talent‖ by Guitar Worldreaders in 1991, Nuno Bettencourt has maintained his relevance since first coming onto the national scene in the late '80s, thanks to his inventive playing, killer tone and skillful songwriting. Best known for his work as the guitarist for Extreme, Nuno also has brought his wizardry to collaborations with a diverse array of artists such as Jane’s Addiction frontman Perry Ferrell and R&B superstar Rihanna.

Extreme's 1990 album, Pornograffitti, is a guitar tour-de-force featuring incredible riffs, an amazing guitar tone (featuring Nuno’s signature Washburn N4 guitar, Bill Lawrence L500-XL pickup and the classic ADA MP-1 preamp) and wildly creative, technically fascinating guitar playing. Of the many amazing signature licks that can be found on the album, one of the coolest employed by Nuno (see ―Get the Funk Out‖ and ―He-Man Woman Hater‖) is his ―tapped string skipping add9‖ pattern.

The basic idea is found in Example 1. What sets this lick apart is its intervallic interest generated by the string skip and the position shift in the tapped note. Theoretically, the line is derived from a Cadd9 harmony (C, D, E, G), but what’s important is its shape.

To execute the lick, your left hand index finger needs to shift a fret down when it moves to a new string, and as those moves occur, your tapping finger hits the same fret on the D and G strings and then moves down two frets for the high E string. To get this down, practice only the left hand fingerings and their shifts, and then just the tapping moves, then the moves together. Pay attention to the notes at the downbeats of the rhythm to help you feel the groove.

Example 2 is an effective loop in Em/G that combines the Cadd9 pattern with its diatonic twin (Dadd9), two frets higher. This is particularly cool when looped.

Thinking diatonically and searching for the same shape on the same strings, there is only one other chord that fits the criteria: Gadd9. Example 3 adds the Gadd9 arpeggio to the Cadd9 and Dadd9 in a more intervallically diverse progression. As in our first example, practice this lick by isolating the moves needed for each hand individually and then unite both hands to perform the lick. Note the large position shift from the 3rd bar to the 4th.

Example 4 switches between the shapes on the D, G and E strings, and their symmetrical counterparts on the A, D, and B strings. The progression implied is Cadd9-Gadd9-Dadd9-Aadd9. The only note that is not diatonic is the C# in the final bar (D string, 11th fret), but at speed the note fits perfectly, and depending on the harmony you play it over it can yield some interesting results. For example, over an Em chord the C# would imply an E Dorian mode, over a G chord the C# would imply a G Lydian, etc. But really, it just sounds cool fast!

Finally, in the interest of authenticity, Example 5 is the phrasing of the pattern that Nuno would typically employ. Note the slight ―speed burst‖ at the end of beat 2, and the ―hammer on from nowhere‖ with the left hand on the last 16th note of beats 3 and 4. Practicing this ―hammer on from nowhere‖ technique will give you a ton of cool options to spice up any of your own string crossing tapped licks. Be sure to try this pattern with all of the progressions from examples 1-4.

Integrating these shapes and techniques into your repertoire will surely give you a powerful weapon for building a lead to an attention-grabbing crescendo, and these licks should definitely set you on the path to creating your own variations.

Don’t be afraid to experiment and modify the concept to suit your own favorite keys and arpeggio shapes, and look for other interesting diatonic permutations to find that perfect part for the solo you’re working on. These licks are as fresh today as they were 22 years ago, so have fun impressing your fellow guitarists with this incredibly effective set of new tools.

Guitar Strength: The Other “Hendrix Chord” Posted 09/18/2013 at 8:11am | by Scott Marano

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Of the myriad contributions Jimi Hendrix has made to the lexicon of modern guitar, one of the most enduring is the legendary ―Hendrix chord."

The chord, an E7#9, was definitely nothing new when Hendrix famously used it in ―Purple Haze‖ (Jazz and R&B guitarists used it extensively, and the Beatles featured it years earlier on ―Taxman‖), but its use by Hendrix inspired its use by generations of guitarists in a wide range of styles.

Example 1 is the most famous fingering of the ―Hendrix chord," though Hendrix and many others would often also use the voicing found inExample 2. Note that the #9 is the enharmonic equivalent of the minor 3rd, so the chord can be seen as just a comfortable fingering that consists of the root, flat 7, and both the major and minor 3rds.

This major/minor ambiguity makes the chord perfectly suited for the blues, while using it as a substitution for the V chord in a key can help lend a jazzy feel to a turnaround (Stevie Ray Vaughan often used it in this manner).

While much has been written about the 7#9 chord and Jimi’s use of it, an oft-overlooked chord voicing featured prominently in Hendrix’s recorded work is his sus2 chord shape depicted

inExample 3. The chord should be fingered in the ―Jimi-approved‖ manner of using the thumb to fret the low E string root, with the ring finger fretting the D string, the index fretting the B string, and the pinky grabbing the high E string.

The A string should be muted with the tips of the thumb and ring fingers, and the G string should be muted with the underside of the ring finger and the tip of the index.

Since the chord is a sus and has no 3rd, it can be moved around throughout a given key while maintaining the same fingering. Jimi would often slide the chord around in a line (see ―Castles Made of Sand‖ and ―Little Wing‖), further emphasizing its open, airy qualities.

Example 4 is a Hendrix-inspired line demonstrating the chord’s versatility within a key.

Another cool thing that can be done to take advantage of the chord shape’s idiosyncratic fingering is to ease off the mute on the G string and allow it to ring out as you move the chord around.

Example 5 is a group of particularly good sounding positions of this chord that take advantage of the open G. Try it in the unlisted ―in-between‖ spots too!

As always, get these down and experiment with finding uses for this concept in your own playing. Happy shredding!