Beast Of Burden by The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones have been around a long time and it’s not because of their good looks. It’s because of their phenomenal music. These guys can… Read More »Beast Of Burden by The Rolling Stones
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“Fade To Black” by Metallica
Composer – Burton / Hetfield / Mustaine
Where to find this song – Ride The Lightning track # 2
Release Date – January 1984
The Band:
James Hetfield – vocals, guitar
Kirk Hammett – guitar
Lars Ulrich – drums
Robert Trujillo – bassRead More »“Fade To Black” by Metallica
The Relative Minor
Fig. 1: C Major & A Minor Scales Fig. 2: A Minor Chord Fig. 3: Extended C Major/A Minor Scale Fig. 4: For Comparison…… Read More »The Relative Minor
Naming The Strings
The most common way to refer to a string is its alphabet name. The 1st string is the highest string on the guitar (it’s the… Read More »Naming The Strings
Overdrive
Some distortion effects provide an “overdrive” effect. Either by using a vacuum tube, or by using simulated tube modeling techniques, the top of the wave… Read More »Overdrive
Smoke On The Water by Deep Purple
So, what’s the very first guitar riff that everyone learns? You got it: Smoke On The Water. The main riff is composed of nothing but… Read More »Smoke On The Water by Deep Purple
Which Scale: Improvising With Pentatonics
The stage is set.
The fans have gathered and the band opens up with it’s first song. Quick, it’s time for a solo, but what do you play?
That’s easy. We’ll just improvise!
“To improvise means to make it up on the spot, right?”, you ask.
Yes, we’re going to make the solo up as we go along. All we need to know is what key the song is in and then we can find which scale to use.
It’s easy and I’ll show you…Read More »Which Scale: Improvising With Pentatonics
G Major Scale
The notes from the G major scale are G, A, B, C, D, E, and F#. There’s one sharp note (F#), but all the rest of the notes are primary notes. That makes it easier to remember what notes make up the scale. Just start on G and go through the musical alphabet. We start on G- then A comes next (unless you’ve found the secret “H chord”), then B, C, and so on. The last note in the scale is the one with the sharp and that’s F# (or G flat if you prefer).
The 7th scale step in the major scale is always a half step (or one fret) below the tonic.Read More »G Major Scale
The Art Of Memorizing Music
Playing from memory is a skill that I believe is not only possible for every player, but is indeed essential for every player. I never feel that I know a piece, or have “internalized” a piece, until I have been playing it for quite some time from memory.
I always found it quite easy to memorize pieces, and thought everyone could do this, until experience in teaching taught me otherwise. As I began to study the subject, I gradually uncovered the reasons why I found it easy, and others found it difficult. I could summarize those reasons as follows:Read More »The Art Of Memorizing Music
Add A Bass Line To Your Chord Voicings
Simply strumming chords to a song can get quite boring rather quickly. Here we are going to alternate between a bass line and the chord voicings to create a more interesting sonic landscape from some of the basic chord forms that you already know.