GUITAR START BY JOE SATRIANI

Back when Joe used to teach guitar, one thing that came up a lot during lessons was that guitar players wanted to "get stronger.

" And in their frustration to get stronger, they would try all sorts of things -- like playing with rubber bands around their fingers, all sorts of stuff." 

When you watch a beginner play, they press 10 times harder than someone who's been playing for 10 years; they waste a lot of their strength and hinder themselves and their ability to play by using too much force. But when you're hammering-on and pulling-off, it's actually all about accuracy, not strength. Find out where the perfect spot is to hammer-on and to pull-off, and then expend energy only to do that, and get rid of everything else.

 Ask yourself: "When I put my finger down on a string, do I feel that it's the most efficient spot? Should the string be a little bit more in the center, or off to the side of my fingertip? Am I feeling the finger bone below that?" 

And that needs to be addressed on a personal basis because my flesh, my bone, and my calluses change from day to day. Yet they're unique--everybody's hand is different; everyone's fingers are different. That approach suddenly relaxed my muscles and tendons and freed me up to be more musically responsive. In other words, you could really start whipping your fingers around in real musical rhythm, instead of thinking about brute force. 

How to build a Melody

I’d like to talk about melody and how to approach crafting a melodic line for either a song’s theme or an improvised solo.It  may seem like a relatively simply task: you get some chords together,  focus on the key you’re in, and play a few lines. But in reality there  are so many different routes one can go when tasked with this creative  endeavor. 

The “story” of the melody can be told too soon or unfold too quickly. A great way to stretch out the story is to end phrases on suspended notes, so that the listener will have to wait a little longer for the next phrase to come, in order to hear where the whole thing is going. 

Mixing Major and Minor

As a prerequisite to this lesson, you should have a basic understanding of the finger positionings for the minor pentatonic and major pentatonic scales, particularly the first and second positions of both scales.

I’d like to talk about the concept of blurring the lines between major and minor sounds, which is something that can seem very subtle but can be exploited in many different, expressive ways.Let’s say you’re soloing over a groove, but the third of the tonic, or “home,” chord is undetermined, meaning that you can just as easily paint minor or major colors over it without clashing with the chord. 

Betcha Can't Play This!

Joe Satriani came by the GW studio to lay down a classic lick from  "Surfing With The Alien" in the latest Betcha Can't Play This.

How to Create Weird Alien Guitar Sounds

 

Which we like to call "the Space Invader." It's an atonal  tapping/whammy-bar trick that makes your guitar sound like aliens who  are up to no good. 

How to Play Rhythm Guitar Like Jimi Hendrix

All guitar players love to play and practice licks, solos and scales all day long, but having the discipline to practice rhythm guitar is another matter entirely, the study and appreciation of the art of rhythm guitar was greatly inspired by the music of Jimi Hendrix.

Jimi himself had been a keen student of the R&B/soul had creative ways to fill out musical arrangements with small chord voicings, voice leading techniques and an overall sense of melody.

 Using Different Styles to Improvise

This, of course, is most readily apparent in the types of musical lines Joe will play when improvising. 

I’d be asked, “Why are you playing all of those other notes?” and I thought, well, one day people might find out what I’m really about, and maybe I’ll get rewarded for playing those “other” notes. It might sound a bit esoteric, but I think this is at the heart of what a lot of musicians ask themselves when they are practicing: Why am I doing this? What really is my style? What am I trying to say? And “what’s allowed?” which is a very important question to ask.

Learn guitar tips, tricks and secrets with this collection of articles and tips from @WorldOfMusic Who better to learn guitar from than the master himself ?

Thank you.

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