10 UNPLUGGED GREATS Play like the show’s best
Jon Bishop serves up 10 acoustic studies to make your acoustic playing sound richer and more stylistically informed. With such a broad base of techniques and ideas, there’ll be something in here for everyone.
The MTV Unplugged series showcased some of the biggest stars in an acoustic setting. We bring you studies in the styles of McCartney, Paul Simon, Nirvana, SRV, Sting, REM & more!
The acoustic guitar is a beautifully expressive instrument. It’s been used on thousands of hit records in all genres, from country to pop, blues to rock, grunge and even hip-hop (Guthrie Govan with Dizzee Rascal anyone?). Singer-songwriters armed with a handful of open chords have written and recorded songs on acoustic guitar that have changed the face of popular music. No matter how technologically advanced music creation and performance becomes, acoustic singer-songwriters such as Ed Sheeran and Justin Bieber continue to keep this simple instrument prominant in the public’s minds.
The Unplugged format of stripped-down acoustic performances, pioneered by the innovative cable channel MTV, is as strong as ever, and these days many performers feature an ‘acoustic section’ in their live shows. For inspiration we have chosen 10 artists and bands that have appeared and made an impression on the Unplugged series, from its inception in 1989 onwards. Our 10 tracks offer style studies with MTV giants Stevie Ray Vaughan, Sting, Eric Clapton, Nirvana, Bon Jovi, Paul Simon, Paul McCartney, Rod Stewart (band), REM, and Pearl Jam.
Rock groups like Nirvana and Pearl Jam have used the ‘no amps’ format to demonstrate that a good song will work, no matter what the instrumentation. Artists like Eric Clapton, Rod Stewart and Sting have gone acoustic to delve into other genres, or to provide a focus on the intimacy of the lyrics and the power of the vocal performances.
You may have already looked at improving various areas of your acoustic guitar playing. That’s great, because our aim here is to provide some new ideas and fresh approaches for acoustic guitar players of all styles and abilities, be it incorporating fingerpicking and harmonics, or simply creating an infectious strumming groove. Hopefully there will be something here for everyone.
We know it’s not the most exciting thing to do, but practscing slowly is absolutely great for developing consistent, accurate results. Practising a technique, riff or lick slowly often gets overlooked, as players want to move on to the more ‘interesting’ stuff. Also, it requires a degree of focus and patience, often hard to come by in these hectic times. But, by starting slowly you are programming your brain, and your muscle memory, with the correct information. And from here, having fully nailed the part at slow to ever-increasing tempos, it’s much easier to play the piece at full speed and with precision. Conversely, practising too fast in the early stages creates more chances for mistakes to be made - and learnt. Believe it or not, many teachers recommend that, to find the perfect pace at which to begin your travails, you should select a tempo that seems slow - then halve it!
Open-string muting is another area that’s often overlooked. Any strings that aren’t damped by either the fretting or picking hand can ring out in sympathy; sometimes this sounds fine and natural, but other times it spoils an otherwise tidy performance. So, practising these less exciting, core concepts can provide big gains in the long run.
As usual, all the audio performances are fully tabbed, and there are quality backing tracks for most, so you can play along. As ever, have fun and I’ll see you next time.
“Our tracks offer style studies with SRV, Sting, Clapton, Nirvana, Bon Jovi, McCartney, Paul Simon, Rod Stewart, REM & Pearl Jam”
TRACK RECORD Sting’s album Unplugged features tracks from his solo repertoire, from The Police and various covers. Dominic Miller accompanied him on guitar. The MTV Unplugged albums by Clapton, SRV, Nirvana, Paul Simon and REM are essential listening. Rod Stewart’s fantastic performance is found on Unplugged... And Seated, and features longtime collaborators Ronnie Wood and Jim Cregan on guitars.