Guitar Lesson Five

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Guitar Lesson Five - Music

In this lesson, we're going to take a look some songs that include rests, bends and harmonics.

Johnny by Thin Lizzy is a great example of how adding spaces between the notes can result in a cool sounding riff:

Here's what it sounds like: Thin Lizzy

Take a look at the last measure, and you'll find what's called a TIE connecting the 4th and 5th notes of the measure. A tie looks just like the slur marking that we saw in the left hand section of this lesson. The difference between the two is that a slur connects two or more notes that have different pitches, whereas a tie connects two or more notes that are the exact same pitch.

A tie adds the notes together. In other words, if we look at the example above, you play the 4th note and then hold that note through the value of the 5th note. In this case, you've, essentially, turned the two 1/8 notes into a 1/4 note. If two 1/4 notes were tied together, you would play it just like a 1/2 note, etc...

Back In Black by AC/DC is another great riff that makes use of rests. This one also has a one-fret bend on the G-string:

Here's the sound file: AC/DC

If it's not obvious, in the second measure, B stands for bend, R stands for release, and P stands for pull (S stands for slide and H stands for hammer when they appear). Also, that funny little note, with the slash through it's stem, in the second measure is called a GRACE NOTE. Grace notes are used to notate a bend, slide, hammer or pull that sets up a target note (in this case, the target note is the Bb). The target note is played right on the beat, and the grace note is played just before the beat. You don't really hear the grace note. You only hear the movement from the grace note into the target note (listen closely to the sound file). Here, you're fretting the A at the second fret of the G-string, and immediately bending to the Bb as you pick the string. Then, you release the string back to A and pull off to G. This all happens fairly fast, like you're just "tweezing" the A note before the pull off.

Hey Joe by Jimi Hendrix has the same bend on the same string (sort of a "one size fits all" lick). There's also the grace note slide into the first note of the song:

Here's what it sounds like: Jimi Hendrix

This one is easier than it may look. Most of it is based around the E chord that I showed you in lesson 1.

Start with your ring finger holding the D note on the B-string. Pick the B and E-strings simultaneously as you quickly slide the ring finger up to the E note on the B-string. Then, shift the ring finger back to the 3rd fret for the D note and strike the B and E-strings together again.

Use your middle finger for the B, R, and P, and your ring finger for the H. As your ring finger is hammering the E on the D-string, put your index finger on the G# at the 1st fret of the G-string and your middle finger on the B at the 2nd fret of the A-string. You are now fingering an E major chord.

The last two beats of measure 1 and all of measure 2 are played while you hold your hand in the E chord shape. You don't even have to hit exactly the right strings, if you keep your hand in this shape. Just hit the open E as the TAB dictates, and the rest of the chord for the other parts (I believe that's how Jimi played it. He just happened to play only those strings when he recorded the version of the song that appeared on Are You Experienced).

Now, in measure 2, just slide the whole E chord up the fretboard, so that your middle and ring fingers are playing the required notes at the 5th fret (your index will be at the 4th fret on the G-string). Then move the chord down 1 fret for the notes at the 4th fret and back to it's normal position for the rest of the measure.

For measure 3, barre your index finger across the D, G and B-strings at the 7th fret, and use your middle finger to hammer the 9th fret of the D-string. The only thing moving is your middle finger. The index is just holding down it's notes.

The C chord in the last measure is just to show you where the song goes after the lick at the 7th fret. We're going to be taking a closer look at the rest of this song in future lessons.

Now, let's explore the use of harmonics.

Here's the opening of Barracuda by Heart:

And, this one sounds like: Heart

This one's pretty straight forward, but, after hearing it on the radio the other day, I'm not convinced that my transcription is entirely accurate. This is just the way I have always played it. It sounds good and is fun to play.

Use alternate picking to play the "galloping" rhythm (down-down-up, down-down-up, etc...)

The diamond noteheads and the corresponding diamonds enclosing the tabbed numbers in measures 4, 5, 8 and 9 represent harmonics. Play the harmonics at the frets indicated by the TAB. The 8va symbol over the notes in the same measures stands for OCTAVA which means to play the notes an octave higher than written (The TAB already takes this into account). This symbol is used whenever the notes might be written too far above the staff.

Another great example of the use of harmonics is Red Barchetta by Rush:

This one sounds like: Rush

The hardest part of this one is getting the harmonics at the 9th fret to come out. You may have to experiment to find the best position along the string.

It's easiest to think of this one as being composed of two seperate licks, each one repeated 6 times.

Also, notice the reverse repeat sign in measure 3. What this tells you is that this is where you repeat the second lick from. When you find a repeat sign in a piece of music, it's telling you to go back to where the reverse sign is located and play that part again. If there is no reverse sign, then you go back to the beginning of the piece.

In this case, you would play from the first measure until you arrive at the repeat sign in measure 2. Since there's no reverse sign before that, you go back to the beginning and play the whole thing again.

Now, notice that above the first repeat sign, there are directions telling you to use this repeat sign 6 times. After you have repeated the section in question 6 times, you ignore the first repeat sign and play until you reach the second repeat sign (not the reverse one). You, then, go back to where the reverse sign is located and play from there. Again, you will find directions above the second repeat sign telling you to use that repeat 6 times.

Whew!!

And, finally, a cool example of tapping harmonics, Women In Love by Van Halen:

This one sounds like this: Van Halen

This one is pretty difficult to play up to speed. You have to move both hands into position at the same time, and they're at different spots on the fingerboard!

First, notice the unique notation. This is how artificial harmonics are notated. The standard notehead indicates the actual note you are playing, while the diamond notehead indicates the pitch of the harmonic being generated.

In this case the harmonic is an octave higher (12 frets).

Now, instead of trying to play each note individually, try to see each measure as a chord and position the left hand accordingly.

Here are the chord shapes for measures 1 and 2:

Then, all you have to do is move those same shapes down 2 frets for measures 3 and 4:

Once you get the left hand doing it's job, you can concentrate on the right hand.

With your right index or middle finger, tap the harmonic 12 frets above each of the notes in the chord shape.

For the G note on the B-string, in the 3rd measure, continue to hold the chord shape (index on the 5th fret of the A-string, ring finger barred across the D, G and B-strings at the 7th fret) and use the pinky on your left hand to fret the G note.

Best of luck!

This lesson is divided into seven parts:

Tuning

Theory Part I

Theory Part II

Theory Part III

Left hand Technique

Right hand Technique

Music

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