CONEN bout the uthor... 4 INRODUCION... Chapter Getting tarted 6 he Guitar Fingerboard...6 uning... Music Notation...8 Reading, cale, and Chord Diagrams... 2 Roman Numerals... 2 ome erms and igns... asic echnique... 4 Chapter 2Rock heory he Major cale... Key ignatures... 22 Cycle of ths... 2 Numbering (pelling)... 24 Chapter ower Chords 2 ower Chord Examples... 26 edal ones and alm Muting... 2 ower Chord Riffs... 28 Chapter 4he Minor entatonic cale 0 Improvisation... 0 he Minor entatonic Formula... 0 Using the Minor entatonic cale... 2 Minor entatonic cale Fingering #... racticing the Minor entatonic cale... Chapter Left-Hand echniques 6 Hammer-Ons and ull-offs... 6 lides... 40 Vibrato... 4 ending... 42 Chapter 6Chords and Rhythm Guitar 4 riads... 4 asic Diatonic Harmony...46 Other Commonly Used Chords... 4 ummary of the asic Chord Group... 4 asic Chord Forms... 48 Rhythm Guitar... 0 Left-Hand Damping... 2 lash Chords... Movable Chords... 4 rincipal Chords (I, IV, and V) on the Fingerboard... 6 Rhythm lues atterns... 8 riads... 60 2 eginning Rock Guitar
Chapter More Minor entatonics 6 Minor entatonic cale Fingering #2... 6 Minor entatonic cale Fingering #... 6 Minor entatonic cale Fingering #4... 69 Minor entatonic cale Fingering #... 0 Minor entatonic Connections... he Entire Minor entatonic ystem... Chapter 8he lues 4 he 2-ar lues... 4 Open tring huffle and Rhythm Riffs... 6 lues cales... 80 he Entire lues cale ystem... 8 Chapter 9he Major entatonic cale 8 Relative entatonic cales... 8 he Five Major entatonic Fingerings... 84 liding E Major entatonic... 8 Major entatonic Connections... 86 Major entatonic Licks... 88 he Entire Major entatonic ystem... 90 Chapter 0Drop D uning 9 ppendix uggested ongs for ractice 94 ppendix Guitarists to Hear 96 bout the DVD 00 rack he DVD contains valuable demonstrations of the instructional material in this book. You will get the best results by following along with your book as you watch these video segments. Musical examples that are not performed with video are included as audio s on the DVD for listening and playing along. he audio s are all accessible on your computer as M files (see DVD-ROM udio below). he symbol at the top left appears next to each song or example for which there is an audio. Example numbers are above the symbol. he number below each symbol corresponds directly to the song or example you want to hear. he symbol at the bottom left appears next to each song or example for which there is an accompanying video demonstration. rack of the audio will help you tune your guitar. DVD-ROM udio he accompanying DVD includes M files that are playable on a computer, smartphone, or iod *. o access these files, place the disc in the DVD drive of your computer. Windows users: double-click on My Computer, right-click on your DVD drive icon, select Explore, and then double-click on the DVD-ROM Materials folder. Mac users: double-click on the DVD icon on your desktop, and then double-click on the DVD-ROM Materials folder. * iod is a trademark of pple Inc. Contents
OwER CHORD RIFF riff is a catchy, repeated melodic idea that is the basis for a song. Notice the signs in Example 22. hese indicate chucks, or cuts: mute the strings with your left hand and strum with your right (we will cover this in-depth on page 2). In the tyle of Nirvana 22 9 F b 4 4. b b b b b 6 6 b D b 6 6 4 4 4 4 In the tyle of antera une down all your strings one whole step for this next one. Many modern bands tune down, sometimes as much as two whole steps. lso notice the E pedal tones. 2 0 24 4 4... j.... In the tyle of Led Zeppelin Note the slur marks ( ) in this example. In a slur, only the fi rst note is plucked. ee Chapter for more details. C D 0 8 C D C 0 2 0 0 8 0 8 ( 8 ) s = slide = slide up = slide down 28 eginning Rock Guitar
LUE CLE he is frequently added to the minor pentatonic scale. he addition of this note creates the blues scale. Notice that the creates lots of tensionit leads us strongly to another note, usually down to the 4 or up to the. he diagrams on the right show two common fingerings for the blues scale. R 4 R 4 R 4 R 4 R 4 Ì = 6 ) ) 4 4 C) b j > b. 6 8 2 4 > H 6 6 8 8 8 w D) wing b j 6 H b 4 # 8 ( ) J 8 J # ( ) 6 Œ Ó 2 4 2 4 4 2 4 () 2 E) F) b H H 2 2 0 2 2 0 2 2 2 0 2 0 H b 2 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 Ó 80 eginning Rock Guitar
ChpEr 0 Drop D uning One of the biggest developments in modern rock guitar playing over the last 0 to years is the increasing use of drop D tuning. ometimes, this is also accompanied by a complete downtuning of the instrument anywhere from a half step to as much as two and a half steps below standard tuning. his creates a heavy low-end that lends itself to extreme metal styles and other modern rock genres. Drop D tuning is accomplished by dropping the pitch of the 6th string from the standard E note down one whole step to D. his produces a pitch that is one octave lower than the 4th-string D note. In this tuning, the lowest three strings sound as D D. Notice this gives us the interval of a th from D to and a 4th from to the higher D. his is the same voicing, or arrangement of notes, as in a standard power chord, but here, they are all available on one fret (or the three open strings). we can easily move this arrangement of notes by using one fi nger to barre the three strings at any freta pretty cool and easy way to play power chords. If we barre the 2nd fret on the 6th, th, and 4th strings, we have E E, an E power chord, and likewise on any other fret, we have a power chord with the root on the 6th and 4th strings. D 0 0 0 x x x ( E x x x G ( ( x x x x x x II II V X C his tuning facilitates solid, finger-friendly power chords that can be incorporated into riffs even at very fast tempos. hese riffs may involve open strings and single notes as well as power chords. he higher strings can be used for lead playing in the conventional way, but chords that include the 6th string need to be re-fingered to allow for the change in tuning. Let s try a few examples. Following is an arpeggiated power-chord riff in the style of 90s grunge band Nirvana. 84 6 =D 4. F D F D D # 0 0 ( 0) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 4 4 0 0 0 0 0 2 2 0 0. Chapter 0Drop D uning 9