I could try to come up with some cute, snappy intro to this lesson, but in all honesty, it ain’t happening.

Why?

Because in the world of guitar techniques, finger rolls are just not as sexy as hammer-ons, pull-offs or string bending. They’re utilitarian, practical. They get the job done and move on. They don’t put on a show for you.

[IMPORTANT SIDE NOTE: The great Julius Erving's finger rolls did, however, put on a show, as evidenced by the sweet pic to the left where he is schooling Kurt Rambis and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Some of my students call me "Dr. J". Coincidence? I think not.]

But like any good craftsman will tell you, there is a correct tool for every job. And some jobs just require the lowly finger roll.

So what exactly is a finger roll and why should I care?

Glad you asked, young rocker!

The finger roll is an essential left hand technique that allows you to play notes that are on the same fret level and adjacent strings without a break in the sound. By rolling your finger correctly, you can link the notes and maintain that legato character that is so important to a professional-sounding single-note line.

As a bonus, finger rolls are easy to do, once you’ve got the correct approach. So allow your friend JB to take this bad boy apart for you and put it back together. In short order, you’ll be a finger rolling machine!

Love Me Some Legato

As mentioned above, a finger roll is a left hand technique that allows you to link notes and maintain the legato character in your single-note lines. Without finger rolls, it’s virtually impossible to play two notes that lie on adjacent strings (side by side, like strings 2 and 3) and at the same fret without a break in the sound.

This is because the only way to get from one note to the other with the same finger is by lifting up and putting the finger down on the new note. This will, of course, create a small gap of silence between the notes, giving you a choppy, or staccato, sound. This is usually not what we want; instead, we typically like to hear a connected, or legato, sound.

Of course, you can always try using two different fingers to get the two notes that sit side by side, but this can be awkward, and at times, virtually impossible to execute. [The one exception I usually make to this is the concept of "2nd Finger Crossover", which I'll make sure to discuss in another post.] Most of the time, finger rolls save the day!

Roll Away

The most popular finger roll is the forward roll, the one that rolls away from you. Here’s an example:

1 – Play the note at fret 5/string 3 with finger 1. You should be on your fingertip.
2 – Play the note at fret 5/string 2 with finger 1 by rolling onto the pad of your finger.

This is best accomplished by collapsing your first knuckle until it is straight, and pivoting your wrist so that you roll onto string 2 and off of string 3. This will also effectively mute string 3, so you’re getting double-duty out of one finger roll. With a little practice, you should be able to play both notes cleanly and eliminate any silence between them.

Roll Back

A little less popular, but essential and somewhat tricky, is the backward roll, the one that rolls back towards you. Check it:

1 – Play the note at fret 5/string 2 with finger 1, but START ON THE PAD of your finger.
2 – Play the note at fret 5/string 3 with finger 1 by rolling onto the fingertip.

This is tricky because the starting position is NOT intuitive to guitarists. We are taught from the beginning to play on our fingertips, so our default setup is almost always the fingertip. However, the example outlined above requires some thinking ahead on our part, so that we recognize and anticipate that our setup has to be on the pad of the finger.

To be perfectly clear, this is NOT to say that you should treat the backward roll as a barre of the two strings. Remember, we want to roll onto the second note but also off of the first note, which will effectively mute the first note. If you barre, you’ll get two notes that ring into each other, which is not what we’re shooting for at this time.

The backward roll takes a bit more practice, but once you understand the concept, you’ll start to anticipate the setup and create a perfectly good legato sound in this manner as well.

Now Roll the Tape

Here’s a fine Dr. J finger roll video which will reiterate and demonstrate all of the above concepts and techniques. I’ve also included links to the sweet little finger roll exercises shown in the video. Enjoy!

Finger Roll Exercise #1

Finger Roll Exercise #2

Finger Roll Exercise #3

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Welcome to another installment in the Unsung Guitar Hero series – articles dedicated to spreading the word about phenomenal guitarists who aren’t household names, but probably should be. In some cases, these players are not even well known to your average guitarist!

Nothing says “unsung” like being the only guy in a remarkable rock trio that is routinely left out of the conversation when it turns to the best players on their respective instruments. But for Rush guitarist, Alex Lifeson, it’s gotten to be the norm.

Best rock bassist? Check. Geddy Lee is always in that conversation. He’s in the Guitar Player Magazine Hall of Fame with six consecutive awards for Best Rock Bassist and has been cited as an influence by some of the top bass names in rock (mainly of the metal, hard rock and “progressive” styles).

Best rock drummer? Double check. Neil Peart is legendary among drummers, and even among music fans that don’t really know his name. “Great drummers? Definitely that guy in Rush.” Modern Drummer Magazine Hall of Fame (the “Honor Roll”) with nine wins for “Best Rock Drummer” and four for “Multi-Percussionist”. Fourteen wins for “Best Recorded Performance”. Four-time “Drummer of the Year” for Drum! Magazine. You get the point.

But Alex Lifeson is the other guy.

Working Man

In an image driven world, you gotta have a hook to get recognized. Alex is the one that doesn’t have the weird name and odd look (some would say Geddy Lee has quite the “hook”) and high-pitched voice. He’s the one that doesn’t shun the fan base, sit behind a mountain of drums and play epic, 10-minute solos or write poetic, cerebral lyrics. He’s just the regular guy who has written a ton of great riffs and songs with Geddy, and who has pieced together a terrific body of work, both in rhythm parts, “textural” parts, and solos.

Alex is highly respected among guitarists, to be sure. He has won two “Best Rock Guitarist” awards from Guitar Player, and has been runner-up four times. And Rush, as a band, is cited as a major influence by acts such as Metallica, Rage Against the Machine, Smashing Pumpkins, and Dream Theater, among others. But the general public seemingly has no clue about the depth of Lifeson’s talent as a guitarist and songwriter.

Consider the following: “Spirit of the Radio”, “Working Man”, “Closer to the Heart”, “Limelight”, “Tom Sawyer”, “Red Barchetta”, “YYZ”, “Fly By Night”, “Freewill”. All classics in the rock lexicon.

But part of Lifeson’s lack of recognition also lies in the type of music Rush plays. Progressive rock (“prog rock”) is a niche in the rock genre and is not exactly a chick magnet. Its biggest fan base is dudes who appreciate technically-demanding music, an admittedly small lot in the marketplace of music consumers. And Rush hasn’t had a popular song in years, so although their shows are sold out, they’re not really bringing in lots of new fans. Rather, their fan base is made up of veterans, like most bands of the classic rock era.

The Men Who Hold High Places

Never mind the fact that Rush can’t seem to buy their way into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame – along with Heart, a travesty if there ever was one in HoF voting – but Alex can’t even get respect from Rolling Stone Magazine!

Recently he was named only the 98th greatest guitarist, behind such six-string luminaries as Lou Reed (81), J. Mascis of Dinosaur Jr. (86), and…wait for it…Bruce Springsteen (87)! (For more on that debacle, check out Rolling Stone’s 100 Greatest Guitarists. Really?) If you saw the Boss choking the snot out of his Tele on the 2012 Grammy Awards finale, you likely feel my pain.

Since the Rolling Stone list was voted on by a large contingent of guitarists, maybe I should rethink the whole “Alex is highly respected among guitarists” angle…

For a nice, tidy bio on Alex Lifeson, follow the link: Alex Lifeson wiki entry

Moving Pictures

As a kid growing up in the 70s, I heard plenty of Rush hits on the radio. But I became infatuated with learning Alex Lifeson’s parts on Rush songs as a teenager, especially after the release of Moving Pictures.

For me, Moving Pictures is an all-time desert island recording and one of the greatest albums in rock history. Side one (I’m showing my age with that comment, huh?) is perfection, with radio hit, “Tom Sawyer”, followed by the harmonics-laden “Red Barchetta”, then the tour-de-force instrumental, “YYZ”, and finally one of the band’s greatest tunes, “Limelight”. As a developing guitarist, I learned as much (or more) from those four songs as I did from any other recording. It had everything I needed as an early-intermediate guitarist looking to take his playing up a solid notch or two!

If Alex is an Unsung Guitar Hero, then “Red Barchetta” is one of his greatest unsung masterpieces. IMHO, this is one Rush tune that will give you maximum bang for your musical buck.

Truly an incredible piece of work, “Barchetta” has it all: a theme in natural harmonics, seamless arpeggios, overdriven riffs, partial upper-register chords, and a killer solo. It also has some sweet bass solo sections, unique and distinctive lyrics, and of course Rush’s ever-present changing time signatures to keep you on your toes. In a word, epic!

If you’re unfamiliar with “Red Barchetta”, here’s your chance to get hip to some of Alex Lifeson’s best work…

Between 2010 and 2011, Rush embarked on the Time Machine Tour, which featured their performance of Moving Pictures in its entirety. They also released Time Machine 2011: Live in Cleveland on DVD and Blu-ray.

Finally, here is a sweet interview with Music Radar, where Alex Lifeson talks about Moving Pictures track by track. Score!

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In Part 1 of The Only Theory Lesson You’ll Ever Need, we covered the foundational elements of music theory: the musical alphabet, the concept of whole steps and half steps, and the use of accidentals (sharps and flats) to fill in the blanks between natural notes.

In Part 2, we used that information to take the next step forward: constructing major scales and understanding keys.

Here in Part 3, we’ll take the final step and use our knowledge of major scales to harmonize them with chords.

This is where music theory really starts to come alive because it gives the musician insight into why certain chords work together to form complementary sounds. You can use this knowledge to empower you to learn songs by ear or to write your own songs. You can also use this knowledge for transposing to other keys, which is essential when applying capo strategies. Rock and roll!

Happy Together

Understanding major scale construction is critical to your understanding of all music theory, but by itself, it’s not very exciting. However, harmonizing the major scale – otherwise known as, “building chords” – is much more exciting, because it clues us into what chords are in what keys, and why they sound good in certain combinations.

This is a major hurdle to get over for anyone who wants to write their own songs! It’s also incredibly helpful when learning any music by ear (PLEASE check out my post, The Lost Art of Learning By Ear, for more on this awesome topic), and that could mean learning a song from your iPod or just hanging with other musicians in an informal jam session.

Here’s the scenario: You love your classic rock and so you’re learning the Bob Dylan song, “Like a Rolling Stone”. You see from your trusty music book that it seems to have no sharps or flats, which would indicate to you that we’re playing in the key of C. But how do the chords of the song – C, Dm, Em, F, G, etc. – relate to this? Why these chords and not some others? How did our boy Bob know what chords would sound good together?

Never fear, grasshopper – learning to harmonize the scale will reveal the answers!

Stacking Thirds

Take another look at our C scale: C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C.

Now let’s follow a process called “stacking thirds” to build a three-note chord, or triad, from each note of the scale.

To “stack thirds”, we’ll just pick a starting note, leap-frog over the next note to land on our next target note, and again leap-frog over the next note to land on our final target note. This gives us the three notes of our triad, and we “stack” these note, figuratively-speaking, on top of each other.

C…leap-frog over D to land on E…leap-frog over F to land on G.

Our C chord, then, is comprised of the starting note plus the two targets: C-E-G.

Quick Music Lingo Note: “Stacking thirds” refers to two different concepts. We “stack” them, by figuratively sitting the higher notes of the scale on top of the lower notes. So in our C chord, C would be the lowest note, E would sit on top of it, and G would be the highest note.

“Thirds” refers to the span of three notes. Counting from C (as “1″) to E (as “3″) encompasses three notes: C, D and E. Likewise, E (“3″) to G (as “5″) also encompasses three notes: E, F and G. Taken together, every triad is regarded as having a root note (“1″), a 3rd and a 5th.

Using the leap-frog method of “stacking thirds”, we can finish harmonizing the C scale by building triads on each of the scale tones:

D yields…D-F-A
E yields…E-G-B
F yields…F-A-C
G yields…G-B-D
A yields…A-C-E
B yields…B-D-F

Done. Now what does it all mean?

Let’s Get Diatonic

Without going into WHY the following information is true (we can save that for a future theory lesson), suffice it to say that the triads you just built from the major scale yield the following chord names (items in the list are shown as SCALE DEGREE = ROOT NOTE = TRIAD NAME):

1 = C = C major
2 = D = D minor
3 = E = E minor
4 = F = F major
5 = G = G major
6 = A = A minor
7 = B = B diminished

These chords are the diatonic harmony in the key of C, meaning they are the triads that naturally occur in the key, using just the notes of the major scale to build them. Because these chords are all constructed from the same family of notes – the pitches of the major scale – they will sound complementary to one another in just about any context.

So if you’re wondering why Bob Dylan chose C, Dm, Em, F and G for “Like a Rolling Stone”, it’s because he knew – either technically or instinctively – that those chords are all from the same family of notes and sound good together.

This is powerful information for the developing musician/songwriter, because it gives you a guideline to follow for learning or writing songs. For instance, if you were trying to learn a song by ear, rather than use the trial-and-error method, where you just take a stab at whatever random chords you know in hopes of hitting a good one, use the chords that are diatonic to the key as your first choices. Only when you can rule them out, should you look to non-diatonic chords for your answers. This is a much more efficient way to go about your musical business, and ultimately much more professional. It also takes away some of the mystery of song construction and makes you feel more empowered as a musician!

Primary Chords

Now that you know how to harmonize one major scale, guess what? You know how to harmonize all of them!

Because all scales are constructed from the same major scale formula, they all have the same relationships and the same do-re-mi sound. Because they have the same relationships, the chords that we build by “stacking thirds” are always the same type at the same scale degrees! Check it out:

Major scales will always yield MAJOR CHORDS at the 1, 4 and 5 degrees of the scale. These are referred to as the primary major chords in a key. In our above example in the key of C, we get C (1), F (4) and G (5) chords.

Major scales will also always yield MINOR CHORDS at the 2, 3 and 6 positions – which are referred to as the primary minor chords in a key – as well as a lone DIMINISHED CHORD at the 7 spot. In the key of C, we get Dm (2), Em (3) and Am (6), as well as B diminished (7).

Understanding these concepts and committing them to memory takes practice. Since you have already gone through the process of writing out some of the more common major scales in Part 2 of this theory lesson (you have, haven’t you?), you should take it a step further now and harmonize those scales with chords. Go ahead and stack the thirds, and then write out the name of the triad that each scale tone yields. You may be interested to see that the combinations of chords you’ve been playing in your songs are there for a reason!

I’ve prepared a handy-dandy worksheet to help you out:

Harmonizing the Major Scale

Changing Keys

Knowing what chords fall at what scale degrees in a key is the secret to transposing songs from one key to another. It’s as simple as using the scale degrees to help you substitute one chord for another.

For example, you know that every major key has major chords at the 1, 4 and 5 positions in the scale. If the song you’re playing is in the key of C and it consists of the C (1), F (4) and G (5) chords, you can transpose this to any other key by just using the 1, 4 and 5 chords of the new key in the same spots in the song. Simple substitution!

This is not only an important idea to understand in general about music; it’s a critical concept to understand if you want to use a capo effectively, since capoing and transposition usually go hand in hand. Check out The Definitive Lesson: Essential Capo Strategies for a ton of useful information on this topic!

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“The true teacher strives with his or her whole being to give the student everything they need to reach their highest potential as a guitar player. They never stop trying to communicate knowledge, and ultimately, transform the student.”

Lately I’ve been using the word “empowered” quite a bit in guitar lessons and in speaking with prospective students. Truth is, it’s a pretty standard word in my guitar teaching vocabulary, but for the past few days it seems to be cropping up left and right.

As synchronicity would have it – thanks Carl Jung and Sting! – a reprise of Jamie Andreas’s 2010 article, “The True Teacher”, appeared in my inbox today. And it’s all about empowerment.

As some of you may already know, I believe Ms. Andreas is one of the great minds in all of guitar instruction, and her essays have influenced my own methods greatly. Honestly, she’s a lot smarter than me, and definitely more hardcore in her technical approach to studying and playing the instrument, but I use her “guitar principles” every day. Not only has she influenced my views on guitar playing as a physical skill first and foremost, but her views on the “true teacher” have helped to shape and solidify my own teaching views at a deep level.

And anyone who teaches classical guitar in a Ramones t-shirt is obviously someone you should be listening to!

Some Serious Fun

As much as I like to ease a student’s anxiety by saying, “Hey, we’re not curing cancer here or building rocket ships; we’re just having fun and playing guitar!”, I’m always mindful of the fact that everyone takes lessons for a reason that’s important to them.

Kids have dreams of being a rock star (just like I did) and feeling cool and accomplished at a skill that turns people’s heads. Adults have dreams of finally learning to play the instrument that’s called out to them over the years (and feeling cool and accomplished, ‘natch), or of revisiting the instrument that they fell in love with as a kid and wound up putting away in favor of more “adult” endeavors. And regardless of the age, the desire to express oneself musically is virtually ingrained in the human experience.

No matter the dream or the goal, I have a responsibility as the teacher to help the student get there, and I take it seriously. If they’re not “getting it” – provided they put the appropriate amount of effort forth – then it’s my fault. It’s my job to provide the road map to success and encourage the student along the way. It’s on me to find a seventh way to explain a concept, just in case the first six don’t take. It’s important that I understand that I can’t just default to teaching everyone the way I was taught, as that may not be effective for everyone.

Ultimately, teaching anyone anything – whether playing guitar, cooking a meal, driving a car, or dismantling a bomb – is about empowering someone to go forth and be awesome on his own! A guitar student should leave me one day feeling that he can now teach himself what he wants to play, because he has the power within him to make it happen.

[One of the most empowering lessons I know of is The Lost Art of Learning By Ear. Check it out and feel the power!]

Not So Common Knowledge

Now some of you may be reading this and saying, “Well, duh. Everybody knows this stuff, JB.”

Not so fast.

There’s a reason why I’ve “inherited” a lot of students from other teachers. If guitar teachers really understood this, and cared about it, their students wouldn’t be searching for someone new.

Word.

Jamie Andreas has spelled out these ideas much more eloquently than I ever could in her beautiful essay, “The True Teacher”. I encourage you to click the link below and read it. The qualities she espouses are the ones you should be looking for in your own guitar instructor.

Hopefully my students have found these qualities in me.

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In Part 1 of The Only Theory Lesson You’ll Ever Need, we covered the foundational elements of music theory: the musical alphabet, the concepts of whole steps and half steps, and the use of accidentals (sharps and flats) to fill in the blanks between natural notes.

In Part 2, we’ll use that information to take the next step forward: constructing major scales and understanding keys.

Major scale construction is one of the most important things you could ever learn in music theory, since EVERYTHING else is built upon this foundational concept. And gaining insight into scales and keys teaches us how notes are related within a musical “family”, and what notes tend to complement each other in melodies, riffs and solos. Let’s get it on!

Building the Big Kahuna

The major scale is the single most important element of music theory. It’s the granddaddy of all musical concepts, the Big Kahuna. Call it what you will – all other musical concepts flow from the major scale, so it’s critical that we learn to construct it correctly.

A major scale is a sequence of seven notes (plus the octave note) that sounds like the familiar do-re-mi-fa-so-la-ti-do. It can be built from any starting pitch, and that pitch gives the scale its name. For example, if we build the scale from the starting pitch C, we would get a C major scale. Makes sense, huh?

Constructing the scale correctly is simply a matter of picking a starting note and then applying the major scale formula of whole steps and half steps:

WHOLE – WHOLE – half – WHOLE – WHOLE – WHOLE – half

You might also remember it as, “two wholes and a half, three wholes and a half”.

It’s because all major scales follow the same formula of whole steps and half steps that we can achieve the same do-re-mi sound off of any starting pitch. As long as we follow the formula accurately, we’re able to maintain consistent relationships between the notes, which ensures that all of our major scales – no matter the starting pitch – sound like do-re-mi.

Following the Formula

Let’s build a major scale from scratch. Using our previous example of C as our starting pitch, we’ll apply the major scale formula as follows:

Starting pitch = C
C + whole step = D
D + whole step = E
E + half step = F
F + whole step = G
G + whole step = A
A + whole step = B
B + half step = C

The C major scale, then, consists of the notes C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C, and when played, sounds like do-re-mi. You may also note that the C scale is constructed from natural notes only, as it needs no accidentals (sharps or flats) to fulfill the formula. Since all major scales are unique, the C scale is the only one with no accidentals; every other scale has its own number of sharps or flats.

Once you’ve learned how to construct a scale, it’s good practice to also think of the notes in terms of their number, or scale degree. For instance, in the C major scale, C is the “1″ (or root note), D is the “2″, E is the “3″, etc. This will come in handy later, when learning to build chords and transpose to other keys.

Using Sharps

Before we move on, there are two special rules to follow regarding major scale construction:

1 – All letters must be represented once and only once.
2 – We use either sharps or flats to complete the formula, never both.

Keeping this in mind, let’s try another scale from a different starting pitch: G.

Starting pitch = G
G + whole step = A
A + whole step = B
B + half step = C
C + whole step = D
D + whole step = E
E + whole step = F#
F# + half step = G

The G major scale, then, consists of the notes G-A-B-C-D-E-F#-G.

Why F#? Remember that E/F are natural half steps. However, in order to fulfill the formula, we need a WHOLE step above E, so we would travel a half step to F and another half step to F#.

Picking the note F# rather than Gb, its enharmonic equivalent, is important because it follows the “each letter is represented once” rule. It also creates the concluding half step to G – perfect!

Using Flats

For a final example, let’s construct the major scale starting from F so we can see accidentals from a different perspective.

Starting pitch = F
F + whole step = G
G + whole step = A
A + half step = Bb
Bb + whole step = C
C + whole step = D
D + whole step = E
E + half step = F

The F major scale, then, consists of the notes F-G-A-Bb-C-D-E-F.

Why Bb? Remember that A and B are a whole step apart. In order to fulfill the formula, though, we need a HALF step above A. Since we’ve already used the note A, we would not call the target note A#, but rather by its enharmonic equivalent, Bb. The pitch Bb is a whole step from C, so it fulfills the formula moving forward as well.

I would recommend that you practice writing out some of the more common scales. Having major scale construction at your fingertips is a great foundation for learning about chord construction, one of the major elements of guitar theory. The scales I usually recommend – besides C, G and F – are: D, A, E and Bb. As a challenge, try writing them out now following the above process and I’ll put the answers at the end of this lesson post. Feel free to download and use the handy-dandy Major Scale Worksheet I’ve put together.

Major Scale Worksheet (PDF)

The Key

Of course, the major scale is what a musician is referring to when he/she says, “This song is in the key of ____.”

The key is simply the family of notes – the major scale – that makes up the sound of your song. The central note, or key center, of your song will be the root note of your major scale. So if the song is in the key of G, then the root note G will be the main note of your song, and all other notes relate to it.

Music Reading Alert!: The key can also be determined by looking at the far left of the staff on traditional music notation. The accidentals in the key of the song will be represented on their respective lines of the staff in what is called the key signature. So a song in the key of G, for example, would have one sharp (F#) located on the top line of the staff, which is where the F note is positioned. This indicates to the musician that all F notes are to be sharp throughout the song, keeping us nicely in the key of G.

The notes that occur naturally in any key – that is, the notes that we derive by using the major scale formula – are called diatonic notes. They are “of the key”. Most of the notes of a typical pop song will be diatonic. However, if all songs contained only diatonic notes, then all songs would sort of sound the same. To add a little spice to your musical gumbo, many songwriters will sprinkle in a few notes that do NOT occur naturally in the key. These “outside” notes are called non-diatonic.

Now before any theory nerds beat me to the punch, songs do not only have to be in major keys, with major scales as their basis. Some songs are in minor keys, or even use modes (variations on the major scale, which we’ll save for a future lesson). But minor keys and modes flow from the major scale concept, so for this lesson, let’s just stick with the major scales/keys to avoid unnecessary confusion.

In Part 3 of this series, we’ll explore the final piece of the theory puzzle: harmonizing the major scale with chords and learning to transpose to other keys. Stay tuned!

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Answer Key

D Major Scale = D-E-F#-G-A-B-C#-D
A Major Scale = A-B-C#-D-E-F#-G#-A
E Major Scale = E-F#-G#-A-B-C#-D#-E
Bb Major Scale = Bb-C-D-Eb-F-G-A-Bb

How’d you do?

Welcome to Songs from the Guitar Studio, Volume 4!

As you might remember from earlier volumes, this series is dedicated to songs featured in my guitar lessons. Instead of picking a technique or concept and finding a song to match it, we’ll sometimes pick a song first and see what we can learn from it.

Listed below are some of the songs my students have worked on through the holiday season. I’ve outlined some of the main elements and takeaway points from each one. Hopefully you’ll see something here that may inspire you.

Let’s check out some tunes!

“Silver Bells” (traditional Christmas)

I developed a basic chord-melody arrangement of this song for my students as a nod to the holiday season. On the plus side, chord-melody (strategically incorporating melody and chords simultaneously in a song) lets you hear both melody and harmony, so the tune sounds “complete”. This also forces the player to think on two levels at the same time, which is good for the brain and fingers. On the negative side, it forces the player to think on two levels at the same time, which can be very challenging!

As opposed to piano, chord-melody is a relatively difficult thing to accomplish on guitar, so it’s important that the arrangement be adaptable to some varying skill levels. For beginners to this style of playing, it should also be in a basic, open chord-friendly key (in this case, G), so that the player isn’t overwhelmed with barre positions.

To that end, we first learned the melody on strings 1 and 2. When that was solid, we figured out the basic chords to the songs. Having the chord structure, we could then work the song a few different ways, depending on the student. At its most basic, you can do just melody and bass notes, to make a two-part structure. From there, you can ramp it up to small chord forms, or even to full chord shapes that require more finger strength and motor control – chord-melody can be molded to the student’s needs and skills. Score!

“This Christmas” (Donnie Hathaway)

My bass student was performing this awesome R&B classic in the school jazz band’s winter concert. The chart was fairly complex, since the arrangement was “jazzed up” a bit from the original song – some odd time signatures and added chromatic phrases. But at its essence, it was still smooth and funky Donnie Hathaway and we got a ton of note reading practice. And my student got an introduction to one of the masters of R&B!

“Pumped Up Kicks” (Foster the People)

This song has been very popular in my studio, and it has quite a bit to offer beginner and intermediate students. First, it has a great bass riff, which is easily converted to guitar. Beginners might play it one consistent way, but intermediates will find that the riff has some cool variations that they can improvise as the song progresses. For my more advanced students, I had them learn the bass riff and chords by ear, which was fairly challenging for some of them.

Foster the People play this song in the key of Eb and start on Fm. At first glance, it seems like it would not be a good fit for young or beginner students, because songs in the key of Eb require lots of barre chords. But a simple capo 1 adjustment puts the song in the more finger-friendly key of D, starting on Em. That’s perfect even for a young student who has limited skills and still wants something “cool” to play. Anyone can strum the basic chords to “Pumped Up Kicks”, even if they don’t play the main riff.

“Somebody Get Me a Doctor”, “Unchained” and “Dance the Night Away” (Van Halen)

These are for the Van Halen fanatics on your student roster! Honestly one can learn a TON from just about any VH song, but my student especially liked these tracks. “Somebody Get Me a Doctor” is chock full of typical Eddie VH goodies: killer main riff, unique and hooky rhythm track, and of course quirky solo section.

“Unchained” and “Dance the Night Away” feature Eddie’s pervasive use of moving triad shapes. Get those three basic shapes down and you’re golden; add the sus chord maneuvers and you could be next in line to tour with Diamond Dave!

The cool part here is that Eddie doesn’t always just use the triads in their entirety. In “Dance the Night Away”, he creates a groovy rhythm part by breaking them into two-note combos (double stops) so they slip and slide around the fretboard. Definitely for the intermediate player (and beyond), and definitely worth learning. Two thumbs way up!

“Crazy On You” (Heart)

This Heart classic is one of the first legit rock songs I ever learned on acoustic guitar as a kid and felt good about, because I knew that if I could strum the intro, I had some strumming chops! That still applies.

In this case, though, my student and I were working on the REAL intro, which is a complex and hardcore fingerstyle section. Definitely for the late intermediate to advanced fingerstyle player, as it contains lots of position shifts, banjo rolls and syncopation, and just generally kicks tail. If you’re looking for a fingerpicking challenge, look no further: this tune delivers!

“I’m Yours” (Jason Mraz)

This uber-popular tune from Jason Mraz is a great example of the “boom shaka-laka-laka”-style strum, which is a standard strum pattern in lots of different musical styles. The original song is in the key of B and has lots of barre chords. However it easily converts to the key of G on capo 4, which changes the chords to much more manageable versions for strumming. It’s also good practice for the guitarist to figure out how to capo the song and reharmonize it for greater convenience. More than all of that, it’s just a fun song to play!

“Presbyterian Guitar” (John Hartford)

One of my students introduced me to this beautiful, intermediate-level fingerstyle piece by late folkie, John Hartford. It’s a relatively simple piece, in that there are only two main sections to the song. But it has a few challenging parts, such as a major position shift up the neck, a few non-beginner chord grips, and a nicely awkward partial barre smack in the middle of the action. Perfect for the acoustic player looking to take it up a notch without killing themselves.

“Hole Hearted” (Extreme)

This is a tune I break out when I’ve got an acoustic student who wants something rockin’! Believe me, this one does the trick.

Nuno Bettencourt is an extremely underrated player (who just happens to have been born on the same day as ME), and on this one, he is smokin’! Although he recorded this track with a 12-string, we play it on 6-string, which is plenty challenging enough. Complete with moving chord shapes (a la Led Zep’s “Over the Hills and Far Away”), bluesy barre moves (a la James Gang’s “Funk 49″) and some wicked hammers and pulls (a la anything by Brad Paisley), this song is NOT for the faint of heart! An awesome challenge for a late intermediate to advanced player.

“Terrapin Station” (Grateful Dead)

I was not familiar with this epic suite of songs when my student suggested it, but I quickly found it to be full of challenging items for guitarists.

In classic Dead fashion, the changing time signatures alone take the difficulty level up a bit. It also has a syncopated intro/signature riff and some strategically placed bass lines interspersed with the chord changes. There are also a number of distinct sections to navigate, which forces the guitarist to mentally organize and anticipate as he/she goes along. All in all, a pretty comprehensive set of skills are needed to bring this one full circle.

The Songs From the Guitar Studio Series

Wanna check out some of the earlier volumes of this series? Need some new inspiration? Follow the links!

Volume 1
Volume 2
Volume 3

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Welcome to the first installment of the Unsung Guitar Hero series! These posts will be dedicated to spreading the word about phenomenal guitarists who aren’t household names, but probably should be. In some cases, these players are not even well known to your average guitarist!

The first guitarist I’m presenting is the incredible Steve Lukather.

Steve is well known for being a founding member of the group, Toto (“Rosanna”, “Africa”, “Hold the Line”), but he is also a Grammy winner and one of the most recorded guitarists in pop history, having served as a first-call session player in Los Angeles during the 70s and 80s heyday of the “studio cat”.

“Luke”, as he is known to his friends and fans, is responsible for many of the rhythm tracks, riffs and solos you’ve likely heard on the radio over the last 30 years or so. He has also co-written quite a few major pop hits and played on countless gold and platinum albums, most notably, Michael Jackson’s Thriller.

Although Luke is well-known and highly respected among his peers and fans, he doesn’t have a lot of name recognition among the average music fan or guitarist. In this post we hope to change that by giving you a short biography and some interesting factoids about our Unsung Guitar Hero, and also treat you to a list of recommended listening and some great videos. Let the games begin!

The Very Short Bio

Luke was high school buddies with the Porcaro brothers and David Paich, the guys who were to form Toto. They were a little older and already becoming somewhat established in the LA music scene at the time. They not only started Toto with him, but they also recommended Luke when Sonny and Cher were in need of a touring guitarist. He was 19.

After that, our Guitar Hero was simultaneously playing and recording with his band, Toto, and also, slowly but surely, ramping up his session work until he was playing multiple recording sessions a day with some of the music biz’s most prominent artists. During the heyday of the LA session musician, Luke was one of the first-call players and always the top choice when the producer was in need of a screaming guitar solo (he was a particular favorite of esteemed producer, Quincy Jones).

Here’s a more comprehensive bio for your reading pleasure: Luke’s Wiki entry

Quick Hits and Interesting Factoids

As a young guitarist, Luke’s first influences were George Harrison, Jimi Hendrix, and Jeff Beck, among others. As a mature artist, he’s recorded and/or toured with other guitar greats, such as Larry Carlton, Slash, Eddie Van Halen, Steve Vai and Steve Stevens.

First major gig was as a touring guitarist for Sonny and Cher.

Credited on 747 albums by 230 different artists.

Hits as a songwriter include “Turn Your Love Around” (George Benson), “She’s a Beauty” and “Talk to Ya Later” (The Tubes).

Some famous guitar solos include “Dirty Laundry” – 2nd solo (Don Henley), “Breakdown Dead Ahead” (Boz Scaggs), “She’s a Beauty” and “Talk to Ya Later” (The Tubes), “Running With the Night” (Lionel Richie), from Grammy Album of the Year Can’t Stand Still, and “Physical” (Olivia Newton-John), the top song on the charts for the entire decade of the 1980s.

With Toto, Luke played and sang on hits including “Hold the Line” (peaked at #5 on the Hot 100), “99″ (peaked at #26), “Rosanna” (Grammy winner for Record of the Year, peaked at #2), “Africa” (the band’s only #1). He also wrote and sang lead on their hit, “I Won’t Hold You Back” (peaked at #10 on Hot 100, #1 on Adult Contemporary).

Contributed rhythm guitar tracks for major hits, including “Beat It”, “The Girl is Mine” and “Human Nature” from Michael Jackson’s record-setting album, Thriller, as well as “Stand Back” (Stevie Nicks), “Hard to Say I’m Sorry” (Chicago), “Look What You’ve Done to Me” (Boz Scaggs), “We’re In This Love Together” (Al Jarreau), “Say You Say Me” (Lionel Richie), “I Love LA” (Randy Newman), “If You Say My Eyes Are Beautiful” (Whitney Houston/Jermaine Jackson), “I Found Someone” and “If I Could Turn Back Time” (Cher), “The Motown Song” (Rod Stewart), “A Little More Love” (Olivia Newton-John), “Love Is the Answer” (England Dan and John Ford Coley), among dozens of others.

One of the first prominent guitarists to use a Bob Bradshaw-designed switching system pedalboard in the 80s, Luke was known for his effects-laden sound (which he currently regards as being dated).

Has a signature electric guitar (The “Luke”) manufactured by Ernie Ball/Music Man.

Nominated 12 times for Grammy awards, with 5 wins.

In 2012, Luke will be on the G3 Tour with Joe Satriani and Steve Vai.

Personal Influence

Steve Lukather is probably the biggest influence on my own personal guitar style and attitude.

As a child of the 70s and 80s, I came up at the same time he was prominently featured on hit songs, so I heard his playing a lot and was heavily influenced by his sound and style. I accumulated as many of the records he played on as I could, even from artists that didn’t really interest me themselves, just so I could study his solos and rhythm tracks. I also read as many interviews with him as possible, which led me backwards to Jimi Hendrix, Jeff Beck’s Truth album, and Larry Carlton’s work with Steely Dan, especially on songs like “Kid Charlemagne” and “Don’t Take Me Alive”. Luke’s knack for weaving jazzy, chromatic lines into his blues-rock vocabulary shows the Carlton influence and sets him apart from other rockers. But his use of hyperspeed licks and the whammy bar (or “wang bar” as Luke says) are pure rock star flash!

Here is a clip from Luke’s Star Licks instructional video back in 1985 where he demonstrates the middle and outro solos from “Rosanna”. I remember renting this VHS tape and photocopying the booklet because I couldn’t afford to buy it! I highly recommending searching YouTube for the remaining clips to this instructional video, as Steve has an easy-going, laid back approach to go along with some blistering chops!

Here is also a fantastic performance of The Beatles’, “While My Guitar Gently Weeps”, which became a standard showcase for Luke on the Toto tours. Unfortunately I wasn’t allowed to embed the video…but you can follow the link and watch on YouTube. The middle solo at 3:34 is inspired stuff:

Toto – “While My Guitar Gently Weeps”

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Wanna solve a host of guitar playing issues in one shot?

Learn to place your thumb properly.

I know. I was surprised at how easy that was too.

And yet I see so many guitarists place their thumbs in positions that actually hurt their technique more than help it.

I’ve learned a few things in my 30+ years of playing this fine instrument, but few concepts have become more profound to me than this:

If you place your thumb properly OFF the fingerboard, your technique ON the fingerboard will instantly improve. Few things have as much direct impact on your playing as thumb placement, for better or for worse!

Be Flexible

First of all, let’s be clear about one thing. The thumb cannot and should not sit in one spot while you play. Since you are trying to accomplish a bunch of things on the fingerboard – various open and barre chords, single-note lines on low, middle and high strings, bending like a maniac, muting notes, etc. – you have to be willing to move your thumb to wherever it needs to be at any given time. Be flexible in your approach to thumb placement. Many guitarists are content to just find a spot for their thumb, anchor it there, and hope for the best. Don’t be that guy (or girl).

Your thumb must be moving constantly to accommodate the technique you’re using on top of the fretboard. And your fretboard technique will suffer greatly if your thumb is not supporting it properly.

There are three general places where your thumb should be at any given time:

1 – At the “default” position
2 – Wedged behind the neck
3 – Wrapped over the fretboard

In my experience and IMHO, the “default” position is where you should be about 50% of the time, while the spots behind the neck and over the edge of the fretboard can each receive about 25% of your attention. Let’s explore each one.

The “Default” Position

I teach my students that they can locate the “default” thumb position – where they should spend the majority of their time – at the spot on the neck where the colors change. By this I mean where the fretboard color (usually darker) meets the neck color (usually lighter) on the side of the neck, just below the edge of the fretboard. If you anchor the pad of your thumb at that spot, you should be in generally good position to accomplish a whole lot of guitar playing!

Most open chords can be played effectively with this thumb placement, as can single notes, riffs and chord shapes that occupy strings 4, 3, 2 and 1. In default position, you are supporting your fingers when they are, for the most part, up on the fingertips.

One general note about thumb placement: Your knuckle should be relatively straight. If you actively bend your thumb at the first knuckle, you diminish its ability to support and provide leverage. Don’t do that.

Since the default position is for general use, a solid 50% or more of your time should be spent here. If you are not at the default position, you should have a very good reason. Some of those reasons will be explained in 3…2…1…

The Behind-the-Neck Position

This seems to be the fave spot for anyone taught by an instructor whose forte is classical or metal. Unfortunately, those students are being ill-advised (again, IMHO), since this thumb placement should fall only in about the 25% range for anyone playing pop guitar styles. Let’s first explore when this position is best.

The behind-the-neck thumb position is best for when you are reaching across the neck to strings 6 and 5 (and sometimes 4; this is not an exact science) and need to lay your fingers down on the strings (see The Definitive Lesson: Hammer-ons for more info on finding the “sweet spot” on your fingertip). The thumb wedged behind the neck with a “locked” knuckle gives you the best support and allows your fingers to approach the low strings properly.

As you would expect, then, this thumb placement is also superior for playing barre chords of any type. In barre shapes, you not only need to lay down on the low strings, but you usually need to spread your fingers as well. Behind-the-neck is the only way to go here, since it helps you to work with your anatomy and not against it. Try playing a barre chord with your thumb at default position and you’ll see what I mean!

The problems come into play for students who try to accomplish EVERYTHING with the thumb behind the neck. Contrary to what the above classical and metal teachers tell you, this is not the best thumb position for all techniques. It will even hinder your progress in certain areas.

For instance, the student who wants to bend strings is going to get zero leverage from a behind-the-neck position. String bending requires aggression and, at the same time, fine motor control. If your thumb is too far back, you can get neither very effectively. And for the average Sammy Songwriter just strumming open chords, this thumb position is problematic as well, since he has no ability to mute the 6th string (a requirement for clean chording).

This brings us to…

The “Wrapped Thumb” Position

Wrapping the thumb over the edge of the neck is another one of those 25% deals, but when it’s necessary, it’s necessary! Just bend the first knuckle and place the crease of the thumb at the edge of the fretboard. This way you’re only getting the top portion of the thumb over the fingerboard, which is all you need.

Good string bending technique requires a thumb wrap; I actually refer to it as the first of The Golden Rules of Bending (check out The Definitive Lesson: Bending Strings for more info). It gives you leverage and stability, which is paramount for the fine motor control required for bending strings in tune and with some style. When students are learning to bend, I remind them to “wrap your thumb” more than anything else.

You also need to wrap the thumb in order to mute low strings. This is a critical element of clean bending, where the thumb actually does double duty – leverage and muting. But it’s an absolute essential for clean chording in the open position. Most new students have plenty to learn just making the chords sound good; muting is an afterthought. But after you’ve got the chord shapes down, you need to get rid of those low string noises. The wrapped thumb becomes your best friend in this case!

Another practical application of the wrapped thumb is to actually fret notes, such as in a D/F# chord, where your thumb plays the F# on fret 2. Jimi Hendrix used to wrap his thumb all the time instead of playing barres; he’d play the upper partial chords and wrap his thumb for the bass (as in “Purple Haze”). Some jazz guitarists like to do this as well.

The “Classical” Technique Controversy

So why do so many method books advocate keeping your thumb behind the neck in “classical” position and treat wrapping the thumb as if it’s evil? Good question, ’cause it’s an absolutely bogus argument. Here’s why you should NOT listen to that noise:

Classical players can afford to keep their thumbs back and not wrapped over the edge of the fretboard for one simple reason: they don’t play with a pick!

When you strum with a pick, you can’t just magically miss the 6th string while playing a C chord, for example, especially if you’re rockin’ out. This is where the thumb comes in handy for muting. Classical players also don’t bend strings, so no need for wrapping the thumb there either.

And metal players play a lot of power chords and single-note scale passages, so I think that many of these students place their thumbs back in the classical way and just kind of leave it there, even when it needs to wrap for bending or come to default position for general use. For whatever reason, metal players tend to take their cue from classical technique.

Takeaway Points for Thumb Placement

The “default” position is for general playing and should be used about 50% of the time. Most open chords and single notes will benefit from this position. Play with a relatively straight knuckle.

The behind-the-neck position is good for any situation where you are reaching across the neck to the low strings and/or spreading your fingers laterally. Think barre chords and single notes on strings 6 and 5. This placement is used 25% of the time. Play with a wedged, “locked” knuckle.

The “wrapped thumb” position is required for bending strings and muting or fretting low strings. Use this placement about 25% of the time also. Play with a bent knuckle.

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Learning to bend strings is essential to our progression as guitarists. Along with hammer-ons, pull-offs and slides, these types of slurs will give your playing nuance and a more legato, professional sound.

Bent notes lend a “vocal” sound to your playing, adding bluesy, “in-between” sounds to your riffs and solos. Although jazz and classical players do not typically use the technique, string bending is a critical part of the vocabulary for pop, rock, blues and country guitarists.

Bends can make your lines sound groovy, but they require an enormous amount of fine motor control to sound confident and in tune. This translates to a lot of practice! But if you roll the JB way, you’ll be bending strings like a pro in no time.

In The Definitive Lesson: Bending Strings, we’re going to learn proper bending techniques that will immediately add a bluesy, legato character to our single-note lines. Let’s rock!

Another Type of Slur

Along with hammer-ons, pull-offs and slides, string bending is a technique in the slur category. If you remember, slurs are those techniques in which we generate two or more notes with only one pluck of the string. The additional notes are products of the left hand only. A bend is really the ultimate slur, in that it requires more finger strength and fine motor control than any of the other types, and delivers the truest legato.

The following video will demonstrate all of the techniques and exercises explained in this Definitive Lesson. Rather than embed multiple short clips, I combined all of the CLIPS into one video, so you will need to pause the video periodically to read the corresponding text.

Bending Basics

String bending is a technique in which you pluck a fretted note (the bend’s “origin” note) and push the string sideways with your fretting finger to make the pitch rise. The pitch rises because you are effectively tightening the string by bending it.

At its most basic, a bend should have a natural arc; you should hear the original note for a split second before the pitch rises to its peak. CLIP 1 However, bends can occur at any speed. Faster bends move aggressively to their peak, while slow bends take extra time reaching the destination pitch (this is often used for special effect).

Bending strings well is a very challenging endeavor that requires determination and patience, but you can ease the difficulty by following what I call The Golden Rules of Bending. If any of these essential elements are missing from your technique, your string bending will likely become a hot mess in no time flat.

THE GOLDEN RULES OF BENDING

1 – Wrap your thumb.
2 – Use a helping finger.
3 – Bend in tune.

Golden Rule #1: Wrap Your Thumb

The “wrapped thumb” position is absolutely critical to good bending technique. Simply bend your first knuckle and place the crease of the thumb at the edge of the fretboard. This way you’re only getting the top portion of the thumb over the fingerboard, which is all you need.

A wrapped thumb gives you leverage and stability, which is paramount for the fine motor control required for bending strings in tune and with some style. When students are learning to bend, I remind them to “wrap your thumb” more than anything else.

And with your thumb wrapped, you can use “bend the string to meet the thumb” as a nice visual/tactile cue to help the process along.

Golden Rule #2: Use a Helping Finger

When you bend a string, you are actually pushing the string sideways with your fretting finger. Do NOT underestimate the finger strength it takes to move that string!

Remember, your guitar strings are under tension, and that tension is working mightily against your string bending efforts. Because the tension is so great, we almost always use a helping finger to get the string moving. If you’re bending with your 3rd finger, for example, you would plant your 2nd finger (and possibly your 1st finger as well) on the same string and behind your bending finger and push with both. CLIP 2 Don’t worry about placing the helping fingers exactly; since you can’t actually hear them, their exact position is irrelevant. However, the closer to your bending finger the better.

The most common bending finger is finger 3, helped by finger 2. The next most common is finger 2, helped by finger 1. CLIP 3 Finger 1 can be used to bend by itself, but that is an extremely strenuous movement that requires impeccable leverage; please leave this type of bend for later on, when you’ve already mastered bends with fingers 3 and 2.

Some folks like to bend with the pinky, and help out with fingers 3 and 2. CLIP 4 While this is certainly fine to do, most of your bending virtuosos – Eddie Van Halen, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Slash, Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, etc. – do it the “old school” way, which is to say they reach with the 3rd finger to grab any note they would be inclined to bend with finger 4. CLIP 5 The 3rd finger just feels more “in control” of the bend – which is extremely important – but go ahead and work on your pinky bending if you wish – it’s all good.

Golden Rule #3: Bend in Tune

This rule is third because it is initially less important than the first two. As a beginning string bender, we need to learn how to move the string efficiently; whether or not we can bend in tune is a battle to be fought another day.

Once you’ve got some mastery over the mechanics of bending, though, it’s time to starting tuning up our bends. Let’s be clear about the concept first: we fret a note and then bend it, so that it rises in pitch and “becomes” another note (which we’ll call our “destination” note).

Most of the time we’ll want to bend a note to make a destination note that is a whole step or a half step higher than the original note. You can certainly bend notes higher still – 1-1/2 steps or even two whole steps is not entirely uncommon. But the vast majority of bends is in the half- to whole-step region, so we’ll focus on that.

How do you know if you’re bending your note in tune? How do you know whether the note is going up a whole step or a half step? These questions are answered by using our ear and our knowledge of the fretboard.

If we want to bend a note a half step, then first we should check out what “a half step higher” actually sounds like. To do that, simply play the note one fret – or one half step – higher than your original. For example, if the note you’re bending is on string 2/fret 8, then play the note on string 2/fret 9 to hear how the bent note should ultimately sound. Now bend the original note, and keeping in mind how the destination note sounded, use your ear to match the pitch of the bend to the destination note as best you can. CLIP 6

This might take a few tries and it will require that you remember the sound of the destination pitch. But keep playing the destination note and then bending the original note until you hear it match. When you hear it match, hold the bent string in place steadily and let the note ring.

If we want to bend a note a whole step, then we use the same process with the note two frets higher than our original. CLIP 7 Of course, a whole step rise in pitch requires a greater bend, so don’t be surprised if the tension is fighting you! It will take a good amount of energy on your part to push that string a whole step and hold it.

Releasing the Bend

So what happens after we bend the note up? Since, as they say, what goes up must come down, you would think that the bent note would have to lower in pitch, right?

Sort of. But not exactly. How’s that for an answer?

Releasing a bend is a technique whereby you hear the lowering of the pitch from its peak to its origin. This requires that you hold the bend firmly on the way down, so that the note is still ringing as it descends in pitch. Don’t underestimate the difficulty of this move; try it a few times and you’ll catch my drift.

Many times, however, bends are played without hearing a release. Think of it as a bend which arcs upward and cuts off. This means that we must silently release the bend after it reaches its peak by releasing the pressure on the string. If you thought releasing a bend properly was tricky, get a load of this move! CLIP 8

Just like left hand muting, I will admit that teaching someone to release bends silently is an extremely challenging task, because often the teacher (that would be ME) doesn’t really know exactly how he does it! It’s kind of a “feel” thing, although I realize that’s not great information. Basically, you bend the string and you practice letting go of the pressure on the string without letting the string straighten out. Then…you straighten the string quickly and silently as possible. Try it a few hundred times and it’ll start to happen.

This is a very important movement to conquer, however, because there are tons of musical examples in which you will bend up and immediately move to a note on a higher string without releasing the bend. Chuck Berry created his signature intro lick with this very concept. CLIP 9

Please Release Me

Having said all of that about releasing bends silently, there are a number of different bend and release variations in which we want to hear the note descend in pitch. It will be important for you to know how to execute each one of them properly, as they are all pretty commonly used.

BEND AND RELEASE

The first is the most basic: Bend the note up and, holding firmly, allow the bend to release back to its origin. You should hear the note smoothly descend. CLIP 10

BEND AND ARTICULATED RELEASE

This variation requires that you bend the note up, and while the note is at its peak, pluck it again to start the release. You can also think of this as a “grace note release”. The release can be slow or fast, your choice. CLIP 11

PRE-BEND

This variation is a little advanced, but very cool. A pre-bend requires that you bend the string up silently (kind of tricky) before you pluck the note at its peak and ONLY hear the release. This will really test your sense of touch and call on your bending experience, since you have to imagine the pressure necessary to make the bend without actually hearing the note rise…and get it in tune at the top (very tricky). CLIP 12

You practice tuning pre-bends the same way you practice tuning any bends: hit the target note a half step or whole step up the string, then bend silently and, at the top of the bend, pluck the note to see if you’ve tuned it correctly by feel alone.

BEND-RELEASE-BEND

This variation is just like the basic bend and release, except that you immediately bend again. It should sound like one smooth movement going up, then down, then back up. CLIP 13 It’s easy for the energy to die out on this one, so it’s usually performed fairly quickly.

Vibrato for a Pro Sound

Adding vibrato to a note is really just a matter of applying a series of short bends and releases – controlled pulses, if you will – to add energy to a sustained note.

When we vibrato a note, we bend the note slightly sharp and then release it to its origin, repeatedly. CLIP 14 This adds energy to a sustained sound. Without vibrato, held notes sound a bit bland and uninteresting. Vocalists and horn players also use vibrato to energize sustained notes.

Applying vibrato to a bend is a much more advanced technique which requires a ton of fine motor control. In this case, we bend the note to its destination pitch and then use a series of controlled pulses to flatten the note slightly and return it to the destination pitch. CLIP 15

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Those wacky Rolling Stone people are at it again, with yet another list of the greatest something or other. This time it’s 100 Greatest Guitarists. Unfortunately for them, this is right in my wheelhouse and I’m begging to add some juice to the discussion.

Now, this list has already generated quite a bit of controversy, as most lists do. And I’m sure it’s meant that way – after all, “greatest ever” or “top ten” lists are highly subjective. But some of the choices are truly mind-boggling, both as inclusions and exclusions.

(I feel like I should be doing one of those SNL segments, Really? With JB.

“Bruce Springsteen at #87, Rolling Stone? Really?!? He’s ahead of 13 people? I didn’t know one of the criteria was being able to strum so hard the strings pop off your Tele. Really.”)

It’s no different than a sports Hall of Fame; who gets in versus who gets snubbed. Fans can argue all day long over the choices, and some of my friends and I have already begun this process on Facebook.

For me, the biggest question is this: How do you define “greatest”, when we’re talking about guitarists? That’s a toughie, and unfortunately NOT something Rolling Stone made clear. So let’s clear it up here, shall we?

The Great Ones

The first order of business here is defining the word, “greatest”. Are we talking the skills to pay the bills, influence on other guitarists and the genre itself, sales/fame? A little of all of the above?

In Rolling Stone’s short description, they also use the term, “legendary”. Most of the people on this list are not what I would call legendary, but many of them are great, in the generic sense of “highly accomplished in some way, shape or form”. Some are not even that, from either a technique, influence or sales standpoint.

For the sake of argument, I’d take influential before the other stuff, and that often correlates (but not always) to a fairly high degree with popularity, hit songs, etc. Hard to be truly influential if only a handful of people know who you are. And if you’re a badass player, that should count for a few extra points, right?

Maybe not.

Exhibit A: Lou Reed at #81 and J Mascis (Dinosaur Jr.) at #86…while Alex Lifeson (Rush) and Lindsey Buckingham (Fleetwood Mac) sit at 98 and 100 respectively. Really?

Lifeson and Buckingham own the other two in every conceivable way: chops, influence, sales.

Exhibit B: The list completely excludes some phenomenal, influential, world-class players like Eric Johnson, Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, Yngwie Malmsteem, Steve Howe, Larry Carlton, Allan Holdsworth, Wes Montgomery, George Benson, Brent Mason, Albert Lee, Django Reinhardt, Danny Gatton, Paul Gilbert, Brian Setzer, Steve Morse, Tommy Emmanuel, Andy McKee, Sonny Landreth, John Petrucci, Neal Schon and Steve Lukather, yet we’ve got Jack White, Willie Nelson, Thurston Moore and Nels Cline.

I’m not saying some of these guys aren’t good, I’m just saying, let’s keep our perspective and put Yes’s guitarist on a legends list before, you know, Willie Nelson. I guarantee you Willie HIMSELF is even saying, “Really?”, in between tokes.

Again, take out the jazz and country guys and you’ve still got a handful of grave rock injustices in the above paragraph. It makes it all the more mind-boggling when you consider that actual musicians – not just members of Rolling Stone’s staff – were the voters on the list. To reiterate: Really?

For more fun on this topic, check out Guitar Squid’s, “10 Guitarists That Should Have Made Rolling Stone’s Top 100″. Don’t necessarily agree with all of these either, but it’s a fun read.

A Bad Mix

Let me go on record as saying that any musical list where you mix genres – rock versus jazz versus blues versus country, etc. – is inherently bad and akin to comparing apples and oranges. You can’t put Robert Johnson and John McLaughlin on a list with Johnny Ramone and Dimebag Darrell; there’s no real way to compare them. Too much difference in skill and style.

Same thing with electric players versus acoustic players. Tony Iommi versus Paul Simon, anyone? Impossible. To throw an additional curve ball here, it can be difficult to compare primarily solo stylists versus band members. Think Jeff Beck and George Harrison. There is no doubt that Beck could play rings around George using his toes, but c’mon – George was in The Beatles. Checkmate.

So I implore the Rolling Stone to please – please – stop mixing genres and styles, at the very least. If you want to have a side list called “Major Influences on Rock’s Greatest” and slap BB King, Les Paul, Chet Atkins, Albert King and Muddy Waters on there, fine. But it’s a mistake to have them on the same list. ‘Cause let’s be honest: this list is really about rock guitarists, with a cursory nod toward other styles and players. Otherwise how could you justify putting Neil Young ahead of Les Paul and Chet Atkins? Inconceivable.

JB’s Mount Rushmore of Guitar Legends

My personal Mount Rushmore of Guitar Legends is made up of four game changers. Everyone else comes after.

For me, these legends – three of them of the “living” variety – are folks who have forever changed the way the instrument or the music is heard and played. They have had the most profound influence on subsequent generations. In order to have this type of influence, of course, a certain amount of fame must be present as well – no obscure playas here. These are not necessarily my personal favorites or the players that I think are the best technically. Mount Rushmore is all about importance. Here goes!

1 – CHUCK BERRY

Without Chuck Berry, there is no rock and roll.

On the Rolling Stone list, he came in at #7 which is inexplicable, considering he is the granddaddy of it all. His songs and guitar style influenced entire generations; playing something “Chuck Berry-style” is like saying, “Make it sound like rock and roll.”

Quick Hits: For the famous Berry guitar intro alone he might make the list. The Beatles, the Beach Boys and the Rolling Stones are three early heavy-hitter examples of his influence. Listen to the solos in AC/DC’s “Highway to Hell” and Van Halen’s “You Really Got Me”: pure Chuck. Guitar students to this day – 60 years later – still request “Johnny B. Goode”, even though the sound is, admittedly, pretty dated. That’s a good indicator of legendary status right there.

JB’s Desert Island Recording: “The Great Twenty-Eight”

2 – JIMI HENDRIX

He was Rolling Stone’s top pick; on the JB list, Hendrix would be #2. He forever changed the way a guitar was used and viewed. The virtuosity, the effects, the songs, the rhythm playing, the stage persona: Hendrix is an icon of rock music and of guitar, no matter the genre.

Quick Hits: The r&b-style rhythm guitar exemplified on “Wind Cries Mary” and “Little Wing” is must-know material. Hendrix’s “intergalactic blues on steroids” approach completely took the guitar world by storm back in the day, with other famous guitarists routinely going to his shows to watch in amazement. His signature song, “Purple Haze” is routinely regarded as one of the seminal tracks in rock history. Although other players have used fuzztones and wah pedals, there is no doubt that Jimi is the artist most closely associated with these effects. Play with your teeth? Check. Set your guitar on fire? Check. The most blatant example of his influence is probably Stevie Ray Vaughan, who just happened to single-handedly revive an entire genre of blues music with his 1983 debut, “Texas Flood”. SRV is not far off from Mt. Rushmore himself.

JB’s Desert Island Recordings: “Are You Experienced?”, “Axis: Bold as Love”, “Electric Ladyland”

3 – EDDIE VAN HALEN

There was rock guitar pre-EVH and rock guitar post-EVH. Once Eddie – who inexplicably sits at #8 on the list – burst on the scene in the late 70s, every other guitarist knew it was time to go back to his practice room and try a little harder (just read any interview with Journey’s Neal Schon or Toto’s Steve Lukather where the Van Halen topic comes up).

Quick Hits: He not only played faster and more acrobatically than anyone else, he practically invented new sounds and techniques with every new album. He built his own iconic guitar. His signature sound had its own name – the “brown sound”. Although tapping was around before him, it was so obscure that, for all intents and purposes, we should just go ahead and credit EVH with inventing the entire technique. Virtually every rock guitarist post-EVH not only had to learn to tap, but to use the whammy bar. He put the Floyd Rose locking tremolo system on the map. For all of Eddie’s lead guitar virtuosity, he could easily go down in history as the grooviest rock rhythm player who ever lived. Oh, and “Eruption” was recorded when he was, like, 20.

JB’s Desert Island Recordings: “Van Halen”, “Van Halen II”, “Women and Children First”, “Fair Warning”, “Diver Down”, “1984″

4 – THE EDGE

This might surprise some people, but IMHO, no guitarist has had as big an impact on the sound of the modern pop/rock band or the concept of creating song/guitar hooks – without which the song would not exist – as U2′s The Edge. Certainly not a guitar virtuoso in the traditional lead guitar sense, Edge’s influence on the whole “sonic landscape” approach is felt far and wide nonetheless. Evidently Rolling Stone does not agree with me, seeing as how Edge resides at #38, behind such guitar giants as Curtis Mayfield, Mick Taylor, and Elmore James, who was famous for exactly ONE slide guitar lick.

Quick Hits: Edge practically invented the concept of using echo as an integral part of his sound. His signature sound – a wicked combination of chiming double stops, muted “scratch” rhythm parts, chorused arpeggios, power chords, harmonics, and the aforementioned echoes – is unique and immediately recognizable. Guitarist and primary songwriter of one of the greatest rock bands in history. Edge’s sound is the sound of U2 (along with Bono’s voice); his layered guitars were the driving force behind U2′s full-blown transition from their early, classic sound to a more modern, experimental one (beginning with “Achtung Baby”).

JB’s Desert Island Recordings: “The Unforgettable Fire”, “The Joshua Tree”, “Achtung Baby”

It’s Your Turn

Now that you’ve read my take on this topic, what do you think? How do YOU define “greatness” in a musician? Who would be on YOUR Mount Rushmore of Guitar Greatness? Comment away!

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