May19_DigitalPress_TwangTownVol1

Twang Tow own n VOLL . 1 VO Radically Re-Voice Your Tele with a Quartet of DIY Projects, and Get a Hold on Western Swing, Blues-Infused Twang, and the Styles of Three All-Time All-T ime Genre Greats

Digital Press

The Telecaster Mod Guide BY DIRK WACKER

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ew electric guitars with distressed finishes have been around for decades. In fact, aged reproductions of the iconic  sunburst Les Paul Standard were were being crafted before the original examples were even even � years old. But new acoustic guitars with pick scratches, belt-buckle dents, and artificially produced lacquer checking? Acoustic purists scoffed, “No way!” But new acoustic guitars with distressed finishes are far more common now,, and not all of them are high-end models. now I hope you all had a great holidays and that Santa brought you some nice new gear toys … maybe a Telecaster? If so, heat up your soldering iron, because this month, we will take a closer look lo ok into the Telecaster circuit circuit and the possibilities to expand its tonal palette. To start, I would like to ask you a question: how many things can you name that are still built today exactly the same way as 60 years before? The Telecaster is one of them! Without any doubt, Leo Fender was one of the great masterminds in musical history. Almost 60 years ago, he constructed an electrical guitar that remains a landmark today. The Telecaster is a guitar with very complex primary-tone physics, but on the other hand, is electronically very simple. If your Telecaster has a good primary tone, it will b enefit from the following mods and you can maximize your tonal possibilities.

A General Electrical Update Many guitars suffer from poor components that can turn into trouble within a short time; following Murphy´s Law, your troubles will most likely happen in the middle of a solo, live on stage. To make your guitar road-worthy, I highly recommend completely replacing all external components with a "made in the Far

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East" quality. This can also cure a dull sounding guitar and the virtual "blanket over my amp" syndrome. A fresh and matched set of high quality CTS pots, a good CRL 3-way switch, a new Switchcraft or Neutrik output jack, all connected with good cable and solder plus a top-notch tone cap can do magic to your tone. Having said that, let''s look at the standard Telecaster wiring that is used in almost all Telecaster guitars today. Through the years, the values of the pots and the tone cap changed several times, so I didn´t name it in the drawings. We We will talk about this subject later later..

Changing Pot and Cap Values As a guideline you can say the higher the resistance, the warmer the tone. This is valid for both the pots and the tone cap. For a very bright sounding guitar, I recommend 250k pots to get rid of the penetrating highs; vice versa, you can use 500k or even 1Meg pots on guitars with not so sparkling high-end sizzle to bring out more of the top-end. Of course, this all is personal choice, and is dependent on the pickups you use.

The standard value of the tone cap is 0.047uF, but for most of us this is almost overkill, because when you use your tone control the tone will get clinically dull and liveless. liv eless. If you don´t want darker tones like this, I recommend changing the tone cap to a much smaller value (e.g. 3300pF, up to 6800pF). This will guarant g uarantee ee that your tone will alway alwayss be defined and full of life and color, even when you completely close the tone control. You can dial in numerous different tone colors with this simple and inexpensive mod, and it´s a good field to experiment on your own. Personally I use selected 3300pF Orange Drop caps and 250k pots for a classic, vintage Telecaster Telecaster tone.

Pickup Swapping I bet the number of good replacement pickups available for Teles has never been bigger than today. today. An often discussed subject is the Telecaster neck pickup, as it seems to divide players into two different parties: you either love it or hate it. For full disclosure, I´m lean more towards towards the "I hate it" camp c amp and usually replace this pickup in all of my Telecaster guitars because the standard pickup is too "boxy" sounding for my tastes. If you are willing to reroute the pickup cavity (or better yet, let an experienced luthier do it), here are some suggestions that sound incredibly good on a Telecaster: • a Stratocaster neck pickup • a P-90 soapbar pickup (especially on a Thinline Telecaster) • a Gibson or Gibson-style Mini Humbucker

pickup. A pickup like this can give you the best of both worlds: a hot and punchy humbucker tone and a classic, twangy singlecoil sound in the split mode. One problem with this is that all the pickup manufactur manufacturers ers use different color codes, so there is no general guideline how to wire all the coil splitting options, as it depends on the pickup you have have installed. If you can´t download this information directly from the factory homepage, here is a link for you that could be helpful.

50s Vintage Wiring I´m sure you''ve heard about this magical wiring that Gibson used inside late 50s Les Paul guitars and that was almost forgotten for a long lon g time. Electronically there is nothing special about this wiring, it simply connects the tone pot to the output of the volume pot (middle lug), instead of with the input. This changes the way the volume pot reacts, and the overall tone gets stronger and more transparent - more "in the face," you could say. There is much less of the typical treble loss that occurs when rolling back the volume and the tone control reacts smoother and more linear without the typical hot spots. It´s possible to rewire all guitars this way, not just Les Pauls. With a Telecaster it´s simple, because you only hav havee to change one wire, marked red in the drawing. You can also consider using an additional switch to have both wiring varian variants ts available: the classic Fenderr wiring, as well as the 50s Gibson Fende vintage wiring.

Coil Splitting If your guitar is equipped with a 4-conductor cable humbucker, humbucker, you can perform all kinds of coil splitting to enlarge the number of possible sounds … singlecoil mode, parallel mode, in phase, out of phase, etc. A prime example of a good sounding bridge b ridge pickup humbucker for Telecasters Telecasters is the DiMarzio "The Chopper"


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The "Strato-tone" Mod (aka "Nashville" Modification) Many of the top Nashville studio players, like Brent Mason or Reggie Young, are playing Telecasters with an additional third pickup in the middle position to get those popular "in-between" Strat sounds (bridge plus middle and middle plus neck together in parallel). If you want to modify your Tele this way, I recommend giving it to an experienced luthier and letting him do the necessary woodwork (routing the additional pickup cavity, rerouting the pickguard, etc.). Any Stratocaster Stratocaster pickup is a good mate for the standard s tandard Telecaster Telecaster pickups and will expand your tonal palette drastically. You will also hav havee to change the 3-way switch and install a standard Stratocaster 5-way switch and eventually a third pot if needed. Basically, this is a standard Strat configuration configuration and naturally you can perform any Stratocaster mod you like (the 7-tone mod, blending options, etc.), but we will talk about all this Strat stuff in a later column. If one day you decide to switch back to the classic two-pickup Tele Tele configuration, you can simply take out the middle pickup, switch back to a 3-way Telecaster switch and reinstall a standard Telecaster pickguard that will cover the third pickup cavity; suddenly, the former modification is invisible again. 4-Way Wiring Position Positi on 2 of the Telecaster selector switch givess you both pickups wired in parallel; this give is a standard wiring, and one of the classic Telecaster tones. But what if you need a fatter sound out of your Tele? The two outside switch positions on the Tele - which select the bridge or neck pickup individually - stay basically the same. But the middle position (both pickups together) wires the pickups in series rather than parallel. This produces a thicker, meatier sound, while still retaining the recognizable characteristics of a Tele. Tele. This is not a

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hum-cancelling combination, but it giv gives es the increased power of a series link. So, in short, all you do is change the #2 position of your 3-way 3-way switch, so that the bridge and neck pickups are in series instead of parallel. If you want to be more flexible, you can install the Fender 4-way Tele switch, as shown in the circuit below. This will give you both sounds when you dial in the two pickups together - wired in parallel (standard wiring)

and the wired in series sound. If, for any reason, you don´t want to install ins tall a 4-way 4-wa y switch, you can also use a push/pull pot or a small toggle switch to manually add the neck pickup in series when the Telecaster 3-way switch is in position #1 (bridge pickup alone). Here is what you have to do: Attention! If you have a standard Telecaster neck pickup with installed metal cover: For cover: For this alteration to work correctly, isolate the metal cover of the neck pickup (if present) from its ground lead. Run a separate ground wire for the cover to the back of the volume control! You can find a good pictured


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step by step guide for this t his here here - it´s it´s in Spanish, but the pictures are international… international…

"Direct Through" Switch If you really want to hear the sound of your guitar together with the pickup, there is only one way: soldering the pickup directly to the output jack. Dependin Depending g on the guitar guitar,, the result result can can be stunning; with a Tele, your tone will be louder, stronger and more direct, a highly recommended mod for all the country guys, as well as anyone who wants the maximum twang and spank a Tele has to offer. The control pots always add a little load to the circuit and, depending on the pots, the tone will get a bit softer and sometimes dull, losing the shimmering highs and the organic vibe. As you may recognize, the suggested method works well, but is not practicable in any way. However, there are different ways to get rid of the control load in your guitar system: 1. You can replace all your your pots with so-called "no-load" pots from Fender. This is a very cool, albeit an expensive, way to enhance the sound of your guitar. Electrically this pots are great; when you open them 100%, a circuit will shorten this pot and erase it from the circuit, so it''s as if it never was there. And you can hear it! 2. Another way to do this is to use a DPDT switch or a push/pull pot and to perfrom my "direct-through" mod. You can see how to wire the switch on the circuit below.. Activating the switch will bypass all below controls and all pickups connected to the pickup selector switch are wired directly to the output jack. Combating Volume vs. Tone I´m sure you know the idiosyncracies inherent in passive single coil pickup systems like the Telecaster - when w hen you turn down the volume (even just a bit), the high end or treble loss is not proportionate. In other words, a small cut in

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volume creates a far greater loss in your guitar´s treble response. The best solution would be to replace the complete system for an active one, but there is a simple method to get rid of this problem. As you may know, for some time Fender installed a so-called "bleeding cap" on the volume pot to get rid of this problem. Leo was on the right track for sure, but he choose a 1000pF cap that was much too big for this purpose and you can´t use one value for all configurations; it depends a lot on the pickups, the pots, the cables and, of course, the amp you use. The theory behind this is much more complex than it seems, so maybe we will take a closer look into this in a later column. But for now, please take my word and desolder the 1000pF cap if you havee one installed. The Telecaster Mod Guide hav When rolling back the volume, this cap will pronounce the highs much more than necessary and you can get some really cool, funky sounds with that, but for most of us, 1000pF is not a helpful value in any way. For a standard Telecaster Telecaster with two singlecoil sin glecoil pickups, connected to two 250k pots, install a 470pF cap and experiment from there. The higher the value, the more treble you''ll recei receive ve when rolling back the volume. For other pot values, you unfortunately can´t use the "cap only" method because it would kill the mid frequencies. For this, you will need a treble bleeding network with caps and resistors in parallel or in series, depending on the configuration. Well, I hope you enjoyed this one and good luck pimping your Tele-Babies! Tele-Babies!

MOD GARAGE

’50s Les Paul Wiring in a Telecaster BY DIRK WACKER

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fter pestering you with switching theory for a full three months [“Inside the 3-way Telecaster Pickup Switch,” October 2013, “How to Wire a Stock Tele Pickup Switch,” November 2013, and “How to Wire Alternative Tele 3-Way Switches,” December 2013], it’s time to start exploring Telecaster Telecaster mods. Let’s begin with a simple but great mod that’s typically called “the ’50s Les Paul wiring.” (This wiring is also known as “vintage wiring” or “’50s vintage wiring.”) This is the way Gibson wired up their electric guitars in the late 1950s, including the famous “burst” “ burst” Les Pauls, as well as SGs and ES-335s. This wiring has been one of the hot topics in guitar forums in recent years, years, and there are many myths and urban legends about it. After it was forgotten for a very long time, today it seems to be more popular than ever. Electronically, there’s nothing too special about this wiring—it simply connects the tone pot to the output of the volume pot (middle lug) instead of the input lug. All late-’50s Gibson guitars were wired this way, but here’s the good news: You can do this with any guitar that has at least one volume and one tone pot ... just like our Telecasters! What’ss so special about this ’50s wiring? It What’ affects your tone in three major ways: 1.

The overall tone gets stronger, tighter, and more transparent. It’s difficult to describe, but you might say it’s more “in your face.” 2. The typical treble loss that occurs when rolling back the volume is much less than with standard wiring. Both the volume and tone controls become more responsive, and they react more smoothly without the usual hot spots. Another bonus: By simply rolling back

your guitar volume a bit, you can clean up an overdriven amp without getting lost in the mix. 3. The tone and the volume controls interact with each other—something you might be familiar with from certain tweed-era Fender tube amps. When you change the volume, the tone changes a little bit as well, and vice-versa. This may be strange at first, but you only need a few minutes to get used to it. As always, mods that affect tone are matters of personal taste, but this one is really worth trying. It’s It’s simple and invisible, and you can easily revert to standard wiring if you don’t like it. Before we heat up the soldering iron, let’s take a closer look at what to expect. I’m sure you’ve heard about the magical tone of late-’50s l ate-’50s sunburst Les Pa Pauls. uls. Perhaps you’ve been lucky enough to play one—we’re all jealous—but we know this tone from our old records. Part Part of this magic is attributable to the ’50s wiring, which makes the tone very transparent and more “direct.” The guitar responds much better and without this wiring, it’s difficult to get that bloom—the way notes open up after you’ve played them. It’s always difficult to describe sound with words, so your best bet is to give it a try and compare it to standard wiring. Let’ss think about the treble-loss issue for Let’ a moment. I’m sure you know the inherent idiosyncrasies of passive passive single-coil pickups and volume controls. On a Telecaster, for example, when you turn down the volume—even just a bit—you bit— you lose highs disproportionat disproportionately ely to the amount of volume reduction. In other words, a small cut in volume creates a far greater loss in treble response.


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Fig. 1

Gibson’s ’50s wiring, shown on a Les Paul circuit.

This wiring has been one of the hot topics in guitar forums in recent years, and there are many myths and urban legends about it." You can get rid of this problem by installing a “treble-bleed network”—a combination of a capacitor and resistor wired in parallel or series on your volume pots. But another alternative is the ’50s wiring scheme, which may be all you need to deal with this treble-loss issue. Here’s why: The ’50s wiring exhibits much less treble loss that standard wiring because it follows a completely different curve, depending on the ratio of your pot. It works best with audio taper pots, preferably those with a 60:40 or 70:30 ratio. Smaller ratios like 80:20 or 90:10 limit this benefit and result in the typical “on/off” or “bright/dull” problem when using the controls.

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Please note: If you currently have a Telecaster with standard wiring and a treble-bleed network, you need to remove the latter when switching to ’50s wiring. (Using a treble-bleed network with the ’50s wiring negatively impacts the natural evenness of the controls’ response.) Okay, let’s begin. First go to seymourduncan. com and download the standard (aka “modern”) Telecaster wiring schematic (http://www. ( http://www. seymourduncan.com/support/wiring-diagrams/ schematics.php?schematic=standard_tele ). Print this out and pin it up at your workbench. This will be our reference for all future mods—and you can bet there will be a lot of them.

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Fig. 2

Gibson’s ’50s wiring applied to a Telecaster. The tone pot connects to the volume pot’s output (middle lug) instead of the input lug.

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Next, check out Fig. 1, 1, which is the Gibson ’50s wiring, shown in a Les Paul circuit. Most Les Paul, SG, and ES-335 players with PAFstyle humbuckers prefer this wiring b ecause it’ss one of the key ingredients of old-school it’ Les Paul tone. When you alter the standard Telecaster wiring to match the ’50s Gibson wiring, you get the schematic in Fig. 2. 2. To reiterate: Simply connect the tone pot to the output of

the volume pot (middle lug) instead of the input lug used in standard Tele Tele wiring. See? It’s It’s not so hard to apply this to a Telecaster and it’s as effective as on a Les Paul. Next month we’ll dig even deeper into ’50s wiring on a Telecaster, Telecaster, and I ’ll show you an even simpler way to convert your guitar to these specs. We’ll even make it switchable, so you can hav havee both wirings in one guitar guitar.. Yeah, life is good!


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MOD GARAGE

Telecaster Series Wiring BY DIRK WACKER

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et’s explore a common mod for Telecasters and other two-pickup guitars, but with a little twist: wiring two pickups in series rather than in parallel to get louder, meatier sounds. This mod is also known as Telecaster 4-way wiring. A Telecaster with a standard 3-way switch and traditional wiring provides the classic pickup combinations we all know and love: • • •

Position #1: bridge pickup alone Position #2: both pickups in parallel Position #3: neck pickup alone

But many players (myself included) like having an additional option with more balls, perfect for solos that easily drive your amp into saturation. This sound is also cool for playing jazz. Hitting this goal is as easy as wiring the two pickups in series rather than in parallel. In parallel mode, the pickup inputs are connected, as are the outputs. This is one of the main reasons a Telecaster usually sounds very bright. The signal from each pickup reaches the output jack via the shortest possible route. High frequencies reach the output jack almost unchecked, giving your Tele its signature sparkling quality. The sound of series. In series. In series mode, however, the ground wire of one pickup is connected to the hot wire of the other. They become a kind of “compound pickup,” sharing one ground and one hot output. When pickups are wired in series, their impedance is summed, and the output is very high. However, some treble frequencies are lost because the long pickup wire acts as a resistor, and any resistor in the signal path suppresses the signal. Additionally, resistors attenuate higher frequencies more than low ones, which explains the prominent

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Fig. 1

How to wire your Tele for an added series sound.

lows and midrange of series-wired pickups. Compared to parallel wiring, the signal must travel through twice as much pickup wire to reach the output jack. The resulting tone increases a Telecaster’ elecaster’ss versatility,, so it wasn’t versatility wasn’t long before someone came up with a nice solution: the 4-way switch. Simply replace the standard 3-way switch with a special 4-way 4-wa y switch and follow the Fender wiring diagram in Fig. 1. The mod is invisible from the outside, and it provides this switching matrix: • • • •

Position #1: bridge pickup alone Position #2: both pickups in parallel Position #3: neck pickup alone Position #4: both pickups in series

We’ll revisit the 4-way switch and its physics in a later column. But all you really need is a 4-way replacement switch and the wiring diagram. Important: Before Important: Before performing this mod, you need to check whether your neck pickup sports the usual metal cover. If so, you must separate the cover from ground, as explained in my May 2013 Premier Guitar column, column, “Preparing “Preparing Your Tele for Future Mods.” Mods.” An alternative arrangement. Some arrangement. Some players don’t want to change the standard 3-way switch, or don’t like the order of settings in the 4-way switch mod. (The order can be changed, as we’ll see in an upcoming column.)

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Fig. 2

Getting a series sound with an added switch rather than a replacement pickup selector.

It’s possible to use a 2PDT switch to activate series wiring. You can do this using a mini-toggle switch mounted on the metal control plate between the two controls (there’s plenty of space), or you can replace one of the standard control pots with a push-pull or push-push pot. Either option works as long as you use a 2PDT switch. The basic idea is to hav havee standard 3-way switch operation, plus the option of jumping to the series sound simply by hitting a switch, overriding the pickup selector regardless of its setting. Hit the switch again, and the 3-way switch is re-engaged at its current position. This wiring can work as a kind of preset switch: Dial in a neck pickup alone for rhythm work, hit the switch for a series solo sound, and then flick the switch again to return to your

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“rhythm preset.” We We usually use this wiring w iring in our shop if the customer doesn’t want to fumble with a 4-way switch. Not just for Teles. Naturally Teles. Naturally,, this arrangement works with any two-pickup guitar, not just Telecasters. The wiring shown in Fig. 2 employs 2 employs a push-pull pot with a 2PDT switch, but you can also use a DPDT mini-toggle on the control plate—just move the relevant wires to the new switch. Please keep in mind, though, that you must convert your neck pickup to three-conductor wiring as mentioned above, assuming it has a metal cover connected to common ground. That’ss it! Next month we’ll cover another cool That’ mod for acoustic guitars, in keeping with that issue’ss unplugged theme. Until then, stay in tune issue’ and keep on modding!

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MOD GARAGE

Lean, Mean Series Wiring for Telecasters BY DIRK WACKER

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ele players often ask about adding series wiring to their instruments—a mod that lets you access a powerful tone when you engage both pickups. On a stock Tele, the pickups are connected in parallel when you use them together, together, but if you run them in series instead, the resulting output is hotter and louder, and this makes it much easier to drive your amp into saturation. If you’re craving burly Tele tones, series wiring will deliver. There are several ways to mod your Telecaster for series wiring. The most common approach is to replace the standard 3-way pickup selector with a 4-way switch. This keeps the three familiar switching positions untouched and simply adds a new sound in switching position #4. This is my preferred method, and I think it’s the most useful Telecaster mod ever. I explained how to do this mod in a previous column, “Telecaster Series Wiring.” Wiring.” In that same column, I also describe an alternative scheme that uses a second 2PDT switch to connect both pickups together in series, while overriding the setting of the stock 3-way switch. But not everyone wants to swap their 3-way selector for a 4-way unit or add that extra 2PDT switch. The order of settings on the 4-way selector isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, and, similarly, adding a second switch to a Tele strikes some guitarists as unnecessarily fussy. But wait: If you crave that powerful dualpickup tone, yet want to maintain the Tele’s glorious simplicity, why not simply configure the 3-way switch’s middle position to connect the bridge and neck pickups in series? Yes, you’ll you ’ll lose the old middle position with both pickups in parallel, but if the series connection is all you need, this wiring is for you. You’ll still have access to either the neck or bridge

pickup by itself, yet be merely one click away from a hot series tone. It’s like having a solo preset sound in the switch’s middle position. So let’s investigate this lean, mean serieswiring scheme. The new n ew switching matrix for the 3-way switch looks like this: • • •

Position #1: bridge pickup alone Position Position Posi tion #2: both pickups in series Position Posi tion #3: neck pickup alone

To begin this mod, you must first check if the neck pickup’s metal cover is connected to ground—which ground—which is the case for almost all standard Telecaster neck pickups. If so, you’ll have to break this connection and solder a third, new ground wire to the metal cover. How do you do this? How do you do this? Glad you asked: We covered this before in “Preparing Your Tele for Future Mods.” Mods. ” If you have a Strat pickup, a P-90, or some similar single-coil in the neck position, you can skip this step. For For all other pickups sporting a metal cover that’s connected to the pickup’s ground, you’ll need to break this connection before you proceed. Fig. 1 shows 1 shows the wiring, which looks familiar but is a little bit more complex than standard Telecaster’s wiring. The important detail here is to connect the hot wire from the neck pickup to the volume pot’s input lug, rather than directly to the switch, which is the usual approach. There are other ways to accomplish the mod, but this is my favorite method because it’s simple to wire and you can easily reverse the mod or upgrade to a 4-way switching system at a later date. And the beauty of this is we still have the familiar operation of a standard Telecaster 3-way selector.. The only change is the new sound for selector


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Fig. 1

the middle position; the other two settings are not affected. Also, you can incorporate other mods into this wiring, such as the ’50s wiring that I’ve covered before. While we’re discussing Tele wiring, I’d like to make a point about grounding— something that comes up quite a bit with modders. Typically, you’ll see the two pots being connected to ground by running a wire from the volume pot’s case to the tone pot’s

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case, and then soldering the string-grounding wire that’s installed underneath the bridge to the case of one of the two pots. When you use a standard Telecaster control plate made from conductive metal, you already have a kind of natural grounding and you can skip the wire connecting one pot to the other. Just connect the string-grounding wire to the case of one of the pots and you’re done. Why? When the pots and switch are installed

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If you’re craving burly Tele tones, series wiring will deliver." deliver." on the control plate with their metal parts touching the metal control plate, they create a perfect grounding system. This applies not only to Telecasters, but all pickguards and control plates made of conductive metal. To confirm this, simply set a digital multimeter to continuity and place both probes on the metal pieces you want to check. If the DMM shows continuity, you’ve won. If not, then ground your pots or glue a piece of copper foil underneath the pickguard or control plate to add conductivity.

This series wiring offers another benefit when you use a conductive control plate: The lug on the 3-way switch that’s that’s connected to ground only needs a short bare jumper wire soldered to it. Simply clamp the other end of the jumper between the 3-way switch’s metal frame and the control plate, and you’re good to go. Okay,, we’re done for Okay fo r now. Next time I’ll I ’ll share a cool shop tip with you—an easy way to maintain your frets and extend their lifespan while changing strings. Until then, keep on modding!

the Straight Truth About Pickups by Jason Lollar The“ma “magic” gic”fou found nd in in some some (but (but not all) clas classic sic vint vintage age picku pickups ps was created by accident. Don’t let anyone tell you different. And over time, some pretty stellar accidents happened. The only way to recreate that magic is to study more than a few exceptional examples of all the classic pickup types, while acquiring a thorough understanding of exactly what materials were used and precisely how each pickup was constructed and wound. Only then is the “magic” repeatable, if you are willing to spend the time and money required to chase the dragon. I am. I personally design and wind over 30 different pickup models, including all the vintage classics, many obscure works of art known only to lap and pedal steel players like Robert Randolph, and even a few of my own designs that never existed in the past. I invite you to visit our website for sound clips, videos and current product information, or feel free to give us a call. Lollar Pickups,Tacoma, WA. (206) 463-9838 www.lollarguitars.com


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Play Like Paisley! BY JIM LILL

Chops: Intermediate Theory: Beginner Lesson Overview: • Discover backward pick scrapes. • Create blistering pull-off licks. • Develop faux G-bender phrases.

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hen you listen to Brad Paisley play guitar,, you feel two things. The first guitar is unmitigated joy at the creativity and expression in his playing. But then the second creeps in, which is frustration over not understanding what he does. I’ve felt those things, and over years of hacking away at solo after solo I’ve noticed some of Brad’ Brad’ss patterns and habits. Some are as difficult as they sound, but b ut many of them are actually within reach of us mortals. Let’s Let’s focus

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on some of Brad’s Brad’s signature techniques that we can adapt to our own playing right away.

Backward Pick Rakes LA pick rake is when you strum through dead strings to reach the note you’re targeting. The traditional way to do this is to power across the completely muted low strings to attack a note on the 2nd string. Brad goes the traditional route route all the time, but in addition to the standard pick rake, he also likes to

accent important notes on the low strings with backward pick rakes. The rules for a backward pick rake are the same, but instead of strumming down to get to your note, you strum upward starting at the 1st string and stopping at the note you want. Use this technique on low notes that need a little more explosiveness and thickness than standard picking can provide (Ex. ( Ex. 1). 1).

I’ve seen people miss when trying to sound like Brad is his mastery of staccato playing. Staccato notes are cut short. They don’t ring out. They’re punchy little pops that are intended to contrast with normal guitar soloing. Without them, a solo can sound like a run-on sentence. But with them, a solo can sound like a melody driv driven en right into your soul. Throw some short notes into your playing, and feel the space they open up ( Ex. 2). 2).

Staccato Notes Brad is in control of the exact length of each note he plays. I don’t just mean “This is a quarter-note, and this is an eighth-note.” I’m talking about the specific amount of time he lets his notes ring. He makes great use of legato playing (letting the notes ring right up until the start of the next note for maximum smoothness), but something that

Triplets, Triplets, Triplets When I used to listen to Brad Paisley songs, all his fast playing just sounded hard. Now, about 90 percent of his fast playing sounds hard, and the rest I can recognize as him playing triplets with pull-offs.

Ex. 1 Ex. 1

Moderately slow = 80

rake

rake

rake 1 /2

1 /2

2 2 0

X

2

X

X

X

X

0

0

0

3

4

4 4 1

2

2

X X

2

X

3

3

0

10

Ex. 2 Ex. 2 Moderately slow = 80

w/ pick & nger P.M.

P.M.

P.M.

6

4

7 0

2

5 0

4 0

0

2

3

4

4


17

Brad likes to play two harmonized notes back to back—usually thirds or sixths—then pull off to an open string from the higher of the two notes. The pull-off to the open string doesn’t require extra extra energy, energy, so he can increase his speed s peed by 33 percent without any added work. For the right hand, always pick the bottom note, pluck the top note with your middle finger, and pull off to the open note. You’ll find your rhythm ( Ex. 3). 3).

C) there are two “money notes” on each string, that when combined with an open string can lead you up or down the open position in a fury. When descending, the picking hand should use the following pattern: down, up, pull-off. The ascending version of the pattern would be down, hammer-on, up, with the “up” being the first note on the next string. In the next five examples, I’ll demonstrate this concept in our guitar-friendly keys.

Open-String Runs For his speediest licks, Brad relies heavily on open strings and familiar positions. In each of the main “guitar-friendly” keys (E, A, D, G, and

Okay, Let’s Talk About the G-Bender Brad has his electric guitars equipped with a device called a G-bender. Instead of securing his

Ex. 3 Ex. 3 __ Fast

= 155

3

= 3

3

3

3

w/ pick & nger rake X

5 5

X

0

X

2

X

3

2

2

3

5

5 5

7

7

7

0

9

5

0

7

4

0

5

2

0

3

0 2

1

3

3

Ex. 4 x. Moderately = 110

sim.

0 0 1 2 2 0

3

2

0 3

2

0 3

2

0 4

2

0 4

0 0 0 0

18

2

0 3

0

2

2

2

4

4


2

4

2

3

2

3

3

0

0

Ex. 5 Ex. 5 Moderately = 110

sim.

3

2

0 3

2

0

2 2 0

4

2

0 4

2

0 4

2

0

0 4

0 0 0 0 0 2

2

2

2

2

4

5

3

4

4

4

4


sim. 3

2

0

3 2 0

3

2

0 4

2

0 4

2

0

0 4

2

0 2

0 0 0 0 0 2

2

2

2

2

3

2 3

4

4

4

4

strap conventionally, he only fastens one end of it to the guitar’s bottom strap button. The other end of the strap attaches to a lever connected to the neck plate. That lever is linked to an apparatus that runs through the inside of the guitar body

and ultimately ends up under the bridge at the G string. When Brad yanks the guitar neck toward the floor, the lever pulls up, causing the bender mechanism to precisely raise the pitch of the G string one whole-step. Whoa! Armed with a


19


sim. 3 0 0 0 X 3

3

2

0 3

1

0 4

2

0 4

2

0 3

2

2

0 0 0 0 0 2

0

2

2

2

1

2

3

3

3

4

4

3

3

Ex. 8 Ex. 8

Moderately

= 110

sim. 3

1

0

1 0 2 3

3

1

0 3

2

0 3

2

0 3

2

0

3 3

0 1 0 0 0 1

2

2

2

4

3 1

3

3

3

G-bender, Brad can hold triads or full chords and bend notes on the G string inside the voicing. Alas, we don’t all have G-benders in our guitars, and that can make it tough to sound like Brad … but tough doesn’t mean impossible.

20

3

3


The key to sounding like you have a bender is to bend notes a whole-step on the G string while fretting sustained lower notes on the 4th and/or 5th strings. It’s an uncommon enough technique that listeners think “That sounds like a G-bender!”

In this 2013 video, Brad explains how Diamond Rio’s Jimmy Olander inspired him to check out a G-bender and walks us through exactly how and why he uses one.

CLICK H�R� TO LIST�N

Ex. 9 Ex. 9

Slow = 65

let ring

let ring

let ring

1

1

1

*

7

7

5

10 10

5

0

4 5

0

0 2 *behind the nut

Ex. 9 has 9 has a few chord shapes where you can fool the world into believing you have a G-bender like Brad. Note: You have to press down on the 3rd string behind the nut for the last one.

It’ll hurt at first, but your callouses will get thicker. Now you’re you’re equipped with a new set of tools you can use to make your playing expressive and creative in a very Paisley-approved way.


21

Jerry Reed’s Reed’s Red-Hot Picking BY KIRBY JANE

Chops: Intermediate Theory: Intermediate Lesson Overview: • Understand how to play multiple parts at once. • Add syncopated chord fragments to a bass line. • Learn how to approach practicing difficult pieces.

T

he basic concept of modern fingerstyle guitar—playing multiple parts at once— was deeply influenced by the work of guitarist, vocalist, producer, composer, and actor,, Jerry Reed. The strongest elements actor of Reed’s Reed’s style came out of American blues, bl ues, gospel, and country music. He combined those traits with an intuitive prowess on the instrument and a rambunctious sense of humor. Throughout this lesson I’ll be focusing on some of the techniques Jerry used in his instrumental fingerstyle pieces, deconstructing elements of the riffs that are so characteristic of his style, and remixing them into playable exercises exer cises to help you absorb his ideas and apply them to your own playing.

Practice Notes Reed’ss guitar style was so uncommon and Reed’ unique that finding an entry point can be intimidating. I was once a newbie to fingerstyle guitar as well, so I’m hoping this lesson is an antidote to that woe. If anything, learning some of these exer exercises cises should also, incidentally, incidentally, provide a foundation for playing gospel voicings, syncopations, and blues-influenced counterpoint,, since these influences were counterpoint integral to the “Jerry Reed” sound. Much of Jerry’s other work can be understood simply by tackling his instrumental fingerstyle fingerstyle songs, so the exer exercises cises

22



Bill Evans is one of the most influential pianists in jazz. Filmed in Berlin in 1965, this video reveals his buoyant, propulsive style as he plays a classic standard, “Beautiful Love.”

I’m presenting are derived from three Jerry Reed tunes: “Struttin’,” Jiffy Jam,” and “The Claw.” I developed these exercises from my own practice habits and routines. In his Harvard Norton Lecture Series, Leonard Bernstein stated that “the best way to ‘know’ a thing is in the contex contextt of another discipline.” We can apply this idea to the fretboard. For example, to learn hard licks and develop more clarity and authority with a passage, I’ll break down each difficult phrase into micro-routines that are more manageable. I’ll also explore specific techniques in different settings to understand them outside of their original context. Later down the road, as I’m performing these pieces live, this approach allows me to understand what I’m doing well

enough that if I ever lose focus mid-song, I can prevent more mistakes, and I can recover more smoothly from the mistakes I do make. This is useful when performing virtuoso pieces from any genre. Creating exercises like these prevents me from over-emotionalizing over-emotionalizing the learning process, and allows me to practice more easily and more productively even when I don’t feel inspired to sit down and be creative. It reduces the process to just developing manageable exercises and putting in the practice time.

Right-Hand Technique When Jerry picked he usually kept his index finger tucked back and out of the way. He still used his index finger to pick, just not constantly.. Other than that, when picking he constantly used all his right-hand fingers and thumb. Jerry didn’t anchor his pinky on the pickguard— common practice in fingerstyle guitar. He did, however, keep his wrist anchored on the upper part of the guitar’ guitar’ss bridge, above the 6th string, so he had a phy physical sical point of referenc referencee for his picking hand. And unlike most thumbpickers today, he didn’t really bring his left-hand thumb over the top of the neck to fret bass notes. This may have been because he was playing nylonstringed guitars, which usually have wider neck dimensions than steel-string guitars. Left-Hand Technique Jerry’s left-hand technique involved tremendous finger independence akin to that of a classical guitarist. What is most notable about Jerry’s left-hand fretting technique, though, is that it’s incredibly non-linear. Here’s what I mean: If you watch someone like Chet Atkins or Tommy Emmanuel, it can be easy to see the underlying shapes of the chords from which notes are being played. It’s It’s possible to see the CAGED system put to use in Chet and Tommy’s arrangements, generally speaking. But it’s far more difficult to find the chord shapes Jerry

used in his tunes because when he was writing, he’d typically start by creating a complex melody and a similarly complex bass line. After having done all that, he would fill in between with contrapuntal harmonies. The result was multiple riffs and fragments of chord shapes, combined and played in competition with one another.. Even today this is still a rarely used another approach to guitar composition, even among fingerstyle players who have been directly influenced by him. To add to this, Jerry used open notes wherever wherev er possible, and he was almost always playing passing chords under the melody line, so his left hand was constantly in motion on the neck and the fingerings changed continuously. continuously. All this gives Jerry’s Jerry’s compositions an unfamiliar feel, even though they fit into conventional conventional songwriting structures. It made the songs memorable, but difficult to comprehend at first listen. However, these songs become easier to decode if you pay attention to the top and the bottom of the score. In other words, first follow what the melody and the bass line are doing, and how they interact with one another. After you’ve familiarized yourself with how that sounds, then try looking at how the harmonies and passing chords fit in between the bass line and melody. Jerry didn’t play a song the same way each time, but he kept many of the passing chords the same. To get you accustomed to the types of counterpoint Jerry wrote into his compositions, in these examples I’ll focus on fundamental fingerstyle syncopations and incorporate some typical Jerry-approved hammer-on and pull-off maneuvers. Most of the examples will be in dropped-D tuning with no capo, and include passing chords modeled after those found in Jerry’s song “Struttin’.” The final example is in standard tuning, inspired by riffs Jerry used in “The Claw,” “Jiffy Jam,” and “Mr. Lucky.” I’ve designed these exercises to be played using


23

just bare fingers and a thumbpick. If you really want to learn to play these accurately, I suggest practicing with a metronome. The way to know you’re really on time is if you can play so accurately that the sound of the metronome seems to disappear disappear.. Ex. 1 , 1 , which is composed of doublestops fretted between the 4th and 7th frets, uses intervals and chord shapes similar to “Struttin’.” This will get you used to the weird harmonic movements in that intro, and also

strengthen your fourth finger and increase its flexibility. The exercise involves barring multiple notes at one time with the fourth finger, while also stretching it a great deal. This particular musical phrase is unstable and circular, so it helps to count it out differently. As you’re counting the beat for this in your head and body, accent every beat instead of only the 1 and 3. Ex. 2 uses 2 uses the same chord shapes, but with different,, and more stable, musical phrasing. different

Ex. 1 Ex. 1 Dropped-D tuning: (low to high) D-A-D-G-B-E :

Moderately = 100

w/ thumbpick & ngers

4 4

6 4

7 7

7 7

5 6

7 7

5 6

7 7

6 4

7 7

4 4

7 7

6 4

7 7

5 6

7 7

5 6

7 7

6 4

7 7

4 4

6 4

7 7

5 6

7 7

7 7

5 6

7 7

6 4

7 7

4 4

7 7

Ex. 2 :

Ex. 2

Dropped-D tuning: (low to high) D-A-D-G-B-E

Moderately = 100

w/ thumbpick & ngers 6 4

0

6 4

0

24

0

7 7

0

5 6

0

7 7

0

6 4

7 7

0


5 6

7 7

0

5 6

0

7 7

7 7

6 4

0

6 4

0

5 6

7 7

0

7 7

5 6

0

7 7

6 4

0

7 7

6 4

0

5 6

7 7

0

7 7

5 6

0

7 7

6 4

0

7 7

0

5 6

7 7

0

7 7

0

0

0

0

Ex. 3 Ex. 3 Dropped-D tuning: (low to high) D-A-D-G-B-E


w/ thumbpick & ngers let ring

*slight P.M. let ring 6 4

0

7 7

0

5 6

7 7

6 4

7 7

0

5 6

7 7

6 4

5 6

7 7

0

0

7 7

0

7 7

5 6

7 7

0

0

0

6 4 0

0

0

*Refers to downstemmed notes only, next 4 meas.

let ring

6 4

7 7

5 6

7 7

6 4

0

7 7

5 6

7 7

6 4

0

5 6

7 7

6 4

0

0 0

7 7

7 7

5 6

7 7

0 0

0

I’ve also added a steady quarter-note bass line this time. As with playing double Dutch on the playground, I’ve used the first and last measures of the exercise to provide some momentum and a rhythm before you jump in to add the melody line over the top. Jerry was incredibly conscious of where the beat was in a song, especially while he was singing or talking over his guitar playing, so the purpose of this exercise is to give you a solid sense of where the beat is in a phrase. Next, we keep the exact same rhythmic notation as Ex. 2, except now the bass notes alternate in a 1–8–5–8 pattern ( Ex. 3). 3). It’s tricky to play this one cleanly, so practice it at lower speeds and get it clean before you speed up the exercise. If you’re struggling to get the syncopations on time, practice playing the alternating bass line by itself until it doesn’t require much thought, then gradually add the chord changes over it. Keep repeating the exercise on a loop until you get it right and it feels comfortable.

0

A quick note about picking-hand technique: When technique: When playing syncopations, it can be helpful to bring your thumb out in front of the fingers on your picking hand, rather than tucking your thumb level with or behind your index finger (your hand should look less l ess like a lute player’s hand, and more like Chet Atkins’ hand). Adjusting your wrist angle like this to create this posture will allow you to pick with smaller smaller,, more efficient movem movements, ents, so your picking speed and string attack will be stronger. stronger. I see s ee the lute-style hand position used more by women than men, and I also find I tend to use that posture, too. That technique can be advanta advantageous geous for playing pl aying very delicate passages, but for alternating bass lines the Chet-style hand position is most ergonomic and gets a louder tone. Now, let’s focus on some passing chords. I’ll let you decide on your own fingerings for this because people fret chords differently, but whatever you decide, at least be somewhat consistent with your fingerings when you play.


25

Ex. 4 Ex. 4 Dropped-D tuning: (low to high) D-A-D-G-B-E


w/ thumbpick & ngers let ring throughout

1 0

2 3 2

3 2 4

2 4

3 3 4

3 4

0 0

2 4

1 0

2 4

3 2 4

2 3 2

3 3 4

3 4

0 0

2 4

1 0

2 4

3 2 4

2 3 2

3 3 4

3 4

0 0

2 4

4 0 0

Ex. 5 Ex. 5 Dropped-D tuning: (low to high) D-A-D-G-B-E D-A-D-G-B-E



1 0

2 4

3 2 4

2 3 2

3 3 4

3 4

0 0

2 4

1 0

0 0

2 4

3 2 4

2 3 2

3 3 4


0 0

2 4

1 0

0 0

In my experience, the movements in Ex. 4 are 4 are easier to play if you keep your second finger on the 2nd string at the 3rd fret for most of the exercise, while using your first finger to reach all the notes fretted on the 1st and 2nd frets. If you’re fumbling to find the notes, it means you’re not looking ahead enough to figure out what to do next, or you don’t know your fingerings well enough, or you don’t know the notes well enough. Again, it’s important to play this slowly at first, so you understand the exercise more clearly. This will help you develop a better foundation to play it well. Ex. 5 replicates 5 replicates Ex. 4, except it has alternating half-notes in the bass line. Again, let the notes ring, play clearly, and spend as little time in between chords as possible.

26

3 4

2 4

3 2 4

2 3 2

3 3 4 0

0

3 4

0 0

2 4

4 0 0

With its cool groove, Ex. 6 is 6 is a lot of fun. It also yields appealing counterpoint without demanding much work from your fretting hand. I promise it’s easier than it looks on paper.. The bass line is syncopated, but all I paper did to create that was introduce the melody half a beat before I introduced the bass line. The phrase in the melody is played two times throughout the exercise, exercise, and each melodic phrase can be cut in half. Just remember that in the first half, you’re simultaneously sliding up one note, while hammering on two others. In the second half, you’re sliding the whole chord up one fret. Let’s focus on clean fretting and picking in Ex. 7. 7. Make sure the open-D drone notes are clearly audible, and that they don’t get muddled with the fretted shapes you insert

Ex.6 Ex. 6 Dropped-D tuning: (low to high) D-A-D-G-B-E D-A-D-G-B-E


w/ thumbpick & ngers let ring throughout 0 1 0

0 1 0

1 2 1

3 2 4

1 2 1

2 3 2

0 1 0

0 1 0

1 2 1

3 2 4

1 2 1

0

2 3 2

0 1 0

0 1 0

1 2 1

3 2 4

1 2 1

0

0

2 3 2

0 1 0

0 1 0

1 2 1

3 2 4

1 2 1

0

0

2 3 2

0

0

0

Ex. 7 Ex. 7 Dropped-D tuning: (low to high) D-A-D-G-B-E :

Moderately = 110


4 0 0

0 0

5 0 2

0 0

6 0 3

0

0

0

7 0 4

0 0 0

5 0 2

0 0 0

0

4 0 0

0 0

5 0 2

0 0

6 0 3

0 0

7 0 4

0

4 0

0

6 0

0

7 0

0

9 0

0

4 0

0

6 0

0

7 0

0

9 0

0

0

5

0

5

0

8

0

8

0

5

0

5

0

8

0

8

0

4 0 0

0 0 0

4 0 0

0 0 0

5 0 2

0 0 0

5 0 2

0 0 0

4 0

0

4 0

0

7 0

0

7 0

0

5

0

5

0

8

0

8

0

Ex. 8 :

Ex. 8

Dropped-D tuning: (low to high) D-A-D-G-B-E

Moderately = 110


4 0 0

0 0 0

4 0 0

0 0 0

5 0 2

4 0

0

4 0

0

7 0

0

7 0

0

5

0

5

0

8

0

8

0

between them. There are no hammer-ons in this exercise, so fret the notes at the exact moment when you would also pick them. This will develop fretting strength and dexterity in the fourth and first fingers. Mentally, your attention is divided between two different melody lines that use strange intervals. Play with

the dynamics in this exercise. Practice allowing the lower melody line to be at the forefront by making it louder, then reverse reverse course and allow all ow the higher melody line to stand out by making it louder than the bass. We’ll use Ex. 8 as 8 as a complement to Ex. 7. It has the same harmonic characteristics, but focuses


27


w/ thumbpick & ngers let ring throughout 3 3

3 2

3 1

3

3

3

4

0 5 5

3 3

3 4

0

3

0 2

0 3

0

7 7

0

3 2

4 3 3


more on familiarizing you with the underlying passing chords on the lower strings. The chords are based on the riff Jerry uses to transition between verse and chorus in “Struttin “Struttin’.” ’.” This example is the only one in this lesson that’s in standard tuning (Ex. ( Ex. 9), 9), and it’s based on the riffs you’d hear in songs like “Jiffy Jam,” “The Claw,” “Mr. Lucky,” and many others. There are a lot of contrapu contrapuntal ntal double-note combinations, hammer-ons, and pull-offs. My best advice is to repeat and memorize this riff until it becomes completely second

28


nature to your brain and hands. Some pieces or exercises won’t make much sense until after you have them under your fingers for a while, and I feel that could apply here. Here is a video where Jerry uses some of these techniques we’ve discussed, and they’ll help you understand how he integrates them into his unique style. I hope this lesson gives you a solid starting point for understanding Jerry Reed’s material, and provides you the tools to learn to play in his style … while maintaining your sanity in the process!


29

Keith Urban’s Country-Rock Wizardry BY JIM LILL

Chops: Immediate Theory: Beginner Lesson Overview: • Learn the basics of chicken picking. • Understand how to phrase rapid-fire licks with pull-offs. • Improve your hybrid-picking technique.

I

f you haven’t heard, Keith Urban can play guitar. He can play really, really well. This fact is lost on many because aside from his ability to deliver hit after hit, the focus is always on him being an American Idol judge, his marriage to Walk-of-Fame actress Nicole Kidman, and his still-perfect hair at age 49. But as guitar players, we aren’t distracted by the many things that make Keith a perennial awardwinning vocalist and magazine cover boy, we’re here for the licks. Let’s discover some of Keith’s playing secrets and make them our own.

30


Keith started his journey playing bars in New Zealand and Australia doing the countriest of country things on guitar guitar.. In interviews, he’s said that he tried getting a rock gig in the ’90s but got fired because all he could do was chicken pick. Ex. 1 is an example of his style of chicken picking. Tuck the pick by holding it in your index finger, and use your thumb and middle finger to pluck at the string. The flesh of your finger will mute the string a split second before the new note sounds, giving it a staccato staccato,, choppy feel.


P.M.

9 0

11

11 0

0

P.M.

P.M.

0

0

9 0

0

P.M.

9 0

P.M.

0 0

7 0

P.M.

7

5 0

0

finger takes care of the 14th and 15th frets. By the time Keith was doing stuff like this, any questions of him “only being able to chicken pick” were out the window. Not everything in country music is about lead guitar, though. Most of Keith’s success is due to his ability to combine relatable lyrics with catchy melodies, and to sell those songs he needs to be great at creating rhythm guitar parts that sit comfortably underneath the vocals. One way he takes this concept and makes it interesting is by using a drone string and playing something directional or melodic along with it. In Ex. 4 we 4 we use the open 4th string paired with notes on the 3rd string to create a Mixolydian sound. Many guitarists have a tough time with phrasing, but Keith has that down. One way to avoid the “running-up-and-down-throughscales” sound is to create a snippet of a melody

P.M.

5 0

P.M.

X 0

4 0

0

Ex. 5 Moderately = 120

w/ ngers let ring 1/ 2

12 11

11

12 11

9 11

9 X

4

4

2

4 4

32


4 0

P.M.

X 0

2 0

0

2 0

and play it back-to-back in two different octaves. Beyond that, treat the two parts independently when it comes to articulation, so both feel as natura naturall as possible. In Ex. 5, 5, the first two measures use double-stops. When we shift down to the lower strings, it doesn’t make sense to keep the double-stops—the low strings sound thick enough on their own. Also, make the bend a little shallower because lower strings can sound hokey when you quickly bend them all the way up to a whole-step. It’s important to make informed decisions about how you want to play the melodies you come up with. Nashville pros like Keith typically place a melody somewhere on the fretboard that feels natural and comfortable, in a location that allows them to inject the most emotion into each phrase. Grab your acoustic guitar and capo it on the 5th fret. This is a tried-and-true trick to

Ex. 5

1

P.M.

2 X

2

0

make things sound cool and Keith uses it all the time. If you’re stacking a bunch of guitars in a recording or playing with other guitarists, it can be advantageous to capo an acoustic guitar up high and play out of an easy open key. Ex. 6 is 6 is in the key of D and we’re capoing at the 5th fret, so we’re treating it like the key of G. Plant your third finger on the 3rd fret of the 2nd string (relative to the capo) and never move it. Let your second finger handle the root notes, and use your first and fourth to make the melody happen. For the more delicate guitar parts, Keith ditches the pick altogether and lets his picking

hand do the talking (Ex. ( Ex. 7). 7). Softer dynamics and warm tones become available to you when you use your fingers, but be careful. If you aren’t controlled, you might hit the strings too hard and end up sounding clucky. When Keith really lets loose on his instrumental tunes, he doesn’t shy away from chromaticism. Many guitarists think that playing chromatics involves hitting a bunch of notes that are one fret away from each other, but you can make an endless string of chromatic notes by putting your 1st finger on the 2nd string, and your 3rd finger on the 3rd string three frets up from it, then sliding that

Ex. 6 Ex. 6

Capo V Moderately = 120 * 3

w/ ngers let ring 3 2 0

X X X

4

let ring

let ring

let ring

3 2 0

3 2 0

3 0 0 3

4

0

2

X X X X

let ring

let ring

let ring

3 0 0 3

3 0 2 3

3 2 0

2

0

4

X X X

let ring

let ring

3 2 0

3 2 0

4

4

let ring

2 0

3 0 0 3

2

X X X X

3 0 0 3

*Symbols in parentheses represent chord names respective to capoed guit ar. Symbols above above reect actual sounding chords. chords. Capoed fret is “0” in tab. Chord symbols reect basic basic harmony.

Ex. 7 Ex. 7 Moderately

= 65

1/2

w/ ngers let ring throughout

1

0 1 2

1 0

1

2

0

2

3 4

3 4

3 4 0

0

*

0 4

1 0 3

1 2

7 3

7

5

5

0

*Simultaneously release bend while sliding sliding down fretboard.


33

position up and down. Ex. 8 does 8 does a descending version of that and culminates in an arpeggio that under normal circumstances would require sweep picking, but Keith would seek aid by hammering-on from an open string and attacking the rest with a banjo roll. He is a country picker, after all. Switching between areas of the neck is another technique to explore when you’re chopping away at a solo. In Ex. 9, 9, we start with something comfortable in the open position

that Keith uses all the time, and then we swoop up to the 12th fret to start a descending pulloff run on the 3rd string (something else Keith has been known to do). Pulling-off like this allows speed to come more easily. Keith isn’t a traditional machine-gun-picking shredder. To keep his picking hand from having to do all the work, he figures out ways to let the fretting hand contribute note attacks. Now that you have a bunch of Urbaninspired notes under your fingers, we’ll do

Ex. 8 Ex. 8

Moderately = 120

w/ ngers 3 8

7

7

6

6

10

5

9

5

4

8

3 7

0

4

0


w/ pick & ngers 3 3 0 2 0

34

1

2

3 0

0

2


2

12 5

0

11

0

9

0

7

0

5

0

4

0

0 2

0

Ex. 10 Ex. 10

Moderately = 120

Harm. P.M.

1

P.M.

11 0 9 5

0

3

11 11

X

3

10

1

11

9

12 11

12 11

0 0

9

one last move that isn’t about notes at all. The end goal of playing guitar is to make music that sounds cool, and sometimes sounding cool can’t be notated on paper. Keith does a move where he picks a note, shoots it up the fretboard, hits a couple dead notes, and repeats the pattern on the next string and the next string. It’s like Michael Jackson’s vocal ad-libs in guitar form. Make Ex. 10 feel 10 feel

natural, don’t over-think where you start and where you finish when you’re shooting up the string, and then land the bit by finishing off on some good, rock-solid notes. Tension only works when it is resolved. Now we can see beyond the stardom and $500 jeans, and realize that every bit of Keith’s fame has been earned with his musical talent.


35

Western Swing Swing 101 BY LIZ LAWRENCE

Chops: Intermediate Theory: Intermediate Lesson Overview: • Add jazz phrasing to your country solos. • Understand how to work intervallic double-stops into your licks. • Develop a solo over the changes to a Western swing standard.

W

estern swing is a unique fusion of musical styles and cultures, primarily encompassing country, jazz, blue blues, s, swing swing,, and a nd big band band.. The T he genre developed in Oklahoma, Texas, and California, and thrived in dance halls throughout the Southwest during the ’30s and ’40s. Though it’s no longer heard on mainstream radio, this distinctive and lively music still has a dedicated following and presence in small pockets of the country, where some fans would say the bands are swinging harder and hotter than ever.

36


Even a cursory listen makes it obvious that the musicians in the Western swing scene are extremely proficient and play with a fun, relaxed attitude. Infectious and quirky humor plays a big role in Western swing, and its practitioners favor technically risky and entertaining improvisation and complex chord substitutions, and often borrow phrasing from instruments not found in traditional country music. Like jazz, Western Western swing has a handful of “standards”—tunes “standard s”—tunes that form the bedrock of the style. Many of these tunes were written and

Ex. 1 Ex. 1

A

B

1.

2.

A

performed during the earlier days of the genre, most notably by Bob Wills. Songs like “Roly Poly,” “Take Me Back to Tulsa,” and “Corrine, Corrina” are great examples of the genre. Today, we’re going to use the chord progression from one of these classic tunes, “San Antonio Rose.” The changes to “San Antonio Rose” in Ex. 1 are 1 are characteristically simple with a few dominant chords and a major 6 chord,


all arranged in easy-to-decipher A and B sections. The progression also uses a secondary dominant chord (A7) in both sections. In this case, the A7 serves as the V of V. Let me break that down: We’re in the key of G major, which makes the V chord D7. Now, the V of that is A7. You can also think of this non-diatonic chord as a II7. As you can hear in the audio example below, the strum pattern is a little closer to Freddie Green (the legendary guitarist in the Count Basie Orchestra) than Chet Atkins. Strive for a solid, swinging four-to-themeasure feel and you’ll get really close. Once you have the chords and rhythms down, it’s time to move on to the solo. Offering playful and interesting improvisational improvisational ideas,

In this clip from The Ernest Tubb Show , guitarist Leon Rhodes and steel guitarist Buddy Charleton tear through “Honey Fingers,” an an up-tempo tune full of intricate, harmonized lines.


37

Ex. 2 Ex. 2


w/ ngers 3 3

5

3

5

3

2

3

3

5

3

3 5

3

3 3

5

5

3 3

3

5

4

5 5 4

5

6

4

4

4 2

5

3

3

10 4

11

8 11

10

9

7 9

8

7

5 7

6

5

3 3 5

4

2

4

3 3 4

3 3 4

2

3 3

4

4

3 3 4

2

4

4

5

let ring 11 11 11

12 12 12

12 12 12

11

8 9

X 11

10

8 9 10

8 8

8 10

8 8

10

8 7 9

8 7 9

6 X

8

_

5 5 X

X

5

5 X

7

4

0

1/2

7

Harm. let ring _** 1/2

2 2 1

5 5 4

8 8 7

8 8 7

11 11 10

14 14 13

12 12 12 12

12 12 12 12 13

15

**Push on neck of gtr. to reduce tension on strings.

this technically challenging solo (Ex. ( Ex. 2) 2) is written with Western swing in mind. But before we dive into the notation, we need to touch on the required right-hand technique. When playing this excerpt, I used a fingerstyle technique

38


that’s fairly common in country and jazz. The easiest way to replicate this is to use the thumb, index, index, middle, ring, and sometimes pinky fingers on your right hand to get that punchy, plucked attack.

Another method is to use a thumbpick or adopt a hybrid-picking technique combining a flatpick and fingers. For the latter, grip the pick between your thumb and index fingers while using your remaining fingers to pluck the strings independently of the pick. Many great players prefer hybrid picking because it gives them the option to throw in the clear, articulated sound of a flatpick at any moment, and switch to alternate and economy picking as the music demands. From here, I’m going to break down a few choice excerpts of this solo and talk about some of my favorite devices and techniques.

1–3–5–7–9 Arpeggios At the very beginning of the solo, I go straight into a 1–3–5–7–9 (G–B–D–F#–A) arpeggio that adds a cool extended-chord sound over the G6. Extended arpeggios are a great vehicle for bridging the gap between chord changes and scales, and they give you an easy way to build lines that include more than simple chord tones. I’d recommend working on all the major possibilities for 1–3–5–7–9 arpeggios. When you have those down, try adapting the ideas you discover to work in minor situations.

Go Your Own Way Improvising gives you freedom to compose some new changes too! Before you get very far into the solo, you will hear some crazy chordal stuff that I overlay to spice up the progression and catch the listener’s ear. This technique is used fairly often in country, jazz, and Western swing. The soloist either plays arpeggios or block-style chords with a rhythmic delivery delivery to build on the simple harmonic structure that the band is playing. You You can find an example of this starting in the fifth measure over over the G6. Here I’m I’ m outlining a totally different progression: G–Gdim7–C–Cm–G–Bbm–Am–F#7b5. You have to be careful when and how to apply this, and generally you want to superimpose progressions that will add that sweet tension over very simple changes. You also always want to be able to bring it home. Heavenly Harmonics & Singing Steel The sound of the harmonic G6 chord implies a steel guitar tuning and really adds a great Western-swing element to the solo. sol o. I used these 12th-fret harmonics twice in the first A section— check out measures eight and 16. In the first The Time Jumpers keep the flame of Western swing alive with their weekly Mondaynight gig at Nashville’s 3rd and Lindsley Bar and Grill. Here’s the band tackling the classic “My Window Faces the South.” Be sure to check out the solos starting at 1:30.



39

instance, I did a slight neck bend. You’ve probably heard this technique before in many circumstances, maybe most notably Heart’s “Barracuda.” For the second harmonic chord, I added a behind-the-nut bend. It’ It’ss a pl ayful trick: After you strike the harmonics, push down on the 2nd string behind the nut to raise the note up a half-step, and then release the pressure to return the string to its original pitch.Used sparingly, such techniques provide a great way to add a new texture, create some space, and coll ect your thoughts for the next phrase.

Slip, Slidin’ Sequences In measure 25 there’s a nice sliding lick that’s based in G Mixolydian (G–A–B–C–D–E–F). It connects a series of three-note motifs over the 16th-note rhythm. rhythm. If you accent the first note

40


of each slide you get a cool, funky sound that plays with the time a bit. This technique pops up again in measure 31.

Fourths Away! One of my favorite ideas in this solo happens in measure 29. I play a quick phrase using a series of perfect fourth intervals (and one naturally occurring tritone). Personally, I love the unresolved sound and blocky effect of the fourths, but you could really choose any interval here. Though it’s a very simple concept, it sounds super hip. The entirety of this solo features some more interesting intere sting devices and techniques hidden within, and I hope you can get a chance to spend some time with it, add some awesome new licks to your vocabulary, and maybe even gain some new conceptual understanding of chords, scales, and theory. theory.

Twang 101: Swampy Blues BY JIM LILL

Chops: Intermediate Theory: Beginner Lesson Overview: • Combine modal sounds with pentatonics and blues scales. • Understand how to work through rhythmic subdivisions. • Learn how to add attitude to stock phrases.

W

e all love the blues—it’s a style that goes hand-in-hand with guitar playing. Blues is so versa versatile tile you can work it into many other types of music. Think about it: Brad Paisley, Guthrie Govan, and Joe Bonamassa are among the diverse 6-string heroes who have been inspired and influenced

by blues, and draw on it for their own rock and country riffage. There’s a style of blues I like to call “swampy.” If you’re in the key of D and play blues or minor pentatonic licks with some country-rock country-rock attitude, you end up in a real sweet spot. It’s almost like you can do no wrong—just get in


41

Ex. 1 Ex. 1


let ring

P.M.

1/4

w/ pick & ngers 2 0 0

3

P.M.

2 3

3 2

2 0

3 1

3 0

0

0

3

3

0

0

Ex. 2 Ex. 2

Moderately slow = 75 3

3

3

rake 6 X

7

5

X

7

6

5

3

0

3 5

0 5

3

0 0

that groove and ride it through the song. Let’s explore this swampy, country-blues area. We’ll start out on acoustic, although these licks work great on electric as well. Acoustic guitars love to be played on the lower frets with lots of open strings, so let’ let’ss start there. Ex. 1 is 1 is an open-string lick where you flatpick the notes on the 5th string and pluck any notes that fall on the 4th or 3rd strings with your middle and ring fingers, respectively. This hybrid approach lets you keep your picking hand in one position throughout. throughout. Then in the second half of the lick, we move this concept over to the 4th, 3rd, and 2nd strings. We’ll We’ll add an Ab in there, which in the key of D is the b5 or “blue note.” If you hang on

42


3

1

the blue note for too long it sounds terrible, but if you use it to get to the note just above or just below, it adds an awesome dash of spice. Now we’ll move up the fretboard a bit and into another sweet spot for the key of D. Ex. 2 rakes up to an F and bends it a little before descending through the D blues scale (D–F–G– Ab–A–C). Then we’ll switch things up and go from straight 16th-notes to sextuplets. If you can fluidly switch between straight 16ths and sextuplets, your control over over timing will be through the roof. Let’ss switch to the electric guitar and the Let’ bridge pickup for the next set of examples. The bridge pickup delivers a really aggressive, in-your-face in-your -face sound that cuts through a mix.

Ex. 3 x. Moderately slow = 75

1 /2

12

12

10

12

12 12

12

X 0

10

1

1

1/2 1 /2

12

10 10

10

10

13

13

10 13

0

Ex. 4 x. Moderately slow

= 75

3

3

3

1

3

0 3

1

2

3

1

0 2

1

0 3

2

0

0 3

Blues, and guitar in general, isn’t isn’t just about the notes you choose to play. It’s also about the notes you choose to mute. Ex. 3 starts 3 starts out with a muted upstroke, which adds character to the lick. Then it gets much, much more interesting with a raked downstroke into a 12th-fret, halfstep bend and release (bending a 6 to a b7, if you’re keeping track of the numbers), followed by a pull-off to the 10th fret. Execute the latter with one fluid motion. Bending strings is one of my favorite things, as evidenced by a YouTube video I recorded called 45 Ways Ways to Bend Bend a Guitar Guitar String String. The tail end of this example has a bluesy double-string bend, followed by a unison bend, which means you hold one note and bend another note up to the same pitch. It’s a great way to know if you’re bending the string the right amount because the other string is right there for a pitch reference. This move is nicknamed a “smear” because it sounds like you’re smearing notes together.

In Ex. 4, 4, we use triplets to pick up the speed again. Here we descend through the D Dorian mode (D–E–F–G–A–B–C) with an added blue note (Ab). The cool takeaway from this lick is its special picking pattern. We start by picking a note on the 3rd string, then plucking a note on the 1st string with the middle finger, finger, and following that with a pull-off. Then we get into the triplet rhythm of down-up-pull-off, which lets us descend or ascend strings with plenty of articulation without having to pick every single note. Now let’s flip that pickup to the neck position. The neck pickup offers a smoother, more civilized sound than the aggressive bridge pickup. Its hollow tones have been used in blues for over half a century, so let’s make the most of it. Hendrix was known for using this area of the neck for hammering-on double-stops. You can hear this sound in “The Wind Cries Mary,”


43

and the idea has been passed down to many guitarists since. Start Ex. 5 by 5 by hitting a doublestop with your first finger and hammer-on to the lower of the two notes two frets up with your third finger. Instant awesome. And as a bonus, the lick uses a double-string bend. Also, as I mentioned previously, the blue note (Ab) works well to approach the note directly above or below it, and this phrase illustrates the process. Simultaneously pluck a D on the 10th fret of the 1st string and pick an Ab at the 13th fret of the 3rd string. Then, while holding the D steady, slide from the 13th to the 12th fret. You should only be on the Ab for a fraction of a beat. Called a “grace note,” the quick initial pitch doesn’tt actually hav doesn’ havee a duration like an eighthnote or sixteenth-note. Instead it serves as a springboard into the target note (G). Very bluesy.

Ex. 6 dips 6 dips into fusion territory. It’s all triplets and the first note is a pickup note—a note that precedes the downbeat. It starts out with an A octave before alternating between D minor pentatonic scales that cross each other. Once the scales pass each other you wrap it up with a non-linear series of notes in the blues scale. Tasty! Now we’re going to dig out the slide and conquer the final frontier of swamp-blues soloing. Like Derek Trucks, Duane Allman, and Sonny Landreth before us, let’s bid farewell to frets and glide across the strings on brass, chrome, or clay. For this example, we’ll stay in standard tuning. Although open tunings offer more options, there’s a practical benefit to playing slide on the guitar you’re already holding.

Ex. 5 Ex. 5 Moderately slow

= 75

3

3/4 1/4

let ring

12 12

12

10 10

10 10

12

10 10

10 X

10 X 12

13

13

10 X 12

13

10 X 12

13

12

10

12

12

12

12

Ex. 6 x. Moderately slow = 75

3

3

17

15 13

14

44

3


3

13 15

13

15

15 13

14

Ex. 7 Ex. 7 Moderately slow

= 75

steady gliss.

10 10

9

10

10 10

10

12

5 5

7 7

7 7


3

3

13 12

13

3

13 13

3

12 12

11 12

3

3

11

8 8

10

11

A couple of tips: Tuck your pick into your hand with your index finger, and use your thumb, middle, and ring fingers for picking. Also, make sure you press the slide down enough for the notes to sound cleanly, but not so hard you’re bumping into the frets. Sonny Landreth is one of the greatest blues slide guitarists ever, and Ex. 7 is 7 is inspired by his playing.

10 10

10 10

10

You pick a note, move a half-step below it, and then slide back into the original note. It’s a unique sound you probably wouldn’t think of if you picked up a slide for the first time and just winged it. Then it culminates culminat es in the classic, basic slide sound: Hitting a double-stop on two adjacent strings and then sliding up two frets into the target chord. The coolest thing about slide is not having to obey theory rules. Ex. 8 starts 8 starts on C and G#, then slides down to A and F. Pick the triplets throughout with your thumb and middle finger. Sweet! Now that you’ve got all of those down, here is a backing track below so you can jam to this yourself.

PREMIER GUITAR GUITAR - DIGITAL PRESS TWANG TOWN TOWN VOL. 

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Digital Press Press PREMIER GUITAR GUITAR - DIGITAL PRESS PRESS LESSONS

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