Many guitarists and students have requested basic strumming exercises. I put together this PDF explaining basic rhythm, technique, and enough exercises to ensure you are comfortable strumming away at any campfire or hootenanny you may find yourself!
Having the notes on the fretboard down, cold is essential! The trouble is, memorizing every note across each string seems like a massive undertaking. There are a few simple methods to help visualize the neck.
-Choose a note
-Slide up 12 frets for the Octave
-Slide down 5 frets on the next string for the unison
-Repeat until you get to the B string and slide down 4 frets, instead of 5
-That's it
Up Next:
-Compare notes to Farmer's Corner Chords
-Memorize the Notes that fall on the dot inlays
-Octave Shapes
Double stops are a great way to embellish your rhythm guitar playing, or to add note clusters to your lead playing! These ideas are not dissimilar to Neo Soul licks in the previous iteration of Just The Tip.
As the songs listed above suggests, Double Stops can be played in any tonality or genre! Let's try A Dorian. You know... the "fun" minor mode!
Dorian: 1 2 b3 4 5 6 b7
There are many variations when it comes to 2 note combinations. However, most double stops on the guitar are 3rds and 4ths. Practice the options as they fall on each string set, then decide which feel the most natural to you - most often the higher string sets, D and G, G and B, or B and high E.
How to practice!
Ex.1 Diatonic 4ths
Ex. 2 Diatonic 3rds
Ex. 3 Mixing 3rds and 4ths
Ex. 4 Add Neo Soul inspired licks - next available note in position
Ex. 5 Combining 3rds, 4ths next available notes (Neo Soul ideas)
Analyze the notes as they relate to the underlying Amin7 chord. Observe the consonance and dissonance of the different scale degrees. Make a mental note of the double stop ideas you like. Shed them! Transpose them to different keys. Add Double Stops to your Bag 'O Tricks!
In this new episode, Chris goes over some common Neo Soul licks and variations based on triad inversions, as well as 3 note 7th chord voicings.
In case you are unfamiliar, think of guitar playing in Hip Hop, Neo Soul, R&B. It is very similar to Hendrix's approach to rhythm guitar, i.e. playing a piece of a chord and hammering-on/pulling-off other available tensions or chord tones.
There is more to it than that. However, conceptualizing in this way will get you very, very far along your way to playing saucey and soulful rhythm guitar. Considering most live performance situations are 80% rhythm playing (unless you're Steve Vai), it is a massively useful lesson.
In Ex.1 play a 1st inversion Em triad (easily related to a 6th string root E Minor barre chord).
High E String: hammer on b3 or 9
B String: hammer on b7
G string: hammer scale degree 4 or tension 11
In Ex. 2 visualize a 5th string root E Minor, or E Minor 7 chord.
High E: Hammer on b7
B String Hammer on 4 or 11 (same note +/- and Octave)
G String: Remove the Root and replace it with b7 (whole step below). Hammer on the Root
Ex. 3 Looks like a Dm chord in the Farmers Corner, which is actually a Dm/A 2nd inversion triad. In this case, we slide the same shape up the neck, to Em.
As many readers may know, I am a Buckethead fanatic! After hearing his interview on The Tools, one comment stayed with me - his desire to see his dream of a real life Bucketheadland theme park come true. With that in mind, we have started a GoFundMe campaign in order to procure funds for the design and construction of the theme park. The price tag may look hefty, but can you put a price on a dream???
Ever hear a "ting!" from your string, near the headstock? That is likely the string getting caught up in the nut. In this video, Chris shares a less-known trick to help keep your Strat (or any other guitar with a bone nut) in tune!
The first song I learned on the guitar was Smells Like Teen Spirit. It was 1992, hair metal was dead, and all that was needed to usurp it as the darling of pop culture was a flannel shirt, a ton of angst, and a little 2 note chord... THE POWER CHORD! and, arguably - some smack.
Kurt succumbed to the latter, however not before changing the world and the face of pop culture with the album Nevermind!
Ex.1 is a simple I ii vi progression using only power chords (in ever-saucy 6/8).
In Ex. 2a play a 3rd, instead of a 5th on your adjacent string set.
In Ex. 2b add ornamentation, or hammer-on and pull off other notes in the scale (mostly sus4 and the 5th) In Ex. 2c I play a 3rd plus an additional Root note (an octave above) to fill out the sound. More voices = bigger sounding chord!
In Ex. 3a I play the shapes as they would fall along your lowest 2 strings i.e 6th string root - in the key of C Major. These are all of the Diatonic Chords in the key:
C D- E- F G A- Bdim
I ii iii IV V vi viidim
In Ex.3b I play the same sequence on the A String, or "5th string root," as the 6th and 5th string root chords are most common in Guitarland!
Uh oh... Things are getting scary! Most of us have played a power chord with an additional root (up an Octave) to fill out the sound. Try a similar approach and add the 5th BELOW the Root in Ex. 4. Sort of an inverted power chord sound... This is common in Metal music, and may result in a Bath Salt-induced adventure.
Sauce abounds! "Stacked 5ths" are somewhat of a finger stretch, but certainly do-able! Think Satellite by Dave Matthews Band! Ex. 5 is basically a power chord with tension 9, which is a well loved and sonorous flavor whether in a harmonic or melodic application.
I couldn't resist... In Ex. 6 I channel my inner Colma-session era Buckethead, with a Quarter note and an Dotted 8th note delay. Just apreggiate the Stacked 5ths and let the Delay Pedal do the trippy work. I use a TC Electronics Triple Delay in this video.
Finally, in Ex. 7 I combine the Stacked 5ths from Ex. 5 with the Metal-sounding "Inverted Power Chords,' from Ex. 4. I roll on the volume knob, or "Swell" the volume so all you hear is the chord sound and not the attack of the plectrum... Lol "Plectrum."
Short, Medium, and Long-term goals are an essential element in a practice routine. However, before you lock yourself in a practice room with the metronome, it is necessary to remember this one thing...
This may seem like a "no-brain-er" to some, however often it comes as a pleasant surprise to learn that one can hold a cell phone against the guitar pickups and hear the sound blaring through the amplifier!
Step 1. Select Pickup
Step 2. Select audio on iPhone
Step 3. Hold iPhone speaker directly into selected pickup
In the latest Stupid Guitar Trick segment, Chris covers a classic 1980's example of style over substance, playing your guitar with a drill! Made popular by Eddie Van Halen and Paul Gilbert, the drill sound is something every guitarist should try - even if it is just once.
The" Pat Metheny-ism" doesn't roll off of the tongue very well. However, this tasty lick is convenient when you find yourself in a group in which there is more than one, or even two harmonic instruments.
Played on the highest 2 strings, this idea outlines or implies the chord, without clashing with instruments in the lower two registers. This solves the problem of "What to play" when you find yourself on stage with multiple guitar players strumming barre chords, "Farmer's Corner" open string chords, or the standard jazz guitarist approach of playing the 3rd and 7th (of the chord) on the D and G string.
I believe it is also a meaningful and interesting way to begin a solo, provided you are starting from a very low dynamic point i.e. super chill part of the song.
Example 1
Example 2
Example 3
This example is not shown in the video. The overall concept is the same, yet instead of outlining a major 7 chord or resolving sus4 to Major 3, I play a tritone (which is self-inverting, meaning Do to Fi is the same interval, number of half-steps, and shape on the guitar as Fi to Do).
This works well in a blues context, either a Minor Blues or a Dominant 7 Blues, or even a vamp where only the root is played behind you. Think, Tension/Release...
Example 4
In this example I am playing the idea and moving it up, through the scale. Try this and observe the shapes and the consonance and dissonance.
Context is of extreme importance in music! Ask yourself: What is the key, the chord, the mode, is the chord diatonic or non-diatonic, what chord precedes the chord in question, what chord succeeds it... If a player or student does not qualify the Musical Context it leads to unending frustration and confusion, particularly when it comes to the Modes. Many thousands of people do not understand Modes because they get caught up in the relative aspect, with no consideration of what is the most relevant question What is the key of this song? or What chord am I playing over? If you ask this first, the other questions are irrelevant.
Play this sequence in Example 4 and hear G as the root. Second, play the exercise and hear the root of the diatonic chords underneath. Decide what sounds good to you, and file the shape and musical context in your brain-space for later!
In this lesson, Chris covers several variations on a subtle, yet iconic sound - Pre-Bending! Evocative of incendiary runs played by Steve Vai, Shawn Lane, Eric Johnson and (in a slightly different application) Jeff Beck.
In this episode, Chris meets with a new student to discuss the layout and appeal of one of the most popular, yet complex instruments of our time - the guitar!
Ex.1 Find all of the C’s on the fretboard.Up 12 frets on the same string to find
the Octave,
and down 5 frets on the next (highest sounding) adjacent string.To find the same pitch on the B string move
down 4 frets from where the note is found on the G string.
Ex. 2Move a Root
Position Triad across the string sets.Notice that it is the same share on string set EAD as it is on the next
ADG.However, once we move to the next
string-set DGB the note on the B string is found a half-step higher that the
previous string set(s).This continues
as we move it again, to string-set GBE – the shape of the triad changes, the
note that falls on the B string is a half-step higher that it was on the
previous string-set.
Ex. 3 Play a C Major scale (Ionian) in each place on the
neck, notice that the notes shift up a half-step as they cross from the G to B
string.
Ex. 4 Try the same exercise using an A Minor Pentatonic
scale. Observe how the shape we
associate with the 1st Octave of a Minor Pentatonic shifts, and falls
within the 5 standard (6 string root) Pentatonic Positions, as it crosses the
G/B string threshold.
Ex. 5 Observe these common, and hugely useful Octave
shapes.These shapes will help to identify
notes on the fretboard, typically by comparing the lower of the two notes with its
octave.This is a good way to build up
our understanding of where the notes in the musical alphabet fall on the
neck.You should know every note on the
fretboard, cold.No less!
Try This:
Invert the idea.That
is, Instead of finding notes 5 notes away on the next highest sounding string -
go up 7 frets (12-5=7), to find the octave on the next adjacent string!
