58 TT a a improvising ock Guitar Book/record guide to the style of Pat Thrall, one of rock’s finest guitarists. This is the most com; guide to lead-style rock guitar ever devised: id by Bloomfield. Green Note Music Publications exch Oltiutor WARNER BROS. PUBLICATIONS INC. 75 Reckaflar Pasa © New York, N.Y. 20038 perienced playe! material i fessional nature ( should amply demon beginner. fa ad The information contained in this book can be used by be- ginning guitarists as well as ex- The musical of an advanced, pro- a playing of the accompanying record yet the techniques involved can be learned almost immediately by anyone—even a complete improvising Rock Guitar The most comprehensive guide to lead-style rock guitar ever devised. By the Staff of Green Note Music Publications ° Foreword by Michael Bloomfield GREEN NOTE MUSIC PUBLICATIONS/ BERKELEY, CALIFORNIA IMPROVISING BOCK GUITAR © GREEN NOTE MUSIC PUBLICATIONS 1973 NEW MATERIAL: © GREEN NOTE MUSIC PUBLICATIONS 1981 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOG NUMBER: 7292915 INTERNATIONAL STANDARD BOOK NUMBER: 0.912910-038 PHOTO CREDITS: Cover photos/Fobert Altman {All photos of PAT THRALL/Robert Altman, 4IMICHAEL BLOOMFIELD/Jef Albertson 25/ROCK HOTEL/Straw Dog 27IFILLMORE WEST/sima Marshall GI/IRG RECORDING SESSION/Robert Altman. Instructional and Incidental Photography/Ronald Mathews Record Band 2/Side A 3/Side A 4/Side A 5/Side A 7/Side B 7/Side B 7/Side B 7/Side B 8/Side B 8/Side B 8/Side B 8/Side B 6/Side A 2/Side A Page Table of Contents Foreword Introduction PART 1: THE ELEMENTS OF ROCK GUITAR The Box System of Guitar Improvisation Rock and Country/Rock Scales Rock Cliches Rock Cliches with Rhythm Background PART 2: COMBINING THE ELEMENTS OF ROCK GUITAR “Snaker”: Introduction Solo Chorus 1 Solo Chorus 2 Chordal Interlude Soloing on the Changes Solo Chorus 3 Solo Chorus 4 “Homage To Hendrix”: Introduction Solo Chorus 1 Solo Chorus 2 Chordal Interlude Soloing on the Changes Solo Chorus 3 Solo Chorus 4 Final Note APPENDICES 1. Symbols and Notation Used in this Manual general fingering notation ll. Tablature Ill. Rock Techniques rock fingering picking bending vibrato the pull the hammer IV. Box System Illustrative Examples V. Box System Summary Chart MICHAEL BLOOMFIELD, who wrote the Foreword opposite, actually needs no introduction to anyone interested in the contemporary rock scene. Via his sizzling guitar and the urban blues of the Paul Butterfield Band, he helped usher in the current phase of rock; saw rock through its middle period (those days of The Electric Flag, and the Super Sessions), and is currently front- ing his own band, Michael Bloomfield & Friends, dividing his time, musically, between live per- formances and studio work Foreword All my life I've played improvised or semi-improvised guitar music. Even in my earliest music-playing years, | would alter and “play with” pieces my teachers wanted me to learn verbatim. I've never regretted those alterations. Improvisation is a unique way to assert your personality, wit, and mind into an ordered form. That form is music. You can never underestimate the value of personalizing the music you play, by the choice of notes, tones, and sonorities you use. These choices, and how you apply them, is what makes you different from any other guitarist. A simple lick, such as “Cliche 1,” found on P. 29 of this book, can be made unique by the way you attack the notes, the distinctiveness of your vibrato, and the settings you use on your equipment. Listen to Chuck Berry's Johnny B. Goode, or BB King's You Upset Me Baby, or Jimi Hendrix's Highway Chile. They all use that same cliche, yet you will note the differences in their approach to that lick. Strive to sound like yourself. Learn Hendrix, learn Beck, Bloomfield, Allman, Page, West, etc., but pass through them to find your own style. Listen to earlier rock and blues records, so you will under- stand where current guitarists got their styles. Listen also to vocal- ists, horn players and other instrumentalists. Try to “pulf" all the sounds you hear — no matter how varied — out of your guitar. They are in there and they will come out. This book is a primary and necessary aid to understanding impro- vised music. Use it and it will give you a foundation to play from. Remember, make the music you play yours; that's what it's all about. Here are some of the many musicians who have influenced my play- ing and my general musical background: BB King, Django Reinhardt, Charlie Christian, Ray Charles, Junior Walker, Elmore James, Chuck Berry, Albert King, John Coltrane, Wes Montgomery, Chet Atkins, and most anyone else whose music happened to tickle my fancy. Keep your ears open and your fingers limber. Good Pickin’ mM Chaci (Blaembie! 4 Record Bands 7 & 8/Side B Introduction Using This Book IMPROVISING ROCK GUITAR is an organized approach to the study of a relatively subtle and complex contem- porary guitar style. For your first serious reading of this book, go in an orderly and unhurried manner. This does not mean staying on a Page until each word is completely memorized, but it does mean having a good understanding of each concept before moving on. By working in this way you can be sure of get- ting the most from this method right from the start. The Enclosed Record Let us begin our study now by going directly to the music on Side B of the record included with this book. (The rec- ord is found between pp. 48-49.) Sit back, relax, and play the whole of Side B at least once, before going on with the reading. Turn the volume up and let the sound surround you. The music on this-record is good music, and you might as well enjoy it now, at the out- set, before actually beginning to study it. If you listened closely, you probably noticed that Side B consists of two jamming rock tunes. On each tune, the lead guitarist solos for a number of choruses, then the remain- der of the track is given over to the rhythm section alone, to back you up when you get ready to solo. The solo on the first tune—"Snaker”—is a good example of what we might call “mainstream” rock; that is, it features the kind of sound that any of your favorite guitarists—from Eric Clapton to Jimmy Page to whomever—might play, ‘or might have played, at any particular time. The solo on the second tune—"Homage To Hendrix”—is a good example of what we might call “jazz rock,” for want of another name to tag on it. This solo might perhaps re- mind you of Jimi Hendrix, at his mellowest, or Carlos San- tana. A Preliminary Experiment Now that you have listened to Side B a time or two, and know what sort of music and what sort of sounds we will be dealing with, let's try an experiment. Tune the open high E string of your guitar (the thinnest string) to the organ tuning-note found on Record Band 1/Side A, tune the rest of your guitar by any method that you normally use, and then try to copy on your guitar some of the solo material found on Side B, using just your ear alone. DON'T PANIC if you find this extremely difficult to do at this time! Record-copying is quite hard if you're not used to it, but it is also one of the quickest and most direct ways of learning music that exists, and most great musicians will own to having done much of it, especially in their ap- prentice years. Note: For right now when you record-copy, use any fingering that you can manage, and any picking tech- nique that you are already familiar with. We will have much to say about rock fingering later and through- out the course of this book. As far as picking is concerned, all of the recorded material accompanying this book was played with a flatpick. For those who are unfamiliar with the use of the flatpick, but who would like to begin working with it as soon as possible, a discussion appears in Appen- dix III, Rock Techniques, pp. 100-101. To return to our record-copying experiment, the impor- tant thing to keep in mind when you attempt to record- copy at this time is not to worry if the work does not go well. If you find yourself forcing too hard, back off a bit and read the next few pages, which contain some hints about how to get the most from record-copying. We will eventually return to the music on Side 8, later in the book, at which time you will be much better prepared for it. For now, try to copy on your guitar some of the solo work on Side B of the record accompanying this book. Do this before reading further, Record Band 1/Side A Record Bands 7 & 8/Side B Tips on Record-Copying If you had a great deal of difficulty doing this record-copying (and the chances of this are great, especially if you're a beginner or intermed- iate player), try the following sug- gestions: Copy a fragment of music at time: a note, a phrase, a measure. Sing the part aloud if necessary, and try to find on your guitar what you have sung. Use the balance knob of your ster- eo record player to bring out the part you especially want to hear. For example, on the record includ- ed with this book, the lead guitar plays through the right speaker and the rhythm section through the left. In order to bring out the guitar solo more clearly, simply turn your balance knob to the right speaker. Although most commercial stereo recordings are not split so lopsided- ly in favor of the guitar as we have done on this instructional record, the same principles do apply, and focussing on a single channel us- ually helps bring out the part you want to hear. Another trick in record-copying is to slow the turntable speed of the record, making it easier to hear individual notes. To slow a 33 1/3 rpm record (such as the one that comes with this book) you must Play it on a phonograph that can revolve at 16 rpm. Notice that the pitches, besides standing out bet- ter, are lowered when you do this. Playing a 33 1/3 record at 16 low- ers the notes a full octave; make sure to correct for this. In addition to these hints, you should also: Record-copy regularly. Do some just about every day, even if it’s only fifteen minutes or a half-hour at a time. Record-copy as early in your day as. possible, when your ears are fresh- est. Start with the difficult licks first, tapering off to the easier ones. There’s nothing hard-and-fast about this suggestion, but you will notice that your ear, like any mus- cle that you exercise, tends to get tired with use, and tired as the day wears on. Know when to back off. If the work is going badly, and you're very frustrated and feel like throwing your guitar out the window and yourself right after it, stop copying and take a break, even for a day or two. Just as your fingers often seem to gain in strength after a brief layoff (especially | when you've been working them extra hard), so after a rest from record- copying, notes that were impos- sible to hear, often suddenly leap out at you when you begin work again. If, after reading these suggestions, you feel like going back now and trying some more record-copying, by all means do so. But remember, don't force too hard at one time, if the going gets rough. Your involve- ment with this kind of exercise will probably continue, in one degree or another, for the extent of your musical life, so don't feel you have to get it all together in just one day. In the case of record-copying, re- laxed and steady is best. :