Sunday, December 18, 2011

Quartal Stacks And Their Inversions

This lesson is an introduction to chords built by stacking the interval of a fourth and the voicings that one can find by inverting them. While they can be used in other contexts, for the sake of simplicity we will be building them from modes and concentrating on what they are like when put on top of a static, droning root note. Furthermore, since it would be absurdly exhaustive to give examples from every single mode, we'll just be using E dorian.
So, the notes of the E dorian mode are E, F#, G, A, B, C#, and D. Instead of building chords from this by stacking 3rds, let's see what we get when we stack three consecutive 4ths using the notes of the mode. The notes that we end up with (in order) are E, A, D, and G. Using the highest four strings on the guitar, the following voicing is produced: xx2233. Sound interesting?
This is just step one: building a quartal stack from the root. But just like the case with "normal chords" built off of scales, we can go on to apply this formula to each additional note in the dorian mode, building a total of 7 quartal stacks from it. Continueing with E dorian, the result is the following series:

x-3-5-7-9-10-12-14-
x-3-5-7-8-10-12-14-
x-2-4-6-7-9--11-12-
x-2-4-5-7-9--11-12-
x------------------
x------------------

So now we have 7 four-note quartal stacks from E dorian. It could be a practise routine in and of itself to play these up and down the neck. Also, try to see what each of these sound like over an open E ringing out or a droning E note played by someone else. They all have an unique character when played against the root. But things don't stop here. Just like how normal 7th chords have inversions, so do these quartal stacks. Indeed, the way things happen to work out, there are actually more inversions for quartal stacks than there are for 7th chords. So let's return to the first quartal stack built off of the root (xx2233) and see what we can do with it.
There is a simple formula that one can apply to invert this chord. Take whatever notes are at the bottom and top and reverse them, while keeping the middle two notes static. So the G at the top goes down to an E, and the E at the bottom goes up to a G. The result is this voicing: xx5230. Nice and dissonant!
Next step: find another arrangement of these same notes, building now from the G being at the bottom. The next voicing that one finds is this: xx5755. And we can then go on to apply the same formula that we did to the first voicing by reversing the top and bottom notes, which gives us: xx7753.
If we continue like this, this is the series of voicings that we end up with:

x-3-0-5-3-10-0--12-10-
x-3-3-5-5-8--10-10-10-
x-2-2-7-7-9--12-12-12-
x-2-5-5-7-7--12-12-14-
x---------------------
x---------------------

That's quite an interesting series of sounds all coming from the original quartal stack. Just like with the stacks we built from each note of the mode, it is of interest to hear what they sound like on top of a ringing open E or some kind of droning E. And a practise routine could be made out of transitioning between these inversions up and down the neck. These are just the examples of what one can do with the dorian mode. The same concept and formulas can be applied to the other modes as well, with just as interesting results. Once you are reasonably used to running through these kind of voicings, it can be a great tool to make your own music with or when improvizing in modal music. Enjoy the new tools at your disposal!

Bobbing In/Out Of Different Keys - The Magic Of Secondary Dominant Chords

Alright so first things first, Using G Major as a template here are the
"in key" chords from the G-Major scale:
I-G Major
ii-A minor
iii-B minor
IV-C Major
V-D Major
vi-e minor
vii*-c# dim
Now, If you feel the desire to use other chords w/ these w/o having the progression sound like crap then you need look no further than what are called "Secondary Dominant Chords". For each diatonic chord in any Maj/min key, (excluding the I/i chord and any diatonic diminished chords) there are these newfangled things called "secondary dominants" that allow you to temporarily (or permanently if u desire) cadence out of the current key and into another.
-Here is a list of some types of secondary dominants: V/of, V7/of, vii*/of, vii 1/2 dim7/of,and vii*7/of.
-the rule for figuring out the V/of or V7/of is to take the root you want to make a V(7)/of and go up a perfect fifth to find the Secondary dominants root and then using that note build a Major triad or a dominant seventh on top of it. So in the context of a G major, if u wanted to Cadence into a minor, you could build a V/ii chord by taking the root of the ii chord, "a" and go up a Perfect fifth to an "E", then build a Major triad on the E-now you have E,G#,& a B...now resolve it to an A minor chord and viola, you have artfully and gracefully changed where "do" is.
The rules are not really any different for making/resolving the vii*/ofs, the only difference is that instead of going up a perfect 5th to find the root of the secondary dominant, you go down a minor second. So again, in the context of G Major, if say you wanted to gracefully move to A minor, you could make a vii*/ii by taking the root of the ii chord-which is "A", go down a minor second to G#, then using G# as the root, build a diminished, 1/2 diminished 7th, or fully diminished 7th on the G#. Than resolve the chord to an A minor chord and presto...you are have tonicized a new key.

Getting Scales By Method

Hi, after reading various articles about scales and chord progression I still found myself lost as in to:
"how do I get those scales by myself, without having to consult on it?"
Altough there are lots of articles around building scales, none aproaches the subject with a clear formula that explains you how do you get those basic I,II,IV, V, etc...At least, one that shows you how you could get them without having to do it by memorizing those 1 - 3b - 4 - 5b stuff, i propose to show you the basics of building them from the cromatic scale using the tone intervals.
Yes...you may ask, are you that newbie around a guitar?
Well, there is no shame as to admit you just do not know something, so yes I am.
Let's first check a few things you need to know to be able to build these scales.
1. I know the musical notes by heart: (C,D,E,F,G,A,B)
2. I know where there are not "#" or "b" notes (E->F and B->C)
3. I know what a tone and semi-tone are (1Tone = 2Frets | 1Semi-Tone = 1Fret)
4. Examples are in Key of E.
All check?
Let's move on.
_________________________
1. Getting a Major Scale:
_________________________
It is composed of a sequence of tones and semi-tones that allows you to find it's notes. To find it's notes we will use the 12 tone cromatic scale, let's start by trying to find E Major Scale.
E - F - Gb - G - Ab - A - Bb - B - C - Db - D - Eb
Ok, so now we have the cromatic scale all opened up and ready to use, let's find those I,II,III,IV,etc, notes.
To do so, we use the Tone Intervals, which in the Major Scale are:

Root - Tone - Tone - SemiTone - Tone - Tone - Tone - SemiTone
(Root one octave above it's start)
(R)    (T)    (T)    (S)        (T)    (T)    (T)    (S)

Aplying this to the cromatic scale we get:

E - F - Gb - G - Ab - A - Bb - B - C - Db - D  - Eb - E
R       T        T    S        T       T         T    S(R)
I       II      III   IV       V       VI       VII   VIII(R)

I: E
II: Gb
III: Ab
IV: A
V: B
VI: Db
VII: Eb
VIII: ENow we have the notes that build the Major scale.
There are lot's of applications to this, you can get the chord progression notes for lot's of blues and rock and roll songs, I,IV,V in the 12 Bar Blues for instance.
But what's really important to retain is the Interval, that (R)-T-T-S-T-T-T-S, because with this you can start playing a scale without even having to remember the notes, just follow the tone progression in the fretboard.
Ok, so this was easy, let's jump to a minor scale.
_________________________
2. Getting a Minor Scale:
_________________________
The principle is the same, what changes is the Tone sequence:

Root - Tone - SemiTone - Tone - Tone - SemiTone - Tone - Tone
(Root one octave above it's start)
(R)    (T)    (S)        (T)    (T)    (S)        (T)    (T)

Aplying it to the cromatic scale of E you'd get:

E - F - Gb - G - Ab - A - Bb - B - C - Db - D  - Eb - E
R       T    S        T        T   S        T         T(R)
I       II  III       IV       V   VI      VII        VIII(R)

I: E
II: Gb
III: G
IV: A
V: B
VI: C
VII: D
VIII: E______________________________
3. Getting a Pentatonic Scale:
______________________________
So, pentatonic scale, what the hell is it? As it's name sugests, it's a five note group (Penta).
What happens here is that we pickup the Major or Minor Scales and remove designated notes from them to get the Major and Minor Pentatonic Scales.
Major Pentatonic Scale
- Remove the IV and VII notes from the sequence we built from the Major Scale and we get
I: E
II: Gb
III: Ab
V: B
VI: Db
Ending up with 5 notes.
Minor Pentatonic Scale
- Remove the II and VI notes from the sequence we built from the Minor Scale and we get
I: E
III: G
IV: A
V: B
VII: D
Ending up with 5 notes.
In order to play this scales we just have to re-arrange our tone structure, for instance, in the minor Pentatonic scale, because we removed the II and VI notes, the tone intervals are now diferent, they are someting like this:

R - T+S - T - T - T+S - T(R)
I   III   IV  V   VII   VIII(R)

Try it out and play it on the guitar, on the E Low String, you'd get something like this:0 - 3 - 5 - 7 - 10 - 12(one octave above)
R - T+S - T - T - T+S - R(one octave above)
E - G - A - B - D - E(one octave above)
_______________
4. Blues Scale:
_______________
In order to get the blues scale, just pickup the Minor Pentatonic and insert a Vb between IV and V.
It would look like this:

0  3  5  6  7 10
R T+S T  S  S T+S
I III IV Vb V VII
E  G  A  Bb B D

____________________________Okay, that's about it. This is not the best nor the most used way of doing things, but if you understand this concept of doing things, you'll be able to understand the way you can simplify all this process with other methods.
Cheers.

Reading Standard Notation 1 - Pitch

E|-----Daniel-----------------------------------
B|-------------Kaczmarczyk----------------------
G|--------------------------Guitar--------------
D|-LESSON--#3-----------------------Lessons-----
A|----------------------------------------------
E|----------------------------------------------

Reading the notes #1 – Pitch.How to silence a guitarist?
Tell him to play from sheet music.
Hello to All and Welcome to my next music theory lesson. This time we will talk about reading standard notation – or just reading the notes. There’s not much to say about guitarists and standard music notation, which an old joke from the beginning shows us. Hendrix haven’t knew them and kicked asses with his guitar skills, that’s right. But we’re not as gifted as him (as far I know :P ) so a little lesson about them won’t be a big deal, yup? Ability of using them helps you understand music a lot more, so don’t be afraid of them. Let’s break the stereotype. Knowing how to read the notes is , obviously not a must for a guitarist-at-home , but if you want to keep it professional, you should gain this skill for sure. Just imagine playing with a pianist and trying to communicate with him talking about notes as frets. It’s a language of music and a very important studio tool. Before you proceed reading that one, I suggest you to read my previous lesson here. To be honest, it’s essential to know the previous one. At the bottom of the lesson is the graphic with all the pictures. To see them, Just go down.
Enough of this chit-chat. Guitars tuned properly? Let’s get to work.
Notes are placed on staff. Pitch is mapped vertical(the higher the note is, the higher the sound is), rhythm is mapped horizontal. This lesson is about reading the pitch, so don’t mind the rhythm. Staff is made from five horizontal parallel lines. Look at the picture #1 now. We put notes on lines(1), and spaces(2) between them. Lines and notes are being numbered as you see on the picture. Do not confuse the staff with the guitar strings! Guitar music is being written with a G clef(3) also called a treble clef. G clef, obviously is a clef(music theory language ?) and that little flourish (that’s my own name for it, it’s not an official name) in the middle of it(4) shows us where the G note (5) is.
Rest of the notes are located as you can see on the picture #2. In that example I used C major scale, which is the most natural scale to place on the staff, because there is no accidentals. Notes, as I said before, are located on the lines and between them. For example, C note is on the line, so D note will be on the space higher than C. So if D note is on the space, E note will be on the line, etc, etc. Compare tab with the notes to know where the notes are on your guitar, but… You know it from my previous lesson, right? To show you the C major scale I used three versions of the tab. As you can see ( and hear – play it on your guitar now ) they sound the same, look the same in the standard notation, but vary in tabulature. Check it out now (the funk soul brother). Right about now.
I’ve also marked other “landmarks” – The C notes. When you will be playing in the key of C major ( more about keys, and the circle of fifths in one of my future lessons) it’s an important place to know. Notice that the lower C note is on the line that we call a ledger line. We use them if there is no more staff lines or spaces between them, we write down some more short-versions of them, and count out the notes normally, as we do on our 5-line staff. Examples of those notes can be seen on pic #3.
The ability of playing this melody using few fingerings forces us to define the position in which we will be playing. It makes reading the notes a lot easier. For the beginning we will use first position, as in the #2 A example. That means that every note we play can be played only between 0 and 4th fret. It’s called an open position. (look at pic #4, also). Now it’s time to remember where the notes on the staff are. Use mnemonics for that! The first set of notes – the one on the spaces is an easy one to remember – just know it’s F A C E (from lowest to highest). The other one – E G B D F is a little harder. I’ve found a great mnemonic on it in the internet: (E)lephants (G)o (B)ackwards (D)own (F)reeways. And a one for FACE is Farting Always Causes Enemies. They’re funny and weird, so you’ll won’t forget them for sure.
So, a little recipe how to play notes goes like this:
1. Looking at the note, consider its name. Use a G clef as a prompt. If it’s distance is too big to count out from G, use mnemonics to find the one you are looking for.
2. Knowing the name, connect the name with a place on fretboard, and then with a fret.
3. Just play the note.
Few first tries are going to be a hard way up the hill, but when you get to the top, you’ll never fall down. It’s like a learning how to ride a bicycle. Remember how many bruises it took to learn? But now you can ride it and write an SMS. (If sober).
That’s all about reading the notes. We have left rhythm behind, but it’s a subject for a whole another article. Deal with this one and within a week or two you’ll get another one, including rhythmic issues.
Haven’t you been thinking that I will let you go without a homework ?
Find on the net, or buy a staff paper and write some of the notes from today’s lesson, then name them. Remember to stick only to notes in the open position (from the low E (6th string) to the G (3rd fret, 1st string). And do it in reverse – think about some notes as letters, and place them on the staff. Mind the range! Only open position allowed.

So this is how the basics of reading notes go. I would be pleased if even 10% of people who will read the article will learn the basics of standard notation. Anyway...
Learn. Play. Rock.
Grateful for your attention
Daniel Kaczmarczyk
lodzgitara@gmail.com
PS. How's my english today?

Setting Yourself Apart

Scales? Yeah sure they're great to practice and all, but playing them over and over till you can play them fast enough to convince yourself you deserve a little self esteem is a tad...Tragic, in all honesty.
Not going to lie, this was me, about 2 years ago or so. I was convinced I wanted to be the fastest, most theoretically aware, flashiest...Did I mention fastest? Player in the world. Oh how deluded I was, sitting in my room for 7+ hours a day mindlessly running through scales and sweeps, hoping I would somehow create some new, exciting music that people would want to listen to.
The big awakening I had was when I started listening to this little band you may have heard of, 'The Dillinger Escape Plan'? Yeah so as I sat there listening to the utter chaos that was drilling into my eardrums, scrambling my brain and confusing the hell out of me, I realized, 'Hey, this is really, really amazing, unique, exciting, and quite frankly, a little scary.
So since that fateful day, I decided, instead of trying to fight my ADHD that I've struggled with since I was a child, why not just channel all these racing thoughts and 'hundred mile an hour' ideas onto the fretboard? I couldn't give less of a $h1t about the Hendrix, blues, BB king wanna-be's out there who'd criticize it and say 'it's not music' and crap like that. It excites me, and a number of other people for that matter.
Labels like 'Extreme Metal' 'Mathcore' 'Grindcore' are just sort of guidelines to the sort of thing I'm talking about, but think crazier, more individual, more adrenaline pumping. That's what I strive for, and I just want to get the message out to some younger players and aspiring beginners out there that, you don't need to be an amazing mind or fretboard wizard to make fun, exciting and erratic music that people secretly love to listen to. It feeds a part of our human instinct, Impulsitivity.
If you're not interested in making music that's never been heard before, and have yet to have the epiphany of 'Oh my God, why am I trying to play all this cliched bull$h1t?' Then feel free to umm...Leave some abusive comments on how dumb I am and stuff? Yeah? Cool, can't wait.
Below is a tab of a song I wrote the other day to sort of give an example of the style/idea I'm trying to convey. It's just a little demo I composed in like 5 mins to give you an idea, you know? Haha.

So Much Worse On The Way Back Down.

                              /1\                                       
     E  E  E  S  E  E  E   E  S      S E    E  E   E    E   E  E    S   
E||--------0----------------------|--------------------------------20s-|
B||--------4----------------------|----------------------------9h------|
G||--------3--------5-------------|------------------------------------|
D||--------4--------3-------------|------------------------------------|
A||--------3--------5--3~---------|------------0h--9h--12p--8----------|
D||--0--1-----0h-1---------1--0---|--L-1s--11--------------------------|
 
 
             NH                                         
  S E   E    Q    E  Q    S    S. S Q    Q    E  E  S.  
--L----10-------------------|--------------------------|
----9------<>5-------7----7-|--7--7-6------------------|
-----------<>5-------5------|-------5------------------|
-----------<>5-------6------|-------6------------------|
-----------<>5-------5------|-------5------------------|
----------------------------|-----------------x--x--x--|
 
 
                           /1\                                
  T E  Q      E   E   Q    S.     S. E  E  S  E  E  E  E  S.  
---------------------------8h--|--L--L--L--7h-8--0--------0--|
-------------------------------|-----------------0--0--0--0--|
----------------------9--------|-----------------8--8--8--8--|
---------------------10--------|-----------------7--7--7--7--|
----------------------9--------|-----------------8--8--8--8--|
--L-x--0h----13p--0--10--------|-----------------7--7--7--7--|
 
 
  T H        Q    E  S T    Q    S  S  S  S E   E  E   E   
-------------------------|------------------1s--2--1s--3--|
-------------------------|--------------------------------|
--L----------4-------4-2-|--3-----------------------------|
--L----------3-------3-1-|--4-----------------------------|
--L----------4-------4-2-|--3-----------------------------|
--x-x--------3----x--3-1-|-------1h-2p-1h-2---------------|
 
 
                                                          \5/               
  S  S  S  S  S   S   S  S   S  E.   E    E     E    E.   E   S  H          
--6h-7p-6h-7p-6s-18p-17-18p-17------21s--24--|------------------22---------|
-------------------------------20------------|------------------22s--------|
---------------------------------------------|-----------------------------|
---------------------------------------------|-----------------------------|
---------------------------------------------|-----------------------------|
---------------------------------------------|--1s--16p---0~---------------|
 
 
                \4 \6/                                      
  E.   T Q      E  Q.     T    Q    S. T S. E.  T Q    T T  
--0s-----5------------------|------------------------------|
--0------5----<>3-----------|------------------------------|
--------------<>3-----------|------------------------------|
--------------<>3--0------L-|--L----L----------------------|
--------------<>3--0------L-|--L----L----------------------|
-------------------1------L-|--L----L----------------------|

Yeah mad stuff. So if you're skeptical of my ideas and vision, or interested and want to hear more about it, just leave a comment or whatever, Love, hate, it's all good, seriously. So this was a very, very stripped down version of what I'm trying to say/convey. Hopefully I can share some more of this stuff with people, depending on if this is received well, because to be honest, I've never seen any lesson like this on UG. Ok so yeah, let me know guys, hope you like it.

Setting Yourself Apart. Part 2

Okay, so in the first part of this lesson, judging from what people have said to me, there was a lot left to be desired, for this I apologize. This time around, I hope to articulate myself better.
I'm going to be using my own songs I've written as a sort of tool, to demonstrate certain techniques and sounds that can be useful for this style, by breaking down little parts of them and explaining why they're there (etc).
NosleepDigA-hole.
Ty Lowry.

     E  E  E  E  E  E     H        Q       Q    H           H.            
E||--------------------|--2--------3----|----------------|--2------------|
B||--------0--------0--|--L--------3----|--L----5--------|---------------|
G||--------------------|----------------|-------7--------|--4------------|
D||-----4--------4-----|----------------|-------7--------|---------------|
A||--2--------0--------|-----------5----|--L----5--------|---------------|
E||--------------------|--0-------------|----------------|---------------|
 
  Q    E  E  E  E     H.              Q    Q    E  E     Q    E  E  E  E   
--L----------------|--2------------|--L---------------|-------------------|
----------------3--|---------------|------------------|--3----------------|
-------------0-----|---------------|------------------|-------------7-----|
--L-------2--------|---------------|---------------2--|----------5--------|
--L----3-----------|--3------------|--L---------3-----|-------------------|
-------------------|---------------|------------------|-------3--------8--|
 
  E  E  Q    Q       H        E   E     Q     E   E   E    E    
--------2----L----|-----------7h--8--|--L------------15h--17s--|
-----0-------3----|--3---------------|--0h----3h--5------------|
-----7------------|-----------7---7--|--L----------------------|
-------------5----|--5---------------|-------------------------|
--7-----3---------|------------------|--3----------------------|
-------------L----|------------------|-------------------------|
 
                NH             NH                                       
  E   Q.        Q       Q      E  E   Q        E    E   E   E    Q      
--3----------<>12----|--L------------17----|--17h--22------------------|
-----15--------12----|--L----<>5-----------|-----------12s--7h--15~----|
---------------------|---------------------|---------------------------|
---------------------|---------------------|---------------------------|
---------------------|---------------------|---------------------------|
---------------------|---------------------|---------------------------|
 
  H.             
---------------||
--L------------||
---------------||
---------------||
---------------||
---------------||

So as you can see, that is basically just a pretty melodic sounding piece that's Finger Picked, or Hybrid Picked, played on Acoustic/Clean Tone, and in the original version of it, I used a capo on the 4th fret, made for a richer harmony. The purpose of this piece in the context I've been discussing, is to not only create a false sense of security/tranquility within the listener, before blasting them with an onslaught of maniacal riffing and sliding. I will now provide you with an example of the aforementioned 'Maniacal riffing and sliding'
Thunderwall punching cyborg NOT thunderborg, Jenson.

             NH                                      
     E  E    Q    H           H        E  E  E   E   
E||---------------3--------|--L---------------------|
B||--------<>1----1--------|--L---------------------|
G||--------<>3----3--------|--L--------------0------|
D||--------<>3----3--------|--L--------------5------|
A||--1---------------------|--------------3-----10--|
D||-----1------------------|-----------1------------|
 
   E    E  E  E   E   E   E  E      E  E   E  E   E   E    E   E   
---------------------14\---------|-------------------17s--19~--L--|
--12s--15------------------------|--------------------------------|
---------------------------------|------------2s--9---------------|
---------------------------------|-----4s--9----------------------|
-----------------------------4s--|--7-----------------------------|
-----------0--2h--6--------------|--------------------------------|
 
  E   E   E   E   E   E   E  S S    E.  S E   E  E   E   E  E   
--L----------13----------------1-|--L---L-L--------------------|
-----11----------15------------3-|--L--------10----------------|
---------11----------10--12--L-3-|--L------------9--10--15-----|
-------------------------------1-|-----------------------------|
-------------------------------3-|-----------------------------|
---------------------------------|-----------------------------|
 
  S S S S S S E  E    E  E   E     E  E  E.  S E  E  E  E   
--1-3-6-1-3-6-------------------|--------------------------|
--------------------------------|-----------------3--------|
-----------------8s--17---------|------------2-L-----------|
--------------8-----------------|--------0--------------4--|
--------------------------------|--3-----------------------|
-------------------------0h--1--|-----1--------------x-----|
 
  S S E  E  S S S S S S E  E      E  S  S E  E   E  S S  S S S S   
------------1-2-3--------------|-------------4s--7--L-------------|
---------4---------------------|-------------------------------2s-|
----2-L------------------------|----------------------------------|
--L-----------L---1-2-3--------|----------------------3s-L-6-L----|
------------------------4------|----------------------------------|
---------------------------7s--|--4--4s-L-7-----------------------|
 
  S E  S  S  S S  S  E  E  S  S  S  S  
-------7s-L-19-L----------------------|
--L-5------------22s-L--8--L-10s-L-19-|
--------------------------------------|
--------------------------------------|
--------------------------------------|
--------------------------------------|
 
  E.  S  S S S S  S S S  S  S  S T  S  T  
------3h-L-5-L---------------------------|
--L------------5h-L-7-L-12-11-14-L-12-11-|
-----------------------------------------|
-----------------------------------------|
-----------------------------------------|
-----------------------------------------|
 
  T  E  T T T T  E    E    E    S. T  S. T  S. 
----------------17p--16h--17p--16h-L-17h-L----|
--L-14--L-L-L-L----------------------------12-|
----------------------------------------------|
----------------------------------------------|
----------------------------------------------|
----------------------------------------------|
 
  T  S  S  S. S  E.  S S S S S  S S T T  
-----------------------------9p-5-------|
--L----------17-20---------7------7-----|
----------12-------------6----------6---|
-------14--------------7--------------9-|
----15---------------9------------------|
----------------------------------------|
 
  T  S  S  S  S  S  E   E   E   T S.  T  E    
----------------13-----17------17-L---------|
-------------15----15------15---------------|
----------14-------------------------18~-L--|
--L----15-----------------------------------|
----17--------------------------------------|
--------------------------------------------|
 
--------2---------------------12--|
--------0---------------------14--|
--L-L--------9------8--L-L--------|
-------------7------7--L-L--------|
--------7----8------8--L-L--------|
-------------7------7--L-L--------|
 
--12--12------------2--L-L----------|
--14--14--------------------3-L-----|
-----------<>5-------------------4~-|
-----------<>5----------------------|
-----------<>5------3--L-L----------|
------------------------------------|
 
-----------------------------|
-----------------------------|
--L------L--7----L--L-L--L---|
-----------------------------|
------------7----L--L-L--L---|
-----------------0h-L-L--L-9-|
 
  S E.   E  E  E  E  E  E     E  H        E  E   E    
---------------------------|-----0--------L--L--14--|
---------------------------|--3---------------------|
----L----L--------------4--|---------------------9--|
--------12-----------2-----|------------------------|
----9----L--9-----0--------|------------------------|
--L------------0-----------|-----2--------L--L------|
 
--L--L--L----15----------|
-------------12----12----|
--L----------------------|
-------------------------|
-------------------10----|
-------------------------|
 
-------------2--------|---------------------|
--L--L--0-------------|--3------------------|
--------7----L--------|--L--------4s--------|
--------5----L--------|--L------------------|
--L--L--3----L--------|--L------------------|
----------------------|---------------------|
 
--------------------|E
--------------------|B
--9~----------------|G

....*Wipes sweat of forehead* PHEWW!! that was a real toughie, I had to copy and paste every line of these tabs from my notepad file, individually, line by agonizing line.Hopefully most of you will agree with me when I say that, a majority of that stuff was pretty Straight-Forward, yeah? With the exception of the sweeps, I know those shapes are a bit difficult to get under your fingers, but yeah, all I can say is, keep practicing them until you have them comfortable enough to tackle the 'Economy-Picking-esque' Little lines that I threw in there too.
So, lets recap, starting from around the second bar, you'll notice is where the sliding starts to introduce itself, some of these are very long position shifts, but are well worth it, for the unique sound they produce. You may have also noticed the little erratically random 16th note, chromatic runs that pop up a couple of times, I do these to add tension and 'hostility' to the lines, combined with string skipping and other scale shapes, I think it works to accentuate a dazzling effect.
I have much more to cover in further parts to this...series? I guess you could call it, I hope this was an improvement on the first part and I really hope you guys like it. Cheers, Ty Lowry.

Pinky Dexterity Exercise

Exercise 1
This is more of a warm up for the next exercises.
Start slow then gradually speed up until your little finger slows down by it self if it does not and you are that proficient then maintain that speed with as much consistency as you can.
Use your ring finger for the 12th fret then hammer and pull off away with your pinky/little finger.
You can also to this on the other strings but if you choose to do so then make sure that as you hammer and pull off you do not hit the strings adjacent to the ones you are using. Keep it as clean as possible.

E 12h13p12h13p12h13p12h13 and so on ----------------------------------
B --------------------------------------------------------------------
G --------------------------------------------------------------------
D --------------------------------------------------------------------
A --------------------------------------------------------------------
E --------------------------------------------------------------------

Exercise 2Only pick the first note.
Don't use your pointing and middle finger in this exercise.
You could also move up the fret board if you wish.

E -------------------------------------------------------12h13p12h12---
B --------------------------------------------12h13p12h12--------------
G----------------------------------12h13p12h12-------------------------
D ----------------------12h13p12h12------------------------------------
A -----------12h13p12h12-----------------------------------------------
E 12h13p12h12----------------------------------------------------------
 
E -------------------------------------------------------13p12h13p12---
B --------------------------------------------13p12h13p12--------------
G ---------------------------------13p12h13p12-------------------------
D ----------------------13p12h13p12------------------------------------
A -----------13p12h13p12-----------------------------------------------
E 13p12h13p12----------------------------------------------------------
Exercise 3
HOLD 12 and 15 with your pointing and ring finger and pull off with your pinky.
Start slowly until you get the pattern gets stuck in your head.
This exercise will help your pinky/finger become more precise.

E ---------------------------------------------------------------------
B 15-h18p15-h17p15-------------h18p12------h17p15----------------------
G 12--------------h18p12-h17p12------h17p12------h18p12----------------
D ---------------------------------------------------------------------
A ---------------------------------------------------------------------
E ---------------------------------------------------------------------

I hope this helps! Cheers!

How To Finish What You Started

Song Structure

Lyrics
If you’re using the verse/bridge/chorus format, in whatever order, there are often common features.
The verse presents the facts and sets the scene. The bridge adds contrast to stop the list of facts from becoming dull. And the chorus comes to a conclusion.
So let’s put this into practice in a dull way, then examine a proper song that is much less so.
The subject matter is the weather. The verse might be talking about how sunny and pleasant it is. The bridge adds contrast by talking about it getting cloudy. Chorus conclusion might be that just because it’s sunny in the morning, doesn’t mean it’s going to stay that way all day. There you have it, the most boring song idea ever.
So let’s look at a proper song.
Northern Lad by Tori Amos. The verse describes hopes and aspirations at the start of a new relationship; “I thought we’d be okay”. The bridge adds doubt in the form of something being not quite right: “But I feel something is wrong”. the chorus comes to the conclusion that if something isn’t working then it’s sometimes wiser to quit: “You’ve got to know when it’s time to turn the page”.
Music
The song is in the key of A major. The verse sequence begins with the I chord, and is mostly major with a minor chord thrown in. This reflects the feel of the opening verse in that it’s essentially optimistic but already there’s a shred of uncertainty there: [A] Had a northern lad [Bm] Well not exactly had.
The other thing to notice is that it does what heaps of chord sequences do in that it starts with the I and works its way to the V which provides the strongest pull back to the I and so is great for turnarounds.
The bridge begins with the vi. This is common, as is beginning bridges with the IV. Tori probably chooses the vi because the bridge is not adding contrast in terms of a brighter change but a darker one, and so the minor chord better reflects this mood.
The chorus in this song is quite unusual. It begins with the vi chord which is the same as the bridge. She manages to make it sound fresh by almost bringing the song to a halt. A lot of chorus’ switch to the V chord to add a contrast and a lift from the I chord of the verse, but Tori most likely chooses the vi because the chorus is talking about something that has failed and so the V chord might not provide the right mood. Also it’s worth noting that she uses the IV to end the chorus. The IV isn’t as powerful as the V when used as a pull back to the I, but still works well.
If you analyse lots of songs, you’ll find some very common practices in terms of chord usage to signal the beginnings and endings of sections, but don’t expect to find hard and fast rules.
Song Dynamics
A very important aspect of song structure is the way songs progress dynamically as they switch between sections, and move through the song as a whole.
The most common overall dynamic feature is that the song starts softly, gradually increases in intensity, builds to a climax, and then quickly winds down for the ending.
This is true of Northern Lad. It mostly involves Tori increasing her vocal volume and pitch before winding down both elements for the ending.
Drums can often play an important role. Drummers vary the ’busyness’ to mark distinctions between the sections. This can be as simple as doubling the amount of hits on the hihat, or just playing a slightly busier pattern. They usually announce the approach of anew section with either a variation to the pattern they had been playing, or with a roll into the next section often concluded with a crash on the cymbal, which falls on the first beat of the next section.
The drummer is softening the blow that might occur if the rhythmic pattern were to just change abruptly.
If you’re not planning on having drums in your song then you’re going to need to create rhythmic variations on your guitar or whatever. You should do this anyway because the bridge and chorus are supposed to add contrast, so you probably shouldn’t just plod along with the same old rhythmic pattern throughout all three sections, but again, no hard and fast rules apply. Sometimes just one variation is enough to refresh the song.

Application

Getting Started
The most important thing when beginning a new song is to be prepared to abandon any ideas you may have about how the song should progress. It’s useful to have a rough idea of what you want to do, but don’t stick rigidly to it.
Approach your project as if you’re discovering an already existing song rather than creating a new one; be a facilitator not a dictator.
Keep your options wide open, and be prepared to be ruthless when an idea or part you like is holding back the project. There are times when you have a really great guitar part, but it’s just too busy, and when you remove it the song takes on greater clarity and spaciousness. It’s a wrench to let that nice part go, but you have to be tough for the sake of the bigger picture. This is true of all the elements of song structure.

Using Motifs

Motifs are hugely important and useful when creating a song. They keep the song ’on track’ and stop it from wandering off and falling apart. If you create a rhythmic motif and apply it to a musical phrase that sounds good, then using the same motif for the next phrase will help to let you know what will and won’t work.

What Is A Motif?

A motif is a pattern that is repeated to create a larger work. In music there are two types of motifs: rhythmic and melodic. Creating rhythmic motifs is simple and can be done without an instrument. Melodic motifs require a little more knowledge and skill, and that thing that can’t be taught; talent.

How To Create A Rythmic Motif

The simplest way is to take an empty bar and fill it with whatever note values you wish, and see how it sounds/feels.
Let’s say the time signature is 4/4. If we choose a whole note, then the bar is filled from end to end with one continuous sound and are motif is done. It’s also incredibly dull, so let’s do something a little more interesting by filling it with a variety of values, e.g, half, quarter, eighth, sixteenth notes, and so on.
You could fill it with 2 half notes; 1 half and two quarters; a quarter, two eights, and two quarters; or whatever. Remember that rests are just as valid as played sounds.
Note that motifs aren’t always the size of a bar, or start at the beginning. They can be as small as just two note values such as a sixteenth and an eighth. It can be useful just to think in terms of short and long notes, or dots and dashes.
The theme from Jaws has a central motif that is a long note followed by a short: daa da (- .). And the example that is always mentioned when talking about motifs is the Beethoven’s 5th: three shorts and a long, da da da daa (. . . -).
It can be useful to just make up a little rhythmic motif with your voice, then work out what’s going on afterwards. Also, rhythmic motifs can be made up of dynamic elements. You could play all sixteenth notes, but by varying the soft and loud, you could create a rhythmic motif.

Motifs In Existing Songs

Analysing existing songs for motifs can have varying results. Sometimes they can be obvious, sometimes they’re well camouflaged, and sometimes they barely seem to exist at all.
Rhythmic motifs are often present in all areas of song structure. From the drums and bass, through the rhythmic elements such as guitar and keyboard, or brass and string sections, to the vocal and guitar solo top line melodies. Different motifs can be assigned to all these elements in order to keep them from treading on each other’s toes and cluttering up the mix. More on that later.
Guitar solos can be particularly tricky. You’re more likely to spot a motif in a Brian May solo than you are in one of Hendrix or Zappa’s. Jimi and Frank do use motifs, but they’re constantly changing them because of their tendency toward seemingly unstructured improvisation. And shredder solos, because of their filling up of all the space, are more likely to use rhythmic motifs that rely more on dynamics.
Vocal melodies are a little less problematic, but still tend to disguise the motifs, either in an effort to make the vocal sound more natural, or because the narrative has created a sentence that doesn’t fit the pattern.
Here’s a song that has a very simple and effective motif underlying the vocal melody.
It is Kathy’s Song by Paul Simon. The motif is simply a two note short long (. -).
When Paul sings the song, he naturalises the phrases in order to make them sound more human and less mechanical, so to properly recognize the underlying motif, we have to reapply it I.e, force the melody to adhere strictly to it.
I hear the driz zle of the rain
. - . - . - . -
Like a mem o ry it falls
- . - . - . -
Soft and warm con tin u ing
- . - . - . -
Tap ping on my roof and walls
- . - . - . -
He uses this . - motif throughout the whole song. Except for the phrase, ’and a song I was writing is left undone’. That’s why it leaps out at you. If you like the song, this is probably the bit you like best. By breaking the rhythmic pattern, it refreshes your interest, but this wouldn’t have been possible were it not for the pattern being established in the first place.
Often it’s necessary to refresh the pattern much more frequently, e.g, every four bars. Sometimes just inverting the motif works well.
As always, don’t expect any hard and fast rules.

Writing Lyrics

When beginning the lyrics, it isn’t such a good idea to immediately try to tell a story, make the phrases rhyme, or even form coherent sentences.
If you start with the sentence, “I am going to the zoo”, you’ve already caused your mind to start thinking of what might happen next, does it rhyme with zoo, and so on. By starting with a coherent sentence, and the intention to tell a rhyming story, you’ve severely limited your options, and the most likely outcome is that you’ll grind to a halt.
Let’s say you have your chord progression. You have created a rhythmic motif that has provided you with a rough melody line. Now you come to the lyrics part, it’s best to sing vague speech sounds that only mimic real speech. Like scat singing but with stuff that makes the phrases sound like real sentences, albeit indecipherable ones.
Record this gibberish, and listen to it several times to see if there’s anything that could be easily converted into something that actually makes some kind of sense. Take it one sentence at a time, still not trying to tell a story.
Narrative songs are quite rare, at least the good ones are, so don’t worry. As long as the music is good, the lyrics don’t have to tell a story. Just try to be interesting. For instance a carpeted floor isn’t as interesting as a floor covered with glass and feathers.

Space

Music has several dimensions that can be utilised to keep your song from becoming cluttered and muddy.
The first is time. If your bar lasts four seconds, and you fill up the first, then you have three seconds of empty space to fill to complete the bar. Using rests to keep it empty is as valid as filling it with sound.
The second dimension is pitch. If you play a very low note on bass guitar, and a very high note on piano simultaneously, even though they occupy the same point in time, they won’t crowd each other because they occupy very different points in audio space.
Stereo recording introduced a third dimension by allowing for panning left and right. So if two instruments occupy the same time and same pitch range, then you can always pan them to different areas of the stereo image.
A common problem when starting a new song is that you feel obliged to fill all that empty space as quickly as possible. So a busy rhythmic pattern is played on guitar. Then you slap on some bass, drums, and a keyboard part.
Up to this point, the different voices of the instruments might have been enough to keep them separate, but this won’t continue indefinitely, and if all your parts are occupying a lot of the same space in terms of time and pitch, then by the time you get to track 6 or so, you’ll have no room left, and you won’t be able to hear anything else you play over the top.
No amount of panning and turning volumes down will help. What will, is going back and simplifying the parts so that they leave lots of room for new additions.
Look at the rhythm guitar part. If it’s occupying a lot of the same area as the keyboard, try shifting it up in pitch, simplifying the chords down into just the most important notes without doubling them up. So just play two note chords that are made up of the 3rd and 7th or whatever. You can do something similar for the keyboard. Have the keyboard use a rhythmic motif that takes up only part of the bar, and the rhythm guitar fill in the gaps. You’ve still kept the musical essence of what they were both doing, but you’ve stopped them from treading on each other’s pitch and time toes, and created a much airier mix.

Listen to Five to One by The Doors for a great example of just how much space you can leave in a song. The lead guitar and keyboard parts occupy similar areas of pitch and time so they are panned hard left and right to keep them separate. Notice how much empty space there is, and how sparse the central motif is.
There will be times when blending different instruments together to create one sound is just what you want. See Leonard Cohen’s Sisters of Mercy for a great use of this technique. By blending different sounds, they create something that is like a weird machine travelling from left to right across the stereo picture.

Capturing Ideas

If you’re gifted enough to be able to transfer ideas directly from your mind to paper, then great, if not, it can be very useful to have a basic recorder that can just instantly record stuff without having lots of setting up to do. You could create a really nice little phrase. But by the time you’ve got your software set up, it’s gone forever, so have something you can just collect little ideas on to work on later.
So that’s about it. Hope I’ve helped. Apologies if this advice leads to cheesiness.

Breaking The Speed Barrier: How To Go Fast

On the guitar, there is a magical point, right around 100BPM and playing 16th notes where the tones blur together. The wrist starts tightening up, control of the stroke moves to the elbow, and hand has to sort of divebomb the strings in order to pick individual notes. Below 100BPM, each stroke can be pretty broad and almost flailing, but right around that threshold, suddenly all the movements have to get smaller and more efficient or it doesn't work.
So how do we get there? Well it's a metronome technique I call gear shifting.
Step 1. Take the sequence you want to speed up. Three or four measures maximum, and set your metronome between 40 and 60 beats per minute. Otherwise this will take forever. Make the duration of the shortest note equal to one quarter note, so it corresponds with one beat on the metronome.
Step 2. Play through the sequence at this very slow speed. What this does is that it begins myelinating the sequence in your mind. The way we are conditioned, the brain begins to insulate the sequences of neural firings which make up the sequence from everything else. The extra slow speed gives our mind extra time to make decisions, "Okay, this finger here... NOW.. this finger here... NOW" over and over. It's also fitting us into the grid of a rhythm. Without this precise timing, we can't go fast.
Step 3. Once you can move through the sequence at very slow speed without mistakes, even if it's not very comfortable, begin turning up the metronome by 10 BPM for every repetition. So go to 70BPM, and try to pull it off with no mistakes. You may find that as soon as you mess with the speed an error crops up, usually between the 3rd and second string, because this transition for most patterns is a bit weird. Focus on only that area of the sequence for a minute until you can push through it without a mistake. Continue raising the metronome speed 10 BPM.
Step 4. Here's our first "gear shift" When you reach 120BPM, turn the metronome back down to 60 BPM. This time we're thinking in 8th notes. 2 notes per beat. It's the same speed, but a different way of conceptualizing it. Make sure you've got it in 8th notes, and then continue raising the speed 10 BPM every repetition. Personally I find that somewhere around 80 or 90 BPM in 8th notes, the sequence starts getting handed over from my conscious mind to my unconscious mind. That is, it's going so fast that I'm no longer in control, I've either learned the sequence or I haven't, and I can make the sequence go faster or slower as a physical exercise, but the pattern itself is set.
Step 5. Shift gears again when you hit 120 BPM. Go back down to 60 BPM. Now we're in 16th notes. And if you're trying to go fast, this is probably the length of the note originally. Continue escalating the speed 10 BPM after every successful repetition. I find that 70 to 90 BPM is where it really has to clean up. If you're technique is sloppy, this is where it will show. If your problem is here, it's not knowing the sequence,
it's an imbalance in your hands, which can be addressed by checking a few things.

Right around 100BPM is what I call the "speed barrier". Room for error is gone, and the character of how you get it done begins to change. It's like making the transition from walking to running. Different things begin to happen. But if you pass this barrier, It's where speed playing begins, and the character of playing above 100BPM and in 16th notes stays roughly the same. The hard part is breaking into a sprint and making that "walking to running" transition.
If you hit 16th notes at 120BPM, congratulations! You have cleaned up your technique for this sequence, and you should be enjoying a nice blur of notes on the particular pattern you're playing. Continue on as far as you wish/can for whatever your particular style of play requires. Personally, my need for speed doesn't get much beyond about 120 or 130.

Technique Considerations
With my particular brand of technique, which I got from watching jazzers and copying how they move, my wrist begins to get pretty rigid, and control of my upstrokes and down strokes moves to my elbow. On an upstroke, it feels like my pick touches and then bounces up and away from the string. On a down stroke, it feels like I just glide down and then out to avoid strumming the string below it.
In my left hand, I've observed that my middle and ring fingers stay quite perpedicular to the fretboard, and my knuckles stay generally parallel to the bottom of the fretboard. My index and pinky fingers lean away from the middle two fingers. This seems to be the only way that the fretting hand doesn't get tired or make the tendons ache too much.
The metronome is very important in this process. It makes things black and white, and it keeps the notes spaced at exact intervals so that at full speed, the pattern sounds defined and beautiful. It also gives us a clear criteria for giving ourselves feedback about whether we did or didn't get it.
Conclusion
What I've aimed to do here is illustrate a reliable, reproducable way to go from a crawl to a sprint with whatever sequence you're aiming to brush up. Whether it's arppegios, ascending/descending 2's 3's and 4's. Whatever you need.
In my experience, this process can be done on just about any sequence. You can go from a relatively unfamiliar combination of notes to blazing in somewhere between half an hour to an hour. This is also assuming that you don't have larger technical issues holding you back, such as poor posture (try going classical - guitar on left leg, guitar all the way up to bottom of your chest), or imbalance of the left hand (middle and ringer finger not perpendicular to fret board).

Arpeggiosinversions

Hello dear UG members, my name is Jani and in the UG forums you probably know me as the " That finish guy with a Beethoven avatar"
I have been playing guitar little bit over two years. On that time
I have been mainly focusing on learning the secrets of shredding. My Favourite guitar players at the moment are
Yngwie.J.Malmsteen, Paul Gilbert, Steve Vai, Guthrie Govan and all those players use arperggios on their guitar playing.

So In this lesson I am going to tell you a littel bit about arpeggios&Inversions and how to use them in your guitar playing.
So what are arpeggios? Arpeggio are, simply, a broken chord, and a broken chord means that you play the tones of the chord melodically, or one by one, instead of harmonically, which means at the same time. The most basic arpeggios are Minor and Major arpeggios. Of course, there are lots of different types of arpeggios, like minor, major, diminished, augmented 7th's, minor 6th's, minor/major/diminished/augmented add 9's and lots of other types of arpeggios, but in this lesson we'll stick to the basics.
So how you can use arpeggios in your guitar playing? There is lots of diffrent ways, but the most common ones are: sweep picking, tapping and alternative picking.
The pattern for the Minor arpeggio is: 1, b3, 5. The root, minor third and perfect fifth. to create an minor arpeggio in the key of E minor. The notes in a key of E minor are E, F#, G, A, B, C, D, E. You can make three minor arpeggios in the key of E minor: E minor, A minor and B minor, and because the pattern for the minor arpeggio is 1, b3, 5, E minor would have the tones: E, G and B. Even if the tones are in a diffrent order like G, B, E it would still be an E minor arpeggio. Its just inverted. The second inversion of the E minor arpeggio would be B, E and G.
Inversions:
An Interval is inverted by raising or lowering either of the notes using displacement of the octave/octaves so they both retain their pitch classes. For example, the inversion of the notes (lower)E and G (higher) , would be (lower)G and E ( Higher).
And if you want to invert these notes (lower)A and B It would invert as an (lower) B and A. Notice how that Major second inverted as a minor seventh. Here is an list about the inversion of the intervals.
Unison-Octave
Second-Seventh
Third-Sixth
Fourth-Fifth
List about Interval quality under inversion:
Perfect-Perfect
Major-Minor
Augmented-Diminished
You can also invert Chords&arpeggios.Invertiing chords can really refresh your normal rhytym playing. Here is a few examples about chord&arpeggio inversions:
A minor chord on the root position. A,C,E
A minor chords first inversion C,E,A
A Minor chords Second inversion E,A,C
G major chord in a root position G,B,D
G major chords first inversion B,D,G
G major Chords Second inversion D,G,B
Notice the logic on this?
Here are a few examples of three string sweeped E minor arpeggios:

     |--3--|    |---3--|  ---          
     E  E  E    E   E  E               
E||--------7h--12p--7--------|-------||
B||-----8--------------8-----|-------||
G||--9-------------------9-|-------||
 
The first inversion of the E minor arpeggio:
      |---3---|    |----3---|     3    
      E   E   E    E    E   E     E    
E||----------12h--15p--12------|-----||
B||------12----------------12--|-----||
G||--12------------------------12|-----||
 
The second inversion of the E minor arpeggio:
   
E||----------15h--19p--15------|-------||
B||------17----------------17--|-------||
G||--16-----------------------16|-------||
 
Here are a few examples of tapped E Minor arpeggios on different Strings:
      S   S  S   S   S S  S  S S S S   S  S   S S             
E||--12h-15-T19p-15p-12------------------------------|-------||
B||--------------------------5h-8-T12-8p-5------------------|-------||
G||-----------------------------------------9h-12-T16p-12p-9---|-------||
 
D||--14-h17-T21-17p-14-----------------------------|----||
A||-------------------------7-h10-t14-10p-7----------------|----||
E||----------------------------------------------12-h15-t19-15p-12-|----||

Of course you can invert tapped arpeggios as well, but I don't want this whole article be just full of tabs.

A few examples of two string E minor alternative picked arpeggios:
E||------------7----|-------||
B||--5----8---------|-------||
 
first inversion:
E||-------------12----|-------||
B||--8----12----------|-------||
 
Second inversion:
E||--------------15----|-------||
B||--12----17----------|-------||

The pattern for the Major arpeggio is: 1, 3 and 5. The root, major third and perfect fifth. To create an major arpeggio in the key of E minor, the notes are E, F#, G, A, B, C, D, E. You can make three major arpeggios in the key of E minor: G major, C major and D Major. G major would have the tones G, B and D. Even if the tones would be in a different order like B, D and G, it would still be a G major arpeggio. Its just inverted. The second inversion of the G major arpeggio would be D, G and B.

Here are a few examples of three string sweep picked G major arpeggios:
E||----------10h--15p--10----------|----||
B||------12----------------12------|----||
G||--12------------------------12--|----||
 
First inversion of the G major arpeggio:
E||----------15h--19p--15----------|-------||
B||------15----------------15------|-------||
G||--16------------------------16--|-------||
 
Second inversion of the G major arpeggio:
E||--------7h--10--7--------|-------||
B||-----8-------------8-----|-------||
G||--7-------------------7--|-------||
 
Here are a few examples of tapped G major arpeggios on diffrent strings:
E||--3h-7-t10-7-3----------------------------------|-------||
B||--------------8h-12-t15-12-8--------------------|-------||
G||----------------------------12h-16-t19p-16-12---|-------||
 
D||--5h-9-t12-9p-5-------------------------------------|----||
A||---------------10h-14-t17-14p-10--------------------|----||
E||--------------------------------15h-19-t22p-19-15---|----||
 
Here are a few examples of two string G major alternative picked arpeggios:
E||-------------10----|-------||
B||--8----12----------|-------||
 
First inversion:
E||--------------15----|-------||
B||--12----15----------|-------||
 
Second inversion:
E||--------------19----|-------||
B||--15----20----------|-------||

So I hope that my article helped you even a littel, I may write more articles in the future.

24 Licks To Warm Up

Hi and welcome in my next lesson. Excuse me for my bad English, it's just not my native language.
You may think that you don't have to warm up before learn new stuff or play a gig. But you have. So in this lesson i'm gonna give you a few exaple to help you warm up.
This will be an epic warm up exercise with every possible variation of 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th fret. (24 variation)
Use your 1st finger for the 1st fret, 2nd for the 2nd 3rd for the 3rd and 4th for the 4ht fret. Don't cheat on these "licks" because it's only wrong for you.

1.
e|-----------------------------------------1-2-3-4---------------------------|
B|---------------------------------1-2-3-4-----------------------------------|
G|-------------------------1-2-3-4-------------------------------------------|
D|-----------------1-2-3-4---------------------------------------------------|
A|---------1-2-3-4-----------------------------------------------------------|
E|-1-2-3-4-------------------------------------------------------------------|
 
2.
e|-----------------------------------------1-2-4-3---------------------------|
B|---------------------------------1-2-4-3-----------------------------------|
G|-------------------------1-2-4-3-------------------------------------------|
D|-----------------1-2-4-3---------------------------------------------------|
A|---------1-2-4-3-----------------------------------------------------------|
E|-1-2-4-3-------------------------------------------------------------------|
 
3.
e|-----------------------------------------1-3-2-4---------------------------|
B|---------------------------------1-3-2-4-----------------------------------|
G|-------------------------1-3-2-4-------------------------------------------|
D|-----------------1-3-2-4---------------------------------------------------|
A|---------1-3-2-4-----------------------------------------------------------|
E|-1-3-2-4-------------------------------------------------------------------|
 
4.
e|-----------------------------------------1-3-4-2---------------------------|
B|---------------------------------1-3-4-2-----------------------------------|
G|-------------------------1-3-4-2-------------------------------------------|
D|-----------------1-3-4-2---------------------------------------------------|
A|---------1-3-4-2-----------------------------------------------------------|
E|-1-3-4-2-------------------------------------------------------------------|
 
5.
e|-----------------------------------------1-4-2-3---------------------------|
B|---------------------------------1-4-2-3-----------------------------------|
G|-------------------------1-4-2-3-------------------------------------------|
D|-----------------1-4-2-3---------------------------------------------------|
A|---------1-4-2-3-----------------------------------------------------------|
E|-1-4-2-3-------------------------------------------------------------------|
 
6.
e|-----------------------------------------1-4-3-2---------------------------|
B|---------------------------------1-4-3-2-----------------------------------|
G|-------------------------1-4-3-2-------------------------------------------|
D|-----------------1-4-3-2---------------------------------------------------|
A|---------1-4-3-2-----------------------------------------------------------|
E|-1-4-3-2-------------------------------------------------------------------|
 
7.
e|-----------------------------------------2-1-3-4---------------------------|
B|---------------------------------2-1-3-4-----------------------------------|
G|-------------------------2-1-3-4-------------------------------------------|
D|-----------------2-1-3-4---------------------------------------------------|
A|---------2-1-3-4-----------------------------------------------------------|
E|-2-1-3-4-------------------------------------------------------------------|
 
8.
e|-----------------------------------------2-1-4-3---------------------------|
B|---------------------------------2-1-4-3-----------------------------------|
G|-------------------------2-1-4-3-------------------------------------------|
D|-----------------2-1-4-3---------------------------------------------------|
A|---------2-1-4-3-----------------------------------------------------------|
E|-2-1-4-3-------------------------------------------------------------------|
 
9.
e|-----------------------------------------2-3-1-4---------------------------|
B|---------------------------------2-3-1-4-----------------------------------|
G|-------------------------2-3-1-4-------------------------------------------|
D|-----------------2-3-1-4---------------------------------------------------|
A|---------2-3-1-4-----------------------------------------------------------|
E|-2-3-1-4-------------------------------------------------------------------|
 
10.
e|-----------------------------------------2-3-4-1---------------------------|
B|---------------------------------2-3-4-1-----------------------------------|
G|-------------------------2-3-4-1-------------------------------------------|
D|-----------------2-3-4-1---------------------------------------------------|
A|---------2-3-4-1-----------------------------------------------------------|
E|-2-3-4-1-------------------------------------------------------------------|
 
11.
e|-----------------------------------------2-4-1-3---------------------------|
B|---------------------------------2-4-1-3-----------------------------------|
G|-------------------------2-4-1-3-------------------------------------------|
D|-----------------2-4-1-3---------------------------------------------------|
A|---------2-4-1-3-----------------------------------------------------------|
E|-2-4-1-3-------------------------------------------------------------------|
 
12.
e|-----------------------------------------2-4-3-1---------------------------|
B|---------------------------------2-4-3-1-----------------------------------|
G|-------------------------2-4-3-1-------------------------------------------|
D|-----------------2-4-3-1---------------------------------------------------|
A|---------2-4-3-1-----------------------------------------------------------|
E|-2-4-3-1-------------------------------------------------------------------|
 
13.
e|-----------------------------------------3-1-2-4---------------------------|
B|---------------------------------3-1-2-4-----------------------------------|
G|-------------------------3-1-2-4-------------------------------------------|
D|-----------------3-1-2-4---------------------------------------------------|
A|---------3-1-2-4-----------------------------------------------------------|
E|-3-1-2-4-------------------------------------------------------------------|
 
14.
e|-----------------------------------------3-1-4-2---------------------------|
B|---------------------------------3-1-4-2-----------------------------------|
G|-------------------------3-1-4-2-------------------------------------------|
D|-----------------3-1-4-2---------------------------------------------------|
A|---------3-1-4-2-----------------------------------------------------------|
E|-3-1-4-2-------------------------------------------------------------------|
 
15.
e|-----------------------------------------3-2-1-4---------------------------|
B|---------------------------------3-2-1-4-----------------------------------|
G|-------------------------3-2-1-4-------------------------------------------|
D|-----------------3-2-1-4---------------------------------------------------|
A|---------3-2-1-4-----------------------------------------------------------|
E|-3-2-1-4-------------------------------------------------------------------|
 
16.
e|-----------------------------------------3-2-4-1---------------------------|
B|---------------------------------3-2-4-1-----------------------------------|
G|-------------------------3-2-4-1-------------------------------------------|
D|-----------------3-2-4-1---------------------------------------------------|
A|---------3-2-4-1-----------------------------------------------------------|
E|-3-2-4-1-------------------------------------------------------------------|
 
17.
e|-----------------------------------------3-4-1-2---------------------------|
B|---------------------------------3-4-1-2-----------------------------------|
G|-------------------------3-4-1-2-------------------------------------------|
D|-----------------3-4-1-2---------------------------------------------------|
A|---------3-4-1-2-----------------------------------------------------------|
E|-3-4-1-2-------------------------------------------------------------------|
 
18.
e|-----------------------------------------3-4-2-1---------------------------|
B|---------------------------------3-4-2-1-----------------------------------|
G|-------------------------3-4-2-1-------------------------------------------|
D|-----------------3-4-2-1---------------------------------------------------|
A|---------3-4-2-1-----------------------------------------------------------|
E|-3-4-2-1-------------------------------------------------------------------|
 
19.
e|-----------------------------------------4-1-2-3---------------------------|
B|---------------------------------4-1-2-3-----------------------------------|
G|-------------------------4-1-2-3-------------------------------------------|
D|-----------------4-1-2-3---------------------------------------------------|
A|---------4-1-2-3-----------------------------------------------------------|
E|-4-1-2-3-------------------------------------------------------------------|
 
20.
e|-----------------------------------------4-1-2-3---------------------------|
B|---------------------------------4-1-2-3-----------------------------------|
G|-------------------------4-1-2-3-------------------------------------------|
D|-----------------4-1-2-3---------------------------------------------------|
A|---------4-1-2-3-----------------------------------------------------------|
E|-4-1-2-3-------------------------------------------------------------------|
 
21.
e|-----------------------------------------4-2-1-3---------------------------|
B|---------------------------------4-2-1-3-----------------------------------|
G|-------------------------4-2-1-3-------------------------------------------|
D|-----------------4-2-1-3---------------------------------------------------|
A|---------4-2-1-3-----------------------------------------------------------|
E|-4-2-1-3-------------------------------------------------------------------|
 
22.
e|-----------------------------------------4-2-3-1---------------------------|
B|---------------------------------4-2-3-1-----------------------------------|
G|-------------------------4-2-3-1-------------------------------------------|
D|-----------------4-2-3-1---------------------------------------------------|
A|---------4-2-3-1-----------------------------------------------------------|
E|-4-2-3-1-------------------------------------------------------------------|
 
23.
e|-----------------------------------------4-3-1-2---------------------------|
B|---------------------------------4-3-1-2-----------------------------------|
G|-------------------------4-3-1-2-------------------------------------------|
D|-----------------4-3-1-2---------------------------------------------------|
A|---------4-3-1-2-----------------------------------------------------------|
E|-4-3-1-2-------------------------------------------------------------------|
 
24.
e|-----------------------------------------4-3-2-1---------------------------|
B|---------------------------------4-3-2-1-----------------------------------|
G|-------------------------4-3-2-1-------------------------------------------|
D|-----------------4-3-2-1---------------------------------------------------|
A|---------4-3-2-1-----------------------------------------------------------|
E|-4-3-2-1-------------------------------------------------------------------|

And there you have it. 24 "licks" for warm up. Yes it is boring, but if you wan to strengthen you fingers this will help. Try this in different positions on the neck and if you can, use a metronome. It will help you to have a better sense of rhythm.Mezmerus.

A Well Balanced Solo

The 'perfect solo' is something most guitarists strive for, however there is no absolute formula. Most guitarist think that SPEED IS ALL but that is not necessarily true. Its is important to have some good licks, themes variation and lots of other techniques:
THEME
Every good solo should have a recurring theme(s) so that people can remember it because you want people to remember it and buy your CD or talk about you wherever they go. If you just shred no-one will be able to hum it and thats what you want people to do minutes, hours, days, weeks, months and even years after you play it to them. Give it a melody, steal part of the main melody in your song, like in AX7's Afterlife. Its your chance to show off but it still needs to fit into the song.
PHRASES
In all solo's there should be some musical direction, it should be a journey from, for example, a happy place to a sad place. This would be achieved by finishing one run with a tonic note (The note of the key, I), and then finishing the next run with relative minor note (vi). This can be done many times in a solo and you don't HAVE to finish on these notes.
LEGATO/STACCATO
Some notes do not allays have to be picked, by using hammer-ons/pull-offs (Legato) the same notes can be played but have a looser feel to them. These can also be used to make your playing seem faster and give them a different sound. Staccato on the other hand is when you pick the not and stop it very quickly, this can be very effective to make the a part of your solo snappy.
ALTERNATE PICKING
Used as a way to play very fast, this does have a place in your solo but this should not be the bread and butter. If you do use this and you can get blisteringly fast you should even be able to use passing chromaticisms that add a whole new dimension to your playing.
BENDING
Some solos can be built round a bend while others have bends at the end of the run to add some ornamentation but you have to make sure you reach the harmony note otherwise it may sound out of tune
PEDAL POINTS
Guitarist like John Petrucci use these a lot, this is when you play the same note (Usually the tonic again, I) then and then alternate between other harmony notes, for example, C-E-C-D-C-B-C-F-C.
These are only a very few techniques (writing them all could fill a book and they have filled many books!) that you can use in your solos so get out there and explore them all, the more you use the more advanced your solos will become and the more faces you will melt! Also don't be afraid to try something new, cross cultural-cross generational, there are endless possibilities and a little research could serve you well. PM

Billy Corgan Opening Tea Shop


Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan is launching an unlikely new venture - he's opening a tea house in his native Illinois.
The rocker spent his Thursday taste-testing different brews for his Chicago cafe and he can't wait to officially open the shop.
In a Twitter.com post, he writes, "had my first meeting today to prepare for opening a tea house on the north shore here in the Chicago area. lots of teas to try!"

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It's the latest unusual venture for Corgan - he recently launched his own wrestling club in his home city.
Thanks for the report to Jam.Canoe.ca.

The Who Post A Special Version Of 'Quadrophenia' Single Online

The Who have posted a special version of "Quadrophenia" single "5.15" online.
The track is being streamed in a 3D60 surround sound format to mark the 18th year anniversary of the seminal LP. Scroll down and click below to hear the new version of the track.
The song depicts a story of a young Mod called Jimmy, whose teenage disconnection with society is at its darkest hour.

Taking the 5.15 train to run away from reality, Jimmy hits the booze in anger, drowning his sorrows and problems on this journey alone. It featured on a special boxset of the album, which was released last month.
Guitarist Pete Townshend recently declared that "Quadrophenia" was the band's "last great album" and that it "felt like the end" of the group after its release.
He said:
"I would say we only made three landmark records. 'Tommy', 'Who's Next' and 'Quadrophenia'. I've always felt that 'Quadrophenia' was the last definitive Who album."
Townshend also revealed that Sex Pistols man Johnny Rotten was his first choice to play the lead role of Jimmy in the 1979 film version.

Dave Mustaine Says It Was 'Very Cathartic' To Perform With Metallica

According to Blabbermouth.net, ex-Metallica guitarist and current Megadeth frontman Dave Mustaine joined his former bandmates on stage this past Saturday night (December 10) for the fourth and final intimate show at the Fillmore in San Francisco as part of Metallica's week-long celebration of its 30th anniversary as a band for fan club members only.

When asked by Music Radar if it "felt nice to have mended all fences with" Metallica, Mustaine said, "You know, there's still going to be some dumb fucker who says to me, 'So, do you guys get along?' [laughs] I just know it. The world is full of idiots, and I seem to run into a lot of them. It does feel good, though.
"It was very cathartic to go up there last weekend. I was pretty unsure of what was going to happen. I wasn't nervous; I just didn't know what to expect. Those guys are a lot different from Megadeth. We like to know what songs we're going to do. They play pretty loose from the hip - which is cool.
"I was trying to figure out, 'Do I learn the demo versions of the [Metallica] songs or the 'Kill 'Em All' versions of the songs?' Well, I found out it was the 'Kill 'Em All' versions. OK, 'Do I learn my solos from the demos, or Kirk's [Hammett] solos? What solos should I play?' Then, when I got there, Kirk said, 'You know, why don't you play all the solos?' And I was like, 'Oooh!' [laughs] I had to quickly go through my bag of tricks. In the end, I got up on stage, and everything came together. I was making it much too difficult for myself.
"It was fun, I had a good time, everybody smiled a lot. Gave out a bunch of high-five knuckles and hugs. Lars [Ulrich, Metallica drummer] kissed me a couple of times...[laughs]
"It's neat that people are able to see what this whole thing is about.
"The media made this so ugly for so long.
"We all still really care about each other.
"Everything has come full circle. It's 30 years later, and here we are. It's really weird, the whole mythology to this."
Mustaine, who was one of the original members of Metallica, was fired from the band by drummer Lars Ulrich in 1983. He was replaced by Kirk Hammett and went on to form Megadeth and achieve worldwide success on his own.
In an interview with Revolver magazine conducted earlier this year, Mustaine was asked what he remembers about writing music with Metallica while he was in the group. "I had always called us, as a group, the 'Four Horsemen'," he said. "Before I was in Metallica, I really loved this band called Montrose, and their guitarist was Ronnie Montrose. He went on to form a band called Gamma. One of their records [1980's 'Gamma 2'] had a shark fin cutting through the grass, which I thought was so awesome. Anyway, he had a song on there called 'Four Horsemen' that I did with my band Panic, which I was with before Metallica. So when I joined Metallica, I had the song 'Mechanix', which I wrote, and 'Four Horsemen' was a suggestion of mine to do 'cause we were doing cover songs. So that had planted the seed with James [Hetfield, Metallica frontman]. And one day when we were coming to rehearsal, Lars had just said something about slowing down my song, 'Mechanix'. I had just gotten to the studio with Cliff [Burton, Metallica bassist], and we had been listening to Lynyrd Skynyrd, and I was being a jerk, so I played 'Sweet Home Alabama' instead of 'Mechanix', and that’s basically the middle part of what would become Metallica’s 'The Four Horsemen'."
Regarding what his favorite Metallica song is, Mustaine said, "I had to do a lot of coming to terms with myself in order to listen to Metallica. Before, whenever I heard them, it triggered me in my mind to get up on my soapbox and spit out complaints of what had happened to me. And then once I finally realized, 'Dave, you're lucky, you're blessed, you're in a great band, you're in another great band.' I finally just said, 'You're missing it.'
"And I remember hearing this song when I was talking to Lars once and telling him this is my favorite song off the 'Black Record'. And he goes, 'Really? F--k, man.' It was 'The Unforgiven'. I liked it because I thought this was really the first time I've ever really heard James [Hetfield] sing. He had sung before, and he was a great singer. But that was the first time I ever heard him really, really sing."

Couple That Performed 'Master Of Puppets' At Their Wedding Jam With Metallica

According to Blabbermouth.net, the couple that became an Internet sensation after a video surfaced of them performing a cover version of Metallica's "Master Of Puppets" at their wedding reception got a chance to play with the members of Metallica themselves this past Saturday, December 10 at the fourth and final intimate show at the Fillmore in San Francisco as part of the week-long celebration of the band's 30th anniversary for fan club members only.

Annette Ortiz-Diaz (a former drummer for Fatal Posporos and Half Past-Two and the current bass player for Random Ninjas) and her husband Dennis - who had a Metallica tribute band (made up of Asians) called Trapped Under Rice - joined Metallica on stage to perform the song "Blackened" during the portion of Saturday's concert where fan-club winners were invited on stage to jam with the band.
While taking part in the show, Dennis was able to wear his phone/camera around his neck and Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich took Annette's camera and handed it to a roadie to shoot from backstage. The resulting footage can now be seen below.
Annette Ortiz and Dennis Diaz were married on April 10, 2010 in El Segundo, California. Photos of the reception can be found at this location.

Trent Reznor Nominated For Golden Globe


Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross have been given a Golden Globe nomination for their soundtrack to "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo".
They have a chance of winning the gong for Best Original Score for the second time if they can beat competition by Martin Scorsese's "Hugo" and the score for "War Horse" by John Williams. Reznor and Ross previously won the same award for their musical contribution to "The Social Network".

Reznor's new soundtrack features an electronic Led Zeppelin cover with Yeah Yeah Yeah's Karen O on vocals, though she later admitted that she had never listened to the classic rock band before.
The album is available as a three-CD digipack or deluxe vinyl package, limited to 3,000 copies. If you prefer, you can get a 35 minute sampler for free from Reznor's Null Corporation label.
Chris Cornell has also been nominated for a Golden Globe for his solo song "The Keeper" from "Machine Gun Preacher".
Meanwhile, Reznor plans to release the debut album from his side project How To Destroy Angels in early 2012.
"[We are] finishing our full-length record, which has fully matured our sound into something that is very unique. I can’t wait for that record to come out, actually probably [in the] first quarter of next year," he told Rolling Stone.
"It felt very close to other projects I’ve been involved in or direct influences, let’s say. [This] sounds like How To Destroy Angels now, instead of sounding like other stuff, so I’m proud of that and I’m excited to unleash it into the wild here."
What does his success away from Nine Inch Nails mean for his original band?
"Really, why I stopped Nine Inch Nails as a live entity was because it started to feel like I've done it, I've done it, and I've done it again. I started to feel like I needed reinvention and I needed to force myself into that," he said.
"How To Destroy Angels has been an interesting creative outlet. I think when people hear what we’ve been up to, it will be very validating on my part."

Courtney Love To Be Evicted

Courtney Love To Be Evicted
Courtney Love will be evicted from her New York home, because her landlord says the house is wrecked and she owes $50,000 in rent after only 10 months.
It helps explain why the Hole singer has been ranting about Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic earning more than she does from Nirvana royalties. She even offered Nirvana songs to Simon Cowell to use on "X Factor". News of her eviction may help explain her seemingly desperate manoeuvres.

Landlord Donna Lyon accuses Love of decorating the property without consent and missing rent payments. As a result there will be a court hearing on December 21, according to NME.
"[The house] was decorated by the previous owner, interior designer Steven Gambrel. One of the requirements of the lease is that nothing should be done to the interiors," explained Lyon. "I came to New York to see it and I was horrified by what she had done. The walls that had been hand-painted and glazed were ruined, covered in damask wallpaper and ice-blue paint."
Lyon claims that Love's handywork was "tantamount to destroying a work of art".
It is not the first time Love has been in trouble for owing money. In October, a judge ordered Love to pay £60, 000 to a jeweller after she failed to return items she borrowed for a charity event.

Did Dream Theater Steal From Christian Rock Band?

A fan has highlighted similarities between a Dream Theater song and a Christian rock band - and former drummer Mike Portnoy agrees.
The opening song on Dream Theater's latest album "A Dramatic Turn Of Events" apparently sounds remarkably similar to a song by the band Red. The fan posted their observation on Dream Theater's forums, where other fans appear to be disappointed with the similarities.

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Mike Portnoy decided to join with the discussion, taking an obvious jab at his former band mates: "Check out the first song on [John Petrucci's] fave album of the year... WOW, the arrangement and orchestration sounds awfully familiar! Surely it must be an intentional 'nugget' for the fans... It couldn't possibly be blatant formula plagiarism, now could it... ? I just have to laugh... [sic]"
When some fans took a dislike to Portnoy's tactless contribution to the discussion, he replied again: "Hey... I'm not trying to start a war... And I am indeed totally in a happy place in my life and career... I'm just merely making an observation and posting openly on my own forum like I always have and always will... If anybody ELSE wants to blow this up, it's their choice and doing... Not mine! [sic]"
It is not the first time Dream Theater have been accused of plagiarism. This year, some fans noted the similarities between their newest album and their 1992 release "Images And Words", suggesting they had even copied themselves in a bid to release new music.
John Petrucci later told Ultimate Guitar that he appreciates fans analyzing their music, but the similarities were down to the band having such a definitive style of their own.
"We really like music," Petrucci said. "We have a certain thing that we try to accomplish musically, a certain sound that makes us who we are. The core elements of Dream Theater, of who we are and how we make music. Those are elements that are identifiable. That's what gives the band its sound, and keeps the band having an identity."
Listen to the two songs here. Do you think they sound similar? Share your opinion in the comments.

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