Phrasing

grua-Br Bq1& loses his woman, his da,wg s,g Eir vheels, gra,bs a, ca;n of la,ger and refreshes the riffs others ca,n't rea,ch...
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i.ilk about the blues,

son-re

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.- :-= ii,ink about lvluddy Waters :--, .:.: .llde on irn old acoustic, >:: .: Fi.rr \ rruqlian playing a
--:-::1.:,,ugh a \larshall stack

ninol' pentatonic
scale and concludes rvith sorne pull-offs

: , ' ',::. I .. iranscribed eight phrases ' -- ., :: ':..(l or er trirck 41 on the CD. '.'-:. : ',:=. iir:ks rell'on good phrasing - -- -:: .:-- -:\ .., '.--rhoice trr olnotes. uutes, attu -.. lrluluc and llu rtc Ir l: is - -- - --.::.n1. olthis. The ffrst bar uses a
' - -':':
-. r :

- :

::.-.: -nr.ril-s plaring four uotes, :- ,:.. ilt-r.r plaring four agnin, and -:.:. -tli t.rkes its notes frorn the E
.:

and a slide in the second bar. A sinrilal idera is used bv Extreme's guiiarist Nuno Bettencourt in the track Get Tlrc Funk Orrf just before the solr. FIG 2 uses arr iclcil called'repetition o1' phrasing'; Joe Pass once saicl thtrt "if a phra-.. is goorl, iou c:ul plat,it hvo or three times rvithout it beconting boring", ancl this is trrre here. Itls the strure phrase pliryed three times, rising iut octiwe every btrr Note lios it changes slightly each time. Repetition ofphrases is a great \\'av to gri the most out of a smnll anount ol notes. irnd

tlEh *G l F .bailine is in relatinbhFc. lf*. evn&ough the bdrilg*tsH afoqnd E minor, yql can rrse E tsb, r mtlaffons, during ary sefu d L'rL
All emmples ale dalql rlb ol tlre backing tad( b CE

ts

ih ffi sG t Wr ffig r) ltfEZ Repetitiofl of phraiT-aEt

EYIE 1 A four-note

E@E

Pli_-:g rbe se

fou uotes with

a rest staggers the beat aDd stops the phrase sounding repetitive.

iwo,variations, (Fg 2f SXTH 3 0pen blus pct'lin puil;ofls and slida c BI{- 4 More repetitirn of o&tio$s, and

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -r

LE - ty b fiil e pd. ft g
gEa

ptraifg

wifi gtabr Ei*nbergltl

Ht-aFec d liCkwith no rests. co JolrnI S... FS q IY{F?'liree berds-abm, aserfu d

lIlES0uavers acrossthe
q0ps'wa8-that-a-bit-durp-a-b*+ff

SIIE

E Beginning

tE

ffi.

tE q tr! q

tsss

I$!.ic!reGaverysimple

idea and develops over the three-bu phraae.

r-

nott?,{ruI} br
SY:-f"8lig bends - but a as you might $ink (Fs 8)

n*r

3rd isnt

E@6
Wm,Urds{ a Etues Srgrr btcn tlrn Acclrircys Elues Jam Ss{im H 1

Td
EyeD the opeE E

positio! h6 soDethlDg to offer the electrlc blues ffend.

tt
Bro

t--

J1

.2.

= ;.
it
gives the listener a chance to lock on to the music. This lick uses both the flattened 5th from E minor blues, and also Eb as a chromatic passing note in the third bar. rrc a is a blues scale phrase in the open position and is reminiscent of the playing at the start of Eric Clapton's recording ol

ID this exmple, I've incorlrorated the 'repetition of phr6e' idea 'nd stag!red it affi

the beat

Cocaine. FIc 4 again uses the'repetition of phrasing' concept. It moves neck positions but remains in the E blues scale throughout. The move from the 14th to sth lret in bar one is particularly tricky - practise until yoLr
can incorporate
Not every guitar solo stilta oD the barliDe. .tust reat for that ffrst quaYer ed se wbat baPIreE.

it fluidly.
an interesting

FIc 5 demonstrates

question - where should the phrase start? There's no right or wrong place to start playing in a bar, although there can be a tendency to start on the ffrst beat each time you play. The lick in FIc 5 starts on the second quaver of the bar

rIc

6 shows off an interesting rhythrnic

Easlest one of the lot, but

it

sounds grest with a rbytbm sectlou.

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concept. We have a lick which consists ol three notes, but instead of being played in triplets, it is played in quavers across the beat. This means that the first note of each group will not necessarily fall on 1, 2, 3 or -l every time. This 'crossing the beat' idea is a favourite of Chuck Berry and Robert Cral'. Note-bending is a very important part of blues playing, and is an excellent method of adding tension and dlnamics to a soio. rIc 7 demonstrates three bends; a whole-step bend (one tone); ahalf-step bend (sernitone and a quarter-tone bend (bend note sllghtlr'

Each

bu featues three tlnres

of strlng-bend.

I haven't notated the quuteFtone

beDds but they're-on the G.

The ffrst bend is from A to B, the second from A to Bb (which is the fattened ffftli note ofthe scale), and the last is a G note bent a quarter tone (not notated) and
ffnishing on E (root). Frc 8 is a blues scale lick which stafts with a minor 3rd bend (B to D). Take it easr'

Bro

r-

h-

with this one; 3 frets'worth may seem

a long

way, but you'd be surprised how many players still go sharp with it. In this example too, the phrase resolves to the root (E). Okay, that's it for this month; next issue

we'll be loohng at some ways to expand the chord vocabulary (by teaching chords to sa1' 'mellifluous', perhaps?). rn
Minor 3rd beuds, played in two different octaves. Make sure you don't overdo it ud go shat?

Prr
Thr

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all