Jimi Hendrix- The Guitar Legend Revisited
July 6, 2008
Who’d have thought that a self-taught musician who, as a boy, desired a guitar so desperately he completely built one out of a broom before acquiring a pathetic one-stringed ukulele, would eventually be acclaimed by many as one of the greatest and most influential guitarists in rock and blues music history?
Jimi Hendrix was born in 1942 and served in the US military army as a paratrooper in his early days.Having taught himself the guitar, he played the US’ ‘Chitlin Circuit’ of clubs before heading over to New York, garnering a spot as the new guitarist for The Isley Brothers’ band before joining Little Richard’s back-up band and others.
On moving to London in 1966, he formed a 3 man band - The Jimi Hendrix Experience - which acquired rapid fame in Europe. Jimi became recognised for entertaining showmanship, which occasionally included setting his guitar ablaze! With a landmark show at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967, and huge success of record album ‘Are You Experienced?’ Jimi became a world-wide star.
Hendrix was the headline artist at the 1969 Woodstock Festival, where he played his controversial war-like fuzz-guitar version of ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’. Jimi Hendrix died at the age of 27 in 1970, having recorded only three fully-conceived studio albums and more than 300 unreleased recordings.
With his unusual style of playing guitars inverted (’left-handed’) and restrung to suit him, Hendrix is accredited with bringing the electric guitar to a higher level. Hendrix aimed to mix what he called ‘earth’, blues, jazz, or funk driven rhythm musical accompaniment, with ’space’, the high-pitched psychedelic sounds he improvised on his guitar.
Hendrix played a key role in making the Fender Stratocaster the biggest-selling electric guitar in history and making popular the use of guitar distortion using effects pedals, including the wah-wah pedal, and units. He pioneered in the recording studio, experimenting with stereophonic and phasing effects.
With his albums amongst the most influential of the 1960s, James Marshall Hendrix altered rock and roll as the world knew it.
Learning The Blues Guitar Like Eric Clapton
July 5, 2008
It is not that easy to pull out a definition of blues. You can tell that Robert Jhonsons’ Rambling on My Mind or B.B. King’s Everyday I Have the Blues is definitely blues, but what about van Halen, Al Di Meola or Pavarotti’s songs?
Of course, you could define the blues by the call-response structure, the dominant 7th chords, the shuffle rhythm, the I-IV-V progression and things like these, but the most accomplished definition is one that Eric Clapton himself gave to blues music in an interview in 1998:
My definition of Blues is that it’s a musical form which is very disciplined and structured coupled with a state of mind, and you are able to have either of those things but it’s the two collectively that make it what it is. And you need to be a student for one, and a human being for the other, but those things exclusively don’t do it. (Eric Clapton, 1998)
The Blues History
There are many books on the story of blues. It was born in the 20th century’s Mississippi Delta in the U.S., short after the Civil War. This music style was played by slaves and white people related to it as sorrow songs, plantation songs or workaday songs. The term blues was used for the first time around 1925.
It is thought that the band leader William Christopher Handy was the one to write the first blues songs in 1909, which was later published and documented. The song was initially called Memphis Blues and got the name of Mister Crump later. He got his aspiration from a blues song he heard in the Mississippi railway station six years earlier. W.C. Handy wrote other songs too, such as Beale Street Blues or St. Louis Blues and nowadays there’s a blues award named after him - the W.C. Handy Award.
What Do You Need To Learn To Play Blues Guitar?
In order to learn to play blues guitar, there are a couple of matters you need. First of all, you need to own an electric or acoustic guitar with strings made from other than nylon in standard tuning. You also need to know how to interpret tablature, as well as have some basic guitar knowledge and know how to play a few chords.
You also need some blues backing tracks as well as Eric Clapton CDs with blues classics, such as Blues Breakers, From the Cradle or Eric Clapton Unplugged and a good CD player with an auto-repeat shuffle. There’s also a plug-in for Winamp you can use to slow down music. A small chord book you can find in any guitar shop is also handy. But most importantly, in order to learn to play blues guitar, you need some good ears.
If you already have some basic guitar knowledge, you can learn to play blues guitar on your own, with the aid of a simple chord book. However, finding a blues guitar teacher who is willing to help you learn to play blues guitar in your area is definitely a good thing. If you have the time and money to take up private lessons, this will probably help improving your guitar playing skills.
Mastering Lead Guitar Playing Techniques
July 5, 2008
Join us as we take a deeper look at some tips that can help you to improve your lead guitar playing skills. We will discuss different methods of achieving better speed as well as the benefit of playing along with guitar backing tracks.
When most young individuals take up guitar playing they usually have one goal in mind, and that is to be a rocking lead guitar player who sets their fans’ ears ablaze with their lightning fast solos. A large majority of serious guitarists have the talent and dedication to practice and to grow as musicians and often become excellent lead guitar players. However, some guitar students may not have the kind of patience or resources available to help them grow in their techniques and to achieve their dreams of being a great lead guitar player
There are a lot of different tips and tricks available out there that can help you improve your lead guitar skills and techniques. One of the most basic tips for improving your skills is to watch how you hold your pick and how you actually pluck your strings. This can have a dramatic impact on how the harmonics on your guitar are played out. For instance, it’s better if you don’t have a lot of the pick sticking out from your fingers, but instead have your fingers closer to the edge of the pick. Doing this will help you to bring out the sweet harmonics of the notes you hit, especially on a distorted guitar.
One of the most common aspects of playing lead guitar is learning how to develop a stronger hand so that you can play faster. Playing fast is an important part of being a lead guitarist, but there are a few things you should know before trying to improve your speed. One of the most important lessons to learn is that speed is useless without hitting the right notes. It’s better to perfect a scale you’re learning slowly, and then work on increasing your speed.
Another great tip and trick that has helped a lot of guitarists master the craft of playing lead guitar is playing along with guitar backing tracks. An individual playing along with guitar backing tracks can greatly improve a variety of different skills and abilities as well as the enjoyment of practicing along with an entire band.
Practicing your lead guitar skills to backing tracks for guitar also helps you to improve your speed and your improvisation techniques. These guitar backing tracks provide you with structure and help you to adjust to playing lead on top of another guitar playing rhythm. These guitar backing tracks can also be useful for doing gigs and playing live, which also is a great help to improving your skills.
Tips For Beginning Keyboard Players To Live By
July 5, 2008
The keyboard is a wonderful instrument to behold, but learning to play it is another story completely. The piano, a close cousin to the keyboard, has long been revered as a culturally defining instrument. In essence, so too has the keyboard become a modernly successful version of the piano that much enjoyment comes out of playing.
Having a good time is what playing the keyboard is all about. Being able to show off one’s skills in front of others is always nice, too! The best way to start out is find a couple of songs that one thinks holds a special value to him or her, and learn how to play it. Buying sheet music online or through local music stores is always a fun adventure, and learning to play one’s most loved songs is more than rewarding in the long run.
Something to keep in mind while learning musical notes is to try and train one’s sense of hearing to hear musical notes. In doing so, keyboard players will be able to hear melodies and play them just by hearing them! This huge feat in musical skill will often take months to years to develop, but it’s something to strive for nonetheless. In the meantime, learn how to play notes and keep the idea of playing by ear ready for when one’s skill set improves.
Timing and rhythm are vastly important to the success of a keyboardist. Timing and rhythm can both be learned by obtaining a metronome, which is just a device that ticks or beeps based on different timing measures. It’s best to use such metronomes while reading sheet music, preferably of music that the keyboardist enjoys so that proper timing can be observed.
Next, it’s good to try and use both hands where applicable. Even when one hand can be used to play multiple notes close together, it’s good to use two hands to simplify the action and to help learn placement at a quicker pace. This way, less attention will be put onto trying to find keys with a certain hand, and more attention can be put on reading sheet music that most keyboardists require for learning.
In the end, the average keyboard player who is just learning how to play needs to realize that learning how to play the keyboard is supposed to be fun. As such, trying to keep the subject fun means pacing out the frustration in learning, and focusing on the finer points of playing the keyboard. If further difficulty arises, never be afraid to ask for professional help- although it may be rather costly to pay for such help.
Final Thoughts
Keyboards are wonderful instruments that have brought the intricacies of the piano to modern-day industry. Learning the keyboard can be just as tough as learning the piano, but through technological instruction, the process is much more simple in design. Obtain a metronome, some sheet music, and some professional advice if funds permits. Above all, have fun!
Key Aspects Of Beginning Keyboard Education
July 5, 2008
Those looking for a new pastime or hobby would do well to remember the benefits of learning the keyboard. But getting started out on this tough instrument will deter many new keyboard players away from becoming experts in their own fields of music. To help speed along the process and enjoyment, following a few guidelines would be in the musician’s best interests.
The first thing to remember in playing a keyboard is to have fun- after all, you’re learning because you want to- not because you have to. It is recommended to try and find songs that you may like and try to find music sheets detailing how to play them. Such music can commonly be found over the Internet, in music stores, and from fellow keyboard players who share same tastes.
Learning how to get the perfect listening ear for musical notes is one of the highest sought skills in keyboard playing. This is because anyone who can learn how to play by ear will essentially be able to hear a song and play it just from listening to it! This also serves great purpose for when the keyboardist with the perfect ear wants to record their own music into tablature. Thus, it’s a good idea to try and learn by ear as well as through reading notes.
Timing and rhythm are vastly important to the success of a keyboardist. Timing and rhythm can both be learned by obtaining a metronome, which is just a device that ticks or beeps based on different timing measures. It’s best to use such metronomes while reading sheet music, preferably of music that the keyboardist enjoys so that proper timing can be observed.
Next, it’s good to try and use both hands where applicable. Even when one hand can be used to play multiple notes close together, it’s good to use two hands to simplify the action and to help learn placement at a quicker pace. This way, less attention will be put onto trying to find keys with a certain hand, and more attention can be put on reading sheet music that most keyboardists require for learning.
As a last word of advice, it is important to have more fun than anything. Often times when a keyboardist makes multiple mistakes, he or she can do so without the listeners actually being able to tell a difference. This fact helps keyboardists relax, since they know that striking every key precisely isn’t vital to having a great show for an audience- since most of the time they won’t even be able to tell the difference!
In Conclusion
Keyboards are wonderful instruments that have brought the intricacies of the piano to modern-day industry. Learning the keyboard can be just as tough as learning the piano, but through technological instruction, the process is much more simple in design. Obtain a metronome, some sheet music, and some professional advice if funds permits. Above all, have fun!
All about Guitar Tabs - For Guitarists
July 5, 2008
Whether you like it or not, guitar tabs will play a huge role when it comes to playing guitar. You might as well know what they are, their components, and everything else that make up the guitar tabs.
The Overall Structure of the Guitar Tab
Guitar tabs actually look like a standard staff. They are composed of horizontal lines, each line representing the string of the guitar. It’s also through the tabs that you can identify if you’re playing a bass guitar or an acoustic guitar: the former has 4 lines while the latter has 6 lines. The highest pitch is represented by the highest line while the lowest represents the thickest string in your guitar. Conversely, if you’re going to write notes in guitar tabs, the lowest note should be found at the lowest line and the highest at the topmost.
Meanwhile, every note is represented by the letters in the alphabet, and the lines of the tabs are numbered accordingly, depending on how many lines there are. Every number that is written on the line stands for the fret that will be receiving your wanted pitch.
The Difference between Guitar Tabs and Standard Staff
At first glance, you may assume that the guitar tabs and standard staff notation are the same. The truth is they’re not. They have a number of differences, which make it easier for you to determine whether you’re dealing with a guitar tab or not.
For example, the tabs of the guitar are highly similar to the fretboard. It’s also one of the reasons why it’s easier for you to learn guitar even when you’re going to deal with various guitar tabs. Moreover, unlike the usual staff notation where you can also see the measure and the beat, with guitar tabs, you can also identify the correct position of your fingers. Each of the fingers is also represented by a number, from 1 to 4. The thumb is not included.
Tablatures can also be converted to ASCII file, or plain text. You can make use of symbols, letters, and numbers. This way, you can at least have a good visual representation of the tablature. This also allows anyone share various guitar tabs of different kinds of music even in the World Wide Web. Most of all, tablatures are more specific to the kind of instrument you’re playing. Tabs used in violin are entirely different with the ones utilized by those who are playing the guitar.
Playing Live with Guitar Backing Tracks
July 5, 2008
Join us as we examine all the benefits of using guitar backing tracks to play live gigs. You’ll learn how using such backing tracks for guitar can improve your skills and ability as well as making practice time more enjoyable, along with the many advantages of using them to play live.
One of the most beneficial learning tools for a guitarist looking to fully master the guitar is to play a lot of live gigs. Playing live shows is great for honing and perfecting your skills and abilities under the pressure of playing in front of an audience. Performing in front of an audience will help you to gauge how far you’ve come and give you a chance to entertain people and put all of that practice time to good use.
One reason why some guitarists may not do live gigs is because they aren’t in a band and have no one to back them up on stage. Others may be in a band with members who aren’t as dedicated, or don’t show up to practices, so playing a live gig would be a disaster. Whatever the reason may be, these individuals are missing out on a great teaching experience that could really help them to master their instrument by not playing live.
This is where playing live gigs with guitar backing tracks can be extremely useful. Guitar backing tracks are the serious guitar student’s most effective secret weapon for improving their playing style and perfecting their instrument. These backing tracks sound great, like a professional band playing behind you to back you up. Do ensure that you do play along to professional guitar backing tracks and not “midi” based tracks. Professional tracks are available from online shops such as Planet of Rock.
Guitar backing tracks are great for private practice sessions as well. They increase your skill by allowing you to practice chords and scales as well as improvising solos to a live backing band. This practice experience also helps you to develop the timing skills necessary to play along with other musicians. They improve practice time by making it less dull and helping you to use the knowledge you have gained to create awesome lead work as well as perfecting rhythm techniques. By perfecting your skills with guitar backing tracks, you can also work on perfecting your tone. All great tone comes from the player’s abilities and how well they actually play; it’s not all about the fancy equipment.
Once you’ve gotten comfortable with your skills and abilities, you’re ready to put them to the ultimate test! Using guitar backing tracks for a live performance will allow you to express your creativity by using your knowledge to improvise great lead work and to thoroughly rock the crowd without worrying about your back up band messing up or missing the show.
Guitar Scales and Arpeggios - 5 Important Patterns
July 4, 2008
It is crucial to learn this scale in all 5 patterns, thereby bringing about the ability to play the scale in all areas of the guitar neck rather than just one. The first scale is master is the G Minor Pentatonic. After discovering the five patterns of this scale in G Minor Pentatonic , it becomes conceivable then to improvise lead anyplace on the neck over any rock tunes in the key of G Minor (such as the famous riff from “Smoke On The Water” by Deep Purple). The Minor Pentatonic scale is the 1st and most critical scale to learn, especially for blues and rock n’ roll. This scale is indeed utilised by blues guitar players as well, though far less often compared to rock and jazz players.
The 2d scale to learn and take control of is the Major Pentatonic scale. The difference between the use of the two scales plainly is that guitar players broadly speaking tend to play Minor Pentatonic when the tune is in a minor key, and Major Pentatonic when the tune is in a major key. In explaining this scale, I’m going to attempt to clear up by introducing a music theory subject, specifically the subject of minor and relative major, in a fashion apprehensible to most anybody. To begin, let’s start with A Minor Pentatonic; in essence, taking the G Minor Pentatonic scale patterns diagrammed on the Cyberfret website and moving each pattern two frets up. In spelling out the notes of the A Minor Pentatonic scale, we have:
A C D E G
By learning the Minor Pentatonic scale, in reality we also learn the Major Pentatonic scale as well. This is because the Minor Pentatonic scale and the Major Pentatonic scale have the same notes when separated by a minor third (i.e. three frets), with the major higher by a minor third in relation to its minor. So for example, A Minor Pentatonic and C Major Pentatonic (the relative major, up a minor third from A Minor) have the same notes, only different roots. The notes for C Major Pentatonic then are:
C D E G A
Thus, A Minor Pentatonic in Pattern 4 is going to have the exact same fingering as C Major Pentatonic in Pattern 3; this duplication occurs with respect to the other patterns as well.
Lastly with reference to the Pentatonic scales, rock guitar players on occasion will apply these two scales interchangeably: that is, they will play both the Major and Minor Pentatonic scales with the song remaining in the same key throughout the solo section. An example is Jimmy Page’s solo on “Nobody’s Fault But Mine”, where he begins the solo in E Minor Pentatonic, switches to E Major Pentatonic, back to E Minor Pentatonic, and concludes the solo in E Major Pentatonic. The use of the two pentatonic scales interchangeably is another beneficial rock and blues guitar lead technique to know and be aware of.
The next scale of importance to learn is the MAJOR SCALE. Of all the scales in existence that a guitar player should have comfortably in hand(s), this is THE ONE. True, the Minor and Major Pentatonic scales come first with respect to rock n’ roll, but the Major scale is used in all types of Western music: rock, jazz, country, classical, just about everything in between. In fact, the Major scale is the foundation for our entire system of Western music: chords, scales, keys, modes, all of these derive their basis from the Major scale. Knowing this scale on the guitar in the five patterns is indispensable. Incidentally, the web site http://www.theguitarfiles.com/scale.php is another good (and free) online source for building both the Major and the Major Pentatonic scales (and many other scales as well).
The Major scale is the same as the Major Pentatonic scale, with two extra notes. Thus, in the key of C we have:
C D E F G A B
This scale can make any rock or blues guitar solo more interesting. Let’s say we have a simple rock power chord progression that’s in the key of A Minor, going from A to C to D to C then back to A. Of course, we could play A Minor Pentatonic over this progression and it would sound fine. Still, playing only one scale over a rock progression becomes dull and tiresome in a hurry. Luckily, there are other alternatives. The better choice that will work and sound great every time over a minor chord progression that isn’t too exotic is to play the major scale relative to the song’s minor key. So, over the above chord progression, we would play A Minor Pentatonic (with bends) and as well as adding in notes from its relative major, the C Major scale. To turn back slightly, if we wanted to make our solo for “Smoke On The Water” more fascinating, we would play B Flat Major. Again, Jimmy Page allows for another good solo example, this time with reference to the major scale. On “Achilles Last Stand”, even although the underlying bass riff during the solo section is in E Minor, every note that Page plays in the solo is a note discovered in the G Major scale, the relative major of E Minor. In short, understanding and being able to improvise using this scale opens up a much wider range of possibilities in rock n’ roll than just using the Major and Minor Pentatonic scales alone.
I like to contrast the differences between rock and jazz guitar lead playing when introducing the subject of arpeggios because playing arpeggios is generally more difficult than playing scales, just as jazz is generally more difficult to improvise than rock n’ roll (a point that could potentially stir some debate). Lead guitar for rock and jazz is fundamentally different from each other in three aspects that come to mind offhand:
(1) Jazz guitarists seldom bend strings on the guitar when playing lead, whereas rock guitar players bend strings frequently:
(2) Jazz guitar lead is more “straight-ahead”; that is, it tends to consist of eighth notes, sixteenth notes and triplets that fall on the beat; rock and blues guitar lead, on the other hand, is much more syncopated, with triplets and eighth and sixteenth notes falling on the off beat or sustaining over the beat, which makes writing the lead out on tablature and/or notation quite a bit more difficult, and:
(3) Jazz guitarists make frequent use of chromatic ideas and octaves in their lead playing; rock guitarists typically don’t.
Simply defined, arpeggios are chords, played one note at a time. The reason arpeggios are more difficult to play on the guitar (perhaps more so than on any other instrument) when compared to scales is because string skipping and sweep picking techniques need to be used to play them effectively. Arpeggios that are played cleanly, however, sound very melodic and add dimension and power to any given solo. In my view, it is definitely worthwhile to learn arpeggios and eventually be able to play them well.
There are five types of arpeggios that are commonly considered the basic arpeggios; the major, minor, major seventh, minor seventh, and dominant seventh. The major and minor arpeggios (also called “triads” because they are composed of three notes) are important to know primarily for rock guitar lead playing. The major seventh and minor seventh arpeggios are indispensable for jazz guitar improvisation, mainly because it’s difficult, if not impossible, to find a jazz standard that doesn’t have a major seventh or minor seventh chord in it. The dominant seventh arpeggio is important to know for jazz and particularly blues because the twelve bar blues is composed entirely of dominant seventh chords.
Diminished arpeggios should also be considered among the basic arpeggios but are somewhat tricky and require more attention. There is the diminished triad, the diminished seventh arpeggio, and the half diminished seventh arpeggio. The diminished triad is the same as the other two, only without the seventh; the diminished seventh arpeggio is symmetrical because it ascends in minor thirds ad infinitum; the half diminished seventh arpeggio is built from the seventh degree of the major scale (commonly known as the “minor seventh flat five” among jazz musicians) and has a minor seventh rather than a diminished seventh. The diminished seventh arpeggio is popular among many rock guitarists (probably because it can be played extremely fast with practice); the half diminished seventh arpeggio (along with the jazz melodic minor scale) tends to be popular with jazz players; the diminished triad is used by both rock and jazz guitarists, but to a lesser degree than their diminished and half diminished seventh counterparts.
This easy approach defined here is conceptually simple, but not easy. My hope is that the information in this report will help make your musical experience less mystifying and more pleasurable
Blues Guitar Shuffle Rhythm Explained
July 3, 2008
So you have understood the 12-bar blues or at least the concept of it and you would like to push your blues playing to higher grounds.
Well your in luck my friend! This article will explain what the blues shuffle rhythm is all about
The better way to invigorate up your playing is to learn the blues shuffle rhythm. I am not sure where the name derives from, but the shuffle is a term used to identify the break down of a beat into 2 components where the first is lengthier than the second.
The blues shuffle rhythm is founded on an eighth note triplet rhythm. A triplet is when you use 3 notes in a given time space instead of two. In a standard 4/4 time signature where there is four quarter notes the eighth notes would be counted as…
1-&-2-&-3-&-4-& … where the &’s are the eighth notes between each quarter. to fill the same time signature with eighth note triplets we’d count as…
1-trip-let-2-trip-let-3-trip-let-4-trip-let … where the trip’s and let’s are eighth notes amounting up to 3 per quarter note. So basically…
1-& = 1-trip-let
The blues shuffle is achieved by playing the first and third notes in a series of triplets. So if the count is…
1-trip-let-2-trip-let-3-trip-let-4-trip-let … then you will be playing on all the down-beats or numbers and the let’s. I have bolded the notes you should be striking to better illustrate.
1-trip-let-2-trip-let-3-trip-let-4-trip-let.
To hear what the shuffle rhythm really sounds like try listening to Led Zeppelin’s - You Shook Me or Grateful Dead’s - Truckin
I hope this has clarified any confusion you may have been having about the blues shuffle rhythm
The Greatest Lead Guitar Playing Myth - Shred Guitar Demystified
July 3, 2008
There are a ton of theories floating around in the guitar player community about the secret to improving your guitar playing speed. Most of these theories are based on some sort of half truth, but a good part of the time these theories are nothing more than myths and really offer no help to truly improving a person’s playing ability or their speed and style. One of the biggest myths out there about achieving faster playing speed is that you can’t play fast with thick strings and high action. Most of the proponents of this particular guitar playing myth say that in order to be able to make your fingers fly across the fretboard, your strings have to be thin and the action in the strings needs to be low.
The reason this is a myth is because in reality, thinner strings and lower action do not at all make it easier for you to play faster, or better. Thin strings and lower action simply reduces the amount of finger and string resistance you get when you play. It does not imply you are playing faster. This makes the notes easier to hit, but does nothing for the quality of your tone, nor for your speed and skill. In actual fact, it just makes making noise easier and faster.
Playing with thin strings doesn’t take an individual who is still an amateur and make them into a guitar master, even if they play faster. What it really takes to be able to play faster isn’t lightning quick fingers, at least not at first. The key to successfully mastering speed and any part of guitar playing is accuracy and clarity. Let me repeat this once again. The key to successfully mastering speed and any part of guitar playing is accuracy and clarity.
A lot of people who get into playing the guitar immediately want to jump into learning how to play fast, and forget all about accuracy. It doesn’t matter how fast you play if you always hit the wrong notes and play sloppily. The problem is people tend to put a higher value on how fast you play, rather than on how well you sound when you play. Accuracy is the key to developing fast fingers. Learn how to play all your scales and chords, master them and their positions on the fretboard, slowly at first. Then after you have them committed to memory, start working on speed. By doing this you will develop into a very well rounded player and will be able to play lightning fast solos with pinpoint accuracy and clarity.
Another great tip for aspiring guitarists to improve accuracy and speed is to use guitar backing tracks. Practicing your solos and your speed techniques can be made even more beneficial when you can play along with an entire band of musicians. Guitar backing tracks provide you with a whole band to back you up while you play and help you to develop your skills while learning how to play with other musicians.
