D E D I C AT I O N

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To my wife, Jeannette, and my family, who tolerate, sustain,
support, humor, inspire, counsel, and best of all, most amazingly
and wonderfully, love me.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

FOR THE LOVE OF GUITAR

by

Rik Emmett

Book O

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FOREWORD
If youve already chewed your way through the
first two FOR THE LOVE OF GUITAR books to get
here - congratulations, bless you, and Im happy to
see you again. At the end of Book Two, I talked
about our paths crossing - people coming from
different approaches and headed in different
directions. Good, bad, or indifferent, Ive
committed something here, left something of
myself revealed, open and vulnerable. As a reader,
you still enjoy the freedom of coming or going,
taking or leaving it. Writing a book is only an
invitation to a meeting of minds, without
guarantees. Still, Im hoping that when you
read this book, youll feel that the tables have
been turned somewhat - that the challenge to
reveal yourself and commit something has
drawn you in, and drawn you out. What will you find here
in these pages? Well, what are you prepared to bring to the dance?
All four books in this series grew out of the Back to Basics columns that I wrote
over the course of twelve years for Guitar Player magazine, so, naturally, theyre all
focused on fundamental techniques, theories, and concepts. But right
along with all the primary physical techniques, FOR THE LOVE
OF GUITAR is basically about imagination, and spirit, and
creativity, so many open-ended, infinite kinds of things that its
virtually impossible to separate the hands from the head and the
heart. This book in the series is about MOTIVATION, building
some connections, setting up a network in the anatomy: getting you to
touch, to feel and to know the beginnings of a little forever in your music.
What do you think about your LOVE OF GUITAR? How do you think about it?
Cmon, lets do a little brainstorming

THE BASICS
BRAINSTORMING BOOK

BOOK THREE

CONTENTS
Page
Foreword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .I
Key to Notational Symbols . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .IV
Eight Basic Secrets to Great Guitar Playing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
Jimi Hendrix: The Art of Rhythm Playing, Part One . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4
Rhythm - The Ghost Who Oils the Cog in the Machine . . . . . . . . . .5
The Subtle Art of Rhythm Playing, Part Two . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9
Playing and Singing at the Same Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12
Django and One-Finger Chords . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14
Open Tunings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16
The Case of the Hammer-On and Pull-Off Arpeggios . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18
Improvisation - Goin For It . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22
Soloing Form . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25
Soloing And Form, Part Two . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .29
Creativity and Interpretation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .29
Developing Left-Hand Independence: A Fingering Exercise . . . . . . . . .32
The Six Laws of Tone, Taste and Feel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .34
Cross Pickin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .38
Vibrato . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .40
Shifty Moves: Two String Snakes and Ladders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .42
Rhythm Changes, Part One . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .44
Rhythm Changes, Part Two . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .46
Working Through Changes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .46
Economy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .48
Less Is More . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .50
Coplands Long Line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .52

II

TABLE OF CONTENTS (Contd)

Learning Self-Help: Thirsty Horses Climbing Ladders . . . . . . . . . . . . .53

Musician, Help Thyself . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .53
Observation and Emulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .54
The Big Three - Necessity, Willpower, and Focus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .55
Setting Goals - Building Ladders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .56

III

KEY TO NOTATIONAL SYMBOLS

THE FOLLOWING SYMBOLS are used to indicate fingerings, techniques, and

effects commonly used in the guitar music notation in this series of books.

4
4
T

ras

Left-hand fingering is designated by

small Arabic numerals near note heads
(1 = 1st finger, 2 = 2nd finger,
3 = 3rd finger, 4 = pinky, T = thumb).

////

In some music examples, the fingerings

appear in the space between the standard
notation staff and the tablature staff.
i

CV
CV

Pick upstroke.

IV

The C indicates a full barre; the Roman numeral

designates the proper fret.

The C indicates a first finger half-barre covering

either the first three or four strings, depending on
what is called for in the notation.

(7) 5

1
2

In chord diagrams, vertical lines represent the

strings, and horizontal lines represent the frets. The
following symbols are used:

Bend; play the first note and bend to the required

pitch (bent note is in parentheses). See tab
explanation.

Nut; indicates 1st position.

A reverse bend; strike an already bent note, then

allow it to return to its unbent pitch (bent note is in
parentheses).

5 7

Chord Diagrams

Left-hand finger vibrato.

5 (7)

Partial barre with the designated finger.

B

E
B T
G A
D B
A
E

The horizontal lines represent

0
the guitars strings, the top line
represents the high E. The numbers designate the frets
to be played. For instance, a 2 positioned on the first
line would mean to play the 2nd fret on the first string
(0 indicates an open string). Time values are indicated
on the coinciding lines of standard notation seen
directly above the tablature. Read the music from left to
right in the conventional manner.
D
D9

A circled number (1-6) indicates the string on which

a particular note is to be played.
Pick downstroke.

Indicates desired rhythm for chordal accompaniment

(the choice of voicings is up to the player).

How Tablature Works

Right-hand fingering is
designated by letters
(p = thumb, i = index,
m = middle, a = ring,
l = pinky).

Rasgueado.

Muted string or string not played.

Open string.

Hammer-on (lower note to higher).

Barre (partial or full).

7 5
T

Pull-off (higher note to lower).

Placement of left-hand fingers.

Indicates right-hand tapping technique.

Roman numerals indicate the fret at which a chord is

located.

Arabic numerals indicate left-hand fingering

(e.g., 1=index, etc.)

5 7

Slide; play first note and slide to the next pitch

(in tab, an upward slide is indicated with an
upwardly slanting line, while a downward side is
indicated with a downwardly slanting line).

Note: For more info on understanding chord symbols, check out

the chapter entitled Outlining The Numbers Game on page 29
of For The Love of Guitar, Book One - The Basics Book.

Strum (an arrowhead is often used to indicate

direction).

IV

EIGHT BASIC SECRETS TO

GREAT GUITAR PLAYING
Ex. 1B

Makes a great title, doesnt it? Of course, this

Am

kind of tabloid-esque subject is fraught with the

inconsistencies, omissions, oversights, and prejudices
of a subjective viewpoint; next week we just might go
and change our minds (again). Still, its food for
thought and can serve as a starting point for
discussion and self-examination (Well, Riks list is
bad because he forgot to add). At least youve now
identified something that you value highly and should
be pursuing in your own playing.

4
4
B

79

The most important step comes next, where you inject

yourself into the lick. Hopefully, you can see the
growth and difference between these two examples:
the lick should evolve at least as much again when you
interpret it.

Attitude, desire, intellectual hunger,

~ persistence, dedication. (Note: see the final

chapter of Book One, entitled On Success, Book

Twos Hungry Heart, Open Mind, and pretty much
all of Book Four, which concerns itself with the intellectual, the philosophical, and personal aesthetics.)

Emotion, soul, feeling, personality,

~ interpretation. All of these things lead to an
individual style that will be unique - revealing your
character, which will help towards a public
recognition factor and give your playing an identity.
There must be honesty in your playing; you have to
be involved and make personal statements with
whatever music you play.

Andres Segovia was interviewed at 93 years of age

and was asked what kept him going. The mind and
the will to work, says the master. He is the all-time
champion, and when he talks, we all should listen.
I quote from a 1986 Reuter wire-service interview
by David Zimmerman -

Am

4
4

A
very wise philosopher once told me
5

T
A
B

muted

So, human nature being what it is, pure

objectivity is an unrealizable ideal. But lets face it,
these kinds of things arent really National Enquirerstyle secrets, either. (You dont think Id go pokin
around in Steve Morses trash now, do you?) No:
something tells me common sense dictates content
here, so without further preamble, heres the list:

Ex. 1A

8 10

T
A
B

how to work, said the maestro.

He told me to remember Jacobs Ladder
because the angel went up and came
down step by step, even though he had
wings. And this is how I work - step by
step and very hard, with full attention.
Otherwise, you cannot progress.

Ex. 1A is a case of a lick with no character, no

personality. Its just notes. But if you play essentially
the same notes as theyre rendered in Ex. 1B, youll
find some personality and style coming to life there.
1

Continued

EIGHT BASIC SECRETS TO GREAT GUITAR PLAYING (Contd)

Timing, feel, being able to get into the groove, to play
in the pocket or behind the beat. Especially in modern
pop music (rock, fusion, R & B, etc.), this is a crucial element
in great playing. To be sympathetic to other musicians, to
swing, to rock - its the essence of communicating musically.
A hot solos one thing, but a hot solo over a killer rhythm track
is another thing again.

3~

Ex. 2A
Melodic sense can
Am
D
~ give you an accessibility and a memorability
that are prerequisites of
greatness. The right note
at the right time does not
87 5
necessarily mean simplicity,
87 5
T
7 5
but an awareness of what is A
7
B
going on around and under
the melody. You could play the
notes of Ex. 2A and you wouldnt Ex. 2B
Am
D
be wrong, but the melodic
sense illustrated in Ex. 2B has
more value and impact, even
3
though it is more economical.

Am

4
4

5 7

5 7

7 5

Am

7 5 7

4
4

Harmonic sense - the

8 7
8 7
T
color, the landscape behind A
B
the subject. Demonstrating a
highly developed harmonic sense
is a sign of great musical maturity, and in a way it is linked very
strongly to secret #4. Harmony is atmosphere, and its the glue
that holds everything else together. Lets just look at Ex. 2B
again, but this time well re-harmonize the melody (Ex. 3) to
show how different, and how much more interesting, your
playing can become by exploiting the potentials of harmony.

5~

Ex. 3
Am7

Gsus

D9

1 IV

Fmaj7

1
2

1
2

2
4

3 4

Am7

D9

Gsus G

Fmaj7

4
4
3

3
Continued
2

EIGHT BASIC SECRETS TO GREAT GUITAR PLAYING (Contd)

Physical technique - perhaps the most obvious,
attractive, and compelling aspect of great playing, but
also the most dangerous and abused. On the positive side, it is
necessary to have your chops in shape, to have the endurance
and wherewithal to handle the limits of your imagination.
But it can have a negative impact when it manifests itself in a
gunslinger mentality (whos-the-fastest arguments), which is
immature and wasteful. The reality of the successes of the
Eddie Van Halens, Stanley Jordans, Paganinis, and Liszts is that
they did not sacrifice secrets 1 through 5 at the altar of #6.

6~

Mental approach - this ties into #2 but is deserving of its

~ own category because it covers a lot of ground. Great

playing requires great preparation: you must be organized,

warmed-up, confident. You need to be focussed and in the
right headspace, concentrated on the job at hand. Then your
actual performance presentation should have pacing,
versatility, and flexibility: it should feel like a living, breathing
thing of its own. Exhibit taste and discretion to imbue the
proceedings with a sense of occasion and style.

Last, but not necessarily least, is your sound, the golden

~ tones you produce. You need the right equipment to

make it happen - although Ive found that this can be as

evolutionary and elusive as the music itself - and you may
want to have a sound that is as distinctive as your style. I
dont want to mislead you here: your sound will come more
from how you play than from what youre playing through.

More often than not, its the amazing combinations

of the elements on the list that make a guitarist a
virtuoso or legend. And, of course, after all this
intellectual analysis, it might behoove us to recall other
kinds of attitudes and philosophical approaches.
For example, this quote from Tom and Mary Anne
Evans book, Guitars (Paddington Press):
I dont have a love affair with a guitar,
said one Pete Townshend,
I dont polish it after every performance,
I play the ****ing thing.

JIMI HENDRIX: THE ART OF

RHYTHM PLAYING, PART ONE
E

veryone pays lip service to the legend and

legacy of Jimi Hendrix, but the hyperbole, apocrypha
and exploitation that have shrouded his very real
artistic accomplishments could serve to discourage
many younger guitarists from really taking the time
and energy to examine Jimis contribution to the art
form of guitar playing in the depths that it deserves.
There really is a lot to talk about, and to hear, far
beyond attention-getting dental work, behind-theback passes, and lighter fluid pyrotechnics, and so
much that can be learned. For this chapter, Ill focus
on just one of Jimis many talents, rhythm playing.

This is a world of lead guitar players,

but the most essential thing to learn
is the time, the rhythm.
Jimi Hendrix

Thats why he liked rhythm guitar playing so

much - the rhythm guitar could lay out the
structure for the whole song.
Mike Bloomfield, talking about Jimi.
(Both quotes are from The Life of Jimi Hendrix: Scuse Me
While I Kiss The Sky, by David Henderson, Doubleday)

solo last in a song? Even your most favorite solo of all

time, no matter how brilliant, more than likely resides
as a small part riding along on top of a musical
structure of verses, and choruses, probably a bridge,
intros, re-intros, extros; an architecture composed of
the three basic, fundamental musical ingredients:
melody, harmony, and rhythm.

Theres the whole lesson, wrapped up neatly in

two quotes. Lead guitar playing starts out as a world
of riffs, scales, and patterns. Those caught up in the
pursuit often become self-absorbed with fancy
techniques, and dedicate all their focus and energy on
something that is, after all, only a small part of the
picture. Think about it for a second; how long does a
4

JIMI HENDRIX: THE ART OF

RHYTHM PLAYING, PART ONE (Contd)

In the context of a song, a solo functions primarily as a melodic element,

and quite often the solo section itself performs a secondary function of
providing harmonic and/or rhythmic contrast from the rest of the song in
which it resides. A great rhythm guitar part, however, primarily performs
integral harmonic AND rhythmic functions in a song. Sadly, many guitarists,
drawn like moths to a warm flame, have devoted their energies to the licks,
tricks, fills and thrills of soloing, ignoring two thirds of the musical vitality, and
have become Fancy Dans looking for an excuse to blow. But, happily, one of the
greatest, most legendary Fancy Dan guitar players that ever touched down on
this Third Stone From The Sun was a very complete musician. Jimi was a great
lead guitarist, but, unquestionably what made him even greater was that he was
a brilliant rhythm guitar player, a man who understood what the word
RHYTHM meant in the phrase rhythm and blues, somebody who understood
that ROCK and ROLL referred to musical interpretations of body movement.

RHYTHM - THE GHOST WHO OILS THE

C O G I N T H E M AC H I N E

Rhythm guitar playing is not an egotistical pursuit. Its a marriage to

the structure, a complete union to the piece of music. It sublimates
itself to vitally serve the WHOLE PICTURE. If a soloist can be
described as someone who is
searching for self-expression
by riding on the vehicle
of a song, then a
rhythm player
could be said to be
seeking to become
the perfect cog - or
maybe the lubricating
oil, perhaps even the
ghost - in the machine.

Continued
5

JIMI HENDRIX: THE ART OF

RHYTHM PLAYING, PART ONE (Contd)

Ex. 1

D/F

3
H

T
A
B

9
9
7
0

9
9
9 9 9 11
9
9 11
11

9
9

9
9 11 9

7
7

7
7 9

12

7
79

2
2
0

X X12 14
X X12 14

T
A
B

12
12

12 14
11 13

12
11

12 12 12
11 13 11

14

9
9 11
0

7
7

7
79

7
7

7 9

7 9 7

10
10
9 9 9 11
11

Some of Jimis finest moments came in the R & B style

ballads, like Wind Cries Mary, Little Wing, and Angel,
using little chord fills ornamented with country pentatonicish melodic noodling. Ive tried to illustrate the gist of the
style in Ex. 1. Notice how the 3rd often hammers on, up from
the 2nd to become the bottom of a chord, a structure thats
called first inversion, and a chording accompaniment lick that
has widely become known as something of a Hendrix
trademark. In Wind Cries Mary, Hendrix even employed
the 5th at the bottom of his chords (Ex. 2), a stacking order
referred to as second inversion. Another thing to watch out
for in Ex. 1 is the simultaneous down stroke combined with a
pulloff inside the 16th note riff on beat 4 of bar 3. This gives
the G# a slightly delayed kick action down to the F#, and
helps expose it a little more against the repeating high B
above it. Generally, you should try to play Ex. 1 with a really
laid back, loosey-goosey feel, where the grace note lead-ins
would almost lead you to believe they should be notated with
a sixteenth note value. If you normally use a heavy kind of
pick, try experimenting with a medium or even a soft one on
this style of playing, and consciously think about playing on
the back side of the beat.
6

7
7
7
5

7
7
7
5 0

8
8
8
6

8
8
8
6

8
8
8
6

8
8
8
6

JIMI HENDRIX: THE ART OF

RHYTHM PLAYING, PART ONE (Contd)

Ex. 2

Fadd9

Fadd9

1
1
0
3
3

T
A
B

3
3
5
5

3 3 3 3 5 3
3 3 3 3
0
5
5

5 3
0

3
1
0
3

3
1
0
3

1
0
0 2
3

0
0

3
3
0
5

3 5

3 3 3
3 3
3 3 35 3 3
0
4

1
1
0
3

0
1
0
2
3

1
1
0
3

3
0
2
3

1
0
2
3

3
H

T
A
B

10
10 12
0

10 10 10
10
5
12 12 10 12 10
5 7
0
12 7
0

Em

5 5 55
5
7 7 75 7 5
7 7 7
7

H P

5 5
5
5
5 5 7 5
5
5 7
7

Bm7

Am11

7 9

H P

8 8 8
8 8 8 10 8

10 10 10 12 10
10 10 10
10
11
9 11

T
A
B

12 12 12 12 14
12 12 12 12 14
9
9
9
9
10
0

12 10
12 7
7
7
9
7

10 10 10 10 7
3
7 7 7 7
10 3
7 7 7 7
5
5
0

5
5
3

5 7

5
5

5 7
5 7

7
7
5

In the 7th bar of the intro to Little Wing, theres a chord

move thats a perfect example of pure Jimi magic. He had big
hands, huge long fingers, and often used his thumb to wrap
around over the top of the neck to grab bass notes. A natural
genius is at work, with the employment of the open G string
on the inside, while another of Jimis fave tricks, the add 9 on
the top, extends the harmonic color. A lot going on for just
one little bar, isnt there? You should be able to spot more
than a few Little Wing-isms in Ex. 2.

Continued
7

JIMI HENDRIX: THE ART OF

RHYTHM PLAYING, PART ONE (Contd)

Perhaps the most well-known Hendrix solo (it was

the only one that ever charted on the Billboard top 40)
occurs in his classic cover of Bob Dylans All Along the
Watchtower. The second solo is divided into 4 eight bar
sections, and Jimi uses regular lead guitar, 12 string
slide guitar with a heavy echo and compression sound
effect, wah-wah with echo, and then, to culminate this
mini extravaganza you guessed it (well, youve
probably only heard it a million times) a rhythm solo!
Its not that it blows you away with a lot of amazing
notes or a display of awesome technique, but that it grabs you, and
physically moves you, because it grooves so well and possesses the quality that
all great rhythm playing does, whether its Freddie Green, or Keith Richards, or
Melissa Etheridge, or Phil Upchurch, or Jimi Hendrix: lets call it propulsion.
You want to hear what I mean? Listen to Purple Haze. Once you get past
the intro, when the band kicks into the groove of the tune, listen to what
Hendrix does as a rhythm guitar player to propel the music. There are, of
course, a thousand other moments in his recordings that I could point to in
order to illustrate the value of propulsion over flash to make the music work,
but I suggest that you just get a hold of Jimis first four albums and try to get in
to the musical Experience. In the interim, work on Example 3 to bone up on
some of these techniques Ive been talking about.
Ex. 3
etc.

one e and a two e and a three e and a four e and a

First, set your metronome around 60 bpm

(slower, if necessary). Then get your strumming hand
brushing up and down strokes across the strings in a
16ths groove, and begin by accenting the downbeats ONE ee and uh TWO ee and uh THREE ee and uh
FOUR ee and uh. After youve got that steady as a
rock, youre ready to try for the first hallmark of great
rhythm playing: the placement of accents, putting
em-PHA-sis in inter-EST-ing places. Check out how
stressing one different accent in a bar can
completely alter the feel.

THE SUBTLE ART OF RHYTHM PLAYING,

PART TWO
O

ne of the perceived dangers of total immersion

into modern technologys role in music (computers,
MIDI, drum machine programming, etc.) is that it
could have a detrimental effect on a musicians
perception of time. Couldnt one end up thinking of
time (the rhythm of the piece of music) as some sort
of simplistic, digitally metronomic, mathematically
sub-divided, rock solid permanent foundation?

Lets look at some wide-ranging examples:

1. JULIAN BREAM
PLAYS GRANADOS and ALBENIZ
(Music of Spain vol. 5) RCA RCD 14378

Consider this metaphor:

Probably any recording by any world class

classical guitarist would serve to illustrate the point,
but this recording is one of my particular favorites
because the playing is so expressive. A solo guitarist
does not need to worry about a lack of tightness with
other players, and so the playing with time can become
even more exaggerated: tempo can shift up and down
like a heart rate affected by emotions, and this
recording is liberally sprinkled with the performers
personal fermatas, ritards, and occasional metric
stretches to accommodate technical challenges
(i.e. a quick shift that tries to avoid string squeaks)
Maestro Bream proves that a great performance of
great music need not be completely governed by
a metronome.

TIME
is like an

elastic band.
It is flexible, it has give and take, not to be
stretched too thin, nor left floppy and limp, but kept at
a comfortably appropriate tension, to be stretched, or
relaxed, whenever necessary. Your feel for a piece of
music, your interpretation of its rhythmic essence(s),
can be every bit as idiosyncratic and complex as the
colors and textures of other principal musical
dynamics, like melody and harmony.
Oh, there are lots of killer songs where that
drum machine provides an unwavering number of
Beats Per Minute, and yes, youre supposed to lock
into the groove. But if youre thinking of each beat
as a perfectly machined pinpoint in time, youre
discounting the work of some of the greatest rhythm
guitarists of all time, and their rhythm sections. (Not
to mention updated drum machine programs with
human feel options, to escape quantized sterility.)
You arent limited to a precise, clinical mathematical
interpretation. A beat in a bar has some width to it:
you can drive a tempo by chugging on the front side,
lending a sense of urgency and excitement to the
proceedings, or you can sit on the backside of the beat,
and make it feel heavy and sexy and as comfortable as
an old pair of broken-in jeans.

2. THE POLICE (ANDY SUMMERS)

EVERY BREATH YOU TAKE
(from SYNCHRONICITY A&M SP-3735)
Heres an example of a highly popular rhythm
guitar part that must sit in with the drums and bass
rhythm section, and by the very nature of its
arpeggiated construction would seem to have to be,
well, metronomic. But listen closely: the guitar, in
fact, sits a little farther behind the beat than the bass
does, aided in this feeling by a hint of a delay/repeat
Continued
9

THE SUBTLE ART OF RHYTHM PLAYING, PART TWO (Contd)

sound effect. This gives the whole basic bed track a

nice, slightly wider pocket than you might have
previously been aware of. Then, check out what
happens when the bridge hits (Since youve gone Ive
been lost, etc.) The big power chord comes slicing
in, way in front of the downbeat at the bar line,
pushing the section, and, by contrast, (both tonally
and time-wise) adding a new sense of urgency and
intensity to the moment.

Mongan goes on to quote Kenny Burrell from

down beat magazine;

theres quite a big involvement

playing rhythm guitar. you have to
coordinate your thing with the rest of the cats.
You have lines, moving voices that blend in
with what the bass is doing. And Freddie
Greene is a master of this. The middle strings,
the G and B, set up a sort of interval with the
bass and you get a thing going.

Good rhythm guitar parts often have a natural,

fluid flow to them, like the current of a river. Its not
the boats, or the boaters, waving as they pass by and
garnering all the attention. Its not the riverbed that
defines the shape and size of the river, not even the
water itself, but gravity, the invisible propelling force
that reveals itself through its actions on all the other
elements. Andy Summers has an instinctive (and
quite possibly consciously cultivated) rhythmic gift
that is shown to great advantage on Synchronicity.

Greene sets a very high

standard for the art of rhythm
guitar playing in ANY style. He is
sympathetic to the music and the players that
surround him. He willingly becomes a role player,
working the inside of the music, functioning as a
catalyst, sacrificing his own ego and chops for the
greater good of the musical and artistic whole. Again,
Ill bow to Mongans excellent research, as he quotes
the critic, Raymond Horricks:

3. FREDDIE GREENE :
COUNT BASIE AND HIS ORCHESTRA
(ALL-AMERICAN RHYTHM SECTION)
The Best of Count Basie MCA MCAD 4050

(Greene was) reliable without being obtrusive, a

sound component part of the rhythm, yet with a
personal sense of rhythm which is virile and spirited,
technically well-versed; He has given the band both
individuality of sound and rhythmic stamina. His
inherent sense of tempo and his durability when
performing a regular beat have set standards well above
those of the average band guitarist. evidencing
throughout that essential relaxation which is part of the
familiar Kansas City beat. his touch has been
definitive though still delicate, emphatic without ever
becoming ponderous.

I quote from The History of the Guitar In Jazz,

a wonderful labor-of-love book by Norman Mongan
(Oak Publications, dist. by Music Sales Corp.
24 East 22 Street, NY NY 10010):

The All American Rhythm Section became

Count Basies visiting card; it was the first section

with an immediately recognizable sound. The leaders
economical piano playing left plenty of room for the
pulse of the Greene guitar. The bands unmistakable
characteristic beat depended to a large degree on
the steady, accurate, cutting sound of
Freddies acoustic guitar.

For lessons on great rhythm guitar playing, you

could do a lot worse than beginning and ending with
Freddie Greene.
10

THE SUBTLE ART OF RHYTHM PLAYING, PART TWO (Contd)

5. KEITH RICHARDS
How can one discuss the vagaries of time
interpretation in guitar music without mentioning
The Rolling Stones and, in particular, Keith?
Heres how Tom Wheeler described their records
in the Dec. 89 Guitar Player magazine:

4. MELISSA ETHERIDGE
(LIKE THE WAY I DO, BRING ME SOME WATER)
ISLAND ISLC-1143
There are, of course, an infinity of ways to skin a
musical cat, and even though theres a complete
musicality present in the work of Bream, or Summers,
or Greene, it is one of personal expression within the
stylistic boundaries of their choosing. From a very
different area comes no less of an artistic rhythm
guitar player; indeed, anyone whos ever heard Ms.
Etheridge perform, knows how powerful and
invaluable her guitar accompaniment is to her music.
Her right hand is the engine that drives her band,
functioning like the main terminal that generates the
click track and sync code for all the other instrumentalists to lock into. The two songs mentioned above
provide an example of a 16ths groove (Like) and 8ths
(Bring). Melissa gets her right hand strumming a
steady up and down stroke, and then, like a
percussionist on a conga drum, creates patterns by
omitting strokes, and accenting others, sometimes on
the downbeat, sometimes on the up. It is exciting, and
emotionally charged, and she is rock-solid steady as
she goes, which makes it that much more appealing a
ride for the listener to want to take with her.

blurred by ambiguity at every stage

hybrid rhythms bumping and grinding up
against each other. in the spaces between the
beats, shrouded mysteries lurk and rumble,
keeping the records ultimately impenetrable.
bold, blotchy guitar strokes. a guitar in
Keith Richards hands is a lethal rhythm device
that skewers the listener and has him
wriggling like a speared fish.

Keith plays so far behind the beat sometimes

hes almost on the front end of the one comin up.
Start Me Up, and Honky Tonk Women, and so
many other classic guitar riff heads, feel so funkily
good partly because hes stretching the elastic of time.
At other times he slashes and jabs and punctuates
with notes and chords and licks that are quite
intentionally jammed on the front side - hell, in
front of the front side. In a way, its like time is an
important element to Keiths guitar playing because
hes totally unafraid to screw around with it. Its not
like complete anarchy; there is a conscientious thread.
But it is a true Rock and Roll guitar spirit at work.

Ah ha! I can hear you saying; now youre

contradicting yourself, because you previously said
that the key to great rhythm playing was NOT to be
metronomic and rock-solid steady. Well, no, I didnt.
I asked you to consider that Time was elastic, and
flexible. That doesnt mean that it cant be a
meticulously consistent groove crafted over a perfectly
steady beat. Sometimes that kind of tightness is
exactly the ingredient that makes the music happen:
think of the music of James Brown, or Tower of
Power, or from a completely different perspective
(but with this dedication to the solid groove ethic in
common), think of AC/DC, or Judas Priest. Theres
no contradiction in admiring divergent approaches.

I hope the range of examples in this chapter

effectively illustrates a central theme. Styles can be
worlds away from each other, and yet there can be a
remarkable link between them all - an artistic, musical
search, digging down into the rhythmic structure,
surrendering themselves to what the music seems to
be asking them to try and do there. That secret heart,
inside the music, is where the subtle art of rhythm
guitar playing starts. The challenge is to keep looking
for it, to keep finding it, and to make it come alive in
your work.

11

PLAYING AND SINGING AT THE SAME TIME

Contrary to popular belief, some things

When accompanying yourself, try to minimize

awkward chord forms and long positional shifts. This
requires a thorough knowledge of inversions of chords
in different forms and positions all over the neck.
Then, by employing a technique I call blind guide
finger changing (alluded to in the chapter Shifting
and Strumming in
Ex. 1
Ex. 2
Book Two), you can
G
Am
make all your left-hand
1
chord fingerings without
2
2 3
looking or thinking
3
about them, and
concentrate on the vocal.

are a little tougher and more complex than

walking and chewing gum simultaneously.
Just as learning to play the guitar
requires the development of coordination between independent tasks - those
of each hand and, ultimately, each finger
of each hand - so does accompanying
your own singing. You have added
another element to your performing
process, and must come to terms with
the fact that it compromises the
sublimity of the two disciplines.

The blind guide finger technique goes

something like this. Youre playing an Am in the first
position (Ex. 1), and youve got to go to a G (Ex. 2),
but it seems an insurmountable problem because you
cant look at it. And you cant take your yapper away
from the microphone because youre singing an
emotional, flowing legato line. What will you do?

For myself, it is usually a case of learning the

guitar part until its stone-cold, embedded as an
unconscious, autonomic function. Lets call this
Blind Memorization - no peeking! Even then, I
usually have to tap my foot, pump my leg, and shake
my booty, as it were. (In the same way, a drummer
might maintain one steady time limb, while his
other three go polyrhythmic: his body language keeps
it all together, while he consciously concentrates on
the thickest, top element of the layering process.)
Then I must concentrate completely on the vocal lines
rhythms and accents. Helpful hint: For your foot
taps, figure out which subdivision of the count
makes it easier for you to sing your melody line eights, quarters, or half-notes.

Ex. 3
1
2

2 3
3

4
4

On the extremely rare occasion (hack, cough)

that I cannot manage a guitar part under a vocal,
I give priority to the vocal melody and try to keep
phrasing as close to the original as possible, and
rearrange the accompanying guitar part. I try, at least,
to keep the changes in the right places. Using
techniques of muting, resting, and stroking fewer
strings to make a part more sparse (and manageable),
I sometimes am forced to employ that time-worn
musical practice: faking.

Am

Solution: Isolate the 3rd-finger move from the

2nd fret of the G string to the 3rd fret of the big E
string. Make that move one of pure blind memorization and alter your strumming to pick that low G
note on the change. On the next beat of the bar, you
could strum just the open strings. Then on the third
beat of the bar, you could fold the 2nd and 4th fingers
in and upstroke through all of the strings (Ex. 3).

Continued
12

PLAYING AND SINGING AT THE SAME TIME (Contd)

Ex. 5

Heres an example of how inversions and forms in

one position can make life easier. Lets say youre in
the key of G, and you have to play an E b to F to G
progression (Ex. 4). Your barre never moves: It allows
you, through some practice and blind guide finger
manipulation, to make the changes without looking
for different neck positions.

3 4

4
4

Ex. 4
E

F/A

III

or

III

2
3

Right Hand

III

1
2

or

p m p m a
p m i a
p i p i

etc.
etc.
etc.

2
2

Ex. 5 shows a simple, standard broken-arpeggio

fingerpicking style pattern for vocal accompaniment.
Option A shows how you could play with a flatpick
and one, two, or three right-hand fingers. Option B is
the standard, by the book thumb-and-three-fingers,
approach, while option C, Im slightly abashed to
admit, is the most natural way I seem to be able to get
the job done. (Hey - Doc Watson worked miracles
with a banjo style thumb and index, with the
occasional middle finger thrown in.)

3 4

3
4

If a chord or form is presenting an awkward

problem, you might also alter the right-hand
strumming or picking to allow you to strike an open
string or an easy-to-grab first-position chord form.
Another way to ensure that youll be able to
handle playing and singing at the same time is to
compose the song that way. It sounds simple enough,
but a lot of writing and song construction takes place
away from the guitar; in your head, on the written
page, or at a keyboard. Nowadays, more and more
songs are written and recorded in a multi-track
piecemeal fashion, and a performer doesnt find out
whether he can handle all his overdubbed parts at
once until he goes into tour rehearsals.

Even though simultaneous playing and singing

puts its restrictions on both pursuits, it can also
provide a unique and sympathetic interpretation of a
song, as the two disciplines emanate from one source.
And unless youre an unrehearsed schizo, what could
be tighter?

There is an extremely high level of guitar skills

sublimated in the work of traditional singer/
songwriters such as Paul Simon, Bruce Cockburn,
and James Taylor (some of my personal favorites).
You could do a lot worse than trying to emulate
their fingerstyle accompaniment chops.

13

DJANGO AND ONE-FINGER CHORDS

Ex. 1

Five Functions

Am

D9
root
5

F#m7 b 5

Fmaj7
5
9

root

root

C6

3
7

3
7

6
3

root

root

root

root

onsider the legendary Django Reinhardt (1910-1953), the

unique Gypsy Jazz guitarist, who, at the age of 18, had his left
hand accidentally mutilated by fire. Damage to the back of his
hand left his third and fourth fingers paralyzed, permanently
bent back at the knuckle of the proximal phalange, and severely
hooked over and in at the knuckle of the middle phalange.
Despite, indeed, perhaps because of this disability, Django
reinvented his musicianship, his technique, and his style, and
went on to become one of the greatest guitarists in history.
Obviously, his physical ability
to execute complicated chordal
fingerings was limited, but his
musical imagination was not.
Harmonically, his music remained
relatively sophisticated - and here, in
part, is how. A couple of one-finger,
three-string chord forms (Ex. 1 and
Ex. 2) actually function as several very different
chords - its the right bass note at the right
time that defines the many different chords
that a one-finger voicing can be. Django
developed a technique of using his left thumb
to wrap up and around the neck, providing
bass notes for five, and even six string voicings.

Ex. 2
V

Two Functions
1

Am7
3
root

5
3

root

root

Continued
14

DJANGO AND ONE-FINGER CHORDS (Contd)

Ex. 3
V

Am

Am7

D9

Fmaj7

4
4
9
X

Bm7 5

VII

E9

IX

XII

In Ex. 3, notice how the bass notes give the

definition to the chord voicing. Ex. 4 is a chart that
shows you some of the positions of the fingerboard
where these particular one-finger, three-string chord
forms exist with their different functions. With a little
logical ingenuity, you should be able to find almost
any chord, somewhere on the neck.
So whenever youre feeling limited, remember
Django, use your imagination, and the possibilities
may once again become infinite.

Ex. 4

Strings

Em7 5
B maj6
Gm
A
C9
F m7 E maj7
II

III

Am
D9
Fmaj7
F m7 5
C6
V

Cm
F9
Dm
G maj7
G9
D
E
E 6
Bm7 5
Bm7 Am7 5 C m7
F6
VII

1
2
3
4
5
6

15

VIII

IX

OPEN TUNINGS
Ex. 2

One of the most basic things you do is tune up.

Standard tuning is E A D G B E (all tunings in this
chapter are spelled out low to high), but theres no law
that says you cant start from a completely different
origin, if you want. And altering your guitars tuning
is a simple but incredibly effective method of
changing your outlook, your sound, and your
formulas and patterns - in fact, your whole approach
to the instrument.

Standard
Tuning

Dropped D

Open E

(-2)

(+2)

(+2)

Open D

Low Bass A

Low Bass G

Open G

High G *

B
(-2)

(-2)

(-2)

(+3)
(+3)

B
D

(-2)
(+2)

E B E G B E

(+5)

F# A
A

(+2)

D
G

(-2)
(+5)

(-2)

(+2)

(+4)

(+3)

E A E A C E

Ry Cooder has a stated

preference for open D tuning
for his slide work, which I
have sometimes seen referred
to as Vestapol
tuning. He
employed
a slight
variation

(-2)

G D G B D G

Keith Richards of the Stones exploited open

tunings with multi-platinum results. Keith completely
removes his low E string from his Telly, tunes the
remaining five strings to G D G B D (open G with the
low D gone), and plays Honky Tonk Woman,
Start Me Up, Brown Sugar, and,
with the addition of a capo,
Jumpin Jack Flash.

C# E

1 2 3

The roots of these open tunings are obvious: they

lend themselves to primitive, single finger barre chord
changing, and then, moving up the evolutionary scale,
to bottleneck slide or lap steel playing. Notice how the
open E and low bass A tunings have exactly the same
notes as the familiar open-position E and A chords in
standard tuning (Ex. 2 and Ex. 3, respectively). Also,
the High G tuning (G D G B D G) corresponds to a
barred G chord at the 3rd fret of a standard guitar
(Ex. 4). This also imitates a 5-string banjo tuning,
except that the banjos high G string has shifted from
its fifth-string location to the first string on the guitar.

E
(-2)

(-2)

(+2)

(-1)

III
4 3

(+1)

G#B

2 3

Ex. 1
5

Ex. 4

Perhaps the simplest, and most common

alteration is to drop the low E or 6th string down two
semitones to a D. I guess the next most obvious
tunings are the open tunings (as opposed to alternate
tunings), where the strings are tuned to sound an
open major or minor chord. Heres a little chart
(Ex. 1), that shows some popular traditional tunings.
Numbers in parentheses represent semitone
adjustments from standard tuning.

String 6

Ex. 3

(-2)
(+3)

* Tuning the strings up this far from standard tuning pitches

would definitely indicate changing the strings to lighter gauges
to prevent undue neck stress, lessen the risk of string breakage,
and keep the string tension moderately workable.

16

OPEN TUNINGS (Contd)

and used D A D F# B D, a D6 tuning, when he recorded The Very Thing That

Makes You Rich on Bop Till You Drop (Warner Bros. BSK-3358).
Perhaps the most exploited alternate tuning, beyond the major open ones, is
Dadgad, which is, quite obviously, a D A D G A D arrangement. It is modal,
neither major nor minor, and offers a drone-like quality with its fourths and
fifths. I first encountered it on Jimmy Pages Black Mountain Side Led
Zeppelin, Atlantic, 19126), but its versatility becomes apparent when one realizes
that its the preferred standard tuning of modern European acoustic artists such
as Pierre Bensunan, Bert Jansch, and John Renbourn.
As we move farther afield, we enter areas where tunings develop out of
personal experimentation, eclecticism, and conceptualism. Stanley Jordan has
helped establish a whole new guitar vocabulary on an E A D G C F parallelfourths tuning system. Narciso Yepes added four extra bass strings to a standard
6-string classical guitar, tuning them to C B b A b G b (low to high), not just to
expand its range, but also to lend a natural sympathetic vibration overtone series
for all the notes in the chromatic scale. Sometimes a tuning is uniquely born
from a piece, and ends up being referred to by the song title. An example would
be Michael Hedges Hot Type tuning from Aerial Boundaries, Windham Hill,
WH-1032): A(-7!) B(+2) E(+2) F#(-1) A(-2) D(-2). (Again, numbers in
parentheses represent semitone adjustments from standard tuning.)

SO AFTER ALL OF THIS,

W H AT C A N O N E S AY ?

Once, Don Menn asked

Mr. Guitar, Chet Atkins,
What would you like to
see happen to the
electric guitar?
Chet replied,
I would like to see the
standard tuning kept.
Now theres a radical
school of thought.

17

THE CASE OF THE HAMMER-ON

AND PULL-OFF ARPEGGIOS
Err On The B String

Exhibit A
B

Bmaj7

6
4 1 0

6
4 1 0

B7

etc.

P P H P P H etc.

T
A
B

P P H P P H etc.

12 7 0 12 7 0 12 7 0 12 7 0 11 7 0 11 7 0 11 7 0 11 7 0

10 7 0 10 7 0 10 7 0 10 7 0 9 5 0 9 5 0 9 5 0 9 5 0

Em

C m

hold right hand

1st finger

6
4 1 0

6
4 1 0

P P H P P H etc.

P P H P P H etc.

8 5 0 8 5 0 8 5 0 8 5 0 7 4 0 7 4 0 7 4 0 7 4 0

T
A
B

etc.

9 5 2 9 5 2 9 5 2 9 5 2 11 7 2 11 7 2 11 7 2 11 7 2

our honor, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, peruse if you will Exhibit A.
The defendant/author/composer in question refers to this four-bar excerpt from
one of his solos as Err On the B string.
What the plaintiff will try to demonstrate is that, for all the pyrotechnic,
histrionic, sixteenth-note sextuplet noodling going on here, the defendant is
actually guilty of fraud: a technical and harmonic analysis of this exhibit reveals
it to be a simple, basic exercise in arpeggios, and nothing more.

Ex. 1
B major scale

scale
degree:

Fingerings

T
A
B

Please direct your attention now

to Ex. 1, which is a B major scale. In
order to construct a B major chord,
one must extract the 1st, 3rd, and
5th degrees of this particular scale
(Ex.2). The defendant tries to
mislead us in the very first sextuplet

Continued
18

THE CASE OF THE HAMMER-ON

AND PULL-OFF ARPEGGIOS (Contd)
5th

Ex. 2
B major chord

And if the chord is broken, as it were, so that the

notes that make it up are played in an up-and/ordown, running, consecutive fashion, then we have
what is called an arpeggio. As illustrated earlier, the
root, major 3rd, and perfect 5th of the B major scale
(the 1st, 3rd and 5th degrees of Ex. 1) form a B major
chord (Ex. 2). Those same notes, played as they
appear in Ex. 3A, become a B major arpeggio. (Keeneyed observers that you are, you will note the singular
addition of another B note, played an octave above.
This only serves to flesh out the arpeggio and make it
a more traditional playable exercise.)

3rd
root

VII

1
2
3

7
8
9

T
A
B

of the exhibit by omitting the major 3rd scale-degree

note (D#) from his arpeggio, but he exposes his
chicanery somewhat in the second half of the first bar,
when his top note descends from a B to an A#, and we
have what is very clearly the suggestion of a Bmaj7
arpeggio. As you can see from Ex. 1, the A# is the 7th
degree of the B major scale, and along with the root
note, B, and the perfect 5th, F#, we have 3 of the 4
specific ingredients of a Bmaj7 arpeggio (Ex. 3B).

Ex. 4
E major scale

But what is an arpeggio? you may well ask,

purely for clarification. As you know, the most basic
element of harmony requires two notes, played
simultaneously, which is called an interval. Three or
more notes played simultaneously is called a chord.

T
A
B

Ex. 3B
B major 7th arpeggio

Fingerings

T
A
B

T
A
B

The culpability of the defendant becomes even

more evident as we move to the second bar of the
exhibit. Notice how the top note of the arpeggio
descends another half-step to an A natural, and the
chord symbol is B7 (B dominant 7th). What is the
trick? There is no A natural in the B major of Ex. 1;
the Major 7th is an A#. What does
this mean? It means that the
sneaky fraud is changing the key
sense, thats what!
Cast your eyes a halfbar ahead, and youll
see an E major arpeggio
coming up. Ex. 4 is an E
major scale: (above).

Ex. 3A
B major arpeggio

Fingerings

Fingerings

Continued

19

THE CASE OF THE HAMMER-ON

AND PULL-OFF ARPEGGIOS (Contd)

Ex. 5
E major chord

5th

root

If we extract the 1, 3, and 5, we get the notes B,

D#, and F# - a B major chord - and when we add the
7th degree, which is an A, it gives us the B dominant
7th chord (Ex. 8). Compare that to the notes of the
sextuplet beginning at bar 2 of Exhibit A, (A, F#, and
B), and we have categorically defined a B7 arpeggio.

3rd

1
2
0
1
2

T
A
B

Ex. 8
B7

The 1st, 3rd, and 5th degrees of that scale form

an E major chord, (Ex. 5), and played separately but
consecutively, provide an E major arpeggio (Ex. 6).
Notice how the notes of Ex. 6 correspond exactly to
the third sextuplet of Exhibit A.

7th
5th

3rd

root

1
2
4

Ex. 6
E major arpeggio

Fingerings

T
A
B

The pattern remains the same (only the names

have been changed to protect the innocent) as we
proceed into bar 3 of Exhibit A. However, the
key and scale have changed yet again. No matter:
The root, 3rd, and 5th of Ex. 9 still give us the E, G,
and B of an Em chord, and the G, E, and B of Exhibit
As third-bar Em sextuplet arpeggio. The second half
of bar 3 is a basic, classic B major arpeggio, as we have
seen before (Ex. 3).

And where did this B7 come from? Well, since

the accused has changed the key sense to E major,
(and if we continue to apply the principle of extracting 1st, 3rd, and 5th degrees of scales to build chords),
lets look at the E major scale again, except lets start it
on B, the 5th degree, which is commonly known as
the dominant degree of a major scale (Ex. 7).

Ex. 9
E minor scale

Ex. 7
B dominant 7th - scale form of E major

Fingerings

T
A
B

10

5
7
8
9

T
A
B

Fingerings

T
A
B

Continued

20

THE CASE OF THE HAMMER-ON

AND PULL-OFF ARPEGGIOS (Contd)

There remains only the mystery of bar 4. Suddenly, the

pedaling, ostinato repetition of the open B string (like every
third note in all of the previous sextuplets) becomes, of all
things, - a C#! What sleight of hand is this? It is the final
twist of larceny, the damning bit of proof against the
defendant. He cannot alter his static, repetitive left-hand
fingering (4, 1, open; 4, 1, open: etc.). In fact, he has not
picked a single note through the entire exhibit; he has merely
hammered-on and pulled-off to achieve his sham!
So he finally decides to make use of his right hand - not
to pick, but to reach up, behind his left-hand fingering, and
fret the B string at the 2nd fret (C#) with the 1st finger of this
hitherto innocent bystander, drawing it into the sordid affair
and making it an accessory to the crime, the party of the
second part.
When all is said and done, good people, we have finally
exposed the con man at his game. His impressive, fancy,
machine-gun licks are displayed as nothing more
than basic arpeggios, a little four-bar
exercise in hammering on
and pulling off.

It is my sincere hope
that you shall now retire to your chambers,

PRACTICE AND PONDER

this, and return with the only

verdict that you can:

G U I LT Y A S C H A R G E D.

I rest my case.

21

IMPROVISATION - GOIN FOR IT

Ex. 1
Dm
1

4
4

4
1

1
1

1
1

10
T
A
B

4
3 1

13 10

10 12 10

12 10

12

13(15)13
12(14)10(12) 10
1012 10

When you improvise, what are you consciously

12

8 10 8
8 10
5 7 5
5 7

1
2
4

68 6
79 7 57 5
57 5

7
7
8
10

PA C I N G

attempting and what are you unconsciously drawing

upon? Usually, this kind of question gives rise to
vagaries concerning subjective, random concepts of
feeling and emotion in combination with intellectual
challenges. Its hard to be articulate about something
that is essentially ephemeral. Besides, music aint
about words. Sound in motion, Eduard Hanslick said.
Still, lets try to give the question of improvising a
shot. Here goes.

Every solo tells a story, doesnt it? Will your

story slowly build in intensity until its at a fever pitch
and then end with a bang, or will it be like waves
washing over you, then gently drifting you out to sea,
winding down as you slowly vanish over the horizon
into the sunset?

CONTEXT AFFECTS CONTENT

Content and style are often conscious
predeterminations. I may decide to attempt a theme
and variations approach on a particular solo, while
another time I might feel that its appropriate to play
a greatest hits package of licks and tricks, using
primarily pentatonic and blues scales with two handed
stuff, radical whammy bar, rapid double-picking scalar
runs, pick slides, etc. Another song might suggest a
more jazzy approach, so I employ more octaves,
double-stops, and advanced harmonic exploration.
Context affects treatment. Depending on a songs
mood and style, I might play the same riff with an
entirely different treatment of technique, phrasing,
and physical intensity (see Ex. 1).

Appropriate Emotion -

S P E C I F I C C O N C E P T UA L
ELEMENTS
Try to get in touch with how you feel, with what
mood the song seems to be suggesting. Does the
music that will surround and accompany the solo
imply a lightness, cuteness and cleverness, or perhaps
a dark, bluesy sadness? Sometimes, one may
intellectualize and try, for example, to combine wholetone and diminished scales into an Angus Young
AC/DC-type riff thing, thinking they can marry that
to the music with propriety. Hmmm. Supposedly,
anythings possible.
At the outset, try to be conscious of motivation.
Are you angry? Relaxed? Do you feel tasteful and
introspective, or are you in a clowning kind of mood?

Continued

22

IMPROVISATION - GOIN FOR IT (Contd)

QUE SERA, SERA

emotion and intensity at the drop of a hat. More

power to you. Personally, the artist side of me
consciously strives for this, but the muse tends to be
elusive and transient. On the other hand, the practical
musician side of me can memorize very real technical
information that can reside in my brain and be at my
fingertips disposal. The more I know and the better I
know it, the more I am able to take advantage of it in
an unconscious and autonomic way, and warp and
mutate it in my quest for musical insight.

Having said this, a lot of it still boils down to a

question of attitude. A very persuasive case can be
made that the raison detre of improvisation is
Lets not talk about it, lets just do it. Too much
consciousness leads to self-consciousness, which is a
curse upon the ad-lib attitude. What is, is; what will
be, will be; existential philosophy and all that.
However

When I analyze my
Ex. 3
improvising, I find that I (often)
A dorian ascending
tend to organize myself into
positions that have little arpeggio
1
blocks or fingerboard shapes in III
2
them. For example, if I were
1 1
4 4 2 2
V
blowing in basic A minor, I
would think of the fretboard as
VII
4 4 4 1 1
shown in Ex. 2. Depending on
2 2
the harmonic structure Im
4
4 4
playing over, I would
X
superimpose and add the groups
4
of arpeggio shapes from the other
chord changes, as well. Like many other improvisers,
I then tend to think in particular scales to carry me
from one position to another (Ex. 3).

YOUR VERY OWN PERSONAL

REFERENCE LIBRARY
Billy Sheehan says that you cant break the rules
until you know them, which leads me into this whole
unconscious business. When you improvise, you draw
upon the things that you know so well that they are
autonomic functions, like breathing and heartbeating. In a way, this relates back to the previous
paragraph. If youre a very hip and together person
whos at one with the universe, you may be able to get
in touch with your inner feelings and play with

Ex. 2

II

VII

VIII

IX

1
2
3
4
5
6

Strings

Continued
23

IMPROVISATION - GOIN FOR IT (Contd)

Another unconscious organizational tool is exploiting a

tonal center. When I first started improvising, the easiest
notes to play off of and around were the root and the fifth.
The next step was to include the blue notes - b 3rd, b 5th and
b 7th, and the whole-step bends of 4th to 5th and b 7th to
tonic. I must admit a personal preference and tendency to
exploit the 2nd or 9th as a tonal center to develop a solo
around, but its a pretty common trick in any improvisers bag
to consciously select a particular mode and then exploit the
particular altered notes that are characteristic of that mode.
(Refer back to the charts in the Modes chapters, Book Two.)

W H AT A R E B A S I C S ?
Northrop Frye once said,

I very much distrust slogans like

Back to Basics because the question of what

is basic has to be perpetually redefined.
But there are essential things to be
taught if you are going to take your
place in modern society

This is especially true when applied to musical

improvisation, because everything you know, combined with
how you feel, is involved in your
extemporaneous and spontaneous
effort to transcend the sum of the
parts. Everything you learn, no
matter how complex or challenging
initially, will eventually become just
another accumulated bit of your
basic understanding.

You j
gotta ust
ke
goin ep
for
it.

24

SOLOING FORM

he young guitarist Jonathan B. Goode is at

his first audition, sweaty palms and all. The
singer has just finished destroying the second
chorus of the tune theyre running down, and
all eyes in the room turn to our hero for his
solo. In the first two beats of the first bar, John
decides to use the killer two-hand tapping arpeggio lick
hed been practicing all week. However, hes nervous, and its new
and tough, and he fluffs it. In the next two beats of bar 1, he decides
to redeem himself and play his trusty standby super speedball
descending blues scale run, and he whips it off with the alacrity that
adrenalin can provide - maybe a little too much, though, because he
ends up a little ahead of the first downbeat of bar 2. No problem!
He just goes for the whammy bar and does what every righteous
modern dude does in times of trouble: When In Doubt, Dump.
This gives him a spectacular sound effect (as opposed to a musical
melodic or harmonic statement) and buys him a little time to think.
On the final beat of bar two, he plays a Steve Vai lick he copped
from the Crossroads movie guitar battle, and in bar 3 he plays a
T-Bone Walker riff because he knows hell score big points for showing off a
knowledge of authentic roots. Uh-oh: nine bars to go, and hes drawing a
blank! So he noodles around aimlessly on the blues pentatonic (theres not too
many of those weird notes to worry about there), takes another shot at the
two-hander (this time around, he nails it clean, and so, buoyed by new found
confidence, repeats it 10 times), runs the old faithful blues
scale up the neck in thirty-second-notes and caps it off
with a series of high, screaming bends up
around 1,200 Hz at about 120 decibels.

Does this story sound familiar?

Continued
25

SOLOING FORM (Contd)

I think that form is an absolute basic necessity. You

need to be so familiar with it that it seems totally
natural. Indeed, you should get to the point where
you are exploiting it without being conscious of it.
Then it makes some real artistic sense when you say
you feel the need to travel beyond its confines.

ll you poor guys who work in music stores,

isnt this the same solo youve all heard 10 million
times from those young aspiring rock stars trying out
new mega-gear? Lets try to be honest with each other
and ourselves: When we ad lib, just how much of
what were actually doing are we consciously aware of,
and how much is truly and purely extemporaneous?
How much is sincerely a personal artistic statement
and how much is vapid bull shine?

There are plenty of standard musical forms (get

out your music dictionaries): strophic song, simple
binary, ternary, rondo, sonata (compound binary),
sonata-rondo, air with variations. Hey, even if you
compose aleatoric music, opting out of historically
structured forms has still slotted you into a category!
(In the words of Rushs Neil Peart, If you choose not to
decide, you still have made a choice.)

Theres no denying that we are assembling and

exploiting pieces of our previous knowledge and
experience. The art of music making is really a
constant state of fusion between what we know, what
we feel, and how we can (physically and technically)
express this. Improvisation is supposed to be on-the
spot composition, and in an age where we are being
increasingly rigidly structured by both our technology
and programming formats of radio and record
companies, we must be making an equally conscious,
concerted effort to tie our feelings, personality, and
our heart and soul to those moments when we are
given the chance to shine our light.

But what is basic solo form? The most basic

definition that would suit my purposes here is that its
just a predetermined idea in your head of structure,
an overall concept, or even just a sense of purpose.
There was a really terrific article by Jas Obrecht in the
July 81 Guitar Player magazine issue that was a
compilation of quotes from many guitarists on the
topic of soloing. With all due respect to the artists
involved, and to Jas, Id like to pirate a group of
statements from that article to build (and support)
a personal theory on form.

But how can you marry the wild, uncontrolled

aesthetic passions of your soul to something as
mundane and archaic as FORM? Well, if you are of a
mind that your inner spirit should be allowed to run
free, without rules or inhibiting structure, then I guess
you wont need these humble attempts at edification.
The danger you face, however, in a freeform world of
improvisation is that your work can take on an
appearance of being makeshift and haphazard, even
completely random, to the uninitiated and the
traditionalist alike. Frankly, these qualities would not
seem to have much intrinsic value, nor will this
attitude get us very far in an educational forum.

Before I even pick up a guitar, Ill think.

Elliott Easton

This is an excellent start. Some guys dont even

bother to think until theyre actually finished playing,
and then what theyre thinking about is the lady in the
micro-mini at the bar. Ex. 1 shows two contrasting
phrases: Both have the same melody, but the second
phrase has been well thought-out and planned. Notice
fingerings, positions, use of open strings, phrasing,
smoothness, and the logic of the picking pattern.

On the other hand, if we can

accept as a basic premise that a
great deal of our art is enhanced
by the discipline of form, then we
have added a useful ally to our cause of communicating our thoughts and feelings. As a cartoonist,
a writer of prose and music lyrics, and as a guitarist,

Continued
26

SOLOING FORM (Contd)

Ex. 1

4
4
H

T
A
B
8 10

There are four things about solo construction:

the entrance, tone, building the solo, and how
its going to end. Keith Moon, who was the
drummer for the Who, used to say,
Remember, mate, they remember your
entrance and your exit. Everything else in the
middle dont mean a goddamn thing.
Try to make it so the end of the solo will
help the next section along.

10

10

7 10

8 10

11

10

4
4

Leslie West

T
A
B

3 5

3 0

3 0

8 10 12

No solo is an island. It draws

life from the song around it, and
should pay the favor back with
interest. Ex. 2 shows a little
melodic riff. See how Ex. 3 exploits
the riff, in the process providing
another facet to the solo, and more
important, to the song as a whole.
Ex. 2

Gm

Textbook performance form! When the

Mountain man speaks, all cellar dwellers and garageband blowhards should listen. Ex. 3 takes his advice
about exiting: the vocal was coming back in on a G,
so by adding a lower third harmony, I gave some extra
support to that re-entry.

Dm

10

11

10

12

A solo
s
somethi hould do
ng. It sh
ould
have som
e aim,
take the
tu
somewh ne
ere.
Jeff Bec
k

Tommy Bolin

Pacing, like taste, is a sign of maturity and

wisdom in your playing. Some guys seem to play way
beyond their years, and some cats, like Tommy or Jimi
Hendrix or Charlie Christian, never did get to enjoy
the benefits of age. Part of their legacy is their
example of exercising tasteful pacing as classic form,
showing predeliberation and a firm sense of purpose
in their playing.

4
4
T
A
B

Ex. 3

Gm

4
4

Gm7

3
B

T
A
B

If you blow your cookies in the first bar,

you have nowhere to go.

6 8 10 8

H P

6 8 6 5

H P

5 7 5 3

Continued
27

ENERGY

Re-Intro

Pre-Chorus

Interest, Excitement, Intensity, etc.

Ex. 4

SOLOING FORM (Contd)

A Grabber
Intro

Pre-Chorus

Build

Intro

First
Verse

Chorus

Second
Verse

Second
Chorus

Climax

To Billboard
#1

Set-Up
and
Rebuild

Solo

Bridge

Choruses
Out

FORM

Dont go in business for yourself until you

know what the composer had in mind
The good players are giving you a message,
and the message is not how many notes they
are playing; its the feeling they get.

particular form. Notice how it bears a remarkable

resemblance to Wests and Travers outlines:
l.
2.
3.

Introduction
Body (argument)
Conclusion

Herb Ellis

An introduction should have a strong lead, or

hook, to get the reader (listener) interested, and
should clearly state the thesis, the main proposition,
theme, or argument of the piece. The main body of
the essay contains a convincing elaboration,
illustration, and defense of the thesis. And the
textbook definition of a proper conclusion should
have three things: a restatement of the main thesis,
a summation of the points raised in the main body,
and your closing remark (having the last word in an
argument, if you will, and making it a real zinger).

Whats the attitude of a song? What is the

emotion? How well are you capturing it and
interpreting it?

A solo should be a statement, like a good

novel. It should start someplace, grab your
interest, work up to a climax, and then go
down and lead into whatever comes next.
And it should follow a theme.
Pat Travers

Solos that are a constant stream of climaxes

end up having no climax at all. A (slightly tongue-incheck) line-graph illustration of a standard song
concept based on the Barry Manilow ballad formula
arrangement, containing such a solo form, might look
something like Ex. 4.

My use of essay form is only an illustrative

example. You may personally and quite rightly find it
inappropriate, in that you can easily envision one solo
constructed along the lines of, say, climbing Led
Zeppelins Stairway To Heaven, and another songs
solo being nothing more than a driving one-note
wonder. (Remember Crazy Horses Cinnamon Girl?
Now, its not what I would have chosen to do, but it
leaves an undeniably effective impression.) All I am
suggesting is that concept breeds form, and some
forms are more universal than others.

Its like trying to describe something to

someone; its a conversation where you say
something a certain way.
B.B. King

And we all know what a succinctly eloquent lady

Lucille is.

And without negating any of the above, be

mindful that in some contexts, form can simply be
pure emotion: I get the blues, and I just let go in the
middle of it, said Muddy Waters.

I particularly like the analogies to speech, or

writing stories. The most basic writing structure is the
essay, and I think it behooves us to take a look at that
28

SOLOING AND FORM, PART TWO

Creativity and Interpretation
Ex. 1
Chet Atkins style

Form is shape: just a solid, personal concept of

structure, a sort of general outline. Earlier, we broke
solo content down into a few components. To review:

EMOTION
Feeling, motivation, soul, heart, feel.
H

PA C I N G
T
A
B

Taste, intensity.

CONTEXT
Being appropriate, maintaining stylistic integrity.

3 5

5 3

3 5

jazz

In this chapter, lets focus on another concept thinking creatively and discovering your interpretive
voice.
S

T
A
B

The point of music is to tell stories

with a melody.

67

S HP

5 7 89

8 9797 5

89

10

bluesy

Carlos Santana

Once you get past the physically technical point

of being able to pick out the notes and get from one
to the next, how do you express your personality
through them? Ex. 1 shows the same melodic riff
played from four different stylistic sensibilities, which
gives us four different stories. This illustrates the
technical interpretations inherent in any given musical
statement. What it doesnt show are the personal
emotional interpretations that are possible: dynamics,
phrasing, and stylistic variations can occur on,
between, or inside any given note in any of the four
examples (not to mention the amount of vibrato you
employ, or where youre moving the picking position
around on the string, or how slowly or quickly you
reach your destination on bends or slurs, etc.).

T
A
B

5 7(9)

9(7) 5 7(9)

5 8 5 8(10)

two hand tapping

T
A
B

Continued
29

57

P R

5 7(9) 10 (9) 7

5 7(9) 12

SOLOING AND FORM, PART TWO (Contd)

Should you be conscious of these kinds of things

when you solo? When youre practicing, absolutely.
Get out the microscope and the fine-tooth comb.
But when youre performing, if its going to get in the
way of the flow, forget about it.

To truly improvise requires you

not to know anything, in a sense.
In this state of mind you see
everything before you,
every possibility. All avenues
suddenly open to you.

Historically, by nature, the sound of acoustic

guitars was front-end loaded with percussive attack
and a relatively swift decay, without much sustain to
speak of (see Ex.2). Blues players such as Tampa Red
and Robert Johnson changed all that by popularizing

Ex. 2
classical

Em

B7

3
4

John McLaughlin
T
A
B

0
0
0
2
2
0

You sense bad

actors or politican
, you e
w
o
cians because the
n
k
n
You en someo m speeches that come out of their
h
tell w speech fro
mouths are unnatural and
st
sa
make art; its ju
rehearsed-sounding. But a
his he taneous.
n
truly
great acting job isnt really
o
sp
s
o
l
r
a
C
acting at all, because the actor
na
Santa
has become the character, and
there is a symbiotic flow between
the role and the person playing it.
And therein lies their true art. But is a soloing
musician acting? No and yes - no, a musician does not
pretend, but strives to be honest, to be him or
herself: but also yes, because the musician surrenders
the ego and self-consciousness to the service of the
music. The musician becomes a conduit for the
music: this is the act of a true artist.

0
2
1
2

2
2
0

slide guitar, which could give the guitar the necessary

sustain for sliding, bending, and legato effects of a
human voice (Ex. 3). In the 30s, George Barnes and
Eddie Durham pioneered the use of the electric guitar
in jazz - more power, more volume, more sustain. By
the late 30s, clarinetist Benny Goodmans guitarist
Charlie Christian popularized the instrument, playing
amplified guitar lines that were heavily inspired by the
tenor sax work of Lester Young (refer to Ex. 4). The
phrasing and concepts of horn players are very vocally
oriented, as well, since they also run on lung power.

My goal is to get the fluidity and hip line

of horn players on the guitar.

How can I teach you to get in touch with

yourself? How can I describe the process of opening
up and letting the music flow through you? Thats
something youll have to work out on your own. Still,
there are some concepts that can get you away from
the guitaristic technical traps and move you towards
the discovery of your inner voice.

Mike Stern

Ex. 3
slide

8va

Make your solo as vocally oriented as possible,

just as if someone were singing it, so the sound
grows more human and natural.

T
A
B

Ronnie Montrose

30

12

12

10

10 12 10

5 8 5

SOLOING AND FORM, PART TWO (Contd)

Ex. 4
sax inspired
Gmaj7

HP

T
A
B

9 79 7

Am7

D11

G6

10

8 7

8 10

10 9

11

9
10

12

12 (14)

In the late 50s, James Burton put slinky banjo strings on his guitar to
ease his string-bending leads on Ricky Nelsons Believe What You Say.
Now guitarists could imitate the sliding and bending of a voice or another
instrument quite easily (Ex.5).
Ex. 5
bluesy

T
A
B

5(7)

B R

3 6 3

B R

6(8) 6 3

6 (8) 6 3

Check out Ex. 6 for an arpeggio in the Yngwie

style of Paganini. Volume, distortion, and sustain
(not to mention whammy bars) have all increased
the range of a guitars interpretive and expressive
solo potential. We can see how the fusion of such
diverse elements as creative personality and
technical advance can lead to a higher ground,
always offering new, exciting options for the brave
artistic soul. Yet it will always come back to this:
It wont amount to a hill of beans unless it is your
voice, your personality in the solo.

B R

(7) 5 3 5 3

If you want extreme guitar playing, you should

listen to Paganini. His way of playing the violin
was kind of the way I wanted to play guitar.
Yngwie Malmsteen

Ex. 6
Paganini-like arpeggio
Am

How do you feel? What do you think? What

do you know? For all of the infinite possibilities
that lie outside the physical and technical borders
that exist, there is an equally infinite potential that
dwells inside each and every artist.

T
A
B
5 8

31

E7

5 8 7 4

7 4

DEVELOPING LEFT-HAND INDEPENDENCE:

A FINGERING EXERCISE
Sitting down, or in, with different musicians as

Heres how it goes: start off with Ex. 5

all four fingers fretting at consecutive
1
2
frets along an inside string (the A, D,
3
G, or B). In Ex. 5, I use the G string
4
in the first position, but you really
should try it on all the inside strings
and in all positions all over the neck. Next, move
your 1st finger up across the fingerboard to the
adjacent string and your 2nd finger down to the string
below, while leaving your 3rd and 4th fingers firmly
planted right where they are (refer to the first chord
diagram in Ex. 6). Play the interval youve created,
and then switch the fingers around, with the 1st finger
going from the D# at the 1st fret on the D string,
down across the fretboard to the C at the 1st fret on
the B string, while your 2nd finger goes from the D b
across and up to the E, 2nd fret of the D string, still
without moving the 3rd and 4th fingers at all. Play
the new interval.

often as possible offers some of the greatest potential

for your ongoing, lifelong artistic education (open
ears, open mind, no pride, no pretension, hungry and
humble, and so on).
Ex. 1

Ex. 2
G7

G7 5

III

II

3
4

Ex. 3

Ex. 4
Gmaj7

III

G6
2

3 4

II

1
2

3
4

Ex. 6
1

1
2

A friend complained about a

physical/mental block that he had about
making the change from a particular G7 to
G7 b 5 voicing (Ex. 1 and Ex. 2). I could
relate, recalling how years ago it had taken
me months to get used to the change of
Gmaj7 to G6 (Ex. 3 and Ex. 4) that
appears in Lesson One of the great classic,
Mickey Baker Complete Course of Jazz
Guitar, Book 1 (Lewis Music Pub., 263
Veterans Blvd., Carlstadt, NJ 07072). We
got to talking about how these problems
stem from a lack of independence, equal
strength, and flexibility between the left-hand
fingers. Later, another friend, Sil Simone, showed
me an exercise that hed learned from Matt Clark at
Eli Kassners Toronto Guitar Academy (see what I
mean about musical networking?).

3
4

3
4

T
A
B

Now go back and forth until youve got it

smooth and accurate, in time with a metronome at
a comfortable tempo. Make sure the static 3rd and
4th fingers arent muting the adjacent strings. Got it?
Good! Thats the technical procedure. Now lets learn
the form of the complete exercise.
32

DEVELOPING LEFT-HAND INDEPENDENCE:

A FINGERING EXERCISE (Contd)

Ex. 7

And thats only the first part of the exercise; the

full program looks like this:

1~

The 1st and 2nd fingers are the

switching digits, while the 3rd
and 4th remain static (as in our
examples).

2~
3~
4~
5~
6~

The 1st and 3rd fingers switch, while

the 2nd and 4th remain static.
The 1st and 4th fingers switch, while
the 2nd and 3rd remain static.
The 2nd and 3rd fingers switch, and
the 1st and 4th remain static.
The 2nd and 4th switch, while the
1st and 3rd remain static.
The 3rd and 4th switch, while the
1st and 2nd remain static.

That gives you a grand total of 120 combinations

of little switches of different fingers on different
strings, and thats exactly 240 different intervals,
which at first glance seems to threaten great, tedious
boredom. But once youve tried this exercise, youll
find that every switch serves as a challenging and
painful reminder of what an uncoordinated, physically
bankrupt specimen of a guitar hero you are. Feeling
cocky, eh? Walk through all the way and tell me youre
not burning from the elbow on down, pilgrim.

Ex. 7 shows the four interval switches possible

using the A string as home base for the static fingers.
Ex. 8 illustrates two out of six possible switches from
the D string. Likewise, there are another six from
the G string, and four from the B, which arent
shown here.
Ex. 8

33

THE SIX LAWS OF TONE, TASTE AND FEEL

Ex. 1

4
4
T
A
B

5
4

14

10

14

19

19

Law #1:

t risk of dating myself, I recall high school

discussions weighing the relative merits of Alvin Lees
speed, Carlos Santanas soulful tone, Jimi Hendrix
flash, and Eric Claptons tasty feel. While rankled by
the stupidity of either/or arguments, Ive always
leaned towards the tone/taste/feel side of the debate,
because I feel that if you apply yourself to fundamental musical disciplines, the speed and flash of
good chops are an inevitable result.

Be in the right place at the right time.

Play the notes in Ex. 1, and listen to how different
the notes sound in each position. Warm and dark?
Brittle and thin? Now try picking close to the bridge,
soft, then hard. Try free strokes (Fig. 1) for tone and
rest strokes (Fig. 2) for power. Now try the same
variations, but picking over the end of the
fingerboard. How and where you pick drastically

Oh, theres no mistaking the exhilarating impact

of blinding speed and physical prowess; Im often
guilty of going to that popular well. But in my best
do-as-I-say-not-as-I-do voice, I urge you to beware
the empty sugar rush of a Twinkie and a cola! Theres
no getting around it: it takes a developed, discerning
palate to appreciate a vintage wine.

Fig. 1
free stroke

Plane of
strings

Since those late 60s high school days, there have

been a few new generations of chops-literate guitarists
taking advantage of increasingly accessible educational
materials. Technique has risen across the board.
Indeed, we passed through a techno-shredder phase
and into a retro movement backlash. Throughout
the cycles of fashion, we are still left with the thorny
problem of teaching tone, taste, and feel, areas of
playing that are often regarded as natural, or
God-given gifts that supposedly cant be taught
because you either have it or you dont. So how do
you teach the unteachable? Lets start with some
real basic basics.

Fig. 2
rest stroke

Plane of
strings

affects your tone. The biggest downfall of musical

performance is when the player becomes consumed by
thinking about notes instead of listening to the sound
of the music, getting inside the music and becoming
one with the momentum of the transportation.
Somehow, this position lends itself much more readily
to an almost unconscious exploitation of the
expressive, tonal palette.

34

THE SIX LAWS OF TONE, TASTE AND FEEL (Contd)

Ex. 2

4
4
H

T
A
B

Law #2:
Pick a style thats picking you.
Ex. 2 shows four ways to pick a simple phrase. Can you play
them with consistent tone, volume, and rhythm? Each variation
has unique characteristics. Your own physical capabilities will
lead you to favor one alternative over another in a given
situation. This is the basis of personality in your playing.

Ex. 3

4
4

2 3 5

2 4 5

2 4 5

H P

454

4 5 7

5 7 8

3
H

5 7 8

3
P

10 8 7 8 7

10

Law #3:
If it doesnt sound good when you play it quiet,
itll never sound good when you play it loud.

8 9 10

Play your favorite speedball run. (For those without one,

Ex. 3 is conveniently provided.) Okay, Roadrunner, now
5 6
put your amp on a clean setting and turn the volume
4
7
down to 1. When you can execute fast runs with
this setup, getting a decent, cleanly articulated
tone, then go ahead and crank the amp. Never use
volume and distortion to compensate for a weak
physical performance.
1 2 3

23 2

H P

T
A
B

Continued
35

10

THE SIX LAWS OF TONE, TASTE AND FEEL (Contd)

Law #4:
If you cant play it good and slow,
youll never play it good and fast.
If you cant play Ex. 3 at the suggested
tempo of 192 beats-per-minute, cut the
tempo in half. If you can play it solidly at
96 beats-per-minute, I guarantee that its
just a matter of time and practice before
you can speed it up. But remember

Law #5:
Never play two where one will do.
Just because you can jack up the speedometer, or get
fancy, doesnt mean you have to.

Law #6:
When in doubt, lay out.
Listen. Trying to play your way out of confusion usually
only makes the music go from bad to worse. Just relax and listen. Then, get back to basics.
A baseball slugger on a hot streak is described as
on automatic or in a groove. On the other hand,
the batting coach of a hitter in a slump will take him
back to the fundamentals to help him rediscover his
swing and regain his confidence. The quickest route
to confidence is through the fundamental things you
know and love so well that they are almost autonomic
functions. If youre having trouble finding your
voice, it may be because youve gotten outside
your limitations.

The c

is
l aw # 6
o
t
y
r
orolla

.
S
.
S
.
I
.
K.
stupid

simple
Ke e p i t

Continued
36

THE SIX LAWS OF TONE, TASTE AND FEEL (Contd)

Ex. 4

4
4

10 8

T
A
B

10

10 8

10 8

10

*
10 8

10 9

10 9

7 10 9

10 9

7 10 9

10

10 9

10 9

Ex. 5

4
4
T
A
B

15 13 12

14

13 12

14 12

12 10

12 10

10 8

10 9

Heed Spencer Tracys advice on acting:

Just know your lines and

dont bump into the furniture.
Lets say youre learning your line (Ex. 4), but you keep
bumping into the furniture at the asterisk, because it feels
awkward to cross to the third string to play the F with your 4th
finger, then cross back to the second string to play the A with
the same finger at the same fret. Positioning is not written in
stone. You might rearrange the furniture to make it easier
for yourself. (Remember Law #2.) Ex. 5 shows a refingering of
the same phrase that will probably feel more natural. Search
for ways to make personal adjustments in order to gain
interpretive control and improve your confidence.
The true test of your musicianship is to play out while
searching for the sounds and emotions that you have inside.
If you can do that, there isnt another person on the face of the
earth who can sound like you.

37

10

CROSS PICKIN
Problems of stagnation and frustration are just as likely to be mental as
physical. We start out by learning to recognize certain patterns and shapes,
memorizing them and locking them in. But in order to advance, we must
sometimes learn to unlearn, as it were, and overcome old habits.
Ex. 1

A
T
A
B

12

9 11 12

B
T
A
B

9 11

0
12

11 12

11

9 10

10 9

9 10

10 9

11 9

12 11 9

12

0
11

0
12 11

12

Ex. 1A shows a nice, simple, linear approach to the A major scale. But
consider how Ex. 1B deals with the same animal: It uses a device called cross
picking. Such an approach challenges all the tidy preconceptions contained in
Ex. 1A. It forces us to think in seemingly contrary and illogical ways (i.e., going
backwards across more than one string for a consecutive scale degree, or going
all the way down the fingerboard to an open string in order to move to a higher
note, and vice versa).
Ex. 2

T
A
B

Another interesting thing about

this technique: You can leave your
fingers in place after youve plucked the
0 2 0 1 3 0 1
4
4 2 0 4 1 0 3 0
note, sustaining it across the following
H
H
P
P
notes for a banjo or
Ex. 3
0
0
0
0
pedal-steel
effect.
Two
11 12
12 11
0
0
10 12
12 10
more cross-picked scale
12
12
voicings are shown in
Ex. 2 (G major) and Ex. 3 (D major), but you should be catching
0 1 3 0 3 0 2
4
the drift here - any scale with notes that can be sounded on the
H
H
open strings is fair game for this approach. Try E major (hint:
0
T
use the open E and B strings), F major (E and G), B b major
0
A
0
11 12
B
7 9
12
(G and D), and so on.

38

CROSS PICKIN (Contd)

Ex. 4

T
A
B

12 12

12 14

13 12

Ex. 5

T
A
B
0

Ex. 6

T
A
B

0
12

0
7

11

0
7

0
10

And dont forget those minor scales! How about

A Dorian and A Aeolian (Ex. 4)? Try the E minor
pentatonic, or blues, scale in Ex. 5. And just for laughs
(or Holdsworthian stretching agonies), theres Ex. 6,
which ascends Dorian and descends Aeolian. Its only
slightly less tortuous to accomplish on a 24 3/4" scale
neck than on todays ever-popular 25 1/2". (How about
on a Gibson Byrdland, at 23 1/2"?)

39

12

VIBRATO
One of the things that separates the
maestri from the sophomores is finger
vibrato, an important technique for
creating a distinctive sound. Because
vibrato is such a highly personalized
technique, there is really no right or
wrong, no universal method. The how,
when, where, and why of its application
speaks directly to your artistic heart and
soul. Nevertheless, heres some entirely
subjective thoughts on the topic.

Ex. 2
faster vibrato

4
4
4
4
3

What do I mean by musical? Slow finger

vibrato usually moves at the rate of an eighth-note (or
eighth-note triplet) against the beat, as shown in Ex. 1.
If you want a faster vibrato, try the sixteenth-note and
sixteenth-note triplet rhythms shown in Ex. 2. This is
all unconscious stuff. When youre experienced and in
the groove, you wont even think about it - it will just
feel right. Listen to guys like Edward Van Halen, Eric
Clapton, B.B. King, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Carlos
Santana, and Mark Knopfler, and concentrate on the
tone and feeling that their vibrato gives to the notes.

There are two general types of guitar vibrato that which is generated from a wiggling of the finger
thats depressing the string on the fretboard, and a
second style that comes from shaking the whole
hand at the wrist. Again, generally speaking, the
finger vibrato tends to be used for a smaller, quicker
effect, where the pitch range of the vibrating note
isnt too wide. A vibrato that starts back at the wrist
tends to be stronger and more dramatic, with a wider
pitch variation.
Beginners tend to overuse vibrato, often in such a
way as to make notes flutter. Learn to be judicious
with vibrato. Many notes dont require it, so dont
vibrate them to death. When you do settle on the
right notes, use vibrato with the correct time. For
example, try to make long notes at slower tempos
warmer and rounder, or make short notes laugh,
oscillating and resonating in a musical way.

Ex. 3

T
A
B

Ex. 1
slow vibrato

Dont rush vibrato. Check out Ex. 3: The bent

note might go smoothly up to pitch, then a little
vibrato might warm it up nicely on the fourth beat of
the bar. On the other hand, if you were stinging a
single note without a bend - as B.B. King does so
often and so well - you might want it laughing
(or crying, as the case may be, depending on the
songs harmonic mood and lyrical content) right from
the get-go.

4
4

picked note value

4
4
3

3
40

VIBRATO (Contd)

Be mindful of the fact that vibrato makes an unbent note go sharp, but that
a bent note can travel both above and below the standard pitch. My personal
taste is to be conservative with the former and more aggressive with the latter.
(Of course, floating whammy bars give you mechanical options on everything,
including open strings.)
Fig. 1
Fig. 1 shows a common method
for producing a rock or blues-style
vibrato. But there is still another
method that bears our attention
(Fig.2), one that is commonly
employed by classical players
(I have fond memories of it from my
high school violin lessons.) Here, the string is
not vibratoed vertically across the neck. Instead,
you use a rapid motion, parallel to the neck, of the entire
forearm, right back to the elbow. Even though the fingertip
never moves the string vertically, the horizontal shaking motion
changes the pressure of the fingertips, which act as a pivot point, and make the
string vibrate in an almost imperceptible fashion. More often than not, the
thumb comes right off the back of the neck to help exaggerate the motion.
Vibrato is the most commonly used expressive tool, and is strongly related
to bending (back in Book One). It animates a note, makes it more human, and
more dramatic. So, on occasion, when the feeling is irresistible, you go ahead
and pick yourself some real nice notes, and shake em up real good.

Pivot point where

vibrato takes place
Elbow moves back and
forth in opposite direction
from back of hand.

Fig. 2

Finger, hand
and wrist shake
back and forth
Keep a strong, locked line
from fingertip through
finger, back of hand,
wrist, and forearm

41

SHIFTY MOVES: TWO-STRING

SNAKES AND LADDERS
Taking command of the entire fingerboard means
playing a crafty game of connect-the-dots as you shift
from one memorized scale position to another.

Ex. 2
E blues pentatonic
ascending

As it was pointed out in the chapter on shifting

problems (Book Two), you should start visualizing
your future fingerboard destination a few beats before III 1
you have to move there, and let your current position
V 3 1 1
recede into your unconscious awareness. When the
time comes to shift, you are mentally prepared, and
VII 3 3 3 1
you can make the change more smoothly. This
1
3 3
technique follows one of FOR THE LOVE OF
1 1
X
GUITARs Basic Laws: keep mentally ahead of the
physical activity.

3 3

The

MIND
EYE
is quicker than the

H A N D.
Ex. 1 shows a standard scalar shifting approach as
applied to a G major scale, and Ex. 2 applies the same
technique to the E blues pentatonic scale and the E
Dorian mode. Remember, the whens and wheres of
shifting - and the fingerings - are largely matters of
personal choice. Playability and ease of memorization
are the most important criteria.

descending

III

1
2 2

III

1
2 2

1 1
4 4 2 2

1 1
4 2 2 2

VII

4 4 4 1 1
2 2
4
4 4

VII

III

1
2

III

1 1
4 2 2

VII

1
4 4 4 2 1
2
4 4
1
4 2

VII

1 1 1
2
3 3 1
4 4 4
3
4 4 1
2
3
1
4 2

4 4

Ex. 4 uses a harmonized scale to create a

sliding ladder to lift you - or a sneaky snake to
lower you - into any desired destination. A
related idea is shown in Ex. 5, which I always
think of as the Steve Cropper lick
because it reminds me of the line he
played on Sam and Daves Soul Man.
Segments of this pattern are used in
many classic licks and theyre a
staple in many players trick
bags. And dont forget other
possible snakes and ladders,
such as moving octaves or
unison bends.

G major scale

ascending

E Dorian mode
descending

There are, of course, many other interesting and

musical ways to get from one position to another, and
many of these shifty moves use two strings as snakes
and ladders to move around the fingerboard. Ex. 3
shows an Al Di Meola-style triplet run thats very
handy for getting to any position. Think of each
group of six notes as a rung on a ladder: you can step
off into a particular fretboard position at any time.

is quicker than the

Ex. 1

E Dorian mode
ascending

4 4 1 1 1
2 2
3
4 4

42

4 4

SHIFTY MOVES: TWO-STRING

SNAKES AND LADDERS (Contd)

Ex. 3
8va

6 5 3

8 6 5

6 5 3

T
A
B

10 8 6

8 6 5

10 8 6

1210 8

17

16 14

17 16

T
A
B

14 12

15

12

10 9

1
3

12 10

10

9 7

7 5

17 15 13

7 9

14

12

10
9
9 10 10 12 12

2
3

18 17 15
18 17 15

1
3

3
S

5 4

17 15 13

2
3 3

2
3

15 13 12
13 11 10
15 13 11

3
1

14

13 12 10

1110 8

Ex. 4
1

14
16
17
14 15 15 17 17 19 19

Ex. 5

6
8
S

5
T
A
B

16

11

13

11

13

43

16
14

16

17
16 18

18

9
11

14
13 14

10
13 11

12

12
14

10

14
16 14

16
T
A
B

7
9

RHYTHM CHANGES, PART ONE

Ex. 1

B
B maj7
[B 6]

4
4

Gm
Bdim7

F7
C dim7

Am

D7
[D9]

Cm
Cm7

F7
C dim7

B
Dm7

Gm
G7 9
[G7 9]

Cm
Cm7

F
F7 9

Dm7

G7
[G13]

C7
C7
[C9]

Cm
Cm7

F
F7 9

B
Fm7

B
Fm7
[Fm9]

B
F
Cm
Gm
Dm7
E maj7
Edim7
B 7
[B 13] [E 6add9] [G, B , or [Dm9]
C dim7]

F
G7
[G13]

B
(F)
Cm7
F7
[Cm9] [F13]

D7
D7

Cm
Cm7

G7
G7

Gm7

C7
[C9]

Cm
E maj7

F
Edim7

F7
F7

Cm7

F7

B
B maj7

(F7)

17

B
B maj7

Gm
Bdim7

B
Dm7

Gm
G7 9

Gm
B 7

F
Cm7

B
Dm7
G7

F7

25

In modern practice, however, the harmonies are

fleshed out into something like those shown in the
second line of Ex. 1. Notice the chromatic ascent of
the bass line in bars 1 and 2 and the frequent use of
altered, extended, and substitute chords. (Ex. 2 shows
some chord voicings you can use to play these
progressions.)

n the 1920s George Gershwin wrote a popular

tune called I Got Rhythm. It was based on the
common AABA song form and a chord progression
that has since evolved into a standard jazz performance
instruction vehicle. Playing through the sequence of
chords that has become known as rhythm changes
exposes a musician to several basic concepts - such as
II-V7 changes, chord substitution, and harmonized
bass lines - in one comprehensive package.

Dont be fooled by the term standard; it doesnt

mean that the harmonic content is etched in stone
and shouldnt be experimented with. For example,
Jamey Aebersolds Turnarounds, Cycles, and II-V7s
(Aebersold Pub., 1211 Aebersold Dr., New Albany, IN
47150) offers seven substitute progressions for just the
first eight bars.

Begin with the relatively humble harmonies

shown on the top line of Ex. 1. The first A section
was a simple I-VI-II-V7 turnaround figure, repeated
three times, and then tagged with a I-V-I. This section
was repeated, and then followed by an eight bar bridge
based on a common harmonic structure of the day, a
cycle of four dominant 7th chords played for two bars
each, with each chord functioning as the dominant of
the following harmony. The A section is then
repeated in bars 25 through 32.

But while theres no such thing as wrong in

music, some chords make more logical-sounding
substitutions than others. The bracketed chords on
the third line of Ex. 1 show some common chordal
alternatives. In bars 1 and 6, maj6 and maj6 (add 9)

44

RHYTHM CHANGES, PART ONE (Contd)

Ex. 2
B maj7
VI

B 6
2

Bdim7
VI

1
2

3 4

VIII

1
2

C dim7

Cm7
2

VIII

1
2

Dm7
2

G7 9

G7 9
IX

IX

1
2

1
2

Fm7

F7 9
VII

VI

1
2

Fm9
VI

B 7
VI

1
2

3 4

Edim7
E maj7

B 13
VI

VI

E 6(add9)
V

1
3

Dm9
1

III

G13
III

2
2

Cm7

F7

3 4

1
4

1
2

D7
1

IV

Gm7
3

1
2

3
3

C9

C7

1
2

1
4

chords replace maj7 chords, and a 7 b 9 chord replaces the 7#9 in bar 3. In fact, some
chart writers simply flag these kinds of situations with a 7 alt (dominant 7th
altered) symbol, leaving the player free to choose his or her own substitution.
In bars 5, 7, and 8, Ive proposed minor 9th and dominant 13th chords for the
II-V7 turnaround, a fairly common substitution. The diminished 7th chord (bar 6)
is a crafty customer, since each note of the chord is equidistant from its neighbor,
and can therefore function as the root - the correct labelling depends on the
context. For us guitarists, this means that a three-fret slide in either
direction gives us a new voicing of the same harmony.
45

3 4

D9

2
4

III 2

Am7

III

Cm9

F13

2
3

1
3

III

G7

Dm7

1
2

VI

Edim7, Gdim7
B dim7, C dim7

RHYTHM CHANGES, PART TWO

Heres a relatively complex chord-melody composition based on the same
rhythm changes. Work your way slowly through the 32 bars of these
variations, and see what they say to you about chord substitution, chord
melody, voice leading, bass lines, and so forth.

For The Love Of Guitar -

WO R K I N G T H R O U G H
CHANGES
A little philosophical pastiche, courtesy of Billy
Joel and Ricky Nelson: Dont go changin to try to please
me, because you cant please everyone, so youve got to please yourself.
Ex. 1
B 6
1

Bdim7

C7

C dim7

Dm7

G7 9

A
4

3
4

3
3

3
1

1
2

Cm9

3
1

3
3

F7 9( 9)

B 7 5

4
3

3
2
1

3
1

1
1

E maj7

Edim7

1
1

1
2

Fm9

1
4
2
3

1
3

T
A
B

8
7
6

7
5
6

10
9
8

10
10
10

G7 D 7 Cm7 5

F7 B7

4
2
3

10

4
3
2

9
10
10

8
10 10
9 9
10
9

4
2
3

10 11
10 10
9
10

3
4

4
2

4
4

4
2
3
1

9
8
7
8

B 6 B maj7 Ddim7
E
Bdim7
Cm7
A

1
4
3

T
A
B

8
8

Dm7 5

10
8 11
8

1
1
1

2
2
1

2
3
1

2
2
3

1
1
1

4
3
1
2

4
3
1
2

2
2

7
8
8
8

6
8
7
8

4
1
1
1

4
3
1
2

7
5

10
10
10
8

10
9
10
9

13
12
13
12

46

11
11
12
10

11
8
8
8

11
8
8
7

15
14
15
14

13
13
14
12

4
3

8
7

6
8
7

A 7 G7 9 Cm9
B7 B 7
G 7

Dm7

6
8
7
8
6

F9 Edim7
4

2
2
3

6
7
7
6

8
8
6
8

10
10 13 11
10 11 10
10 10 9
11 10

2
1

10
8 11
8 9
8 8
9
8

7
8
7

6
7
6

RHYTHM CHANGES, PART TWO (Contd)

Fm9 Gm7 5 Adim7 B 6add9 G7 9 13

A 6
A 9
G7 13
4

13
4
4
3
2

1
1
1
3

3
1
1
1
3
1

3
1

1
2

4
3
3

4
5
3

G6

6
5
6

F7

5
4
5

5
4

C9

Cm7 G 9

F7

B7 5

1
2

10
8
7
8

3
3
0
0
2

3
2
1

3
3
3
2
3

3
1
3

6
5
5 3
5

4
4
3
4

11
10

9
9

7
7

10

7 6

3
0

3
1
1

6
6

A 7 C

1
2

1
1
1

1
1

1
3

5 3
3 5 3 5 3 1
3 5 3
2
5 3 2
3

G7 9 13

C9

3 0

1
3

3
3

5
5
4 5
6
7
4
5

F7 9 13 B 6add9

G7 9

1
2

Cm7 Cm9 F11 F7 9

2
3

2
3

3
1
1
1

4
3
2
0

4
4
4
3

3
3
0
0
2

6
6
5
5

3
3
3

4
4
2

1
1

1
2

3
1
2

B 6add9 Bdim7
Ddim7

B 6add9

10
8
7
8
7

4
3

1
2

3
3

28

1
2

7
5

C7 B

3
3 3

5 0 6
5
5

F13

3
3
3

6
6
5
6

4 1

4
3

C9

4 0 4
2

6 8
6
9
8
8
8 8 9 9
7 7
8
8
8
9
8

T
A
B

Dm7 D 9

1
1

3
0
1

4 1 3
3
3

1
2
1
2

3
2
1

3
2
3

3
2
1
2

3
3

23
1
4

3
5

3
3
1
3

4
3

0
1

3
3
1

1
1

1
1

5
5

4
4
3

1
2

1
2

T
A
B

1
2

4
2
3

4
3
2

Am7 A dim7 G

3
3

11
9
10
9
10

11
11
11
10
11

6
6
5
5

18

T
A
B

1
2

4
3

Am7 E 7 D7 A 7

4
3
2

8
7
8
7

D7
Bm7 B m7
Cmaj7
B

1
3

T
A
B

3
4

B add9

3
3
3

2
3

Cm9 G 7 F13 B7 9

1
4
3

1
3

1
2

3
3
3
2
3

2
2
2
1

1
1
0
0
1

D dim7

4
3

1
1

1
2

6
6
4
3

Cm7

4
3

Faug B7

1
1
2
3

3
2
1
2

1
1
0
0
1

6
6
5
5

10
9
10
9

13
12
13
12

11
11
12
10

10
8
8
8

47

6
8
8
8

8
7
8
7
8

11
10
8
10

10

11
9
8
9

11
8
8
8

6
6
7
8

8
7
7

ECONOMY
The different meanings of economy in the

In Example 1, from the point of view of positional

shifting up and down the neck, the first option is
shiftless, climbing vertically in one position, and
therefore logically the superior economic choice.
But the second option only uses one string and
therefore has its own unique economic advantage.
Anyone whos ever broken a string, or had to avoid a
badly out of tune string or two during a performance,
knows how valuable it can be to be able to instantly
rearrange a vertical economy to a horizontal one.

dictionary talk about the management of expense,

thrifty and efficient use of resources, and the
concise arrangement, organization and structure
of things.
Henry James once wrote that, In art, economy is
always beauty. Certainly, in guitar technique, an
economy of motion should be a basic consideration.
(Back in Book One, FOR THE LOVE OF GUITAR
postulated that Technique should be Action for a Reason,
not Unreasonable Action.)

As with so many aspects of music, and in

particular guitar playing, there is no absolute,
universally correct method. You must consider your
circumstance, your context. Where are you at, and
where are you headed? Which alternative is the most
appropriate? Try to realize the maximum return on
the physical and intellectual investment. (Economic
pun, there.) Consider the tone production of the
notes on the strings in the positions involved. Try to
make fingerings logical and memorable, designing
them to minimize errors and maximize musicality.

Naturally, as in most things in life, there are

always options and choices, and there are usually
different economic viewpoints. Like Star Treks halfVulcan, Mr. Spock, we try to apply logic to our
processes, but sometimes, we cant help being all
human (and not fictional) so we just have to go
with a gut feeling of what strikes us as appropriate
at the time.
Ex. 1

T
A
B
0

2
0

11

12

Ex. 2

option A

T
A
B

option B

1
3

48

ECONOMY (Contd)

Example 2 contrasts different economic

approaches from a picking point of view. The first
option provides a consistent down/up alternate
picking pattern. It has an obvious, logical economical
appeal. The second option, however, offers an equally
valid logic and economy. The down strokes that carry
across into adjacent strings begin to suggest the
beautiful, full-blown economy of motion that sweep
picking offers (see Ex. 3). The inclusion of two
hammer-ons, in combination with the rhythmic pulse
provided by down-picking five sub-groups of two
eighth notes across two adjacent strings, gives the line
a lyricism that option A lacks. (That ends up sounding
more complicated than it really is. Just play the two
options and youll hear and feel the difference.)

youre going to have to shift up the neck a couple of

positions, and your 4th finger is going from one
fingerboard extreme (E - 6th) to another (E - 1st).
A common basic mistake that guitarists make is
losing flow, the physical continuity. The meter goes,
and the music is gone. Inside the music, the chords
are usually connected (thats why they call them
progressions) and are not separate little block diagram
entities that exist in isolation. The beginnings of flow
lie in visualizing the next destination, and taking the
shortest distance to get there, with no extravagance or
wasted motion. You dont usually release a chord, and
drop your hand off the fingerboard, then commence a
whole new approach to the next one. You dont select
a performance tempo at which youre incapable of
getting from A to B to C. While youre successfully
grasping a chord, your mind must advance to the next
chord form, locating it and visualizing it on the
fingerboard. This is more of a mental exercise than a
physical one, but its often very helpful (although not
entirely necessary) to use your eyes to fix upon the
destination. When you make the move,
Ex. 5
take the shortest distance. The arrows in
III
Ex. 5 illustrate the outside parameters
of the chord change, the longest moves
V
involved and the direction to take. Youll
notice the 4th finger is making the biggest
move, and so the visual destination of the VIII
eighth fret on the 1st string is a logical
choice. As a bonus, the 2nd finger will be moving
into the fret space and string that the 4th vacates.
With these two moves acting as guides, the rest of the
chord change should follow. After youve become
acquainted with the chord forms, when practicing,
begin working at nice, slow tempos that allow you to
make the changes in time.

Ex. 3
1

6
8

3
4

1
2

0
T
A
B
5

14

13

12 17

The three octave A minor arpeggio sweep picking

of Ex. 3 sounds extravagant, but is offered as a model
of logic, and economy. The first hammer-on (A to C)
allows time to drop the pick down to catch the
upstroke on the open E; that open E string upstroke
allows time for the one long position shift up to the
twelfth position, as well as bringing the pick back up
across the strings to bite back into the sweep of the
second bar.
Ex. 4

The two chord

forms of Ex. 4 are
included to make an
1 V
1
economy-related
2
2
3
3
point about mental
4 visualization and
destinations. The
shortest distance between two points is a straight line.
Youll notice that to go from the E b /B b to the E b 13/B b ,

E /B
III

E 13/B

Thrifty. Efficient. Concise. Common sense tells

us that an economy based on many complexities has
more things that can go wrong. A strong economy
relies on a few simple, basic fundamentals remaining
healthy and vital, to fuel the artistic and creative
growth of the culture that depends upon it.

49

LESS IS MORE
Ex. 5
A

D/A

E/A
IV

2
2

Anecdote # 1:

was an OSTINATO figure, where, for example, a

little rhythmic figure would be arpeggiated using
that A-D-G triad found on the treble strings of all
four chords in Ex. 6, and hypnotically repeated over
each chord change. Another thing that they loved
was the harmonic duplicity introduced whenever I
substituted the magic chord of Ex. 7. (Thats Frank
Gambales very apt terminology, by the way.)

band whose music would probably be considered

alternative, or unconventional. It was interesting to
me that in their search for unconventional and
fresh sounds and ideas, their tastes and preferences
in many instances pushed them towards some
harmonic and melodic ideas that have always been, to
varying degrees, popular in a lot of different styles of
conventional modern music (jazz fusion, new age,
rock, top 40), and are historically common devices
found throughout the evolution of classical music.
Plus a change, plus cest la mme chose.

Ex. 6
What all of these
Gadd9
Em11
things have in common
is, essentially, the
suspense created by
1
2
1
the suspension of a
2
3 4
3 4
single note, or a group
of notes, to accomplish
different things in
C6add9
Dsus4
different contexts. I
pondered the contrast
of this approach to the
1
1
2
3 4
3 4
harmony found in
popular music from the
1930s to the 50s, when
prevailing tastes and preferences were for colorful
extended and altered voicings with clever voice
leading, catchy melodies with sophisticated harmonies
and solos. It struck me that the ebb and flow of
fashion and style (which,
Ex. 7
admittedly, but exceptionally, has
Am7 5
resurrected the Big Band sound of
Harry Connick Jr., and gave Tony
1
Bennett a new MTV hipness) has
3
brought a lot of current taste
around to the concept of

Ex. 2

For example, they

liked chords that
eliminated 3rds, but
1
added, or suspended
1
2nds, (Ex. 1 and 2),
2
3 4
3 4
or kept the 3rd but
added 9ths (Ex. 3
and 4). They liked to
Ex. 3
Ex. 4
employ pedal tones
Cadd9
Fadd9
(sometimes called a
pedal-point) where
1
bass notes stayed the
1
2
2
4 same while triad
3 4
3
chords changed above
them (the three
chords of Ex. 5), or inverted pedals, where bass notes
would move while chords above remained much the
same, as in the four chord progression of Ex. 6.
Notice how the open D string rings out, suspended
across the entire progression, as do the D and G notes
on the 3rd fret B and E strings, respectively. Another
compositional device that they employed effectively
Gadd9

Recently I was in doing studio sessions for a

Ex. 1

B add9

L E S S I S M O R E .
50

LESS IS MORE (Contd)

Anecdote # 2:
I was flipping through the Steely Dan -

with mothers heartbeat in the womb. And Roger

Sessions has said that an adequate definition of
rhythm comes close to defining music itself.

Complete songbook, checking out the sophisticated

changes in songs like Deacon Blues and the clever
melodic and harmonic twists in Peg and Hey,
Nineteen, when I came across the chart for Show Biz
Kids, and realized with a little surprise that it had but
one dominant 7 chord vamping throughout the whole
song. This got me to thinking about how, despite the
obviously intentional lack of harmonic inventiveness,
the song still worked admirably, because of groove,
and attitude, and other attributes. I started thinking
about the modern popular success of stylistic forms
like rap, and hip hop, and thrash, and heavy metal,
where melody and harmony are secondary, often
inconsequential, sometimes completely eschewed,
because these styles are really all about rhythm,
serving as a vehicle for social attitude, emotion,
fashion and sex. Again, this reinforces the proposition
that, musically, anyway,

Mick Goodrick, in his excellent, highly acclaimed

and recommended book, The Advancing Guitarist
(Third Earth Productions, dist. by Hal Leonard
Books), had this to say on the basic, fundamental
importance of rhythm:

Not all musicians play chords.

Not all musicians play melodies.
But ALL musicians play rhythms.
Drummers specialize in rhythms and time.
Talk to them. Listen to what they play.
If you were to play the guitar in such a
way as to eliminate harmony, melody, and
even pitch, youd be left with muffled strings.
Suddenly, youre a drummer!

Less is MorE.
In one of the scenes from Milos Formans movie
about Mozart, Wolfgang is portrayed as a composer
of brilliant, recognizable and memorable melodies,
ditties that could make all of his countrymen sing
along. A catchy tune is definitely infectious,
translatable into commercial popularity. Nowadays,
however, its just as likely that the world could be
shown dancing to Hammer Time one month, New
Boys on the Block the next, Backstreet Lads the next,
followed by Spice Grrrillas after that (at least in soft
drink commercials). At the time this is being written,
pop music is dominated by dance tracks and rap.
So, arguably, rhythm could be described as the most
essential and basic element in popular music, the
one thing that your music cannot do without. After
all, as 19th century conductor/pianist Hans Von
Bulow said, In the beginning was rhythm, starting

I N C O N C LU S I O N
(and for starters)

The exercise of taste, and the

eloquence of one note, or a thousand well-chosen, properly considered,

and strategically located begins and ends with rhythm.
It is the Least that
gives you the Most.

51

COPLANDS ___________ LONG LINE

Another Less Is More concept that
deserves your constant awareness first came to
my attention through Aaron Coplands classic
text, What to Listen For In Music (McGrawHill), and I quote from it:

Not necessarily

SIMPLE,
but, simply

N E C E S S A R Y.

ut whatever the form the composer chooses

to adopt, there is always one great desideratum:
The form must have what
in my student days we used to call
LA GRANDE LIGNE (the long line).
It is difficult adequately to explain the
meaning of that phrase to the layman.
To be properly understood in relation to a piece
of music, it must be felt. In mere words, it
simply means that every good piece of music
must give us a sense of flow - a sense of
continuity from first note to last.
Every elementary music student knows the
principle, but to put it into practice has
challenged the greatest minds in music!

How does this concept fit in to a Less is

More philosophy? Because it stresses the need for
one, single, connecting thread, or ribbon, or, to
borrow one of Maestro Coplands symbols, a
man-made Mississippi, to flow through your piece
of music and give it unity: not necessarily simple,
but the things that are simply necessary. If you go
off in all directions at once, youll spread yourself
too thin, and everyone will be too preoccupied
with looking through you to be able to see, or care,
where youre headed. The economy of one long
line can mean profoundly more to your work.
For some conclusive, final words, and for
a whole other approach to the topic
of Less is More, I bow once again to
the wisdom of Mick Goodrick, from
The Advancing Guitarist:

The prime consideration in all form is the

creation of a sense of the LONG LINE which

must give us a sense of direction, and we must
be made to feel that that direction is the
inevitable one. Whatever the means employed,
the net result must produce in the listener a
satisfying feeling of coherence born out of the
psychological necessity of the musical ideas with
which the composer began.

Notes are clever ways of

getting from one silence
to another.
Mick went on to say, Nothing is
easier to play on the guitar than
silence. But knowing when, how,
why, and for what length of time we
should play, silence is not so easy.

52

LEARNING SELF-HELP:
THIRSTY HORSES CLIMBING LADDERS
Musician, help thyself.

open-ended, philosophical, even spiritual (like

Goodricks Advancing Guitarist). No single
method could ever be a complete education. A
conscientious student seeks exposure to many
different methods and approaches.

ot quite the old Biblical proverb, but

appropriate enough in our modern era of multiformat instruction methods, all professing to help
you teach yourself more information, better and
faster than ever before.

Its interesting to note that actors who pursue

the study of The Method, (a system based on the
theory and practice of Stanislavsky as developed
and popularized by Lee Strasberg at the Actors
Studio in N.Y.) find themselves in a system
which bases a performance upon inner emotional
experience discovered largely through the medium of
improvisation rather than upon the teaching or
transmission of technical expertise. (Harpers
Dictionary of Modern Thought) In the case of this
method, it would seem to be organic, personally
and uniquely tailored to each individual, and
certainly not a customary, traditional, systematic
method at all.

How do you learn to help yourself? Is any one

method universal, any single system of study
complete for any student? For that matter, at the
other end of the spectrum, would any master claim
that their mastery is complete? I doubt it. Masters
are masters because, among so many other things,
they practice the art of self-help. The elevated
status and recognition of Masters is likely due in
part to an unquenchable spiritual ambition that is,
for them, only momentarily fulfilled, but never
entirely realized.

Is there a
Any method, traditional or not, has its
limitations. Sometimes, Zen-like maxims of
wisdom seem a little too transcendent in the face of
back to basic, practical, nitty gritty realities. Maybe
one can learn far more from their own mistakes
through experimentation than from dutiful
memorization of information by rote, but can
everyone always recognize when theyre mistaken?

METHOD
in this

MADNESS?
Dont let the word method mislead you, even
though it implies something systematic, a discipline
undertaken towards a complete realization of
necessary skills, technique, and musicianship. There
are a multitude of educational methods now
available to aspiring guitarists and musicians, but
for the most part they are one writers point of view,
and usually they focus on one specific area of
musical competence. Some educational materials
are very practical, conservatively austere in their
presentation style, with a heavy emphasis on some
particular fundamental technical or theoretical
aspects, (William Leavitts Berklee series, for
example, good for fingerboard, positional stuff)
while other educational approaches are more

How could any average 12 year old beginner

ever find his or her way clear to sight reading two
octave modal scale exercises in position through
improvisation rather than the transmission of
technical expertise? Youve got to ask yourself, how
do I go about learning the things I need to learn in
order to improve, to get to where I want to be? If
youre going to be self-taught, this self-analysis is
your constant responsibility, and its not easy, or
even necessarily the most practical and efficient
way to go.
Continued
53

LEARNING SELF-HELP:
THIRSTY HORSES CLIMBING LADDERS (Contd)

Here lies the great value of a teacher (if you can

afford one), a collaborator, or a friend whos as
guitar crazy as you are. If you can place a
measure of trust and confidence in someone
of this nature, you might be able to benefit from their
different perspective and that time-tested second
opinion. The wisdom of their perceptions of your
needs can maybe save you from a great deal of
mistaken experimentation, trips up blind alleys, etc.
A lot of teachers might maintain, however,
that even with their involvement, education is
still somewhat of a self-help kind of process. I
guess the right clich would be, You can lead a
horse to water, but you cant make em drink.
Which is true enough, but it leaves me
wondering - if youre smart enough to
lead em to the water, maybe you
should also be clever enough to
run em around a little first, just
to let em build up a decent
thirst. For those intent on
self-help, please step up to
the trough, er, bar, and at
least allow me to
recommend

Observation
and Emulation

ou need to recognize and try to capture the

essential values of the music of your heroes, role
models, and teachers. Its not enough to listen to a
Mike Stern solo and say, man, I love that. Appreciation only makes you a good audience. Get specific.
Listen hard, smart, and critically, searching for clues.
Why do you love it? What is that harmonic concept
behind that line? How did he pick that particular
passage that makes the hair on your arms stand
straight up? Transcribe the solo. If you dont know
how, get someone who does to teach you how, and
then, get down to it and do it.

Mike Stern, Mar. 87 Guitar Player Magazine;

You should also transcribe, which is something

that Charlie Banacos (Mikes teacher)especially
got me into. Id figure out things by horn players,
such as Trane and Mike Brecker, and pianists,
such as McCoy Tyner.

o
54

LEARNING SELF-HELP:
THIRSTY HORSES CLIMBING LADDERS (Contd)

Listen to it over and over until youve absorbed it and can

whistle it in your dreams. Now comes the hard work. Youve
recognized and delineated the goods, so start loading them into
your unconscious reflex and your motor memory, with a steady,
recurring pattern of practice and application. Of course, youre
never finished. Its not enough to be able to imitate and
regurgitate Mikes ideas, youve got to take the essence of what
turned you on so much, and find your own applications, evolving
or transmuting them stylistically into something that you can
comfortably say are your own personal artistic statements. Its
another level in the self-help process that takes, well, a lifetime.

THE BIG THREENecessity, Willpower, and Focus

Most successful artists that Ive observed have a combination
of at least three fundamental qualities that make them great at
learning.

NECESSITY - Despite the inimitable Frank

Zappa, necessity is the original Mother of Invention.

Call it a need, a burning hunger, ambition, whatever it
is, its something inside them that motivates and inspires them to
take on a task. Stern, again, from that Mar. 87 GP mag, quoting
bassist Steve Swallow:

If you want to be a professional musician, dont do it,

because its a hard life. But if you have to be a
musician, its the greatest job in the world.

2
3

~ WILLPOWER

- self-discipline, persistence,
dedication, a tenacity to keep at the Work until the task
is accomplished.

~ FOCUS

- the ability to focus the initial thrust of

the inspiration into the willpower needed to complete
the task, which is easy to say, but really hard to do. This
organizational skill is really like executive decision-making, a bigpicture-overseer kind of quality, that starts with your own
personal time management capabilities. It includes being able to
set goals in a realistic way, overcome distractions, eliminate
unnecessary sidetracks, and generally to make considered choices
and decisions along the way that maintain your satisfaction with
the progress towards your goals.
55

SETTING GOALS - BUILDING LADDERS

How do you go about setting realistic goals?

You can have lots of goals and lots of ladders,

if you want, but remember that youre only human
and theres only so many hours in a day. Abandoning
or modifying a goal is no mortal sin, as long as you
always have others that youre going for. The pleasure
shouldnt lie only in achieving the ultimate dream
goal, but more importantly, in the process of winning
all the little battles that move you up the ladder rung
by rung.

Heres one way, which Im copping from a

motivational seminar tape by Mark Scharenbroich.
Get out your practise journal.
(Havent got one? Start one.)
Write down a goal, a fantasy
dream, a real beauty, say, I want to
play better than Hendrix. Thats a long-term goal.
(Very long-term.) Okay, now lets get a little more
realistic and shorter-term, say, playing as good as Jimi.
Write that down, too, and now that youve started, just
keep on coming back down to earth. Maybe you
should try to study all of Jimis solos first; maybe you
should get a hold of all the recordings that he liked to
listen to and learn the songs that he learned; maybe
you should try to learn to play just one solo first;
maybe you should read a book written about him,
maybe you need to get a hold of a tape player and a
guitar first; I hope youve grasped the concept here.

KEEP AN OPEN MIND

All the pettiness of our own limited intellectual
resources, and all the demographically-targeted-testgroup-marketed bombardment of our daily lives may
lead us to narrow our focus and think that early
specialization is the key to success. Remember that
music is a liberal art, and to be powerful and
meaningful it must communicate to others. A student
that specializes through a type of discriminating
taste built on prejudice, ignorance, or disrespect for
other vital forms of artistic expression, has narrowed
the scope of their own communication skills, and
therefore limits and devalues their own work
considerably.

Youre building a ladder, and each rung leads

to the next. Write down all the goals, long term
and short term, and then rearrange them in an
order that seems logical and sequential. Make the
first step an easy one, say, learning one solo in
however long it takes. Pick an easy solo, and
dont beat yourself up by setting an unreasonably
short amount of practice time. Once youve
accomplished the first step, youll have an idea of
how quick a study you are, and whether or not
youre still interested in heading up this particular
ladder. This is just a private and personal
exercise, so dont be shy. Go ahead and write
down your biggest, wildest fantasies and dreams
as long term goals, and, on the other hand, break
them down to the most trifling and seemingly
insignificant short-term ones. You may end up
surprising yourself at how the long-term stuff
isnt as big and wild as you originally thought,
while the short-term little donkey work goals
have a way of getting ornery and troublesome.

Think about it this way: Eric Clapton is fundamentally a blues guitarist. But the music that he
makes is very rarely (if ever) about playing blues scales
on a guitar. Its about emotion, spirituality, human
interest stories, whatever he chooses to interpret from
the universe around him, and within him. If Clapton
was a painter, the blues would be the paint on the
palette and the guitar would be a brush, but he
certainly wouldnt keep painting the same picture of a
brush and palette, over and over again. Fundamental
tools dont make music. Brains and hearts and souls
of musicians do.
56

SETTING GOALS - BUILDING LADDERS (Contd)

G E T T O K N O W YO U R S E L F

JUST DO IT There arent any

secret shortcuts.

The late great dancer/choreographer Bob Fosse

thanked God for not being born perfect, because his
admitted physical limitations (a hunched shoulder
physique, a balding head that made him into a hatwearing kind of guy, and a pigeon-toed anti-ballet
kind of footwork) forced him into creating his own
unique style that became part of his success formula.

eople keep asking for that sound bite, 25

words or less, advice for young, aspiring musicians.
I guess its just human nature: people suspect, (quite
rightly) that a teachers wisdom and guidance can save
them from a great deal of unnecessary mistakes.
Unfortunately, they also think (quite wrongly) that
there are special, insider tricks and secrets that can
save them from all of that really hard work that it
seems to take.

Nobodys perfect. Were all human, warts and all.

Somehow, successful people achieve their goals, in
spite of, or even because of limitations that ordinarily
would frustrate and discourage others, making them
give up and move on. They modify their goals and
the ladder climbs towards them in order to take
advantage of their personal strengths and to eliminate
or de-emphasize their weaknesses. If, for example,
you love the blues, but you just cant relate to twohand tapping post-thrash gonzo shredding, then
dont beat yourself up by forcing yourself into
unnatural acts in order to try and satisfy
some warped interpretation of the openmindedness referred to before. Seek a
balance that personally feels right between
open-mindedness and personal instincts.
Open-mindedness doesnt mean trying to go
off in all directions at once. Lifes too
short. Go for the things that provide a
natural inspiration for that ladder climb.
Now, if youll occasionally
just stop and take a look
around to enjoy the view as
you climb, youll help to keep
yourself centered, and well
balanced. (Hope youre not
acrophobic, cause thatd
really shoot down the
central metaphor,
wouldnt it?)

Oh, the reluctance to do The Donkey Work

(first alluded to in Book Two): the resistance, the
avoidance, the procrastination. The world is full of
mediocre musicians, not because they lack the talent,
or the creativity, but because they lack the
dedication, discipline and persistence to focus
on goals, set the agenda to accomplish them,
and get down to the application of that
creative talent, little by little, step by step, and
just keep on DOING IT.
Theres no substitute for DOING. You
can read someones brainstorming advice, you
can read self-help books, you can sit around and
discuss the philosophy of time management with your
teacher or fellow musician, but thats only a very small
fraction of a percentile of what its going to take. I
remember succumbing to the sweet lure of the coffee
circle procrastinators in my short-lived college days.
We could hang out in the lounge for hours engaged in
heavy, animated conversation, debate, discussion,
gossip, ANYTHING to avoid facing that homework,
that sight-reading practice, that theory assignment, etc.
Talk can be helpful and instructive, but its relatively
cheap compared to the blood, sweat and tears of The
Work Itself. This may be one of the reasons why
Continued
57

SETTING GOALS - BUILDING LADDERS (Contd)

conscientious artists generally have such little use for

critics. In my own defense, Id like to point out
that I went on to become a graduate of the School of
Hard Knocks, Road Warrior Performance Division,
Class of Seventysomething, Continuing Education
Alumni Correspondence Extension Course. Its
another kind of dues-paying thats not everybodys
cup of tea, either. I think its safe to say that, whatever
ladders you choose to try and climb, what you get out
of it has a lot to do with what you put in to it.

In conclusion T H E G U I LT FA C T O R

Hey, Im not here to bum you all out and lay

some big heavy duty guilt trip on you (or myself).
Heaven knows theres enough guilt reminders already
out there to go around, what with the availability of so
many educational magazines and books and videos,
the proliferation of techno-chops graduates from
post-secondary music schools and colleges, the highly
competitive nature of the music business itself, and
the impressive talents of the players who are already
established with high profiles in the record and
concert business. Are you discouraged yet? If not,
congratulations, youve got the necessary ego, but
thats only one of the many qualifications necessary to
build a lifelong career.

Donkey Work resistance is not the sole domain of

beginners, either. Think of all the guitarists out there
that know some chords, but dont have any kind of
performance repertoire for them; who know plenty of
fancy scales and copped licks and tricks and fills but
cant seem to place them in a musically appropriate
spot anywhere. Think of all the solos that people can
play 4 bars or so from, but then couldnt be bothered
to nail the whole thing. Think about half-finished
songs whose writers got a bit of a decent chorus
written, only to have it die on the vine when the REAL
work had to kick in because the inspiration faded.
Think of the legions of us whose sight-reading
contributes to the fact that a favorite
old joke for musicians is

Nope, there aint no shortcuts. If youre going to

help yourself, youve got to put in the hours that turn
into weeks that eventually become years of capital W
Work. And please dont think of me as some fingerwagging, holier-than-thou pedantic, full of dos and
donts. Im struggling along just like anybody else,
trying to help myself by taking my own best advice.
Its not easy, and theres never enough hours in the
day, so a lot of stuff ends up being from the do as I
say, dont do as I do category. Still, in the end its all
just a labor of love for us thirsty horses climbing
ladders

Q . How do you get the guitar

player to shut up?

A . Put a chart in front of him.

Ouch.
Truth hurts, dont it?

58

Here ends the text of Book Three,

but hopefully its only the beginning of a lot more

BRAINSTORMING
that feeds your

L O V E O F G U I TA R .
And if I may be so bold to suggest, heres a thought:
Book Four, The Beyond Basics Book,
concerns itself with things philosophical, psychological,
metaphysical and metaphorical, aesthetical and instinctive.
Could be just the right prescription for a storming brain
Thanks for taking the time and making the effort to work
your way through this book. Only you, dear reader, can truly
realize the value to be gained from the exercise.
Pick and grin.

59

YO U C A N C O N TA C T :

at
P.O. Box 97522
Highland Creek, Ontario M1C 4Z1
Canada
www. rikemmett.com

Book One

The Basics Book

Book Two

The Basic
Building Blocks Book
Book Three

The Basic Brainstorming Book

Book Four

The Beyond Basics Book

Design:

Jeanine Leech
& Mr. E.

Editorial Assistance:

Nancy Wood

Technical Assistance:

Lee Olsen

Cartoons and Illustrations:

Rik Emmett

Figures and Illustrations:

Jeanine Leech

Music Examples written by:

Rik Emmett

Photography:

Jeannette Emmett
Jeanine Leech

OHB-FTLOGB3
Copyright 1998 Open House Books
Rockit Sounds Publishing [SOCAN].
A Division of Rockit Sounds, Inc.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be

reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means,
electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording,
or by any information storage and retrieval system, without
permission in writing from the publisher.

A B O U T

T H E

A U T H O R

ik Emmett is one of Canadas most respected musicians;

a virtuoso professional guitarist since 1970, a multi-talented
singer, songwriter and prolific producer. His career as an
award-winning recording artist began in 1976, and over
the years he has also been a published
cartoonist, a popular magazine columnist
for Guitar Player, and an educator.
Currently, he lives in Mississauga,
ne
Ontario with his wife and four
Book O
Book
children, and continues to write,
s
c
i
s
a
B
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record and tour. For up-towo
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date, comprehensive
sic
information, you can
The Backs Book
visit his official website
g Blo
n
i
d
l
i
u
B
k
hree
at www.rikemmett.com.
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ing Boo

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i
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our
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