Creative (and Insane) Ways to Play the Guitar

Maybe they were just bored with playing guitar the normal way… Maybe they were experimenting with to find never before heard sounds…and maybe, they were just high. In any case the following prodigies took a walk on the wylde side and departed altogether from plain vanilla strummin'…

First up, Jimmy Page playing his Les Paul with a violin bow, coaxing some haunting and creepy noises out of it:



Ok, I know this next one probably doesn’t count as playing the guitar, but it’s cool anyway. Behold! The iconic footage of Jimi Hendrix setting his guitar aflame and then smashing the hell out of it:



Next up, the astonishing Stanley Jordan playing Stairway to Heaven. He first uses one guitar and using tapping, plays rhythm and lead simultaneously upon it. As if this weren’t enough, he then plays two guitars simultaneously!



And finally, the incomparable shredmaster Michael Angelo Batio, considered by many to be the fastest player alive. In an obscene and masturbatory display of excess, Batio uses his lightning fast chops on a quadruple necked guitar of his own design. As goofy as this stuff may appear, I’ve watched a couple of Batio’s Speed Kills videos and he has a good number of tips that can be used even if you don’t want to play at warp nine!



I am speechless.

The Awesome Les Paul Silverburst Guitar

Tool fans are no doubt used to seeing Adam Jones rockin’ his awesome Les Paul Silverburst guitar:


(Picture courtesy Deep Ghosh)

With one of the most beautiful guitar finish ever, the Gibson Custom Shop Les Paul Custom (Limited Edition ) was popular a few decades back until the original finish was discontinued by Gibson because of tonal problems it caused. Luckily, the guitar is coming back in style after being popularized by Jones.

So what do you do if you’re jonesin to get your hands on this baby?

If you don’t feel like shelling out $3,000 +for a new one (or much more for one from the 70’s and early 80’s), you could content yourself with Epiphone’s custom Silverburst, which retails at around $600. I like how the Epiphone’s silver pattern goes to the edges of the guitar on all sides rather than the standard teardrop finish. However, when I checked it out in person at a local Guitar Center, the finish struck me as a little dingy looking, the silver seeming almost yellowish at the edges…

So for now, comfort yourself with this kickass wallpaper:

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Using Simple Guitar Tapping to Strengthen the Pinky

So you go to the gym daily and love to flex your bulging bicep in front of random strangers. I’m no different, and I’ve caught many an envious glace directed toward my buns of steel. But how much thought do you give to exercise that forgotten part of your anatomy – the pinky!?

It is tough and can be tedious to build strength in this, the smallest finger. Some guitarists even try to get by using the ring finger instead. Tsk Tsk…

But if you can master this unruly digit, yours is the world— and everything in it!

There are a number of exercises that will help in strength building. These include a quick succession of regular hammer-ons and pull-offs and various stretches.

However, for a turbo charged pinky-blaster, nothing beats tapping.

For example:

B---9p2h5--

What does this mean? Well, the B indicates that we are using the B string (2^nd from the bottom). The “p” stands for pull-off and the “h” for hammer on.

The “2” means you put your forefinger on the string at the 2^nd fret. You then stretch your pinky all the way to hover over the 5^th fret. Then when you’re ready to begin, take your other forefinger and move it near the 9^th fret of the same string.

Now, press down at the 9^th fret
Press down at the 5^th fret
Lift off at the 9^th fret
Lift off at the 5^th Fret

Do this over and over quickly and a fluttering warbly sound will result. (You’ll need some heavy distortion for this) If you do this exercise for more than 15 seconds as fast as you can you will notice your pinky crying out for relief.! No pain, no gain…and because you don’t have to concentrate on your right hand, your left can get the workout it deserves.

Now for practice, try this part from the tapping section of Eddie Van Halen’s “Eruption”
(Note: Tune down ½ a step)
Check out this post on guitar tuning if you don’t have a tuner at hand

See this Van Halen concert video at 1:26 for guidance and make sure you check out more tips from this guitar blog:

A Great (And Free!) Software Guitar Tuner

Confucius once regarded his disciples and said to them: “A guitar without a tuner is like a man without a soul”.

Then he knocked back a 40 and trashed the stage.

But seriously, what good is an out of tune guitar? And what if you’re too lazy to drag your ass away from the computer screen and go out and buy a tuner? AP Tuner— a great software tuner— may be your best bet. Personally, I’m a big fan of software that is straightforward and does one thing extremely well, and this baby is one of those. Its tuner is highly accurate and has a very simple, pleasing interface.

The software comes with a variety of presets:

Setup is easy. After installation, you can plug your guitar cable directly into your computer or use a microphone for other instruments. Then just pluck your string and the needle will bounce to the positive or negative side to show you how much you are off. Tighten/loosen your string and repeat until perfection.

Check out the cool harmonics analysis-graph from my out of tune string!

In addition, the tuner has a 5 star rating from both CNET editors and users --and did I mention that it’s free?

Download AP Tuner from CNET.

If you’d like to contribute to the good souls that programmed this bad boy, make sure you check out the AP Tuner Payment Page:

Kirk Hammett Messes Up!

I’m not one of the many Kirk haters out there who think his guitar playing is one-dimensional. Its true that Hetfield and Lars are the visionaries behind Metallica, but its also true that Kirk’s speedy solos have made many a youth pick up an axe and start on their own personal shred journey…

Now as inspiring as it is to see a guitar god at the height of his powers, there’s something even more inspiring at seeing the said god stumble. It makes success seem more attainable…

Check out Kirk’s trouble in the studio:

But in his defense, the awesome Unforgiven Solo

This clip is from the documentary “A Year and a Half in the Life of Metallica”, a must see which chronicles the hype surrounding the release of the black album. In my opinion, this is an even better documentary than “Some Kind of Monster”.

First Fret Capo Work Around for the Guitar

Ok, you’ve just wined, dined and wooed your way into that hot chica’s heart. And now its time pull out the big guns: a song that will melt the heart of any woman: Tonic’s “If You Could Only See”!

So you whip out your acoustic, put a rose between your teeth and limber up your digits.

Then it suddenly hits you. You need a capo to play this song! And you just sold yours to buy a dimebag! D’oh!

Here’s a quick capoless-fix when the capo is needed on the first fret: Simply Tune up ½ a step:

This should be a very obvious workaround, but often rock-metal centric musicians are so used to downtuning that this might slip their mind.

I haven’t tried to tune higher, but if you have, and your strings haven’t snapped, feel free to comment!

4 Great Songs for Practicing Guitar Octaves and Octave Slides

For those that are just beginning guitar, an octave is just an interval of 8 notes in a scale. Here, The 2nd C is one octave higher than the first.

C D E F G A B C

In the world of guitar tips and guitar tricks, a few standard tuning octave forms pop up all the time. Here are some common forms. (I jut picked the 3rd fret—you can use these forms on any fret): The “X” means that you should lightly touch that string with your forefinger in order to mute it. Only the “3” and “5” should be heard, the X should have a deadened thud that won’t be noticed on amplification.

E|--------------|
B|-----------6--|
G|-5---------X--|
D|-X----5----3--|
A|-3----X-------|
E|------3-------|

Octaves are heard everywhere. Many distorted rock songs have the rhythm guitar player playing power chords and the lead guitarist simultaneously playing octaves. This is one of those guitar tricks that thickens the sound and adds more layers of resonance. The octave form is, after all, made up of the same note and these notes resonate together.

You could (and should!) practice octave slides randomly to a metronome. But much of the time it’s easier and more fun to practice a popular tune. So without further ado, I give you 4 examples of well known octaves arranged in order of difficulty…

Very Easy
Song: The Strokes – “Last Nite”




Tuning: E standard (EADGBE)
Practice: Single Octave
Listen to: 0.01 to 0.25

The intro to this song has one guitar playing a single octave over and over. A cool monotonous droning sound results, which then blends nicely with the second guitar…


E|---------------------------|
B|---------------------------|
G|-5--5--5--5--5--5--5--5----|
D|-X--X--X--X--X--X--X--X----|
A|-3--3--3--3--3--3--3--3----|
E|---------------------------|

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Easy
Song: Bush – “Machinehead”

Tuning: E standard (EADGBE)
Practice: Sliding Octave Up
Listen to: 0.01 to 0.20

This old chestnut was the poster-child of the post-grunge explosion. Catchy? Played out? Call it what you will, its octave slide is instantly recognizable.

E|----------------------------|
B|----------------------------|
G|-6--6--8--8--8--9--9--11-11-|
D|-X--X--X--X--X--X--X--X--X--|
A|-4--4--6--6--6--7--7--9--9--|
E|----------------------------|

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Medium
Song: Korn – Got the Life

Tuning: (DGCFAD) (Technically ADGCFAD on a 7-string, but the 7th string isn’t used
here)
Practice: Fast Strumming and Sliding of Octaves
Listen to: 0.30 to 1.00

Octaves are a staple of nu metal and these melancholy slides created Korn’s most familiar tune. The below tab shows the single octaves used in the intro of Got the Life. Strum each of these up and down quickly and slide up/down to the next octave in order to get the correct rhythm.

Video of Got the Life - Intro

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Hard

Song: A Perfect Circle – The Hollow

Tuning: C# Standard (C# F# B E G# C#)
Practice: Octaves at Irregular Timing
Listen to: 0.02 to 0.20

The progressive rhythm of this intro makes it extremely difficult to nail down. Make sure to slide up and down on the octave change. On the vid, watch Guitarist Billy Howerdel’s (the bald guy at the 0.10 sec mark) right hand and its up-down motion. If you can master the timing on this beast, I bow to you!

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