Comping over a jazz blues chord progression is something every jazz guitarist needs to be able to do in order to function in a jam or gig situation.

While many of us study traditional chord shapes such as 3rds and 7ths, Drop 2 and Drop 3 chords over a jazz blues, sometimes we want to bring a more modern sound into our chord lines over this common jazz progression.

One of the best ways to modernize your jazz blues comping is to use 4th chords in your comping phrases, chords that are built by stacking 4th intervals rather than 3rds, as is the case in more traditional chord shapes.

In this lesson, you will learn how to play and apply 4th chords to the I7, IV7 and V7 chords of a blues progression in order to bring a modern vibe to your comping ideas, as well as learn a study that you can use to hear these shapes in a musical situation.

Modern Jazz Blues Chords Position 1

To begin, here are three 4th-chord shapes you can use over the three chords in a 12-bar G blues, using the I7, IV7 and V7 chords, which are G7-C7-D7 in this key.

Notice how each chord is built by starting on a chord tone, 7th, root and 2nd in this case, and then stacking 4th intervals on top of these initial chords.

This stacking of 4th intervals, which we call 4th chords, creates that cool, modern sound in your chord voicings, and it is the reason these chords can make a jazz blues tune sound modern when applied to those changes.

Once you have these shapes under your fingers, put on a G blues backing track and practice applying them to the I7, IV7 and V7 chords over that tune.

Modern Jazz Blues Chords Position 2

To help you expand upon these chord shapes in your practice routine, here are the same notes, but now in a different position of the fretboard.

Notice that the G7 chord now uses the shapes from the C7-D7 chords in the first example, and the C7-D7 chords now use the same shapes as the G7 chord in the previous example. This will allow you to quickly move these shapes around the fretboard as you don’t have to learn new chords, you just have to practice playing them in a second position on the neck.

Once these chords are familiar, put on a backing track and comp over those chords using both positions on the fretboard to create your lines and phrases.

Chromatic Passing Chords

Besides playing these three chords over each change in the blues progression, you also can add a passing chord between the 2nd and 3rd shapes to bring a sense of chromaticism to your chord lines. Because the 2nd and 3rd chords have the same shape, and are two frets apart, you can fill in the space between those chords with a chromatic chord, which you can see and hear in the example below.

When applying these chromatic chords to your comping and chord soloing ideas, you don’t always have to play these chords in order, such as inside-outside-inside.

Instead, just think about the chromatic chords as creating tension, which you then need to resolve in your lines by moving to an inside chord by the end of your phrase.

Once you have explored the chord shapes below, put on a G blues backing track and comping over those changes using the following chord shapes to create you lines and phrases.

Modern Jazz Blues Comping Study

To finish your study of these three-note, modern-sounding jazz blues chords, here's a comping study written out over a 12-bar G blues that you can learn and explore in the practice room. Try memorizing this study and playing it along with a backing track, as well as writing out a chord study of your own using the shapes learned in this lesson.

Do you any questions about these modern jazz blues chords? Share your thoughts in the COMMENTS section below.

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).

With a client list including Tosin Abasi, Devin Townsend, Guthrie Govan, Allan Holdsworth and Misha Mansoor, and signature models by Chris Letchford, Paul Masvidal, Per Nilsson and Plini, Sweden-based Strandberg Guitars isn't exactly a secret anymore.

Luthier and founder Ola Strandberg uses interviews and player analysis to choose specifications that not only provide unsurpassed playability and sound, but that are adapted to the player’s body and playing style for optimal ergonomics.

The ergonomics, in turn, minimize the risk of repetitive stress injuries and facilitate ease of play throughout the most grueling stage sets and practice sessions.

“Two of the pillars of an ergonomic guitar are low weight and balance, and the key to achieving both is a headless design. By removing the weight at the headstock, we can create a lightweight guitar that balances well," Strandberg says.

“We designed our own aircraft-grade aluminum modular hardware and carbon fiber reinforcements to achieve our goals, and by using a fanned layout of the frets, we allow playing with a more relaxed wrist angle as well as get a better tone. But the key is our patented EndurNeck profile that really reduces stress on muscles, joints and tendons.”

The .strandberg* custom headless guitar line has recently been complemented by the more accessible seven-string Boden OS line of production guitars that provide all the ergonomics, playability and sound of the custom-made counterparts, with the specifications chosen from leading players. Six- and eight-string versions are soon to be released.

For more about .strandberg*, see the specs and video below and visit strandbergguitars.com.

To see .strandberg* guitars in action, check out Scale The Summit guitarist Chris Letchford's demo of his signature guitar, courtesy of EMGTv:

Boden OS 7 Specs:

• Bolt-On construction
• Book-matched Flame Maple top
• Chambered Swamp Ash body
• EndurNeck™ profile neck
• 5-pc (3x) Birdseye Maple neck with Carbon Fiber/(2x) rosewood fillets
• Birdseye Maple/Rosewood fretboard
• 26.25” – 25.5” scale
• 20” radius
• 24 x stainless steel frets
• Glow in the dark side dot markers
• Glow in the dark fret markers (offset low > 12th < high)
• .strandberg* EGS Series 4 fixed bridge & string locks, Black
• EMG 707X pickups
• 3-way switch
• Ebony Volume/Tone controls
• 2.3 kg / 5 lbs approximate weight
• .0095– .064 .strandberg* Optimized Tension strings
• Natural/Red/Black Matte Poly finish

Price: $1,895

I’d like to focus on riffs and rhythm ideas that represent what I think of as “the real deal” metal.

I’ve designed these riffs to help you build up both your pick-and fret-hand technique in regard to executing pure metal ideas like these with power and precision.

FIGURE 1 is inspired by the heavy riffs of Testament and Pantera and is built from combining a few different scales, such as E major (E F# G# A B C# D#) and E Phrygian-dominant (E F G# A B C D), with sliding two-note power chords.

Across beats one and two, I begin with two-note E5 and F5 power chords that alternate against open low E string accents, all of which are executed with aggressive down-strokes. Across beats three and four, I switch to alternate (down-up) picking. In bar 2, I begin with the same figure over the first two beats, but I switch to a higher single-note riff for beats three and four, one that moves from E major to E Phrygian-dominant.

In bar 3 I repeat the figure from bar 1, which I then follow with sliding two-note power chords, fretted on the bottom two strings, first sliding down one half step, from A5 to G#5, and then up one whole step, from A5 to B5.

FIGURE 2 is inspired by some of Testament’s heavy rhythm parts, such as the one heard in “Over the Wall,” and utilizes a classic metal “gallop” rhythm, which is an eighth note followed by two 16ths. This type of gallop rhythm was previously popularized by Iron Maiden, who used it on many of their biggest songs, such as “Run to the Hills.”

The gallop figure shown here is executed with fast downdown-up picking in conjunction with palm muting on beats one through three, followed by eighth-note sliding power chords. This example is played at a rather quick tempo—194 beats per minute—and practicing it at that tempo will definitely add strength and precision to your pick-hand technique. You’ll hear sliding power chord figures like these on Metallica’s “Master of Puppets” as well as Pantera’s “Mouth for War.”

For our last example, FIGURE 3, I’ve put together a riff comprised entirely of single notes, and I intentionally made it obscure in terms of outlining a specific tonality. Though the open low E note is accentuated, creating a connection to E5 or E minor, the notes themselves do not stick within the structure of any scale. My goal was simply to come up with a cool, heavy-sounding riff that features a few different articulation techniques.

Through all of bar 1 and the first half of bar 2, I repeatedly play pairs of open low E accents in 16th notes, followed by a variety of three-note melodic shapes. Bar 3 presents a shift to 2/4 meter for the fast trills, after which bars 1 and 2 are repeated.

The riff ends with quick pull-off phrases on the bottom two strings, fretted with the index and ring fingers. Apply these techniques to some heavily brutal metal riffs of your own design and have fun with them!

Part 1

Part 2

As guitar players, we sometimes get too comfortable with certain scale shapes because they can be easy to remember.

For example, think about the minor pentatonic scale; almost immediately, the mental image of that familiar box shape is probably conjured in your mind's eye. The fact that we can instantly recall various patterns due to their spacial layout over the fretboard is a great thing. But what if we're relying too heavily on existing scale shapes?

Scales are just pre-determined paths that get us from point A (root note) to point B (the octave). Some scales sound very musical, while others have a less-conventional harmonic architecture.

For some younger rock guitarists, the process of learning and memorizing existing scales might be the extent of their development when it comes to improvising.

But what about arpeggios? Arpeggios seem to be an intimidating concept to beginners, intermediates and even some advanced players for a few reasons:

01. The name seems "elitist" in nature and sounds like it should be reserved for classical music.

It simply comes from the italian word "arpeggiare," which either translates to "play on a harp" or "broken chord." All this means is we're playing each note of a chord separately, without any of the notes ringing out simultaneously. On a theoretical level, arpeggios and chords are basically the same thing. The only difference is in their execution; one is monophonic (one note at a time), while the other is polyphonic (multiple notes at the same time).

02. Arpeggios are viewed as being "synonymous with sweep picking."

Not everyone wants to be a shredder. For this reason, some people tend to underestimate or even completely ignore arpeggios because they have been popularly linked with sweep picking. Yes, a lot of technically advanced axe-slingers love using arpeggios. But truth be told, you NEVER have to learn sweep picking in order to effectively use arpeggios.

03. Some of the more popular arpeggio shapes seem difficult to play and memorize.

Since arpeggios are 'broken chord' patterns, they're usually laid out over the fretboard in familiar chord shapes (derived from the CAGE system). But this brings us back to the previous problem. After all, the most economical way to execute a "C shape" minor arpeggio would be to sweep pick it (because that shape consists of a one-note-per-string sequence).

So what's the best way to make arpeggios accessible to ALL guitarists? One way is to visualize them as if they are scales (the only difference is that they consist of chord tones).

That sounds reasonable, but there are a few practical limitations to this proposal. First, the most basic arpeggio (triad) is comprised of a meager 3-note grouping. This makes it rather difficult to plot the notes on the fretboard in a 'boxed' format without invoking the sweep picking approach.

As you can see, it's doable but challenging if you're not used to a wide shape, which involves tough hand stretching and some tricky finger rolling. But if you're up to the task, these patterns can definitely be useful.

Let's try adding an additional note to the mix. The most obvious way to do this would be to experiment with 7th arpeggios (or 7th chords). These chords definitely have a unique harmonic texture that distinguishes itself from the more conventional-sounding triads.

The quick theoretical explanation as to why they're called "7th chords" is pretty straightforward; both the major and minor scales each contain seven notes. Triads are simply the first, third and fifth notes of a particular scale played together (becoming a chord) or individually (becoming an arpeggio). If we add the seventh note in a scale to the existing triad, we arrive at a 7th chord (essentially, all of the odd-numbered notes in a 7-note scale played simultaneously; 1,3,5,7).

So let's see how these guys help in our quest of creating visually friendly shapes on the fretboard without resorting to sweep picking.

(Note: the numbers inside the circles are suggestions for which fingers to use for each note. These are just suggestions, so feel free to use alternate fingering schemes and even slides in some instances)

Not bad, but there's still some stretching involved and the shapes are a little too abstract. But at least we've started to look at arpeggios in a two-note-per-string context. Hopefully this is helpful for those of you who do not sweep pick and aren't interested in learning the technique anytime soon.

In my next column, we'll dig deeper and try to arrive at some comfortable box shapes rooted in the concept of more extended arpeggios. We might even sprinkle in a few passing tones.

Chris Breen is a New Jersey-based guitarist with 14 years of experience under his belt. He, along with his brother Jon (on drums) started the two-piece metal project known as SCARSIC in 2011. They've recently been joined by bassist Bill Loucas and have released an album, A Tale of Two Worlds (available on iTunes, Amazon and Spotify). Chris also is part of an all-acoustic side project called Eyes Turn Stone. Chris teaches guitar lessons (in person or via Skype). For more information, visit BreenMusicLessons.com.

Here's a little something we spotted on Facebook recently.

It's the Firefly Pick, a guitar pick that lights up as you play guitar.

Actually, it's a bit more interesting than that.

Here's some of the literature from its Amazon.com page:

"The Firefly Pick allows you to create an LED light show timed to your music. Motion-triggered LED pulses track guitar pick action to add a brilliant visual effect intimately connected to the guitarist's rhythm. The Firefly Pick is the same shape as a normal guitar pick and features a beveled tip optimized by pros, allowing musicians to experience and deliver this brilliant visual effect without compromising the playability or music.

"The Firefly Pick is durable and features a USB-rechargeable lithium ion battery as well as a smart monitoring system that automatically shuts down to save energy during travel. Used by professional performers and beginning students. The Firefly Pick Duo flashes with one color on the upstroke and a second color on the downstroke.

"The Firefly Pick comes in four light motion styles (Classic, Duo, Insanity, and Air) as well as many different LED light colors."

For more information, check out the CNET video below and visit fireflypick.com. The Firefly Pick costs $54.99 on Amazon.

Finland's Steve ‘N’ Seagulls, the guys who brought you acoustic, bluegrass-tinged covers of Dio's "Holy Diver" and Iron Maiden's "The Trooper," are back with a new cover—and a new video.

Below, check out their new rendition of Metallica's "Seek & Destroy," which was posted to YouTube just yesterday.

The band will be releasing a new studio album, Farm Machine, May 12. It's available for pre-order on iTunes right here.Farm Machine includes the band's covers of "Holy Diver,""The Trooper,""Black Dog,""Cemetery Gates" and many more.

For more of this sort of thing, be sure to subscribe to the band's YouTube channel. For more about the band, follow them on Facebook.

While the Beatles' 1969 track "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" is, indeed, "heavy," it's not exactly a shred masterpiece.

There is a guitar solo on the Beatles' recording, but it's a simple (but heart-felt and effective) pentatonic take on the song's melody line, as played by John Lennon, who wrote the song.

That said, I've always felt that the song's eerie end section—the part that builds and builds into something a twisted DJ would play as the pillars of the earth are tumbling down around him—has screamed out for a touch of shred guitar.

Along comes guitarist Juliette Valduriez and her Parker guitar. Check out her version of the last part of the song below—and let us know what you think.

For more about Valduriez, follow her on Facebook.

Seymour Duncan has released The Shapeshifter tremolo pedal.

From the company:

The Shapeshifter was designed to be the ultimate tremolo pedal, with all the features players have been asking for.

Building on the original Shapeshifter, it's now significantly smaller and features stereo inputs and outputs, Phase control between outputs and an expanded rate range, while a blinking LED knob (like the one found on the Vapor Trail analog delay) gives you a visual representation of the tempo, and stays engaged even when the unit is in bypass so you can alter the rate in between parts of your song.

The Shapeshifter provides a natural, first-class sound that is rich, authentic and highly customizable. Wave, Shape, Depth, Speed and Tap Tempo controls allow you infinite ability to craft your own unique signature Tremolo tones, while the Phase control lets you adjust between left and right output channels to find the ideal mix.

Whether you're looking for the classic shimmer heard on many hits or some truly mind-blowing severe helicopter chops, piano stabs or backwards swells, the Shapeshifter can do it.

True stereo inputs and outputs allow the Shapeshifter to be used in both live and studio applications for all types of instruments. The Shapeshifter joins the Seymour Duncan guitar pedal lineup with the Dirty Deed, Pickup Booster, Vapor Trail, 805 Overdrive and Vise Grip—each pedal is true-bypass and hand assembled at the Seymour Duncan Factory in Santa Barbara, California.

For more information, check out the specs and video below, and visit seymourduncan.com.

Specifications:

• Type of Circuitry: Pure analog signal path, Stereo Input/Output, digital tremolo timing
• Bypass: True hard-wire bypass
• Control functionality:
Depth: Continuously adjustable from 0 to 30dB
Rate: Continuously adjustable from 0.5 to 15 Beats per second
Rate/Ratio Switch: Changes functionality of Rate Control from direct linear adjustment of rate to a multiplication factor for tapped tempos.
• Shape (Duty Cycle): Continuously adjustable from 10% to 90%
• Wave: Continuously adjustable, sine to triangle to square waves
• Phase Control: Continuously adjust phase between left and right output channels from 0 degrees to 180 degrees
• Input Impedance: 1 Meg Ohm
• Output Impedance: 1.2K ohm
• Max Output before Saturation: 2.5V RMS
• S/N Ratio: 95dB
• Frequency Response: -3dB at 3Hz and 50 kHz
• THD: < 0.3% @ 1 kHz, 1VRMS
• Noise referred to input: <-99dBV, 400Hz to 2kHz
• Power: 9V battery or 18V regulated DC adapter
• Current Consumption: 13mA operate, 12mA bypass
• Dimensions: 3.50” wide X 4.70” deep X 1.60” tall
• Weight: 0.9 lbs.

Stephen Ross, one of Shrapnel Records' earliest discoveries, is back with a new album, Jabberwhacky, a stunning collection of well-arranged compositions laden with colorful chord changes, heavy grooves and melodic lines. It will be released May 15.

Ross’ playing is technical, but his technique never gets in the way of the music.

Ross is supported by a list of incredible players: John DeServio (Black Label Society, Vinnie Moore) on bass, guest soloist Bunny Brunel (Chick Corea, CAB) on bass and Joe Nevolo (Shadow Gallery, Frank Marino, Greg Howe and Pat Travers) on drums.

Ross was first discovered by Mike Varney in 1991 and released his debut CD, Midnight Drive, on Varney’s popular Shrapnel label. He also has appeared on Thrills, the second release from Escape Records recording artist Silent Witness, and Leave the World Alone by Rogosonic and has appeared on numerous compilation releases.

He is the author of the best-selling book Arpeggios for the Modern Guitarist published by Hal Leonard.

Jabberwhacky can be pre-ordered now via stephenross.com.

In a previous column, I wrote about how "Musical Purity is Overrated."

That column focused on how the Internet is slowly chipping away at the old-school mentality of rigid musical genres and why this is a good thing for creativity. In this column, I thought I'd take the opposite standpoint and apply it to the topic of "noodling."

First off, what is noodling? Well, it depends on who you ask. But for our purposes, I'll say it is generally the act of unorganized or undisciplined practice. Those of us who have been playing for a long time know it takes dedication and sometimes sacrifice to accomplish a certain goal.

You want to get better at fingerpicking and sight reading, but you're a metal guitarist? Then you're going to have to regiment your time every day to maintain your existing chops while still having enough energy to focus on improving those new techniques and skills. One way I've managed to deal with these challenges through the years is to write down my practice routine.

If I have a lot on my plate, I'll even alternate my practice days. For example, I'll practice a certain amount of scale and arpeggio shapes on Monday, then practice a different batch of shapes on Tuesday. This is similar to what weightlifters do in their workout routines; alternating specific muscle groups on particular days. This is definitely a great way to alleviate some of the stress you might feel by having to cram in every speed exercise, chord voicing and lick into a single day, especially if your time is limited.

But there is an aspect to this highly systematic approach to practicing that raises the question, how often are you being creative?

Creativity is hard to regiment. It's one of those ephemeral moments that is tough to predict and even trickier to practice. Sure, you can set aside time in your schedule to be "creative," but what if you're not feeling particularly creative 45 minutes into your routine? A dangerous byproduct of all this organization and self-discipline is that your senses can become dulled to the prospect of uncertainty and spontaneity. In fact, uncertainty and spontaneity can even become an enemy.

If all you do is practice your routine seven days a week, how do you think you're going to feel when a friend asks, "Hey, do you wanna jam?" Depending on your personality, it could be a great escape from the monotony of your daily playing, or it could feel like a thorn in your side. Why? Maybe because you've been so conditioned to think that only structured practice is effective in improving your overall musicianship that you've lost sight of what it feels like to just play for fun.

This is where noodling comes in. As I said earlier, it's generally considered to be just unorganized playing. But maybe this is exactly what you need once in a while. Maybe it's what we all need.

This is something I've had to struggle with myself sometimes, but I think a good way to approach it is to carve out some "noodling" time into your weekly schedule. I know this idea seems a bit like an oxymoron, especially since I just talked about how you can't predict the spontaneous nature of creativity. So, instead, I suggest setting aside the time whenever you're feeling particularly inspired. For example, let's say you have your list of practice drills in front of you, but you can't get this melody out of your head. You're not sure where the melody comes from. It could be from a song you've heard on the radio or something that just popped into your head—a moment of inspiration, perhaps.

You might feel tempted to ignore the melody or push it off until you're done with your practice routine. But this is the moment when you should decide, "It's noodle time." Play the melody, maybe record a chord progression that complements it, mess around with it. No "to do list" involved. Just be spontaneous and see where this new idea takes you. A couple of days later, you might realize the melody was from a popular song on the radio ... but so what? Maybe the chord progression you wrote underneath it involved some interesting chord voicings you've never used before. Or maybe it is an original idea and in the next few days you have yourself a completed song.

The potential benefits of unorganized playing (otherwise known as noodling) can equal, if not exceed, the benefits of regimented, sometimes mindless practice. As always, the secret is balance. You're most likely not going to have that moment of inspiration every day. On those other days, that's when you should focus on your techniques and get to work with that metronome.

But don't let the pursuit of technical prowess blind you to the main goal of playing any instrument; the ability to express yourself creatively through music, and to have fun doing it!

Photo: lowjumpingfrog via photopincc

Chris Breen is a New Jersey-based guitarist with 14 years of experience under his belt. He, along with his brother Jon (on drums) started the two-piece metal project known as SCARSIC in 2011. Due to a lack of members, Chris tracked guitars, bass and vocals for their self titled four-song demo (available on iTunes, Spotify and Rhapsody). They have recently been joined by bassist Bill Loucas and are writing new material. Chris also is part of an all-acoustic side project known as Eyes Turn Stone. Chris teaches guitar lessons as well (in person or via Skype). If you're interested in taking lessons with Chris, visit BreenMusicLessons.com for more info.

Taking techniques from different instruments and applying them to the guitar can open up a whole new approach to the instrument and add freshness to your playing and ideas.

In this lesson, we will look at approaching the guitar in the style of a sitar and Indian mandolin. A sitar has many strings (up to 20, to be exact). Ironically, out of all of these strings, most of the time only one of them is used to do the actual playing. The others are sympathetic and drone strings. A sitar player plays mostly in a linear fashion up and down on that one string.

As guitar players, we started out learning our scales in box shapes across the neck from E to E. Many players can play a scale from low E to high E at blinding speeds, but if you ask a lot of players to now play those scales only up and down on one string, they will probably not be able to play them quite as fast for two reasons.

First, they don’t know the scales as well note-wise as they do finger-memory-wise. Second, playing up and down on one string requires rapid position changes they might not be used to.

In the following examples, two different ways are given to play these scales: picking, which is more of a sitar approach, and legato using slides, which is more of a Indian mandolin approach. The Indian mandolin isn't like the double-stringed, Western mandolin. It has six single strings like a guitar and is a little larger than the Western mandolin. You will often hear legato-type phrasing on this instrument.

In Example 1, we have a scale in the key of D, starting on the root D on the G string in the middle of the neck. The scale descends to the fifth degree, A, jumps back to the root and ascends to the higher octave A, and then back down to the root D.

Start out practicing the scale slowly. Focus on the position changes that occur between the fourth and fifth notes and the sixth and seventh notes on the ascent, and the third and fourth notes on the descent, and then finally the last note with the first finger, back to the starting point again with the fourth finger. Also, notice that sometimes you have to use the same finger to play two consecutive notes. Work on this transition as well.

In Example 2, we have a scale in the key of A, starting on the root. This will take you from the low part of the neck straight up to the higher octave of the root with no adjacent fingers but more position changes.

Practice each of these scales, picking every note. After you are comfortable with the position shifts, try playing them legato.

For the legato approach of Example 1, pick only the first note, pulling off the rest and then sliding down to the notes that would use the same finger (B – A), and then slide up again to the root D with the first finger and hammer on the next note E. Then jump to the next position, picking the first note only and hammering on and pulling off the rest and finally slide from the 11th fret down to the ninth and start over again.

The legato approach to Example 2 would be to hammer on the first two notes (A-B) and then slide up to the next 2 (C#-D), pick the fifth note (E) with the first finger and hammer on to F#, slide up to G# and then A. To descend this scale, start with your fourth finger on A and pull off the next two notes, and then slide down from F# to E, then put your 4th finger again on D on the G string seventh fret, pulling off the next two notes and finally sliding down to the last two notes.

You will find that the legato approach gives you more of an Indian or slinky sound. Practice this very slowly so that it always sounds relaxed and comfortable. Eventually, practice these scales without having to look at the guitar neck. This is how sitar players are forced to play because of the size and positioning of the instrument.

After you feel comfortable in these keys, try this approach in different keys and modes.

Steve Booke is a composer for film and TV from the New York area. His compositions range from orchestral to metal to world styles from every corner of the earth. A graduate of Berklee College of Music, Steve has played guitar for more than 27 years. He has recorded 10 albums of his own and has played on countless others. He plays gigs in the NY area and tours the East Coast with a variety of bands. He has performed with Ben E. King and members of Mahavishnu Orchestra. He endorses D'Addario/Planet Waves, Larrivee Guitars, Levy's Leathers, Peavey, Stylus Pick, Make Music, Pigtronix, Tech 21, Digitech, Graph Tech, Seymour Duncan, Waves, Studio Devil and L.R. Baggs. His music is available on iTunes and Amazon. He can be contacted at info@stevebooke.com. Visit stevebooke.com.

IK Multimedia, the pioneer and leader in mobile music creation, is pleased to announce that the latest version of UltraTuner for iPhone is now compatible with Apple's newest device, Apple Watch.

Now musicians can accurately tune their instruments straight from their wrist—UltraTuner’s highly visible “STAGE mode” can be viewed on Apple Watch via two easy-to-see visualizations.

Now it’s even easier than ever before for musicians to keep their instruments in tune no matter whether they’re on stage, in the studio or anywhere in between.

Ultra wearable

The latest UltraTuner app can be paired with an Apple Watch when it is installed on an iPhone with the most recent OS. Musicians can now view the tuning information on their Apple Watch in two operational modes: UltraTuner’s classic graduated LED “STAGE mode” and a simple “NOTE mode," custom-designed for the Apple Watch display.

Ultra visible

When viewed on Apple Watch, “stage mode” provides a bright and highly visible display with two large yellow LED-like wing arrays that light up in progressive amounts according to whether the note played is flat or sharp.

When the note is in tune, the tuning indicator center bar turns bright neon green. “NOTE mode” shows the musical note letter name that is being played, with arrows below to indicate whether the note is flat or sharp. When the note is in tune, the note name turns bright neon green.

Ultra precise

Beyond the Apple Watch enhancement, the UltraTuner app runs on both iPhone or iPod touch, and can receive an audio signal via either the built-in microphone or through an audio interface like IK’s iRig HD, iRig 2 or iRig PRO. It sports an advanced and astonishingly quick note-detection engine that delivers accuracy down to +/- 1/100 of a cent, making it ideal for precision tuning and calibration of all instruments from electric guitars to analog synthesizers and beyond.

Pricing and availability

This newest version of UltraTuner, now compatible with the Apple Watch, is available from the App Store for $/€4.99. UltraTuner for Apple Watch is a free update for existing owners of UltraTuner for iPhone (standalone app only).

For more information, visit ikmultimedia.com.

Simply put, howcast.com is a website that shows you how to do things.

If you visit its homepage right now, you'll find stories on "How to Use Coupons,""How to Take Care of Small & Exotic Pets" and our favorite, "How to Do Popular Club Dancing Moves."

And yes, the site also hosts videos on "How to Shred" (That's shredding on the guitar as opposed to your summer internship shredding paper in your uncle's accounting office). Testament guitarist and Guitar World friend Alex Skolnick stars in the site's "How to Shred" clip, which was posted earlier this summer, so we thought we'd share it below.

Hey, good advice is good advice!

Note: It seems there isn't any tab associated with the video.

For more information, head here or here.

Guitar World Recommends shines the spotlight on new and noteworthy gear for guitarists. This week, Guitar World recommends the MXR Il Torino Overdrive pedal.

The Il Torino Overdrive, the MXR Custom Shop showroom’s latest addition, serves up smooth, organic grit with the controls you need to adapt its sound to your carefully constructed signal chain.

Designed by guest Custom Shop engineer Carlo Sorasio, Italy’s premier boutique amp and pedal builder, the Il Torino Overdrive uses MOSFET technology to recreate the gain structure of classic tube preamps, allowing it to sing with sweet, touch responsive saturation and natural sounding compression. Next, Carlo added a three-band EQ section so you can finely shape the sound of the overdrive.

Finally, Carlo added a BOOST/OD switch to toggle between Boost Mode—a cleaner sound with just the right amount of compression and sustain—and OD Mode—a more aggressive, cranked tube amp sound.

This pedal uses a sophisticated bypass system in the form of a Class A Low Impedance Output Driver—essentially a form of buffered bypass—to keep your tone sounding warm and natural across long signal chains where signal loss normally occurs.

It all comes in a sturdy MXR box with all the high-quality jacks and switches to make it last on the road.

For more about this pedal, visit jimdunlop.com.

A favorite compositional technique of mine in the songs I record and perform with Revocation is to incorporate the use of odd and shifting meters in the writing of primary riffs.

Another cool approach I often take is to combine straight 4/4 time with odd meters to create some interesting and unique amalgamations.

For the song “Madness Opus,” I set the main figure, which is phrased in a rhythm of steady eighth-note triplets, in 3/4 meter, as shown in FIGURE 1. If we think of the initial note, F, as the tonic, or root, the chord that is alluded to is Fm-maj7b5.

The use of pull-offs on the sixth string is essential to the proper articulation and sound of this riff. The one-bar pattern is played three times, after which I transpose it down a step and a half, or a minor third, so that the initial note is D, at which point the chordal allusion is Dm-maj7b5. Regarding the pick-hand, I pretty much stick with alternate (down-up) picking throughout, starting with two downstrokes on the low F notes and then switch to alternate picking for the notes that are consecutively picked.

On the recording, after this phrase cycles through a few times, I bring in an overdubbed guitar part, illustrated in FIGURE 2, that plays the same riff but transposed up a minor third, or a step and a half. This results in a harmonized line known as a parallel harmony, for which every fretted note is a minor third above the melodic line.

Given that the line itself is very dissonant sounding, the harmony of a minor third above it pushes the musical effect even further into “alien” territory. I love to harmonize riffs using different intervallic distances like this, and playing a line a minor third above always works well.

Another great example of the incorporation of odd meter is the primary riff to “Witch Trials,” shown in FIGURE 3. The majority of this phrase is played in 5/4 time, after which I shift very unexpectedly to 3/4. The figure is played in straight 16th notes but phrased in five-note groups, so that the initial note, the open low E, steadily shifts one 16th note later in the bar through each five-note group. The very nature of the phrasing of the melody creates the 5/4 meter in that it takes five beats of the pattern before the open low E will once again fall squarely on beat one. At the end of the phrase, I play a very atonal chord that my be analyzed as C#(b9)/E#.

For our final example, also from “Witch Trials,” (see FIGURE 4), I begin in 4/4 but then wrap up the idea in 3/4. I think of the riff as being in A natural minor (A B C D E F G) with pairs of intervals placed against the low A pedal tone. I begin with a pair of notes—E and B, a fourth apart— followed by F and C, a fifth apart, then by A and F, an augmented (sharped) fifth apart. When I shift to 3/4, I simply bring the open low A pedal tone back in after playing the phrase across three quarter notes.

For decades, a common practice in rock and metal has been to use drop-D tuning, wherein the guitar’s low E string is tuned down one whole step to D, one octave below the fourth string.

Aside from the additional heaviness this tuning provides by extending the instrument’s range downward, having the bottom two strings tuned a fifth apart—D to A—enables one to play a root-fifth power chord simply by strumming the two strings open or barring a finger across them at any given fret.

And with the fourth string included, a three-note, root-fifth-octave power chord can be sounded just as easily.

My favorite way to use drop-D tuning is to combine one-finger power chords with single-note riffs that utilize the open low D note as a pedal tone. To do this, I will play on the sixth string as if it were tuned normally, to E, but move all notes on the other strings two frets lower than where I would ordinarily play them.

This results in some unusual shapes when moving between the sixth and fifth strings.

For example, in FIGURE 1, I begin with two open low D notes followed by a two-note ascending pattern on the sixth string. I then alternate between single notes on the fifth string and fretted and unfretted accents on the sixth string, resulting in shifting three-note melodic shapes.

If the sixth string were tuned normally, some of these shapes would be much more difficult to fret, so the drop-D tuning, in additional to sounding really cool, facilitates the execution of this melodic pattern. In bars 2 and 4, I use my fret-hand index finger to sound two-note power chords, E5-to-F5 and G#5-to-A5, that fall on beat two of each bar, respectively.

FIGURE 2 offers another example of alternating three-note melodic shapes, again using the open sixth string as a low D pedal tone. I begin on the major third of D, F#, which alternates against a D root note on the fifth string, but in bar 3 I switch to the minor third, F, which is repeatedly bent up a quarter step and pulled off to the open low D string.

The last bar of the pattern moves to four-note rhythmic shapes and incorporates a sliding octave shape fretted on the fifth and third strings. The figure ends with a “spread voicing” of Dsus2, with the index, middle finger and pinkie fretting the fifth, fourth and third strings, respectively.

FIGURES 3–5 illustrate three approach- es to what is basically the same riff. FIGURE 3 represents the two-note version, as only the fourth and third strings are used. In FIGURE 4, I expand the idea by adding a high D note on the B string’s third fret. In FIGURE 5, the open fourth-string D pedal tone is replaced with an open sixth-string D pedal, resulting in a much heavier-sounding riff.

Now that you have the idea, try inventing some of your own killer drop-D riffs using these and other techniques.

Learning to play the blues in a jazzy style means stepping outside the minor blues scale and exploring other melodic options in your solos.

But you don’t need to go very far to find a cool-sounding scale that can jazz up your blues solos in no time.

In today’s lesson, we’ll be looking into the mixed blues scale, which combines the notes from the minor and major blues scales to outline the underlying blues chord changes, while retaining a healthy dose of the blues at the same time.

Major and Minor Blues Scales

To begin, here's a quick review of the minor and major blues scales, written over an A7 chord in the example below.

The minor blues scale contains the notes R-b3-4-#4-5-b7, and the major blues scale contains the notes R-2-b3-3-5-6, so they share a few notes and have a few different notes between them.

The notes they share are the root, b3 and 5th, while the other notes are different between the two scales; minor blues has the 4, #4 and b7; while the major blues scale has 2, 3 and 6.

Try playing both of these scales back to back over an A7 chord, with a backing track if possible, in order to hear how they both sound when applied to a chord such as A7.

Mixed Blues Scale

Now that you've looked at both of these scales separately, we’re going to combine the major and minor blues scales in order to build what I like to call the mixed blues scale.

This scale contains all of the notes from both scales, R-2-b3-3-4-#4-5-6-b7, and has a sound that outlines the chord, since it has the R-3-5-b7 arpeggio built into it, and remains bluesy with the b3 and #4 at the same time.

While you could play all of these notes in order, as I wrote out in the previous paragraph, you’ll see in the example below that I leave out certain notes along the way, notes that get added in later in the scale.

This is mostly due to the fact that many famous players who use this scale tend to use certain notes in specific octaves, so I’ve written it out in that way to get you into that style quickly and accurately when adding this scale to your soloing repertoire.

Try putting on an A7 backing track and play up and down this scale to hear how it sounds over that chord, and then begin to improvise over an A7 harmony using only the A mixed blues scale as the basis for your lines to hear how it sounds in a soloing situation.

Mixed Blues Scale Lick

Lastly, here’s an example of a lick over A7 built with the notes from the A mixed blues scale.

Since this scale contains the notes of the A7 arpeggio, you need to treat it more like an arpeggio than a blues scale, meaning that if you have an A7 chord, you play the A mixed blues scale. If you have a D7 chord, you play a D7 mixed blues scale and so on.

Try this lick out and see how it sounds over an A7 chord, before transposing it to other keys, adding it to your solo vocabulary and writing/learning a number of mixed blues scale licks of your own as you explore this concept further in the woodshed.

Do you have a question about this mixed blues scale lesson? Share your comments and questions in the COMMENTS section below.

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 lecturer in Popular Music Performance at the University of Chester and an examiner for the London College of Music (Registry of Guitar Tutors).

In this new Guitar World video, GW's tech editor, Paul Riario, shows you how to make basic adjustments to your guitar's truss rod.

In the clip, which you can check out below, Riario is joined by an Epiphone ES-339 PRO and a Fender Road Worn Strat.

Fear no more, folks! You can do this!

For the latest and greatest guitar accessories, visit amplifiedparts.com.

P.S.: If you just can't get enough of Paul Riario telling you what to do, check out Guitar World's Guide to Building a Pedal Board — Video.

Since we guitarists tend to enjoy sick sounds, we thought we'd share this lesson video by Swedish guitar whiz Mattias Eklundh.

In the clip, which is titled "Harmonics #5," Eklundh lays down some basics about how harmonics work.

Then, starting around 1:31, 2:15 and (especially) 2:45, things start getting freaky, courtesy of some extreme—even dissonant—harmonics.

As always, check out the video and try to incorporate Eklundh's methods into your own playing. (I mean, if you're into that sort of thing, of course.)

If you'd like to hear more of Eklundh's playing, be sure to watch this demo video of Caparison Guitars' eight-string AH8 model, which we posted in June.

For more about Eklundh, visit the appropriately named freakguitar.com.

This month I’d like to demonstrate the technique I use to perform the two-handed-tapping riff that occurs during the bridge/chorus section of the song “Sevens,” from my Erotic Cakes album.

Before getting to the “Sevens” lick, I’m going to break down the technique involved so that you will be able to apply this idea to creating riffs of your own. The genesis of the lick was in trying to find a new way to play a major-seven arpeggio. I started out by breaking it down into two notes per string, as shown in FIGURE 1a.

Using the index finger and pinkie only, I descend from the major seventh of Eb, D, at the 22nd fret of the high E string, to a low Eb on the sixth string’s 11th fret. I then took this idea and performed it with fretboard tapping, as shown in FIGURE 1b. Now, the higher note in each pair is sounded with a pick-hand fretboard tap, and the lower note is sounded with a fret-hand “hammer-on from nowhere.” Be sure to tap hard onto each note so that it will sound clearly, and try to not allow any of the notes to ring into each other.

The next step was to break up the descending pattern and play it non-sequentially. What I arrived at was FIGURE 2. Here, I sound consecutive single notes on the high E and B strings, both sounded with fretboard taps, followed by the lower associated notes on the top two strings, sounded with fret-hand hammer-ons. The fret hand mirrors this approach by also using the pinkie and middle fingers. Start by playing this pattern slowly and then increase the speed.

Now let’s take this same approach and apply it to the four-note groups on the lower pairs of strings, starting with the B and G strings, as shown in FIGURE 3. I use the same technique here but switch to the ring and middle fingers for both the pick-hand taps and the fret-hand hammer-ons.

In FIGURE 4, I’ve moved the idea down one more pair of strings to the G and D. Here, I tap with the middle and ring fingers of the pick hand but use my frethand pinkie and middle finger to fret the other notes.

FIGURE 5 then runs the three patterns together. You can take this idea further by continuing onto the two bottom pairs of strings, as demonstrated in FIGURES 6a and 6b. Now that you’ve got the idea, try some different arpeggios: FIGURE 7 outlines Ebm7, and FIGURE 8 begins with Ebsus4 and then moves through Ebmaj7 and Ebm7.

Finally, the “Sevens” lick, appropriately played in a meter of 7/4, is shown in FIGURE 9. Using the same technique, I move through the different pairs of strings in a specific alternating pattern.