Stepping Out: A Guide To Playing Outside (Part 1)
Lessons > Fusion
Stepping Out: A Guide To Playing Outside (Part 1)By Thomas Williams
December 23rd, 2011
Playing ‘outside’ is a term synonymous with jazz rock/fusion guitar players. Within traditional forms of jazz this term is replaced by ‘using chromaticism.’ In blues, country, and folk forms it’s called ‘blue notes.’ In everything else it’s considered ‘the wrong notes.’ In all forms, however, the common goal is to play a note that clashes against the background harmony in order to create tension and thus reinforce resolution when it arrives.
Arbitrary Chromatics: The Bonehead Easy Way To Get A Jazzy SoundBy Morten Faerestrand
September 28th, 2011
So, what are arbitrary chromatics? To say it simply, whenever you’re playing a minor (or major, or whatever mode) scale, in any position, you’ll have three tones on most of the strings, and two tones on one of the strings. This concept puts a chromatic passing tone on the string with two tones, so that each of the strings has three tones. This is great, especially for playing patterns or runs…
Tapping In HarmonyBy Faze
May 24th, 2011
Hello Guitar Messenger readers! Today’s lesson focuses on spicing up chords by actively engaging both hands on the fretboard. Don’t be fooled by all the crazy-looking tapping you see in this video – as we move on you’ll realize that this is all a piece of cake. The main thing that I suggest here is to start slow and work your way up. I have provided you with full tracks and backing tracks of the full piece at 160bpm in the beginning, along with versions at 100bpm alongside each exercise, to help you build up to that speed. A few words before… (Continue)
Future Metal ShredBy Paul Wardingham
May 16th, 2011
Welcome to Guitar Messenger! My name is Paul Wardingham, and I’m going to be showing you how to play some futuristic-themed shred ideas using excerpts from my new album Assimilate Regenerate, as well as a solo written and recorded exclusively for this lesson. Whenever a student asks me how to play so-called ‘futuristic’ sounding licks, there are certain techniques and scales that always seem to spring to mind when trying to create this sound. Ex 1. Sweeping Sus2 Arpeggios – Cyber Warfare (4:31) Example 1 is taken from the last solo in the track ‘Cyber Warfare,’ and uses a sequence of… (Continue)
Sweeping HarmonyBy Jarle H. Olsen
April 22nd, 2011
I’m going to break down a segment of my song ‘Event Horizon,’ from my album Quadrasonic, for you to check out and study. For me, good composition always comes before anything else. I always try to paint the whole picture using all of the instruments. With this segment, I have added a lot of detail to the rhythm section and the chords underneath – otherwise it would just sound like a meaningless arpeggio sequence. What happens when you put all the elements of this arrangement in context is that the picture is completed, creating a strong melodic sense that sticks… (Continue)
Fusion Licks That RockBy Murilo Romano
March 29th, 2011
Hi, my name is Murilo Romano. It’s a great pleasure to be here with you! Today I’ll be using the solo from my song ‘Nostradamus’ to show you how to use chromatic approaches, arpeggios and tensions to give your licks an ‘outside’ sound.
Diminished Possibilities: Part 2By Francesco Artusato
February 21st, 2009
Hey guys! Welcome again to my “Technical Difficulties” column – this is number 6 already! As the title suggests, this is the second part of a previous column I wrote for Guitar Messenger, so feel free to check it out and leave me comments in the “Ask Francesco” section of the forum. This time I am going to dive a little deeper into the Octatonic scale. I want to show you some of the sounds “hidden” inside the typical diminished shapes that all guitar players know and have come to love and use on a consistent basis. It is really… (Continue)
Scott Henderson’s “Stella by Infra-Red High Particle Neutron Beam” SoloBy Francesco Artusato
September 25th, 2008
Welcome back to the Technical Difficulties column! As I previously did with the “Day of the Dead” solo by Allan Holdsworth, today I am going to analyze and play a solo by one of my favorite guitar players of all time: Scott Henderson. Scott is a phenomenal musician who has widely expanded the guitar language throughout the years, particularly in the jazz/fusion and blues context. He is known especially for his great sense of phrasing, touch, dynamic control, amazing time, and incredible attention for articulations. He has been recording and playing around the world in different collaborations and projects for… (Continue)
2-1-2 Arpeggio PermutationsBy Francesco Artusato
May 22nd, 2008
Welcome to my fourth column/lesson. This time I would like to talk about a component of guitar playing that has always fascinated me: arpeggio permutations/fragments. Playing arpeggio fragments can make one’s playing more colorful, usually helping a musical phrase sound harmonically richer and more diverse.
Diminished Possibilities: Part 1By Francesco Artusato
January 9th, 2008
Welcome to my third column/lesson. This time I’d like to talk a little bit about diminished scales/arpeggios with their possible application solos. Knowing how to use a diminished “idea” represents a very powerful tool to create moments of musical tension. A diminished/octatonic scale is a symmetrical scale (whose intervallic relationship is symmetrical) composed of 8 notes. There are 2 modes of a given diminished/octatonic set: whole/half/whole/half and so on, or half/whole/half/whole and so on. It’s a very easy scale to use on an instrument like the guitar, because even though there are 8 notes in it, there are only two… (Continue)
Allan Holdsworth’s “Day of the Dead” SoloBy Francesco Artusato
October 28th, 2007
Welcome to my second column/lesson! This month I’d like to talk about one of my favorite players of all time – Allan Holdsworth. He’s been a big influence in the electric guitar world, and has helped expand the musical vocabulary of countless players throughout the last three decades. Allan has always tried to push the physical and harmonic limits of his playing/instrument, and over the years has practically created his own language on the instrument and in the genre of fusion. Holdsworth represents everything that is good in the realm of guitar: from his impeccable time and touch, to his… (Continue)
Different Groupings & Finger IndependenceBy Francesco Artusato
October 15th, 2007
One of the most essential things that a guitar player can try to develop is the independence of fretting hand digits (equal control over every finger). There are lots of exercises that help to achieve this, and I think one of the best ones is the common 1-2-3-4 chromatic exercise across all strings. It can seem simple, but playing all the different permutations (1-2-3-4/1-2-4-3-/1-3-2-4/1-3-4-2/1-4-3-2/1-4-2-3/ and so on) with a balanced touch and good time while only using hammer-on’s and pull-off’s can be really demanding. In the long run, however, such control can be truly effective, and will open many doors… (Continue)
