Purple Melon

What started as a “silly little concept of one note going down on one string whilst one note goes up on the other,” according to Purple Melon guitarist Owen Barry, turned into the bitchin’ riff to the tune “Ready for Love” off the band’s debut. To approximate the studio version, keep the A string thumping as you pop the syncopated double-stops. You could play the F6, G6, and final A dyads on the D and B strings, but the big stretches are more fun and keep the entire riff on the same strings. Oh yeah, be sure to check out the band’s record, Henry’s Rocket. It freaking rocks!

Curtis’ Breakdown

Guitar Superstar finalist Curtis Fornadley brings us this cool line. “This quick lick is from my solo to ‘Jerry’s Breakdown,’ which I recently released online. It starts by outlining an E7 chord in twelfth position, followed by some chromatic/hybrid/pull-off chaos. It then moves down the fingerboard in sixths, highlighting the change to the IV chord (in this case A). Hybrid picking is used throughout the run. This lick works great in other keys; I also like it in C (eighth position). Of course the relationship to the open-string notes in the first two measures changes as you move it around the fingerboard. Experiment and find some nice surprises.”

Eruption Corruption

From the illustrious Vinnie DeMasi. “One of the raddest perks of being the guitarist in an ’80s tribute show is the abundant opportunity for two-handed fingerboard grandiosity on my taxi-yellow, Floyd Roseequipped Charvel. Like most of the ’80s shred-headed militia, I owe a huge debt to Eddie Van Halen’s musical manifesto ‘Eruption,’ but the overall A7 harmony and general melodic shape of the lick below is my nod to Steve Hackett’s pick-on-fretboard tapping maelstrom from Genesis’ ‘Dancing with the Moonlit Knight.’ Like Eddie though, I sound the tapped notes with my picking-hand index finger, forcefully striking the string against the fretboard then pulling upwards upon release, articulating the pull-off to the open string. Hint: Give the lick added legs by migrating to the B string, and dial in a bit of MXR Phase 90 for that Van Halen I vibe.”