basically i'd like this to be a place for guitar and bass players to get advice and discuss techniques on developping different styles. i salvaged some of the more pertinent stuff from the 'free guitar lessons' thread to start things off, unlike that fiasco this should be more of a roundtable style thread with more discussion on personal playing methods.




i'll actually offer something of substance in regards to the current topics tomorrow but right now i need to sleep hehehe

alright so i'm gonna tackle achtung's request first since it's the oldest. first off i'm no expert and i've never learned theory. there are more than a few people here who can offer better explanations why certain scales work with certain chords than me (seerix and roivas particularily).

as for playing tips in regards to psychedelic blues lead, well, here goes nothing hehe.

eric clapton is a great example of generic electric blues playing. i'm not saying he's bad but he does (or did) live in that blues scale geryon posted.

here's the numberically tabbed version of the same scale as if you would play it from lowest to highest note. if you don't know how to read tab already it's pretty simple. each line represents a string and the numbers are the frets.

/ - means a slide
b - is a bend, usually a full step (2 frets) unless otherwise indicated.
~ - is vibrato
h - hammer on
p - pull off

there are more symbols but that's pretty much all you'll see in blues based stuff. (if it's even marked into the tab)

e |------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------9--12---
B |-------------------------------------5--------------------------------------------9--12----------
G |------------------------------4--6------------------------------------9--11-12------------------
D |-----------------2 /-4-5-6------------------------------------9--11-----------------------------
A |----------2--4--------------------------------------9-10-11-------------------------------------
E |--2-3-4----------------------------------------12------------------------------------------------

i think that's the pentatonic scale in E. the solo for 'i feel free' starts in A so you end up playing the same pattern 5 frets higher up on your guitar. it's basically all about the relative spacing between the notes and not the actual notes themselves. or something


i haven't heard cream's 'i feel free' in years and i'm not having luck with soulseek or any attempt to find my cream's greatest hits cd... so i'm going to be using the tabs for 'i fee free' from. http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/tabs/...l_free_tab.htm http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/tabs/...e_ver2_tab.htm

i'm also going to copy some of it without permission.

The lead solo part : ///hard to hear
e---------------------------------------------------------------|
b----------------------------------15b-12-----------------------------------|
g--14b~~~~~~-14p12-------------------14~~~---12b~~~-12-10-12b~~~~~-----|
d---------------------------14-------------------------------------------|
a---------------------------------------------------------------|
e---------------------------------------------------------------|


later ...
e--------------15-17b~~~p15-----------------------------------------|
b--15b~-17----------------------17---15---------------------------------|
g-------------------------------------------14b~~~--14-12-10-12-14b~~~~----|
d---------------------------------------------------------------|
a---------------------------------------------------------------|
e---------------------------------------------------------------|

e|----------------------------------|----------15-------17--15--------15---------15----15---|
B|-15------------------------------|--15-17-------17----------15-17---17----17---17------|
G|----14----14--12-10-12-14b--|------------------------------------------------|
D|---------------------------------|------------------------------------------------|
A|---------------------------------|------------------------------------------------|
E|----------------------------------|------------------------------------------------|

e|--17--15---------------|
B|-----------17-15-etc.--|
G|-------------------------|
D|-------------------------|
A|-------------------------|
E|-------------------------|

so the first 2 bars are from the first tab the last two are from the other. since i haven't heard the song in a long time i'm going to make an assumption and guess that the 2nd tab author was lazy and didn't add the h and ps in the 2nd part

anyway to breakdown how you'd go about playing something like this there are 3 main techniques you need to get used to bending, string skipping, hammer ons and pull offs.

bending a note is one of the simplest things to learn but one of the toughest to master ESPECIALLY when playing electric blues. bending the string is simple you just fret the string at the indicated note and bend upwards until the pitch is the same as it would be 2 frets higher on the neck. more often than not i bend my notes with my ring or little finger that way i can use my middle and index fingers for extra support on the bend (they raise the string while the ring finger holds the note). another technique to practice bending is unison bends, where you play the target note 2 or 3 fret lower on the neck on the next highest string. (the end of hendrix's solo on 'all along the watchtower' is a great example of unison bends right before he goes into that crazy high bend for the end of the tune)

e|-------------9----------|
B|--10--------12b-------|
G|--12b------------------|
D|------------------------|
A|-------------------------|
E|-------------------------|

the next thing you need to learn with bending is vibrato basically it means shaking the note. i don't remember exactly how clapton said it in an interview but he compared adding vibrato to a guitar note with the way opera singers added it to their voices. they let the note ring out first then gradually bring in resonance and vibrato. there isn't a specific right way to add vibrato to a note, some people like bending the string up and down, others go front and back, personally i use the B.B. King method of shaking my wrist. the vibrato is what will keep your note ringing for longer and how most people add some element of emotion into their playing. you can never practice it enough.

for me string skipping (like the 2nd part with all the 15s and 17s) basically just involves using your index finger as a mini capo and relying on your other fingers to handle the rest of the lick. simple way to make it sound a lot fuller are hammer ons and pull offs, which is really just playing more than one note from a single pick attack.


e|----------------15h17--18p17p15----|
B|--15h17p15---------------------------|
G|----------------------------------------|
D|----------------------------------------|
A|----------------------------------------|
E|----------------------------------------|

with this example you'd be keeping your index locked at the 15th fret on both the B and e strings. for the first part pick once to sound D (15) note then tap the E (17) with your ring finger then pull it clearly off the string and you should hear all 3 notes clearly. with the 2nd lick you still start on the same fret but you hit the string twice with your pick. the first time you pick it you would sound the G (15) then hit the A(17) but this time you'd leave your finger in place then quickly fret the Bb(18) with your next finger before cleanly pulling off those two notes to finish with a clear sound on the G (15).

the most important thing to remember when practicing hammers and pulls is a clean transition. you really want your fingertip to come down hard and direct onto the string, as much at a perpendicular angle as possible.

i hope these beginner tips proved relevant, practicing those 3 techniques pretty much covers the very basic of blues lead guitar. i can't stress vibrato enough though, it's one of the techniques that REALLY adds to your style and sound when playing guitar.

2 last tidbits before i finish this up.
it's as much about how you play it as it is about what you play.
the most important thing to remember when playing music is to have fun.

good post panbient.

http://media.putfile.com/SRVguitar

^^ thats what im currently trying to learn. might not be that hard, but im having trouble getting the sound right. as i understand it, you hit the muted notes on the upstroke, but when i look at it, he seems to hit em all at the same time. the note and the muted strings.

alright i think i can kill two birds with one stoned essay on the picking hand.

sammo, the trick to getting 'blackbird' to sound right is fingerpicking, one of the most noticable aspects of the style (especially in 'blackbird') is the way that all the bass notes have a downward attack while the high notes all have softer upward attacks. if you aren't already using this method start practicing because it can take a little while to get it sounding fluid. basically what you end up doing is using your thumb to sound all the bass notes and using at least 3 of your fingertips to sound the harmonies. it's also generally a good idea to assign a string to each finger (index to D, ring to B, etc.). try out different strings with different fingers until you find a method that's comfortable for you.


chiva, the key to that SRV video is all in the right hand, it's all about how he hits the strings. what gives that riff the really meaty sound is actually the chunk of flesh behind his thumb. by kind of slapping the strings with your hand just as much as the pic you end up getting that distinct style of muting and with a quick upstroke you end up negating it almost as quick as you made it which gives the riff it's staccato feel. the specific technique isn't that tough either, basically just bring your hand down in a way so that the fleshy chunk of skin behind your thumb grazes the strings along with your pic, you kind of have to attack the strings at a soft angle and make sure to strum from your wrist.

that reminds me... ALWAYS STRUM FROM YOUR WRIST. seriously, it's where the rhythm comes from. if you just tighten up your arm and use you elbow as some sort of pivot you're going to sound incredibly stiff.

another strumming technique i generally use too much is 'sweeping'. what happens is the strum is muted in a way that all the notes sound separately from within the same attack. the way i do this is by loosening my grip on the pick so that it ends up sliding against the strings a bit more while using the same muting technique i described for chiva. it also makes for a simple transition from chords into lead if you want a smooth change.

and now to paraphrase jimi hendrix - feedback would be appreciated hehehe

thanks panbient, i'll try that out. my style of playing usually ranges between fast power chords to really fast power chords, so i need to learn this type of stuff

thanks chiva, it's all good hehe glad to know your getting some use out of my ramblings hehehe

i still cant make that sound. i'll blame my lame guitar for that

try cutting back your tone a bit, go for a bassier sound, and turn up the reverb on your amp if you have any, if not it's not going to sound as thick as it should.

or maybe i should get a hat just like stevie

that might help a bit too

how good are you at muting techniques in general. aside from the standard metal palm muting do you use other technigues? there's a fair amount of left hand muting going on as well so that the strings sound really chunky. just kind of rest your fingers on the strings, the wider you spread them the thicker the muting gets. for that particular riff most of the muting is on the bottom 4 strings, even when you fret the bass note hit all the dead strings along with it so that the note and when you pull up on the upstroke you'll get the highs ringing into the *chk*

if you really want to pick up some muting technique you should learn some good old school funk hehehe.