Slide guitar playing is a great way to introduce a very hip tone into your style. Whether you choose a glass or metal slide, the color of this sound is something that can't be overlooked. Often at Creative Guitar Studio student's will ask which slide they should begin with; i.e., glass or metal. It is a decision that lies with the player. Both have their unique tonal properties. And, only after trying both will a guitarist be able to truly make their decision.
Luckily, slides are inexpensive to purchase. So, buy a few types and see what you prefer. I normally suggest that players new to slide try a short glass slide with a thick sidewall. Jim Dunlop company makes a nice one; the short - small glass pyrex (212). Metal slides tend to be heavier and might work best for the middle and ring fingers for most guitarists. Glass is far lighter and will work better with the pinky for most folks.
To develop the slide technique players need to decide upon which finger they prefer placing the slide. Test all fingers. Many players have a misconception walking into playing with a slide that they "must" use the slide on one particular finger. This is simply not the case. Any finger (aside from index) should do. Bonnie Raitt & Joe Walsh play slide with it on their middle fingers; Duane Allman & Derek Trucks use their ring; Sonny Landreth, Johnny Winter and Ry Cooder all play slide using their pinky fingers. So, test and see what works best.
Watch the video lesson for a whole host of other slide details, tricks and tips!
The scale structure and harmonic analysis of the Lydian Mode:
LYDIAN MODE:
Lydian is a seven tone scale found by creating tonic from the basic major scales' fourth degree. The result when analyzed, is a major tonality scale with a raised 4th step.
The 4th degree acts to produce a good deal of unstability in the scales structure. This can result in some difficulty for those new to the scales' sound in terms of resolving to tonic. The emotional effect of Lydian is often referred to as a, "moving away," feeling. This effect can take considerable time and practice to master.
Guitarist Joe Satriani is often credited with masterful use of the Lydian mode in his songwriting. His piece, "Flying in a Blue Dream," employs the use of Lydian mode from the outset of the song. Other pieces using Lydian mode include; "Maria," by Leonard Bernstein and, "Here Comes My Girl," by Tom Petty.
This week a viewer has a question about string bending technique...
"I looked through all of your videos and could not find one about bending. Id like to see you do a video all about bending technique." Thanks, Doug - San Diego, CA. U.S.A.
Bending guitar strings with excellent technique, style and accuracy involves work on three important areas:
1). Bend Types: There are two categories here; Standard Bends and Pre-Bends. Each category has sub-categories, such as, (but not limited to), sustain and release concepts.
2). Pitch Accuracy: Bending a note to a wrong note is still a wrong note. However, tweaking notes out of pitch for short durations, (as in; 1/4 or 3/4 increments), can yield very interesting effects.
3). Practice Exercises: In order to achieve great results with bending, players need to practice various bend styles as well as, pitch accuracy.
The instructional video contains solid explanations of all of the above points.
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- Andrew Wasson
In this second follow-up video to, "Music Theory: Chord Inversions," we will examine the actual use of inversions. This concept is generally reffered to as, "Voice Leading."
VOICE LEADING is the study of smooth chord connection and melodic bass lines. It is called voice leading, due to the fact that, just as in music for the voice, the individual lines, (or voices), of a harmony of a composition can lead, (or connect), smoothly by way of the nearest available tone.
There are five important concepts involving the proper learning of chord inversions, they are;
1). VOICING: The arrangement of the notes of a chord in vertical order above the bass note.
2). CHORD INVERSION: Voicing a chord tone other than the root in the bass.
3). INVERSION POSITION:
a). ROOT POSITION: The voicing of a chord with the ROOT as the lowest tone (in the bass).
b). FIRST INVERSION: A chord with the THIRD in the bass.
c). SECOND INVERSION: A chord with the FIFTH in the bass.
4). HOW TO FIND ROOT POSITION OF AN INVERTED CHORD: To nd the root of an inverted chord when written on the staff you must rearrange the notes until they are stacked in 3rd intervals. The lowest note will be the root.
5). SLASH CHORDS: In modern musical notation, inverted chords are represented by the symbol, known as a slash chord.
Andrew Wasson of Creative Guitar goes over the two-hand tapping guitar technique. Tapping usually incorporates pull-offs or hammer-ons, where the fingers of the fretting hand will play a sequence of notes in synchronization with the other hand (tapping hand).
The technique is often associated with Eddie Van Halen and his songs "Erruption" and "Hot for Teacher." Although many other styles of guitarists use this technique (including Acoustic players) it is mostly considered and associated with Rock guitar. And, it is almost always seen performed on an electric guitar with distortion.
