WORKSHOP ONTHE CD TRACKS 20-24 6 oo 2. ber GT RATING MODERATE ‘eit improve your: Sncceevet ‘oneal Speed ana seven From timing and pulling-off to thumb positions, this month’s Guitar Gym shows you the ins and outs of playing perfect, seamless legato. Many guitar players underestimate the arnount of legato played in rock guitar solos. LEGATO n rock guitar, legato’ (which, in music, means Yong for sooth) is acknowledged as the eect created by using arumer ons’ and ‘pull off) and is responsible forthe Mul sound produced by players such as Allan Holdsworth and Joe Satriani ‘Many aita players underestin legato used in e the amount of i guitar solos, and well retura to to asa topic in the future. However, to start w the emphasis in this months Guitar Gym is going to b mn aspects of control and timing, AS usual, there will be Series of short but effective workouts, each recorded at Une separate speeds (slow, raedsum an fast EXERCISE | One ofthe main aspects of left-hand legato that stop some players using it more ean be de Most players rstated by this ist exercise 1 ult quite easy to tepeat the ring Without sin ). However, sng therm (again, without picking) inthe reverse 1 (ABCABCABC) isa diferent story. This s because, when you fllow ABC with another ABC, you have to pll-off fom the © note (on the th ge) to s CBACBACBA ete on the top E (apart from the very fst ni 66 Guta Tchiques ocrowen 2002 LEFT-HAND PRIMER the following A note (Ist get). Wath many players, his pull-off movement is so weak thatthe A notes anest non-existent. The secret is to pull-off with a downward motion. Play EXAMPLE | and try to make the plo between the Ist and th fingers as strong as possible TIMING One aspect of guitar playing that i eat underestimated is the timing ofthe feeting han. Nan (@: SOUND ADVICE GETTING THAT LEGGY LEGATO FOR THIS MONTH'S DEMONSTRATION, | wed my ‘stared 1962 Fendar Stat dough a Cornford Harlequin MK! valve comba and Palmer speaker simulator Fala TL Audio valve EQ vas usd in order ‘0 add some warmth The Harlequin was on the {ellowing settings and the overdrive button wa on: CTplayers find it easy to Map about at high speed withthe fretting hand, but this soften ikdiseiplaed. The poor picking hand is Frequently held to blame, but is usualy the uncoordinated fretting hand that lets thirws dose, EXERCISE 2A ‘This is another sxtoenth-note tpt figure. There are six notes on each beat, Each ix-note group is made up ff two triplet figures. The challerge with this ek make sure that the second B note sounds strong ands Dlayed atthe start of the second tripot figure contained ‘within each six-note group, EXERCISE 25 Some of you may experience diieuly with the pull-oft {rom the G note tothe Pnote. Again, ake sure that ‘your timing is even 2c ‘This Paul Gbert-type lck was st associated with the alternate picking wizard, AI Di Meola. However, is also sed as a standard way of building let tand legato twehnique. A common way of developing this lick is to ‘move the single note on the string (from A 0 B, then etc), while you keep the ‘roll movement (6, FE, FG) fon the B string static NEAT NOT NOISY Legato shouldnt sound like a weak, poor relation to picking It should stil sound bold aad dened ~ it simply has’ got the percussive ‘lick ofthe pick at the front of feaeh note. You should try to pice as much volume from the let had as posible, and then igten up abit wih th pleeirum so that your picked notes don't jump, ‘out too louely in comparison Apart from general eft hand strength anu control, as youtare probably fnchng, the next biggest problem i the ‘elimination of open string noise. Before contin, let's dist revise a few points @ IDLE BASS STRINGS Remeber that the se ofthe picking hand should est firmly (ina sort of karate-chop sty) on all f the ie bass strings over the bridge pick-up area, an not over the bridge self, as this will ony sigh mute the opens strings and result in an unsatisfactory rush, (¢ IDLE TREBLE STRINGS ‘distorted rock gular much hander to control than an acoustic. In classical gta, you are taught to fret each note with the tps ofthe fingers, but in rock guitar you shoul fot evorsthng wih the eyerprnt’ part ofthe gers, so tat the est of the fingers ca lay at across any ile treble strings inorder 1 keep them que Get semebody to strum across Ue strings between your feting han al the guitar nut as you pla. There Shou be any ope string rise ~ the strings should ree dagnped at all tines. Most ofthe ile treble srngs wil be dumpec by the underside f the Ist or 4th Singers, as the 2rd and 3 are longer and, therefore, dave to arch n order to play the same string asthe shorter Istand 2nd By the wa, when you are playing, remember toi your fis finger after use rather than barre i across two strings at once — otherwise, later on you wl tat. suffering fom hazy Is fnger syneome when tying to sift things around the fingerboard, CLASSICAL vs ROCK Alot of you wil be tempted to play these exercises with ‘your thumb behing the neck. However, as Ihave ‘described in the past there are drawbacks to this ‘classical hand-shape, when it comes to playitig rock ‘guitar. recommend that you Keep the print part ofthe thumb placed dovn on the top ofthe neck whenever Dosable, 0 that you dont weer too faraway fom a and shape that fs conducive 1 vbratobending, ‘This will also result in your gers being angled about 45 degrees to the strings (instead of parallel tothe fre), which makes it easir to get a gap between the 2nal al Sn gers eee eee ae pmalnees these examples before moving i WORKSHOP ‘ocrouen 2002 Guitar Teehriques 67,‘nto just pecking th ‘This wl give some form of comparison. When you use ‘legato apprcach, youl probably find thatthe movement becomes uneven and taplety where you have three notes ina rows, especially at speed, You wal have to show restraint herein ceder to stop the hand running away’ with tel frst note on each string (a8 shown ¢ ASCENDING THE SCALE Also, youl probably notice this ‘trplet-y tendency more ‘when ascending the scale, cause hammerens are easier than pullofs,Purthertore, i you look atthe transcription, when you pick the fist note on ach sting only, you will ind thatthe picks often oecur at odd tines ln the ar ‘Tis wil throw mar of you and, again, you wl have to facus hard on targeting th fn the start of each downbeat Remember, there's no use In kidding yourself you must to be brutally honest in your timekeeping, bromise any discropancy is going to show up saringly when you try to ick the same section, asthe two ands wil not be working int synchronisation, EXERCISES 4A,B AND C This section wil give you a triplet equivalent ofthe sSxteenth-note (groups of 4) exercises shown in EXERCISE 3. Inthe future, well be looking at ways of ‘using a legato approach using odd groups of notes en ‘ach beat (5 — quintuplets, 7 septuplets etc), which dnelps to prevent things from sounding too regimented, However, until then, Ive kept all ofthese itil exercises to astrict count of 3 or 4, s0 that you can practise them. allo the metronome. AS ws, if ou fel that you can play these examples faster than the fastest workout demonstrated on the CD, keep raising the metronome! Good nek next month, were goin to look aa workout for economy picking (an (60) a0) (100) © — lk test ote hs xampie ony (6) @0)(100) Pane EN oy 68 GuitrTechniges ocroses 2002SEE PSST NOSE (20) 100) (120) Pek Bote rt en ony PaO ES Pega ET (60) (00) 100) Pick B pte fst ime only rs ‘ocroser 200 Guitar Tongues 69ty. ja SS ae ee APRIL 2002 cre erqpon Inching Led Zeppelin Black Mountain Side! 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