The eternally great Eric Clapton—sometimes known as “God” in certain circles—turned 70 this year, and is set to celebrate this milestone with a pair of spring concerts at New York’s legendary Madison Square Garden.
What better time than to examine his effortlessly beautiful and seamlessly flowing soloing technique, first heard in full bloom on his timeless recordings with Cream, featuring the late, great Jack Bruce on bass and Ginger Baker on drums.
When it comes to spontaneous, improvised phrasing, there is perhaps no better blues-rock guitarist than Eric, especially when heard within the context of the many extended jams he performed with Cream and Blind Faith.
He has the innate ability to move smoothly from one great, imminently melodic phrase into the next while also both riding the groove and pushing it along. When improvising, Clapton will subtly mix up the rhythms of his lines to create clearly defined syncopations that serve to strengthen the melodic quality of his solos.
FIGURE 1 presents an extended solo that moves through an entire 12-bar blues progression in the key of D, the three chords being D7, G7 and A7. The tempo is a fairly slow 80 beats per minute, which allows for the steady articulation of 16th-note rhythms that employ subtle phrasing variations. In bars 1–3, I stick with the notes from the D minor pentatonic scale (D F G A C). At the end of bar 3, I transition to sliding sixth intervals by sounding pairs of notes that are six scale degrees apart within the D Mixolydian mode (D E F# G A B C), with all of the notes played on the D and B strings.
This sets up the move to the four chord, G7, in bar 5, and here I play a simple melody based on G minor pentatonic (G Bb C D F), returning to D minor pentatonic in bar 6 to anticipate the change back to the one chord, D7, in bar 7.
On beat three of bar 7, I make very brief reference to the parallel D major pentatonic scale (D E F# A B), used to add some brightness and warmth to the melody and also as a transition to get back into D minor pentatonic in 10th position. Alternating between parallel minor and major pentatonic scales is a standard technique used by all blues guitar greats, such as T-Bone Walker, B.B. King, Buddy Guy and many others, and Clapton learned this technique from his intense study of the recordings of all of these masters and made it one of the hallmarks of his unique style.
Bar 9 moves to the five chord, A7, and bar 10 shifts to the four chord, G7, and for each of these chords I base my lines on the associated minor pentatonic scales (A minor pentatonic: A C D E G). At the return to the tonic in bars 11 and 12, I revert to D minor pentatonic and move freely between third and fifth positions.
When playing these melodic shapes and ideas, strive for smooth articulation and, as always, listen closely to the many great live recordings of Cream—and the studio recordings of Blind Faith—to hear priceless examples of Clapton’s stellar soloing. FIGURES 2 and 3 illustrate extended patterns for D minor pentatonic and D major pentatonic, so be sure to study these too.
Stephen Stills’ status as a rock legend stems just as much from his singing and songwriting contributions in Buffalo Springfield, Crosby, Stills & Nash (and Young) and his own solo work as it does from his innovative acoustic and electric guitar offerings.
A hybrid stylist steeped in rock, blues, gospel, Latin, country and folk, Stills’ unique acoustic approach mixes a variety of fingerpicking techniques, a distinctive tone, and assorted odd tunings—one of which comprises only the notes E and B! He counts Joe Bonamassa, Ray LaMontagne and Kenny Wayne Shepherd (with whom Stills recently collaborated on the Rides’ Can’t Get Enough) as some of his many guitar celebrity fans.
Let’s dig deep into this ax man’s bag of finger tricks.
Buffalo Springfield’s roots trace back to Stills’ and songwriting guitarist Richie Furay’s early stints with the Au Go Go Singers (a nine-voice harmonizing group); a tour took them to Canada, where they met Neil Young. By 1966, the three converged in California, added bassist Bruce Palmer to the mix and quickly became the Whisky a Go Go’s “house band,” issuing Buffalo Springfield by year’s end.
But it was Buffalo Springfield Again that contained breakout hits like “Rock & Roll Woman,” Stills’ signature drop-D-tuned double-stop riff informing FIGURE 1. This song was the result of a jam at Byrds member David Crosby’s house, an interesting fact given that months later, tensions within the Byrds, Hollies (with Graham Nash) and Buffalo Springfield camps would lead to the formation of Crosby, Stills & Nash.
During this “band turmoil,” Stills, on April 26, 1968, took matters into his own hands and recorded a songwriter demo. Previously considered “lost,” these gems were commercially released in 2007 as Just Roll Tape, a guitar-and-vocal-only demo containing many future classics. Among these is the double-drop-D-tuned “Treetop Flyer,” akin to FIGURE 2, a nod to Stills’ Chet Atkins influence. Ray LaMontagne has continuously cited this track (first officially released on 1991’s Stills Alone) as the inspiration for his musical career path.
In 1969, Crosby, Stills & Nash released their self-titled debut, showcasing their unique three-part vocal harmonies and layered acoustic guitars—the polar opposite of the era’s blues-based “loud guitar” rock, as popularized by bands like Cream, Led Zeppelin and the Doors. CSN contains many of Stills’ best-known songs, among them “Helplessly Hoping,” a standard-tuned gem propelled by fingerpicking similar to what you see in FIGURE 3.
CSN also introduced the world to “Bruce Palmer modal tuning” (low to high: E E E E B E), which Stills learned from the former Buffalo Springfield bassist and used in “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes,” as well as Déjà vu (CSN’s follow-up album with Neil Young) cuts like “4+20,” “Carry On” and “Word Game” from Stills’ 1971 solo album, Stephen Stills 2.
Detune your A string to match the low open E, raise the D string one whole step to E, then detune the G string to match the open fourth string; this creates unison E notes on the bottom two and middle two strings. FIGURES 4-5 show a mix of moves in this tuning, inspired by the aforementioned Stills songs.
Musician’s Institute instructor and author/transcriber Dale Turner played all the instruments/voices on his latest CD, Mannerisms Magnified. Visit intimateaudio.com for more information.
These videos and audio files are bonus content related to the June 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.
For many years—I guess before Eddie Van Halen and "Eruption" came along—Cream's "Crossroads" was THE song to pull out at parties to impress friends, girls, uncles, cousins, neighbors, animals, etc.
Below, you can hear Van Halen play Eric Clapton's famous guitar solo—pretty much note for note, we might add—during an 1984 interview with Lisa Robinson for a show called The Inside Track. Legend has it the interview took place in Van Halen's hotel room, which is where he's sitting when he plays Clapton's parts.
Robinson starts things off by saying, "You can play many different styles of guitar, can't you? You were telling me before you can play 'Crossroads' note for note."
Van Halen takes it from there.
Not that you need to be reminded of how brilliant Clapton was during his Cream years, but be sure to pay attention to the phrasing of the solo as you hear Van Halen play it without bass and drums.
Here's our Dear Guitar Hero feature with Peter Frampton, who answers questions about gear, particularly his long-lost (and since-recovered) 1954 Gibson Les Paul.
He also discusses touring, his past, influences, roots and more.
For the rest of this interview, where he discusses talk boxes and working with George Harrison on All Things Must Pass, head here and here.
What’s the status of your long-lost 1954 Gibson Les Paul that went down in a plane crash and was recovered and returned to you a year ago? — David Wilcox
It’s doing great. I’m thinking of just touring the guitar, sending it out there on its own, because it’s more famous than I am. [laughs] There’s a segment about that guitar on my new DVD [FCA! 35 Tour: An Evening with Peter Frampton].
As soon as I heard we were getting it back, I got my friend to film its arrival in Nashville, just before Christmas 2011. You see me take the guitar out of the awful little case it was brought back in. You also see me taking it to be refretted and going over to Gibson to get it verified and have the NOS parts put in to replace the things that weren’t working anymore.
I also tell the story of how I was given the guitar in the first place by Mark Mariano, who’s from the Bay Area. I got a hold of him in San Francisco when we were playing there recently and filmed that as well. And the look on his face when I hand him the guitar—I’m getting chills as I’m saying it. It’s priceless, because he hadn’t seen this guitar for as long as I hadn’t, or longer. As for the status of it—it’s never more than 50 feet from me, and it doesn’t travel on planes.
When you’re about to take a solo, do improvise or stick to a script? — Christopher Thumann
As often as possible, I like to play something completely different from what I played the night before. I’d say 98 percent of the solos are completely ad libbed. The only solo I play the same way every night is in an instrumental called “Double Nickels,” from Fingerprints [Frampton’s 2006 instrumental album].
It was ad libbed when I recorded it for the album, but I liked it so much that I figured out what I’d played—which is difficult, because I don’t normally do that. I might play it with a different inflection each time, but it’s basically the same solo. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. That’s what I like, though: it’s hit or miss.
What guitarist has had the biggest impact on your playing? — Gary Owen
Django Reinhardt. My parents listened to Hot Club de France, with Stéphane Grapelli and Django, before, during and after the war. When I came along in 1950, they got their first record player, and the first thing I remember hearing was Django. I thought it was “old people’s” music and would much prefer to be listening to Buddy Holly, Eddie Cochran, the Shadows or Cliff Richard. Dad would put on Django, and I couldn’t get up the stairs quickly enough.
What happened was, I’d start listening to it on my way up the stairs. And then one day I stopped halfway up, turned, came back and sat down in the room. I said, “Holy crap, this guy’s good!” I heard Django before I heard blues artists, so I was always more drawn to the jazz side in my rock playing than I was to blues.
That all changed once I started going up to London to see Eric Clapton play with John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers. Then there was a whole other influence that came from listening to the people Eric listened to, like Freddie, Albert and B.B. King, and everyone before them. I became more well rounded in my influences.
Excluding Frampton Comes Alive!, which of your solo albums are you most proud of? — Ted James
It has to be Fingerprints. Doing that album made me realize that to be scared of something is sort of good. I knew I wanted to do an instrumental record, and I guess I was always scared of failure. Every session was pretty scary. The thought of working with John Jorgenson, Bill Wyman, Charlie Watts and Pearl Jam, plus Brian Bennett and Hank Marvin from the Shadows!
If Django was the first guitarist I listened to, Hank was the first guitar player I chose to really study, because the Shadows were so huge. They were our homegrown Ventures. Cliff Richard would be Number One and Three on the charts, and the Shadows would be Number Two, Four and Five. They dominated the airwaves and were so influential to so many of my contemporaries. So to work with the Shadows—that was probably one of the best days of my life.
What was the inspiration for your arrangement of “Jumping Jack Flash”? — Kevin Brennan
That was one of the last tracks we recorded for Wind of Change, my first solo record. I was sitting around my kitchen with Andy Bown, who I’d played with in the Herd, and we were trying to come up with a cover song to record. We obviously all loved the Stones, and I said, “Well, I’ve always loved ‘Jumping Jack Flash.’ ”
He said, “Why don’t you do it, but play it as if Wes Montgomery were playing the lick, in octaves?” So we messed around with it, and it sounded good. I think we recorded it the same day that we talked about it. It was just an experiment, but it turned out pretty good. Then I got Jim Price to do the wonderful horn arrangement on the studio version, and it became a staple as one of the encores of our live set.
You used to tour with a Pensa Suhr guitar. What happened to it? — Kurt Jenkins
Unfortunately, it was lost in the Nashville flood a few years back [2010]. John Suhr is a dear friend and a wonderful guitar maker. He’s threatening to make me another guitar, so not to worry. I think he’ll do it, eventually. It was a one-piece maple body, which was very special. It was a Strat shape but with humbuckers, and one Strat pickup in the middle. It was a very interesting guitar. I used it on the David Bowie tour. In fact, I think I got it in ’87 for the [Glass Spider] tour.
Did you go on the David Bowie tour as a way of retreating from the spotlight? — William Westhoven
I wouldn’t say I was retreating from the spotlight; I was already out of the spotlight at that point. [laughs] Things weren’t going very well for me. I wasn’t selling very many records and had been dropped by A&M Records, who I’m now back with. David called me up and asked me if I would play on his album Never Let Me Down.
While we were in Switzerland, where he was living at the time, he asked me if I’d join him for the Glass Spider tour. That was a great gift David gave me, because my career had faltered. David was doing extremely well and could command stadium-size audiences. It took me around the world and reintroduced me as Peter Frampton the guitar player, not the pin-up pop guy, which is where the perception had gone, wrongly. I’ve always been very thankful that David chose me to do that.
A lot of players consider the pentatonic scale their “go-to” scale for solos and improvising. What’s yours? — Victor La Squadro
I don’t know. Someone told me what it is, but I can’t remember what he told me. [laughs] My go-to scale is the “searching in the dark” scale. I guess someone else would have to analyze my playing. People have done it, but I couldn’t tell you what they’ve found out.
You recently got a 1960 Les Paul, but do you still have your ’59? — Drew Paradine
I’ve never had a ’59 Les Paul. After the plane crash, when I lost the ’54 Les Paul, I got a 1960 Les Paul “Burst,” which I’ve since sold. It wasn’t my favorite guitar, but if I’d have kept it I could’ve made a fortune. More recently, after the flood, I decided I wanted to get a 1960 Burst again.
I bought one in Nashville—it was the one J.J. Cale used on his album 5, from 1979. J.J. sold it to his producer, Audie Ashworth, who has since died, and the producer’s wife sold it to me after the flood, because I’d lost so many guitars. I was in need of some new ones—well, some new old ones.
But I’m out of the depths of despair from the flood. I’ve picked up quite a few nice pieces since then. Rather than having duplicates of everything, I have one really good one of each style of guitar. I’ve been able to cherry-pick and take my time.
What’s your favorite “guitar moment” out of everything you’ve recorded so far? — Damien Linotte
I’m not sure if I have a favorite moment yet, because I’m never totally happy with what I do. I like what I do, occasionally, but it’s always like, “I’ve got to be better next time.” I do enjoy playing guitar on “All I Wanna Be” [from Wind of Change]. Some nights I like it better than others, but I really enjoy playing over that vibe and that chord progression.
Do you regret your involvement in the Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band movie from 1978? — Brian Cancemi
Yes. Next question. [laughs]
How did you come to incorporate Leslie cabinets into your rig? — Michael Ellis
I’d often use a Leslie cabinet on its own in the studio because everyone in the late Sixties and Seventies was experimenting with them. We’d stick anything through a Leslie because it made everything sound so good. No one had a chorus, so the Leslie was the ultimate chorus when it was spinning very slowly.
When my solo career was beginning, we’d open for Poco a lot, and their pedal-steel player, Rusty Young, got a Hammond B3 sound by playing through a Leslie. As soon as I saw that, I decided I’d play through my Marshalls and add a Leslie cabinet. It’s been part of my rig ever since. There have been some great electronic choruses, but there’s nothing quite like playing an instrument or a voice or anything through an actual Leslie.
Twenty years ago she became a household name with her single "Stay (I Missed You)" from the Reality Bites soundtrack.
Since then she's been on a roll with with tours, designing her own eyewear line, kids albums and more.
She recently just finished performing in her own stage production, Camp Kappawanna with the Atlantic Theatre in New York.
Here the folks at Breedlove sat down with the talented Loeb, and lucky us, we get to listen in. Check it out...
Breedlove: You have had an amazingly diverse set of experiences in your career. How do you come up with what new thing you want to do next?
Lisa Loeb: I always like to make music, so I write songs all the time. I follow the things I am passionate about. I pick the interesting projects or events that are offered to me and create things that interest me as well. There’s always something to do, a new idea to follow. Your eyewear is amazing – how involved are you with the design process?
I work with a very experienced eyewear designer in California. We look at materials, shapes, and new concepts together. She’s the real pro, so she takes the lead, but it’s my brand and aesthetic, and so we try to follow that as well as being on trend with colors and shapes.
How many sets of glasses do you own?
Too many to count. I mainly wear one pair of glasses and one pair of sunglasses though.
What came first – Camp Lisa Foundation or the children’s albums?
The kids’ albums came first. First Catch the Moon and then Camp Lisa. I wanted to share the summer camp experience with as many kids as I could and I thought a TV show inspired by my Camp Lisa album would be a great way to do it. Then, after thinking about it more, I realized that the best way to share the experience would be to actually send kids to camp. I started the Camp Lisa Foundation to send kids to camp through the sales of my album and my own “Wake Up” blend of coffee beans, distributed by CoffeeFool, an on-line coffee bean company. We work closely with S.C.O.P.E., an organization that sends kids to wonderful camps, mostly on the east coast.
Overnight camp must have made a big impact for you? It also inspired Camp Kappawanna which is just finishing up a run at Atlantic Theater.
Yes - overnight camp is where I really had a great time! I played guitar in front of people for the first time, made up words to old songs, made up skits, tried new things that were a bit daunting at first, but later proved to be a tremendous confidence-builder. Camp is a place where the pressure is on to just be yourself and learn to get along in a group and be a good leader too. My summer camp experience was loosely the inspiration for Camp Kappawanna.
How did you come to pick up the acoustic guitar?
My best friends and I were obsessed with the band, The Police, when we were young teens. My friend Margaret learned about them first and so her favorite member was Sting. Adrienne followed with Stewart Copeland, the drummer, as her favorite, and I ended up with Andy Summers as my favorite. I was on the outs with my many years of piano and theory lessons and it was time for a change, so I chose guitar! My friend Alma Doll taught me a lot of things at summer camp too, like how to play “Stairway to Heaven."
What is it about the Breedlove Oregon Concert that speaks to you?
I love the size of the guitar, the clarity, and the bass that rounds out the sound.
What advice would you have for other females that are embarking on their musical careers in today’s environment?
I would say that you need to maintain a do-it-yourself attitude, find great collaborators in music and business, as it really takes a team, and also be prepared to find the areas of the music business where you can make a living. Also, if you want to have a family, you should keep that in mind as you carve out your career. Don’t plan on lots of touring if you don’t want to leave young children behind, and if you’re looking for a serious relationship, make sure to prioritize that as you make decisions about where your career might take you. (That’s good advise for men or women.)
In the video below, former Deep Purple and Rainbow guitarist Ritchie Blackmore—who now plies his trade with Blackmore’s Night—shows off and discusses several of his guitars.
The video also features his wife, Candice Night, another key figure in Blackmore’s Night.
The clip includes instruments Blackmore used during his Deep Purple and Rainbow days, including his main Fender Strat, which he says he’s played for the past 30-plus years.
He also discusses scalloping his fretboards, a process that takes him three days to achieve, and shares a story about a luthier who undid his scalloping handiwork by replaning the fretboard to make it flat again. Enjoy!
Today, in honor of Glen Campbell's 79th birthday, we thought we'd share an impressive guitar performance by the "Wichita Lineman" from 1974.
The pro-shot clip below, which is introduced by none other than Bob Hope, was filmed in September 1974 in New York City's Central Park.
It's a rare acoustic performance of "The William Tell Overture"; in later years, Campbell pretty much always played this tune on an electric guitar.
In the mid-Seventies, Campbell recorded an acoustic studio version of "The William Tell Overture" that sounds a lot like this live version, but it went unreleased for years before seeing the light of day on the 1997 Razor & Tie 2CD set The Glen Campbell Collection.
Campbell served as a key member of LA's "Wrecking Crew," playing guitar on a slew of hits and working closely (and even touring) with the Beach Boys in the mid-Sixties. Enjoy!
Mastering Scales, Part 2 brings more than two and a half hours of valuable instruction from Jimmy Brown.
The newest installment of Mastering Scales offers a deluxe crash course in guitar theory, including everything you need to know about major, harmonic- and melodic-minor and symmetrical scales. Plus, the seven modes, power picking, extended patterns with position shifts and much more!
Mastering Scales, Part 2 also includes a bonus section featuring a complete Bach two-part invention, arranged for two guitars.
Your instructor is Jimmy Brown, who over the last 24 years has built a reputation as one of the world's finest music editors through his work as transcriber, arranger and senior music editor for Guitar World, the world's best-selling magazine for guitarists. He is a busy working musician, performing regularly as a solo acoustic guitar/vocal act and rocking out with a full band a taverns, restaurants, resorts, weddings and private parties.
Jimmy earned a bachelor of music degree in jazz studies and performance and music management from William Paterson University in 1988 and relies on much of what he learned then (and since then, as a professional musician-for-hire) to do his job effectively. He is also an experienced private guitar teacher and an accomplished writer, two skills that go hand-in-hand in his career at Guitar World.
Van Halen accomplished a lot during the seven and a half years between the release of the band’s debut album in 1978 and David Lee Roth’s departure from the band in 1985.
However, one thing Van Halen never did during that period was release an official live album, even though almost every other rock band that was around during the late Seventies and early Eighties released one, and some bands even released several.
It has now been about seven and a half years since Van Halen played its first shows in 2007 with David Lee Roth back as the band’s frontman once again, and finally the band has fulfilled the wishes of fans who have longed for years to hear a live album with Roth singing the group’s classic material.
On March 31, Van Halen released Tokyo Dome Live in Concert, a two-disc package containing all 25 songs that the band performed during their concert at Japan’s Tokyo Dome on June 21, 2013. Featuring nearly two hours of material, the album includes songs from all of Van Halen’s first six albums as well as three songs from their 2012 studio effort, A Different Kind of Truth.
Unlike many live albums, which are compiled from several shows and liberally edited to correct mistakes, Tokyo Dome Live in Concert captures Van Halen’s Tokyo performance in its entirety as it actually happened, mistakes and all. The band hired award-winning engineer/producer Bob Clearmountain to mix the album and present the recordings in their best audio quality, and as a result the nuances of Eddie Van Halen’s guitar solos, Alex Van Halen’s drumming, and Wolfgang Van Halen’s bass lines come through loud and clear without diminishing the power and energy of their performances.
Hearing Roth speak to the audience in Japanese is also a rare treat, but for readers of this magazine the best gift is Eddie’s eight-minute guitar solo—the longest track on the album—which combines “Eruption” and “Cathedral” with some of his most dazzling fretwork ever captured for posterity.
Although Van Halen doesn’t crank out studio albums at the furious pace they did when Roth was first with the band (even today’s most prolific bands don’t release six studio albums in six years anymore), they have remained surprisingly productive since their last tour ended in the summer of 2013.
The band is currently rehearsing for a new tour scheduled to start in July, and in January Wolfgang started work on his own project, which consists of himself and Eric “Erock” Friedman and is being produced by Michael “Elvis” Baskette.
Ed also took time to travel to Washington, D.C., in February to be honored by the Smithsonian National Museum of American History, donate two guitars and an amp to the museum, and participate in Zocalo Public Square’s “What It Means to be American” interview forum.
Ed also remains very busy with his EVH brand guitars and amps. He’s developed and introduced a steady stream of new models over the last couple of years, including a new affordable Wolfgang Standard model, a redesigned Wolfgang Special model, a 5150III 1x12 50-watt combo and the limited edition 5150III“S” touring head.
In addition, EVH recently introduced the “Stripe Series” guitars based on iconic instruments from Ed’s past. Even in the midst of releasing a live album and rehearsing for a tour, Ed is working on several exciting new products with EVH and MXR/Dunlop that will be introduced later this year or early next year.
Ed may have celebrated his 60th birthday on January 26 but, unlike most other people who reach this milestone, retirement is the very last thought on his mind. With the release of a long-awaited live album featuring David Lee Roth singing classic Van Halen songs behind the band and the release of Wolfgang’s project coming up, a new chapter in the Van Halen story is being written as the focus turns from the past to the future.
While the lack of official news from the Van Halen camp between the last 2013 tour dates and the announcement of the live album caused many fans to speculate the worst, in reality the band has never been more functional, agreeable and drama-free, which is the best news any true fan could want. What the band’s next step will be remains unknown, but what is certain is that it will be a hell of a ride once it arrives.
Guitar World recently sat with Eddie Van Halen to discuss the making of Tokyo Dome Live in Concert, Wolfgang’s upcoming album and the secrets of staying youthful at 60.
GUITAR WORLD: What was the motivation for releasing a live album at this point in Van Halen’s career?
We realized that we have never made a live album with Dave. Since we had already released a studio album with Wolfgang playing on it, it also made sense for us to do a live album with both Wolf and Dave. Another reason why we put out a live record was to give people the experience of hearing us play our classic songs live.
Did you record any other shows or just the Tokyo show?
We have a Pro Tools rig out by the front of the house and have recorded every show since the beginning of the 2007 tour when Dave first got back in the band. But we never originally intended to put out a live record. We just recorded our shows to archive them.
We have so much material that it was too overwhelming to listen to about 150 shows and pick the best one. I didn’t even bother listening to any of the past shows, outside of a few jams here and there. We played pretty much the same set every night, although we changed a few songs here and there. We played the classics. That’s what people want to hear.
Because the performances by Alex, Wolfgang and myself were pretty consistent from one night to the next, we decided to leave it up to Dave to pick, and he happened to pick Tokyo. Performing live is a lot harder on a singer. Wolfgang and I sing backup vocals on the choruses, so we know how much the vocals can vary from one night to the next. When your voice is your instrument, you can be affected by a lot of different things. If you sleep with the air conditioner on or the bus ride is too long, you can wake up the next day with a fucked up voice. That’s the main reason we decided to let Dave pick.
The sound quality is excellent considering that the recordings were originally just archives of your shows.
Bob Clearmountain wasn’t at the Tokyo show, and we didn’t have any special engineers recording at our shows. That’s also why there is no video of the Tokyo show—we didn’t originally plan to release a live recording of that show. Making a video of a live concert is a whole other production. The way we did it was more impromptu and unexpected.
Bob did a great job mixing it. Alex and I listened at first to make sure that the basic instrument sounds were down, and then we let him go. Bob kept sending us mixes and we just said, “It sounds good to us!” As long as we could hear all the instruments it was good! [laughs]
If you recorded video of the show, you’d probably feel a lot more pressure to get everything right.
I already feel that pressure. Every time I get onstage I want to give the people the best performance possible. Since we record every night that doesn’t make things any different from one night to the next. To film it would have been much more time consuming. Then we would have had to look at all of the footage and figured out what to use. The fact that we weren’t planning it made it that much more special to us.
That’s also why we decided to keep the recording completely live. There are mistakes. After it was mixed I listened to a few parts and went, “Okay, I fucked that up.” [laughs] But that’s how it sounded that night, so we just left it. It’s like a photograph of that evening, and we didn’t Photoshop it. We did nothing. When you fix parts or mistakes, it’s not a real live experience anymore.
The performances sound powerful, but what’s really impressive is that the band still sounds aggressive after more than 40 years.
Van Halen has been aggressive since day one. The rawness of the recording adds to the power. There’s this uncontrolled energy that exists in us that spills over the edges. It’s never really right or perfect, but it creates tension. It’s like, “Okay, who is going to blow it?” [laughs] When you keep waiting for someone to fuck up but no one does, it keeps you on the edge of your seat. It’s just raw. It’s the real thing. If people are expecting a perfect live record, well, then it’s not really live anymore.
I was really bummed when I heard from Andy Johns—rest in peace—that Cream’s “Crossroads” [Wheels of Fire] was put together from different shows! That ruined it for me. I thought it was one performance, but it wasn’t. I don’t know if anybody else has ever put out a live album that is really, truly live.
The only exception I can think of is the old Monterey Pop Festival with the Who and Janis Joplin, where Hendrix burned his guitar. That was obviously not fixed. Woodstock was like that too. The only thing I hated about the Woodstock movie is that they had so many close-ups of things but you never got to see the big picture of the bands performing. Like “I’m Going Home” by Ten Years After—all you saw was close-up shots of Alvin Lee, and you never saw the whole band. I didn’t like the way it was filmed.
The show that Van Halen performed in Tokyo was kind of a combination of the 2012 tour and the 2007-08 tour. You performed several songs from the 2007-08 tour that you didn’t play often, if at all, during the 2012 shows, like “I’m the One.”
The Tokyo show was also one of our longer shows because we had no opening act. It pushed about two and a half hours.
What do you remember about the Tokyo show?
I remember it was long! [laughs] I was beat at the end of that show. Japanese fans are always so over-the-top and animated, especially since they’re now allowed to stand at shows. They used to be so controlled when they were forced to sit down, but now it’s mosh pit craziness. We played at “The Big Egg”—the Tokyo Dome, which is a baseball stadium. There were more than 50,000 people there, so it was loud.
It’s really cool to hear Wolfgang’s fills in detail on the record. Sometimes those details are easy to miss when watching a live show.
On the classics he embellishes in his own style. What blows my mind are some of the licks that he throws down during the breakdown in “Mean Street.” He’s hauling ass but still in the pocket and groovin’! It makes it exciting.
There’s a nice improv section during “You Really Got Me” that is longer and different than what the band did during the 2012 shows I saw.
The little jam sections were the only parts that changed from night to night. Sometimes we’ll play “Crossroads” or stray off wherever we feel like going that night. There might have been better ones, but that’s what we played that night.
At the end of “And the Cradle Will Rock” you played the “Smoke on the Water” riff.
We always have to figure out how to end that song. Since we were in Japan, we decided to play “Smoke on the Water.” Deep Purple’s Made in Japan album blew that song out of the water, so we thought it would be fun to play that song there.
Why didn’t the band release a live album with Dave back in the Seventies or early Eighties?
I don’t know. We used to tour so much and were on the road constantly, but it never occurred to us that we should record our shows. Back then you didn’t have Pro Tools so it wasn’t as easy to record shows. You had to hire a mobile truck.
People ask why we’ve never released the rest of the 1981 Oakland show that we recorded on video. The reason is because we only recorded three songs—“Unchained,” “Hear About it Later” and “So This Is Love.” We actually filmed those three songs for two nights. On “Unchained” I broke a string the first night, and if you watch the video you can see my guitars change just for a few seconds then switch back. We used the second night of audio, so you can’t hear it, but we used video from both nights. The bottom line is we can’t ever release the whole Oakland show because we didn’t film or record the whole show.
It seems like back then you were concentrating more on recording the next studio album.
On the bus all I would do is write songs. As soon as we got home people from the label would be asking me what new songs I’ve got.
During our first tour in 1978, we were out for 11 months, but our contract stipulated that we owed our label our second record by the end of the year. We basically had three weeks left that year to finish our second record. We cranked out Van Halen II because that was what I had written.
Did your touring rig change at all since we last caught up with you in April 2012?
I’m always refining my tone because my taste changes. I used the 5150III“S” in 2013. We put out a limited run of the III“S” in 2014, and we just built another limited run for 2015.
The second and third channels share a more common tonal DNA than they do on the main production 5150III head. You can’t tell when I’m changing back and forth between channel 2 for rhythm and channel 3 for solos because the tonal character of channel 2 is so complementary to channel 3. I like having more gain for my solos because it sounds buttery and is smoother to play.
Just last week, we were working on a new amp. Everybody is always screaming for my old Marshall sound. Well, we’re working on it, and it’s in the pipeline! It’s a new amp head. We’re not sure what we’re going to call it yet, but I’m thinking of calling it the 5150-34, because it has EL34 tubes. It gets the exact tone of my Marshall plexi in the early days. When I plug into it I go, holy shit! It’s like my old Marshall on steroids.
It has the same tone but more sustain.
The classic Van Halen tone chasers are really going to love this new 5150-34, because if it literally blew my mind, it’s completely going to blow theirs. When Wolfgang checked it out he was saying, “Dad! I’ve got to have one of these!” I don’t know how Howard [Kaplan, senior electronic engineer at Fender/EVH] did it. He got that classic vintage sound but with more sustain exactly as I had envisioned it and asked him to do. He did an amazing job.
How did it feel to be honored by the Smithsonian National Museum of American History for your contributions as an inventor and musical innovator?
It took me by surprise. To me it’s way beyond a Grammy or the usual music industry awards. To be acknowledged by the Smithsonian for my contributions to American music and pop culture is much bigger and more of an honor than any award I could think of. It’s amazing to think that I’ve contributed something to the history of this country, especially since I came here from a different country. I think it’s the highest honor you can get.
One detail that really stood out to me from the event was your explanation of just how important your family has been to your music and motivation.
The four of us—my mom, dad, Alex, and I—were very tight-knit. When you come to a new country, you can’t speak the language, and you have no money, you’d better be a team or else we wouldn’t have made it. My mom was the one who basically wore the pants. She took care of the finances. We all worked, gave the money to her and she took care of the rest. It forced us to be close. There was nothing else we could do but work and try to make it through our weekly payments.
I don’t even know how to explain how it feels to have Wolfgang follow in the footsteps of my father and me. He’s a third-generation Van Halen. When people ask me what it’s like to play with my son all I can say is that it’s the greatest feeling you can imagine.
How is Wolfgang’s album coming along?
He’s still working on it with Erock [Eric Friedman]. He used mostly old Marshall amps, a 5150III, an early Seventies Sound City 50 and a lot of my old guitars. He really fell in love with my 1959 Gibson ES-335.
I don’t know how he got those Marshalls to sounds that way. I couldn’t get the sound out of them that he did! I guess there’s a benefit to playing both bass and guitar, as his fingers are so damn strong. He’s playing drums, bass, and guitar on the album. It’s like AC/DC meets Van Halen meets aggressive pop. The riffs are catchy. It’s a little of everything and sounds like a freight train coming at you. I’ve never heard anything quite like it. It’s so powerful that I’m jealous.
Ah, to be young…. As you get older you get so many more things to deal with in life. I just turned 60, and my main priority now is to maintain my health. I’ve beaten cancer four times and dealt with other health issues. Now it’s all about working out every day and doing Pilates.
I used to spend all day playing guitar, but now some of that time is spent in the gym. I’ve lost 10 pounds since people saw me at the Smithsonian and dropped a lot of body fat. You’ve only got one body. When I turned 60 something clicked inside me, and I thought that I’d better get my shit together. Being 60 sounds old, but I don’t feel any different in my head, which is scary in its own way, you know what I mean? [laughs] I feel like I should be smarter, but sometimes I feel like I’m still 12. But music keeps you young.
The first six Van Halen albums were remastered 15 years ago. Why did you remaster them again?
Mastering technology has changed a lot since then, so it made sense for us to remaster everything. Warner Bros/Rhino suggested that we release remasters of our two Diamond-award [sales of 10 million or more] albums—the first Van Halen album and 1984—at the same time that we released the live album. That’s why those albums were remastered first. Chris Bellman did such a great job that we decided to do them all.
Were you involved with the remastering process?
It was pretty much the same as how we worked with Bob Clearmountain on the live album mixes. Once we heard what Chris was doing, we just let him go to work. We totally trusted him. He sent us roughs of each song and each disc as he went along. The main thing was to let him know what we were looking for so he would be on the right track from the beginning. Once he zoned in on that, we just let him go to work.
Had you listened to any of those albums much before this remastering project?
No. I was really surprised how well they still hold up. But I also realized that there is no music like that out there anymore. It’s really sad. What happened to rock and roll? That’s why I can’t wait for the world to hear what Wolf’s working on. I’ll be bold and say that what Wolf and Erock are doing is important. It’s like early AC/DC. It hits really hard. I think that people who hear it are either not going to believe it or they’re finally going to go, “This kid is the real deal.” When he plays drums, it’s scary. When he plays bass to his own drums, it’s even scarier. And then he’s playing guitar on top of it. It’s insane. The grooves are so locked in it’s ridiculous.
Will Wolfgang’s work on his album affect the upcoming Van Halen tour that’s starting in July?
He’s going to work around our schedule. He recorded seven basic tracks in January. All four of us just started rehearsing last night for the tour as well as our appearance on the Jimmy Kimmel show. I think we’re going to do seven songs on Kimmel, and they’re going to show four of those songs over two nights. When Dave first heard us at rehearsal he was surprised how good it already sounded. When he started singing it all fell together. It was exciting. It was our first time playing together since Japan—almost two years. It was so tight, and we had a lot of fun.
Does the band have any long-term plans beyond the tour?
We just take it as it comes. I’d love to do another studio record if everybody else is up for it. At the end of this tour Wolf is going to finish his record. After that we’ll see. We don’t ever plan that far ahead. That’s how the live album came about. The best things aren’t planned that far in advance. We like to keep it loose.
ii-Vs are some of the most commonly used and important chords in the jazz repertoire. It’s a progression you’ll see often as a jazz guitarist, so being able to confidently solo over these chords is an essential skill.
When first learning to blow over these chords, we often start with the Dorian and Mixolydian modes over each chord, respectively. But, while playing these modes is correct, they often sound too diatonic, not enough tension to really be “jazzy.”
This is where Bebop Scales come into play. In this article, we’ll explore the Minor Bebop Scale, the Dominant Bebop Scale and a hybrid I like to call the Combined Bebop Scale.
As a bonus, there’s a video included to show you how these scales sound in an improvisational context.
So grab your guitar, crank your amp and get ready to add a little jazziness to your solos.
Minor Bebop Scale
The first scale we’ll look at is the Minor Bebop Scale. This scale is built by taking the Dorian Mode and adding in a #7 interval. You can use this scale to solo over a m7 chord as it uses the related mode, and the #7 provides that extra “jazziness” the diatonic modes don’t provide on their own.
Once you have the Minor Bebop Scale under your fingers in the position below, with the root on the 5th string, put on a Dm7 backing track and practice improvising with this scale. Then, move it to other keys around the neck to really ingrain this fingering in your hands and your ears.
As you move on to the next scale in this lesson, you’ll use the Minor Bebop Scale as the foundation for further adaptation. So, having a strong grasp on this fingering and scale is an important step in ensuring that you get the most out of the next sections in this lesson.
Dominant Bebop Scale
With the Minor Bebop Scale under your fingers you can move on to the V chord in the ii-V progression and learn the Dominant Bebop Scale in this position. Notice that you don’t have to move your hand on the neck to get this next scale under your fingers. It sits right above the Minor Bebop Scale on the fretboard.
The Dominant Bebop Scale is built by taking the Mixolydian Mode and adding in one extra note, the #7 interval. This produces an eight-note scale, just like the Minor Bebop Scale, except it’s used to solo over 7th chords.
Once you have the fingering down in the example below, put on a G7 backing track and solo over that chord with this scale. Then, take it to the other 11 keys to see how it sits in different areas of the neck.
If you are feeling confident with these two scales at this point, you can put on a ii-V backing track, maybe starting with 4-bars per chord, and improvise over each chord using the appropriate scale. For Dm7 you would solo for four bars using the D Minor Bebop scale, then switch over to four bars of the G Dominant Bebop Scale over G7.
Once you have a handle on the four-bar phrases, you can shrink it down to two-bars per chord, then one-bar per chord and finally if you’re feeling adventurous, two-beats per chord. The goal is to be able to use each scale to improvise over the appropriate chord in a progression, helping you to inject the Bebop Scale sound into your playing, while thinking about each chord as a separate entity at the same time.
The “Combined” Bebop Scale
One of the cool things I discovered when I was first studying these scales is that not only can you apply them separately to each chord in a ii-V, but you can use them together over both of these chords with a “Combined” Bebop Scale.
When doing so, the passing notes from each individual scale create a new tension over the other chord in the progression, which you can see here as a reference.
Key of C
Dm7 = C# (#7) and F# (M3)
G7 = C# (b5 Blues Note) and F# (#7)
Like any chromatic note, you probably don’t want to sit on these passing notes in your lines. It’s cool to start an idea on these notes, or to inject them into the middle of a line, but unless you’re looking to create a high-level of tension in your solo, it’s probably not a great idea to end a line on one of these notes, or pause on them for a long time in your playing.
Once you have this fingering down, I added the A B C on the top string to fill out the fingering in this position, put on a Dm7-G7 backing track and solo over both chords using this scale. This gives you an added layer of melodic material to choose from over these chords, on top of the individual scales addressed earlier.
Accompanying Video Lesson
Check out the video lesson below to see this scale explained in detail, hear it played on the guitar and check out this great sounding scale in action in an improvised solo.
Did you check this “combined” bebop scale out in the practice room? What are your thoughts on this nine-note scale?
Matt Warnock is the owner of mattwarnockguitar.com, a free website that provides hundreds of lessons and resources designed to help guitarists of all experience levels meet their practice and performance goals. Matt lives in the UK, where he is a senior lecturer at the Leeds College of Music and an examiner for the London College of Music (Registry of Guitar Tutors).
In this month’s column, I’d like to present a few single-note patterns that are designed to fortify fret-hand/pick-hand coordination while they strengthen your overall chops and ability to play fast and clean. In my own experience, I have found that drilling on one or two very specific melodic fretboard shapes works wonders in uncovering technical areas of weakness in both hands. Doing this over a long period of time will deliver solid results and make a marked improvement in your playing. FIGURE 1 is a 16th-note run that begins with two bars of a melodic pattern based on the G major scale (G A B C D E F#), which I then transpose, in bars 3 and 4, up a fourth, to C major (C D E F G A B), via a quick position shift. For both of these shapes, I use my fret-hand’s first, second and fourth fingers (index, middle and pinkie) throughout. Playing a shape like this over and over will uncover any shortcomings in your fret-hand dexterity. Be sure to fret using only your fingertips, with the thumb placed squarely on the back of the guitar neck in order for the fret-hand fingers to be positioned with a nice, high arch. Additionally, I use alternate (down-up) picking throughout and strive for absolute smoothness and even execution as the patterns are played over and over across the top two strings. Now let’s add a slight twist to the melodic shape in order to work the fret hand a little more. In FIGURE 2, the melody played across beats one and two is identical to that of FIGURE 1, but I play different shapes across the last two beats of the bar, beginning with a pull-off on the high E string, followed by more alternate picking. Here, the initial melodic shape is played four times in G before I transpose it up to C. Notice, however, that I do change the very end of the initial phrase, in bar 3, to accommodate the abrupt shift up to 12th position on the last 16th note. In FIGURE 3, I use the previous melodic sequence as the basis for a new exercise run that ascends the fretboard through three different fingering patterns of the G major scale. Here, I play the patterns as 16th-note triplets, ascending and then descending on each successive eighth note. Again, I rely on strict alternate picking and strive for absolute clean, even execution. As a whole, this pattern is much simpler than the previous ones, as it simply ascends and descends, but as you will find, getting it up to “shred speed” will require real work and diligence.
Last year I accomplished my dream of playing festivals. I’ve already done four in the last year. Somehow I instinctively knew how to manage my first one. Whatever I suggest here is what worked for me as a current solo artist. Some things will work for everyone, some won't. But here are 11 ideas you can try out!
1. Align yourself with like-minded artists and organizations. It ain’t easy to get chosen for a festival. So find organizations or music support groups for your genre that may have an in. If you don’t qualify the first time you submit, then try again and also consider going as a spectator if you can afford it.
2. Pick a festival that is NOT huge unless you have a giant buzz and are going to headline a big showcase. The smaller the festival the more chances you have to meet people. Make sure the festival is a legit one. Don’t fall for a “pay to play” showcase.
3. Once you’ve been selected shout out to all your musician friends and find out who is going out there. Its great to know you’ve got acquaintances there and perhaps you can share hotel rooms, travel, or contacts.
4. Make an AMAZING flyer. I mean.. STAND OUT and then LOOK LIKE THAT for the entire conference. You have no idea how many people will recognize and speak to someone that has something unique. It will at least get them interested in what you sound like. This works for me. Maybe not for everyone, but for me. Put the flyers EVERYWHERE!!!! Bathroom stalls, bushes, I mean everywhere. Make ‘em nice enough that someone might want to collect one.
5. When you arrive at the festival, immediately go check out the venue. If you are not on a main stage and aren’t a headline act, you’ve got A LOT of work to do. Starting with those wonderful flyers. Get a poster up in the venue and leave flyers.
6. Go to as many panels as possible. See who is around. Ask questions you may have and hand out your flyers.
7. Go to the parties. Talk to people about ANYTHING. Not just your music. Be a human being. Just be you. DO NOT BE DESPERATE!!! In ain’t pretty. It just doesn’t work. Bring your cards and flyers.
8. Get some sleep. You’ll need it for your show
9. Find a place to PRACTICE.
10. The day of your show, if you see some people that you bonded with at the conference, remind them your show is that night. Don’t assume they remember. There are too many bands networking, so you have to remind people. Ask them to please come and give you feedback if you’re comfortable with that.
11- Enjoy your performance, try to relax. Thank all the people that took the time to see YOU out of 100 + bands playing and follow up with them when you get home. Maybe next year you’ll get a bigger spot in the showcase. You’ve got to pay your festival dues.
Dorit is a rock singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and Middle Eastern Dancer. She has performed internationally on concert stages, TV, film, and theatre, and has inspired many students to find to their own expression through music and dance. Dorit’s current goal is to self produce her album and complete an acoustic guitar she hand built as a teenager at the Bronx High School of Science. Her influences include Led Zeppelin, Middle Eastern music, Latin music and old school hip hop -- anything with great rhythm.
Nashville based, Vanessa Carlton shares her wistful new song titled “Young Heart."
“Young Heart” was recorded as part of the sessions for Carlton’s upcoming album, Liberman, due for release this fall. The track is also currently available via digital retailers and streaming sites today including iTunes.
“I wanted the album to feel like a dream and this video for ‘Young Heart’ fully embraces that concept and leaves me feeling like I'm dozing in between worlds in the middle of spring,” says Carlton. “It transports.”
The song, recorded at Adam Landry’s Playground Sound in Nashville, was produced by Landry and both he and Carlton’s husband, John McCAuley (Deer Tick), perform on the track.
When talking about the recording process, Carlton says, “We did the song in about a day. John & Adam just started picking up stuff and playing. It was one of those sessions where everything just flowed.”
Check it out:
Carlton also announced that she has signed with Dine Alone Records (City and Colour, Twin Forks and BRONCHO) joining the independent label's roster of like-minded artists. "Young Heart” marks the first new music release for Carlton on her new label and illustrates what we can expect to hear in the future on her upcoming album out later this year.
Vanessa will be playing two east coast shows this April- see below.
Butch Walker has shared a stripped back version of Tove Lo's "Talking Body" created with piano and acoustic guitar.
Walker's cover reveals the bones of the song, converting the synth-pop anthem into something more intimate.
Butch said of the song, "I've been a sucker for all things Swedish since I was a teenager, so of course I decided to do a cover of 'Talking Body' by Tove Lo."
LISTEN: Butch Walker's Cover of Tove Lo's "Talking Body"
Walker will also headline a full North American tour that starts on April 27 in Pittsburgh, PA and runs through mid-June including stops at Daryl's House Club in Pawling, NY, The New York Society for Ethical Culture on May 5, and three sold out dates in Los Angeles at Hollywood Forever Cemetery. Walker will be touring with Dallas die-hard Jonathan Tyler as well as the gorgeous harmonies of The Dove & The Wolf. A full list of dates is below.
Butch Walker released his highly anticipated seventh full-length album Afraid Of Ghosts via Dangerbird Records last month to a massive response. The album debuted at #1 on the Top New Artist chart as well as in the Billboard Top 200 and #30 in overall digital albums.
Afraid of Ghosts was met with critical acclaim upon release: Esquire praised its "bright, acoustic driven tunes," Relix called it "a deeply personal, affectingly lovely album," and Billboard pointed out that it was "tender and lovingly constructed."
TOUR DATES
04/27: Pittsburgh, PA @ Mr. Small's Theatre*
04/28: Philadelphia, PA @ Theatre of the Living Arts*
04/29: Pawling, NY @ Daryl's House*
05/01: Northampton, MA @ Pearl Street*
05/02: Burlington, VT @ Higher Ground Ballroom*
05/04: Boston, MA @ The Wilbur Theatre*
05/05: New York, NY @ Concert Hall, NYSEC*
05/07: Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club*
05/08: Charlotte, NC @ Visulite Theatre*
05/10: Durham, NC @ Carolina Theatre*
05/11: Columbia, SC @ Music Farm*
05/12: Charleston, SC @ Music Farm*
05/15: Atlanta, GA @ Atlanta Symphony Hall*
05/17: Nashville, TN @ War Memorial Auditorium*
05/19: Detroit, MI @ St. Andrew's Hall*
05/20: Cleveland, OH @ House of Blues*
05/22: Minneapolis, MN @ Cedar Cultural Center*
05/23: Madison, WI @ Majestic Theatre*
05/24: Chicago, IL @ The Vic Theatre*
05/26: Toronto, ON @ Mod Club Theatre*
05/27: Columbus, OH @ Park Street Saloon*
05/29: Indianapolis, IN @ Deluxe @ Old National Center*
05/30: Cincinnati, OH @ Bogart's*
06/02: Columbia, MO @ Rose Music Hall*
06/03: St. Louis, MO @ The Duck Room @ Blueberry Hill*
06/04: Tulsa, OK @ Cain's Ballroom*
06/06: Austin, TX @ Stubbs*
06/07: Dallas, TX @ Majestic Theatre*
06/10: Boulder, CO @ Fox Theatre*
06/12: Scottsdale, AZ @ Livewire*
06/14: San Francisco, CA @ Great American Music Hall*
06/16: Los Angeles, CA @ Masonic Lodge*
06/17: Los Angeles, CA @ Masonic Lodge*
06/19: Los Angeles, CA @ Masonic Lodge*
07/02: London, UK @ Borderline
07/03: Manchester, UK @ Deaf Institute
07/10: Edinburgh, UK @ Electric Circus
These videos and audio files are bonus content related to the June 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.
GOLD AWARD WINNER
Tuning a guitar down a whole step or more puts players in the fast lane of the heavy highway, but the downside to down-tuning on a standard guitar is that the strings can get overly floppy and proper intonation can be difficult to attain.
Using heavier strings or a baritone guitar with a longer scale length can be a solution, but heavy strings don’t really make it easy to shred on solos.
Jericho Guitars offers a variety of models that solve these dilemmas. The necks of these guitars have longer scale lengths but they are set up to accommodate standard light string gauges.
We took a look at Jericho’s Fusion model, which is designed to appeal more to traditional-minded players who prefer the look and features of a classic guitar over those of a modern hot rod.
FEATURES Jericho describes the Fusion as “a modern hybrid of all classically built American guitars.” The single-cutaway body shape, mahogany body with flame maple top, contoured cutaway, and recessed controls are obviously inspired by certain American guitars, but the sum of these parts is a distinctive and different guitar.
Of course, the most distinguishing feature is the neck’s long 26.9-inch scale, which allows players to comfortably tune down to C or even drop the lowest string to Bb (for a drop D-equivalent tuning) while maintaining ideal string tension for playing and perfectly accurate intonation.
Welcome to Part 3 of my series of lessons, "Rut Busters for Guitarists." You can find Part 1 and Part 2 under RELATED CONTENT, just below my photo.
These lessons are aimed at breaking through barriers that might be preventing you from improving on the guitar.
Some of these lessons will simply give you some good food for thought, and some will be more hands-on. Written to help you get past that plateau, these lessons are here to help you mix things up and keep your relationship with the guitar an interesting one.
This third lesson discusses phrasing, giving you pointers on how to give your solos a musical, vocal-like quality and sound like you're playing something you meant to play, rather than stumbling upon some good ideas every now and then. Let's get started.
Great melodies breath. Like a horn player or vocalist, your solos should have pause for breath. No one enjoys listening to a person who won’t stop talking, nor do we enjoy reading run-on sentences. Taking a pause between phrases prevents fatigue for the listener but also gives you a chance to think about what you'll play next, ensuring that your next lick or riff will be a good one.
Music should be conversational. You should be listening to what the other musicians are playing and responding appropriately in your performance. There should be a quality of give and take.
Great melodies, songs and solos tend to have a “call and response” element. Some like to describe it as a “question and answer” quality. Listen to classic artists like B.B. King, Chuck Berry and Albert King for great examples of this in their vocal melodies and guitar solos.
This "question and answer” idea implies there are at least two phrases. Your initial motif, or basic musical idea, is stated, then a variation on that idea is played. To really create a “question and answer” sound, you’ll want the first phrase to end on a non-chord tone. This gives the impression that the phrase has not resolved itself and is incomplete. The second phrase provides the "answer" and should reiterate the motif, but resolve it by ending on a chord tone.
The accompanying video provides an example. I hope it inspires you to introduce a more lyrical approach to your guitar playing.
Guitarist Adrian Galysh is a solo artist, session musician, composer, as well as Education Coordinator for Guitar Center Lessons. He's the author of the book Progressive Guitar Warmups and Exercises. Adrian uses SIT Strings, Seymour Duncan Pickups and Effects, Brian Moore Guitars, and Morley Pedals. For more information, visit him at AdrianGalysh.com.
Of all my musical influences, classical violinist Niccolo Paganini has to be on top of the list.
Though he lived in the late 18th century (long before image became as important in the making and marketing of musicians as their actual music), his extreme personal magnetism coupled with truly mind-boggling technique made him the world’s first bona fide rock star.
Paganini was born in 1782 in Genoa, Italy, and by the time he was 20 he was the most famous violinist of his day. He mesmerized audiences and critics alike with his charismatic stage presence, otherworldly chops and flamboyant showmanship.
Apart from his unparalleled technical wizardry on the instrument, Paganini is remembered for his artistic impact on later composers such as Liszt and Chopin, who used his virtuosity as a technical challenge in the search for greater expression in their own works.
Apart from his obvious musical and technical brilliance, Paganini proved to me that a great musician doesn’t have to sacrifice virtuosity for showmanship. As a result, I’ve always strived to make my shows as visually exciting as possible without compromising my musical integrity.
Paganini’s compositions also influenced me deeply—especially his 24 Caprices Op.1. I remember learning the Fifth Caprice in A minor—I’d practice it incessantly until I got it wired. It not only really helped me with my technique (particularly arpeggios), but opened my ears to harmony and melody.
I learned the Fifth Caprice by listening to a recording of it. Because I didn’t have the sheet music, it was a long and painstaking process to pick up the melody by ear, but it was definitely worth it.
I think that any guitarist can benefit from learning Paganini’s Caprices. To that end, I’ve written out the first 20 bars of his Fifth Caprice in A minor in FIGURE 1. I have to warn you—this piece is not for the timid—you have to be very patient and put a lot of time in, but the results are well worth the effort.
Keep in mind that guitar music sounds an octave lower than written (so you’ll be playing this piece an octave lower than where a violin would be playing it). The only reason I’m pointing this out is so that you don’t think you’re playing it wrong if you happen to hear a recording of it played on the violin.
Also realize that the tab is totally subjective—there is no one “correct” fingering. I’ve written out just one possible fingering option. It’s how I might approach playing the piece (though often I’ll try different fingerings in some sections). You should use my suggested fingerings as a template to work out the fingerings that are most comfortable for you.
Pay special attention to all the arpeggios, and work out your right-hand picking accordingly.
For example, I’d use sweep picking (If you still have it, see my column in the July 1999 issue of Guitar World) to play the ascending E7 arpeggio in measure 4 and the descending C and G arpeggios in measure 15, and alternate picking (down-up-down-up) to play the two-note-per-string arpeggios in measures 3, 8 and 9.
I’d use a combination alternate/sweep picking approach to play the F#dim7 arpeggio in measure 14.
When playing the descending chromatic scale in measure 16, make sure to execute all the picked slides with your index finger.
I hope you benefit as much from learning this Caprice as I did.
In the newly released time-lapse video below, watch artist Jordon Bourgeaut airbrush a guitar from start to finish.
"In this video, I paint a guitar to match my original 'skulleidoscope'-style paint jobs," Bourgeaut writes.
"It follows the whole process from prep work to artwork, to clear and polish, and eventually revealing the final product. This video was actually made over three years ago, [and] we are excited to finally be releasing it now."
The video, which is titled "Skelluitar," was posted in January. It was shot and edited by Cody Southgate of Focus Pictures. The music in the background is "The Peculiar Life and Death of Philip Schneider" by Illuminated Minerva.
In part 2, I’m giving you a whole bunch of random ideas. Share this with your bandmates or merch people. Maybe there’s a tip you can use to make more money at your gigs.
A lot of my items are handmade, by me. I spend my off-season making handmade merch for my stand. Instead of selling clichéd koozies and stickers, my stand actually features my handmade cigar box guitars, beer can harmonica mics, cool pins made from bottle caps and anything else connected to my jug band show.
There’s something cool about buying stuff that was actually made by the people on stage, and fans love the connection. Also, there’s a much bigger profit margin when you’re paying only for material costs.
Some of my items are handmade by local artists. I’ve recently added hand-painted items with my band’s logo. It’s cool to employ local artists who not only do a great job, but also appreciate the work.
Regardless of what industry writers have said, the CD is not dead. People still buy ‘em up at my shows. On another note, the merch girl from Rev. Peyton’s Big Damn Band once told me that they sell more vinyl than CDs!
I don’t give away my CDs as promos to the fans. I worked hard to write and produce the album. I will sell it for a profit, and they buy them up.
The only giveaways I have at my shows are very professional postcards with my picture on the front and booking/merch information on the back. Those postcards have gotten me other gigs, plus countless online sales of my merchandise. The cool thing is people ask me to autograph them. I always make sure I have Sharpies in my merch boxes.
My email-signup list is essential because one quarter of my merch sales happen online during the Christmas season. If people don’t buy at the event, they sometimes follow up online and purchase items as gifts. This is why I always have an email-list signup at the shows, and it’s why I cultivate and care for my email list on a weekly basis. I stay in contact with my fans every week, not just to tell them about shows but to also keep that top-of-mind awareness.
My items for sale don’t just have the band logo. Some things reference individual songs or things I banter about on stage. A few of our newest items are pins and stickers that say “The Blues Ain’t Kind to Skinny Legged Women.” (We love to sing about big-leg women and my affinity for the big booty.) I have a T-shirt coming soon that looks like you’re wearing a washboard just like the one used in my band.
I view my merch stand as part of the show’s entertainment. People love shopping, and most of them want to buy something when they browse the stand. My goal is to make the entire area pop for them, making it fun just to look at all the cool things for sale. The entire night should be an experience for the audience, including the merch booth.
My merch stand takes as much time to set up as the band. I use a small stage scaffold to hold up a bright backdrop, which draws people’s attention. T-shirts are hung up top with prices easily visible. It’s a lot of extra trouble, but it makes people want to buy something because it looks so inviting.
If I’m playing a festival gig, I will negotiate a 10x10 vendor’s tent space into the contract. Usually a fest who really wants my band will gladly give the space for free. Sometimes I’ll even play a gig in exchange for the tent space because I’ll make so much more money from the merch than their small performance fees. Those promoters usually ask me to come back year after year.
I pay my merch guy a commission on everything he sells. That percentage is figured into the retail price of each item. My merch guy loves what he does and gets a thrill out of upselling to increase his commission. Also note: If it’s a crappy gig and we haven’t sold much, I have a base payment I give him for working.
I saw a few of those over the winter and lost some money at times. However, it’s smart to keep him happy during the slow periods because he’s an ace during the busy months.
Got ideas of your own? Post them in the comments below!
Shane Speal is the "King of the Cigar Box Guitar" and the creator of the modern cigar box guitar movement. Hear the music, see the instruments and read about his Cigar Box Guitar Museum at ShaneSpeal.com. Speal's latest album, Holler! is on C.B. Gitty Records.
FIGURE 1 is a 16th-note run that begins with two bars of a melodic pattern based on the G major scale (G A B C D E F#), which I then transpose, in bars 3 and 4, up a fourth, to C major (C D E F G A B), via a quick position shift. For both of these shapes, I use my fret-hand’s first, second and fourth fingers (index, middle and pinkie) throughout. Playing a shape like this over and over will uncover any shortcomings in your fret-hand dexterity. Be sure to fret using only your fingertips, with the thumb placed squarely on the back of the guitar neck in order for the fret-hand fingers to be positioned with a nice, high arch. Additionally, I use alternate (down-up) picking throughout and strive for absolute smoothness and even execution as the patterns are played over and over across the top two strings. 
Now let’s add a slight twist to the melodic shape in order to work the fret hand a little more. In FIGURE 2, the melody played across beats one and two is identical to that of FIGURE 1, but I play different shapes across the last two beats of the bar, beginning with a pull-off on the high E string, followed by more alternate picking. Here, the initial melodic shape is played four times in G before I transpose it up to C. Notice, however, that I do change the very end of the initial phrase, in bar 3, to accommodate the abrupt shift up to 12th position on the last 16th note. 
In FIGURE 3, I use the previous melodic sequence as the basis for a new exercise run that ascends the fretboard through three different fingering patterns of the G major scale. Here, I play the patterns as 16th-note triplets, ascending and then descending on each successive eighth note. Again, I rely on strict alternate picking and strive for absolute clean, even execution. As a whole, this pattern is much simpler than the previous ones, as it simply ascends and descends, but as you will find, getting it up to “shred speed” will require real work and diligence.
