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Creating Scales

While you are learning different riffs and practice pieces it is always important to bring it all together. Keep everything you learn or have done on your mind and make it your own. Change the things you have learned and create new riffs or practices for yourself. If you are practicing a scale, for example, make sure to always make it challenging for yourself. A great way to change a scale is to add chords into it or mirror the scale and play it higher and lower.

One of the best ways to get creative with scales is to first play a chord. It can be any chord type. After you play the chord try and find some notes that make sense and fit with the chord you played. If you have a recording device then you could play the chord and then try and lay down a scale to it.

There are no rules that have to be followed when it comes to playing music so allow yourself to be free and make things happen the way they sound good to you. If you are designing a scale for a chord and a note doesn't sound right to you then just find a better one. After you do this with more and more chords you will start to realize that you are able to lay down a solo to any number of different riffs.

Learning to scale in this way will keep you YOU. It is great practice to learn scales but it is even better practice to learn how to create your own scales. It will have more of your playing essence than going through a predetermined scale sequence.

In my next post I will get into some solo tabs from Randy Rhoads and Dimebag so get your fingers ready.

Joe Satriani - Circles

Here is a really great song to learn how to play. This tab is from some place on the internet. I would have made the tab myself but this is close enough. If you listen to the song you can hear where you might need to change some things around. this is the acoustic beginning of the song before it goes into Jo's guitar solo and heavier part of the song. Here is a link to listen to the song. This is a live version so he has a more elaborate beginning than what I tab for you here. Right when the drums start and then he plays is where the tab starts.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APUZj-nV2lE

Click to enlarge

P.M. stands for palm mute. You mute the strings with your picking hand so make the notes sound cut them off to stop the sound.

Again I apologize for the quality of the tab. Consider it your opportunity to use your ears instead of relying on only your eyes.

Developing Smart Fingers

This exercise involves diminished chords. The key to this exercise is to first learn the seven chords. Once you have the chords down then try the exercise. Play each chord clean and accurate and then mute the strings with your picking hand and move to the next chord. Take your time and play this exercise very slow and make sure you are playing the chords clean without any buzz or open strings. Play the chords up and then back down the neck. Once you can do that then you can try and pick up the speed a little bit.

Example 2 is a good variation to play that can really help your fingers muscle memory. When picking for example 2 us a down up up up down up up up.

Here is the tab. Click image to enlarge.

This is an exercise from a Joe Satriani guitar book in case you were wondering.

Dimebag Riffs

I promised some Dimebag so here it is. I am going to put some riffs down that I think are very helpful. Dimebag has a particular grove that most guitarist never achieve. If you do not know of Dimebag from Pantera then do yourself some justice and listen to him now. Even if you are not into metal you will appreciate how completely ahead of the curve Dimebag was.

For starters I we will look at the intro to "Shedding Skin" off of the "Far Beyond Driven" album. If you don't know or remember what the song sounds like here is a link to listen to it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_igViwDG_nw&feature=related

Click images to enlarge


The beat count is 72 and it is played 4 X's before the change. Mess around with how you pick the notes on the guitar. There are a lot of different styles of picking that would work. Down up down up is not always the answer. This lick will also help you with moving from string to string.

This next riff is the intro to "5 Minutes Alone" which is also off of the "Far Beyond Driven" album. Here is a link to the official video. Sorry about the youtube commercial just wait a few seconds and it will start.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7m7njvwB-Ks

This riff will help you learn how to slide a power chord both up and down the neck of the guitar. The little X marks on the tab mean that you don't really play a note. You instead hover your hand above and create a high pitch ringing sound instead. A type of sloppy harmonics if you will.

The end of the riff has a really great downward sliding scale that really puts a great ending to the opening riff. Just one of Dimes signature moves.

This next song is off of the "Vulgar Display of Power" album and it is called "This Love". Maybe one of the more popular mellow songs from Pantera. It is a nice easy mellow style that will help put more licks under your belt.

Here is the link to the official video for you
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tymWpEU8wpM

I know that these songs are not the most complicated for all people but even if you are a more advanced player it never hurts to revisit some older tunes.

This next song is on the 101 Proof Live album. It is called "Where you come from" and is one of two studio songs on the album. This song really shows Dimebags Texas Blues influence in his metal playing. Make sure you listen to this song if you never have. Here is a link for it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfKdgQ8kHPo

The song really is not as hard as it may first seem. There are a lot of hammer on and pull offs mixed with a lot of bends but when you get the rhythm of the song down you will get to where you want to be in no time. If you noticed the A.H. on the tab that means Artificial Harmonic. Artificial Harmonics are created by pinching your guitar pick very close to the edge and just barley hitting the string with it along with part of your thumb. This creates an artificial harmonic tone. These are not easy to do at first but try doing them all over the neck and on different strings. You will notice that some notes are much easier to pull this off than others.

In future posts I will focus on Dimebags soloing. Like Randy Rhoads he is a great composer of guitar and his solos are legendary. I hope you enjoyed learning some Dime and if you do not own the music you should remedy that problem now so you can continue to learn guitar from one of the greatest to ever play.

Rest in peace Dime.

Harmonized Scales

Today I would like to talk briefly about Harmonized Scales. There are lots of scales that a person can practice and I suggest that you do so but most people no nothing about Harmonized Scales.

If you are new to this then it might seem a bit weird at first. Always remember to take it slow. The benefits to learning this type of scale are very great. Once you get better and better at playing the guitar you will find that using these types of scale progressions or even just one part as a small chord will come in handy. At first they will sound a little off but as you get better at playing it you will be able to make them sound more fluid.

Here is the scale. Remember to click on the image to enlarge it

Take it slow at first and then after you get it down start to bring up your speed. A metronome would be very beneficial if you have one to use. If not then tap your foot or something.

Play around with these and come up with some of your own scales if you would like. Over time you will understand how greatly important this exercise is to your guitar playing.

Bring out your soul and leave the radio OFF

I know that it can be fun to learn songs that you really like. It is a great way to learn. You pop a CD into the CD player and get your guitar tuned just right and practice with your favorite music. Most the time during my early guitar playing years I started to realize that while playing with a CD there were many little things that I previously over looked. The length to hold a note. The distance of a bend. The tone of a scream. These are the little things that separate you from the rest. It does not take too much for someone to learn how to play a song but it shows that you stand out above the norm when you can focus on and understand how to play with feel.

Playing with a metronome can greatly help a person with timing and train up there speed. It is a good way to help clean your playing up. Playing with an extra edge and getting the right feel to the music can not be achieved while using a metronome. At least not when you are learning. It is okay to shut the thing off and free yourself from any outside influence. It causes a person to focus on mostly timing. It takes away from being able to let loose and add some feel to what you are playing. I know that it not always true but when you are learning I think it is important to have only yourself to rely on and see what happens. When your jamming with a CD you can learn a lot more about the feel of the song you are playing but even still you are not going to get enough of yourself into the music.

I know that some people think playing the song exactly is what should be done and I agree most of the time but I also think that any guitarist should have his own stamp on everything he plays. Including some other persons music. People have to remember that they are not a robot. They are human. We all have individual minds and souls. If you ask me I will tell you that those two things are the most important part of any musician. If one can learn to tap into that then one can easily stand out and become a distinct individual while playing there guitar or whatever instrument. It does not matter which.

You see. The whole reason why I am even writing these posts is because all I hear all the time is a copy of a copy of a copy of a copy etc... I will not listen to the radio ever. The radio is poison to a true musician. I don't care what anybody says. Go ahead and turn on the radio and listen to the latest rock or metal music. You tell yourself if you hear much of a difference. There is too much music out in the world to chain yourself to the radio. Especially with the internet which of course you have because you are reading this right now. If you are a radio listener then I challenge you to not do so for an entire year. I guarantee your musical taste will become more unique and you will have a far greater understanding of what you really like and how you really would like to sound. If all you get is the same crap everyone else gets then your just a drone and will not have any real feel to your playing beyond the next guy. One of my favorite bands is Prong. If you listen to Prong then you already understand what I am getting at. If you do not listen to Prong then I am first mad at you and second urging you to do so.



Prong is a band that sets the standard. They are the band that other bands follow. They are one of the most unique and amazing bands that is still making music today. Look how many bar bands murder the song "Snap your fingers Snap your neck". This is a good example of how not to be a musician. I have never seen a single bar band that plays this song correctly. Ever. The very reason they are playing that song and not any other prong song is because they listen to the radio. If they had a shred of common sense they would understand that Prong has far greater songs that could be played instead of playing the same songs and set list that every other bar band plays. If you go to bars with bands like this then please stop going. At least start griping about how typical it is.

Sorry about that. I hate bar bands with no real talent. There are too many of them. In the small town where I live it is all I have ever seen. I have to go to Minneapolis if I want to at least hear some unique bands and different music. Where I live it is either radio music or the blues. I HATE THE BLUES. I know most of the music I play myself is of course influenced by the blues but NOT DIRECTLY. If you like the blues then fine whatever. I don't.

There is another very major part of bringing out your own feel and sound and that is your equipment itself. Not just what kind of gear but how you set it up. Music gear is expensive and there is a lot to consider when designing your sound. To this day I do not have everything that I would like to have. I will list what I have so you know where I am coming from.

I play mostly one guitar but I have four guitars. They are:

Westone Spectrum LX
Dean Dime From Hell
Washburn Black Jack
Kramer ZX20

My amplifier

Marshall Valvestate VS100

My effects

Digitech GNX 3

My Digitech is a floor processor which I plug directly into the input of my Marshall head. My Digitech has every effect you could think of and I use a mixture of mostly

Delay
Chorus
Sustain
Compression
Distortion

I mix the effects of my GNX 3 with the settings on my Marshall. My Marshall is set like this

Gain 10
Contour 5
Base 5
Middle 5
Treble 8 or 9

My Marshall also has a mix of Reverb, FX Mix, and Overdrive.

Using all my gear along with my guitar itself gives me a wide range of sound. I have been tweaking my sound my entire guitar life and still do so to this day. You should always be experimenting with your own sound and adding that very thought to your journey of becoming the type of guitarist that you want to become.

Playing accuretly

The most important thing there is for a guitarist is to play clean and accurate. Most of the time when I hear someone play guitar they are very messy and careless. It is important to keep your cool so to speak and hit the notes correctly and not act like some knob who does nothing with his guitar but try and act cool. An example of a poser guitarist would be the guy from NIN. The guy is useless.

Anyway, take things slow and start off by being able to play first with your voice. I don't care if you hum or jent jent ja jent like I do but it is important that you first know what you are playing. If you can hum it then you can play it. That might sound a little dumb but it most certainly is not. It does not matter where I am or what I am doing. I am usually softly practicing my guitar as I walk around, watch TV, or go to the bathroom. My point is to keep what you want to learn on your mind because when it comes time to sit down and play you will be more prepared.

Most people start with the same crappy song they learn at some crappy music center that is over charging for guitar lessons. "Smoke on the water". LAME

I have to say that I think that sets beginning standards to low. All that song has is a bunch of power cords and not much else. If you like that kind of garbage then fine but if you don't then start with at least something cooler like Iron Man. The first song that I learned how to play was Crazy Train. This is a great song to get a person started. It makes use of all your fingers and is a great exercise. I am not talking about the entire song for beginners. I am talking about the part that goes Da Da Nay Da Nay Da Nay Nah Nay Nay Nay Nah Nay Nay Nay Nah.
That probably made no sense at all. Whatever. If you were practicing with your mouth it would so BLAH.

My point is to get away from what everyone else is doing. I have had this situation happen to me so many times. It goes like this.

Your sitting around with a bunch of people and one of your friends goes. "Hey Kent. You should play your guitar. So and so has never heard you play before." So I pick up my guitar and play something really kick ass like "Revolution is my name" by Pantera and after playing this incredibly intricate song this schmuck has the bone head question of, "Can you play smoke on the water?" I mean really. Give me a break. I just shredded a Pantera song and your wondering if I can play smoke on the water. That is just stupid. I usually proceed to tell the individual that of course I could but will not do so because it is against my proper guitar upbringing.

I kid you not. This type of scenario happens all the time. My point is that every wannabe guitarist who has no clue only knows the stupid smoke on the water nonsense because that is the norm. If you want to be typical than that is fine by me but have some common sense and be a musician with something more unique than the next guy okay. PLEASE. There are too many copies of really crappy musicians out there and we don't need any more of them so do us all a favor.

Back to my original point. Play clean and accurate and if your starting out pick a song that is not to hard or to typical. There are plenty of songs to choose from that don't require an expert to show you how to play. Use your ears as well as your hands. Listen to the notes that you are producing. If you find yourself really flubbing things up then slow down. Speed will come later and much faster if you understand that you need to move slow in the beginning. There is no rush.

A great rhythm to get your up and down picking going is the song "A New Level" by Pantera off of the "Vulgar Display of Power" album. It starts out with some easy slow progression and then switches to a really powerful low end rhythm that will keep a beginner busy for a while. Not to mention that it sounds very cool once you accomplish it correctly. Take that song and practice it all the time. It will help improve your picking style greatly. Experiment with it and branch it off into something of your own. Do not ever forget to do that. The best things that you will ever play in this world are the things that you have created yourself. Other peoples material can only be copied. Your very own material has your very guitar essence within it. That is so very important to develop.

Guitar Tunings

This is my main guitar. It is a Westone Spectrum LX. I have had it since the 80's and boy do I love this guitar. It has really taken a beating yet it just keeps on going for me. Not many people know about these guitars. I have played a few different brands of guitar but the fast action and great pick up quality is the best on my Westone. I really do love it. Here are the specs for those of you who really want to know.

Solid Maple body, Hard Maple neck, Rosewood fingerboard with graphite nut
25.5 inch scale, 22 frets.
Pickups - two Magnaflux II UBC (Neck and bridge) and one Magnaflux IV (Mid)
Master volume control (Push/pull for coil tap), two tone controls (Push/pull for mid pickup on/off and bridge pickup phase reverse)
Bendmaster FT trem with FT string lock

My floating bridge went to hell eventually but I am not much of a whammy bar user in the first place. I only use whammy when I make recordings to add some effects, drops, or screams.

I understand that many people love to play guitar. I started playing back when I was wearing Pac-Man pajamas in the early 80's. That means that I have about 27 or so yrs. playing experience. I have learned over the yrs. that a lot of people when learning to play seem to gravitate to the soloing and don't spend enough time on rhythm guitar. This blog will be about mostly rhythm guitar. I prefer very low heavy tones when I am playing but when I get the 80's feel back inside I always return to the higher tunings. A regularly tuned guitar is usually from low string to high

E - A - D - G - B - E

bands like Metallica and White Lion for example use this tuning most the time. Another tuning type would be.

D# - G# - C# - F# - A# - D#

This is the same tuning only one note lower on each string. An example would be guitarists like Randy Rhoads, George Lynch, or Yngwie Malmsteen.

The # symbol means sharp. So C# means one note higher than C. Or one could say Db. The symbol b means flat. So Db means one note lower than D. I will stick to C#. All the notes in sequance are as follows.

E - F - F# - G - G# - A - A# - B - C - C# - D - D# - E

When you tune differently you also get a difference in pinch harmonics or more or less bend on a string. Now those two tunings or for a more 80's style music but that does not mean you cannot use them to this day of course.

The tunings that I use most of the time are much lower. I use

D - G - C - F - A - D

My favorite band, which is Prong, uses this type of tuning a lot. I, as well as Prong for example, also like to drop the low string down to C.

C - G - C - F - A - D

Which is referred to as Drop D tuning. It can apply to any standard tuning you use.

Standard
E - A - D - G - B - E

Drop D
D - A - D - G - B - E

Another tuning I use a lot is the lowest my guitar can handle. It is

C# - F# - B - E - G# - C#.

Any lower than that and my guitar strings are too loose and it sounds terrible. One way to be able to go lower and have a thicker song is to have a thicker string. The strings that I use are Ernie Ball Super Slinky. The gauge that I use are

.09
.11
.16
.24
.32
.42

You can go as thin as .08 or as thick as, well I don't know. .56 or something. If you want to go thicker than that you might as well play the bass.

There are of course many different types of tunings. Each with its own unique sound and feel. Most of the heavy music of today is always in the lower tunings. It gives a thicker heavy tone naturally. However it is not against the rules to tune higher and still play heavy. Metallica, for example, usually tunes standard E. They use to be a pretty heavy band. As for nowadays who really cares because Metallica sucks but they will suffice for my example.

Having a good tuner is a very effective way to tune differently. I don't care how well of a trained ear a person might have. It is still difficult to tune accurately form one type to the next. The best way would be to have a guitar for each type of tuning style but we all know that most of us are not made of money. It would certainly be nice to have all the guitars needed though wouldn't it?

Anyway, play around with tunings. If you are trying to learn a song and it doesn't seem to be coming out correctly then maybe you are not tuned the way you should be. I usually listen for the lowest note and then I determine weather it is standard or dropped D. I am not going to get into how you go about doing that. The purpose of this post is simply to get you to think about the different types of tunings. An experienced guitarist would already know but someone who is not to far in there quest will greatly benefit form this.