Guitar Music

How To Program The Subconscious Mind For Effortless Guitar Playing

2009-05-29T06:52:00.000-07:00

In order to begin programming the subconscious mind for effortlessly accurate guitar playing, we first need to understand the difference between natural and unnatural body positions, and how the conscious and subconscious minds interact to allow the body to perform tasks.

Conscious And Subconscious Actions

When performing simple everyday tasks such as using a telephone, the conscious and subconscious minds work together to carry out these operations with the minimum of effort. When dialing a number with which we're very familiar, we don't need to give it too much thought. That is, we don't use our conscious minds as much as we would if the number were unfamiliar. Using our conscious mind, we think of the person and our subconscious associates the fact that we have a phone in our hand and a person in our mind and it tells our muscles to perform the same function it has performed on countless other occasions. If we're dialing an unfamiliar number, we need to use our conscious minds much more. We have to pay close attention to each individual digit. If we make a mistake we have to go back and correct it. We tend to be more careful the next time to avoid wasting time and money connecting with the wrong person. After many repetitions, the number becomes familiar, the subconscious takes over and we can dial rapidly without making any mistakes.

So why does this process work less effectively when we replace the dialing of a phone number with the playing of a musical scale? Why is there so much more stress, fatigue and frustration involved in the learning process? It might simply be that we have abandoned the natural method of learning because we are in too much of a hurry to play in time and up to speed. These timing and tempo issues don't exist for other relatively complicated tasks which we perform effortlessly.

Moreover, tasks such as typing a letter or washing some dishes have a tangible end product. If the letter contains mistakes we immediately go back and correct them. If we break a dish we stop what we are doing and sweep it up. We try to be more careful in future to avoid wasting time, money and effort by making the same mistakes over and over again. This is the natural learning process. If, on the other hand we play a scale on a guitar, after we're finished it exists only in the memory, so mistakes often go uncorrected. If the notes of the scale were dishes, would we be up to our ankles in broken crockery?

When we are practicing guitar, we need to remember that the subconscious absorbs everything we do whether it's accurate or not. If we play a G major scale seven times, six of which contain mistakes and only one is accurate, we can't expect the subconscious to only store the good information. So next time we place our finger on the 3rd fret of the sixth string and think of a G major scale, our subconscious has seven different experiences from which to choose, and a high percentage of these were flawed. As a result, we repeat a lot of the same mistakes and our progress is slow and tortuous.

If we want our subconscious to make solid decisions rather than rough estimates, we need to give it clear associations on which to draw. Estimations lead to more mistakes and we find ourselves trapped in a vicious circle.

Obviously we can't remove mistakes from the learning process but we can make sure that the ratio of good information to bad is beneficial and not detrimental to our progress. We do this by not letting mistakes go unaddressed. If we make a mistake midway through a scale, arpeggio, chord progression etc, we don't continue to the end and hope that next time we'll do better. We stop and address it immediately by compensating for the fact that some bad information has been sent to our subconscious. We do this by overwriting it with several careful repetitions of good, accurate information.

For example, if we're six notes into a G major scale and we play an Eb instead of an E, or we don't sound the note clearly, or just play the note with a tone color with which we're unhappy. We stop, relax, reset ourselves a couple of notes before the E and play through the scale, stopping two or three notes after the E. We play this isolated part of the scale several times carefully to overwrite the mistake. After each repetition, stop, relax and reset yourself. Do not play the section as a continuous loop. The first note of the isolated section shouldn't be played immediately after the last because that's not what happens when you play the whole scale. So don't practice it that way. Also, the second or so of rest between each repetition gives the mind a chance to absorb and assess the information, and prevents the subconscious from entering the short term automation mode.

Short And Long Term Automation

If we play a phrase over and over again the movement can become automated as long as we remain in the same position. However, if we change position and then return to the phrase, we can make mistakes again as if we hadn’t practiced it at all. This is because the maneuver was only automated temporarily. In order to make this a long term automation, we need to remove the hand from the position, relax, reset ourselves and replay. Continue in this manner until the phrase can be played cleanly and instantly.

At this stage, tempo and timing aren't as important as careful placement of the fingers. A well programmed subconscious will reward the user with swift effortless movement. This approach applies to all areas of guitar practice, whether it be scale, arpeggio, chord or left and right hand issues. Always follow a mistake with several slow, careful, accurate

repetitions. If a problem persists then a alternative way to approach it is to slow down for the specific section with which you are having trouble. Play the part at a speed with which you're comfortable. As you approach the problem area, slow down and play the troublesome section carefully, giving priority to correct finger placement. After you are past the section then speed up again to complete the part. This approach is much more effective than blundering through the problem area at speed and making lots of mistakes.

As was mentioned earlier, the subconscious mind works by association. It directs movement based on information received through the senses in conjunction with instruction from the conscious mind. This means that the conscious mind has to be free of any non-essential thoughts. All unnecessary mental chatter should be eliminated while practicing guitar. Try to stop your inner voice from commenting on your playing. Thoughts such as, "I played this much better yesterday", or "that bit sounded really great", should be silenced as they have no constructive purpose and simply serve to confuse the subconscious.

We tend to make more mistakes while our minds are wandering. Holding a phone and thinking, "I must get the car washed" isn't an association that your subconscious is familiar with. And so it dials a wrong number.

If, for example, we want to successfully program our subconscious to play bar chords, (or any other chord for that matter), cleanly and crisply, we need to give it a clear signal from the conscious mind and an accurate execution of the desired chord. That is, we need to clearly visualize the chord in our mind's eye while carefully fingering the chord. Don't play the chord until your certain your fingers a well placed. Then play the chord with a clean chop. This is done by depressing all the fingers simultaneously while making a swift stroke with the right hand. The fingers should all be release at the same time. There’s no need to pull the fingers away from the strings. Simply leave the fingers in place and relax the hand, allowing the tension to instantly dissolve. This should cause the chord to end abruptly and cleanly, provided the left hand was playing all six strings. If there were open strings then you will need to use the side of the palm of the right hand to silence the ringing strings. This should be done in sync with the relaxing of the left hand. The product should be a nice crisply chopped chord.

Don’t leave the fingers in place and play the chord again as this serves little purpose, other than to exercise the muscles. It's better to let the hand fall loosely by your side for a second, allowing any tension to drain out of the arm, before reshaping the chord anew and performing another brisk chop. Continue in this way until you can make the chord cleanly and instantly. A slightly easier way to approach it, is to switch between two different chords, though this method won’t serve you as well when you need to quickly grab chords, e.g., when inserting chords into melodic passages. Make sure that the only thing that enters your mind is a visualization of the chord and the only thing your fingers do is a clean execution of the chord.

Never practice guitar in an absent-minded way with one eye on the TV and your thoughts elsewhere. Absently typing random nonsense on a keyboard while holding a conversation with friends wouldn’t improve your typing ability, so don't approach your guitar playing in this haphazard manner. Practice in a calm and quietly focused way to allow your subconscious to make clear associations and to store good quality, uncluttered information.

Never waste time and energy beating yourself up about mistakes or poor performance. Just deal with the elements you wish to improve one at a time in a cool and collected way. If something involves several different disciplines, e.g., alternate picking, string skipping and chord arpeggios, and you're struggling to master it, separate the elements and work on them individually. Allow your mind to focus on one thing at a time. People who can juggle while riding a unicycle learned the two things separately before they tried to combine them.

Natural And Unnatural Body Positions

In addition to a clear conscious mind, we also need to play in as relaxed a way as possible. This means avoiding unnatural positions. These are also known as stress positions. These unnatural stress positions quickly lead to physical and mental fatigue. The mind gives high priority to feelings of pain, discomfort and exhaustion, leaving little room for other thoughts. Therefore unnatural positions should be kept to a bare minimum.

Unnatural positions are inherently weak, whereas natural positions are inherently strong.

To avoid inadvertently adopting stress positions we need to learn to recognize them. For a very simple demonstration of the difference between natural and unnatural positions, do the following:

Stand up straight with your legs slightly apart. Let your arms hang loosely by your sides. Keep your back straight and your head centered. Feel how easy it is to maintain this position. You are using lots of muscles to hold this stance but because it's a natural position, you’ll have no trouble maintaining it for long periods without fatigue. Notice that your mind isn't being overwhelmed with thoughts of discomfort. You can keep a clear head in this position. You could work on a problem without being constantly interrupted by complaints from your body.

To turn this into an unnatural position, simply bend your knees till you feel a strain on your thighs. Hunch your shoulders up to your ears and clench your fists. You can imagine that it would be much more difficult to maintain this unnatural position for long periods of time. It would be hard to concentrate your mind on a complex problem while holding this stress position.

Before we talk about natural hand positions let's think about how playing guitar may affect the rest of the body. Next time you pick up your guitar and begin to play, devote a portion of your attention to your body. Try to identify areas of unnecessary tension. Are you slouching over your guitar? It requires more effort to slouch than it does to sit or stand up straight. This extra effort will take it's toll and you will tire more quickly. Are you unnecessarily tensing your arms or shoulders? If you're sitting down, are you holding one or both of your legs in a position that requires unnecessary effort. All of these things will make your practice sessions much more taxing. Try to position your body in a way that requires the least effort to maintain. Relax any muscles that aren't directly involved in the holding down of strings or the motion of the right hand.

Naturally Strong Hand Position

If we think of all the ordinary activities we perform daily that involve the use of our hands, we notice a common factor; a straight wrist.

Pick up something with a handle such as your guitar case or amplifier. Explore the difference between holding the object by your side with a straight wrist, and at arm's length with the wrist bent. Not only are your arm muscles having to work much harder to hold the object in this unnatural way but your grip is seriously weakened by the bending of the wrist joint. Now raise your left forearm with the inner wrist facing upwards as if you were about to play the guitar. Tightly clench your fist. Now bend the wrist as far as it can go and feel the tightening of the tendons as they are forced around the corner made by the bent wrist joint. It's this strain on the tendons that causes the weakening of the fingers. Now return the wrist to the straight position and relax the hand, allowing the fist to naturally unclench. Notice that the fingers don't straighten out but remain curled. This natural grip position is the default setting for the hand. It has inherent strength and requires no effort to maintain. Staying in this default position, wiggle the fingers. Notice how easily they move. Now bend the wrist again and notice how the pinching of the tendons restricts the movement of the fingers, causing them to stiffen.

Play Relaxed

If we wish to play guitar then we are going to have to deviate from the natural default position. However, in order to remain as relaxed as possible while we play, we will need to keep the amount of deviation to a minimum.

Set your hand in the default position and place the hand beneath the neck of your guitar. The first thing you will need to do is swivel the thumb around to the back of the neck. Do this without moving the wrist and fingers. Now bring the fingers up to rest on the 1st string with the first finger positioned above the 5th fret. Now space the other three fingers so that they line up with the 6th, 7th and 8th frets. Try to retain as much of the natural curl as possible. Notice that there is a bend at the tip joint (the one closest to the fingernail). It's important to keep this joint as close to the natural bend as possible to maintain maximum strength with minimum effort.

It shouldn't have required too much effort to place our hand in this 'home' position. So let's see how much more effort is needed to play a note. Raise your second, third and fourth fingers slightly so that only the 1st finger is resting lightly on the 1st string above the 5th fret. Strike the 1st string with a pick or finger to get a muted sound. Let's call this minimum tension. Now, making sure the first finger is the only thing that moves, press the string as hard as you can and hold it. Play the note. Let's call this maximum tension. To switch back to minimum tension again, simply relax the finger and allow the tension to instantly dissolve. Now gently apply pressure with the first finger until you can play the note with the minimum amount of necessary tension. Let's call this the 'on' position. Now let the tension instantly dissolve again, to switch immediately to the minimum tension 'off' position. Using this 'on-off' method, play the notes at the 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th frets with the first, second, third and fourth fingers respectively. Be sure to switch the previous finger to the off position before switching on the next finger. It's this on-off technique that will allow you to play through a scale in an almost effortless manner as the fingers will be spending a lot of time in the off position.

The importance of the off position shouldn’t be underestimated. It is essential for clear definition and relaxed, fluent movement. Switching off and pulling off are very different things. Switching the finger on to play a note requires action. Pulling the finger off or away from the string after the note has been played requires further action. Whereas switching the finger off after the note has been played requires no action. It is merely a cessation of the first action of switching on. Pulling off instead of switching off is the cause of a lot of unwanted string noise as the finger is removed before the string has stopped vibrating. After switching off, the finger remains in place, resting effortlessly on the string as it returns to it's normal state. This dampens the vibration immediately.

Stop And Relax

Even while using the on-off method, you will probably still experience a build-up of tension in the hand and arm when practicing. This tension can accumulate very rapidly, and can seriously restrict movement if we don’t learn how to relieve it.

As soon as you experience a build-up of tension, which manifests itself in the form of stiffness and dull aches, you should immediately stop what you are doing and let your arm hang loosely by your side until you feel the tension drain away. Try to retain as much of this relaxed feeling as possible when you resume practicing. You should keep doing this until you learn how to relax while playing; even if this means stopping every 30 seconds or so. This is especially important when warming up. Eventually you will learn to thoroughly relax while playing guitar. This is how professional musicians manage to play for hours without tiring. It’s also the reason why they make it look so easy!

Subconsciously Tensing-up

Another type of tension occurs when we subconsciously tense the muscles just before we tackle a tricky section of music, e.g., a large position shift or an arpeggio with which we’re particularly uncomfortable. This is the musical equivalent of flinching just before something painful is about to happen. We feel that if we approach these awkward parts in a nonchalant way then we’re sure to mess up because we know how difficult they can be and so we subconsciously bunch up our muscles in readiness for the challenge. The irony is that the complete opposite is true; if we remained relaxed for these difficulties, we’d stand a much greater chance of nailing them.

Imagine someone drew two chalk lines five feet apart and asked you to jump over the distance. No problem right? Now imagine this same five foot gap was between two skyscrapers. Would you approach it in the same way, and which do you think you would most likely mess up?

“…play it as if it means nothing when it means everything… …allow yourself to fail…”

Hit The Nail On The Head; Finding The Point Of Balance

When playing both chords and melodic phrases, it’s essential that you plant your fingers squarely and centrally on the string(s).

Take a look at this simple pentatonic E minor scale.

E|--------------------0-3-0---------------------|
B|----------------0-3-------3-0-----------------|
G|------------0-2---------------2-0-------------|
D|--------0-2-----------------------2-0---------|
A|----0-2-------------------------------2-0-----|
E|0-3---------------------------------------3-0-|

After warming up a bit, start by playing the first two notes. Pay close attention to the 3rd finger as it plays the G at the 3rd fret. Is there sufficient bend in the tip joint for the finger to hit the string squarely. Imagine the tip segment of your finger is a hammer head and the string is the nail. If you strike the nail at an angle it will be pushed to one side. You need to meet the string as squarely as possible to get the best tone and intonation. The next thing to observe is whether or not you’re making central, well-balanced contact with the string from the moment you begin to depress it, and not making subtle adjustments after placing the finger. Play the two notes repeatedly. Does your finger hit the string sweetly every time or does it sometimes veer off to one side or the other and make a poor contact causing buzzing or a thinning of the tone quality? If the string were a tightrope would your finger be balanced in the centre as you play or would it fall to one side? Now you know how it feels to play the note cleanly, play through the whole scale observing whether or not your hitting notes square and centered or at an angle and inaccurately. Whenever you encounter a poor contact, stop, relax reset yourself and go over this portion several times carefully. You can take the scale two notes at a time, concentrating on neatness. Then extend it to four notes, and then six and so until the whole scale is neat.

You can try the “slowing down for the problem area” approach to get rid of any persistent trouble spots. The important thing is never to let the slightest inaccuracy go uncorrected. You can now apply this approach to all scales, arpeggios, chords etc.

Pay particular attention to the tip joint. Do not allow it to collapse (lose it's bend). The little finger is especially prone to collapse. Not only do we need a nice bend in order to hit the string squarely but it also has much greater strength, which is most important when holding down chords. You can demonstrate this by holding down a string with your little finger while maintaining a natural bend in the tip joint. Observe the amount of effort required, and the amount of stress placed on the finger and hand by the reactive force. Now, keeping the pressure even, allow the joint to collapse. Notice how much greater is the stress placed on the finger and hand. The reactive force seems to travel much further up the hand and even as far as the forearm.

Chromatic Exercise

Try playing through the following exercise, concentrating on correct, well-balanced finger placement using the on-off technique. An open string has been placed between each note of the chromatic scale. This ensures that you plant each finger independently rather than laying them all down in a rippling legato manner. Good legato is something to which all guitarists should aspire but first we need to master the on-off independent fingering technique if we’re to avoid our phrases sounding too mushy. Remember to avoid pulling off the finger after the fretted notes are played. Switch off before removing the finger to allow the open string to be played. This requires close attention to get right but is a vital skill.

E|----------------------------------------------------------------|
B|----------------------------------------------------------------|
G|------------------------------------------------0-1-0-2-0-3-0-4-|
D|--------------------------------0-1-0-2-0-3-0-4-----------------|
A|----------------0-1-0-2-0-3-0-4---------------------------------|
E|0-1-0-2-0-3-0-4-------------------------------------------------|

E|----------------0-1-0-2-0-3-0-4-|
B|0-1-0-2-0-3-0-4-----------------|
G|--------------------------------|
D|--------------------------------|
A|--------------------------------|
E|--------------------------------|

Once you have got used to the on-off independent fingering technique you can remove the open string notes from whichever scale you happen to be playing and switch to playing the scale in the normal way using staccato to prevent any mushiness from creeping back in. Eventually you will need to use a smoother, more musical way of playing scales but only when you're really well balanced and relaxed, and you have fully mastered the on-off technique.

Fingerpicking

The default hand position as described above is also essential when finger picking. It is important to maintain the straight wrist and natural curling of the fingers in order to avoid fatigue, inaccuracy and thinning of the tone when striking the string. As with the left hand, it is vital not to allow the tip joint to collapse. The tip and middle joints must remain in the naturally curled position. The pivot must come from the knuckle joint and not the middle joint. We tend to do this naturally when picking at a sticky label on a CD cover, or when scratching an itch. But for some reason a lot of us abandon this natural method as soon as we pick up a guitar and pick at a string. Try this out by picking at a label on a bottle of beer or noticing what happens when you scratch at an itch. You should find that the finger(s) form a hook shape with a bend in all three joints. The tip and middle joint remain firmly fixed while the finger pivots at the knuckle joint. Apply this exact technique when finger picking a guitar. If in the past you have had trouble using the elbow as an anchor point while floating the right hand over the strings then you should find the natural position helpful.

Right Hand Tension

Anyone who has tried to play rapidly with a pick will know that with an increase in speed comes an unhelpful increase in tension in the right forearm. It seems impossible to play at speed while remaining relaxed. Fortunately it is possible; not only that but it’s absolutely essential.

Simply apply the Stop and Relax technique as described above. As soon as the tension begins to build, stop picking, relax your arm, reset yourself and resume. Do this every time the tension starts to mount. This will heighten your awareness of tension from the moment it first begins to happen, and eventually you’ll be able to relax without stopping. Finally you’ll reach a stage where the tension doesn’t happen at all as it’s completely unnecessary.

Grooves

A great way to make right hand picking practice more interesting is to create different grooves rather than just sticking to the - ONE two three four ONE two three four etc. I call this the Indian drum beat groove… Hi ya ya ya Hi ya ya ya. This has a four pulse repetition with a heavy accent on the first beat. Try creating an eight pulse groove by simply moving the second accent back one pulse; ONE two three FOUR one two three four ONE two three FOUR one two three four and so on. Different grooves will make a huge difference to the feel of phrases and will make monotonous picking practice much more enjoyable. Play around with accents and see what you can come up with.

The Difference Between Practice And Performance

If you apply these techniques you might feel that all the stopping and starting is destroying the flow of your playing. At this point it’s important to understand the difference between practice and performance. Practice isn’t a performance and performance isn’t practice. During a performance, the piece has to be played from start to finish and the imperfections just have to be lived with. In the practice room however, we don’t have to live with imperfections. That’s what practice is for!

Hopefully you haven’t lost the will to live while reading this article. I went into far more detail than I originally planned. But programming the subconscious for accuracy is all about meticulous attention to detail. I might also have stated the obvious on occasion but it’s impossible to know at what stage of development the reader might be, so I felt it best to cover as much as possible. I hope there is something in here for beginners and intermediates alike. Thanks.

author :chris flatley

Troubleshooting To Guitar Techniques

2009-05-29T06:50:00.000-07:00

Hello metallers, grungers and wannabee slashes. I'm Sion Atkinson. Now you may be wondering 'if I haven't heard of you before how can I be certain that what you are teaching is top notch stuff. I would answer that by saying that I've practised these techniques and found that I've not got anywhere with them. Until, my teacher taught me how to do them properly. And so I'm writing this to prevent this happening to you. Over the next lessons, I'm going to provide lessons on how to sweep pick, hammer ons and pull offs (groan)and lots of other useful crap.

Hammer Ons And Pull Offs

I know. There are thousands of articles on this subject but many don't know how to execute them properly. When you hammer on and pull off, you want to make sure that the high notes and low notes sound equally loud. Therefore, you have to apply more force with your left hand fingers when they pull off or hammer on than you do when you use a pick to play the notes. If you're hammering on, make sure the string hits the fingerboard as this helps the string vibrate more.

Pull offs are a lot trickier, especially if you're using your 3rd and 4th fingers. When pulling off you want your pull off finger to move in a horizontal direction so you pull your finger off the string. Trust me, the amount of people (myself included) who just lift their finger off the string is enormous. And if you bend the string (which you shouldn't unless told to do so in the tablature), support the string with other fingers so it doesn't move. However if you're pulling off to an open string like so

e 5p0 7p0 8p0 7po
b 5p0 6p0 8p0
g
d
a
e

Try and control how much you pull off. You could pull off earlier instead of dragging the string with your finger by accident.

Another example would be

e 8p5p0h8p5p0h8p5p0h4h7p0h4h7p0
b

This shows how you can mix hammer ons and pull offs together. It shows how important it is to make them loud otherwise the notes will fade out (unless you're using loads of distortion.

Here's an example from one of my own solos

e 12
b 15p12 12 15p12 17p12 14
g 15 15p14p12
d 14
a
e

This includes a pull off from the 4th finger to the 3rd on the last phrase which is quite tricky. Be sure to practise before playing the whole lick.

Even Kurt Cobain used them and he wasn't one of the most proficient players around. Here's the main riff from 'Man who sold the world'

e
b
g 2 2 2 0 2p3p2p0

This would make a great excercise if you moved it by one fret each time until you reached the twelth fret.

Other Examples

You might want to listen and check tabs to the following songs 'Battery' by Metallica, Anything by Alterbridge They also use hammer ons from nowhere. 'Crush day' by Joe Satriani. 'Whiskey in a jar' by the one and only Thin Lizzy. Also check other lessons on the website for excercises. They really do help!

O.K. my work is done. Please post any comments if you'd like to tell me what technique I should write about next which you need help with.

author :tricksy16

Troubleshooting. Part 2

2009-05-29T06:49:00.000-07:00

Hello to all guitar hungry people out there. Thanks for posting some comments, I'll keep making the naked tabs from now on. I've tried to include two mini lessons into one because
1. I forgot to include something in my last lesson.
2. I'm gonna cover something which appears in these lessons a lot.

Part 1. Hammer Ons From Nowhere

As I mentioned previously, Alterbridge uses a lot of legato (fancy word for hammer ons and pull offs)in their solos. After all, if you are hammering onto notes all the time, why don't you hammer onto strings to save you from getting your picking hand confused?

C major excercise
e
b
g
d LH7h9h10
a LH7h8h10
e LH8 (tap onto the fret 8 with your index finger)h10

The sign LH indicates to hammer on from nowhere with your left hand fingers, and you just have to apply the same rules as you do for normal hammer ons. For those who didn't check out the last lesson, you just tap the string with your fingertip until the string hit's the fingerboard. It will provide enough force to make the note vibrate and therefore you get the note. Just make sure you hammer on on the fret shown after the sign. In a way, it's kinda like a right hand tap (using your middle finger to tap a note which I'll show another time) except on the left hand.

Try this moving this excercise up and down the fingerboard, like so

e
b
g
d LH7h9h10p9
a LH8h9h11p9
e LH9h10h12p10p9

or how about this

e
b
g
d LH5h7h8p7p5
a LH5h6h8 LH8p6p5
e LH5h6h8 LH8p6p5

This will help all your fingers become strong and quick so that your hammer ons and pull offs will sound great. If you've checked other lessons on this site, apply this technique to other excercises on here. It's f--king tricky at first, but you can do it with patience.

Last but not least, make sure you put these ideas into practise and properly. If you don't, you risk practising bad habit's in the future. Tricky techniques like this require patience and repetition, so you should at least do this kind of stuff for 10 minutes every day. It's not long, compared to how much Steve Vai used to practise everyday, and with each day you will notice an improvement if they are done properly. For now, I also suggest you keep the distortion as little as possible until you can do this cleanly. Sorry to nag at you but I'm just trying to help.

All right that's it. Next lesson I'll help with right hand tapping. Keep shredding!

Hendrix Rythm Spice

2009-05-29T06:47:00.000-07:00

Ok first. I'm actually 13 so I'm pretty young and fiddle about with my guitar a lot and been watching a heck of a lot of hendrix vids to realise what he does, lets start.

If you look at the way hendrix plays his chords, there not barre chords but he does play them up the frets, what he does is uses less fingers to cover a chord and have the remaining fingers to "spice" up the rythm with little touches.

Normal A barre

e|--5--
B|--5--
G|--6--
D|--7--
A|--7--
E|--5--

But Hendrix tries to make the same chord but use less fingers the (number) shows the finger to use

A chord (Hendrix Style)

e|--5-(1)-
B|--5-(1)-
G|--6-(2)-
D|--7-(3)-
A|-------
E|-------

If done correctly, your pinky shall be free, woo! This allows you to improvise with your little pinky in many ways and all that.

For example (ok not really a good one but still)

e|--8p5-5-----5-5---5-
B|--5---8/7p5-5-5---5-
G|--6---6-----6-6h7-6-
D|--7---7-----7-7---7-
A|--------------------
E|--------------------

Of course that's pretty cool and simple, I'm pretty mince at it myself but I'm sure all you good players will have no problem jamming and inprovising with this shape (can obviously be moved around just like a barre chord). If your wondering, a minor just takes your 3rd finger away making it 5,5,5,7 (if you get what i mean). After looking at that, you could be wondering how to do a A shaped barre. Or perhaps looking at the first you may have figured the first but here it is anyways.

D barre chord

E|----
B|--7-(barre with just your first finger)
G|--7-
D|--7-
A|----
E|----

Now of course the barre with the first finger doesn't mean you are limited to only 7 and above. You can use the notes on the 5th fret, you can use that to build this jazzy/blues kind of technique... it's hard to explain, look here.

e|------------------
B|------7-----7h8-7-
G|------7-----7---7-
D|------7-----7h9-7-
A|--5-5---7/9-------
E|------------------

You may notice a shape from "wind cries mary" and correct, that is the shape and its a brilliant technique I love to do often.

The minor for this may "seem" obvious now I've explained the aboves but in fact what I do to play the minor is do this.

(D minor hendrix style)
e|-----
B|--10-
G|--10-
D|--12-
A|-----
E|-----

I've moved it up 3 frets and added my 3rd finger on the D string 2 frets up.

I've pretty much coverd what I wanted to share so I hope some of this stuff was somewhat useful and I hope to get feedback.

author :author: neo14085

Tapping Scales And Arpeggios

2009-05-29T06:45:00.000-07:00

In this lesson we will cover:

01. Tapping on all strings and uting unwanted fret noise
02. Playing and constructing arpeggios
03. Tapping scales
04. Using these techinques to make a lick

Hopefully after this you should have good knowledge of tapping scales and arpeggios, how to make them and use them musically.

Tapping On All Strings And Uting Unwanted Fret Noise

Ok we all know to to tap, on pretty much any string, it can be a fairly simple process, but if your tapping on say the A string and then quickly skip to a tapping lick on the B string and back and forth, this can produce unwanted string noise and/or make the notes not sound clearly.

Lets take this lick first:

#tapped notes are in brackets()

E|-----------------------7h(12)p10p7------------------------------
B|----------------------------------------------------------------
G|-------------7h(12)p9p7-------------7h(12)p9p7------------------
D|----------------------------------------------------------------
A|--7h(14)p10p7---------------------------------7h(14)p10p7-------
E|----------------------------------------------------------------

In this lick, instead of normal tapping where you fret the notes then tap and pull off the rest, we are going to hold the first note, so for this lick the 7th fret which we are going to hammer-on from nowhere, to do this simply press down the fret quickly and then tap the bracketed 14th fret, then hammer-on the next note, the 10th fret and pull off to the 7 again, so like this:

Hold 7th, tap 14th, hammer-on 10 from the 7 and then pull off back to 9th fret.

It sounds confusing but this is the style were going to use as holding down all the frets and pulling them all off will be quite hard to do quickly and efficeintly.

If you try and play this lick you mite notice a few things:

1. The notes aren't all sounded clearly

2. A lot of fret buzz and unwanted noise

3. The notes on the lower strings don't sound clearly

To solve this follow these steps:

1. Make sure each tap is emphasised, especailly on the A string, tap quickly and strongly and make sure you pull off when you tap with your finger.

2. There are 2 main ways to mute the strings, these are the KEY techniques to playing these arpeggios correctly:

Fretting Hand Technique:

This is usefull in all aspects of playing but especailly in tapping, you want to try to place your index finger when playing notes slightly above the fret, so the tip is just making contact with the string above. This means that the string above is now clearly muted without wou worrying about it. As for the string below, with the index finger moved up slightly try and angle your finger so the under bit of your finger is resting on the string, this now mutes the string below. Practice this and eventually you will notice that you wont get much unwanted noise from over strings.

Right Hand Technique:

Allthough you may think the right hand just taps and leaves the fretboard until the next tap, you might want to consider keeping your hand resting near the bridge. Why? This then allows you to mute the strings slightly, don't put too much pressure, just have your hand rite above the strings ready to mute, focus on muting when you jump to a new string. Another good technique I use it to slightly angle my hand, have it so my wrist is aiming downwards slightly when descending and aiming upwards when ascending, this then means your hand is followig your fretting hand and muting behind it was it goes, so every string you leave will be muted and the next string will be free of noise and ready for a clean tap.

With all this advice you should practice a few simple licks to perfect your technique, it doesnt't really matter what you tap, for now, as long as you get your tapping clean. Having quite a bit of gain and mids on your amp will help too. Here are a few simple tapping licks to practice, these aren't any paticular shape or arpeggio, just to help you practice. It doesnt't really matter what finger you use for hammering-on, but I do advise to use your pinky more, you get more reach and it will definnitly help you on the lower strings and with certain shapes.

E|----------------------------5h(12)p8p5--------------------------
B|----------------------------------------------------------------
G|--------------5h(12)p8p5----------------5h(12)p8p5--------------
D|----------------------------------------------------------------
A|--5h(12)p8p5--------------------------------------5h(12)p8p5----
E|----------------------------------------------------------------

E|-------------------------------12h(19)p15p12----------------------------
B|------------------------------------------------------------------------
G|-----------------12h(19)p15p12---------------12h(19)p15p12--------------
D|------------------------------------------------------------------------
A|--12h(19)p15p12-------------------------------------------12h(19)p15p12-
E|------------------------------------------------------------------------

E|-------------------------4h(11)p7p4-----------------------------
B|----------------------------------------------------------------
G|--------------5h(12)p8p5------------5h(12)p8p5------------------
D|----------------------------------------------------------------
A|--6h(13)p9p6-----------------------------------6h(13)p9p6-------
E|----------------------------------------------------------------

# don't forget you don't have to play the A, G and E strings, mix it up, you can tap a note twice, tapping the A string and the E string twice can really make your lick stand out

Playing And Constructing Arpeggios

Now weve got the technique down lets learn how to construct and play tapped arpeggios. Well we all now an arpeggio is just the individual notes of a chord play seperatly, so lets take a A minor chord. This is made up of notes A C and E. So all we do is find these notes on each string and play them like so:

E|--5h(12)p8p5--5h(12)p8p5--5h(12)p8p5--5h(12)p8p5--5h(12)p8p5------

On the E string the notes are 5 - A 8 - C 12 - E

So in basic forms this is an A minor arpeggio on the high E string. Now all we need to do is work out the notes on the other strings, like so:

E|--0--5--8--12--17--20--24---------------------------------------
B|--1--5--10--13--17--22------------------------------------------
G|--2--5--9--13--17--21-------------------------------------------
D|--2--7--10--13--19--22------------------------------------------
A|--0--3--7--12--15--19--24---------------------------------------
E|--0--5--8--12--17--20--24---------------------------------------

All these notes are A C or E, so any combination of these in a tapped lick would be a A minor arpeggio. So for example:

E|-----------------------5h(12)p8p5-------------------------------
B|----------------------------------------------------------------
G|-------------2h(9)p5p2------------2h(9)p5p2---------------------
D|----------------------------------------------------------------
A|--3h(12)p7p3--------------------------------3h(12)p7p3----------
E|----------------------------------------------------------------

E|----------------------------------------------------------------
B|--------------------------5h(13)p10p5---------------------------
G|----------------------------------------------------------------
D|-------------7h(13)p10p7--------------7h(13)p10p7---------------
A|----------------------------------------------------------------
E|--5h(12)p8p5--------------------------------------5h(12)p8p5----

E|-----------------------------------------------------------------------
B|------------------------------13h(22)p17p13----------------------------
G|-----------------------------------------------------------------------
D|----------------13h(22)p19p13---------------13h(22)p19p13--------------
A|--12h(19)p15p12-------------------------------------------12h(19)p15p12
E|-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Any mixture of these would be a successful A minor arpeggio. You don't have to just use 3 note chords, you can use anything, diminished, major 7th, suss or add chords. All you have to do is know the notes of the chord and find them on the fretboard. So for example a C major 7th has the notes B C E and G. Although we can put these all on one string, it's easier to divide them up accross the strings like so:

E|--0--3--7--8--12--15--19--20--24--------------------------------
B|--0--1--5--8--12--16--17--19--20--------------------------------
G|--0--4--5--9--12--16--17--21------------------------------------
D|--2--5--8--9--14--17--20--21------------------------------------
A|--2--3--7--10--14--15--19--22-----------------------------------
E|--0--3--7--8--12--15--19--20--24--------------------------------

As long as your lick has all of the notes alltogether it will sound right. So an example lick would be:

E|-----------------------------------3h(12)p7p3-------------------
B|----------------------------------------------------------------
G|------------------------4h(12)p7p4------------4h(12)p7p4--------
D|-------------2h(10)p5p2-----------------------------------------
A|----------------------------------------------------------------
E|--3h(12)p7p3----------------------------------------------------

E|----------------------------------------------------------------
B|-----------------------------------5h(12)p8p5-------------------
G|----------------------------------------------------------------
D|--2h(10)p5p2----------------------------------------------------
A|------------------------2h(7)p3p2-------------------------------
E|-------------3h(12)p7p3-----------------------------------------

And there you have a C major 7th tapped arpeggio!

Tapping Scales

Tapping scales is actually a lot easier than it sounds. A bit like the arpeggio, you use the notes of the scale to construct the tapping lick. Here we can see a simple A minor pentatonic tapped scale:

E|--------------------------------------------------------5h(12)p8p5--------
B|---------------------------------------------5h(13)p8p5-------------------
G|----------------------------------5h(12)p7p5------------------------------
D|-----------------------5h(12)p7p5-----------------------------------------
A|------------5h(12)p8p5----------------------------------------------------
E|--5(12)p8p5---------------------------------------------------------------

As you can see we have the simple pentatonic box shape, and the tapped notes are all part of the scale too so it fits. If we wanted to make a C major scale tapping lick, it should be easy, as we know the C major scale has the notes A, B, C, D, E, F, G, we simply use these in this lick, making sure all the notes consist of any combination of these, as long as your lick, no matter how long or short contains all of these notes at least once, it will make a legit scale tapping lick. So heres an example of a C major scale tapping excersise:

E|------------------------------------------------------------9h(15)p12p9---
B|------------------------------------------------9h(15)p12p9---------------
G|------------------------------------7h(14)p10p7---------------------------
D|------------------------7h(14)p10p7---------------------------------------
A|-------------5h(12)p8p5---------------------------------------------------
E|--5h(12)p8p5--------------------------------------------------------------

I could of used notes anywhere as long as the contained all the notes from the scale, you can split this up, descend and ascend and move the shapes an octave along.

Using These Techinques To Make A Lick

Now weve understood these techniques heres a brief description on how to use them musically. it's actually really simple, think of any chord progression you like, now turn it into tapped arpeggios. So we can have anything from a E, D, C progression to a Am, C, G, Em progression, it will work well. For example heres a G major 7th, C major, A minor progression:

G major 7th

E|------------------------------10h(15)p14p10------------------------------
B|-------------------------------------------------------------------------
G|----------------11h(16)p12p11---------------11h(16)p12p11----------------
D|-------------------------------------------------------------------------
A|--10h(17)p14p10-------------------------------------------10h(17)p14p10--
E|-------------------------------------------------------------------------

C major

E|-------------------------7h(12)p10p7----------------------------
B|----------------------------------------------------------------
G|--------------7h(12)p9p7-------------7h(12)p9p7-----------------
D|----------------------------------------------------------------
A|--7h(14)p10p7-----------------------------------7h(14)p10p7-----
E|----------------------------------------------------------------

A minor

E|------------------------5h(11)p8p5------------------------------
B|----------------------------------------------------------------
G|-------------6h(12)p9p6------------6h(12)p9p6-------------------
D|----------------------------------------------------------------
A|--5h(12)p9p5----------------------------------5h(12)p9p5--------
E|----------------------------------------------------------------

Hope this lesson helps you out.

author : Joe310707

Speed Playing

2009-05-29T06:42:00.001-07:00

In this lesson were going to cover all aspects of playing fast guitar, including speed picked runs, legato phrases and economy picking phrases. Hopefully at the end of this lesson you should have some useful warm up excersises, tips on all picking aspects and lots of excersises to practise with.

This lesson will be split into 5 sections :

1. Warm up excersises
2. Alternative picking
3. Economy picking
4. Legato playing
5. Using these tips musically

Warm Up Excersises

These are a list of simple excersises that are useful for quickly warming up both your hands before playing these excersises. I use these almost everyday and they don't take long but they get your hands all warmed up, getting blood into your hands and getting the muscles pumped into your fingers so after a quick few excersises you feel like youve been playing for hours.

First were going to warm up, were going to give all your fingers are work out. The main focus of warming up fast though is to aim to get your index and pinky fingers warmed up as the rest of the hand will follow. Lets get started:

E|----------------------1h2p1------------------------------------------2h3-
B|------------------1h2-------2p1----------------------------------2h3-----
G|--------------1h2---------------2p1--------------------------2h3---------
D|----------1h2-----------------------2p1------------------2h3-------------
A|------1h2-------------------------------2p1----------2h3-----------------
E|--1h2---------------------------------------2p1--2h3---------------------

E|--3p2-----------------------------------------3h4p3-----------------------
B|------3p2---------------------------------3h4-------4p3-------------------
G|----------3p2-------------------------3h4---------------4p3---------------
D|--------------3p2-----------------3h4-----------------------4p3-----------
A|------------------3p2---------3h4-------------------------------4p3-------
E|----------------------3p2-3h4---------------------------------------4p3---

E|----------------------4h5p4-----------------------------------------5h6---
B|------------------4h5-------5p4---------------------------------5h6-------
G|--------------4h5---------------5p4-------------------------5h6-----------
D|----------4h5-----------------------5p4-----------------5h6---------------
A|------4h5-------------------------------5p4---------5h6-------------------
E|--4h5---------------------------------------5p4-5h6-----------------------

E|--6p5-----------------------------------------6h7p6-----------------------
B|------6p5---------------------------------6h7-------7p6-------------------
G|----------6p5-------------------------6h7---------------7p6---------------
D|--------------6p5-----------------6h7-----------------------7p6-----------
A|------------------6p5---------6h7-------------------------------7p6-------
E|----------------------6p5-6h7---------------------------------------7p6---

This is an excersise which can be replayed with any 2 fingers. To also aide your picking hand you can alternate pick descending ( up, down, up) and sweep (up, up, up) ascending, or mix it up, but don't worry the main aim is to warm up your fretting hand fingers. With this excersise use:

1. Index and middle
2. Middle and ring
3. Ring and pinky

Next:

E|----------------------1h3p1-----------------------------------------2h4-
B|------------------1h3------3p1----------------------------------2h4-----
G|--------------1h3--------------3p1--------------------------2h4---------
D|----------1h3----------------------3p1------------------2h4-------------
A|------1h3------------------------------3p1----------2h4-----------------
E|--1h3--------------------------------------3p1--2h4---------------------

E|--4p2-----------------------------------------3h5p3-----------------------
B|------4p2---------------------------------3h5-------5p3-------------------
G|----------4p2-------------------------3h5---------------5p3---------------
D|--------------4p2-----------------3h5-----------------------5p3-----------
A|------------------4p2---------3h5-------------------------------5p3-------
E|----------------------4p2-3h5---------------------------------------5p3---

E|----------------------4h6p4-----------------------------------------5h7---
B|------------------4h6-------6p4---------------------------------5h7-------
G|--------------4h6---------------6p4-------------------------5h7-----------
D|----------4h6-----------------------6p4-----------------5h7---------------
A|------4h6-------------------------------6p4---------5h7-------------------
E|--4h6---------------------------------------6p4-5h7-----------------------

E|--7p5-----------------------------------------6h8p6-----------------------
B|------7p5---------------------------------6h8-------8p6-------------------
G|----------7p5-------------------------6h8---------------8p6---------------
D|--------------7p5-----------------6h8-----------------------8p6-----------
A|------------------7p5---------6h8-------------------------------8p6-------
E|----------------------7p5-6h8---------------------------------------8p6---

Ok this time use:

1. Index and ring fingers
2. Middle and pinky fingers

Next:

E|--------------------------------1h2h3p2p1---------------------------------
B|--------------------------1h2h3-----------3p2p1---------------------------
G|--------------------1h2h3-----------------------3p2p1---------------------
D|--------------1h2h3-----------------------------------3p2p1---------------
A|--------1h2h3-----------------------------------------------3p2p1---------
E|--1h2h3----------------------------------------------------------3p2p1----

E|--------------------------------2h3h4p3p2---------------------------------
B|--------------------------2h3h5-----------4p3p2---------------------------
G|--------------------2h3h4-----------------------4p3p2---------------------
D|--------------2h3h4-----------------------------------4p3p2---------------
A|--------2h3h4----------------------------------------------4p3p2----------
E|--2h3h4----------------------------------------------------------4p3p2----

E|--------------------------------3h4h5p4p3---------------------------------
B|--------------------------3h4h5-----------5p4p3---------------------------
G|--------------------3h4h5-----------------------5p4p3---------------------
D|--------------3h4h5-----------------------------------5p4p3---------------
A|--------2h4h5----------------------------------------------5p4p3----------
E|--3h4h5----------------------------------------------------------5p4p3----

E|--------------------------------4h5h6p5p4---------------------------------
B|--------------------------4h5h6-----------6p5p4---------------------------
G|--------------------4h5h6-----------------------6p5p4---------------------
D|--------------4h5h6-----------------------------------6p5p4---------------
A|--------4h5h6----------------------------------------------6p5p4----------
E|--4h5h6----------------------------------------------------------6p5p4----

E|--------------------------------5h6h7p6p5---------------------------------
B|--------------------------5h6h7-----------7p6p5---------------------------
G|--------------------5h6h7-----------------------7p6p5---------------------
D|--------------5h6h7-----------------------------------7p6p5---------------
A|--------5h6h7----------------------------------------------7p6p5----------
E|--5h6h7----------------------------------------------------------7p6p5----

This time use:

1. Index ,middle and ring fingers
2. Middle ,ring and pinky fingers

Next:

E|--------------------------------1h2h4p2p1---------------------------------
B|--------------------------1h2h4-----------4p2p1---------------------------
G|--------------------1h2h4-----------------------4p2p1---------------------
D|--------------1h2h4-----------------------------------4p2p1---------------
A|--------1h2h4----------------------------------------------4p2p1----------
E|--1h2h4----------------------------------------------------------4p2p1----

E|--------------------------------2h3h5p3p2---------------------------------
B|--------------------------2h3h5-----------5p3p2---------------------------
G|--------------------2h3h5-----------------------5p3p2---------------------
D|--------------2h3h5-----------------------------------5p3p2---------------
A|--------2h3h5----------------------------------------------5p3p2----------
E|--2h3h5----------------------------------------------------------5p3p2----

E|--------------------------------3h4h6p4p3---------------------------------
B|--------------------------3h4h6-----------6p4p3---------------------------
G|--------------------3h4h6-----------------------6p4p3---------------------
D|--------------3h4h6-----------------------------------6p4p3---------------
A|--------3h4h6----------------------------------------------6p4p3----------
E|--3h4h6----------------------------------------------------------6p4p3----

E|--------------------------------4h5h7p5p4---------------------------------
B|--------------------------4h5h7-----------7p5p4---------------------------
G|--------------------4h5h7-----------------------7p5p4---------------------
D|--------------4h5h7-----------------------------------7p5p4---------------
A|--------4h5h7----------------------------------------------7p5p4----------
E|--4h5h7----------------------------------------------------------7p5p4----

This one uses:

1. Index ,middle and pinky

Next:

E|--------------------------------1h3h4p3p1---------------------------------
B|--------------------------1h3h4-----------4p3p1---------------------------
G|--------------------1h3h4-----------------------4p3p1---------------------
D|--------------1h3h4-----------------------------------4p3p1---------------
A|--------1h3h4----------------------------------------------4p3p1----------
E|--1h3h4----------------------------------------------------------4p3p1----

E|--------------------------------2h4h5p4p2---------------------------------
B|--------------------------2h4h5-----------5p4p2---------------------------
G|--------------------2h4h5-----------------------5p4p2---------------------
D|--------------2h4h5-----------------------------------5p4p2---------------
A|--------2h4h5----------------------------------------------5p4p2----------
E|--2h4h5----------------------------------------------------------5p4p2----

E|--------------------------------3h5h6p5p3---------------------------------
B|--------------------------3h5h6-----------6p5p3---------------------------
G|--------------------3h5h6-----------------------6p5p3---------------------
D|--------------3h5h6-----------------------------------6p5p3---------------
A|--------3h5h6----------------------------------------------6p5p3----------
E|--3h5h6----------------------------------------------------------6p5p3----

E|--------------------------------4h6h7p6p4---------------------------------
B|--------------------------4h6h7-----------7p6p4---------------------------
G|--------------------4h6h7-----------------------7p6p4---------------------
D|--------------4h6h7-----------------------------------7p6p4---------------
A|--------4h6h7----------------------------------------------7p6p4----------
E|--4h6h7----------------------------------------------------------7p6p4----

This one uses:

1. Index ,ring and pinky fingers.

Last one now:

E|------------------------------------------1h2h3h4p3p2p1----------------
B|----------------------------------1h2h3h4---------------4p3p2p1--------
G|--------------------------1h2h3h4-------------------------------4p3p2p1
D|------------------1h2h3h4----------------------------------------------
A|----------1h2h3h4------------------------------------------------------
E|--1h2h3h4--------------------------------------------------------------

E|-----------------------------------------------------------------------
B|-----------------------------------------------------------------------
G|--4p3p2p1-------------------------------------------------2h3h4h5------
D|----------4p3p2p1---------------------------------2h3h4h5--------------
A|------------------4p3p2p1-----------------2h3h4h5----------------------
E|--------------------------4p3p2p1 2h3h4h5------------------------------

E|----------2h3h4h5p4p3p2------------------------------------------------
B|--2h3h4h5---------------5p4p3p2----------------------------------------
G|--------------------------------5p4p3p2--------------------------------
D|----------------------------------------5p4p3p2------------------------
A|------------------------------------------------5p4p3p2----------------
E|--------------------------------------------------------5p4p3p2-3h4h5h6

E|----------------------------------3h4h5h6p5p4p3------------------------
B|--------------------------3h4h5h6---------------6p5p4p3----------------
G|------------------3h4h5h6-------------------------------6p5p4p3--------
D|----------3h4h5h6-----------------------------------------------6p5p4p3
A|--3h4h5h6--------------------------------------------------------------
E|-----------------------------------------------------------------------

E|----------------------------------------------------------4h5h6h7------
B|--------------------------------------------------4h5h6h7--------------
G|------------------------------------------4h5h6h7----------------------
D|----------------------------------4h5h6h7------------------------------
A|--6p5p4p3-----------------4h5h5h7--------------------------------------
E|----------6p5p4p3-4h5h6h7----------------------------------------------

E|--7p6p5p4--------------------------------------------------------------
B|----------7p6p5p4------------------------------------------------------
G|------------------7p6p5p4----------------------------------------------
D|--------------------------7p6p5p4--------------------------------------
A|----------------------------------7p6p5p4------------------------------
E|------------------------------------------7p6p5p4----------------------

You can pretty much guess what fingers are required here. Now you should be very warmed up, as mentioned earlier some of these hammer-ons and pull offs are quite hard and instead just pick the notes if it's easier.

Alternative Picking

Alternative picking is probably the hardest, used by players like Michael Angelo and Buckethead, this picking style involves picking up and then down repeatly. Even if your changing strings you will have to have a constant up, down, up, down pattern. Alternative picking gives an aggressive, attacking sound when played. Below is a small excersise and we will discuss tips on getting your alternative picking accurate:

E|-----------------------------------------------------------------------
B|-----------------------------------------------------------------------
G|-----------------------------------------------------------------------
D|-----------12-13-12----------------12-13-12----------------12-13-12----
A|--12-14-15----------15-14-12-14-15----------15-14-12-14-15-------------
E|-----------------------------------------------------------------------
D U D U D U D U D U D U D U D U D U D U D U

This is a simple repeat lick excersise, you can play this sort of thing almost anywhere to feel comfortable but we will use this one now for starters. Play this lick constantly using the up, down, up, down motion. So the main issue I'm sure you'l find here is the upstroke on the string change down and the downstroke on the string change up. Practise this likc super slow and build up speed then try these:

E|--8-7-------------------7-8-7-------------------7-8-7------------------
B|------8-7-----------7-8-------8-7-----------7-8-------8-7--------------
G|----------8-7-5-7-8---------------8-7-5-7-8---------------8-7-5--------
D|-----------------------------------------------------------------------
A|-----------------------------------------------------------------------
E|-----------------------------------------------------------------------
D U D U D U D U D U D U D U D U D U D U D U D U D U D U D U D

E|--------------------12-14-15-14-12----------------------------------12-
B|-----------12-14-15----------------15-14-12----------------12-14-15----
G|--12-14-15----------------------------------15-14-12-14-15-------------
D|-----------------------------------------------------------------------
A|-----------------------------------------------------------------------
E|-----------------------------------------------------------------------
D U D U D U D U D U D U D U D U D U D U D U D

E|-----------10----------------10----------------10----------------10----
B|--------11----11----------11----11----------11----11----------11-------
G|-----12----------12----12----------12----12----------12----12----------
D|--11----------------11----------------11----------------11-------------
A|-----------------------------------------------------------------------
E|-----------------------------------------------------------------------
D U D U D U D U D U D U D U D U D U D U D U

That last one may seem tricky, as it's so tempting to sweep/economy pick it, but if you can pull it off it's very useful for training your picking hand. Remeber the key to this picking style is the ability to hit a new string below on an upstroke and a string above on a downstroke.

Economy Picking

Economy picking is a bit like alternative picking, up and down, but when you change string you pick in the direction of the change. So if you going to change to a string down you down stroke and a string up you upstroke. Try this example using economy picking:

E|---------------------------------------------------------------------
B|---------------------------------------------------------------------
G|---------------------------------------------------------------------
D|---------------------------------------------------------------------
A|----------9-12-10-9-10-12------------9-12-10-9-10-12------------9----
E|--9-10-12-----------------12-9-10-12-----------------12 9-10-12------
D U D D U D U D U U D U D D U D U D U U D U D D

Notice how your up and downpicking but on the string change you follow the direction of the strings, it's seems easier than alternative picking and gives are a more smooth, flowing sound, players like Yngwie Malmsteen use this technique a lot and it sounds great with legato playing. Try these out:

E|-----------12-14-15-17-15-14-12-------------12-14-15-17-15-14-12-------
B|--12-14-15----------------------15-12-14-15----------------------15----
G|-----------------------------------------------------------------------
D|-----------------------------------------------------------------------
A|-----------------------------------------------------------------------
E|-----------------------------------------------------------------------
D U D D U D U D U D U D U D D U S U S U D U

E|--------12-10-------------12-10-------------12-10-------------12-10----
B|-----13-------11-------13-------11-------13-------11-------13------11--
G|--14-------------12-14-------------12-14-------------12-14-----------12
D|-----------------------------------------------------------------------
A|-----------------------------------------------------------------------
E|-----------------------------------------------------------------------
D D D U U U D D D U U U D D D U U U D D D U U U

E|--------12-15p12---------12-15p12----------12-15p12----------12-15p12--
B|-----13---------13----13----------13----13----------13----13-----------
G|--12---------------12----------------12----------------12--------------
D|-----------------------------------------------------------------------
A|-----------------------------------------------------------------------
E|-----------------------------------------------------------------------
D D D U U D D D U U D D D U U D D D U

Last one look familiar, it's a sweep picking shape. Economy picking is often refered to as sweep picking. So remeber, alternative pick on one string, pick with the direction of the string change when you change.

Legato Playing

Allthough technically not a picking style, it's is useful in playing fast. Some players don't prefer using legato and accuse it of "cheating". Legato is just as technical and useful in fast playing as any other of the techniques were using. Joe Satriani uses a lot of legato playing in his songs and they're incredibly fast. Legato is latin for "smoothly" and this technique does give an incredible smooth sound when played right. When hammer-ing on, make sure you hammer the string quickly and firmly, a lot of players only really use their middle or ring finger for this, but if you can train your pinky to do it you can reach whole new areas and create interesting licks. For pulling off, one of the main flaws players have is that when they pull off the accidently bend the string that they're pulling off to downwards, this makes the pull off sound out of tune. Make sure the finger your pulling off to holds the string firmly in place and your pulling finger to pluck strick forcefully to get a loud, full pull off.Try these licks out:

E|-----------------------------------------------------------------------
B|-----------------------------------------------------------------------
G|-----------------------------------------------------------------------
D|-------9-7h9------9-7h9------9-7h9------9-7h9------9-7h9------9 7h9----
A|--10p7-------10p7-------10p7-------10p7-------10p7-------10p7----------
E|-----------------------------------------------------------------------

E|--12h13p12h13-------------------------------------12h13p12h13----------
B|--------------12h13p12h13-------------12h13p12h13----------------------
G|--------------------------10h13p10h13----------------------------------
D|-----------------------------------------------------------------------
A|-----------------------------------------------------------------------
E|-----------------------------------------------------------------------

E|----------7p5--------------7p5-------------7p5-------------------------
B|-----------------------------------------------------------------------
G|------5h7-----7p5------5h7-----7p5-----7p5-----7p5---------------------
D|-----------------------------------------------------------------------
A|--5h7--------------5h7-------------5h7-------------5h7-----------------
E|-----------------------------------------------------------------------

For the first excersise a good technique is to barre the A and D strings with your first finger and then use your pinky and/or ring fingers to handle the hammer-ons and pull offs. As for the last excersise many players have difficulty changing to a lower string for a pull off, remeber to firmly place your first finger on the 5th fret and pluck the 7th fret downwards with your other finger to get an accurate pull off.

Using These Tips Musically

So we have warmed up, learnt pciknig styles and legato playing, now what? Well if you wanna play a fast lick, a lot of players simply use small licks like the excersises together, a combination of a few licks you've used can create a large, fast solo. As long as your playing is in key with the song you can make lots of speedy solo's using these small repeat excersises, like so:

E|--------------------12-14-15-14-12----------------------------------12-
B|-----------12-14-15----------------15-14-12----------------12-14-15----
G|--12-14-15----------------------------------15-14-12-14-15-------------
D|-----------------------------------------------------------------------
A|-----------------------------------------------------------------------
E|-----------------------------------------------------------------------

E|--14-15-14-12-------------------------------------14h15p14h15----17b(19)
B|--------------15-14-12-----------------12---------------------14-------
G|-----------------------15-14-12--12h14----15b(17)----------------------
D|-----------------------------------------------------------------------
A|-----------------------------------------------------------------------
E|-----------------------------------------------------------------------

E|-----------17-15-14----------------------------------------------------
B|--17-15-14-------------------15-14-12----------------------------------
G|--------------------15-14-12-------------------14-12-10----------------
D|--------------------------------------14-12-10-----------------12-10-9-
A|--------------------------------------------------------12-10-9--------
E|-----------------------------------------------------------------------

E|-----------------------------------------------------------------------
B|-----------------------------------------------------------------15p12-
G|-----------------------------------------------------------15p12-------
D|------------------------------------------------9-10-12-14-------------
A|----------------9-10-12-10-9------------9-10-12------------------------
E|--12-10-9-10-12--------------12-9-10-12--------------------------------

E|--15p12----------------------------------------------------------------
B|--------15b(17)--------------------------------------------------------
G|----------------9h12---------9h12---------9h12---------9h12---------9--
D|---------------------12-9h12------12-9h12------12-9h12------12-9h12----
A|-----------------------------------------------------------------------
E|-----------------------------------------------------------------------

E|-------9-12p9---------9-12p9---------9-12p9---------9-12p9-------------
B|----10--------10---10--------10---10--------10---10--------10b(12)-10--
G|--9--------------9--------------9--------------9-----------------------
D|-----------------------------------------------------------------------
A|-----------------------------------------------------------------------
E|-----------------------------------------------------------------------

As you can see all I did was use small licks together to create a large solo, now make your own.

Menyeting Guitar

2009-05-19T08:41:00.000-07:00

Berikut ini adalah beberapa sentuhan singkat dan sederhana untuk men'setup gitar anda, agar lebih optimal untuk dimainkan, dan menghasilkan tone yang maksimal pula.

Setting Truss Rod

Truss Rod adalah sebilah besi panjang yang ditanam didalam neck gitar, untuk mengatur agak neck gitar tetap pada keadaan lurus, tidak melengkung cembung, ataupun cekung (lihat gambar)

Apabila Neck Cekung, coba untuk lebih mengencangkan truss rod neck anda.

Begitu juga sebaliknya, apabila neck cembung, coba untuk lebih mengendurkan truss rod'nya.

Mensetting action senar, maksudnya mengatur jarak antara senar dengan permukaan kayu pada fretboard neck. Semakin rendah, akan semakin ringan untuk dimainkan. Tapi hati hati, terlalu rendah bisa menyebabkan fretbuzz!
Mengubah action senar berarti juga mengubah tinggi rendah bridge, karena tinggi rendah bridge juga mempengaruhi tinggi rendahnya senar. maka untuk men'set action ini, satu satunya cara adalah melalui bridge. Berikut ini adalah gambar di bagian bridge manakah yang harus diputar putar untuk mengatur tinggi rendahnya (lihat gambar)

Setting Intonasi
Bagaimana caranya mengetahui gitar anda sudah memiliki intonasi yang baik? cobalah dengans sebuah tuner.
Bunyikan salah satu senar tanpa ditekan (misalkan senar satu yang bernada E), Lalu tekanlah di fret 12 dan bunyikan lagi. Apabila Nada'nya juga tepat E, maka intonasi gitar anda sudah OK!
Tetapi apabila lebih rendah sedikit dari E, maka majukan saddle bridge kearah pickup.
Dan apabila lebih tinggi sedikit dari E, maka mundurkan saddle bridge ke lawan arah pickup
lakukan juga terhadap semua senar, sampai semuanya memiliki intonasi yang baik.

Apa itu saddle bridge? saddle adalah tempat tumpuan senar di bridge.. (lihat gambar dibawah)

Tinggi Pickup
Ketinggian pickup juga harus diatur, jangan sampai terlalu dekat dengan senar, jangan juga terlalu jauh.
Terlalu jauh dari senar akan menyebabkan gain berkurang. Sedangkan semakin Dekat Pickup dengan senar, semakin hebat gain yang dihasilkan! Tetapi jangan terlalu dekat, bisa menyebabkan senar menyentuh magnet pole pieces dari pickup, dan mengeluarkan suara yang tidak diinginkan.
Ketinggian pickup dapat diatur hanya dengan memutar kedua skrup yang ada pada pinggir masing2 picku

ARPEGGIO - BASIC

2009-05-19T08:40:00.001-07:00

Hello, teman-teman….uda pernah denger Yngwie Malmsteen donk dan jika anda mendengar musik Yngwie ataupun pernah menonton video lesson dari Yngwie..tentu anda pernah mendengar banyak tentang sweep arpeggio..sweep itu adalah salah satu teknik dalam dunia gitar.. tapi apa sih sebenarnya arpeggio itu? Saya sering melihat orang melakukan latihan arpeggio terus-menerus dari lick-lick yang mereka pelajari dari berbagai lagu tapi mereka sama sekali tidak tau bagaimana menggunakannya dalam improvisasi maupun saat membuat solo!!! Apa gunanya semua latihan itu jika anda tidak bisa menggunakannya bukan?
Artikel ini akan membahas lebih banyak tentang cara mempergunakan arpeggio tersebut yaitu teori daripada membicarakan teknik-tekniknya. Kita akan membahas teknik juga kok tenang aja..:)

Basic: triad
Arpeggio adalah memainkan setiap nada yang terdapat pada suatu chord secara tidak bersamaan. Untuk itu kita perlu membicarakan tentang chord tentunya, berarti kita akan membahas tentang triad..lalu apa sih triad itu? Triad adalah 3 nada yang membentuk chord. Triad itu bisa banyak macam lho....tapi minimal yang harus anda kenal ada 4 yaitu : major triad, minor triad, diminished triad, dan augmented triad. Ada satu lagi sih yang cukup sering digunakan yaitu sus2, sus4 tapi kita takkan membahas itu disini…

M: major P : perfect m: minor

Rumus Major triad : major third + minor third
Cth: C Major triad : C E G
major3rd minor 3rd

Perfect 5th

Jadi rumusnya bisa : I M3 P5

Rumus Minor triad : minor third + major third
Jadi rumusnya bisa : I m3 P5

diminished triad : Minor third + minor third
cth : C diminished : C D# F#
jadi rumusnya bisa : I m3 diminished 5th ( b5th )

Augmented triad : Major third + major third
Cth: C augmented : C E G#
Jadi rumusnya bisa : I M3 augmented 5th ( #5th )

Setelah anda mengetahui berbagai jenis triad ini maka kita lanjutkan dengan pengertian darimana asal triad itu berasal..well, tau ga kalo chord itu kaitannya erat dengan scale… dari scale bisa kita bentuk berbagai macam chord. Sebagai contoh, kita ambil major scale aja yah..

Kita ambil C major scale (supaya lebih gampang aja, karena TIDAK mengandung # ATAUPUN b)=
C major triad : C E G
D minor triad : D F A
E minor triad : E G B
F major triad : F A C
G major triad : G B D
A minor triad : A C E
B diminished triad : B D F

Nah, setelah anda tau tentang semua hal ini maka anda sudah bisa menyusun berbagai titik pada fretboard anda dengan berbagai macam triad tsb dan kemudian mengaplikasikannya ke dalam solo anda. Oh ya..lakukan hal yang sama untuk setiap key ( skala ) yang berbeda.

Contoh triad-triad yang bisa didapat dari C major scale :

C major triad
E----------
B----------
G----------
D--------5-
A-----7----
E--8-------

D minor triad
E-----------
B-----------
G-----------
D--------7--
A--5--8-----
E-----------

E minor triad
E------------
B------------
G--------4---
D-----5------
A--7---------
E------------

F major triad
E------------
B------------
G--------5---
D-----7------
A--8---------
E------------

Setelah anda mengetahui tentang triad tersebut,kita bisa kemudian membahas arpeggio. Arpeggio tidaklah berbeda dengan triad..mereka berprinsip sama adanya…

Ditulis Oleh : Jeansen:

Slash

2009-05-19T08:16:00.000-07:00

Nama Asli: Saul Hudson
Tempat/Tgl Lahir: Hampstead (London), 23 Juli 1965
Gaya Permainan: Blues & Hard Rock
Group Band: Velvet Revolver, Slash's Snakepit, Gun's N' Roses, Hollywood Rose
Pengaruh musikal: Aerosmith, Led Zeppelline, Jimi Hendrix, Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton
Gitar Yang Digunakan: Gibson Les Paul, Gibson Flying-V, B.C. Rich Mockingbird, B.C. Rich Warlock, Fender Stratocaster, Fender Telecaster 1952, dll.
Album Favorit: Aerosmith - Rocks, Cheap Trick : Live at Budokan, dan UFO - Strangers in the Night.

Rocker mana yang tidak kenal Slash? Namanya begitu terkenal diseluruh dunia semenjak mengorbit bersama salah satu band rock terbesar dunia, Gun's N' Roses. Sosoknya sangat mudah dikenali, berambut panjang, keriting, memakai topi panjang / topi sulap, dengan menggendong Gibson Les Paul serta tak lupa sebatang rokok Marlboro menempel dibibir adalah style Slash yang sangat familiar.

Slash lahir di Hampstead (London), Inggris pada tanggal 23 Juli 1965. Ayahnya seorang Inggris berkulit putih, dan ibunya warganegara Amerika berkulit hitam. Ibunya merupakan perancang busana panggung David Bowie, dan ayahnya bekerja sebagai desainer cover album rekaman. Di usia 11 tahun Slash pindah ke Los Angeles. Sejak dulu ia punya gaya hidup yang anti-sosialis. Untuk anak sebayanya, tampil dengan menggunakan jaket kulit, jeans kucel, dan rambut panjang sangat dipandang miring oleh masyarakat. Pertengahan tahun 70'an Slash mulai bermain BMX motorcross. Ia bahkan sempat mendapatkan penghargaan dan uang dari olahraga ini.

Di usia 15 tahun, ia memperoleh gitar pertama dari neneknya. Akhirnya ia mulai belajar bermain gitar dengan banyak menyimak lagu-lagu dari Led Zeppelline, Eric Clapton, Rolling Stones, Aerosmith, Jimi Hendrix, Jeff Beck, dan Neil Young. Ia memutuskan berhenti dari olahraga BMX dan menekuni gitar. Setiap harinya ia berlatih selama 12 jam. Dikarenakan sibuk bermain gitar setiap harinya, ia kemudian dikeluarkan dari sekolah saat berada di tingkat 11. Ia pun semakin memperbanyak pergaulan dengan musisi-musisi muda dan melakukan jam session. Inspirasi dari Aerosmith sangat mempengaruhi skill bermusiknya. Tak lama kemudian ia bertemu Steven Adler dan membentuk band Road Crew. Hanya seorang gitaris dan drummer membuat mereka kemudian mencari vocalis. Seorang pemain bass bernama Duff McKagan menjawab iklan yang dipasang Slash di koran. Belakangan mereka sepakat mengganti nama bandnya dengan nama baru Hollywood Roses. Sambil terus bermain dari pub ke pub dan sempat merekam album demo, secara kebetulan Slash dkk bertemu dengan 2 personel band L.A. Guns, Izzy Stradlin dan Axl Rose. Setelah melakukan jam session, mereka masing-masing saling mengagumi kemampuan bermusik satu sama lain. Akhirnya bergabunglah kedua band tersebut dan memakai nama Gun's N' Roses.

Mulanya mereka merelease album mini Live : Like a Suicide. Slash dkk merasa cukup puas dengan album yang bersifat pancingan ini, pasalnya mereka kemudian mendapatkan kontrak rekaman dengan label Geffen Records. Tahun 1987 Debut album perdana dilepas dengan judul album Appetite For Destruction. Diluar dugaan, hits single perdana Sweet Child O'Mine berhasil menjadi jawara ditangga lagu Billboard dan radio-radio. Intro lagu yang menunjukkan kemampuan Slash memainkan gitar langsung menjadi inspirasi bagi anak-anak muda di seluruh dunia. Diikuti kemudian oleh single Welcome To The Jungle yang juga dijadikan soundtrack film Dead Pool. Album ini melambungkan nama Slash sebagai gitaris pendatang baru terbaik. Dalam kurun waktu satu tahun, album ini telah berhasil menjual 20 juta keping album diseluruh dunia.

Tahun 1989, G N' R merilis album kedua, Lies. Namun penjualan albumnya tak sesukses album pertama. 2 tahun kemudian album Use Your Illusion I dan II dilepas ke pasaran. Album ini kembali membesarkan nama Slash sebagai gitaris terbaik. Di album ini ia mampu menampilkan permainan melodi yang harmonis dan menyentuh. Siapapun tak akan menyangkal bagaimana indahnya permainan solo Slash dalam lagu November Rain dan Don't Cry. Serta permainan yang juga tak kalah apiknya dalam nomor-nomor Estranged, Live and Let Die dan lagu You Could Be Mine yang menjadi soundtrack film box office, Terminator 2. Pada masa-masa ini Slash bersama bandnya mencapai puncak kejayaan dimana mereka turut menggelar tur dunianya. Terakhir, G N R memperoleh predikat sebagai The Dangerous Band In The World. Bahkan dinilai popularitasnyabisa melebihi The Beatles apabila terus menghasilkan album seperti ini.

Album Spaghetti Incident yang direlease tahun 1993 menjadi album terakhirnya bersama G N R, pasalnya terjadi konflik internal didalam tubuh band itu sendiri. Slash tidak setuju terhadap visi Axl yang mulai ingin merubah warna musik GNR ke arah techno. Slash cabut dan mendirikan Slash's Snakepit. Bersama band barunya ini ia sempat merelease 2 buah album yaitu IT'S FIVE O'CLOCK SOMEWHERE tahun 1995 dan Ain't Life Grand tahun 2000. Sayangnya album-album tersebut tidak sesukses semasa masih bersama GNR. Setelah 2 tahun kemudian ia memutuskan berhenti dari proyek Slash' Snakepit dan membentuk band baru yang beranggotakan hampir semuanya mantan-mantan personel GNR. Duff pada bass , Matt Sorum pada drum, seorang gitaris baru Dave Kushner dan vocalis Scott Weiland (mantan vocalis Stone Temple Pillots). Debut album Contraband direlease tahun 2004. Album ini langsung bertengger di posisi puncak Billboard Charts. Hal ini dikarenakan kerinduan fans- fans GNR pada GNR sendiri yang menurut rumor akan merelease album baru namun tak kunjung tiba. Akhirnya kerinduan tersebut ditumpahkan kepada Velvet Revolver yang sebagian besar personelnya adalah pilar-pilar utama GNR dimasa lalu. Single perdana Slither berhasil menjadi debutan yang menjanjikan.

Selain sibuk dengan bandnya sendiri, Slash juga ternyata pernah menjadi gitaris bagi musisi-musisi dunia lain seperti Michael Jackson. Bahkan pada tahun 2001, saat Michael Jackson merayakan 30 tahun karir musiknya, Slash menjadi bintang tamu dengan mengisi part gitar dan berduet di panggung pada lagu Black Or White dan Beat It. Slash juga berkali-kali terpilih menjadi Best Guitarist Of The Year dari majalah-majalah musik. Hal ini juga yang menyebabkan Gibson mengontraknya sebagai endorser dan artis Gibson. Kini koleksi gitarnya bahkan sudah melebihi angka 100 dan ada kemungkinan bakal terus bertambah.

J-Rocks / Selamat Tinggal Kekasihku bass tab

2009-05-10T16:18:00.000-07:00

standard tuning 4 senar.

Intro
G|--------------------------|----------/7-----5-----4--|-----5--4-----------------|--------------------------|
D|--------------------------|--------------------------|-----------5-----3--------|----------/5-----3-----2--|
A|--------------------------|--5-----------------------|-----------------------5--|--3-----------------------|
E|--2-----/----------------|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------|

G|--------------------------|----------/7-----5-----4--|-----5--4-----------------|--------------------------|
D|-----3--2--------2--------|--------------------------|-----------5-----3--------|-----------5-5-5-3--2-----|
A|-----------3--3--------3--|--5-----------------------|-----------------------5--|--3--------------------0--|
E|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------|

G|--------------------------|----------/7-----5-----4--|-----5--4-----------------|--------------------------|
D|-----------2-----5-------|--------------------------|-----------5-----3--------|----------/5-----3-----2--|
A|--3--5-----------------3--|--5-----------------------|-----------------------5--|--3-----------------------|
E|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------|

G|--------------------------|----------/7-----5-----4--|-----5--4-----------------|--------------------------|
D|--2-----/5----3--2--------|--------------------------|-----------5--------------|--------------------5-----|
A|-----3-----------------3--|--5-----------------------|--------------------5--5--|--3-----------------------|
E|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------5--3--------|-----------3--3--3-----3--|

G|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------|
D|--------------------5-----|--------------------5-----|----/5--5--3--2-----------|
A|--3-----------------------|--3-----------------------|--3--------------3--------|
E|-----------3--3--3-----3--|-----------3--3--3-----3--|--------------------5--0--|

Verse 1
G|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------|
D|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------|
A|--------------------------|--------------------------|--3-----------------------|--------------------------|
E|--1-----------------------|-----------------/--------|--------------------------|--------------------------|

G|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------|
D|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------5-----------|
A|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------|-----2-----5-----5--------|
E|--1-----------------------|--------------------------|--5-----------------------|--3-----------------5--0--|

G|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------|
D|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------|
A|--------------------------|--------------------------|--3--------3--------------|-----------2-----4--------|
E|--1--------1--------------|-----------------/--------|--------------------------|--5--------------------5--|

G|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------|
D|--------------------------|--------------------------|-----------------------3/-|--5-3-----2--3--2--------|
A|--5--------5--------------|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------3-----|
E|--------------------------|--------------------5----|--3--------3--------------|-----------------------0--|

G|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------|
D|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------|
A|--------------------------|--------------------------|--3--3--3--3--3--3--3--3--|--3--3--3--3--3--3--3--3--|
E|--1--1--1--1--1--1--1--1--|--1--1--1--1--1--1--1--1--|--------------------------|--------------------------|

G|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------|
D|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------|
A|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------2-----3--2--------|
E|--1--1--1--1--1--1--1--1--|--1--1--1--1--1--1--1--1--|--5--5--5--5--5--5--5--5--|--3--3-----3--------3--0--|

G|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------|
D|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------|
A|--------------------------|--------------------------|--3--3--3--3--3--3--3--3--|-----------2-----4-------|
E|--1--1--1--1--1--1--1--1--|--1--1--1--1--1--1--1--1--|--------------------------|--5--5--------------------|

G|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------|-----------4-h5p4---4-----|
D|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------5---------5----5--|
A|--5--5--5--5--5--5-----5--|--------------------5-----|--3--3--3--3--3--3--3--3--|--3--3--------------------|
E|--------------------5-----|--3--3--3--3--3--3-----3--|--------------------------|--------------------------|

G|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------|
D|--------------------3-----|--------------------------|--5-----------------------|--------------------------|
A|-----------3--------------|--------------------------|-----------5--------------|--------------------------|
E|--1-----------------------|--------------------------|--------------------3-----|--------------------------|

G|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------|
D|--3-----------------------|--------------------------|--5-------5-------5-------|--------------------------|
A|-----------3--------------|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------|
E|--------------------1-----|--------------------------|------3-------3-------3---|-------------------------|

Chorus 1
G|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------|
D|--------------------------|----------/5--------------|--------------------------|----------/7-----5--3--2--|
A|--5-----3--5--5-----5-----|-----5-----------5-----5--|--3-----2--3--3-----3-----|-----7--------------------|
E|-----5-----------5-----5--|--3-----------------3-----|-----3-----------3-----3--|--5-----------------------|

G|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------|
D|--------------------------|----------/5--------------|--------------------------|-----------2-----5-------|
A|--5-----3--5--5-----5-----|-----5-----------5-----5--|--3-----2--3--3-----3-----|--3--5--------------------|
E|-----5-----------5-----5--|--3-----------------3-----|-----3-----------3-----3--|--------------------------|

G|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------|
D|--------------------------|----------/5--------------|--------------------------|----------/7-----5--3--2--|
A|--5-----3--5--5-----5-----|-----5-----------5-----5--|--3-----2--3--3-----3-----|-----7--------------------|
E|-----5-----------5-----5--|--3-----------------3-----|-----3-----------3-----3--|--5-----------------------|

G|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------|
D|--------------------------|----------/5--------------|--------------------------|----/5-----3--3--2-----2--|
A|--5-----3--5--5-----5-----|-----5-----------5-----5--|-----------2--2--3--3-----|--------------------3-----|
E|-----5-----------5-----5--|--3-----------------3-----|--5--------------------3--|--------------------------|

G|----------------------/5--|-----5--5--4--4-----4-----|-----------4-----5--------|----/12---10-10-10p9---9--|
D|--3--------2-----3--------|-----------------5-----5--|-/7--------------------5--|--------------------10----|
A|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------|
E|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------|

G|-10----10--9----10----/17-|-17-17-17-16-16-----------|
D|--------------------------|----------------17-17-----|
A|--------------------------|--------------------------|
E|--------------------------|--------------------------|

Interlude
G|----------/7-----5-----4--|-----5--4-----------------|--------------------------|--------------------------|
D|--------------------------|-----------5-----3--------|-----------5-5-5-3-----2--|-----3--2--------2--------|
A|--5-----------------------|-----------------------5--|--3-----------------------|-----------3--3--------3--|
E|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------|

G|----------/7-----5-----4--|-----5--4-----------------|--------------------------|--------------------------|
D|--------------------------|-----------5-----3--------|-----------5-5-5-3--2-----|-----------2-----5-------|
A|--5-----------------------|-----------------------5--|--3--------------------0--|--3--5-----------------3--|
E|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------|

G|----------/7-----5-----4--|-----5--4-----------------|--------------------------|--------------------------|
D|--------------------------|-----------5--------------|-----------5-----3-----2--|-----3--2--------2--2-----|
A|--5-----------------------|-----------------------5--|--3-----------------------|-----------3--3--------3--|
E|--------------------------|-----------------5--3-----|--------------------------|--------------------------|

G|----------/7-----5-----4--|-----5--4-----------------|--------------------------|-----5--4--5--------------|
D|--------------------------|-----------5--------------|-----------2--1--2--5--4--|--5-----------5--4--5-----|
A|--5-----------------------|-----------------------5--|--3--2--3-----------------|--------------------------|
E|--------------------------|-----------------5--3-----|--------------------------|--------------------------|

G|--------------------------|
D|--------------------------|
A|--3-----------------------| rest 8 bar
E|--------------------------|

Chorus 2/Outro
G|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------|
D|-----------2-----5-------|--------------------------|----------/5--------------|--------------------------|
A|--3--5--------------------|--5-----3--5--5-----5-----|-----5-----------5-----5--|--3-----2--3--3-----3-----|
E|--------------------------|-----5-----------5-----5--|--3-----------------3-----|-----3-----------3-----3--|

G|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------|
D|----------/7-----5--3--2--|--------------------------|----------/5--------------|--------------------------|
A|-----7--------------------|--5-----3--5--5-----5-----|-----5-----------5-----5--|--3-----2--3--3-----3-----|
E|--5-----------------------|-----5-----------5-----5--|--3-----------------3-----|-----3-----------3-----3--|

G|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------|
D|----------/7-----5--3--2--|--------------------------|----------/5--------------|--------------------------|
A|--------------------------|--5-----3--5--5-----5-----|-----5-----------5-----5--|--3-----2--3--3-----3-----|
E|--5--3--5-----------------|-----5-----------5-----5--|--3-----------------3-----|-----3-----------3-----3--|

G|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------|
D|----------/7-----5--3--2--|--------------------------|----------/5--------------|--------------------------|
A|-----7--------------------|--5-----3--5--5-----5-----|-----5-----------5-----5--|--3-----2--3--3-----3-----|
E|--5-----------------------|-----5-----------5-----5--|--3-----------------3-----|-----3-----------3-----3--|

G|--------------------------|----------/7-----5-----4--|-----5--4-----------------|--------------------------|
D|-----------2-----5-------|--------------------------|-----------5-------------|----------/5-----3-----2--|
A|--3--5--------------------|--5-----------------------|-----------------------5--|--3-----------------------|
E|--------------------------|--------------------------|-----------------5--3-----|--------------------------|

G|--------------------------|----------/7-----5-----4--|-----5--4-----------------|--------------------------|
D|--2--3--2--------2--2-----|--------------------------|-----------5-------------|----------/5-----3--2-----|
A|-----------3--3--------3--|--5-----------------------|-----------------------5--|--3--------------------0--|
E|--------------------------|--------------------------|-----------------5--3-----|--------------------------|

G|--------------------------|----------/7-----5-----4--|-----5--4-----------------|--------------------------|
D|-----------2-----5-------|--------------------------|-----------5-------------|----------/5-----3-----2--|
A|--3--5--------------------|--5-----------------------|-----------------------5--|--3-----------------------|
E|--------------------------|--------------------------|-----------------5--3-----|--------------------------|

G|--------------------------|----------/7-----5-----4--|-----5--4-----------------|--------------------------|
D|--2--3--2--------2--2-----|--------------------------|-----------5-------------|----------/5-----3--2-----|
A|-----------3--3--------3--|--5-----------------------|-----------------------5--|--3--------------------0--|
E|--------------------------|--------------------------|-----------------5--3-----|--------------------------|

G|--------------------------|-----7-----7-----7-----7--|--------------------------|-----5-----5-----5-----5--|
D|-----------2-----5-------|--------------------------|-----5-----5-----5-----5--|--------------------------|
A|--3--5-----------------3--|--5-----5-----5-----5-----|--------------------------|--3-----3-----3-----3-----|
E|--------------------------|--------------------------|--3-----3-----3-----3-----|--------------------------|

G|--------------------------|-----7-----7-----7-----7--|--------------------------|--------------------------|
D|-----7-----7-----7-----7--|--------------------------|-----5-----5-----5-----5--|--------------------7--5--|
A|--------------------------|--5-----5-----5-----5-----|--------------------------|--3--2--3--7--5--7--------|
E|--5-----5-----5-----5-----|--------------------------|--3-----3-----3-----3-----|--------------------------|

J-Rocks - Fallin In Love Intro Tabs

2009-05-10T03:48:00.000-07:00

E ------------------------------------------------
B ------7-8-10-7--7-8-10-7--7-8-10-7--7-8-10-7----
G ------------------------------------------------
D ------------------------------------------------
A ------------------------------------------------
E ------------------------------------------------

E ------------------------------------------------
B -7-8-10-7--7-8-10-7--7-8-10-7--7-8-10-7---------
G ------------------------------------------------
D ------------------------------------------------
A ------------------------------------------------
E ------------------------------------------------

E ------------------------------------------------
B -7-8-10-7--7-8-10-7--7-8-10-7-------------------
G ------------------------------------------------
D ------------------------------------------------
A ------------------------------------------------
E ------------------------------------------------

J-Rocks / Ceria bass tab

2009-05-08T17:52:00.000-07:00

Ceria
Bass
G||-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|
D||-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|
A||-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|
E||-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|

Q Q Q E E E Q E Q Q
-------|-------|-------|-----------------------|-----------------------|
-------|-------|-------|-----------------------|-----------------------|
-------|-------|-------|--7----7----7----------|------------------4----|
-------|-------|-------|--------------------5--|--L--5----5--7---------|

Q Q Q E E E Q E Q Q Q Q Q E E
-----------------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|
-----------------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|
--5----5----5----------|------------------9----|--7----7----7----------|
--------------------7--|--L--7----7--7---------|--------------------5--|

E Q E Q Q Q Q Q E E E Q E Q Q
-----------------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|
-----------------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|
------------------4----|--5----5----5-------5--|--L--5----5--5---------|
--L--5----5--7---------|-----------------------|------------------7----|

Q Q Q E E E E E E Q Q Q Q Q E E
-----------------------|------------------------|-----------------------|
-----------------------|------------------------|-----------------------|
--7----7----7----------|------------------------|-----------------------|
--------------------5--|--L--5--7--5--3----5----|--2----2----2-------7--|

E Q E Q Q Q Q Q E E E Q E Q Q
-----------------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|
-----------------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|
------------------9----|--7----7----7----------|------------------4----|
--L--7----7--7---------|--------------------5--|--L--5----5--7---------|

Q Q Q E E E Q E Q Q W
-----------------------|-----------------------|--7----------------|
-----------------------|------------------7----|-------------------|
--5----5----5-------5--|--L--5----5--5---------|-------------------|
-----------------------|-----------------------|-------------------|

W
--L----------------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|
-------------------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|
-------------------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|
-------------------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|

-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|
-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|
-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|
-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|

Q Q Q E E E Q E Q Q Q Q Q E E
-----------------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|
-----------------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|
--7----7----7-------7--|-----7----7--7---------|-----------------------|
-----------------------|--L---------------7----|--5----5----5-------5--|

E Q E Q Q Q Q Q E E E Q E Q Q
-----------------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|
-----------------------|-----------------------|------------------7----|
------------------4----|--5----5----5-------5--|--L--5----5--9---------|
--L--5----5--7---------|-----------------------|-----------------------|

Q Q Q E E E Q E Q Q Q Q Q E E
-----------------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|
-----------------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|
-----------------------|------------------9----|--7----7----7-------7--|
--7----7----7-------7--|--L--7----7--7---------|-----------------------|

E Q E Q Q Q Q Q E E E Q E Q Q
-----------------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|
-----------------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|
--L--7----7--7---------|-----------------------|------------------4----|
------------------7----|--5----5----5-------5--|--L--5----5--7---------|

Q Q Q E E E Q E Q Q H H
-----------------------|-----------------------|--------------------|
-----------------------|-----------------------|--------------------|
--5----5----5-------5--|--L--5----5--5---------|--------------------|
-----------------------|------------------5----|--3--------3--------|

H Q Q Q E E E E E E E E Q Q Q
---------------------|-------------------------|-----------------------|
---------------------|-------------------------|------------------4----|
---------------------|-------------------0--2--|--L--2--0----2---------|
--5--------5----0----|--2----0--0--2--2--------|-----------------------|

Q Q E E E E E E Q Q Q Q E E E E E E
------------------------|-----------------------|-------------------------|
--2----2-------2--------|-----------------------|-------------------------|
------------2-----2--0--|--L----------4---------|--5----5--------4-----5--|
------------------------|-----5--7---------5----|----------7--5-----5-----|

E E Q E E E E Q Q E E E E E E Q E E E E
-------------------------|------------------------|-------------------------|
-------------------------|------------------------|-------------------------|
--L--5--4----5--4-----4--|------------------------|-------------------------|
-------------------5-----|--3----3----3--0--3--5--|--L--5--3----5--5--3--3--|

Q Q E E E E E E Q E E E E Q Q E E E E
------------------------|-------------------------|------------------------|
------------------------|-------------------4-----|------------------------|
------------------0--2--|--L--2--0----2--2-----2--|-------7----------7-----|
--2----0----2--3--------|-------------------------|--0---------0--0-----0--|

E E Q E E E E Q Q E E E E E E E E E E E E
-------------------------|------------------------|--------------------------|
-------------------------|---------------------7--|--L--7--5--5--4--4--------|
--------7----------7-----|------------------------|--------------------7--7--|
--L--0-------0--0-----0--|--5----5----5--5--5-----|--------------------------|

W W Q Q Q E E
-------------------|-------------------|-----------------------|
-------------------|-------------------|-----------------------|
--5----------------|--L----------------|--7----7----7-------7--|
-------------------|-------------------|-----------------------|

E Q E Q Q Q Q Q E E E Q E Q Q
-----------------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|
-----------------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|
-----7----7--7---------|-----------------------|------------------4----|
--L---------------7----|--5----5----5-------5--|--L--5----5--7---------|

Q Q Q E E E Q E Q Q Q Q Q E E
-----------------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|
-----------------------|------------------7----|-----------------------|
--5----5----5-------5--|--L--5----5--9---------|-----------------------|
-----------------------|-----------------------|--7----7----7-------7--|

E Q E Q Q Q Q Q E E E Q E Q Q
-----------------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|
-----------------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|
------------------9----|--7----7----7-------7--|--L--7----7--7---------|
--L--7----7--7---------|-----------------------|------------------7----|

Q Q Q E E E Q E Q Q Q Q Q E E
-----------------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|
-----------------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|
-----------------------|------------------4----|--5----5----5-------5--|
--5----5----5-------5--|--L--5----5--7---------|-----------------------|

E Q E Q Q H H H H
-----------------------|--------------------|--------------------|
-----------------------|--------------------|--------------------|
--L--5----5--5---------|--------------------|--------------------|
------------------5----|--3--------3--------|--3--------3--------|

Q E Q E Q E Q E E E Q Q Q Q E E
-----------------------|------------------------|-----------------------|
--5----5--5----5--5----|--5--5----5--5--5--5----|-------4----5----------|
-----------------------|------------------------|--7--------------------|
-----------------------|------------------------|--------------------5--|

E E E E Q Q Q Q Q E E E E E E Q Q
------------------------|-----------------------|------------------------|
-----7-----7------------|-------5----7----------|------------------------|
------------------------|--5--------------------|--------5----------5----|
--L-----5-----5----5----|--------------------7--|--L--7-----7--5---------|

Q Q Q E E E E E E Q Q Q Q E E E E
-----------------------|------------------------|------------------------|
-------4----5-------7--|--L--7-----7------------|------------------------|
--7--------------------|-------------------7----|--5---------4--4-----5--|
-----------------------|--------5-----5---------|-------5----------5-----|

E E E E E E Q Q Q Q E E E E E E Q Q
-------------------------|-----------------------|------------------------|
-------------------------|-------4----5-------7--|--L--7-----7------------|
--L--5-----5--4--4-------|--7--------------------|------------------------|
--------5-----------5----|-----------------------|--------5-----5----3----|

Q Q Q E E E E E E Q Q Q Q Q E E
-----------------------|------------------------|-----------------------|
-----------------------|-------------------4----|-------4----5-------7--|
--------------------2--|--L--2--0--0--2---------|--7--------------------|
--2----0----2----------|------------------------|-----------------------|

E E E E Q Q Q Q E E E E E E E E E E Q
------------------------|------------------------|-------------------------|
--L--7-----7------------|------------------------|-------------------------|
-------------------7----|--5---------4--4-----5--|--L--5-----5--4--4-------|
--------5-----5---------|-------5----------5-----|--------5-----------5----|

W W Q Q Q Q
-------------------|-------------------|----------------------|
-------------------|-------------------|-------2----3----2----|
--5----------------|--L----------------|--5-------------------|
-------------------|-------------------|----------------------|

Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q
----------------------|----------------------|----------------------|
----------------------|----------------------|----------------------|
--5-------------------|-------2----0---------|-----------------5----|
-------0----1----0----|--3--------------4----|--3----3----5---------|

Q Q Q Q E E E E E E Q Q Q Q Q
----------------------|--5--5--4--4-------------|----------------------|
------------2----5----|--------------7--7--5----|--3---------2----0----|
--3----5--------------|-------------------------|-------0--------------|
----------------------|-------------------------|----------------------|

Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q S S S S Q Q Q
----------------------|-----------------------|-------------9--------------|
--3-------------------|-----------------------|--9----10-------------------|
-------0---------0----|--5----7----8----10----|----10----10------0----1----|
------------3---------|-----------------------|----------------------------|

W W Q Q Q Q
-------------------|-------------------|----------------------|
-------------------|-------------------|----------------------|
--2----------------|--L----------------|----------------------|
-------------------|-------------------|--6----6----6----6----|

Q Q Q Q W W
----------------------|-------------------|-------------------|
----------------------|-------------------|-------------------|
----------------------|-------------------|-------------------|
--6----6----6----6----|--8----------------|--L----------------|

Q Q Q E E E E E E Q Q Q Q Q E E
-----------------------|------------------------|-----------------------|
-------6----7-------9--|--L--9-----9------------|-------6----9----------|
--9--------------------|-------------------9----|--7--------------------|
-----------------------|--------7-----7---------|--------------------9--|

E E E E Q Q Q Q Q E E E E E E Q Q
------------------------|-----------------------|------------------------|
------------------------|-------6----7-------9--|--L--9-----9------------|
--------7-----7----8----|--9--------------------|-------------------9----|
--L--9-----9------------|-----------------------|--------7-----7---------|

Q Q E E E E E E E E E E Q Q Q Q E E
------------------------|-------------------------|-----------------------|
------------------------|-------------------------|-------6----7-------9--|
--7---------6--6-----7--|--L--7-----7--6--6-------|--9--------------------|
-------7----------7-----|--------7-----------7----|-----------------------|

E E E E Q Q Q Q Q E E E E E E Q Q
------------------------|-----------------------|------------------------|
--L--9-----9------------|-----------------------|-------------------6----|
------------------------|--------------------4--|--L--4--2--2--4---------|
--------7-----7----5----|--4----2----4----------|------------------------|

Q Q Q E E E E E E Q Q Q Q E E E E
-----------------------|------------------------|------------------------|
-------6----7-------9--|--L--9-----9------------|------------------------|
--9--------------------|-------------------9----|--7---------6--6-----7--|
-----------------------|--------7-----7---------|-------7----------7-----|

E E E E E E Q Q Q Q E E E E E E Q Q
-------------------------|-----------------------|------------------------|
-------------------------|-------6----7-------9--|--L--9-----9------------|
--L--7-----7--6--6-------|--9--------------------|-------------------9----|
--------7-----------7----|-----------------------|--------7-----7---------|

Q Q Q E E E E E E Q Q Q Q Q E E
-----------------------|-------------------------|-----------------------|
-----------------------|-------------------------|-------6----7-------9--|
--7---------6----------|-------------------11----|--9--------------------|
-------7------------9--|--L--7--9--7--9----------|-----------------------|

E E E E Q Q Q Q E E E E E E E E E E Q
------------------------|------------------------|-------------------------|
--L--9-----9------------|------------------------|-------------------------|
-------------------9----|--7---------6--6-----7--|--L--7-----7--6--6-------|
--------7-----7---------|-------7----------7-----|--------7-----------7----|

Q Q Q E E E E E E Q Q Q Q Q E E
-----------------------|------------------------|-----------------------|
-------6----7-------9--|--L--9-----9------------|-----------------------|
--9--------------------|------------------------|--------------------4--|
-----------------------|--------7-----7----5----|--4----2----4----------|

E E E E Q Q Q Q Q E E E E E E Q Q
------------------------|-----------------------|------------------------|
-------------------6----|-------6----7-------9--|--L--9-----9------------|
--L--4--2--2--4---------|--9--------------------|-------------------9----|
------------------------|-----------------------|--------7-----7---------|

Q Q E E E E E E E E E E Q Q Q Q E E
------------------------|-------------------------|-----------------------|
------------------------|-------------------------|-------6----7-------9--|
--7---------6--6-----7--|--L--7-----7--6--6-------|--9--------------------|
-------7----------7-----|--------7-----------7----|-----------------------|

E E E E Q Q Q Q Q E E E E E E Q Q
------------------------|-----------------------|-------------------------|
--L--9-----9------------|-----------------------|-------------------------|
-------------------9----|--7---------6----------|-------------------11----|
--------7-----7---------|-------7------------9--|--L--7--9--7--9----------|

Q Q Q E E E E E E Q Q Q Q E E E E
-----------------------|------------------------|------------------------|
-------6----7-------9--|--L--9-----9------------|------------------------|
--9--------------------|-------------------9----|--7---------6--6-----7--|
-----------------------|--------7-----7---------|-------7----------7-----|

E E E E E E Q Q Q Q E E E E E E Q Q
-------------------------|-----------------------|------------------------|
-------------------------|-------6----7-------9--|--L--9-----9------------|
--L--7-----7--6--6-------|--9--------------------|------------------------|
--------7-----------7----|-----------------------|--------7-----7----5----|

Q Q Q E E E E E E Q Q Q Q Q E E
-----------------------|------------------------|-----------------------|
-----------------------|-------------------6----|-------6----7-------9--|
--------------------4--|--L--4--2--2--4---------|--9--------------------|
--4----2----4----------|------------------------|-----------------------|

E E E E Q Q W W
------------------------|-------------------|-------------------||
--L--9-----9------------|-------------------|-------------------||
-------------------9----|--7----------------|--L----------------||
--------7-----7---------|-------------------|-------------------||

Maen Serong _ The Cangcuters bass tab

2009-05-08T17:50:00.000-07:00

ini untuk di mainin gitar sama bass secara bersamaan.

|----------------------------------------|
|----------------------------------------|
|----------------------(0-4-5-6-7-6-5-0)-|
|----0-4-5-6-7-6-5-0---------------------|

mainin aja berulang ulang, yag ada di dalam kurung sesekali aja di mainin.
kalo gitar di senar 6.

Nidji / Arti Sahabat Tab

2009-05-08T17:47:00.000-07:00

e|-------------------------------------------------------------------------|
B|------------------888----------------------------------------------------|
G|2-/7-9997999799979---9997987555555--577757757775757955544455577444555779-|
D|----------------------------------67-------------------------------------|
A|-------------------------------------------------------------------------|
E|-------------------------------------------------------------------------|

Play acoustic: F C Dm Am G (2x)
(Tak mudah... rintangan silih berganti)

[Reff/chorus] Rhythm: F C Dm Am G

e|--------------------------------------------------------------------|
B|------------------888-----------------------------------------------|
G|9997999799979---9997987555555--577757757775757955544455577444555779-|
D|----------------------------------67--------------------------------|
A|--------------------------------------------------------------------|
E|--------------------------------------------------------------------|

Rhythm: F C Dm Am G (2x) [not too loud]

To reff

Acoustic: Em Am Dm G

Acoustic + guitar (slow): Em Am Dm G Em Am

Rhythm: Dm G (2x)

Solo (4x):
e|3-/12-\10-\5/12-12-10-10-878-12-\10\5/77777878|
B|----------------------------------------------|
G|----------------------------------------------|
D|----------------------------------------------|
A|----------------------------------------------|
E|----------------------------------------------|

To Reff

Coda: F

Sweep Arpeggios. Part 2

2009-05-07T19:23:00.000-07:00

Once again, unless you have taken a look at my original lesson, Sweep Arpeggios, or are advancing to 6 string sweeps, I suggest you turn back to the way you came.

But first a quiz, this is Theory you know. If you already know the names of all the sweeps, what are the names of these sweeps? They have the form of the sweeps in my first lesson, but are at different places on the fret board.

Excerpt from "Alaska"

|-------------7-12h15p|12-------------|
|-----------8---------|---13----------|
|---------9-----------|------12-------|
|-------9-------------|---------14----|
|--7-10---------------|------------17-|
|---------------------|---------------|

Answer will be in the comments.

The entire range of the sweep can change by going from 5 string sweeps to 6, take 5 string D Major

---------14h17p14---------||
-------15--------15-------||
-----14------------14-----||
---16----------------16---||
-17--------------------17-||
--------------------------||

And 6 string D Major

-----------------14h17p14-----------------||
---------------15--------15---------------||
----------11h14------------14p11----------||
--------12----------------------12--------||
------12--------------------------12------||
-10h14------------------------------14p10-||

They're close, but that’s the difference between a dog and a wolf, and a cat from a Panther.

Now for the Actual lesson, I’m sorry about all that BS, but you got to know this kind of stuff.

For almost all of these sweeps you have to know how to roll your fingers over the fret, like with this. These kinds of sweeps are not Cheat Sweeps, unlike what some people play. Almost a majority of sweeps use that kind of form. If you say It's it cheat sweep, it might be, but lets see you try to get the same sound out of a different sweep.

-15p12------12-||
------12--12---||
--------12-----||
---------------||
---------------||
---------------||

But now onto actual Arpeggio forms and names. I suggest playing each arpeggio slow, try to get a feel of where your fingers should be at, and gradually speed up as you go.

E Minor

|--------------12h15p12--------------|
|------------12--------12------------|
|----------12------------12----------|
|--------14----------------14--------|
|------14--------------------14------|
|-12h15------------------------12h15-|

E Major

|--------------12h16p12--------------|
|------------12--------12------------|
|----------13------------13----------|
|--------14----------------14--------|
|------14--------------------14------|
|-12h16------------------------12h16-|

D Minor (I Prefer playing these one's in Drop D, Sounds cool)

-----------------14h17p14-----------------||
---------------15--------15---------------||
----------11/14------------14\11----------||
--------12----------------------12--------||
------12--------------------------12------||
-10h14------------------------------14p10-||

D Major

-----------------13h17p13-----------------||
---------------15--------15---------------||
----------10/14------------14\10----------||
--------12----------------------12--------||
------12--------------------------12------||
-10h13------------------------------13p10-||

This is a Sweet Lick that breaks down 5 string D Minor

-17p13----13--------------------------13----13h17-||
------15----15----15----------15----15----15------||
--------14----14----14------14----14----14--------||
----------------15----15--15----15----------------||
------------------------17------------------------||
--------------------------------------------------||

This sweep is from 6 string D Major to 5 string A Major

-----------------14h17p14------14h17p12------------|
---------------15--------15--15--------14----------|
----------11/14------------14------------14--------|
--------12---------------------------------14------|
------12-------------------------------------16p12-|
-10h14---------------------------------------------|

These next sweeps are difficult, and are just a Compilation of what this lesson and the previous lesson should have taught you. You can either hammer-on(h) or Slide(/) wherever you want on the top of the arpeggios, whatever lets you play it better. You can play them seperate, in pairs, or the whole thing, It's just a bunch of ideas for sweeps.

(5)D Major / /(5)A Major / /(5)E Major(With add-on)
-12p9------------9h12|h1712--------------------12h17|h21p17--------------|
-----10--------10----|-----14----------------14-----|------17------------|
-------9------9------|-------14------------14-------|--------18----------|
--------11--11-------|---------14--------14---------|----------19--------|
----------12---------|-----------16p12h16-----------|------------19p16---|
---------------------|------------------------------|-----------------17-|
(6)D Major I like to call this and interval sweep\/
-----------------------------------------14h17|p14------14h17|
---------------------------------------15-----|---15--15-----|
----------11/14\11----------------11/14-------|-----14-------|
--------12--------12------------12------------|--------------|
------12------------12--------12--------------|--------------|
-10h14----------------14p10h14----------------|--------------|
/ (5)A Major \ (5)D Major
h21p17--------------------17h21|p17p14h17---------------17-|
------19----------------19-----|---------15----------15----|
--------19------------19-------|-----------14------14------|
----------19--------19---------|-------------16--16--------|
------------21p17h21-----------|---------------17----------|
-------------------------------|---------------------------|

OOMFDA!

There's lots of stuff that you have to know about sweep picking. It's not an easy skill to learn unless you think you can learn it, Unless you finish something to the end it isn't worth Starting. You wouldn't want a toilet with no flush, or a computer without a screen, would you?

Just practice the sweeps I've got here for a while, print them off, work down them, work up them, just learn something.

Harmonising The Major Scale For 5 String Sweep Picking

2009-05-07T19:19:00.000-07:00

Intro

In this lesson I hope to outline how we can use the principles of the major scale and how each degree of the scale has a particular tonality which we can use to create sweep picking exercises.

Firstly we must understand some terminology

Degree - a particular note of a scale.
Interval - the musical gap between two notes. For scales they are usually measured in tones (full steps) and semi-tones (half steps). If there is a difference of a tone between notes they are two frets apart, for a semi-tone it is one fret.

The Major Scale

The first things to understand are the degrees of the major scale, which are as follows (from the first to 8th):

1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th and the Octave (8th).

This NEVER changes. Every major scale has the same degrees, whether it starts on C, D, F sharp, any note.

Next we must recognise the interval between each note:

1st -(tone)-> 2nd -(tone)-> 3rd -(semitone)-> 4th -(tone)-> 5th -(tone)-> 6th -(tone)-> 7th -(semitone)-> Octave (8th).

Again, this is the same for whichever note you start on.

Here’s where it gets complicated!

Each interval of the scale has it's own ‘feel’ to the tonality of the piece as a whole (this is often called the ‘key’ of the piece) and this dictates which type of sweep you have to play over it.

Here are the relative feels of each (and so which sweep you play):

1st – Major
2nd – Minor
3rd – Minor
4th – Major
5th – Major
6th – Minor
7th – Diminished
8th (octave) – Same as first.

As you may know a major feels ‘happier’, whilst a minor feel ‘sadder’.

The Sweeps

I will now tab out the entire sequence for a D major scale starting on fret 5, string 5, going up the scale using 5 string sweeps, corresponding to the tonality of each degree of the scale. From this you should be able to pull out the patterns for major, minor and diminished sweeps.

1st - D (fret 5,string 5)

--------------2------------
----------3------3---------
------2-------------2------
---4-------------------4---
5-------------------------5
---------------------------

2nd - E (fret 7)

--------------3------------
----------5------5---------
------4-------------4------
---5-------------------5---
7-------------------------7
---------------------------

3rd - F sharp (fret 9)

--------------5------------
----------7------7---------
------6-------------6------
---7-------------------7---
9-------------------------9
----------------------------

4th - G (fret 10)

--------------7------------
----------8------8---------
-------7------------7------
----9-------------------9---
10-------------------------10
------------------------------

5th - A (fret 12)

-------------------9--------------
--------------10-----10----------
----------9---------------9--------
-----11---------------------11-----
12------------------------------12-
--------------------------------------

6th – B (fret 14)

--------------------10-----------------
---------------12------12-------------
----------11---------------11----------
-----12-------------------------12-----
14----------------------------------14-
-----------------------------------------

7th – C sharp (fret 16)

--------------------12-----------------
---------------14------14-------------
----------12---------------12----------
-----14-------------------------14-----
16----------------------------------16-
-----------------------------------------

8th (octave) – D (fret17)

Same as the first.

The Application

You will notice that all the major sounding degrees use the same pattern for their sweeps, likewise for the minor degrees, and the same is true for diminished. The sweeps I have tabbed will apply for any major, minor or diminished sounds. Therefore they also apply to any scale.

Once you have learnt these 3 patterns you can go up and down any major scale, starting on any degree of the scale and play the harmonised sweep behind it. If you know how to harmonise a minor scale then you can apply it to that too etc.

Not only that but it is also a great way to practice different sweeping patterns whilst applying them to a scale.

Remember to start slowly and I’d practice in semiquavers (4 notes per beat) and take off the repeated starting root note of each sweep

ie I play -

--------------2-------------------------3----------
----------3------3-----------------5------5-------
------2-------------2-----------4------------4----
---4-------------------4-----5-------------------5
5--------------------------7-----------------------
----------------------------------------------------

(notice how i dont repeat the fret 5, 5th string).

Rhythm Guitar For Intermediate To Advanced Players

2009-05-07T19:18:00.000-07:00

Right, first a little bit of background. This is my first lesson I have ever written, and as such I can only hope it meets the standards people are looking for. I was searching around on UG and other such sites the other day for some information on advance guitar rhythms, being more of a rhythm than a lead guitarist myself. Having been unable to find much that was aimed at the more technically advanced guitarist, I decided to piece together the knowledge I have gained over my few years playing guitar. This article is as such aimed at an intermediate to advanced player, looking to strengthen their right hand, and left-to-right hand synchronisation. Those reading this article should already have a reasonable understanding of metres and timings, such as 16th and 32th notes. This is not a lead guitar lesson! Please don’t read this expecting an article on soloing techniques such as sweeps, alternate picking, legato, and vibrato e.t.c. If this article is received well I may consider other such lessons, but for know I’m going to stick to the rhythm side of playing.

Ok, now we’ve got that out the way, onto our first technique. A rhythm guitarist has a multitude of techniques out there for his use. The first of these, and in my opinion one of the most important and widely used, is the down-stroke (in this article the symbol for down-stroke will be “v”). The following exercise will help to improve your right-hand strength and stamina. Try to play this exercise cleanly and smoothly, with as little slipping or missing of the strings as possible. A metronome may help to keep you in time, but don’t set it too fast to play with, try to find a speed which is comfortable but still challenging, and just go until failure. Punching to far above your ability level will not help to increase your abilities faster, it may in fact hinder your progress.

Key:
C – 1/4 Note
E – 1/8 Note
S – 1/16 Note
T – 1/32 Note
v – Down-Stroke
^ – Up-Stroke

Exercise 1: The Down-stroke (Check out the middle section of Dream Theater’s “Pull Me Under”)

E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E E
|–––––––––––––––––|–––––––––––––––––|
|–––––––––––––––––|–––––––––––––––––|
|–––––––––––––––––|–––––––––––––––––|
|–––––––––––––––––|–––––––––––––––––|
|–––––––––––––––––|–––––––––––––––––|
|–0–0–0–0–0–0–0–0–|–0–0–0–0–0–0–0–0–|
v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v

So, the exercise above is designed to strengthen your right forearm in preparation for the more complex rhythms ahead. Once you can play this rhythm at around 180bpm for at least 2 minutes solidly without tiring, then you are well on the way to becoming a much better rhythm guitarist.

Exercise 2: Alternate Picking (Check out the intro of Trivium’s “Enter the Conflagration”)

S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S S
|–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––|–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––|
|–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––|–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––|
|–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––|–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––|
|–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––|–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––|
|–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––|–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––|
|–0–0–0–0–0–0–0–0–0–0–0–0–0–0–0–0–|–0–0–0–0–0–0–0–0–0–0–0–0–0–0–0–0–|
v ^ v ^ v ^ v ^ v ^ v ^ v ^ v ^ v ^ v ^ v ^ v ^ v ^ v ^ v ^ v ^

This second exercise introduces us to another technique commonly used in pretty much every style of music involving a guitar. Each note should be picked cleanly and evenly, alternating between down and up-strokes. I’m not going to insult you by explaining what an up-stroke is, ‘cause if you are reading this then you should already know, right? Anyways, try playing this technique with a metronome again, aiming at around the 180bpm mark for advanced players. Oh, and for those of you who are thinking “Yup, that’s me, I’m amazing, he called me advanced”, just shut up and go back to having no social life, or go for 250bpm, then you can happily boast your asses off. But not here. No one cares.

Exercise 3: The Gallop (Check out the Breakdown to Lamb of God’s “Black Label”)

S S E S S E S S E S S E S S E S S E S S E S S E
|––––––––––––––––––––––––––––|––––––––––––––––––––––––––––|
|––––––––––––––––––––––––––––|––––––––––––––––––––––––––-–|
|––––––––––––––––––––––––––––|––––––––––––––––––––––––––––|
|––––––––––––––––––––––––––––|––––––––––––––––––––––––––––|
|––––––––––––––––––––––––––––|––––––––––––––––––––––––––––|
|–0–0–0––0–0–0––0–0–0––0–0–0–|–0–0–0––0–0–0––0–0–0––0–0–0–|
v ^ v v ^ v v ^ v v ^ v v ^ v v ^ v v ^ v v ^ v

This third technique is widely used in death and speed metal, giving a sharp and aggressive feel to the rhythm of the music. This technique was first popularised by English metal band Iron Maiden, in particular verse and chorus rhythms in their songs involved high speed repetitions of the move. This move should create a one-two-three-rest one-two-three-rest feel to your rhythms. Perhaps start really slow, counting the beats in your head or out loud, to a metronome of course, and gradually up the tempo as you feel more confident. Yet again, do not go too far above your comfortable level, as the faster you go the sloppier you become, and you may develop bad habits. I know I did and so cannot stress this point enough.

Exercise 4 + 5: Adding Complexity (Check out Paul Gilbert’s “Technical Difficulties”)

|–3–| |–3–| |–3–| |–3–| |–3–| |–3–| |–3–| |–3–|
S S S E S S S E S S S E S S S E S S S E S S S E S S S E S S S E
|––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––-–––|––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––|
|––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––-–––|––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––|
|––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––-–––|––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––|
|––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––-–––|––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––|
|––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––-–––|––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––|
|–0–0–0–0––0–0–0–0––0–0–0–0––0–0–0–0–|–0–0–0–0––0–0–0–0––0–0–0–0––0–0–0–0–|
v ^ v ^ v ^ v ^ v ^ v ^ v ^ v ^ v ^ v ^ v ^ v ^ v ^ v ^ v ^ v ^

Yeah, it’s impossible to write triplets in the new version of Word that line up, which kinda sucks. Anyways, this exercise expands on the alternate picking idea, using a more complex rhythm note; the 16th note triplet. Try this at around 150bpm for advanced guys, or maybe 100 - 120bpm for less technically proficient players (Don’t worry, you’ll get there eventually).

S E S E S E S E S S S S S E S E S E S E S S S S
|–––––––––––––––––––––––––-–––|–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––|
|–––––––––––––––––––––––––-–––|–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––|
|–––––––––––––––––––––––––-–––|–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––|
|–––––––––––––––––––––––––-–––|–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––|
|–––––––––––––––––––––––––-–––|–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––|
|–0–0––0–0––0–0––0–0––0–0–0–0–|–0–0––0–0––0–0––0–0––0–0–0–0–|
v ^ ^ v v ^ ^ v v ^ v ^ v ^ ^ v v ^ ^ v v ^ v ^

This is out last technique I’m going to cover today. Don’t know what to call this one, so I’m going to call it the Up-Down Gallop, ‘cause that’s kinda what it is. This is one of my personal favourite rhythms, especially coupled with bouncing notes on the E-String on every 1st note of the couples. This in turn can be combined with hammer-ons and pull-offs, creating a really funky and syncopated rhythm, which sounds and look kinda cool, especially with the constant up-down drill of the right hand. This rhythm may look easy in theory, but is definitely not for the faint hearted, and only those completely secure with the other techniques I have covered should attempt this. Just go for this at any tempo you feel like. There was no tempo I could find which would prove a challenge enough for those who are able to complete all other challenges I have set throughout the text.

This concludes my “Rhythm Guitar for Intermediate to Advanced Players” lesson. I hope you have enjoyed this lesson, and it has helped to push you into new areas of playing and new styles of music. I know these techniques certainly gave me the edge I needed to create far more complex and interesting songs.

Conclusion Of Left Hand Techniques

2009-05-07T19:16:00.000-07:00

author: Martin Messner

Well, first at all this is not really a lesson. This is a summary of some exercises for:

-a fast, clear left hand
-a clear alternate picking of the right hand
-the harmony of both hands

I was inspirated by so many lessons about left hand trainings and their exercises, so there is to say that the core of this training is not all mine!

The basic rule of all these exercises is regular training. Every day at least 20 minutes is really necessary, because daily but short training is a lot better than one training a week which takes 5 hours.

The second rule is that speed is not the key! So don't start with 400bpm, start slowly. The importance is to hit every clear tone in the absolutly correct timing. The speed comes with the training, because your hand will learn the movement "by heart" and after that, the speed will increase a lot!

All exercises should be done with alternate picking! That means, that the pic goes down, up, down, up... Do not use the method that the pic goes only down, down, down! If you use alternate picking, your whole guitar sound will be - trained for some time of course- improved in a very good way!

The third rule is to not give up! Here are listed 8 exercises and it seems like here is a lot of work to be done... And yeah, it is. But if there is work to do, don't say "I'll start tomorrow" or "I'll will train the weekend". Do it as soon as possible... Why not now?

The last rule is to combine the boring lesson with nice songs. Every time you tell yourself "I'll stop now, this exercise is only a waste of time- and it sounds so shit!" play a nice song! As you will see, even a short training will improve the song! Now, when the song is over, you continue with the training.

notes which are marked with i should be play with the index finger
notes which are marked with m should be play with the middle finger
notes which are marked with r should be play with the ring finger
notes which are marked with p should be play with the pinky

EX 1
i m i m i m i m i m i m m i m i m i m i m i m i
E---------------------1-2-I-2-1---------------------I
B-----------------1-2-----I-----2-1-----------------I
G-------------1-2---------I---------2-1-------------I
D---------1-2-------------I-------------2-1---------I
A-----1-2-----------------I-----------------2-1-----I
E-1-2---------------------I---------------------2-1-I

EX 2
m r m r m r m r m r m r r m r m r m r m r m r m
E---------------------2-3-I-3-2---------------------I
B-----------------2-3-----I-----3-2-----------------I
G-------------2-3---------I---------3-2-------------I
D---------2-3-------------I-------------3-2---------I
A-----2-3-----------------I-----------------3-2-----I
E-2-3---------------------I---------------------3-2-I

EX 3
r p r p r p r p r p r p r p r p r p r p r p r p
E---------------------3-4-I-4-3---------------------I
B-----------------3-4-----I-----4-3-----------------I
G-------------3-4---------I---------4-3-------------I
D---------3-4-------------I-------------4-3---------I
A-----3-4-----------------I-----------------4-3-----I
E-3-4---------------------I---------------------4-3-I

This exercise shows how weak the ring finger and pinky are! The EX 1 is a lot easier than EX 3, because the index finger is - of course - stronger than the pinky! A big problem is that many guitarists use only the first 3 fingers because they are naturally stronger than the pinky, but this little finger is very important to reach fast higher frets and to be faster in solo!

After these 3 exercises, we go on with exercises with 3 Finger on each string.

EX 4
i r p i r p i r p i r p i r p i r p p r i p r i p r i p r i p r i p r i
E-------------------------------1-3-4-I-4-3-1------------------------------I
B-------------------------1-3-4-------I-------4-3-1------------------------I
G-------------------1-3-4-------------I-------------4-3-1------------------I
D-------------1-3-4-------------------I-------------------4-3-1------------I
A-------1-3-4-------------------------I-------------------------4-3-1------I
E-1-3-4-------------------------------I-------------------------------4-3-1I

EX 5

i m p i m p i m p i m p i m p i m p p m i p m i p m i p m i p m i p m i
E-------------------------------1-2-4-I-4-2-1------------------------------I
B-------------------------1-2-4-------I-------4-2-1------------------------I
G-------------------1-2-4-------------I-------------4-2-1------------------I
D-------------1-2-4-------------------I-------------------4-2-1------------I
A-------1-2-4-------------------------I-------------------------4-2-1------I
E-1-2-4-------------------------------I-------------------------------4-2-1I

EX 4 and 5 are important for the timing (3 notes a string)! The next exercise is one of the most important!

EX 6a
i m r p i m r p i m r p i m r p i m r p i m r p
E-----------------------------------------1-2-3-4-I
H---------------------------------1-2-3-4---------I
G-------------------------1-2-3-4-----------------I
D-----------------1-2-3-4-------------------------I
A---------1-2-3-4---------------------------------I
E-1-2-3-4-----------------------------------------I

EX 6b

p r m i p r m i p r m i p r m i p r m i p r m i
E-4-3-2-1-----------------------------------------I
H---------4-3-2-1---------------------------------I
G-----------------4-3-2-1-------------------------I
D-------------------------4-3-2-1-----------------I
A---------------------------------4-3-2-1---------I
E-----------------------------------------4-3-2-1-I

Repeating EX 6 often is definitly NO waste of time!
Following: a Version of EX 6

EX 7a

i r m p i r m p i r m p i r m p i r m p i r m p
E-----------------------------------------1-3-2-4-I
H---------------------------------1-3-2-4---------I
G-------------------------1-3-2-4-----------------I
D-----------------1-3-2-4-------------------------I
A---------1-3-2-4---------------------------------I
E-1-3-2-4-----------------------------------------I

EX 7b

p m r i p m r i p m r i p m r i p m r i p m r i
E-4-2-3-1-----------------------------------------I
H---------4-2-3-1---------------------------------I
G-----------------4-2-3-1-------------------------I
D-------------------------4-2-3-1-----------------I
A---------------------------------4-2-3-1---------I
E-----------------------------------------4-2-3-1-I

At this point is to say, that all exercises should be done in the other direction. Here is how the exercise EX 6 would look like if you reverse it

EX 8a
p r m i p r m i p r m i p r m i p r m i p r m i
E-----------------------------------------4-3-2-1-I
H---------------------------------4-3-2-1---------I
G-------------------------4-3-2-1-----------------I
D-----------------4-3-2-1-------------------------I
A---------4-3-2-1---------------------------------I
E-4-3-2-1-----------------------------------------I

EX 8b

i m r p i m r p i m r p i m r p i m r p i m r p
E-1-2-3-4-----------------------------------------I
H---------1-2-3-4---------------------------------I
G-----------------1-2-3-4-------------------------I
D-------------------------1-2-3-4-----------------I
A---------------------------------1-2-3-4---------I
E-----------------------------------------1-2-3-4-I

All exercises should be often reversed, because then the pinky is the leading finger! This improves the pinky and the whole technique as well.

I'll come to an end now. If I find a "new" exercise, I will tell it. I hope that this contribution was helpfully and I'm sorry if there are mistakes in this text. See you, Martin Messner.

Finger Nubbing

2009-05-07T19:10:00.000-07:00

Finger nubbing is a tapping techinque made famous by buckethead, particulary in his song Jordan. This involves tapping on with 2, 3 or 4 fingers on the all the strings which results in a fast, robotic like sound.
To start we'l use 2 fingers, I usually mainly use 3 as 4 can be quite tricky and my pinky isnt my strongest finger. Make sure your amp has soke distortion but not too much so it's buzzing and have your switch set to the neck position.
Were going to start on the low E string, it's easier to tap on the lwoer strings but to by tapping on the thicker strings it helps you hear your tapping clearer and lets you know if your performing right. When finger nubbing your going to go from your pinky, finger, to your ring finger, to your middle finger and then your index finger, since were using 2 fingers when tapping we go from middle finger to index finger. Same goes to your frettting hand:
Diagram;Fretting hand= fi-index,fm=middle,fr=ring,fp=pinky
Tapping hand= i=index,m=middle,r=ring,p=pinky

E------------------------------------------------------------------
A------------------------------------------------------------------
D------------------------------------------------------------------
G------------------------------------------------------------------
B------------------------------------------------------------------
E------------10p16------9p15---------------------------------------
fm m fi i

What were going to do hear is, place our fretting hand over the 10th fret, then with your tapping hand, tap the 16th fret and pull off to the 10th.
The with your fretting hand index finger over the 9th fret, tap the 15th fret with your tapping hand.
Make sure you tap the 16th fret with your middle finger, then tap the 15th with your fretting hand, keep practising and build up speed. Try these :

E-------------------------------------------------------------10p16--9p15
B---------------------------------------------------10p16--9p15-----------
G---------------------------------------10p16--9p15-----------------------
D--------------------------10p16--9p15------------------------------------
A-------------10p16--9p15-------------------------------------------------
E10p16--9p15--------------------------------------------------------------

And this:

E---------------------------------------------------2p13-3p12------
A-----------------------------------------2p13-3p12----------------
D-------------------------------2p13-3p12--------------------------
G---------------------2p13-3p12------------------------------------
B-----------2p13-3p12----------------------------------------------
E-2p13-3p12--------------------------------------------------------

Experiment on different strings, making sure you tap middle then index, the same with the fretting hand, don't forget to jsut hold down the lower string with fretting hand before the next string along.
Now lets try the same but with 3 fingers, we'l do the exact same thing as before expcet this time were going to add a fret, this time were going to go ring, middle then index, making sure you tap the string and pull off clearly.

E------------------------------------------------------------------
A------------------------------------------------------------------
D------------------------------------------------------------------
G------------------------------------------------------------------
B------------------------------------------------------------------
E------------10p16------9p15----8p14-------------------------------
fr r fm m fi i

Now try these:

E---------------------------------------------------------------------------
A----------------------------------------------------------------10p16-9p15
D------------------------------------------------10p16-9p15-8p14------------
G--------------------------------10p16-9p15-8p14----------------------------
B----------------10p16-9p15-8p14--------------------------------------------
E-10p16-9p15-8p14-----------------------------------------------------------

E--------10p16-9p15-8p14-------------------------------------------
A--8p14------------------------------------------------------------
D------------------------------------------------------------------
G------------------------------------------------------------------
B------------------------------------------------------------------
E------------------------------------------------------------------

For 4 fingers simply add your pinky on both hands and an extra fret, although I suggest sticking to 2 or 3 fingers.
Another buckethead finger nubbing trick is to use 2 fingers on one string, tap it and slide up the fretbroad.

E------------------------------------------------------------------
A-------6p1112-----------------------------------------------------
D------------------------------------------------------------------
G------------------------------------------------------------------
B------------------------------------------------------------------
E------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>slide to 12

What this means is hold the 6th fret on the B string, then tap the same string at the 11th and 12th fret with your middle then index finger repeatadly, then slide up to the 12th fret, as you move to the 7th fret with your fretting hand, your tapping hand moves up a fret and so on and so on.
Important tips:
1. Strike the strings hard and cleany, making sure the pull off is sounded.
2. Use the palm of your tapping hand to mute unwanted string noise, try to tap with your hand so it's palm is slightly covering the strings near the bridge so you can quickly prevent unwanted noise.
3. Make sure with both hands you go in order of pinky, ring, middle and index, make sure you have exact co-ordination and syncronisation between your two hands.

Queen

2009-05-07T04:02:00.000-07:00

Queen were an English rock band formed in 1970 in London by guitarist Brian May, lead vocalist Freddie Mercury and drummer Roger Taylor, with bassist John Deacon completing the lineup the following year. However, Philip "Spike" Edney, on keys, bass, guitar, trombone and backing vocals, has worked with the band to such an extent that he has been referred to as "the fifth member of Queen"[citation needed].

The band were noted for their musical diversity, multi-layered arrangements, vocal harmonies, and incorporation of audience participation into their live performances.[2] Their 1985 Live Aid performance was voted the best live rock performance of all time in an industry poll.

Queen enjoyed success in the UK in the early 1970s with the albums Queen and Queen II[citation needed], but it was with the release of Sheer Heart Attack in 1974 and A Night at the Opera the following year that the band gained international success[citation needed]. They have released fifteen studio albums, five live albums, and numerous compilation albums. Eighteen of these have reached number one on charts around the world[citation needed].

Following Mercury's death in 1991 and Deacon's retirement in 1997, May and Taylor have performed infrequently under the Queen name. Since 2004 they have been collaborating with Paul Rodgers, under the moniker Queen + Paul Rodgers.

History

Early days (1968–1973)
“ I thought up the name Queen. It's just a name, but it's very regal obviously, and it sounds splendid, It's a strong name, very universal and immediate. It had a lot of visual potential and was open to all sorts of interpretations. I was certainly aware of gay connotations, but that was just one facet of it. ”

—Freddie Mercury

In 1969, guitarist Brian May, a student at London's Imperial College, and bassist Tim Staffell decided to form a group. May placed an advertisement on the college notice board for a "Mitch Mitchell/Ginger Baker type" drummer; Roger Taylor, a young dental student, auditioned and got the job. They called the group Smile.

Smile signed to Mercury Records in 1969, and had their first session in a recording studio in Trident Studios that year. Tim Staffell was attending Ealing Art College with Farrokh Bulsara, later known as Freddie Mercury, and introduced him to the band. Bulsara soon became a keen fan. Staffell left in 1970 to join another band, Humpy Bong;[5] the remaining Smile members, encouraged by Bulsara, changed their name to "Queen" and continued working together, prior to Bulsara himself joining as vocalist.[5] The band had a number of bass players during this period who did not fit with the band's chemistry. It was not until February 1971 that they settled on John Deacon and began to rehearse for the first album.

In 1973, after a series of delays, Queen released their first album, a self-titled project influenced by the heavy metal and progressive rock of the day. The album was received well by critics; Gordon Fletcher of Rolling Stone said "their debut album is superb,"[7] and Chicago's Daily Herald called it an "above average debut".[8] However, it drew little mainstream attention and the lead single "Keep Yourself Alive," a Brian May composition, sold poorly. Greg Prato of Allmusic called it "one of the most underrated hard rock debuts of all time."

The album Queen II was released in 1974. The album reached number five on the British album charts,[10] while the Freddie Mercury-written lead single "Seven Seas of Rhye," reached number ten in the UK, giving the band their first hit. The album is their heaviest and darkest release, featuring long complex instrumental passages, fantasy-themed lyrics and musical virtuosity. The band toured as support to Mott the Hoople in the UK & United States during this period, and they began to gain notice for their energetic and engaging stage shows. However, album sales in the US were, like those of its predecessor, low.

Breakthrough era (1974–1979)

Because of medical complications, May was absent when the band started work on their third album, Sheer Heart Attack, released in 1974. The album reached number two in the United Kingdom,[12] sold well throughout Europe, and went gold in the United States.[13] It gave the band their first real taste of commercial success. The album experimented with a variety of musical genres, including British Music Hall ("Killer Queen"), heavy metal ("Flick of the Wrist", "Brighton Rock", "Tenement Funster", "Now I'm Here", and "Stone Cold Crazy" – a song which Metallica later covered, earning them a Grammy Award), ballads ("Lily Of The Valley" and "Dear Friends"), ragtime ("Bring Back That Leroy Brown") and Caribbean ("Misfire"). At this point Queen started to move away from the progressive tendencies of their first two releases into a more radio-friendly, song-oriented style. Sheer Heart Attack introduced new sound and melody patterns that would be refined on their next album A Night at the Opera.

The single "Killer Queen" reached number two on the British charts, and became their first U.S. hit, reaching number twelve in the Billboard American Top 40. It combines camp, vaudeville, British music hall with May’s guitar virtuosity. The album’s second single, "Now I’m Here", a more traditional hard rock composition, was a number eleven hit in Britain.

In 1975, the band left for a world tour with each member in Zandra Rhodes-created costumes and banks of lights and effects. They toured the US, headlining for the first time, and played in Canada for the first time in April. At the same time, the band's manager Jim Beach successfully negotiated the band out of their Trident contract. Of the options they considered, was an offer from Led Zeppelin’s manager, Peter Grant. Grant wanted them to sign with Led Zeppelin’s own production company, Swan Song Records. The band found the contract unacceptable and instead, contacted Elton John’s manager, John Reid, who accepted the position. In April 1975 the band toured Japan for the first time.

Later that year the band recorded and released A Night at the Opera. At the time, it was the most expensive album ever produced. Like its predecessor, the album features diverse musical styles and experimentation with stereo sound. In "The Prophet's Song", an eight-minute epic, the middle section is a canon, with simple phrases layered to create a full-choral sound. The album was very successful in Britain, and went triple platinum in the United States.[13]. It is considered their magnum opus; in 2003, it was ranked number 230 on Rolling Stone Magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

The album also featured the hit single "Bohemian Rhapsody", which was number one in the United Kingdom for nine weeks,[10] and is Britain’s third-best-selling single of all time; it also reached number nine in the United States (a 1992 re-release reached number two).[14] Bohemian Rhapsody has been voted, several times, the greatest song of all time.[18][19] The band decided to make a video to go with the single; the result is generally considered to have been the first "true" music video ever produced.[citation needed] Although other bands (including The Beatles) had made short promotional films or videos of songs prior to this, generally those were made for specific showings or programs (such as the Beatles' videos for "Hey Jude" and "Revolution", which were specifically made to be aired on the Smothers Brothers' television show. "Bohemian Rhapsody" was the first musical video offered free of charge, to any program, network or station which would air it.[citation needed] The second single from the album, "You're My Best Friend", peaked at sixteen in the United States and went on to become a worldwide Top Ten hit.

By 1976, Queen were back in the studio, where they recorded A Day at the Races, what may be mistaken simply as a companion album to A Night at the Opera.[20] It again borrowed the name of a Marx Brothers' movie, and its cover was similar to that of A Night at the Opera, a variation on the same Queen Crest. Musically, the album was by both fans’ and critics’ standards a strong effort, and reached number one on the British charts.[10] The major hit on the album was "Somebody to Love", a gospel-inspired song in which Mercury, May, and Taylor multi-tracked their voices to make a 100-voice gospel choir. The song went to number two in the United Kingdom,[10] and number thirteen on the U.S. singles chart.[14]. The album also featured one of the band's heaviest songs, Brian May’s "Tie Your Mother Down", which became a staple of their live shows.

Also in 1976, Queen played one of their most famous gigs, a 1976 free concert in Hyde Park, London. It set an attendance record, with 150,000 people confirmed in the audience.

News of the World was released a year later. It contained many songs tailor-made for live performance, including "We Will Rock You" and the rock ballad "We Are the Champions", both of which reached number four in the United States and became enduring international sports anthems.[14] Roger Taylor released his first solo effort in 1977 in the form of a single: the A-side was a cover of a song by The Parliaments "I Wanna Testify", and the B-side was a song by Taylor called "Turn On The TV".

In 1978 the band released Jazz, including the hit singles "Fat Bottomed Girls" and "Bicycle Race" which were also released as a double-A-side single. The word "jazz" was not used in a strict sense, and the album was noted by critics for its collection of different styles, jazz not being one of them.[23] Rolling Stone Magazine criticised it for being "dull", saying "Queen hasn’t the imagination to play jazz – Queen hasn't the imagination, for that matter, to play rock & roll."[23] Important tracks of the album include "Dead on Time", "Don't Stop Me Now", "Let Me Entertain You", and "Mustapha", in which Arabesque music is combined with heavy rock guitar.

The band’s first live album, Live Killers, was released in 1979; it went platinum twice in the United States.They also released the very successful single "Crazy Little Thing Called Love", a rockabilly song done in the style of Elvis Presley. The song made the top 10 in many countries, and was the band’s first number one single in the United States.

New sound and synthesisers (1980–1984)

Queen began the 1980s with The Game. It featured the singles "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" and "Another One Bites the Dust", both of which reached number one in the United States.[14] The album stayed number one for four weeks in the United States,[25] and sold over four million copies.[13] It was also the only album to ever top the Billboard rock, dance, and R&B charts simultaneously. The album also marked the first appearance of a synthesiser on a Queen album. Heretofore, their albums featured a distinctive "No Synthesisers were used on this Album" sleevenote. The note is widely assumed to reflect an anti-synth, pro-"hard"-rock stance by the band,[26] but was later revealed by producer Roy Thomas Baker to be an attempt to clarify that those albums' multi-layered solos were created with guitars, not synths, as record company executives kept assuming at the time.

1980 also saw the release of the soundtrack Queen had recorded for Flash Gordon.

In 1981, Queen became the first major rock band to play in Latin American stadiums. Queen played to a total audience of 479,000 people on their South American tour, including five shows in Argentina and two in Brazil where they played to an audience of more than 130,000 people in the first night and more than 120,000 people the following night at São Paulo (Morumbi Stadium). In October of the same year, Queen performed for more than 150,000 fans on October 9 at Monterrey (Estadio Universitario) and 17 and 18 at Puebla (Estadio Zaragoza), Mexico.

Also in 1981, Queen worked with David Bowie on the single "Under Pressure". The first-time collaboration with another artist was spontaneous, as Bowie happened to drop by the studio while Queen were recording.[28] The band were immediately pleased with the results, but Bowie did not play the song live for several years.[citation needed] Upon its release, the song was extremely successful, reaching number one in Britain. The bass line was later used for Vanilla Ice's 1990 hit "Ice Ice Baby", prompting the threat of a lawsuit over the use of the sample. The lawsuit did not make it to court and was settled for an undisclosed amount.

Later that year, Queen released their first compilation album, entitled Greatest Hits, which showcased the group's highlights from 1974-1981. It was highly successful, and as of 2007, it is the United Kingdom's best selling album.aylor became the first member of the band to release his own solo album in 1981, entitled Fun In Space.

In 1982 the band released the funk album Hot Space. The band stopped touring North America after their Hot Space Tour, as their success there had waned, although they would perform on American television for the only time during the eighth season premiere of Saturday Night Live. Queen left Elektra Records, their label in the United States, Canada, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand, and signed onto EMI/Capitol Records.

After working steadily for over ten years, Queen decided that they would not perform any live shows in 1983. During this time, they recorded a new album, and several members of the band explored side projects and solo work. May released a mini-album entitled Star Fleet Project, on which he collaborated with Eddie Van Halen. A computer musician composer in Canada, Kevin Chamberlain, helped with vocals and background music for Mercury's solo project[citation needed], which was later cancelled due to creative differences.

In 1984, Queen released the album The Works, which included the successful singles "Radio Ga Ga" and "I Want to Break Free". Despite these hit singles, the album failed to do well in the United States. "Radio Ga Ga" was the band's last original American Top Forty hit until 1989's "I Want It All".

Queen embarked that year on a set of dates during their The Works Tour in Bophuthatswana, South Africa at the arena at Sun City.[31] Upon returning to England, they were the subject of outrage, having played there during the height of apartheid and in violation of worldwide divestment efforts. The band responded to the critics by stating that they were playing music for fans in that country, and they also stressed that the concerts were played before integrated audiences.

Live Aid and later years (1985–1989)

On 12 January 1985, the band headlined two nights of the first Rock in Rio festival at Rio de Janeiro (Brazil). They were the main act on the January 11 and 18 lineups. On each night, they played in front of over 180,000 people. A selection of highlights of both performances was released on VHS on May with the title Queen Live in Rio.

In April, Mercury released his first solo album, Mr. Bad Guy.

At Live Aid, held at Wembley on 13 July 1985, Queen performed some of their greatest hits in what has been considered their best performance to date.[32] The band, now revitalised by the response to Live Aid and the ensuing increase in record sales, ended 1985 by releasing the single "One Vision". The song was used in the film Iron Eagle. Also, a limited-edition boxed set containing all Queen albums to date was released under the title of "The Complete Works". The package included previously unreleased material, most notably Queen's non-album single of Christmas 1984, titled Thank God it's Christmas.

In early 1986, Queen recorded the album A Kind of Magic, containing several songs written for the Russell Mulcahy film Highlander. The album was very successful, producing a string of hits including the title track "A Kind of Magic", which contains the key lyrics 'There can be only one', a reference to the movie's plot; "Friends Will Be Friends", "Who Wants to Live Forever" and "Princes of the Universe".

Later that year, Queen went on a sold-out tour (the band's largest) in support of A Kind of Magic. The Magic Tour's highlight was at Wembley Stadium in London and resulted in the live double album, Queen Live At Wembley Stadium, released on CD and as a live concert film. They could not book Wembley for a third night because it was already booked, but they did play at Knebworth Park. The show sold out within two hours and over 120,000 fans packed the park for what proved to be Queen's final live performance with Mercury.[33] More than 1 million people saw Queen on the tour – 400,000 in the United Kingdom alone, a record at the time.[31]

After working on various solo projects during 1988 (including Mercury's collaboration with Montserrat Caballé, Barcelona) the band released The Miracle in 1989. The album continued the direction of A Kind of Magic, using a pop-rock sound mixed with a few heavy numbers. It spawned the European hits "I Want It All", "Breakthru", "The Invisible Man", "Scandal", and "The Miracle".

The Miracle also began a change in direction of Queen's songwriting philosophy. Since the band's beginning, nearly all songs had been written by and credited to a single member, with other members adding minimally. With The Miracle, however, the band's songwriting became more collaborative, and they vowed to credit the final product only to Queen as a group.[34]

The final albums and Mercury's death (1990–1997)
“ There was all that time when we knew Freddie was on the way out, we kept our heads down. ”

—Brian May

After fans and the tabloid press noted Mercury's gaunt appearance in public during 1988[citation needed], rumours began to spread that Mercury was suffering from AIDS. For reasons still not confirmed, Mercury flatly denied them at the time, insisting he was merely "exhausted" and too busy to provide interviews.[35] However, the band decided to continue making albums free of internal conflict and differences, starting with The Miracle and continuing with Innuendo, which was recorded during 1990 but not released until the beginning of 1991 as Mercury's health was a major factor in the delay[citation needed].

Despite his deteriorating health, Mercury continued to contribute. The band released their second greatest hits compilation, Greatest Hits II, in October 1991.

On 23 November 1991, in a prepared statement made on his deathbed, Mercury confirmed that he had AIDS. Within twelve hours of that statement, he died of bronchial pneumonia, which was brought on by AIDS. His funeral service was private, held in accordance with the Zoroastrian religious faith of his family.

"Bohemian Rhapsody" was re-released as a single shortly after Mercury's death, with "These Are the Days of Our Lives" as the double A-side. The single went to number 1 for the second time in the UK. Initial proceeds from the single – approximately £1,000,000 – were donated to the Terrence Higgins Trust.[36]

Queen's popularity increased once again in the United States after "Bohemian Rhapsody" was featured in the comedy film Wayne's World, helping the song reach number two for five weeks in the United States charts in 1992. The song was made into a Wayne's World music video, with which the band and management were delighted.[citation needed]

On 20 April 1992, the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert was held at London's Wembley Stadium. Performers included Def Leppard, Lisa Stansfield, Elton John, David Bowie, Robert Plant, Tony Iommi, Annie Lennox, Guns N' Roses, Extreme, Roger Daltrey, George Michael, Ian Hunter, Mick Ronson, Zucchero, Metallica, Liza Minnelli, Elizabeth Taylor and Spinal Tap, along with the three remaining members of Queen, performed many of Queen's major hits. It was a successful concert that was televised to over 1 billion viewers worldwide.[31] The concert is listed in The Guinness Book of Records as "The largest rock star benefit concert."[37] It raised over £20,000,000 for AIDS charities.[36]

The band also terminated their Capitol Records contract and signed a deal with Hollywood Records as their new U.S label.
Queen never actually disbanded, although their last album of original material, titled Made in Heaven, was released in 1995, four years after Mercury's death. It was constructed from Mercury's final recording sessions in 1991, plus material left over from their previous studio albums. In addition, re-worked material from Mercury's solo album Mr. Bad Guy and a track originally featured on the first album of Taylor's side-project The Cross were included. May and Taylor have often been involved in projects related to raising money for AIDS research. John Deacon's last involvement with the band was in 1997, when the band recorded the track "No-One but You (Only the Good Die Young)". It was the last song recorded by Queen, and it was released as a bonus track on the Queen Rocks compilation album later that year. Due to demand from Queen fans, the song was later released as a single reaching #13 in the UK chart.

"Queen + ..." projects (1998-2003)

Several Queen + projects were developed in the following years, a few of them mere remixes with no artistic involvement from the band. In 1999, a Greatest Hits III album was released. This album featured, among others, "Queen + Wyclef Jean" on a rap version of "Another One Bites the Dust"; a live version of "Somebody to Love" by George Michael; and a live version of "The Show Must Go On", performed live in 1997 with Elton John.

Brian May and Roger Taylor performed together as Queen on several occasions (award ceremonies, charity concerts, and the like), sharing vocals with various guest singers. They also recorded several covers of Queen's hits with guest vocalists, including "We Will Rock You" (with Five and later, Britney Spears, Beyonce, John Farnham and P!nk) and "We Are the Champions" (with Robbie Williams).

In 2003, four new songs were recorded by Queen for Nelson Mandela's 46664 campaign against AIDS. The studio versions of Invincible Hope (Queen + Nelson Mandela, feat. Treana Morris), 46664 - The Call, and Amandla (Anastacia, Dave Stewart and Queen) have not yet been released on album.

Also, in 2002, Brian May and Roger Taylor collaborated with Ben Elton to make a musical based on their greatest hits, called We Will Rock You. It will run until November 2009 in the Dominion Theatre, London and spawned many overseas versions.

Queen + Paul Rodgers (2004-Present)

Main article: Queen + Paul Rodgers
2005 Queen + Paul Rodgers Tour

At the end of 2004, May and Taylor announced that they would reunite and return to touring in 2005, with Paul Rodgers (founder and former lead singer of Free and Bad Company). Brian May's website also stated that Rodgers would be 'featured with' Queen as Queen + Paul Rodgers, not replacing the late Freddie Mercury. The retired John Deacon would not be participating;[4] Danny Miranda of Blue Öyster Cult replaced him on bass. Other members of the tour included keyboardist Spike Edney, who played guitar and keyboards in Queen live shows since 1984, and additional guitarist Jamie Moses, who began working with May on solo efforts in the early 1990s.

A live double CD album, Return of the Champions, was released on 19 September 2005. It was recorded in May 2005 during the Queen + Paul Rodgers tour at the Sheffield Arena in Sheffield, England. A DVD from the concert was also released.

In March 2006, Queen + Paul Rodgers set out to tour the United States and Canada. During this tour, the group debuted their first new song, a collaboration called "Take Love". A second live DVD, Super Live in Japan, was released in 2006; the show was filmed at Saitama Super Arena on 27 October 2006.

On 15 August 2006, Brian May confirmed through his website and fan club that Queen + Paul Rodgers would begin producing their first studio album beginning in October, to be recorded at a "secret location".[38] The album, titled The Cosmos Rocks, was released in the European Union on 12 September 2008 and in the United States on 28 October 2008. Following this, the group embarked on the Rock The Cosmos Tour,[39] opening on 12 September with an AIDS-benefit concert to an audience of over 350,000 people in Kharkiv, Ukraine.[40][41]

In the digital realm

In conjunction with Electronic Arts, Queen released the computer game Queen: The Eye in 1998, to commercial and critical failure. The music itself — tracks from Queen's vast catalogue, in many cases remixed into new instrumental versions — was by and large well received, but the game experience was hampered by poor game play. Adding to the problem was an extremely long development time, resulting in graphic elements that already seemed outdated by the time of release.

In March 2009, Sony Computer Entertainment released a Queen branded version of the company's karaoke franchise, SingStar. The game, which is available on Playstation 2 and Playstation 3, is titled SingStar Queen and has 25 songs on the PS3 and 20 on the PS2.

Under the supervision of May and Taylor, numerous restoration projects have been underway involving Queen's lengthy audio and video catalogue. DVD releases of their 1986 Wembley concert (titled Live At Wembley Stadium) and 1982 Milton Keynes concert (Queen on Fire - Live at the Bowl), and two Greatest Video Hits (Volumes 1 and 2, spanning the 1970s and 1980s) have seen the band's music remixed into 5.1 and DTS surround sound. So far, only two of the band's albums, A Night at the Opera and The Game, have been fully remixed into high-resolution multichannel surround on DVD-Audio. A Night at the Opera was re-released with some revised 5.1 mixes and accompanying videos in 2005 for the 30th anniversary of the album's original release (CD+DVD-Video set). In 2007, a BluRay edition of Queen's previously released concerts Queen Rock Montreal & Live Aid was released together marking their first project in 1080p HD.

In film and television

Queen contributed music directly to the movies Flash Gordon (1980, directed by Mike Hodges) and Highlander (the original 1986 film, directed by Russell Mulcahy). The theme song, "Princes of the Universe", was also used in the Highlander TV series (1992–1998). "One Year of Love" can be heard in "Highlander 2".

In the United States, "Bohemian Rhapsody" was re-released as a single in 1992 after appearing in Wayne's World. The single subsequently reached number two on the US Billboard chart (with "The Show Must Go On" as the first track on the single) and helped rekindle the band's popularity in North America.

Several films have featured their songs performed by other artists. A version of Somebody to Love was done by Anne Hathaway in the 2004 film Ella Enchanted. In 2006, Brittany Murphy also recorded a cover of the same song for the 2006 movie Happy Feet. In 2001, a version of "The Show Must Go On" was performed by Jim Broadbent and Nicole Kidman in the movie musical Moulin Rouge!. The closing credits of A Knight's Tale released in 2001 has a version of "We Are the Champions" performed by Robbie Williams and Queen; the introduction to the same movie features We Will Rock You played by the medieval audience. In 1992, the film "Gladiator" featured snippets of "We Will Rock You" performed by Warrant whereas their full version was released as a single.

Many films have featured their songs or sections of their songs. These include:

* Flash Gordon
* FM
* Highlander
* Iron Eagle
* I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry
* Kicking & Screaming
* Moulin Rouge!
* National Lampoon's Loaded Weapon
* The Break-up
* Small Soldiers

* Son in Law
* Encino Man
* Stepmom
* High Fidelity
* Super Size Me
* The Girl Next Door
* Mr. Wrong
* Revenge of the Nerds
* 10th Kingdom
* Wayne's World

* D2: The Mighty Ducks
* Shaun of the Dead
* How High
* Happy Feet
* Chicken Little
* Cheaper By The Dozen 2
* Grosse Pointe Blank
* Blackball
* Blades of Glory
* A Knight's Tale
* Mickey Blue Eyes
* Super Mario Bros.
* Ella Enchanted
* The Pacifier
* Late Last Night
* Peter's Friends
* The Heartbreak Kid
* Imax The Alps
* Zoom
* What Happens in Vegas
* Failure to Launch
* Step Brothers
* Observe and Report

Keeping in the tradition (since Season Five) of naming each season's episodes after songs from a famous 1970s era rock band (Led Zeppelin for the fifth season, The Who for the sixth and The Rolling Stones for the seventh), the eighth and final season of That '70s Show consisted of episodes named after Queen songs. "Bohemian Rhapsody" served as the season premiere.[42]

On 11 April 2006 Queen appeared on the American singing contest television show American Idol. Each contestant was required to sing a Queen song during that week of the competition. Songs which appeared on the show included "Bohemian Rhapsody", "Fat Bottomed Girls", "The Show Must Go On", "Who Wants to Live Forever", and "Innuendo". Brian May later criticised the show for editing specific scenes,[43] one which made the group's time with contestant Ace Young look negative, despite it being the opposite.

Al Murray's Happy Hour has a Queen theme, as it uses "Don't Stop Me Now" for the introduction and features guest performers along with host Al Murray singing different Queen songs each episode. The remainder of Queen did appear at the end of a series of the show.

"I Was Born to Love You" was used as the theme song of the Japanese drama Pride on Fuji Television in 2004, starring Takuya Kimura and Yūko Takeuchi. The show's soundtrack also contained other songs by Queen, including "We Will Rock You, "We Are the Champions" and "Bohemian Rhapsody".

The band made tentative plans to provide material for use in "The Hotel New Hampshire" but this project was abandoned. However, "Keep Passing The Open Windows" (which is an important catch-phrase line in the movie) did survive.

In musical theatre

In 2002, a musical or "rock theatrical" based on the songs of Queen, titled We Will Rock You, opened at the Dominion Theatre on London's West End. The musical was written by British comedian and author Ben Elton in collaboration with Brian May and Roger Taylor, and produced by Robert De Niro. It has since been staged in Madrid and Barcelona, Spain; Melbourne, Sydney, Perth, and Brisbane, Australia; Cologne, Germany; Vienna, Austria; Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; South Africa, Las Vegas United States; Zurich, Switzerland; Tokyo, Japan; Seoul, South Korea; Moscow, Russia; Varberg, Sweden; Auckland, New Zealand; Toronto, Canada; Hong Kong and Singapore.

The original London production was scheduled to close on Saturday, 7 October 2006 at the Dominion Theatre, but due to public demand, the show has now been extended indefinitely. We Will Rock You has become the longest running musical ever to run at this prime London theatre, overtaking the previous record holder, the Grease musical.[44]

The launch of the musical coincided with Queen Elizabeth II's Golden Jubilee. As part of the Jubilee celebrations Brian May performed a guitar solo of "God Save the Queen",[45] as featured on Queen's A Night at the Opera, from the roof of Buckingham Palace. The recording of this performance was used as video for the same song on the 30th Anniversary DVD edition of A Night at the Opera.

Sean Bovim created "Queen at the Ballet", a tribute to Freddie Mercury, which uses Queen's music as a soundtrack for the show’s dancers, who interpret the stories behind tracks such as "Bohemian Rhapsody", "Radio Ga Ga" and "Killer Queen."

Brian May has confirmed that they are considering writing a sequel to the musical.

In 2009 the musical is going on tour around the UK, the production can be seen at: Manchester Palace Theatre, Sunderland Empire, Birmingham Hippodrome, Bristol Hippohouse, Edinburgh Playhouse.

Sound and style

Queen composed music that drew inspiration from many different genres of music, often with a tongue-in-cheek attitude. Among the genres they have been associated with are: dance/disco,[46] glam rock,[47] hard rock,[47] heavy metal,[47] pop rock,[47] progressive rock[47] and psychedelic rock.[48] Queen also wrote songs that were inspired by genres that are not typically associated with rock, such as country, ragtime, opera, gospel, vaudeville and folk.

Sonic experimentation figured heavily in Queen's songs. A distinctive characteristic of Queen's music are the vocal harmonies which are usually composed of the voices of May, Mercury and Taylor best heard on the studio albums A Night at the Opera and A Day at the Races. Some of the ground work for the development of this sound can be attributed to their former producer Roy Thomas Baker as well as their engineer Mike Stone. Besides vocal harmonies, Queen were also known for multi-tracking voices to imitate the sound of a large choir through overdubs. According to Brian May, there are over 180 vocal overdubs in "Bohemian Rhapsody".[49] Many Queen songs were also written with audience participation in mind, such as "We Will Rock You" and "We Are the Champions".[50]

Influence on other musicians

More recently Queen have been recognised as having made significant contributions to such genres as arena rock,[citation needed] hard rock,[51] heavy metal,[52] pop rock and progressive rock,[citation needed] amongst others. Hence the band has been cited as an influence by many other musicians. Moreover, like their music, the collection of bands and artists that have claimed to be influenced by Queen is diverse and spans different generations, countries and genres.

Some of the musicians that have cited the band as an influence include: Anthrax[53], Ben Folds Five[54], Blind Guardian[55], Kurt Cobain[56], Def Leppard[57], Extreme[58], The Killers[59], Foo Fighters, Green Day[60], Guns N' Roses[61], Helloween[62], Iron Maiden[63], Judas Priest,[63]Kansas[64], Manic Street Preachers[65], Marianas Trench[66], Marilyn Manson, Metallica[67], My Chemical Romance (Flash and Under Pressure covers), Mika[68], Muse[69], Radiohead[70], The Smashing Pumpkins[71][72], Styx[73], Lady Gaga[74].

Queen have also been cited as a major influence on the "neo-classical metal" genre by Swedish guitarist Yngwie Malmsteen.[75] Metallica recorded a cover version of "Stone Cold Crazy", which first appeared on the "Rubaiyat — Electra's 40th Anniversary" album in 1990, and won the Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance in 1991. In the early '70s, Queen helped spur the heavy metal genre's evolution by discarding much of its blues influence;[52][63]the New Wave of British Heavy Metal followed in a similar vein, fusing the music with a punk rock sensibility and an increasing emphasis on speed.

Hit Singles
This section may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards.

Over the course of their career, Queen have been regarded[who?] as a consistent hit maker. Many of their songs reached either #1, or high positions in charts around the world. Queen have released three Greatest Hits Compilations though due to the definition of a hit[clarification needed], there should have been more singles in their Greatest Hits catalogs as some songs reached the top 40# or 30# in countries and have made the UK Top 75 or US Top 100. The following singles reached the UK Top 75 or the US Top 100.
Historical success

As of 2005, according to The Guinness Book of World Records, Queen albums have spent a total of 1,322 weeks or twenty-seven years on the United Kingdom album charts; more time than any other musical act including The Beatles and Elvis Presley.[76] Also in 2005, with the release of their live album with Paul Rodgers, Queen moved into third place on the list of acts with the most aggregate time spent on the British record charts.[77]

In 2006, the Greatest Hits album was found to be the United Kingdom's all-time best selling album, with sales upwards of 5,407,587 copies, over 604,295 more copies than its nearest competitor, The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Their Greatest Hits II album came in seventh with sales upwards of 3,631,321 copies.[78]

One of rock's most successful, influential and popular acts, the band has released a total of eighteen number one albums, eighteen number one singles, and ten number one DVDs worldwide making them one of the world's best-selling music artists. Their total record sales have been estimated at over 300 million worldwide[79] including 32.5 million in the United States[80] alone as of 2004. The band is also the only group in which every member has composed more than one chart-topping single.[81] Also, on January 2007, it was announced that Queen's Greatest Hits I & II was the most downloaded album on iTunes in the US.

Queen is also one of the most bootlegged bands ever, according to Nick Weymouth, who manages the band's online presence at www.queenonline.com.[82] A 2001 survey revealed the existence of 12,225 websites dedicated to Queen bootlegs, the highest number for any band.[83] Bootleg recordings have contributed to the band's popularity in certain countries where Western music is censored, such as Iran.[84] In a project called Queen: The Top 100 Bootlegs, many of these have been made officially available to download for a nominal fee from Queen's website, with profits going to the Mercury Phoenix Trust.[82]

Accolades

Inductions

* 2001 - The band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio.[85]
* 2002 - The band was given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.[86]
* 2003 - The band became the first and remain the only band, rather than individual, to be inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.[81]
* 2004 - The band was inducted into the UK Music Hall of Fame.[87]
* 2004 - "Bohemian Rhapsody" was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.[88]
* 2004 - The band was inducted into the RockWalk of Fame (at Guitar Center on Hollywood's Sunset Boulevard)[89]
* 2006 - The band was the first inducted into the VH1 Rock Honors.[90]
* 2009 - "We Will Rock You" and "We Are The Champions" are inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.[88]

Awards

* 1974
o Sounds: 3rd Best New British Band, 9th Best International Band
o Disc: 10th Brightest Hope
o NME: 2nd Most Promising New Name

* 1975
o Melody Maker: 'Band of the Year'[91]
o Record Mirror: 2nd Best British Newcomer, 2nd Best Single ("Killer Queen"), 9th International Group
o NME: 8th Best British Group, 7th Best Stage Band, 4th Most Promising Group In The World, 3rd Most Promising New Name, 17th Best World Group
o Disc: Top Live Band, Top International Group, Top British Group, Top Single ("Killer Queen"), 3rd Best Album (Sheer Heart Attack), 5th Best Album (Queen II)
o Ivor Novello Award to Mercury for "Killer Queen"[92]
o Golden Lion Award (Belgium) to Mercury for "Killer Queen"
o Carl Allen Award for contribution to the Ballroom Dancing Industry

* 1976
o NME: 1st British Stage Band, 2nd Group, 5th World Group, 3rd World Stage Band, Mercury: 7th World Singer, May: 3rd Top Guitarist, 1st British Single ("Bohemian Rhapsody"), 2nd Album ("A Night at the Opera")
o Record Mirror / Disc: 1st Best British Group, 1st World Group, No. 1 Single ("Bohemian Rhapsody"), No. 6 Album ("A Night at the Opera"), Mercury: 5th British Singer, 6th World Singer, 4th British Songwriter, 5th World Songwriter, May: 4th British Musician, 4th World Musician
o Sound: Best Band, Best Album (A Night at the Opera), Best Single ("Bohemian Rhapsody")[93]
o Ivor Novello Award to Mercury for "Bohemian Rhapsody"[92]

* 1977
o The BRIT Awards: Best British Single of the Last 25 Years ("Bohemian Rhapsody")[94]
o Europe One Radio: Most Potential Rock Band
o Daily Mail: Best Group

* 1979
o Music Life, Japan: Top Group, Top Album (Jazz), Top Single, Top Singer, Top Guitarist, Top Drummer, Top Bass Player

* 1980
o Juno Awards, Canada: Best Group, Best International Single ("Another One Bites the Dust"), Best International Album (The Game)
o Record World USA: Top Male Group, Top Producer, Top Disco Crossover (All awarded for "Another One Bites the Dust")
o Dick Clark Awards USA: Best Band
o Circus Magazine USA: 2nd Best Group, 1st Live Show, No. 1 Album (The Game), No. 1 Single ("Another One Bites the Dust"), No.3 Single ("Crazy Little Thing Called Love"), Mercury: 2nd Male Vocalist, 3rd Best Songwriter, 3rd Best Keyboard Player; 3rd Best Guitarist, 3rd Best Bassist, 3rd Best Drummer

* 1981
o American Music Awards: 'Favorite Pop/Rock Single' ("Another One Bites the Dust")[91]
o Music Life, Japan: Best Group, Best Vocalist, Best Bass Player, 2nd Best Guitarist, 2nd Drummer
o NARM Award USA: Biggest Selling Single of 1980 ("Another One Bites the Dust")

* 1984
o Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapy Silver Clef Award: Outstanding Contribution to British Music
o UK Video Awards: Highly Commended in Best Compilation Category for The Works EP. Best Video award for "Radio Ga Ga"

* 1986
o Daily Mirror Reader's Poll: Top British Group, Top Male Vocalist, 5th Best Album (A Kind of Magic)
o Daily Express: Best Album Cover Award (A Kind of Magic)
o British Video Awards: Top Music Video Award (Live In Rio)

* 1987
o Sun: Best Male Vocalist for Mercury
o Capital Radio London: Best Group
o Ivor Novello Award: for Outstanding Contribution to British Music
o British Video Awards: Best Video, Music category for "Live In Budapest"

* 1988
o Golden Rose Festival, Montreux: International Music Media Conference: Best Long Form Video worldwide (The Magic Years)
o Festerio, Rio De Janiero: Best video documentary (The Magic Years)

* 1989
o Independent Television Awards: Best Band of the Eighties
o US Film & Video Festival: Silver Screen Award (The Magic Years)
o Diamond Awards, Antwerp: Best Special Effects Award ("The Invisible Man")

* 1990
o The BRIT Awards: Outstanding Contribution to Music[92]

* 1991
o American Film & Video Festival, Chicago: Innuendo won 1st Prize, I'm Going Slightly Mad won 3rd Prize for Creative Excellence in the Art Culture and Performing Arts category
o Monitor Awards (International Teleproduction Society), New York City: Best Achievement in Music Video ("Innuendo")

* 1992
o The BRIT Awards: Mercury received a posthumous Outstanding Contribution To Music Award, Best Single Award ("These Are the Days of Our Lives";).[95]
o Ivor Novello Award: Best Single ("These Are the Days of Our Lives"), May received a Best TV Commercial Music Award ("Driven By You")
o Golden Giraffe Award: Greatest Hits II (Award given by the Association of Hungarian Record Producers)
o MTV Awards: Best Video From A Movie (Wayne's World)
o US Film & Video Festival, Chicago: Gold Camera Awards (The Freddie Mercury Tribute), (Greatest Flix II), ("The Show Must Go On") ("These Are the Days of Our Lives")

* 1993
o Ivor Novello Award: to Mercury ("Living on My Own") (posthumous)
o American Society Of Composers, Authors & Publishers: Mercury posthumously awarded for "Bohemian Rhapsody" as the Most Played Record in the U.S. of 1993
o Monitor Awards, Hollywood: "Red Couch" Awards (Greatest Flix II and "I'm Going Slightly Mad")

* 1997
o Ivor Novello Award: Best Song Lyrically & Musically ("Too Much Love Will Kill You")

* 2001
o Golden Rose Film Festival, Montreux: Prix de la Presse (The Freddie Mercury Untold Story)

* 2002
o New York Film Festival: Gold World Medal for the Best Television and Entertainment Program (Variety Special Section), Gold World Medal for the Best Home Video (Music Video Section) for The Freddie Mercury Untold Story
o Capital FM Awards: Outstanding Contribution to Music
o Guinness World Records: UK’s best single of the past 50 years ("Bohemian Rhapsody")
o Annual DVD Awards: Best DVD-Audio/Non Video (A Night at the Opera)
o Surround Music Awards: "Most Adventurous Mix" and "Listener's Choice" (A Night at the Opera)

* 2003
o Annual DVD Awards: Best DVD-Audio (The Game)
o DVD Awards At The Universal Sheraton: DVD-Audio Of The Year (The Game)
o Capital Legends Awards: Legendary Group
o European Music DVD-Award: Best Live DVD (Live At Wembley Stadium)
o Surround Music Award: "Best Mix: Non-Orchestral" (The Game)

* 2008
o New York City radio station Q104.3 FM WAXQ names Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" number 13 in their 2008 Top 1,043 Songs Of All Time listener-generated countdown.

Polls
Sister project Wikinews has related news: Queen voted Britain's greatest band

* 1999 - The band was voted the 2nd greatest band in music history.[96]
* 2005 - The band's performance at Live Aid is voted two times by a large selection of musicians and critics to be the greatest live show of all time.[32]
* 2007 - The band was voted the 'Best British Band Of All Time.'[97]
* 2008 - The band was voted the best rock band ever on the Internet site www.votenumber1.com. Millions of fans from over 40 countries voted.
* 2008 - The band enters the Grammy Hall of Fame.

Logo

The Queen logo, also known as the Queen Crest, was designed by Mercury (who earned a diploma in Illustration and Graphic Design from Ealing Art College in London) shortly before the release of their first album. The logo features the zodiac signs of all four members: two lions for Leo (Deacon and Taylor), a crab for Cancer (May), and two fairies for Virgo (Mercury).[95] The lions are embracing a stylised letter Q, the crab is resting atop the Q with flames rising directly above it, and the fairies are each sheltering below a lion. There is also a crown inside the Q and the whole logo is over-shadowed by an enormous phoenix. The whole symbol bears a passing resemblance to the Royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom, particularly with the lion supporters. The original logo, as found on the reverse-side of the first album cover, was a simple line drawing but more intricate colour versions were used on later album covers.

British Number Ones

Bohemian Rhapsody- 1975- 9 Weeks

Under Pressure- 1981- 2 Weeks

Innuendo- 1991- 1 Week

These Are The Days Of Our Lives/Bohemian Rhapsody- 5 Weeks

Background information

Origin London, :England
Genre(s) :Rock
Years active :1971–1997 [1]
Label(s) :EMI, Elektra, Capitol, Parlophone, Hollywood
Associated acts :Queen + Paul Rodgers, Smile, The Cross
Website :queenonline.com

Dream Theater

2009-05-06T20:42:00.000-07:00

Dream Theater is an American progressive metal band formed in 1985 under the name Majesty by John Myung, John Petrucci and Mike Portnoy while they attended Berklee College of Music in Boston, before they dropped out to support the band. Though a number of lineup changes followed, the three original members remain today along with James LaBrie and Jordan Rudess.

Dream Theater has become a successful progressive metal band. Although the band has had a few successful hits (notably "Pull Me Under" in the early 1990s, which received extensive MTV rotation), they have mostly stayed underground for their career.

The band is well known for the technical proficiency of its instrumentalists, who have won many awards from music instruction magazines. Dream Theater's members have collaborated with many other notable musicians. Guitarist John Petrucci has been named as the third player on the G3 tour six times, more than any other invited guitarist, following in the footsteps of Eric Johnson and Robert Fripp.

The band's highest selling album is the gold selling Images and Words (1992), which reached #61 on the Billboard 200 charts.[1] Both the 1994 release Awake and their 2002 release Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence also entered the charts at #32 and #46 respectively and received mostly positive reviews. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence also led to Dream Theater becoming the initial band reviewed in the Music Section of Entertainment Weekly during its opening week of release, despite the magazine generally preferring more mainstream music. In 2007, Systematic Chaos entered US Billboard 200 at #19.[1] Dream Theater has sold over two million albums in the U.S.,[2] and over 8 million records worldwide.[3] The band has finished recording their tenth studio album, Black Clouds & Silver Linings, which is scheduled for release on June 23.

History

Formation (1985)

Dream Theater was formed in September 1985 when guitarist John Petrucci and bassist John Myung decided to form a band in their spare time while studying at the Berklee College of Music. The pair came across drummer Mike Portnoy in one of Berklee's rehearsal rooms, where he was asked to join the band. The trio started off by covering Iron Maiden and Rush songs in the rehearsal rooms at Berklee.

Myung, Petrucci, and Portnoy settled on the name Majesty for their newly formed group. According to the The Score So Far… documentary, they were waiting in line for tickets to a Rush concert at the Berklee Performance Center while listening to the band on a boom box. Portnoy commented that the ending of the song "Bastille Day" (from the album Caress of Steel) sounded "majestic." It was then decided that Majesty would be the band's name.

The trio then set out to fill the remaining positions in the group. Petrucci asked his high school band-mate Kevin Moore to play keyboards. After accepting the position, another friend from home, Chris Collins, was recruited as lead vocalist after band members heard him sing a cover of "Queen of the Reich" by Queensrÿche[5] During this time, Portnoy, Petrucci and Myung's hectic schedules forced them to abandon their studies to concentrate on their music, as they did not feel they could learn more in College. Moore also left his college, SUNY Fredonia, to concentrate on the band.

The Majesty Demos and the birth of "Dream Theater" (1986–1987)

The beginning months of 1986 were filled with various concert dates in and around the New York City area. During this time, the band recorded a collection of demos, titled The Majesty Demos. The initial run of 1,000 sold out within six months, and dubbed copies of the cassette became popular within the progressive metal scene. The Majesty Demos are still available in their original tape format today, despite being released officially on CD through Mike Portnoy's YtseJam Records.

In November 1986, after a few months of writing and performing together, Chris Collins left the band due to creative differences. After a year of trying to find a replacement, Charlie Dominici, who was far older and more experienced than anyone else in the band, successfully auditioned for the group. With the stability that Dominici's appointment brought to Majesty, they began to increase the number of shows played in the New York City area, gaining a considerable amount of exposure.

Shortly after hiring Dominici, a Las Vegas group also named Majesty[6] threatened legal action for intellectual property infringement related to the use of their name, so the band was forced to adopt a new moniker. Various possibilities were proposed and tested, among them Glasser, Magus, and M1, which were all rejected [7] until Portnoy's father suggested the name Dream Theater, the name of a movie house in Monterey, California.

When Dream and Day Unite (1988–1990)

With this stability, Dream Theater concentrated on writing more material while playing more concerts in New York and in neighboring states. This eventually attracted the attention of Mechanic Records, a division of MCA. Dream Theater signed their first record contract with Mechanic on June 23, 1988 and set out to record their debut album. The band recorded the album at Kajem Victory Studios in Gladwyne, PA. Recording the basic tracks took about 10 days, and the entire album was completed in about 3 weeks
When Dream and Day Unite was released in 1989 to far less fanfare than the band had anticipated. Mechanic ended up breaking the majority of the financial promises they had made to Dream Theater prior to signing their contract, so the band was restricted to playing around New York City. The promotional tour for the album consisted of just five concerts, all of which were relatively local. Their first show was at Sundance in Bay Shore, New York opening for the classic rock power trio Zebra.

After the fourth show, Dominici was fired because of personal and creative differences. Shortly after, however, the band Marillion asked Dream Theater to open for them at a gig at the Ritz in New York, so Dominici was given the opportunity to perform one last time. It would be another two years before Dream Theater had a replacement vocalist.

images and Words (1991–1993)
Following Dominici's firing, Dream Theater fought successfully to be released from their contract with Mechanic, and set about auditioning singers and writing material for their next album. In their search for a new singer they auditioned over 200 people, among them former Fates Warning front man John Arch; all were turned down. In mid-1990, at a gig in New York, Dream Theater introduced Steve Stone as their new singer. He performed just three songs with the band before he was fired for performing less than adequately.[10] It was five months before Dream Theater played another show, this time all-instrumental (under the name YtseJam). Until mid-1992 the band remained focused in an attempt to hire another singer and writing additional music.[9] It was during this period that they wrote the majority of what would become the 1992's Images and Words.

In late 1991, Kevin James LaBrie, of glam metal band Winter Rose, was flown from Canada to New York for an audition. LaBrie jammed on three songs with the band, and was immediately hired to fill the vocalist position. Once recruited, LaBrie decided to drop his first name to avoid confusion with the other Kevin in the band. For the next few months, the band returned to playing live shows (still mostly around NYC), while working on vocal parts for the music written before acquiring LaBrie. Derek Shulman and ATCO Records (now EastWest), a division of Elektra Records, signed Dream Theater to a seven album contract based on a three song demo (later made available as "The ATCO Demos" through the Dream Theater fan club).

The first album to be recorded under their new record contract was 1992's Images and Words. For promotion, the label released a CD Single and video clip for the song "Another Day," but neither made significant commercial impact. The song "Pull Me Under," however, managed to garner a high level of radio airplay without any organized promotion from the band or their label. In response, ATCO produced a video clip for "Pull Me Under," which saw heavy rotation on MTV. A third video clip was produced for "Take the Time," but it was not nearly as successful as "Pull Me Under."

The success of "Pull Me Under," combined with relentless touring throughout the U.S. and Japan, caused Images and Words to achieve gold record certification in the States and platinum status in Japan. A tour of Europe followed in 1993, which included a show at London's famed Marquee Club. The show was recorded and released as Live at the Marquee, Dream Theater's first official live album. Additionally, a video compilation of their Japanese concerts (mixed in with documentary-style footage of the off-stage portion of the tour) was released as Images and Words: Live in Tokyo.

Awake (1994)
Eager to work on fresh material, Dream Theater retreated to the studio in May 1994. Awake, Dream Theater's third studio album, was released on October 4 1994 in a hail of controversy among fans. Shortly before the album was mixed, Moore announced to the rest of the band that he was simply no longer interested in touring, nor did he favor the style of music Dream Theater performed and would be quitting Dream Theater to concentrate on his own musical interests.[11] As a result, the band had to scramble to find a replacement keyboardist before a tour could be considered. The album was received very well by both critics and fans. The album has been seen by some as Dream Theater's darkest album mainly due to lyrical content with many of the songs dealing with internal conflicts. For example, The Mirror explores the topic of alcoholism, from which Portnoy was recovering at the time.

Jens Johansson, who would go on to become a member of Stratovarius, was among the biggest names to audition, however the band members were eager to fill the position with keyboardist Jordan Rudess. Portnoy and Petrucci had come across Rudess in Keyboard Magazine, where he was recognized as "best new talent" in the readers' poll. The two invited him to play a trial gig with the band at the Concrete Foundations Forum in Burbank, CA.[9] For the members of Dream Theater, the show went incredibly well, and Rudess was asked to fill the keyboardist position permanently, however Rudess opted to tour with The Dixie Dregs instead, since it granted him more personal latitude. Disappointed, Dream Theater hired fellow Berklee alumnus Derek Sherinian, whose previous work included stints with Alice Cooper and Kiss, to fill in for the Awake promotional tour. By the conclusion of the tour, the band decided to take Sherinian on as Moore's full-time replacement.

A Change of Seasons and Falling into Infinity (1995–1998)

Once again finding themselves with a new member, Dream Theater did not immediately start working on new material. Fans around the world, united on the YtseJam Mailing List (the most popular form of communication between Dream Theater fans at that point), had started placing pressure on the band to officially release the song "A Change of Seasons". It had been written in 1989 and was intended to be a part of Images and Words, but at almost 17 minutes, it was deemed too long for studio placement. However, the band did perform it live on occasion while continuing to revise it in the years leading up to 1995.

The petition was successful, and the group entered BearTracks Studios in New York in April 1995 to rewrite and record the 23 minute song with Sherinian contributing significantly to the final product. To disseminate "A Change of Seasons", the band released it as an EP along with a collection of cover songs recorded live at the Uncovered fan club gig.

After a short run of small concerts to promote A Change of Seasons, Dream Theater took a break for a few months. To keep busy, however, the band released a special Christmas CD through their official fan club, consisting of rare live tracks recorded during the band's early years. They continued releasing a new CD each Christmas until 2005.[12] Also during the break the individual members set out to write compositions for their upcoming collaborative writing sessions.

Meanwhile, there were several changes at EastWest, and Dream Theater's main contact within the label was fired. As a result, the new team at the company were unaccustomed to the relationship Dream Theater had with former EastWest personnel, and they pressured Dream Theater to write an album that was more accessible. At the end of 1996, they entered the studio to write their next album. In addition to pressuring the band to adopt a more mainstream sound, EastWest recruited writer/producer Desmond Child to work with Petrucci on polishing the lyrics to his song "You Or Me". The whole band substantially reworked the music to the song, and it appeared on the album as "You Not Me" with a chorus that was barely reminiscent of the original. Child also had a noticeable impact on the album, with a shift towards compositions that were less complex and more radio-friendly.

The band wrote almost two CDs worth of material, including a 20 minute long follow-up to the Images and Words song "Metropolis Part 1: The Miracle and the Sleeper". The label, however, did not allow the release of a double album because it felt that a 140-minute record would not be digestible by the general public. James LaBrie also felt that the CD should be a single disc.[13] The unused songs were later released in the Ytsejam Records release The Falling Into Infinity Demos[14].

The material that made it onto the album proper was released as Falling Into Infinity, which received a mixed reception from fans who were more familiar with the band's earlier sound. While the album was moderately progressive-sounding, tracks such as "Hollow Years" and "You Not Me" prompted some to believe it was the dawn of a new, mainstream-sounding Dream Theater. Overall, the album was both a critical and commercial disappointment. Although Portnoy didn't speak out publicly at the time, many years later, in the 2004 DVD commentary for 5 Years in a LIVEtime, he revealed that he had been so discouraged during this period he'd considered disbanding Dream Theater altogether.

During the European leg of the Falling Into Infinity world tour, two shows were recorded for a live album entitled Once In A LIVEtime, in France and The Netherlands. The album was released at around the same time as the video 5 Years in a LIVEtime, which chronicled the time from when Kevin Moore left the band up to the Falling Into Infinity promotional tour.

Scenes from a Memory and first live DVD (1999–2001)

In 1997, Magna Carta Records' Mike Varney invited Portnoy to assemble a progressive 'supergroup' to work on an album, which would become the first in a long string of side-projects for the members of Dream Theater.[15] The lineup consisted of Portnoy on drums, Petrucci on guitar, Tony Levin on bass, and keyboardist Jordan Rudess, who had finished with the Dixie Dregs. The band assumed the name Liquid Tension Experiment, and would act as a medium through which Portnoy and Petrucci could once again court Rudess to join Dream Theater. In 1999, he accepted an offer to become the third full-time Dream Theater keyboardist, replacing Sherinian.[4]

With yet another new member, Dream Theater entered BearTracks Studio once again to write and record their next album. As a result of an ultimatum from Portnoy, the label gave the band complete creative control. The follow-up to "Metropolis Part 1", which was written during the Falling Into Infinity sessions (but not used on that album), was taken off the shelf for reworking. They decided to expand the 20-minute song into a complete concept album, with a story revolving around themes such as reincarnation, murder and betrayal. To avoid stirring up the fan base, a tight veil of secrecy enveloped the writing and recording process. The only things fans were privy to prior to its release were a track list that had been leaked against the band's wishes, and a release date. In 1999, Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory was released to high critical acclaim. It was hailed as Dream Theater's masterpiece by many fans and critics alike, despite only reaching #73 on the US album chart.[1]

A massive world tour followed, taking over a year to complete, by far their largest to that point. The concerts reflected the theatrical aspect of the album. They played the entire Scenes From a Memory album from start to finish, with a video screen on the back wall of the stage showing a narrative companion to the story of the album. In addition to playing the album in its entirety, the band also played a second set of Dream Theater songs, as well as a few covers and improvisations of old Dream Theater material. For one extra special show, at the Roseland Ballroom in New York City, actors were hired to play characters in the story, and a gospel choir was enlisted to perform in some sections of the performance.

This show, the last North American date of the tour, was recorded for the band's first DVD release. After many technical delays, the DVD, titled Metropolis 2000, was released in early 2001. Shortly after, the band announced that an audio version of the concert, with the entire four-hour long set-list (most of which had to be cut from the DVD to save space), would be released.

The cover for the CD version of the concert, titled Live Scenes from New York, depicted one of Dream Theater's early logos (the Images And Words-era burning heart, modeled on the Sacred Heart of Christ) modified to show an apple (as in "Big Apple") instead of the heart, and the New York skyline, including the twin towers of the World Trade Center, in the flame above it. In an unfortunate coincidence, the album was released on the same date as the September 11, 2001 attacks. The album was quickly recalled by the band and was re-released with revised artwork later

Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence (2002)

Putting the whole ordeal behind them, Dream Theater once again entered BearTracks Studios to record their sixth studio album. Four years after they first petitioned EastWest to allow them to release a double album, they finally got their chance with Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence. The first disc consisted of five tracks of 7–13 minutes in length, and the second disc was devoted entirely to the 42-minute title track, which is to date the longest song Dream Theater has written. The genesis of that song came when Rudess wrote what would become the "Overture" section of "Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence", and the band took some different melodies and ideas contained within it and expanded them into chapters of the complete piece.[4]

Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence ended up being received very well by critics and the press. It was the most publicized of Dream Theater's albums since Awake, debuting on the Billboard charts at #46[1] and the Billboard Internet charts at #1.[17] Throughout the next year and a half they toured the world once more, with an expanded live show including a select few special "album cover" gigs (see Cover songs section, below), in which they played Metallica's Master of Puppets and Iron Maiden's The Number of the Beast in their entirety.

Train of Thought and Live at Budokan (2003–2004)

During 2003, Dream Theater entered the studio to write and record another album. Since Scenes From A Memory was written and recorded simultaneously in the studio, in the spirit of change, the band took a different approach by setting aside three weeks for writing prior to recording. In the middle of the recording sessions for the album, a special tour with two other progressive metal bands, Queensrÿche and Fates Warning, was undertaken in North America. The "Escape From The Studio American tour", as it was referred to in Dream Theater's promotional material, featured Queensrÿche and Dream Theater as co-headlining acts with Fates Warning performing supporting act duties. As a finale for each concert there was an extended encore in which both Dream Theater and Queensrÿche performed together on stage simultaneously, often playing cover songs.

At the completion of the tour, Dream Theater returned to the studio to finish the recording of their seventh album, Train of Thought. They concentrated more on writing a great song-oriented album, a mindset inspired by covering Master of Puppets and Number of the Beast on a previous concert tour. As a result, the more straight-forward metal sound of those two albums seemed to creep into Train of Thought.[18] The album was a critical success, but it alienated a fair proportion of Dream Theater's fans who preferred traditional progressive rock, such as Yes or King Crimson. Regardless, it seemed to expand Dream Theater's fan base into new territory, capturing many more metal fans.[4]

Another world tour followed, during which Dream Theater performed support act duties for one of their major influences, Yes. A modest North American tour was completed by the two bands, after which Dream Theater continued to tour the world with their so-called "An Evening With Dream Theater" shows.

Their next move was to release another live CD/DVD combination, this time recorded at the famous Nippon Budokan Hall in Tokyo, Japan on their Train of Thought world tour. Live at Budokan was released on October 5, 2004, and further propelled Dream Theater's reputation as one of the premier live acts in progressive metal.

Octavarium and Score (2005–2006)

Upon the completion of their Train of Thought promotional tour, Dream Theater entered the Hit Factory studios in NYC to record their eighth album. As it turned out, they would be the last group ever to record in that famous studio, and after they wrapped up their final session, the lights were turned off at the studio forever. [19]

Octavarium was released on June 7, 2005, and took the band's sound in yet another new direction. Among its eight songs is a continuation of Portnoy's "Twelve-step" saga ("The Root of All Evil", steps 6-7 in the 12-step plan), as well as the title track, a musically versatile 24 minute epic rivaling "A Change of Seasons". Octavarium received mixed reviews from fans and has been the subject of spirited debate. Octavarium was the last album under their seven-album deal with Elektra Records, which had inherited the contract upon its absorption of EastWest Records.

Dream Theater toured extensively throughout 2005 and 2006 to celebrate their 20th Anniversary as a band, including a headlining spot on Gigantour. During a show on August 2, 2005 in Dallas, the band paid tribute to Pantera's late guitarist Dimebag Darrell by performing the song "Cemetery Gates" as an encore. In addition was the unexpected appearance of fellow musicians Russell Allen, Burton C. Bell and Dave Mustaine, who joined the band on stage to perform parts of the song.

Dream Theater later departed from Gigantour and continued on with their own series of concerts. The 20th anniversary tour concluded with a show at Radio City Music Hall in New York City on April 1, 2006. Though the show had minimal promotion, it was sold out days after tickets were made available. This show, which was recorded for a CD/DVD called Score released on August 29, 2006 through Rhino Records, was the band's first concert accompanied by a full symphonic orchestra (the "Octavarium Orchestra").

Systematic Chaos (2007)

Dream Theater's latest album Systematic Chaos was released on June 5, 2007. The record marked their first with new label Roadrunner Records, a subsidiary of Atlantic Records. Roadrunner implemented increased promotion for the album, and as a result, Systematic Chaos reached number 19 on the Billboard 200, marking the highest initial charting album in Dream Theater's career.[20] It also saw the release of a video for "Constant Motion" on July 14, the band's first music video since the mid-1990s. An authorized book entitled Lifting Shadows, detailing their first twenty years, was also released in 2007.[21] Systematic Chaos contains eight tracks, but technically only seven songs. The album contains an epic titled "In the Presence of Enemies", bookending the album as tracks 1 and 8, Portnoy's continuing AA Saga with the song "Repentance", and a song of political nature, "Prophets of War".

The 2007/2008 Chaos In Motion World Tour started off in Italy. Dream Theater played in the Gods of Metal concert on June 3, 2007.[22] Dream Theater also appeared at the Fields Of Rock Festival in the Netherlands on June 17, 2007.[23] They also played at various other European festivals including the UK's Download Festival and the French festival Hellfest Summer Open Air with other bands such as Megadeth, Korn, Mastodon and Slayer.

Dream Theater returned to perform the North American leg of the tour on July 24 in San Diego, California and wrapped up on August 26 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They played with opening acts Redemption and Into Eternity. The "Chaos In Motion" tour continued for the rest of the year and into 2008, playing shows in Asia, South America and, for the first time, Australia.[24]
Greatest Hit and Chaos in Motion (2008)

On April 1, 2008, a two-disc compilation album entitled Greatest Hit (...and 21 Other Pretty Cool Songs) was released by the band. The title jokingly references the song "Pull Me Under", the band's only significant radio hit. It also includes three song re-mixes from their second album, Images and Words, five edited versions of previously released songs, and a track from a single B-Side. Unlike most Greatest Hits compilations, Dream Theater was actively involved with the album, coming up with the tracklisting that they felt best represented their musical careers. The album was their last with longtime label, Atlantic Records.

Dream Theater recently finished their package tour dubbed as "Progressive Nation Tour 2008," which started on April 29. Joining them on the tour were Opeth, Between the Buried and Me as well as 3[25]. Unlike previous Dream Theater tours, performances were held in cities that they had not visited before in the past (such as Vancouver, Canada) or cities they hadn't played in for several years. This tour also marked the first time, since the release of Images and Words, where the group performed in small venues and performance halls.

After this tour, the band released a DVD set called Chaos in Motion 2007–2008. It is a compilation of songs from the tour supporting their 9th album, Systematic Chaos. There were two sets of DVDs released. One is a regular two disk set while the Special Edition set contains three CDs of music that go along with the DVDs. It was released on September 30, 2008.

Black Clouds & Silver Linings (2009)

Mike Portnoy announced on June 2, 2008 that the band would be entering the studio to record a new album. On October 7, 2008, Dream Theater began work on their 10th album. The album, which is titled Black Clouds & Silver Linings, will be released on June 23, 2009. In addition to the standard CD, the album will be available on vinyl LP, as well as a 3-disc Special Edition CD that will include the full album, a CD of instrumental mixes of the album and a CD of six cover songs, the titles of which will be revealed at a later date.

When announcing news of the album's progress on his forum, Mike Portnoy described the album as "a DT album with 'A Change of Seasons', 'Octavarium', 'Learning to Live', 'Pull Me Under' and 'The Glass Prison'....all on one album..." Jordan Rudess later added, "...We've been entering into the Gothic domain quite a bit on this album."

On February 27, Mike Portnoy confirmed on the Eddie Trunk Radio Show that Dream Theater has completed recording and that mixing would begin March 2. Audio and video updates are available through Jordan Rudess' website.[30] The songs "A Nightmare to Remember" and "A Rite of Passage" were leaked onto the internet on various torrent sites after being broadcast on a Portuguese radio station.

On May 1, Mike Portnoy spoke to Metal Hammer about the new album for their podcast saying that while 'The Shattered Fortress' was the last in a series of songs about his 12 Steps recovery from alcoholism, 'The Best Of Times' "is a real heavy personal subject about my dad who passed away during the making of the album," adding, "He was battling cancer throughout its making."

The band has also announced a second Progressive Nation tour, including the tour's first performances in Europe. Opeth, Bigelf and Unexpect will support Dream Theater in Europe, while Zappa Plays Zappa, Pain of Salvation and Beardfish will open the North American leg.

Live performances

Throughout their career, Dream Theater's live shows have gradually become bigger, longer, and more diverse. The most obvious example of this is their rotational set list policy. That is, every single night of every tour has its set list devised by Portnoy using a meticulous process that ensures its uniqueness. Factors such as set lists from previous cities are taken into account to ensure that people who see Dream Theater multiple times within the same area will not see the same songs performed twice, and even the set list from the last time the band was in a particular city is taken into account for the benefit of fans who see the band on successive tours.
For this to be possible, the band prepares to play the majority of its catalogue at any performance, depending on what Portnoy decides to program for that night. This process also requires the employment of a complex lighting system to load pre-configured lighting cues based on the individual songs.

Some of Dream Theater's more notable touring partners include Deep Purple, Emerson Lake and Palmer, Iron Maiden, Joe Satriani, King's X, Marillion, Megadeth, In Flames, Pain of Salvation, Porcupine Tree, Opeth, Queensrÿche, Riverside, Spock's Beard, Fear Factory, Enchant, Symphony X, and Yes. In 2005, Dream Theater toured North America with the Gigantour festival, co-headlining with Megadeth, and have played with Megadeth and Iron Maiden physically on stage.

The band's full world tours, since Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence, have predominantly been so-called "Evening with..." tours, in which the band performs for at least three hours with an intermission and no opening act. The show that was recorded for Live Scenes From New York was nearly four hours in length, and resulted in Portnoy almost being hospitalized after acquiring severe food poisoning from the food he ate after the show.
here is also a significant amount of humor, casualness, and improvisation attached to a Dream Theater concert. In the midst of "A Change of Seasons" it is quite common for themes such as those for Major League Baseball and The Simpsons to be quoted, and Rudess routinely modifies his solo section in the song and others, often playing the ragtime section of "When the Water Breaks" from Liquid Tension Experiment 2. Several songs included on Once in a LIVETime include snippets of others' pieces, such as Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Free Bird" and Rimsky-Korsakov's "Flight of the Bumblebee." Other quotations include "Mary Had a Little Lamb" during "Endless Sacrifice" on the Gigantour, a calliope-inspired break between verses of "Under a Glass Moon", a quote of "Don't Cry for Me, Argentina"'s main melody played by Petrucci while performing the intro solo of "Through Her Eyes" in Buenos Aires, the Turkish March at a concert in Istanbul, and the opening riff of Rush's A Passage to Bangkok at a show in Bangkok, Thailand. On the most recent "20th Anniversary World Tour" Rudess has even thrown in a short "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" theme in a break during "Endless Sacrifice".

Occasionally, a member of the audience is picked at random to perform on stage, an example of which can be seen during Portnoy's drum solo on the Live at Budokan DVD. There have also been many impromptu renditions of "Happy Birthday" when a member of the band or crew has a birthday corresponding to a tour date, which normally results in a birthday cake being thrown at the subject.

Perhaps the best example of Dream Theater's unpredictable concert structure is that during Derek Sherinian's time with the band. At selected shows the band members all swapped instruments and performed an encore as the fictitious band dubbed Nightmare Cinema. They usually performed a cover of Deep Purple's "Perfect Strangers", and, on one occasion, Ozzy Osbourne's "Suicide Solution." At some shows, Sherinian, Petrucci and Portnoy would take the stage together under the name "Nicky Lemons and the Migraine Brothers". Sherinian, wearing a feather boa and novelty sunglasses, would perform a pop-punk song entitled "I Don't Like You" with Petrucci and Portnoy backing. In Chaos in Motion tour in several concerts before Trial of Tears Portnoy and Petrucci would change positions and play Van Halen's Eruption.

Dream Theater's largest audience as a headlining act was 20,000 in Santiago, Chile on December 6, 2005. This was during their first tour of South American countries other than Brazil (which they had visited in 1997 and 1998).

In the Score and Chaos in Motion DVDs, an animation has accompanied certain parts of the songs, showing the band playing along to the music as cartoon characters. On the Score DVD, during the song Octavarium, the band is seen performing in an octagonal shaped maze. As the animation continues Jordan Rudess spontaneously turns into Santa Claus and John Petrucci catches fire. In The Dark Eternal Night from the Chaos in Motion DVD, the band battles against a monster by shooting fireballs from guitars, throwing drum sticks, and screaming.

Dream Theater just wrapped up their highly successful "Progressive Nation '08" tour, along with Opeth, Between the Buried and Me, and 3. The tour is the brainchild of Mike Portnoy, who stated, "I've been wanting to assemble a package tour like this for many years now. With all of the festivals and package tours that go through America, I've been talking with our manager and agent for over 10 years now about doing something that focuses on the more progressive, musician-oriented side of hard rock and metal. I decided it was time to stop talking the talk, lace up and finally walk the walk."

On February 13, 2009, Dream Theater announced the official line up for their Progressive Nation 2009 tour. The featured bands include Swedish bands Beardfish and Pain of Salvation, as well as Zappa plays Zappa. The tour is scheduled for a North American run throughout July and August 2009. Official dates have not been announced. On March 26, 2009 it was announced that Dream Theater would take the Progressive Nation tour to Europe for the first time alongside Opeth, Bigelf and Unexpect. The tour is scheduled to run throughout September, October and November 2009.

Bootleg culture

Mike Portnoy started an official bootlegs series in response to Dream Theater fans' affinity for live versions of their concerts. Dream Theater is one of the most actively bootlegged bands in the progressive metal genre. Since their very first shows in New York as Majesty, fans have recorded almost every single show that Dream Theater have played (occasionally there are three or four versions of a single concert), and some very elaborate and professional recordings have been released.

However, not every member in the band condones the release of Dream Theater bootlegs. Portnoy is the most pro-bootlegging member, since he was an avid collector of many bootlegs in his younger days and keeps his own personal archive of Dream Theater material in his basement. Petrucci and LaBrie have voiced opposition to people recording their concerts. Petrucci takes issue with bootleggers because he prefers audience members to concentrate on the musicians on stage, and not the level adjustments on their recording device. LaBrie, on the other hand, argues that bootlegging takes ownership and control over Dream Theater's performances away from the band themselves and into the hands of the public. Myung has expressed mild opposition to bootlegging, but in some interviews has mentioned that he does not particularly take great issue with it.

Dream Theater have released a series of official bootlegs, demos and other rarities through YtseJam Records, headed by Portnoy.[45] They include demos the band put out before official albums, as well as many live shows, including shows where the band has covered a particular album. Albums covered include Dark Side of the Moon, Made in Japan, Master of Puppets, and Number of the Beast.

Cover songs

Dream Theater has been known for covering other artists' work throughout their career. They took this practice to a new level during the promotional tour for Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence. At three special gigs, one each in Barcelona, Chicago and New York City, they covered Metallica's Master of Puppets album in its entirety after a full set of Dream Theater material. This came as a surprise to fans, as there was no sign that this was to occur, other than it being announced that the gigs involved, which were on the second night of a two-night stand in each city, would be "extra special". This tradition can most likely be traced back to one of Mike Portnoy's favorite bands, Phish, who began a series of performing "musical costumes" of entire albums from other artists each Halloween beginning in 1994. Portnoy devised this "album cover" as the first in a series of gigs to be played as tributes to bands that had been influential in the formation and development of Dream Theater. The covers set divided many fans who attended the shows, with some people saying that they went to a Dream Theater concert to see original music and not another artist's work. Others, however, said that it was a bonus and not a replacement for a normal Dream Theater concert, since an ordinary gig had been played the night before.

On the next leg of the tour they covered Iron Maiden's The Number of the Beast and received a similar reaction to Master of Puppets, although it was already known that a cover was to be performed that night because the tour itinerary included two successive gigs in a single city. On October 11, 2005, Dream Theater covered Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon. Dream Theater's official webpage stated that the second sets of the second nights in Amsterdam, London, Buenos Aires, São Paulo and Tokyo (October 11, October 25, December 4, December 11 and January 13 respectively), and also the second set of the January 15 show in Osaka, would be a classic album covered in its entirety. Dark Side of the Moon was played again on October 25 in London. However, in Buenos Aires (December 4) and São Paulo (December 11) the 'classic album' played was Dream Theater's own Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory, to make up for not having visited Argentina and Brazil in their Metropolis 2000 tour. On January 13, 2006 (Tokyo) and on the 15th (Osaka), Dream Theater covered Deep Purple's live album Made in Japan. Portnoy says that he has one more cover show planned, but refuses to reveal when it will occur, or what album will be covered.

During Gigantour 2005, Dream Theater did a cover of Pantera's "Cemetery Gates" as a tribute to "Dimebag" Darrel Lance Abbott. As an added bonus, they had Burton C. Bell of Fear Factory, and Russell Allen of Symphony X do guest vocals and Dave Mustaine of Megadeth, do the main solo for the song.

In March 2006, Dream Theater played the rare Rush song Jacob's Ladder at a show in Toronto. John Petrucci said a few days later in Asbury Park, NJ, prior to the night's show, that Rush "wouldn't play it, so we thought we'd play it for them."

In addition, Dream Theater released several live cover songs on their EP A Change of Seasons, including songs from Elton John, Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, Queen, Pink Floyd, Genesis, Journey, Kansas, and Dixie Dregs.

In 2008, they recorded a version of Iron Maiden's "To Tame a Land" for a Kerrang magazine compilation entitled Maiden Heaven.

Discography
Main article: Dream Theater discography
When Dream and Day Unite (1989)
Images and Words (1992)
Awake (1994)
Falling into Infinity (1997)
Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory (1999)
Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence (2002)
Train of Thought (2003)
Octavarium (2005)
Systematic Chaos (2007)
Black Clouds & Silver Linings (2009)

In addition to the above official albums, the members of Dream Theater, past and present, have contributed to hundreds of bootleg albums, both official and unofficial, side projects, collaborations with other artists, and guest appearances.

Band members
Main article: List of Dream Theater band members
James LaBrie - Lead vocals, Percussion (1991-present)
John Myung - Bass guitar, Chapman stick (1985-present)
John Petrucci - Guitars, Backing vocals (1985-present)
Mike Portnoy - Drums, Percussion, Backing vocals (1985-present)
Jordan Rudess - Keyboards, Continuum, Lap steel guitar (1999-present)

Former members
Chris Collins - Lead vocals (1985-1986)
Charlie Dominici - Lead vocals (1986-1989)
Kevin Moore - Keyboards (1985-1994)
Derek Sherinian - Keyboards, Backing vocals (1994-1999)

Awards and certificates
RIAA gold and platinum certification
Images and Words (Gold) - February 2, 1995
Metropolis 2000: Live Scenes From New York (Gold) - November 8, 2002
Live at Budokan (DVD) (Platinum) - January 26, 2005
Live in Tokyo/5 Years in a Livetime (Platinum) - March 22, 2006
Score (DVD) (Platinum) - October 11, 2006
Keyboard Magazine

Jordan Rudess was awarded the following 'Keyboard Magazine Reader's Poll award':
Best New Talent (1994)
Burrn magazine's best keyboards player of the year (2007)
Modern Drummer

Mike Portnoy won the following Modern Drummer magazine Reader's Poll awards:
Best Up & Coming Talent (1994)
Best Progressive Rock Drummer (1995-2006)
Best Recorded Performance (1995 for Awake, 1996 for A Change of Seasons, 1998 for Falling Into Infinity, 2000 for Metropolis, Pt. 2: Scenes From a Memory, 2002 for Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence, and 2007 for Score)
Best Clinician (2000, 2002)
Best Educational Video/DVD (2000, 2002)
Hall of Fame Inductee (2004)
Guitar World

The album Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory was ranked #95 on the magazine's list of the 100 Greatest Guitar Albums of All Time.
Total Guitar

John Petrucci won Guitarist of the year award (2007).

Dream Theater

Background information
Origin :Long Island, NY
Genre(s) :Progressive metal
Years active :1985–present
Label(s) :Roadrunner, Elektra, EastWest, Atco, Mechanic Records
Associated acts :Liquid Tension Experiment, Liquid Trio Experiment, Explorers Club, MullMuzzler, Nightmare Cinema, OSI, Platypus, The Jelly Jam, Transatlantic, True Symphonic Rockestra, Chroma Key
Website :www.dreamtheater.net

Members
James LaBrie
John Myung
John Petrucci
Mike Portnoy
Jordan Rudess

Former members
Chris Collins
Charlie Dominici
Kevin Moore
Derek Sherinian

Basic Speed Building Exercises

2009-05-05T11:01:00.000-07:00

Building speed is one of the hardest parts of learning how to play guitar. These are some basic patterns to help you work on building speed. These involve doing hammer-ons and pull-offs, so make sure you can do them well enough.

You can do these on any string you want, how fast you get is what's important.

1.) The easiest one you can do is just playing 1 note, and hammer-on or pull off the two next to it. You can do it in one spot and repeat, or you can go in a pattern up the neck. You can do this in any spot you want.

e|-------------------------------|--------------------------------|
B|-------------------------------|--------------------------------|
G|-------------------------------|--------------------------------|
D|-------------------------------|--------------------------------|
A|-------------------------------|--------------------------------|
E|1h2h3-2h3h4-3h4h5-4h5h6-5h6h7--|-7p6p5-6p5p4-5p4p3-4p3p2-3p2p1--|
Go up the neck, and back down, fret by fret.

Just keep on trying this, and make sure you start out slow. Keep a slow pace at first, and then build up speed as you go along. If you can do this well, everything else will be a little bit easier.

2.) Try repeating these techniques to help you get used to playing hammer-ons and pull-offs with the open string.

e|-------------------|-------------------|
B|-------------------|-------------------|
G|-------------------|-------------------|
D|-------------------|-------------------|
A|-------------------|-------------------|
E|0h2h3-0h2h3-0h2h3--|3p2p0-3p2p0-3p2p0--|

This is probably the easiest way to practice using the open string. When doing the hammer-ons, do not strum the second 2 notes. Only strum the open string, and then hammer-on the next two notes like you would normally, but don't strum. For the pull-offs, when you are pulling off to the open string, make sure you pull your finger backwards and up, that is what makes the note audible.

3.) This will help you work on moving around on the strings. It uses the patterns used in the exercise above but moves between strings.

e|-------------------------0h2h3--|3p2p0---------------------------|
B|--------------------0h2h3-------|-----3p2p0----------------------|
G|---------------0h2h3------------|----------3p2p0-----------------|
D|----------0h2h3-----------------|---------------3p2p0------------|
A|-----0h2h3----------------------|--------------------3p2p0-------|
E|0h2h3---------------------------|-------------------------3p2p0--|
Play each different string with each beat.

Using a metronome will help a lot with this. Strum each string with each beat and play the other notes in between. Remember, start out slow, and go faster once you are comfortable with playing it at a differnet speed.

4.) This technique is harder than the others. You need very fast fingers to play it well, and it takes a lot of practice to get your fingers used to it.

e|--------------------------|
B|--------------------------|
G|5h7h5-5h7h5-5h7h5-5h7h5---|
D|-----7-----7-----7-----7--|
A|--------------------------|
E|--------------------------|

Strum the first note, hammer-on the next, pull-off the one after, and strum the note on the string below. It takes a lot of time to get used to this. I would reccommend getting used to the string picking pattern, and then working on the finger movements while still strumming. Just keep playing and experimenting. Keep playing the finger pattern even if you are messing up, keep the beat up and keep on trying different things with your fingers.

This is the starting point of fast playing and improvisation, patterns like this are used a lot.

5.) This is something to practice that can be used in songs and in improvisation, and involves moving up and down the strings and using hammer-ons and pull-offs.

e|-------------------15h18p17p15------------------------------------------|
B|-----------------17-----------19p17p16----------------------------------|
G|------------15h18---------------------18p17p15--------------------------|
D|----------17----------------------------------19p18p16------------------|
A|-----16h19--------------------------------------------18p16p15----------|
E|15h18---------------------------------------------------------18p17p15--|

This takes a long time to get used to. The fingering in the beginning takes awhile to get used to, and remembering what to play around the end takes awhile to remember. Take your time though, start out slow and build speed. Just keep on trying this, but don't try too much and get frustrated. When going up the next, I reccommend using your middle finger to play the 17's, and using your pointer and ring finger to play the hammer-ons. When played fast, this sounds great. A metronome helps with this also.

-----------

Practice these exercises, and try gradually moving faster each time. I would reccomend trying these in the order I put them in, the first ones are easier. You can use these when improvising, or use them in solos, it's all up to you. Practice each one, and eventually you will be able to play more fast licks and play faster. Good luck

Tremolo Picking

2009-05-05T10:54:00.000-07:00

Some people say that it is "playing as fast as you can" but that is not true. Tremolo picking can be difficult especially when you adding other techniques such as string skips, sweeps, and hammer on/pull offs.

Tremolo picking can be seen in tabs as this.

E|-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3----------------------
B|----------------------------------------------------------------------
G|----------------------------------------------------------------------
D|----------------------------------------------------------------------
A|----------------------------------------------------------------------
E|----------------------------------------------------------------------

The picking must be tight and in rhythm. Usually, you will see tremolo picking in sets of 4 or 8 note sets. This IS NOT the only way. In fact, I made a riff using tremolo picking using triplets, and it still works.

The first thing to do is play the example above in 4th notes. When your ready, go into 8ths, then into 16ths. The idea is to try and stay in time. You must use a pick if you want to go fast when you first start. Practice holding your pick correctly because if you hold it incorrectly, it may be difficult doing things like string skips while tremolo picking.

Now, the first time I heard of tremolo picking it was from Emperor's album, Into The Nightside Eclipse on there first track Into the Infinity of Thoughts. The beginning of that song uses tremolo picking, with large string skips, and is pretty difficult to pull off.

E|-----------------0-0-0-0----------|-------------------0-0-0-0----------|
B|----------------------------------|------------------------------------|
G|----------------------------------|------------------------------------|
D|---------2-2-2-2----------2-2-2-2-|----------2-2-2-2-----------2-2-2-2-|
A|-0-0-0-0--------------------------|-0-0-0-0----------------------------|
E|----------------------------------|------------------------------------|

|----------------------------------|----------------------------------|
|------------------0-0-0-0---------|------------------0-0-0-0---------|
|----------------------------------|----------------------------------|
|----------------------------------|----------------------------------|
|--0-0-0-0-2-2-2-2---------2-2-2-2-|--0-0-0-0-2-2-2-2---------2-2-2-2-|
|----------------------------------|----------------------------------|

This is just an example so I won't show the entire thing, but feel free to listen to the song if you have not yet heard it yet. String skipping might seem easy, but when you jumping 3 whole strings, it can be extremely confusing and frustrating to do it and keep in time. Practice makes perfect, so start slowly like before, and slowly work up. Most of the time, string skips will not involve 3 strings, so start string skips using both 1 and 2 string skip such as this example.

1-string skip example 2-string skip example

E|---------------------------------|--------------------------|
B|---------------------------------|--------------------------|
G|-----------------5-5-5-5-3-3-3-3-|--------------------------|
D|-0-0-0-0-3-3-3-3-----------------|-----------------4-4-4-4--|
A|---------------------------------|--------------------------|
E|---------------------------------|-0-0-0-0-3-3-3-3----------|

Now, usually tremolo picking refers to one single note. But in cases it can be used in chords as well. In Mayhem's famous song Freezing Moon, the guitarist Euronymous uses power chords in a tremolo picking fashion with unusual chord progressions.

E|--------------------------------------------------------------------|
B|--------------------------------------------------------------------|
G|-----------------------------------9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9------------------|
D|-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2--8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8--9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9--8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-|
A|-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2--8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8--7-7-7-7-7-7-7-7--8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-|
E|-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0--6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-------------------6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-|

This can also be seen in the song Under A Funeral Moon by Darkthrone.

e|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
B|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
G|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
D|-----------------8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8--9-9-9-9-9-9-9-9--8-8-8-8-8-8---|
A|2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2--6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6--7-7-7-7-7-7-7-7--6-6-6-6-6-6---|
E|0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0--------------------------------------------------|

Remember! These two songs are played using 16th notes! Tremolo picking is not nearly as good if you cannot stay on rhythm. Sure, playing fast is cool, but if you can play fast and stay on rhythm, then your getting somewhere. Tremolo picking is extremely useful when writing black metal and other metal, and maybe used in other genres, however I have only seen it in black metal.

Good luck to all of you and have fun!

Sweep Picking

2009-05-05T10:43:00.000-07:00

author: Guitarfreak900

Here are a few tabs for sweeps that I first learned. They helped me learn the technique of sweep picking a lot. At first they start easy, but then they gradually get harder.

When you are sweep picking, every note is sounded out separately, and your picking hand is moving up or down the strings in a single motion, instead of picking every note like you normally would. On these riffs, start slow until you can play each one perfectly, and then gradually play it faster. Once you can play the riff flawless, move onto the next one.

d = down stroke
u = up stroke

This is to get you used to the feeling of moving your pick up and down the drings in one motion. Each finger is taken off the fret after the note is played. So basically on this riff you never have more then one finger on the fretboard at a time.

d d d u u u
e|--------12-14--------|
b|-----13-------13-----|
g|--14-------------12--|
d|---------------------|
a|---------------------|
e|---------------------|

The first one introduces hammer ons and pull offs.

Many times when you are sweeping, you have a starting point using a hammer on or pull off at the top or bottom of the figure. Practice these enough to feel comfortable with using the hammer ons or pull offs.

d u d d d u d d d u
e|--15p12----------12h15p12----------12h15p12-----|
b|--------13----13----------13----13----------13--|
g|-----------12----------------12-----------------|
d|------------------------------------------------|
a|------------------------------------------------|
e|------------------------------------------------|

This figure is part of the intro for Bleeding Mascara, by Atreyu.

Instead of using a hammer on and pull off at the top, you are picking all of it. This is a bit more tricky on your right hand.

d d d u d u d d d u d u d d d u d u d u d u d u
d|-------13-17-13----------13-17-13----------13-17-13----18-17-15-17-15-13-|
a|----15----------15----15----------15----15----------15-------------------|
f|-14----------------14----------------14----------------------------------|
c|-------------------------------------------------------------------------|
g|-------------------------------------------------------------------------|
c|-------------------------------------------------------------------------|

This has one more string added onto it. It is a little harder, but with practice you will eventually get it, obviously. This was the first 4 string sweep I could ever play.

d u u d d d d u u
e|--19p15----------------15h19p15--------|
b|--------17----------17----------17-----|
g|-----------16----16----------------16--|
d|--------------15-----------------------|
a|---------------------------------------|
e|---------------------------------------|

d d d d u u d d d d u u
e|-----------13h17p13----------------13h17p13--------|
b|--------15----------15----------15----------15-----|
g|-----14----------------14----14----------------14--|
d|--13----------------------13-----------------------|
a|---------------------------------------------------|
e|---------------------------------------------------|

This figure is a part of a riff from Seize the Day, by Avenged Sevenfold. In the first part of this figure, you will learn to play the notes on the same fret. To do this, you must put your finger all on the 15th fret, and roll your hand as you play it. What I mean by rolling it, is your hand will move so that your thumb will be moving up and down behind the neck. As your rolling your hand, your finger will be rolling so that it touches each string as you sweep.

u u u d d d d u u u
e|--18p15----------------15-18p15--------|
b|--------15----------15----------15-----|
g|-----------15----15----------------15--|
d|--------------17-----------------------|
a|---------------------------------------|
d|---------------------------------------|

d d d d u u u d d d d u u u
e|-----------13-17p13----------------13-17p13--------|
b|--------15----------15----------15----------15-----|
g|-----14----------------14----14----------------14--|
d|--15----------------------15-----------------------|
a|---------------------------------------------------|
d|---------------------------------------------------|

Well I'm tired of making this. So if this lesson gets rated high enough

Improving Your Improvising And Soloing Skills

2009-05-05T09:32:00.000-07:00

author: Mike Philippov

I am often asked about what one can do to develop and improve their skills as a lead guitar soloist or improviser.

One of the most important things I usually have to explain is the difference between improvising and soloing. Even though the two activities are of course related, they are not the same. When you write a solo, you plan what you are going to play in advance and you have time to refine your phrases and select the best notes for your solo. This is sort of similar to giving a report on some topic and writing out a speech in advance. When it is time to present, you know exactly what you will say, when you will say it and how you will say it.

On the other hand, true improvising has a completely different dimension to it. That element is “spontaneity”. This means that you are forced to create music right on the spot, without having any time to prepare anything in advance. To continue with our example above, this would be similar to having to give an impromptu speech where you are given a topic and you have to deliver a speech on the spot (or within a minute or two). Obviously, this kind of playing is more challenging, both from the mental and physical standpoint. It is more challenging from the mental standpoint because you are forced to come up with cohesive musical ideas right as you are playing, without having any time to analyze which phrases will flow well together. The physical challenge will come as a result of having to play certain passages and phrases that you may not have practiced beforehand and thus there will be a greater chance for mistakes in pure improvising. So this is a big part of the reason why true improvising is much harder than preparing a solo in advance.

That being said, there are some specific things you can practice that will noticeably improve both your improvising and soloing skills. Here is a list of a few of these things (as well as some additional resources you can refer to):

01. Study Music Theory! (as discussed in this article: Music Theory). Yes, that’s right, music theory. Can you tell what key the song that you are playing over is in? Do you know how chords are grouped into keys? Do you know which chords in a progression contain the most tension? Do you know what scale degrees go into what chords? Can you quickly tell which notes are consonant and dissonant in any given musical context? Can you adapt to soloing over a progression that changes keys? These things and many others will make a world of difference in making your improvising much easier! To begin with, it will tell you the most obvious information such as what scales you can use over the progression you are playing over. Also it will tell you (indirectly), what type of phrasing will be most effective over each chord in the progression you are soloing over. There are many benefits to learning theory that are not even related to improvising, but overall, learning music theory will provide you with a musical map that will help you navigate through the “surroundings” (the song/chord progression) that you are in.

02. Develop your Aural Skills (train your ear). Where do I even begin with the benefits that ear training will provide to an improvising musician?! Let me start by saying that ear training is best taught and best learned in combination with some music theory (and vice versa). This way, when you hear (or think about) a certain music theory concept, you will immediately know how the notes are affected, AND how this concept actually sounds (all without touching the guitar). This will allow you to refine your musical “reaction mechanism”, from your brain generating a musical command, to your ears knowing how this concept will sound before your play it, and finally to your hands executing that idea on the guitar. Of course this skill requires a lot of refining that occurs over a period of many years of practice and experience, but the more you know about music theory and the better developed your ears are, the better you will be at improvising. For more information on this topic: check out this article.

03. Use a Backing tracks CD or rehearse with a band to practice improvising regularly. Yes, improvising is a skill that needs practice just like guitar technique or playing scales. The best way to practice this skill is to work on creating solos on the spot either with a full band or by using a backing tracks CD. Practicing with a band is useful for recreating the environment of a live performance if this is what you plan on doing a lot of (and of course it is useful to practice playing with others anyway). But using a backing tracks CD to practice soloing maximizes convenience, so it is very helpful to do both.

04. Work on developing your phrasing. I am often asked about what new scales can be used to solo over chord progressions in order to sound more creative and more original. My response is usually to shift focus more on developing your phrasing rather than simply learning new scales. Learning new scales only will produce limited results because THE WAY you play has not really changed. Improving your phrasing deals more with the actual element of HOW to play the notes rather than "what" notes to play. When it comes to phrasing, remember that it is all about the little nuances that can make ALL the difference. You can take 10 great improvisers and give them the same lick and chances are they will each make it sound a bit different using the nuances of phrasing when they play it. Learning new scales can make some difference of course, but when it comes to making your style more original and creative, improving (or at least changing) your phrasing will make a much greater difference than simply learning 10 new scales. I am not saying you should not learn new scales, but concentrate the majority of your efforts on improving the other musical elements that go into soloing, and think of learning new scales as more like an icing on the cake!

So what are the elements that go into phrasing how do you go about practicing it in a way that helps your improvisation? This includes many things such as articulation, pitch range, dynamics and more. There are many approaches you can take to practicing phrasing. You can begin by developing all the different nuances of attacking the strings, articulation, bending, slides, legato playing etc... and using different combinations of them when you play your usual phrases. Also develop your bending and vibrato technique and basically take advantage of all the different ways you can play the same set of pitches. It is more effective to do this either while jamming with a band or using a backing tracks CD, because by improvising with background music you will be able to work on the other elements that go into soloing at the same time, such as timing for example. Not to mention that practicing with background music is a lot of fun!

05. Improve your guitar technique. Depending on your musical style, find out what techniques are the most commonly used in the style of music you listen to (and play) and make sure your technique is at a high enough level to allow you to play the kind of music you want to play. This is important, because when improvising, you will often be playing some things you have not yet practiced enough (this is natural no matter how advanced you are). However with practice and experience you will be able to minimize the chance of making mistakes even when improvising at a very high level.
For improving your technique, you might find the following articles helpful:

Misconceptions of Practicing For Speed
7 Common Problems with Sweep Picking

So I hope that now you have a better idea of some of the concepts to think about and new things to try that will make you a better improviser and soloist.

Kirk Hammett Profile

2009-05-04T16:57:00.000-07:00

Nama Asli : Kirk Lee Hammett
Tempat/Tgl Lahir : San Francisco, California / 18 November 1962
Gaya Permainan : Metal
Group Band terdahulu : Exodus
Group Band sekarang : Metallica
Pengaruh musikal : Ace Frehley, Eddie Van Halen, Jimi Hendrix
Gitar Yang Digunakan : ESP KH signature series, ESP Spider, ESP Flying-V, ESP Mummy, Jackson Randy Rhoads model,
Amply : Mesa Boogie Tremoverb 2x12 Combo Amp, Mesa Boogie Triaxis Pre-Amp, Mesa Boogie Strategy 400 Stereo power Amp, Mesa Boogie 4x12 Speaker Cabinet, Mesa Boogie 2x12 Speaker Cabinet, Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier Amp, Marshall
Senar : Ernie Ball (010)

Kirk mulai tertarik pada musik setelah sering mendengar kakak laki-lakinya memutar musik-musik Kiss, UFO, Led Zeppeline, dan Jimi Hendrix. Setelah mendengar permainan gitar Ace Frehley, ia langsung tergila-gila dengan musik-musik Kiss dan kemudian membeli album Kiss. Hal itu membuatnya mulai mempelajari gitar pada usia 15 tahun. Ia mulai rajin mengutak-atik gitarnya untuk mendapatkan sound yang sesuai dengan keinginannya.

Demam Van Halen yang melanda Amerika pada tahun 1978 rupanya berpengaruh juga terhadap Kirk. Ia menjadi semangat untuk membentuk band rock bernama Exodus. Kemudian pada bulan April 1983, Kirk mendapat telpon dari James Hetfield (gitaris sekaligus vocalis Metallica) yang menginginkan agar Kirk segera terbang ke New York untuk diaudisi menjadi gitaris baru Metallica menggantikan Dave Mustaine yang keluar (kemudian membentuk Megadeth). Kirk pun keluar dari California dan berangkat ke New York. Akhirnya Kirk bergabung dengan James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich, dan Cliff Burton dalam Metallica.

Album debut Metallica berjudul Kill 'em All dengan cepat melambungkan nama Metallica. Album ini masih terasa pengaruh Iron Maiden dan Judas Priest. Warna Iron Maiden misalnya terdengar di lagu Hit The Lights. Namun permainan power chord yang ditampilkan James dan speed solo gitar yang ditampilkan Kirk membuat Metallica memiliki warna tersendiri.

Setelah merilis Kill 'em All, Kirk kemudian belajar gitar dengan maestro gitar yang kemudian juga menjadi salah satu dewa gitar terkemuka dunia, Joe Satriani di Beerklee College of Music. Selain Kirk, murid-murid Joe Satriani lainnya adalah Steve Vai dan David Bryson (Counting Crows). Setelah itu ia dan Metallica merilis album Ride The Lightning pada tahun 1984.

Album berikutnya Master of Puppetts menjadi salah satu album tersukses Metallica dimana terdapat banyak hits yang makin mempertegas warna musik Metallica seperti Master of Puppetts, Sanitarium, Battery, dan sebuah lagu instrumental Orion. Setelah kemunculan album ini, bisa dibilang makin banyak gitaris muda yang mengcopy gaya permainan Kirk Hammett. Kemudian tahun 1988 sebuah album yang makin membuat Metallica mendunia, and Justice For All yang didalamnya terdapat lagu hits One.

Album-album selanjutnya, Metallica (Black Album) memperoleh angka penjualan yang fantastis. Konon terjual sebanyak 20 juta copy diseluruh dunia. Kemudian album Load (1996), Reload (1997), S&M (1999), dan St. Anger (2003) meski tak pernah sesukses album-album Metallica terdahulu (kecuali S&M) namun cukup untuk memperkuat eksistensi Kirk dan juga bandnya didunia musik. Bahkan pada tahun 2003 MTV memberi gelar MTV Icon pada Metallica atas kontribusinya terhadap dunia musik.

Dalam menggarap sebuah lagu-lagu Metallica, rata-rata Kirk menulis sampai 40 buah solo gitar. Meski dalam pembuatan lagu-lagu Metallica lebih didominasi oleh James Hetfield dan Lars Ulrich, namun kontribusi Kirk tak bisa dianggap remeh. Ia lah yang memasukkan permainan shredd kedalam musik-musik Metallica. Kirk juga berkali-kali terpilih sebagai gitaris terbaik versi majalah, dan baru-baru ini terpilih sebagai salah satu kandidat Greatest Metal Guitarist All Time di salah satu majalah terkemuka. Selain itu ia juga dibuatkan gitar signaturenya oleh pabrik gitar ESP.

Brian May Profile

2009-05-03T20:26:00.001-07:00

Nama Asli : Brian Harold May, BSc Hons
Tempat/Tgl Lahir : Hampton / 19 Juli 1947
Gaya Permainan : Rock, Heavy Rock, Rock Opera
Group Band : 1984, Smile, Queen, Brian May (Solo Karir)
Pengaruh musikal : Hank Marvin (The Shadows), Scotty Moore (Elvis Presley), Lonnie Donegan, Buddy Holly dan James Burton
Teknik Andalan : Harmoni (gitar) berlapis
Gitar : Custom-built “Red Special”, Custom Red Special models buatan Greg Fryer, Guild Brian May Signature model, Burns Brian May Signature model, Gibson Les Paul Standard, Gibson ES-335, Akustik gitar Collings
Pickup : Burns (terpasang di Red Special), DiMarzio Brian May model (terpasang di Guild Brian May Signature model)
Efek : Vox Wah, Custom-built treble booster (kemungkinan buatan Pete Cornish tipe TB83), Echoplex yang sudah dimodifikasi, Boss CE-3 Stereo Chorus Ensemble, multi-efek Rocktron Intellifex, Foxx Phaser dan Bel Digital Audio Delay
Ampli : Vox AC30 dan AC10, Custom-built Deacon amp (yak betul, ampli ini buatan bassist Queen, John Deacon), Selmer, Marshall JCM800
Contoh permainan : Keep Yourself Alive, Stone Cold Crazy, Brighton Rock, Bohemian Rhapsody, It’s Late

Tentang Karir :
Dengan suara gitar yang khas dan riff-riff gitar yang catchy sebagai kontribusinya pada Queen, Brian May menjadi salah satu dari sekian musisi yang berbakat dan memberikan pengaruh pada tahun 70-an. Ia adalah anak seorang tukang servis elektronik dan musisi. Ia ternyata ikut mewarisi bakat ayahnya dalam bidang menyolder dan musik. Namun ia sanggup menyeimbangkan ketertarikannya akan teknologi dan musisi dan kemudian melanjutkannya untuk meraih gelar di bidang Fisika. Di saat senggangnya ia menyempatkan diri membuat gitar dibantu oleh ayahnya. Gitar buatannya ini yang kemudian menjadi trade-mark Brian May di setiap penampilannya.

Saat masih sekolah ia membentuk band pertamanya, 1984, yang merupakan sebuah band instrumental. Band mereka manggung di sekitar kota London dan membuka pertunjukan artis/band legendaris seperti Traffic, Jimmi Hendrix, Pink Floyd dan Tyrannosaurus Rex (nantinya dikenal sebagai T-Rex). Pada tahun 1968, ia meninggalkan bandnya untuk memfokuskan diri pada studinya di Imperial College.

Saat kuliah, May sering nongkrong bareng Roger Taylor dan kemudian membentuk band hard rock trio bernama Smile. Ia malah juga meneruskan pendidikannya setingkat S2 pada jurusan matematika dan ilmu pengetahuan, tapi kemudian malah memutuskan untuk lebih fokus pada musik secara penuh. Band Smile menandatangani kontrak dengan Mercury Records dan merilis satu single yang tidak meraih sukses. Kemudian mereka menambahkan Freddy Mercury pada posisi vokal dan merubah nama band mereka menjadi Queen. Setelah bekerja dengan beberapa bassist, akhirnya mereka menemukan dan merekrut John Deacon pada tahun 1971. Queen kemudian menandatangani kontrak dengan EMI dan merilis debut albumnya (Queen) pada tahun 1973 dengan kekuatan utama album mereka: kombinasi vokal opera Freddie Mercury dan riff-riff keren Brian May.

Brian May bersama Queen terus berekperimen dengan mengembangkan sound mereka. Albun A Night at the Opera dirilis tahun 1975 dan menelurkan lagu hit “Bohemian Rhapsody”, yang memperdengarkan kemampuan musikal dan kehebatan mereka sebagai pengarang lagu. Kedua album mereka selanjutnya A Day at the Races pada tahun 1976 dan News of the World pada tahun 1977 juga meraih sukses besar di radio maupun di toko musik dengan hit-hit mereka seperti “We Will Rock You” dan bahkan “We Are The Champion” dari album News of the World malah digunakan menjadi lagu kemenangan di lomba olahraga di seluruh dunia sampai sekarang. Yang menarik adalah, salah satu lagu dari album News, “It’s Late” adalah lagu dimana Brian May menggunakan two-handed tapping dan hammer-on saat solo gitar dan setahun kemudian baru Eddie Van Halen terkenal dengan two-handed tapping gayanya sendiri. May menyebutkan bahwa tehnik tapping yang ia gunakan diconteknya dari seorang gitaris band club di daerah Texas. Menurut gitaris band tersebut malah Billy Gibbons (ZZ Top) yang pertama kali menggunakannya dan ia hanya menconteknya.

Setelah Freddie Mercury wafat di tahun 1991, Queen secara resmi bubar. Hanya pada event-event khusus seperti “Concert for Life tribute to Mercury” di tahun 1992 (menggalang dana untuk Mercury Phoenix Trust, dibentuk untuk meningkatkan kesadaran akan bahaya AIDS). Brian May kemudian lebih fokus bersolo karir, merilis Back to the Light pada tahun 1993. Setahun kemudian ia merilis Live at Brixton Academy, yang isinya adalah gabungan dari lagu-lagu solo karirnya dan dari koleksi lagu Queen. Pada tahun 1998 ia merilis album berjudul Another World dimana Jeff Beck ikut mengisi gitar pada lagu “The Guv’nor”.

Tentang Suara Gitar dan Rig
Tidak lengkap membicarakan Brian May tanpa membicarakan gitarnya. Jantung dari suara gitar May terdapat pada gitar listrik yang diberi nama “Red Special”. Gitar tersebut ia buat berdua bersama ayahnya. Sungguh sangat sulit mencari gitar listrik yang bersuara persis seperti Red Special-nya Brian May kecuali anda mendapatkan replikanya dari luthier Greg Fryer. Walaupun Guild dan Burns membuat seri signature Brian May, namun gitar buatan mereka tidak bersuara persis seperti gitar Brian May. Selain itu dalam rig Brian May sendiri terdapat beberapa efek-efek custom, termasuk diantaranya adalah Treble Booster yang digunakannya bersama ampli merk Deacon (Ampli buatan John Deacon, bassist Queen) dan sebuah splitter untuk mengirim sinyal ke tiga ampli Vox AC30 miliknya. Selain itu, Brian May juga menggunakan pick gitar yang tidak lazim. Pick yang digunakannya adalah sebuah koin sixpence (mata uang inggris). Tentang penggunaan koin sebagai pick ini Brian May beralasan bahwa koin tidak mudah lepas dari tangan karena permukaannya yang kasar dan pinggirannya bergerigi tajam. Di Inggris koin ini sudah tidak diproduksi lagi, tapi Brian May telah mengkoleksinya hingga ribuan buah sehingga ia tidak takut kehabisan.

Sekarang bagaimana tentang harmoni gitarnya? Rahasianya adalah pada penggunaan 3 ampli tersebut dengan konfigurasi ampli di tengah dry dan ampli kiri kanan sebagai suara efeknya. Pada masa-masa awal karirnya Brian May sering menggunakan splitter 3-way untuk membagi sinyal gitarnya dan dua Echoplex yang di set dengan delay time yang berbeda untuk membentuk harmoni. Kedua Echoplex tersebut kemudian masing-masing menuju ampli yang ada di kiri dan kanan. Brian May sekarang sudah tidak menggunakan Echoplex dan menggantinya dengan unit Digital Delay.

Tentang gitar buatan Brian May (Red Special)
Banyak cerita sekitar gitar buatan Bryan May ini. Menurut Brian May, ia membuat gitar tersebut dengan bantuan ayahnya dan menamakannya “Red Special”. May membuat desain bodi, yang bentuknya mengadaptasi bentuk akustik gitar tetapi dengan memotong bodi lebih dalam di atas dan dibawah neck (cutaway) agar lebih mudah mengakses neck bagian fret 15 keatas. Ia membentuk kayu dengan menggunakan pisau lipat, pahat dan ampelas. Fingerboardnya juga mengadaptasi dari gitar akustik. Bentuk neck gitarnya tebal dan agak bulat. Neck tersebut hanya menggunakan satu baut dan tidak di-lem. Sebuah fret terpasang tepat didepan nut, sebelum fret pertama. Bentuk fretnya sendiri datar, model bus sekolah dan inlay-nya yang berbentuk titik besar (dot) adalah seperti berikut: satu titik di fret 3, dua titik di fret 7, satu titik di fret 9, tiga titik di fret 12, satu di fret 15 dan 17, dua di fret 19, satu di fret 21 dan tiga di fret 24. Selain itu juga ada titik penanda di tepi fingerboard-nya dan garis besar di tepi fret ke 5 dan ke 7.

Bahan fingerboard-nya adalah kayu oak yang dilapisi sedemikian rupa hingga menyerupai kayu ebony. Neck gitar tersebut masuk jauh ke dalam bodi gitar hingga melewati pickup tengah. Bodi gitarnya sendiri berbahan kayu sejenis oak yang berasal dari sebuah meja dan dua lapisannya terbuat dari kayu balok yang dilubangi sendiri olehnya. Seluruh permukaan body gitar itu kemudian ia lapisi dengan lapisan kayu mahogany. Bindingnya terbuat dari tepian rak, entah itu rak buku atau rak lain. Bridge-nya sendiri merupakan desain dari Brian May dan ayahnya dan dibuat dengan tangan. Gagang tremolo-nya sendiri dibuat dari part sepeda, sepertinya bagian yang terdapat pada sadel sepeda, dan ujung gagang tremolo-nya adalah bagian dari jarum rajut ibunya yang ia bor sedikit. Alasan Brian May membuat sendiri tremolonya adalah karena ia tidak mampu untuk membeli tremolo Fender saat itu. Mungkin kombinasi dari bahan-bahan yang tidak umum itulah yang membuat suara gitar Brian May begitu unik dan memiliki sustain yang unik pula.

Untuk urusan elektronik, May menggulung sendiri pickup single coil-nya, tetapi kemudian ia menggantinya dengan pickup yang ia beli dari Burns di Inggris. Selain pickup, ia juga membeli tuner. Tetapi tuner itu segera pula diganti dengan merk Sperzel. May juga mendesain perkabelan gitarnya.

Pada pertengahan 90-an, Brian May bertemu dengan luthier asal Australia, Greg Fryer, yang mendapatkan ijin May untuk membuat beberapa kopi otentik dari “Red Special” buatan Brian May. Setiap gitar tersebut dibuat sepersis mungkin dengan aslinya. Bahkan lebih detil dari Brian May signature buatan Guild. Seberapa mungkin Fryer menggunakan tipe kayu, lem, finishing dan kelengkapan gitar (seperti tuner) yang sama dengan aslinya. Fryer bahkan membayar sendiri ongkos perjalanannya dari Australia ke rumah Brian May di Inggris, dimana ia secara mati-matian melakukan pengukuran dan mencatat semua spesifikasi gitar Brian May secara mendetail dan kembali ke Australia untuk mulai bekerja. Setahun kemudian Fryer kembali ke Inggris dengan 3 buah hasil kloningnya dan Brian May terpana atas hasil kerjanya. Sekarang ketiga gitar tersebut digunakan oleh Brian May. Bahkan May mempercayakan gitar aslinya kepada Greg Fryer untuk diservis. Gitar asli buatan tangan Brian May dan ayahnya sekarang kembali dalam kondisi prima.

Yngwie Malmsteen profile

2009-05-03T06:28:00.000-07:00

Nama Lengkap: Lars Johann Yngwie Lannerback
Website Resmi: yngwie.org
Tempat/Tgl Lahir: 30 Juni 1963 di Stockholm, Swedia.
Group Band Saat Ini: Yngwie Malmsteen Band
Group Band Sebelumnya: Steeler, Alcatrazz,
Pengaruh: Niccolo Paganini, Jimi Hendrix, Ritchie Blackmore, J.S.Bach, Antonio Vivaldi, W.A.Mozart,
Gitar: Fender Stratocaster Yngwie Malmsteen Signature Series
Keahlian: Neoclassical, Alternate Picking, Arpeggio, dll.

Yngwie Malmsteen merupakan pelopor yang melahirkan seluruh gitaris shredder yang kami tampilkan di website ini. Setelah Eddie Van Halen (Van Halen) pertama kali membawakan tembang "Eruption" pada tahun 1978 yang memperkenalkan teknik "two handed tapping", Yngwie meluncurkan album klasik baroque shred debutnya "Rising Force" yang mengegerkan komunitas gitar rock, menciptakan standar baru untuk kecepatan & keahlian dalam bermain. Warna "Neo-Classical" yang di bawahkan Yngwie adalah berdasarkan struktur komposisi dari J.S Bach (1685-1750) dan Niccolo Paganini (1782-1840).

Setelah itu muncul para gitaris shredder yang menghasilkan sekian banyak album yang sukses. Hampir setiap minggu muncul gitaris baru yang mengklaim dirinya sebagai gitaris baru yang paling cepat di dunia. Sebagai contoh: Paul Gilbert, Marty Friedman, Jason Becker, Richie Kotzen, Vinnie Moore, Tony Macalpine, Greg Howe, dll. Tidak bisa dipungkiri lagi bahwa Yngwie merupakan pahlawan gitar yang patut diacungi jempol.

Pernikahan ayah Yngwie (seorang kapten tentara) dan ibunya (Rigmor - seniman) diakhiri dengan penceraian tidak lama setelah Yngwie lahir. Di samping itu Yngwie juga memiliki seorang kakak perempuan bernama Ann Louise dan kakak lelaki Bjorn. Yngwie terlahir sebagai anak bungsu yang liar, tidak bisa diatur dan ceria.

Pada awalnya Yngwie mencoba untuk mempelajari piano dan trumpet tetapi ia tidak dapat menguasai alat musik tersebut. Acoustic guitar (gitar bolong) yang dibeli oleh ibunya pada waktu dia berusia 5 tahun juga tidak disentuh Yngwie dan dibiarkan bergelantung di dinding.

Sampai akhirnya pada tgl 18 September 1970, Yngwie melihat sebuah acara spesial mengenai meninggalnya Jimi Hendrix. Di situ Yngwie yang masih 17 tahun tsb menyaksikan bagaimana Jimi Hendrix menghasilkan bunyi feedback guitar dan membakar gitarnya di depan penonton. Pada hari wafatnya Jimi Hendrix tsb lahirlah permainan gitar Yngwie.

Yngwie yang penasaran tersebut kemudian membeli sebuah Fender Stratocaster murah, mencoba memainkan tembangnya Deep Purple dan menghabiskan banyak waktu untuk mengetahui rahasia dari alat instrumen dan musiknya sendiri. Kekaguman Yngwie terhadap Ritchie Blackmore (gitaris Deep Purple) yang dipengaruhi oleh musik klasik dan kekaguman terhadap kakak perempuannya yang sering memainkan komposisi Bach, Vivaldi, Beethoven, dan Mozart, memberikan ide kepada Yngwie untuk menggabungkan musik klasik tersebut dengan musik rock. Yngwie terus bermain seharian penuh sampai tidurpun dia masih tetap bersama gitarnya.

Pada usia 10 tahun, Yngwie menggunakan nama kecil dari ibunya "Malmsteen", mengfokuskan seluruh energi dia dan berhenti bersekolah. Di sekolah Yngwie dikenal sebagai pembuat onar dan sering berantem, tetapi pintar dalam pelajaran bahasa Inggris dan seni. Ibunya yang menyadari bakat musiknya yang unik, mengizinkan Yngwie tinggal di rumah dengan rekaman dan gitarnya. Setelah menyaksikan violinis Gideon Kremer membawakan komposisi Paganini: 24 Caprices di televisi, Yngwie akhirnya mengetahui bagaimana cara mengawinkan musik klasik dengan skill permainan dan karismanya.

Yngwie dan beberapa temannya merekam 3 lagu demo dan dikirim ke studio rekaman CBS Swedia, tetapi rekaman tersebut tidak pernah digubris atau diedarkan. Oleh karena frustasinya, Yngwie menyadari bahwa dia harus meninggalkan Swedia dan mulai mengirimkan demo rekaman dia ke berbagai studio rekaman di luar negeri. Salah satu dari demo tape Yngwie ternyata jatuh ke tangan konstributor Guitar Player dan pemilik Shrapnel Records: Mike Varney. Akhirnya Yngwie mendapat undangan ke Los Angeles untuk bergabung dengan band terbaru Shrapnel: "Steeler" dan seterusnya yang disebut sebagai sejarahnya. Pada bulan February 1983 Yngwie berangkat dari Swedia ke Los Angeles dengan bekal keahlian dan gaya permainan barunya.

Selanjutnya permainan Yngwie dikenal dunia dengan permainannya yang sangat cepat di intro lagu "Hot On Your Heels". Yngwie kemudian pindah ke group band Alcatrazz, sebuah band yang bergaya "Rainbow" dan didirikan oleh penyanyi Graham Bonnett. Walaupun telah bergabung dengan Alcatrazz yang menampilkan sekian banyak solo hebat di lagu "Kree Nakoorie", "Jet to Jet," dan "Hiroshima Mon Amour", Yngwie masih merasa terlalu dibatasi oleh band itu sendiri. Akhirnya Yngwie berpikir bahwa hanya album sololah yang menjadi solusi terbaik.

Album solo pertama Yngwie: Rising Force (kini dinobatkan sebagai kitab musik rock Neo-Classical) berhasil memasuki nomor 60 di tangga Billboard charts untuk musik instrumental gitar tanpa berbau komersil. Album ini juga memenangkan nominasi Grammy untuk Instrumental Rock Terbaik. Tidak lama kemudian Yngwie terpilih sebagai Gitaris Pendatang Baru Terbaik di berbagai majalah dan media, Gitaris Terbaik Tahun Itu, dan Rising Force menjadi Album Terbaik untuk tahun itu juga.

Pada 22 June 1987 mendekati ultah Yngwie yang ke-24, Yngwie mengalami kecelakaan dengan mobil Jaguarnya yang mengakibatkan dia koma hampir seminggu. Penyumbatan darah pada otak Yngwie juga menyebabkan tangan kanannya tidak berfungsi. Karena takut akan karirnya yang akan berakhir itu, Yngwie dengan susah payah mengikuti terapi untuk memulihkan kembali tangan kanannya. Setelah itu Yngwie mendapat cobaan lagi dari kematian ibunya di Swedia akibat penyakit kanker yang menghabiskan banyak biaya medical. Jika Yngwie orang lain, mungkin sudah menyerah dengan nasib seperti itu, tetapi Yngwie justru berubah dan kembali ke musiknya dengan semangat tinggi.

Setelah itu Yngwie meluncurkan album yang laris manis seperti Odyssey, Eclipse, Fire & Ice, Seventh Sign, I Can't Wait, Magnum Opus, Inspiration, Facing the Animal, Alchemy, War To End All Wars dan akhirnya Yngwie berhasil mewujudkan cita-citanya untuk bermain bersama sebuah Orkestra penuh di salah satu album terbarunya: Concerto Suite for Electric Guitar and Orchestra in Eb minor, Op. 1 (tahun 1998).

Ketika merelease albumnya Eclipse (1990), Yngwie sempat tour dan membuat konser yang sukses di Indonesia (Jakarta, Solo, & Surabaya). Rencananya pada bulan July 2001 ini Yngwie juga akan konser kembali di Indonesia, namun dibatalkan karena pemerintah USA & istrinya menasehati Yngwie akan keamanan politik di Indonesia. Padahal tiket Yngwie sudah sempat laku keras di Indonesia, penggemar Yngwie di Indonesia boleh kecewa. Kapan lagi Yngwie akan konser di Indonesia apabila keadaan politik Indonesia masih seperti ini?
Album-album berikutnya adalah Attack!! yang memuat nomor hits instrumental Baroque & Roll. Pada tahun 2003, Yngwie diajak bergabung dalam formasi G3 bersama Joe Satriani dan Steve Vai yang menelurkan 1 album dan 1 video. Setelah selesai tur bersama G3, ia merampungkan album terbarunya Unleash The Fury. Album tersebut direlease diawal taun 2005.

paul gilbert profil

2009-05-01T23:17:00.000-07:00

Nama Lengkap: Paul Brandon Gilbert
Website Resmi: PaulGilbert.com
Tempat/Tgl Lahir: 6 November 1966 di Carbondale Illinois - USA.
Group Band Saat Ini: Racer X
Group Band Sebelumnya: Racer X, Mr.Big
Pengaruh: Eddie Van Halen
Pendidikan: Tamatan GIT (Guitar Institute Of Technology) dan Instruktur GIT.
Gitar: Ibanez Paul Gilbert Model (PGM) Signature Series
Keahlian: Alternate Picking, String Skipping, Arpeggio, dll.

Paul Gilbert merupakan salah satu dewa gitar seperti halnya Steve Vai, Yngwie, John Petrucci lainnya. Sebelumnya Paul dikenal melalui group bandnya Mr.Big, rekaman Mr.Big yang laku keras turut membesarkan nama Paul di dunia musik rock.

Paul sendiri sudah cukup mengegerkan dunia gitaris pada tahun 86-87 sebagai pemain gitar tercepat di dunia ketika Paul masih bergabung dengan group band Racer X. Teknik permainannya telah sempurna saat ia baru menginjak 17 tahun itu.

Pada usia 5 tahun (1971) Paul sudah mulai mempelajari gitarnya, 10 tahun berikutnya (1981) Paul coba mengirim demo rekamannya ke produser Mike Varney dan di luar dugaanya Mike sangat mengagumi permainannya di samping Tony Macalpine.

Pada tahun 1984 Paul pindah ke LA dan melanjutkan sekolah gitarnya ke GIT (Guitar Institute of Technology) dan kini telah menjadi instruktur sekolah gitar bergengsi ini.

Pada tahun 1986 dia bergabung dengan band pertamanya Racer X dengan album debutnya "Street Lethal ", kemudian "Second Heat" (1987) & "Live! Extreme Volume" (1988).

Pada tahun 1989 Paul meninggalkan Racer X dan bergabung dengan group band MR.BIG dengan pemain bass yang disegani "Billy Sheehan", vocalis Eric Martin dan drummer Pat Torpey.

Mereka meluncurkan album pertamanya "MR.BIG" dan MR.BIG tampil untuk pertama kalinya di Jepang pada bulan Oktober.

Selanjutnya Paul meluncurkan album berikutnya: "Live! Raw Like Sushi" (1990), "Mr Big - Lean into it" (1991), "Mr.Big - San Francisco Live" (1992), "Racer X - Live Extreme Volume 2" (1992), "Mr.Big - Bump Ahead" (1993), "Mr.Big - Live! Raw Like Sushi 2" (1994), "HEY MAN" & " The best of MR.BIG" (1996), "Hard Rock Cafe", " Live At Budokan " & solo " King of Club" (1997)

Lagu "To Be With You" (dari Album "Lean Into It") menduduki posisi pertama di majalah Billborad USA selama 3 minggu.

Pada tahun 1998 Paul tampil pertama kali di Jepang dengan solo albumnya. Paul meluncurkan album solo "Flying Dog". Tahun 1999 Paul kembali ke Jepang dan meluncurkan album solo kedua "Beehive Live" dan album ketiga Racer X "Technical Difficulties".

Tahun 2003 album Burning Organ dirilis, kali ini masuk ke label Indonesia dibawah naungan Staria Enterprise. Namun album berikutnya, Acoustic Samurai tidak lagi di Staria, melainkan berpindah ke label Variant Music. Kemudian Paul menggelar promo tur album "Spaceship One" hingga ke Indonesia. Hal ini disambut antusias oleh penggemar-penggemarnya, pasalnya banyak artis asal Amerika yang menarik diri karena takut disweeping oleh pihak-pihak tertentu.

steve vai profil

2009-05-01T02:26:00.000-07:00

Nama Lengkap: Steven Siro Vai
Website Resmi: Vai.com
Tempat/Tgl Lahir: 06 Juni 1960 di New York, USA
Group Band Saat Ini: Steve Vai
Group Band Sebelumnya: Hot Chocolate, The Ohio Express, Circus, Rayge, Bold As Love, Axis, Morning Thunder, Frank Zappa, The Out Band, The Classified, 777, Alcatrazz, David Lee Roth, Whitesnake
Pengaruh: Joe Satriani, Frank Zappa
Gitar: Ibanez Universe, Ibanez JEM
Keahlian: semua teknik dalam buku pelajaran gitar bisa dilakukannya dengan sempurna!!!

Siapa yang tidak kenal dengan dewa gitar yang satu ini? Permainannya mulai dari blues, jazz, rock sampai klasik dan ethnic music. Permainan gitarnya pun tidak terbatas pada komunitas gitar saja tetapi juga bagi orang-orang awam yang tidak mendalami gitar.

Pada umur 6 tahun, Steve mulai belajar piano. Pada umur 10 tahun, Steve mulai belajar bermain akordeon. Pada umur 13 tahun barulah Steve mulai mendalami gitar dan sejak saat itu lahirlah seorang dewa gitar yang baru.

Steve Vai mengawali karirnya dengan album debutnya Flex-Able Leftovers pada tahun 1984. Pada tahun 1990, Steve merilis album keduanya yang berjudul Passion and Warfare. Album ini mendapat pengakuan internasional dan Steve memenangkan polling pembaca majalah Guitar Player dalam 4 kategori yang berbeda. Album Steve yang ketiga berjudul Sex & Religion dirilis tahun 1993 dan album keempatnya Alien Love Secrets dirilis tahun 1995. Pada tahun 1996 album kelima Steve Fire Garden dirilis.

Tahun 1999, Steve meluncurkan album keenamnya yang berjudul Ultra Zone. Dalam album ini Steve lebih banyak memfokuskan dirinya dalam komposisi lagu dan bereksperimen dengan gitarnya. Tahun 2001 album The Seventh Song dirilis dan album ini berisi lagu-lagu slow/ballad yang pernah dirilis Steve dengan ditambah beberapa lagu baru. Dan di tahun 2001 Alive in an Ultra World pun dirilis.

Steve Vai juga pernah memproduksi 2 album Natal yang berjudul Merry Axemas Vol.1 dan Merry Axemas Vol.2, juga konser G3 bersama Joe Satriani dan Eric Johnson/Kenny Wayne Shepherd dan terakhir John Petrucci turut juga bergabung dalam G3.

Belakangan ini Steve Vai lebih memfokuskan diri bereksperimen pada permainan gitarnya dan sekarang ini band Steve Vai ditambah seorang pemain bass yang sudah tidak asing lagi buat fans-fans rock tahun 80-an, Billy Sheehan. Belum pasti kapan album barunya akan beredar, kita tunggu saja

joe satriani profil

2009-05-01T02:07:00.000-07:00

Nama Lengkap: Joe Satriani
Website Resmi: Satriani.com
Tempat/Tgl Lahir: 15 Juli 1956 di Westburry, New York, USA
Group Band Saat Ini: Joe Satriani
Group Band Sebelumnya: The Squares
Pengaruh: Jimi Hendrix, Ritchie Blackmore
Gitar: Ibanez JS Series
Keahlian: Tapping, Alternate Picking, dll

Joe Satriani, pertama kali belajar gitar pada saat berumur 14 tahun. Pada umur 15 tahun, Joe sudah mengajar gitar (selama 3 tahun) kepada beberapa muridnya yang antara lain adalah Steve Vai, Kirk Hammet (Metallica) dan Larry LaLonde (Primus). Dapat dibayangkan betapa tekunnya dan cepatnya Joe mendalami permainan gitarnya.

Sambil mengajar di Second Hand Guitar, Berklee, Joe merilis albumnya yang pertama tahun 1986 yang berjudul Not Of This Earth. Tahun berikutnya, Surfing With The Alien dirilis dan mendapatkan gold dan platinum sales. Tahun 1989 Surfing in a Blue Dream pun dirilis dan mencapai angka 750.000 keping untuk penjualannya dan masuk ke nominasi Grammy Awards. Tahun 1992 The Extremist dirilis yang juga masuk nominasi Grammy Awards dan mencapai peringkat 24 di Billboard chart.

Tahun berikutnya, Time Machine (dobel CD) dirilis. Di tahun 1995 album yang berjudul Joe Satriani dirilis dan lagu My World masuk nominasi Grammy Awards. Tahun 1998 Joe merilis albumnya yang ke delapan berjudul Crystal Planet.

Di tahun 2000 Joe merilis album Engines Of Creation. Di album ini Joe melakukan eksperimen dengan rekaman menggunakan rhytm-rhytm yang dibuat di komputer. Tahun 2001 Joe merilis album live nya Live in San Fransisco.

Selain merilis album solonya, Joe Satriani juga merupakan penggagas diadakannya G3. Bersama Steve Vai, Joe sudah beberapa kali mengadakan konser G3 dengan dewa gitar lainnya seperti Eric Johnson (1996), Adrian Leggs, Kenny Wayne Shepherd dan Robert Fripp (1997), Michael Schenker dan Uli John Roth dengan Brian May sebagai Guest Star untuk show di London dan Patrick Rondat di Perancis (1998) dan John Petrucci (2001).

Joe Satriani juga berpartisipasi dalam proyek Merry Axemas-nya Steve Vai dan memainkan satu lagu Silent Night yang di aransemen ulang dan juga pernah mengisi posisi gitar untuk Deep Purple di tahun 1990an.... liberty and justice for all!!!

john petrucci profil

2009-04-30T21:39:00.000-07:00

Nama Lengkap: John Peter Petrucci
Website Resmi: JohnPetrucci.com
Group Band Sebelumnya: Majesty
Gitar: Ernie Ball Musicman, Ibanez
Tempat Lahir: Long Island, New York 12 Juli 1967
Pengaruh: Steve Morse, Allan Holdsworth, Yngwie Malmsteen, Metallica, Eddie Van Halen
Zodiac: Cancer
Tempat Tinggal: New York
Status: Menikah
Keahlian: String Skipping, Chromatic Scales, Arpegio, Matrix Modulation, dan lain-lain.

John besar di Long Island, tepatnya di King park, dimana dia, john myung & Kevin moore bersekolah bersama. John mulai Belajar gitar ketika masih berumur 12 tahun (sebelumnya dia pernah belajar ketika berumur 8 tahun tetapi menyerah ketika Dia melihat kakak perempuannya harus begadang tiap malam belajar main organ. Dia tidak merencanakan untuk menjadi seperti Itu, Dia belajar gitar sepulang sekolah dan akhirnya dia menjadi tidak tertarik lagi). Namun dia mulai banyak terpengaruh Oleh permainan gitar dari gitaris semacam yngwie malmsteen, randy rhoads, iron maiden, steve ray Vaughn, dan grup besar Semacam yes, rush, Dixie dregs dan lain lain dia mulai bertekad untuk mencapai level permainan seperti mereka.

Sebagaimana kemunculan musik trash metal yang membuat John tertarik, maka John juga memperluas influence nya dengan Mendengarkan Metallica & Queensryche. John merasa membutuhkan tantangan yang lebih dalam tehnik guitar oleh karena itu Dia banyak mengadaptasi hammering speed & melodic style dari gitaris-gitaris seperti Steves (Steve Morse & Steve Vai), The Als (Allan Holdsworth & Al Dimeola) Mike Stern, Joe Satriani, Neal Schon & Eddie Van Halen.

Pendidikan musiknya dimulai dengan berbagai kelas teori musik yang dia ambil ketika high school. Dia belajar secara otodidak, tetapi Dia sempat menerima beberapa pelajaran gitar yang dia ambil ketika dia masuk ke Berklee College of Music di Boston, dimana dia Mempelajari komposisi jazz dan harmoni. Ketika di Berklee John Petrucci dan John Myung yang juga belajar di berklee bertemu dengan Mike Portnoy, dan mereka mulai membuat band yang diberi nama Majesty yang nantinya kemudian berganti nama menjadi Dream Theater. John sudah merekam 7 album dengan Dream Theater, dan dia juga banyak terlibat dengan beberapa proyek sampingan seperti Liquid Tension Experiment Dengan Tony Levin, Age of Impact, dan bahkan game Sega Saturn yang disebut Necronomicon, dan juga terakhir dia terlibat dalam proyek G3 Bersama Joe Satriani dan Steve Vai. Kecintaan dia pada menulis lirik dikombinasikan dengan gaya komposisi yang unik dari progressive fusion Mengasah bentuk musik dari Dream Theater.

John tinggal bersama istrinya Rena, dan 3 anaknya SamiJO, Reny, dan Kiara di New York. Ketika dia tidak bermain gitar dia banyak menghabiskan Waktunya dengan istri dan anak-anaknya dengan bermain skating, bersepeda, berolahraga dan menontong film.

John sedang merencanakan membuat solo albumnya yang pertama. Lagu-lagu barunya yang dia mainkan ketika bersama G3 juga akan ada di solo album tersebut. Jaws of Life (sebelumnya I.B.S.), Damage Control and Glasgow Kiss. Dia melibatkan beberapa musisi seperti Dave LaRue pada bass, Dave DiCenso dan Tony Verderosa pada drum.

2009-04-25T08:24:00.000-07:00

Music is an art form whose medium is sound organized in time. Common elements of music are pitch (which governs melody and harmony), rhythm (and its associated concepts tempo, meter, and articulation), dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture. The word derives from Greek μουσική (mousike), "(art) of the Muses".[1]

The creation, performance, significance, and even the definition of music vary according to culture and social context. Music ranges from strictly organized compositions (and their recreation in performance), through improvisational music to aleatoric forms. Music can be divided into genres and subgenres, although the dividing lines and relationships between music genres are often subtle, sometimes open to individual interpretation, and occasionally controversial. Within "the arts", music may be classified as a performing art, a fine art, and auditory art.

To people in many cultures, music is inextricably intertwined into their way of life. Greek philosophers and ancient Indians defined music as tones ordered horizontally as melodies and vertically as harmonies. Common sayings such as "the harmony of the spheres" and "it is music to my ears" point to the notion that music is often ordered and pleasant to listen to. However, 20th-century composer John Cage thought that any sound can be music, saying, for example, "There is no noise, only sound."[2] According to musicologist Jean-Jacques Nattiez, "the border between music and noise is always culturally defined—which implies that, even within a single society, this border does not always pass through the same place; in short, there is rarely a consensus.… By all accounts there is no single and intercultural universal concept defining what music might be, except that it is 'sound through time'."[3]