ALLEN HINDS solos over... Magnificent

This month LA session legend Allen takes a solo over Jason’s challenging odd-time track entitled Magnificent. Jon Bishop is your guide.

More stupendous soloing from this fabulous guitarist. Allen delivers another stunner over Jason’s mixed-time track Magnificent.

Once again we up the anti and challenge session ace Allen Hinds to improvise a two-minute solo over Jason’s odd-time backing track. The tune features sections of 7/4 which Allen explains is challenging as odd meters are something he finds odd! Allen advises that even though odd meters don’t come up that often it’s still good to have a few tricks up your sleeve for when you do have to tackle them.

Allen gives a good tip of breaking the 7/4 bar into a 4/4 and a 3/4 bar. This helps the groove to feel more natural. Allen counts 1, 2, 3, 4 and then 1, 2, 3 as he’s soloing which helps his notes fall on the correct beat. Allen starts by delivering a rhythm part that fits in with the backing track. Each chord is made up of two well-chosen notes that imply the underlying harmony. In bar 14 he uses a trick of depressing the whammy bar before playing the chord. This provides a synth-like effect and is something that guitarists like Mike Landau do in the studio.

The E Minor Pentatonic riffs from the backing track are doubled and Allen explains that it’s important to nail parts like this. The bridge section is constructed from arpeggios with common tones. Finding common tones between chord changes is good way to tie the changes together and provides continuity.

The notation may look quite intimidating and this is due in part to the 7/4 time signature. It is also fascinating to study how much articulation is added to make the lead phrases come alive. Among the concepts and articulations used are legato, arpeggios, chromatic notes, string bending, finger slides, harmonics, whammy bar and finger vibrato, which are all used with great taste and added liberally.

Another key aspect of this solo is the use of space and pacing. Everything is placed in a considered

fashion and the emphasis is on melody and outlining the changes. As in previous videos from Allen try vocalising the phrases as it’s a great way to make sure the emphasis stays on the melody.

The notation contains all of the articulations and phrasing from the video performance. It’d be well worth taking a close look at the way Allen fingers and picks the phrases. Hopefully there will be a new technique, lick or phrase in here for you to perfect.

Once you have mastered some of the concepts in Allen’s solo why not try creating one of your own over Jason’s rock-fusion track? To help with this we have included a handy one-page chord chart of Magnificent. Have fun and see you next time.

NEXT MONTH Allen shows us more tasty soloing over Jason’s laid-back fusion track Nightlife

try vocali sing the phra ses as it ’s a great way to make sure the empha sis stay s on the melody

Allen Hinds plays a Magnificent solo then explains his process

Allen has another inspiring solo for us to work through

Allen used his original Fender Stratocaster’s bridge pickup into a small Red Plate valve amp. The Strat’s tone and volume were set to taste. Any electric guitar will work well for this month’s performance; just dial up a creamy, light and responsive overdrive and be prepared to experiment with the guitar’s controls to achieve the desired sounds. Set your chorus pedal with a fast rate and lots of depth for that Leslie speaker style wobble. A bit of reverb or delay can of course be added for that final professional touch.