LESSONS INTRODUCTION
Lessons from the world’s greatest teachers and schools...
Jason Sidwell is in awe of the range of lessons on offer in GT this month!
Welcome to GT264’s lessons section where the playing requirements vary considerably and more quickly. While the front end is filled with great tutorials and music, here we blend pastiche, technique, theory and more into a staggering buffet of musical fun!
If time is tight during the week, try out 30-Minute Lickbag (page 54), which covers Nirvana string drones, George Benson funk rhythm and Dick Dale riffing. The Blues column (page 58) features two solos in the style of the great blues guitarist, Robben Ford. The first solo alone is filled with great licks ready to learn and then use in your own playing; arpeggios, slides, trills, 6th licks and chromaticism aplenty. The funky Lenny Kravitz comes under the spotlight in Rock (page 62), where low string riffs and 16th-note chords meet Pentatonic lead licks. If you want to rock harder, check out the guide to Warrant on page 66 – lots of palm muting, harmonics and syncopated rhythms with a busy picking and tapping solo to end! Next up is Jazz (page 72) featuring the guv’nor of jazz soloing, Charlie Christian; impressive lead lines that dart around the fretboard while navigating the chord changes – stimulating stuff for all guitarists. While not often associated with the acoustic guitar, we turn our focus on page 78 to one of the UK’s most iconic rhythm players, Johnny Marr. With his love of capo and open-string droning, the example piece will prove a lot of fun to learn. The final three articles should really keep your chops busy; Creative Rock (page 82) covers suspended arpeggios within the Mixolydian mode (check out Shaun’s tapping outro!); Chord Camp (page 88) is crammed with loads of sophisticated slash chords; while the wonderful world of pinch harmonics awaits in this month’s Woodshed (page 92). Enjoy another packed issue!