Whistler Jazz Fest Lesson Stan Samole on Expanding Your Bandwidth

Mar 27,2012
Last month we expanded our guitaristic bandwidth with Stan Samole, inspired by his master class at the Whistler Jazz Fest. Samole walked us through a line that used the entire range of the guitar over the first eight bars of More...

Quick Licks, March 2012

Mar 27,2012
Jeff Buckley's Grace Notes GP contributor Vinne DeMasi delivered this one. “Despite a career cut tragically short less than three years after the release of his 1994 debut Grace, Jeff Buckley was recognized as an avatar of his More...

Hey Jazz Guy, March 2012

Mar 23,2012
Hey Jazz Guy, How can I turn my cool rock chords into some sweet jazz changes? –Rockstar in Reno Dear Rockstar, Reharmonization is one of the hippest ways to alter a chord progression. Let’s take some chords and follow More...

10 Things You Gotta Do to Play Like Chuck Berry

Feb 9,2012
Historians tend to place Elvis Presley at the epicenter of rock and roll’s big bang, but we guitarists know better. For us, Chuck Berry had the whole package: great looks, songs, lyrics, voice, and stage presence, plus an More...

Getting Out and Back In with Justin Derrico

Feb 8,2012
Last month Justin Derrico showed us some ways to take a solo outside, and this time he’s getting even further out, as evidenced by Ex. 1. “This is something I might play over C7, and it’s basically a diminished scale,” More...

Quick Licks

Feb 8,2012
What Jeff Beck’s Mama Said This is a great way to get a heavy, galloping sound on power chords, inspired by the bitchin’ Beck tune “What Mama Said.” The trick is to use hybrid picking or the Becktastic fingers-only More...

What I learned at Dweezilla Boot Camp

Feb 8,2012
Last summer, 100 or so Zappa fans converged for five days at the Full Moon Resort nestled in the scenic wilds of New York’s Catskill Mountains. They came for Dweezilla Boot Camp, Dweezil Zappa’s annual musical extravaganza More...

Quick Licks, January 2012

Feb 15,2012
THE DIMINISHED SCALE. BUY 1, GET 3 FREE Rob Michael of the Atmos Trio sent in this morsel. “Times are tough and everyone is looking for a deal, so it’s great when you can learn one thing and use it many different ways. The More...

Johnny Hiland on String Bending

Feb 15,2012
“When I first heard guys like Ricky Skaggs, Marty Stuart, and Jimmy Olander playing with B-benders,” recalls Johnny Hiland, “I didn’t know what a B-bender was. I learned their licks without a bender, and that really helped More...

Quick Licks December 2011

Feb 14,2012
Happy, Scrappy, and Snappy This is one of my all-time favorite licks. I play it by snapping the accented notes with my right-hand index finger, with pretty much every other note being a hammer-on or pull off. When your More...

Quick Licks, April 2012

Apr 17,2012
Orient Express From frequent contributor Vinnie DeMasi: “Initially, re-tuning my acoustic C, G, C, G, C, C (low to high) was an attempt to emulate the sounds of Middle Eastern and/or Indian instruments like the oud, bouzouki, More...

Hey Jazz Guy, April 2012

Apr 17,2012
Hey Jazz Guy, I’m playing all the right notes, but something is still missing. How can I make my phrasing sound more jazzy? –No Swing in Norway Dear No Swing, Perhaps the most elusive and mysterious concept in jazz is More...

Oz Noy’s “Schizophrenic” Solo

Apr 17,2012
The following examples are all inspired by ideas in Oz Noy’s solo on “Schizophrenic,” the title track off his 2009 album. The goal here is to introduce ideas that dip into jazz territory while staying in a funk/rock context. More...

10 Things You Gotta Do to Play Like Steve Morse

Apr 17,2012
Picture if you will: You’ve studied classical guitar, you founded the Dixie Dregs, you front your own trio, you’re in Deep Purple, and you’re a licensed commercial jet pilot. Welcome to the Steve Morse Zone, where the More...

10 Things You Gotta Do to Play Like Steve Vai

Apr 16,2012
“His name is Stevie Vai, and he’s a crazy guy.” Frank Zappa’s opening lyric from “Stevie’s Spanking” may have been intended to reference Steve Vai’s offstage antics, but it’s also an accurate portrayal of his extraordinary More...

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