Welcome to this month’s edition of Lethal Guitar with yours truly Jeff
Beasley. I just finished some instructional videos, called "Shred
Ahead" for TrueFire in Tampa, Florida, and I'm very excited about them.
The topics are very similar to the Shredder's Ph.D. I spent the past
two weeks doing dates for the National Guitar Workshop teaching rock
master classes, right off the heels of Sumer NAMM in Nashville. Whew!
Look for upcoming features in Premier Guitar where I'll be teaming with
Michael Angelo Batio, Rusty Cooley, Rob Marcello and Angus Clark.
This
month I’ve given you a diminished arpeggio exercise I use to work on my
technique and to utilize as many diminished ideas as I can in one fell
swoop. The exercise is lengthy and encompasses many different
approaches and melodic manipulations of the diminished idea. I
alternate pick the entire thing. You’ll find yourself moving linearly
on the fretboard numerous times throughout. It involves several
sections where string skipping is required and reveals some interesting
symmetry in the diminished arpeggio.
I use a normal resolution of the study, based on the A° diminished line
resolving to Bb major seventh. I utilize the equidistant qualities of
the arpeggio in multiple spots ascending and descending. These are
excellent for building and releasing tension and for developing the
ability to shift positions smoothly. At other points there are
different sequencing lines which greatly enhance your alternate picking
skills.
Logical fingerings are a must throughout most of the study i.e., assign
each of the four fretting hand digits to adjacent frets, with
occasional exceptions. The diminished arpeggio has a scary/beautiful
tonality but remember it does require resolution to stability,
dissonance to consonance, instability to stability, unpleasant to
pleasant, tension to release. This concept of building tension and
releasing it is one of many common threads in Western civilization
music. Buckle up…
Ok guys and gals, there you have another exciting edition of Lethal
Guitar. Remember to alternate your picking strictly and carefully, use
a metronome and a clean tone to ensure accuracy. Speed without
precision is noise. Thanks for logging on and tuning in and I’ll see
you next month.
©Jeff Beasley 2008
Jeff Beasley
jeff@guitarsource3.com
Jeff Beasley holds B.A. degrees in Music and Classical Guitar. He offers his readers 30 years of experience in studio, teaching and performance. He is on the National Guitar Workshop faculty in Nashville, TN. Jeff's CD "Tiebreaker" is available through CD Baby, Guitar 9, and Jeff's website; GuitarSource3.com. Jeff holds endorsement agreements with Dean, Peavey, DiMarzio, RKS, THD, Ensotec, Robert Keeley, Knucklehead and In Tune.