Oct 2010 issue - Stetina.com

T R O Y S T E T I N A S E R I E S - D I G I T A L G U I T A R M A G A Z I N E

Note from the Editor

Oct 2010

Welcome to our first issue!

sons and subjects inspired you the most, and what questions you may have for myself and the other authors.

Recently it occurred to me that between my guitarist friends, writers and author colleagues, I could pull together a truly extraordinary collection of world-class lessons. It also seemed that no one else was making such an effort. Sure the international guitar magazines are around, but they are basically “fan centered” and more interested in inundating their readership with an unending barrage of commercial advertising rather than offering any real lesson help. In contrast, I envisioned a free magazine where content drives the ship. Could it work? I floated the idea and my colleagues jumped on it so enthusiastically it surprised me. Within a few short weeks I had more than enough material to launch. Now it is up to you, the readers. Ultimately it will be you who determine our success.

In the future issues I would also like to go beyond technique into composition and even music career advice by those who are on the front lines. The only “rule” here is a free, lesson oriented magazine of the highest quality. But how exactly is this “free” thing going to work? Many of our contributors are teachers working hard to make ends meet. So if you benefit from their articles, please check out the authors’ websites and buy any products that interest you. Every $ you spend is the loudest possible form of support. It’s simple—what you buy you get more of. What you don’t buy, eventually goes away. We’re not selling ad space, so it’s YOU that support our authors directly. Now let’s get on with the lessons... I’m sure they will bring you some new perspectives and challenges!

We will grow with your feedback. Shortly, I will be sending you a survey email to see which les-

-1©2010 Stetina Productions. All Rights Reserved. Lessons and Music used by permission from the author.

—Troy Stetina


Contents

Oct 2010

Level

Author

Subject

Page

All levels

Jamie Andreas

How to Practice So You Don’t Suck

3

Beginning Lead/Int.

Jimmy Kane

Diminished/Blues Hybrid Licks

5

Beginning Lead/Int.

Anthony Arroyo

Chord Tones as Melody Anchors

11

Intermediate

Dave Celentano

Tune from Another Bach

13

Intermediate

Chris Buono

Blues in the Present Tense

18

Intermediate/Adv.

Dale Turner

Polyphonic Riff Writing

21

All levels

Don Parkhurst

Is Your Practice Routine Working?

24

Intermediate/Adv.

Jason Vearing

Stetina Deceiver Lick

27

Advanced

Francesco Artusato

Fusion Arpeggios in Metal

34

Advanced

German Schauss

Shred This Way...

39

Advanced

Mark Tremonti

Stretched Pentatonics

44

Advanced

Michael Angelo Batio

Cyclic Picking Patterns for Speed

48

Resources

51



Jamie Andreas


Why Do You Suck At Guitar? Reason #2: You Always Practice TOO FAST! (Editor’s Note: Even if you don’t suck, you would be wise to listen up. Don’t let the classical guitar throw you either. This applies to all styles.)

“No tempo” practice allows us to observe and feel the very subtle levels of excess tension that most players play with and accept as “normal.”

This Creates Great Tension In Your Muscles And Destroys Your Control. Most teachers understand the necessity for slow practice, but few students (or teachers) appreciate just how slow it must be. The fact is, ALL tempos are too fast for the most powerful kind of practice—the kind that can get us off our playing plateau and break through to new levels of ability. I teach a method where we eliminate the rhythm entirely from the movement process, and focus just on the movements themselves. We take as much time as we want with every movement, and every part of each movement. This is called “no tempo” practice. It is extremely powerful, and creates what I call “transformational practice”, because it transforms our fundamental abilities as guitar players.

In a typical “no tempo” routine, I will take perhaps 10 seconds to push the string down, while I focus my attention strongly on my whole body, observing its reaction to the force of the string coming against my finger. I then release all body tension. Anyone who practices like this, for some period of time in every practice session, will begin to experience profound changes in what it feels like to play the guitar. They will begin to develop a profound capacity for increased kinesthetic awareness, which I call “microscopic awareness.” All great players intuitively learn to practice this way in the early stages of their development, because without this kind of awareness, one simply cannot become a great player. The good news is that with the right practice methods, such as “no tempo” practice, anyone can reach the highest levels of professional playing ability.



Jamie Andreas


_____________________ Jamie Andreas is the author of “The Principles Of Correct Practice For Guitar”, a system for learning to play guitar that is based on the laws of body learning. It is scientific, and works for everyone. Thousands of people around the world have used “The Principles” to begin guitar correctly, avoiding all bad habits, or to fix the playing problems they have. Jamie’s in-depth writings on the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual aspects of achieving guitar mastery can be found at her website www.guitarprinciples.com.



Jimmy Kane


One of the novel and exciting sounds that Randy Rhoads brought to heavy rock guitar in the 80s was his ability to seamlessly interweave classically inspired, diminished-sounding guitar lines with more standard Jimmy Pagestyle Blues/Rock vocabulary—often even within the same phrase!

KEY CONCEPTS you will learn today: 1. The shared scale tones common to the blues scale, the diminished triad, and the half-diminished arpeggio. 2. How to highlight a specific tone with rhythmic accenting.

You can hear a perfect example of this approach by referring to Troy’s Metal Lead Guitar Vol. 1 book, measures 12 to 14 of Solo #3 “From The Heart.” Even if you have long ago mastered that solo in terms of playing, let’s go back and review those particular phrases more deeply for a moment. As you can see (and hear), the twisted-sounding one beat licks bring a very dark and sinister tension to an otherwise “normal” Blues/Rock guitar solo. You may not have realized it at the time, but what you were actually doing here was isolating and highlighting the diminished tones within the familiar blues scale framework. This is what creates that eerie quality. But how can the same scale create such different qualities?

3. How to highlight a specific tone using multiple repetitions. First let’s cover the scale tones. The blues scale contains the interval tones 1-b3-4-b5-5-b7. The diminished triad is made up of 1b3-b5 and the half-diminished formula is 1-b3-b5-b7. So notice that both diminished forms are already lurking inside the familiar blues scale. As all of Ozzy's Axemen have known, the blues scale/ diminished hybrid sound is hiding there, ready to strike at any moment. And you can do it too, once you know how to isolate and unleash the fury. However, a word of warning: Simply learning the diminished shapes is not enough to bring the sound out of your hand convincingly upon command during solo-



Jimmy Kane


ing. You must first train your ear to accept and hear the diminished sound in conjunction with the blues/rock sound before you can ever hope to combine them and “sell it to your listeners.” Failure to blend these two different sounds together effectively in your phrasing results in lines which end up sounding as though you mo mentarily went insane and played a series a weird random notes in the middle of an otherwise great solo! The first step is to understand the concept of rhythmically highlighting the b5 (aka the tritone) in order to elevate it above mere “passing tone” status.

Fig. 1

This is important because where a note occurs in the phrase has everything to do with giving it the fullest impact. Here in Figure 1, the b5 tone is given equal weight to the other scale tones. This is a typical presentation of the blues scale sound. Play it first so you have something to compare the next two examples against.

-6-

©2010 Stetina Productions. All Rights Reserved. Lessons and Music used by permission from the author.


Jimmy Kane


Now we will lessen the impact of the b5 on the listeners ear by reducing it to passing tone status by giving it less rhythmic weight and emphasis than the other tones.

Fig. 2

And finally we will increase the impact of the b5 on the listeners ear being given extra weight through rhythmic accenting and thereby graduating the b5 to color tone status. Fig. 3

play the heavy b5 presentation of the blues Totally “Ozzyfied”, as more than one student has said when they scale. The Blues Scale with a heavy b5 invokes a sinister diminished quality right away... like the Devil himself tuned your guitar for you! Now go back and play measures 12 to 14 of “From The Heart.” Notice that what Troy has done is create clusters of noted whose tonal equal those of the diminished triad, or an upper partial values of the half-diminished arpeggio, or some combination thereof in series of 1-beat licks. Pure, twisted nastiness.



Jimmy Kane


The example below pushes this concept further with a typical Rhoads-style contoured ascending Minor Pentatonic run, capped with a half-diminished arpeggio outline; phrase. as a two-bar Pay attention to how the final b5 is held for emphasis and then resolved with a slow ½ step bend up to tone 5.

Fig. 4

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“Which ones do you need?”

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Jimmy Kane


Our final example for this month, we will ascend the blues scale as a contoured line, expressed in 16th note quadruplets, and then we will descend with the half-diminished arpeggio. Next we slide into some diminished dyads, descend through box 5 of the blues scale, and finish off the line with a half-diminished climbing sequence to climax with a little melody which outlines a diminished triad. Fig. 5 ! " 3

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Jimmy Kane


Well, that's it for this month. Now go back to “From The Heart” and write your own original solo using these concepts. Also check out our companion video examples on this lesson at our Hunt's Annex Studios youtube channel. See you next month! _______________________________________________

Jimmy Kane is a guitarist, teacher and director of Hunt’s Annex music school just outside of Philidephia, PA. If you’re looking for a good deal on a new Jackson, check out www.HuntsMusic.com and send Jimmy an email.



Anthony Arroyo

Chord Tones as Melodic Anchors

Many guitar players are solid in the “box 1” pentatonic area, but when they move away from this they get lost quickly. This is especially true for rock and metal players. And even if they know the other pentatonic boxes, they still can be lost musically, by not knowing what the shapes actually sound like. This lesson will provide a useful method of getting more familiar with these areas so you can actually use them musically.

I am willing to bet that 95% of the players out there hummed or sang a note that is one of the notes of G Major chord. This means that your inner-ear, no matter how untrained it may be, already knows at an instinctual level that the note that sounds good over any given chord is a note that actually belongs to the chord.

Personally, when I see the guitar neck, I don't see a bunch of notes, I see just a few notes at a time. Let me explain. Play a G Major chord like this:

To some people, this is a no-brainer, but to many guitar players always focused on playing fast licks, this is something that has never occurred to them. And this is key to making singable, melodic lines. When you start using chord tones prominently in your melodies, suddenly your ear begins to call the shows instead of the patterns and finding the correct notes on the fretboard is easier and faster.

Simple! Nothing fancy or unusual about this. Ok, now do me a favor and sing or hum one note as you strum this chord. Don't just hum or sing any note! Hum or sing a note that actually sounds good and "in-key" over this chord. Go ahead! Alright, now do me another favor and find that note you just sang over this chord.....did you find the note?

So, the key here is to find these notes in the other places on the fretboard. They will be your “anchors.” For starters, we will learn the triads in each key, and memorize the inversions of these triads over the neck. (Inversions are the same notes of a chord arranged in a different order; in particular, when the lowe



Anthony Arroyo

Chord Tones as Melodic Anchors

Sounds hard, but it is really very simple. First things first, a triad is simply a chord in its simplest 3 note form. There are four triad types: Major, minor, augmented and diminished. For today, we are going to look only at the Major triad, specifically, G major. The notes that make up G major are G, B, and D. Here are some examples of the G Major triad, on the top three strings. Notice the three different shapes up the neck.

Click the image below to see a short example usingthese triads as “anchors.” I’m only adding an occasional embellishment. Very slow and simple, but notice how melodic and “right” it all sounds.

Now you try playing along with me. Just experiment hanging on these chord tones notes and let your ear guide you. Don’t even worry about any scale patterns. This is different kind of practice. No focus on technique. It’s all about listening! Next month we will use scales in conjunction with chord tones to bring it up a level. The final step will be to use passing tones and even “outside” passing tones to create more adventurous, original sounding melodic ideas. There are a lot of lessons that can show you how to burn and of course there is a place for that. It’s fun! I can do those tricks. But I think it’s important to also build a solid melodic base, too, so when you slow down, you can play music that fits. And then, when you do rip, you will rip with purpose! ‘Till next time, happy playing!!! _________________________ Anthony Arroyo is a guitarist from San Antonio, TX with over 20 years playing and teaching experience. He won San Antonio’s prestigious Guitar Wars Contest at the age of 19. Currently he enjoys playing guitar at the Vietnamese Christian Church in his city. No, he is not Vietnamese; he just likes the church! Check out Anthony’s youtube channel to see his technique in a variety of styles, including a Guitar Wars shredfest.



Dave Celentano

Tune from another Bach

Welcome to my debut column for Troy’s inaugural issue.

Then memorize the piece one measure at a time. (Editor’s note: Remember to begin with Jamie’s “no tempo” practice.)

Like many rock guitarists, I too have a sweet tooth for the great classical compositions that adapt well to distorted electric guitar. In this and future lessons I will turn you on to some of my favorite discoveries and even some inventions of my own.

And finally, string the pieces together and begin to practice with a metronome. Here is a quick analysis to make sense of what you have learned:

Example 1 is a variation I wrote of “Solfeggietto” by Karl Philipp Emanuel Bach (a sibling of J. S. Bach). It is also a workout in position shifts, alternate picking, and string skipping arpeggios. (And it’s an excerpt from my instructional book “Secrets of Shred Guitar,” Centerstream Publications/Hal Leonard Corporation). First download the audio file here and listen to it as you follow along with the notation on the next page. Example 1 audio Alternate picking & string skipping arpeggio variations on Solfeggietto by K. P. E. Bach

The first eight measures outline the chords Am and E7 repeatedly, ascending the fretboard via several position shifts. These must be performed evenly and gracefully so as not to inhibit the flow of the music. The arpeggios in the second half use string skipping and several wide stretches often associated with Paul Gilbert’s shred style. Here the progression of chords follows a cyclic pattern of ascending fourths where each chord is an interval of a fourth (five half steps) above the previous chord. Note: although the concept is to ascend in fourths, some of the chords were reassigned to an octave lower



Dave Celentano "Alternate Picking and String Skipping" by Dave Celentano davecelentano.com

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to fit within the pitchboundaries of the guitar. (FYI, portions of Niccolo Paganini’s well known ‘24th Caprice’ and J. S. Bach’s famous Tocatta and Fugue in D Minor also use this same cycle of fourths harmonic concept with beautiful results.) To help you master Example 1 after the inital memorization stage assign yourself the series of micro-exercises in Examples 2 and 3 to strengthen the position shifts and string skips. Example 2a begins the first five notes using alternate picking with a quick “burst-and-stop.” Always keep your hands relaxed, strive for evenly picked notes, and use a



Dave Celentano


metronome to find a tempo slow enough to play these examples perfectly without mistakes. My rule of thumb regarding metronome practice is “I must perform the example/section flawlessly four consecutive times before I increase the tempo.

Also try accenting the last note in each of these microexercises. Example 2b is the second half of what will ultimately be connected and played as example 2c. Use the same process for example 2d and 2e. Next, hopping over to the string skipping section we

Click here to listen to Exercise 2



Dave Celentano


have Example 3a which goes through the entire A major arpeggio (measure 9) and stops on the first note of the following Dm using the repeating “burst and stop” technique. The picking pattern consists of three down strokes followed by two up and concludes on a

down. Notice that two consecutive down strokes or up strokes have a pull-off or hammer-on between them. Repeat slowly with a metronome until it becomes second nature. Use the same picking pattern for example

Click here to listen to Exercise 3



Dave Celentano


3b and finally connect A and Dm arpeggios in example 3c. Continue using the system of rehearsing small sections at a time to make the entire piece a strong performance.

Check out these popular titles by Dave Celentano:

Until next time, keep those fingers flying!

Secrets of Shred Guitar: DVD

____________________

Secrets of Shred Guitar: book/CD

Since graduating from Musician’s Institute in 1986 Dave Celentano has written over thirty-five guitar instruction books and DVDs, released two solo guitar CDs, and helped thousands of aspiring guitarists realize their dreams through his private guitar lessons. Visit Dave online at www.davecelentano.com

Mastering the Modes for the Rock Guitarist: 2 DVD set

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Chris Buono


It’s All About the Chords

Who Am I and What Is Blues in the Present Tense? Chris Buono here—guitar supergeek and multi-media madman. First things first: Big thanks to my former Guitar One compatriot Troy Stetina for thinking of me and inviting me to contribute. It’s great to reunite with some of the G1 content team of yore (Dale Turner in the house!). Those years produced some of the best guitar education media ever, not to mention almost caused my hands to fall off. As Troy alluded to in his video overview I was the headless “stunt guitarist” who had the world’s best job playing everyone’s examples for the CD-ROM that came with the magazine (keep an eye on my website for all the videos plus my articles to be uploaded soon!). Between Troy and Greg Koch I had my work cut out for me, but it was an awesome challenge. Dale and Tom Kolb’s columns always produced some the most inventive licks and I look forward to checkin’ out what Professor Turner has in store for us up here.

This is the first installment of Blues in the Present Tense. I’ve been out of the guitar lesson article scene for a minute but I’m amped to get back in. Here’s what Blues in the Present Tense is all about: After moving on from my professor gig at Berklee College of Music I signed on with TrueFire and have been pumpin’ out DVD courses ever since. In two years we’ve managed to produce ten very happening courses, three (and maybe four) of which are the subject of Blues in the Present Tense. They are Juiced Blues, Guitar Lab: Blues Progressions and Guitar Lab: Blues Soloing. While the latter is on deck for release, these three DVDs contain some serious s%@t that will surely push your blues into said tense and beyond. As for the possible fourth DVD we may dig on, I have a course called Funk Fission that, among other things, drops some totally happening comping techniques that will sound killer within what we’re going to geek on here in Blues in the Present Tense. We’re gonna check out what’s inside each one and take that content and run with it. If you already own or purchase one or all of the DVDs



Chris Buono


you’ll be psyched to see I’m gonna expand on the ideas helping you get the most out of the material.

Who Are You? Now that you know who I am and what the column is all about, let’s define who you are. As Captain Stetina stated this is hostile ground for beginners, but don’t let that sway you from jumping in if in fact that is your level. Anyone who can really play will tell you one effective way to reach to your guitar playing goals is to constantly challenge yourself (see above reference to a gig playing licks conjured by a sick-o like Troy less than 48 hours after you receive them in front of camera with no possibility of punching in or slowing down). That said, if you get in over your head there’s a gaggle of resources to bridge whatever gaps you might have. If you’re an intermediate to advanced player you’ll be able to hang for sure, but you will be challenged. Let the games begin!

monically rich style, too. Harmonically meaning harmony meaning chords, yo! You know those blocks of notes played at the same time? In the blues, you’re almost always soloing over chords, especially ones dispersed within 12 bars! In order to solo over chords and chord changes you gotta know and understand what it is you’re playing over. Click here to find a sizable PDF filled with essential blues-induced chord voicings that you should have in your bag Many of these chords are contained within the 23 progressions found in Guitar Lab: Blues Progressions, which features some super hip and fresh sounding blues jams we’ll be delving into.

The Chords, Yo!

Depending on where you are, many of the voicings may be new to you. But, don’t worry, next month we’re going to go in deep and decipher the blood and guts of it all. But first things first: Just get them under your fingers for now.

While the blues is a great vehicle for improvisation both in learning and blowing solos for real, it’s also a har-

You’ll notice they’re all rooted from G. This enables you to better digest the chord tones within each chord,



Chris Buono


which are displayed in each and every vertical chord grid. Be sure to pay close attention to those chord tone shout outs, as they will be the focus for next month/s installment of Blues in the Present Tense: It’s Really All About the Chord Tones. Until then…

Expand your repetoire with Chris Buono’s Jazz Lead solo book/CD:

________________________ Multi-media guitar madman Chris Buono is everywhere and doing it all. From session cat (Lava, Lion Music, RKM) to bandleader (Chris Buono) to sideman (Karsh Kale, Bumblefoot, Graham Haynes) to music journalist/columnist (Guitar Player, GuitarOne, Just Jazz Guitar) to educator (Berklee College of Music) to author (Alfred, Course Technology) to video clinician (TrueFire, Guitar One); even product clinician (M-Audio, First Act, Source Audio)—this cat is badass and busy. Not to be tied down to any one identity for too long, Chris Buono is perpetually morphing his chameleon-like media profile making it nearly impossible to pigeonhole his artistic output into a singular category. And get this: Instead of sleeping, he teaches privately and on-line, too. To get on board email Chris here. www.ChrisBuono.com Facebook Twitter YouTube

Click the image to find out more



Dale Turner


POLYPHONIC RIFF WRITING: Part I

learned from studying Steve Morse’s music, referred to as POLYPHONIC RIFF WRITING. It’s one of several riff-writing approaches I might experiment with when I’m stuck in a writing rut.

Let’s cut to the chase: “Writer’s Block” is BS! Obviously finishing a song can pose a tremendous challenge, but there’s no reason (when stuck in one of those ruts) to not at least try to move other songs forward or start fresh new pieces to keep the creative momentum going. But how can you still “write” when it seems the well has gone dry? Keep reading!

To illustrate, I’ll use a riff from one of my own songs: “Bad Seed” (no, it’s not a Metallica cover!) from my new CD Mannerisms Magnified.

Songs, at least as it relates to guitar players, are generally first spawned from a chord progression (which then requires “stylization”—how to play the chords, so that they have personality—and also a melody, which the progression itself will hopefully inspire over time), a melody only (one of those magical “sing-able” nuggets that randomly pops into your head, which then requires you to find supporting chords), or a riff (a signature guitar part that serves as the track’s instrumental hook, intro, etc., which then needs to find a home). In this Digital Guitar Magazine lesson, we’ll focus on RIFF WRITING—specifically, a type of riff writing I

Polyphonic means “two or more independent lines,” or “many melodies.” It is a term often used to describe musical moments where more than one melodic line is happening at simultaneously. As it relates to riff writing, it occurs when pick-style, single-note riffs are structured in a way that you hear two distinct parts in the riff (think “bass and melody”), because notes are being played in contrasting high/low registers and rhythms. The first instructional book I ever had the privilege of writing was Steve Morse: Just the Riffs. In putting that book together, I noticed in songs from Morse’s Structural Damage like “Native Dance” [0:39], “Dreamland” [1:43 & 2:07] and “Good to Go” [0:17], as well as (from the Dixie Dregs’ Full Circle) “Sleeveless in Seat-



Dale Turner


tle” [1:31] and “Good Intentions” [1:11], that Morse was conjuring up the effect of two distinct parts, simply by the way he juggled registers and rhythms in these unique pick-style riffs. (This approach is also described in some of his instructional videos). One day, when I had some spare time to work on music that would eventually find its way onto Mannerisms Magnified, I found I was hitting the inevitable wall. In these moments, instead of getting frustrated, hoping random ideas just magically come, I experiment—I make a conscious decision to focus on very few elements, using one of several songwriting approaches that have bailed me out in the past, and see what develops. With “Bad Seed,” experimenting with a Morse-inspired polyphonic riff-writing approach won out—and gave birth to one of my personal favorite pick-style riffs! My “Bad Seed” riff began from a random bass line in 7/4 that I’d had sitting around for quite a while; I just thought it was cool, but never imagined it’d blossom into something special. When I opted to try turning it into a polyphonic riff, I started by actually writing this bass line out, so I could see what types of rhythmic space—what “air” there was for melody, between these bass notes—I had to play with. View FIG. 1 TAB & YOUTUBE video

The bass line, which was basically in E minor, only involved notes on the 5th and 6th strings. This made strings 1-4 “fair game” for trying out different melodic options. Since I was using a pick (as opposed to playing fingerstyle), any melody notes needed to be played between the cracks of the completed bass line. I tinkered around with different possibilities (again, in E minor), untill I found a nice opening line (the open 1st and 2nd strings, played in alternation); then kept expanding the upper-register melody till I had an interesting, twomeasure figure. View FIG. 2 TAB & YOUTUBE video Of course as I was creating this, I wrote the melody notes down—directly over the bass line, right on the same notation/TAB staff—so I could easily see the relationship between parts. By the time I was done, I had a cool-sounding riff I thought would make a good album opener. Of course, then I had to practice it so it was playable since tricky picking abounds! View FIG. 3 TAB & YOUTUBE video Which brings up an interesting point/fact: Given this riff’s degree of difficulty, I never would’ve come up with it by just randomly picking around, without following



Dale Turner


any strict guidelines; these are not the types riffs that just fall into your hands naturally, or that you “luck” into.

rent review by Guitar Player magazine says, “Smart pop tunes that are crammed with interesting guitar parts and tones... Like what the Beach Boys might do if they were on an acid trip that was on the verge of getting out of control. Yeah!” In addition to working as a performing/recording musician and producing engineer, the former West Coast Editor (1996-2007) of the now defunct GuitarOne magazine is currently an instructor at Hollywood’s Musician’s Institute, where he teaches Jimi Hendrix-style rhythm guitar improvisation, music theory/ear training, sight-reading, and rhythmic independence for the singing guitarist. Dale is also author of 50+ instructional books/transcription folios (his latest being Power Plucking - A Rocker’s Guide to Acoustic Fingerstyle Guitar). He also writes a monthly acoustic guitar column for Guitar World magazine.

In closing, the point I’m trying to make is this: An analysis of any of your favorite riffs will always reveal a set of basic ingredients that makes that particular passage tick. Once armed with enough of these “ingredients” (from behindthe-scenes study, application, and just plain ol’ listening) you will always have compositional concepts to fall back on. That way when you’re stuck in one of those inevitable writing ruts, you can still move a project forward. In the end, my experiments with polyphonic riff writing not only rewarded me with a rawkin’ instrumental riff, I was also able to use pieces of it as a reoccurring theme throughout the verses of my song “Bad Seed”—a moody, somewhat progressive, acoustic “art rock” track that serves as a wild opening song on Mannerisms Magnified, and also works as a great live set opener. Please enjoy! And see you next month with Part II, where I’ll discuss a related riffwriting approach I used in the bridge to “Hiding Place”! RAWK ON!

(Editor’s note: Subliminal implant, “I want to buy a copy of Mannersisms Magnified right now to support Dale who has just so generously shared his compositional strategies with me for absolutely free. Obeeeeeeey!!”)

___________________________ On his latest CD, Mannerisms Magnified, Dale Turner composed, arranged, produced, and recorded all the music himself, and played all the instruments (voices, guitar, bass, real acoustic drums, piano, accordion, and mandolin). Cur-23©2010 Stetina Productions. All Rights Reserved. Lessons and Music used by permission from the author.


Don Parkhurst


Lets talk about your practice routine.

Lets start out by taking a look at what a typical intermediate level practice routine might involve.

Do you even have one? Or maybe it goes something like this... You pick up the guitar, play a piece of a song you want to learn, noodle around a bit, play a song you already know, fiddle around a little more, etc. The next day you do the same thing. If this sounds familiar, read on.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Perhaps you have a friend down the road that started at roughly the same time but has he seemed to advance more quickly. So you ask him how long he practices and you find out it’s about the same amount of time as you practice. What is going on? You start thinking maybe your friend is just gifted. You even start doubting yourself, thinking maybe guitar is just not your instrument. STOP! Wipe those thoughts right out of your head. There is a more realistic answer here! What your friend has discovered is a more effective way to practice. He has figured out what his goals are and organized a practice session that focuses his attention directly help him achieve these goals.

Warm up Rhythm guitar Lead guitar technique Improvisation practice Cover songs you want to learn

Now let’s imagine a very common real world scenario, that many of you may relate to. We have this guy, let’s call him Joe, who jams with friends in the basement on Saturday nights for fun. He has been playing rhythm guitar up till now and has been only working on cover songs. The other guys have been experimenting a little and doing some improvised jams. Well Joe is lost and doesn’t know what to play. The other guitar player shows him the basic three chordsand he just keeps playing this over and over while everyone else is having a bunch of fun. But Joe is getting bored! Now it just so happens that the other guitar player also teaches guitar down at a localmusic shop. And he of-



Don Parkhurst


fers Joe a bit of advice. What would you tell him? They first establish the goals. What does Joe want to accomplish specifically? In this case, he wants to work on lead technique and learn how to improvise. So they map out a practice routine that includes these subjects plus continues to develop his current skills. He can devote one hour a day to this routine, five days a week. Futher, he can break up the time allotted to each area. Doing a little of each subject every day creates much better momentum over time. By practicing a little of each subject everyday Joe will cover each subject five times during the week. The other benefit of practicing this way is that he will be far less prone to getting fatigued or burned out on any one aspect or technique or exercise. Most people’s minds can only concentrate on a particular subject for a certain amount of time before fatigue sets in. You see, it is focused practice that matters most. Unfocused practice time is essentially useless. Move on to another subject before you reach that point. In fact, sloppy unfocused practice may even be counter productive. The mind records your mistakes just the same as technically perfect performances. If you pour

in slop, you’ll have to correct all the bad habits you are creating! Another good approach to daily practice routine for a lot of people is to work on the things you least enjoy first. Get them out of the way. If you wait till the end of your practice session to work on these things most likely they won’t get done. These will be the subjects you will always put off until tomorrow. Before you know it another week has gone by with no focused improvement on your weak spots. If you are getting fatigued and loosing focus it is a sure sign that you need to restructure your practice routine! Ask yourself what it is you really want to work on and get better at? Then structure your time around that. It isn’t rocket surgery. But if left unattended, it usually won’t happen by itself. I also recommend rewarding yourself plenty. If you really love that Metallica song and want to play it for 30 minutes, fine. Just slip in the other subjects for 10 minutes each. Keep an intelligent balance in your practice routine. Enough music to keep it fun; enough skill development to really keep improving as a player. And don’t hesitate to switch it up and try a completely



Don Parkhurst


different approach from time to time. The same routine that worked great last year may now be slowly boring you to death. You need to find news ways of approaching the same subjects you are working on.

So don’t leave it to chance. Think about your practice routine. What do you want to accomplish? Then devise a system to get there. Stay flexible and keep watching and managing your own motivation level.

If you’ve been practicing arpeggios up and down the neck for a few weeks, maybe build on that by switching it up to sweep picking those arpeggios. The next week take the same arpeggio patterns and now lay them on single strings, and practice tapping techniques.

By implementing a good practice routine that works for you, using the tips I gave you in this article, I guarantee you will see results! ________________

You see, you can keep building the same thread even as you apply it to new techniques. (Editor’s note: This is in fact the core principle woven into any good method book. It works.)

Don Parkhurst is a guitarist and runs a successful private lesson teaching studio in New England, where he has been teaching with the Troy Stetina Series books for many years as well as other materials. Visit him online at www.rock-lessons.com.

Switching it up like this helps combat the boredom and fatigue factor, yet allows you to continue to hammer enough repetition to get really good. Attack each subject from as many different angles as you can. Listen to some of the great guitar players.. Randy Rhoads, Eddie Van Halen, Joe Satriani, etc... They are equally skilled in both rhythm and lead technique, as well as composition and arrangement. They knew the importance of working on many different areas of their guitar playing

Lampifier mics have pro audio compression built in... you have to try this mic! www.Lampifier.com



Jason Vearing

Stetina “Deceiver” Lick

Deceiver Meets Axelerator

So of course I want your feedback!

I have been working on a cool software technology called Riff Axelerator. And you are going to be the first to test it out right here!

To test it, of course we need a great lick to practice and Troy was kind enough to supply one off of his new Second Soul record from the song “Deceiver.”

The software, which plays in a browser window, loops a lick so you can play along repeatedly for practice. But it also gradually increases your speed automatically with each repetition so you can focus on the playing.

I’ve shown the two-bar lick below. Click here to listen to it first The first measure is drawn from the D Aeolian mode and this is played over a bass line in D Phrygian.



Jason Vearing


Below is a diagram of one possible position of the D Aeolian mode over 2 octaves:

FRETBOARD MASTERY by Troy Stetina

For those that don’t know modes well, Troy is playing the notes of an F major scale (F-G-A-Bb-C-D-E-F) but since he is playing over a D chord, we picture all of the same notes running from D to D (D-E-F-G-A-Bb-C-D). Now the interval notes that affect the underlying chord will now be D-1, E-2(9), F-3, G-4(11), A-5, Bb-b6(b13), C-b7... as long as he plays over a D chord. (For a full explanation of modes and tonality, see Troy’s book/CD Fretboard Mastery.) Getting back to the lick at hand, out of the possible notes for the D Dorian mode, Troy has limited himself to the notes D, E, F and G (1-2-b3-4).

Graduate level music theory for rock and metal guitar. Click above to get Troy’s most comprehensive work to date! -28©2010 Stetina Productions. All Rights Reserved. Lessons and Music used by permission from the author.


Jason Vearing


Here I have broken it down into small pieces for detailed practice, then we reassemble.



Jason Vearing


And the whole first measure in its entirety:

The first beat of Exercise 5 descends the scale from the F note (10th fret) down an octave to the lower F note (8th fret). Notice the timing of these notes. They are 32nd notes which is 8 per beat. This is like having a set of four notes (16ths) on the downbeat and another set of four on the upbeat. Even at a relatively slow tempo of 82 BPM this is quite a challenge. The descending run is played with palm-muting.



Jason Vearing


The next example picks right up where the last one left off. Play the Eb note (6th fret – now leaving the D Aeolian tonality in favor of D Phrygian) and then go back up the scale to the C note and descend down until you get to the D note. There is a sense of slight displacement where the 2nd time you descend the scale it is not directly on beat 1. Again these are played 8 notes per beat.

And join them together for one long run.



Jason Vearing


The last 2 beats play diminished tones in triplets, take notice of the different timing here, the drums accentuate the timing so follow along to them.

Example 09 is all of measure two played in its entirety. TIP - Being able to change smoothly between different timings (e.g., triplets to semi-quavers) is a great rut-buster and to execute this well is a worthwhile goal.



Jason Vearing


Now that you have learnt the phrase, you can go to the Riff Axelerator and practice getting it up to faster and faster tempos. Remember though that playing fast is not the be all, end all. Don’t sacrifice clarity and clean articulation!

Check out the RIFF AXELERATOR here Closing thought - Playing phrases is like speaking sentences and we all know how annoying it is to hear somebody say something who is speaking for the sake of it. Take this approach with your own music, are you really saying something meaningful that suits the situation? _______________________ Jason Vearing is a guitarist/teacher from Australia and creator of the guitar teaching device Riff Axelerator. A late starter to the guitar at 17 years of age, Jason played guitar in a four-piece outfit that combined metal guitar, funk bass and dual rappers in an outfit called China Rhino at 19 (check them out on Youtube!). At the age of 25, and tired of living off noodles, he left China Rhino, got a haircut and a ‘real job,’ in his spare time playing with an acoustic outfit called Mensana with his wife and brother-in-law Vern. These days, his musical focus is on developing the Riff Axelerator and teaching part-time, while holding down his day gig as a property valuer and spending quality time with his wife and 3 young children.

The new album featuring guitarist Troy Stetina

Coming Oct 2010!

Join the Second Soul mailing list to help bring a show and a Troy Stetina guitar workshop to your town! Click here


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Francesco Artusato


Lesson 1: Combining Lines just mean putting them into a different sequence one after another, but rather mixing them in way that creates a new perspective.

I think it is important for every player to always keep expanding their repertoire of ideas and come up with a fresh arsenal of licks and lines. So in this lesson I am going to share some of the approaches that I like to use in creating musical lines.

Below is the first lick—an A diminished arpeggio (first 10 notes) followed by a B7 b5 arpeggio (last 9 notes) played in groups of 4 and 5 notes. This is one of the sequences that I really like because it creates an interesting rhythmic pattern.

We’ll start with some of my favorite licks and patterns and then we’ll try to combine them in a creative way. And by this, I don’t

Click here to listen to Licks 1-5 Lick 1



Francesco Artusato


Lick 2 is an Eb(b5)9 arpeggio ending on the 9th. Lick 2

For lick 3 I am playing an Ab(maj)b9 arpeggio, which involves the legato and tapping. Lick 3



Francesco Artusato


Lick 4 features a series of arpeggios (using the 2–1–2 form) that moves intervallically over the guitar neck. I am beginning with an Ab(aug)#11 arpeggio followed by C7(13), Eb7(13) and G7(13). Lick 4

And for lick 5 I am playing an F 7(b9)#11(13) arpeggio, where I mix sweep picking, legato and tapping. Lick 5



Francesco Artusato


And here is the final lick, which is a combination of the five previous ideas. Click here to listen to it slow

Click here to listen to it fast

As you can see using this approach I was able to put together a lot of different arpeggios, tonalities, techniques and colors to create one very distinctive-sounding line.



Francesco Artusato


This line could be used over a large variety of chord progressions where a moment of harmonic tension is desired. You could use something like this whenever there is a chord functioning as the dominant in a progression or, in the case where we don’t have one, this lick will help to create that moment of tension by strongly implying the dominant. Even a straight A5 power chord could work perfectly under this lick, allowing us to achieve a more fusion“outside playing” type of sound in a rock or metal context. We should never limit ourselves to experiment further. Ultimately we need to trust what sounds good to our own ears. Thanks for checking out my lesson! _________________________ Francesco Artusato was born in Italy and is a product of a very musical family. He started playing saxophone at the age of 14 and switched to guitar when

he was 19. After graduating Suma Cum Laude from Berklee College of Music in 2006, he relocated to Los Angeles where he has been busy with recording, touring and teaching. Artusato currently plays guitar for the Nuclear Blast Records recording artist All Shall Perish while also continuing to work with a variety of composers and songwriters on other projects. He has also recently partnered with Guitar World magazine to present an in-depth instructional video lesson series breaking down how to play some of the most intricate parts from his all-instrumental solo endeavor entitled “Chaos And The Primordial.” The disc is described as an “all-out technical shred fest featuring 10 truly diverse tracks that take the listener on an all-encompassing musical journey.” In addition to all this, he contributes material to the Guitar Messenger website with his “Technical Difficulties” column. http://www.myspace.com/francescoartusatomusic http://www.myspace.com/allshallperish


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German Schauss

Shred This Way...

Nailing Your Sweeps My sweeping concept completely avoids Hammer-Ons and Pull-offs to make the sound and playing smother and easier. Take a look at the picking pattern illustrated in Figure 1 beginning with Gmaj7.

Hello and welcome to my first free online column installment of “Shred this Way…” for Troy Stetina’s new Digital Guitar Lesson Magazine! It’s a great honor for me to be part of this and sharing my knowledge with you. Let’s jump right into the great world of shredding. This month we will be playing 7th arpeggios with sweep picking technique. First let’s cover the origin of 7th arpeggios. Major, minor, diminished and augmented chords or arpeggios may be extended by changing or adding notes. The 7th interval is an addition to the basic triad (1-3-5) and adds more color to the basic sound. Now let’s begin with a look at the different types of arpeggios on the first 3 strings. I have notated the arpeggios on the same root note so you can see which notes change. Furthermore, I have arranged them so that they change from one type to the next with the least required change in position.

Start with an upstroke the first time only, after that you get 3 down strokes before you alternate pick the notes on the top string, leading you back to a short descending sweep. Then you start the pattern over, this time with a down-stroke, followed by a short alternate picking sequence and back to an ascending sweep and so forth. This same basic sweep picking pattern can be used for all arpeggios in general. That means, if you would play a 4, 5, or 6 string Arpeggio, you can stil use this same pattern; all you would need to change is the number of strings in the down or up-stroke sweeps. You keep the same picking on the two notes on the outside strings of you pattern (the highest and lowest pitches) in order to turn around the picking direction.



German Schauss

Shred This Way...

Video demonstration: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VczBWrh-2ug Fig. 1



German Schauss

Shred This Way...

After you have studied this basic sweeping technique and you feel comfortable, it is time to expand your skills and knowledge and play the arpeggios diatonically in all twelve keys. The example below shows the diatonic 7th Arpeggios of C Major. Video demonstration: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fc3J3XTsMDo

Fig. 2



German Schauss

Shred This Way...

The next 2 licks demonstrate the extended use of this technique. The following lick is based on the C symmetrical diminished scale and it utilizes minor7th and diminished 7th chords before resolving to F major. Video Demonstration: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dakMfC8oIxc

And our last lick here is a fully diminished 7th arpeggio that skips upward in tritones and downward in minor 3rd intervals. This is a very smooth and great sound and will definitely turn some heads. Video Demonstration: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJ3ZNn2HlQU



German Schauss

Shred This Way...

Experiment sweeping with different chord progressions and tonalities. Next month we will explore more sweeping and combine all the 7th Arpeggios to longer runs that will breathe new life into your playing!

Explore more shred with German Schauss:

Please visit my website at www.germanschauss.com for more info. I am always happy about comments and suggestions! ____________________ German Schauss is a guitarist, composer, author, and educator teaching at Berklee College of Music and the Los Angeles Music Academy. He performs and tours as the leader of his own band and with other internationally known artists. Schauss writes music for commercials, TV, and video games, and has been named one of the 50 fastest guitarists of all time by Guitar World magazine. He also writes a popular monthly column “Instant Shredding” for Germany’s biggest guitar magazine Gitarre & Bass, and has a second book coming out with Alfred Publishing, The Total Shred Guitarist, due fall, 2010. German uses and proudly endorses: Ernie Ball/Music Man, Bogner, Rocktron, PreSonus, Native Instruments, Maxon, Guyatone, Morley, Dunlop, Voodoo Labs, Pigtronix Pedals, DiMarzio, Zoom, Tremol-No, and Pedaltrain products.

Click the image to find out more


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Mark Tremonti

Stretched Pentatonics Basically it’s the same technique except with a wider stretch. Of course that makes it harder.

Hi all... Welcome to my column in Troy’s new lesson magazine! I want to share what has become one of my favorite solo techniques: three-note-per-string pentatonic legato with string skipping.

So I’d recommend starting high on the fretboard where the stretches aren’t so bad, like D (10th position) or higher. Then as you get comfortable with it, try bringing the patterns down lower and lower on the neck.

This was a natural evolution for me. First I developed my legato technique on three-note-perstring diatonic scales. I went into that a bit on my Fret12 “Sound and Story” DVD. Then I started applying it to pentatonics. I actually like the pentatonics more because they don’t sound as “standard” as the diatonics. Fig. 1

I’ll show you what I mean. First, check out this diatonic legato idea that moves across the strings, below in example 1:



Mark Tremonti


Next I’ve just applied that same mechanical sequence to a three-note-per-string pentatonic pattern below in Figure 2. Fig. 2

Now check out this shifting lick. This is at the basis of the patterns I used in my opening solo on “Burn” from Troy’s new Second Soul album.

Fig. 3



Mark Tremonti


Here is the whole lick. Don’t get hung up on the rhythmic divisions. I’m just running through the pattern and cramming all the notes in, ending the phrase on time by feel. No “counting” involved. So the way to practice this is to grab a piece at a time based on the pattern, and repeat each part “outside” of time until you build up some speed with it. Then start stringing it together.

Fig. 4

[To hear this example, click the “download” link on the following page.]

-46-

©2010 Stetina Productions. All Rights Reserved. Lessons and Music used by permission from the author.


Mark Tremonti


I like to practice these legato patterns in improvised sequences so I don’t get stuck just playing a lick one way. It frees me up to create new variations at will, and float through the scale patterns in different ways. In fact, I also used the same technique on the new AB III record in the songs “Slip to the Void” and “Know It Hurts.” We’ll cover one of those licks next time! Until then, keep shredding!!! ____________________ Listen to guitarist Mark Tremonti’s most recent work on Creed Full Circle and Alter Bridge III. You can friend Mark on Facebook here.

You can download the entire song “Burn” by Second Soul here.


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[Excerpted from Michael’s Guest Lesson on Troy’s upcomng Fret12 “Sound & Story” DVD, Courtesy of Fret12.]

“[So] I work on different parts of the neck, and I love string skipping patterns. And again, it goes back to my philosophy of making the notes sound farther away [with greater intervallic skips], rather than having everything so close together.

MAB: “One of the problem areas that I find guitar players face when they are working on the technical aspects of guitar is that they might be able to play good in some places, but not well in others.

“And so what i like to do is for example take a pattern in the Dorian mode in E and play starting on the third string... then move down [to the fifth string].” (Demonstrates Figure 1 pattern.)

“For example, you might find a player is very good at playing in the upper [register], but they have a deficiency when playing in the lower strings.

Click to listen to Michael’s audio demonstration Fig. 1





Editor’s note: Here are the cycling patterns that Michael is using in his improvised audio exercise demonstration. Fig. 2





This is an excellent picking exercise, and after 5 or 10 minutes of correct practice, you will notice significant improvement in your right hand accuracy. By incorporating the string skip, Michael challenges your picking skill significantly. But after a bit of this, going back to standard scale runs feels easy! _______________________ Michael Angelo Batio came to prominence as a shredder in the 80s with Nitro. Known for his amazing picking speed and precision as well as his completely unique “double axe guitar” performance, Michael is a sought after performer all over the world. He is a Dean guitar endorser and has been rated by Guitar World magazine as “World’s Fastest Guitarist” multiple times.

Get all five MAB solo CDs and more...

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Editor’s note: Practice these at whatever speed you can keep a relaxed picking hand and very small motions. Rather than play predetermined repetitions, try improvising within the limited range. There are basically only four different pattern options here. But you can make very unpredictable sequences by switching between them randomly, “on the fly.”



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