Howe Kicks It All Over LAST ALL received a demo tape from Greg Howe, a then- relatively unknown guitarist who had been following my column and thought | might lke to give him a listen, | was so impressed by his musicianship that his recording be- ‘came a source of inspiration and | commenced to “bor- row" some of his licks. Now, a year later, its time for his talents to be recognized, his music transeribed and a chance to renew our friendship over the phone. The opening cut from Greg's self-titled Shrapnel debut |p features some novel techniques he usually employs {for the sake of the music rather than flash. For example, the tapping sequence in measures 21-22 evolved after Greg heard the melody in his head and found it tobe best stated with an unorthodox approach involving what | call “reciprocating bidextral sturs.” This device is excellent for both ascending and descendingarpeggios, as we'll seein the course of this segment, since the fretting hand can remain in familiar chord shapes.as itproduces the desired notes. The first order of business is to learn the chords i volved so that the interplay between both hands will be easier to understand. Note that the diagrams below also include the chord shape to be hammered on by the pick: ing hand which, in Greg's case, is the middle finger. ‘After the first three notes of the sextuplet on the first beat of measure 21 are played in linear fashion (a la Van Halen), Greg slides to the tenth position and the fun kicks in, He uses the F note previously held by his left hand to begin the Bb major arpeggio outlined in fig. 1, but now ‘taps on with the righthand. He then pulls off to the Dnote ‘already fretted by the left and completes the sextuplet by going from the first to second string, tapping Bb with the Second finger of the left hand. The next sextuplet is @ Invroduction (oubled octave lover by second guitar) Continuation of this sequential pattern: tap with the right, Pull off to the left and tap with the left on an adjacent string. He plays D and Bb on the second string and F on the third string in the same fashion, then follows sult with ‘8b, F and D. From thereiits the same sequence with the F ‘major arpeggio in fig. 2, except that the third group con- cludes with a brief ascension, followed by the position ‘changes necessary to set himself up for Gm7 in measure 21 (see fig. 3). Check the notation closely in this section for instances of “reciprocal” fingerings. To make the task less difficult, I've represented only the tapping of elther hhand in the TAB section by the corresponding letter-cod ‘The final phrase of the solo (see measures 85-86) Played with an “extended scale pattern” that, unlike its ofttheard diatonic counterparts, is polytonal, combining the A major (A B C# E Ff) and “blues” (AC D EG) penta: tonic scales. Since these pattern types “extend” beyond the boundaries of traditional position playing, some stretching will be required of the litte finger to play the C ote on the 20th fret. This scalar idea can be heard in Van Halen's “Eruption,” occurring just before the tremolo: icked section in E major. Fig Fig2 {X= noles tapped by mide finger of picking hand. Flos © 1988 a Racket Stusi/BNt and Varney Metal Mc AIL rights esrved ‘Gorran Wonto {Dacenen 1988Qe aS > pec B ann a At ta : ‘Bhim? Abb BDS/A’ F 1G 3 FIA pe Fr ™ FIA no FEDes 28 = Dmixolyian AstBom Abia BbSIAb BbcTRADING LICKS 57 Gates 59 in sins site + Fminolnego “7 32a eevy i didn dn Jn, fF SIS TS Decewmen 1988 Guinan WortCo SS Cm? Am? i D ‘Gurran Wonto - Deceanen 1988 oo - ee ——————E#7 (8) Seung tet 3 = 22) Ausva) Attia) (Gor co hb A om? F om ae «bee HHT HT HT NT oT THT THT AT ow Bb BA Gm7 F Dr Decoanee 1988 GurTan Wont 133eee a HA Fran 6 Ne 5 Meet reas 2 x AE Gn7