The breakthrough album by one of today’s most versatile guitarists covers everything from funky rhythms to emotive ballads.
Advanced
Intermediate
- Learn how to use “slap” and “pop” techniques.
- Create bebop-inspired solos.
- Understand how to play over 5/4 and 7/4 time signatures.
Guthrie Govan has the technical and musical abilities that make him one of the most sought-after players in the industry, and he just keeps getting better! Whether rocking out with Dizzee Rascal, writing prog records with Steven Wilson, collaborating on soundtracks with the great Hans Zimmer, or touring with the Aristocrats, Guthrie raises the bar every time he straps on his guitar.
In this lesson, we’ll touch a bit on all those styles and delve deep into Guthrie’s breakthrough solo album, Erotic Cakes. Before releasing Erotic Cakes in 2006, he submitted a demo to a guitar magazine and ended up winning a contest. (That demo eventually turned into “Wonderful Slippery Thing.”) The attention landed him a position as a music transcriber before he began to tour with Asia in the late 1990s. When not touring, Guthrie would play gigs around town with the Fellowship, a funk/fusion band that still occasionally performs in the U.K. Over the years, Guthrie’s riveting YouTube videos have brought him exposure to a wide international audience.
For this lesson, I’ve gone digital and used Positive Grid’s Bias FX for the guitar sounds. The overdriven amps are models of a plexi Marshall with the gain quite high and plenty of midrange, and I’ve used various room and hall reverbs to create space. For the clean lead moments, I used a tweed Fender model with an MXR-inspired compressor in front of it with a bit of studio room reverb. I’m playing a guitar made by Eternal Guitars with two low-output ’60s-style single-coils and a PAF-style humbucker in the bridge.
I’ve written a few unique examples that feature some of what I feel are key elements of the guitar playing on the Erotic Cakes album, and, of course, Guthrie’s own style. Each example has lots of different ideas, approaches, and concepts to take away, play with, and explore further. I’d strongly suggest taking these ideas and doing some deeper research into Guthrie’s music for subtle variations on the core ideas.
Slippery Things
One of the tunes on Erotic Cakes that guitarists talk most about is “Waves.” It first appeared on a compilation album called Guitar on the Edge back in the early ’90s. The song features a 16th-note motif that works as a main theme throughout the song. Guthrie has said the melody was inspired by the portamento, or glide effect, on a keyboard. The melody was quad tracked for an ultra-expansive sound that really does sound like, well, waves.
Upon studying Guthrie’s tune, I discovered that the melody highlights arpeggios from the underlying chord progression. The arpeggios feature quite large intervallic jumps, and the use of lots of slides and legato keeps the melody sounding smooth. My melody outlines F#m, B, and A using some linear arpeggio fingerings and sliding sixths (Ex. 1).
It can be tricky to find one particular fingering that works for everyone. In fact, my choice of fingerings changed several times while writing this lesson. My advice would be to make sure that when you’re sliding up on a string, you have a finger behind the one you’re sliding with ready to grab the next note. Most of the ascending phrases on one string are often followed by a descending phrase. See if you can find other patterns in the other arpeggios for this progression to use in your own composition and playing. I’ve found this style of riffing is common in lots of modern tech metal bands, such as Periphery and Sikth. In Ex. 2 you can see an isolated example of one of the arpeggios.
Funk-Bop
Maybe my example song names aren’t as creative as Guthrie’s, but it’s not the easiest job breaking down his exceptionally versatile guitar style into bite-sized chunks! Based on moments from “Wonderful Slippery Thing,” Ex. 3 features some of Guthrie’s funky rhythm work, slap guitar, and even some jazzy bebop-inspired licks. I’ve tried my best to demonstrate some key ideas in a few measures. Let’s go!
The first measure features a slap guitar riff. It uses a moving octave pattern that travels with the use of the open 6th string in groups of four. (Scott Mishoe is well known for his incredible slap guitar skills, and Guthrie has mentioned his name at many master classes as the inspiration for using this technique.)
A “slap” is when the thumb comes down on the guitar string near the neck, and a “pop” is executed by bringing the strumming hand’s index or middle finger under the string and plucking upwards. The pattern starts with a slap on the open string followed by a hammered-on note on the same string, followed by a muted slap, which is executed by muting with the fretting hand and slapping with the fretting hand. The last of the four notes is a pop on the note that’s an octave above the second note in the pattern.
The example then breaks into some funky syncopated strumming based around an Em9 chord that moves up a half-step to Fm9. This rhythmic motif continues with the addition of a quick 16th-note-triplet muted strum. The key to getting this sounding smooth and funky is to lighten up on the pick attack for the faster strumming and focus on the strong accents instead.
The first bebop-inspired phrase of the solo in Ex. 4 outlines notes from the E Dorian mode (E–F#–G–A–B–C#–D) along with some chromatic enclosures. On beat 3 of the second measure, we slip into an Fm7 (F–Ab–C–Eb) arpeggio before heading back to our E minor tonality. Guthrie frequently uses this kind of staggered phrasing with arpeggios to create interest and build upon memorable motifs and themes in his solos.
In the fourth measure, we have a 16th-note-triplet line that highlights notes from the E minor pentatonic scale (E–G–A–B–D) with an added 9 (F#). However, we’re including some chromatic enclosures between the scale notes to create a longer, smoother line. Guthrie is known for his relentless picking technique, and I’m quite sure he doesn’t think about it too much. He will go between various sequences and picking techniques in one phrase. It’s all about the musicality of the line for him, the technique is just there to execute the idea he hears in his head at the time.
Perhaps one of my personal favorite things about Guthrie’s playing is his use of slides that seem to add a whole new life to what could be quite a mechanical line. The phrase in the seventh measure uses notes from the E minor pentatonic scale, but in groups of five. The line moves in a reverse linear-style fashion with a slide before the first note of each quintuplet. For this line, I’m picking all the notes, but you can choose your own way of playing it to suit your style.
This final phrase is an ode to how “Wonderful Slippery Thing” finishes, yet not as advanced as Guthrie might play it. This is an E minor pentatonic scale played legato with string skipping and tapping. To build up speed over time, practice slowly and stay relaxed. Once you can handle this phrase, you’ll be ready for some of the lines in our next example.
Snake Bite
Ex. 5 references “Hangover,” the final track on Erotic Cakes. Guthrie wrote the tune to musically express the feeling of being hungover. (I’ve named my tune after a U.K. drink that’s mostly cider topped off with beer.) By mixing a slow tempo with long legato slurs and gravity-defying bends, Guthrie has brilliantly depicted the effects of a hangover with his solo phrasing.
This line that starts in the fifth measure might look terrifying in tab, but try to break it apart into small segments. The first two groups of seven make a slurred blues lick that’s great for slipping into any guitar jam. The rest of the phrase plays around a two-octave Bm7 arpeggio (B–D–F#–A). Guthrie does a lot of this with his faster legato lines, as it creates rhythmic interest and gives the phrase a vocal or sax-like dynamic shape. The rhythmic subdivisions shouldn’t be followed too closely, just take the underlying pattern and mess around with it. The subdivisions will probably happen naturally due to the line’s structure.
More gravity-defying bends start in the 11th measure, this time with a more gospel or blues flavor. The tonality of the backing track has now gone back to Bm and highlights the G and A chords. I’m visualizing B minor pentatonic (B–D–E–F#–A) notes for this phrasing, as well as going for a bluesy sound by adding some slides and slurs to the scale’s b5 (F).
The final phrase of this solo is actually a reference to Guthrie’s song “Eric,” which features an eerie and beautiful melody that uses what I can only describe as pick tapping. Use the pick to tap the higher note and let it bounce off the string for an ultra-fast trill between two notes. This phrase outlines notes from an F#7#5 tonality. In this case, I’m using notes from the F# Phrygian dominant (F#–G–A#–B–C#–D–E) scale over the F# altered chord. The phrase uses a rhythmic motif that moves down through the positions before landing on the 9 (C#) of Bm.
You may notice there are lots of squeaks and pops during this solo. These are deliberately left in to give more of a human vibe to the sound. Guthrie’s playing is technically amazing, but it’s also very human—it sounds like he is really playing the guitar and sometimes these details and sonic artefacts are part of what makes the guitar such an appealing instrument. It’s real and it’s alive, enjoy it!
Odd Meter Peter
Guthrie is no stranger to progressive rock, and there are a couple of tunes on Erotic Cakes that feature odd time signatures. His tune “Fives” was inspired by a melody he heard a bird singing in a park while on a walk to refresh his creativity. This melody happened to be in 5/4 and the rest is history. There’s also a tune on the album called “Sevens.” Written in 7/4, it features a cascading tapping arpeggio section that sounds like a piano. I have attempted to create a short piece that pushes 5/4 and 7/4 together with all the traits from both songs. It’s named “Odd Meter Peter” after Pete Riley, who played drums on the album.
Ex. 6 starts off in 5/4, which means we have five quarter-notes per measure, or 10 eighth-notes. Before writing the riff, I set out a chord sequence for the riff to follow. The riff uses a mixture of minor and major 7 arpeggios with the addition of some Andy Summers-like add9 arpeggios in measures five and six. To keep this piece interesting, yet accessible for the listener, I employed a bit of repetition with some subtle turnarounds.
In the ninth measure we move to 7/4 and explore some unique arpeggio-tapping ideas inspired by the main section of “Sevens.” This time we’re using a 16th-note subdivision and a “cookie-cutter” approach to the arpeggios that can easily be applied in other contexts. The best way to visualize these patterns is in two-string fragments. First, practice moving between the first two beats. You’ll notice that a portion of the measure repeats in beats 3 and 4 before dropping down an octave. This is similar to a section of “Sevens.” For the tapping, I’m using my middle and ring fingers. The top string of each phrase is tapped with the ring finger, followed by the middle finger on the string below. In each arpeggio there’s a symmetry between the left- and right-hand fingerings that makes this a lot easier to see on the guitar than it is to read from the tab.
I hope my examples have inspired you to look for new things in your own playing. As a fan of Guthrie, I know his playing has always inspired me to be more creative and push past my own limitations. I hope this lesson inspires you to do the same.
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On this episode of the 100 Guitarists podcast, we’re talking about our favorite Lukather tracks, from his best rhythm parts to his most rippin’ solos. And even though he spends most of his playing time with the biggest names, we’ve managed to call up a few deep cuts.
Steve Lukather is one of the most documented guitarists in the hit-making biz. He grew up as an L.A. teen with a crew of fellow musicians who would go on to make their livings at the top of the session scene. By the time Lukather and his pals formed Toto, they were already experienced chart-toppers. The band went on to success with hits including the rockin’ “Hold the Line,” breezy, bouncing “Rosanna,” and the timeless “Africa.”
As a session player, Lukather’s reign in the ’70s and ‘80s extended from Olivia Newton-John to Herbie Hancock to Michael Jackson. And alongside Michael McDonald—whose “I Keep Forgettin’ (Every Time You’re Near)” included Lukather’s distinctive rhythm riffage—Daryl Hall and John Oates, Kenny Loggins, Peter Cetera, and Christopher Cross (among many others) he may have earned the title of yacht rock’s number one guitar player.
On this episode of the 100 Guitarists podcast, we’re talking about our favorite Lukather tracks, from his best rhythm parts to his most rippin’ solos. And even though he spends most of his playing time with the biggest names, we’ve managed to call up a few deep cuts.
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Friends and guitar legends in the making Tom Bukovac (left) and Guthrie Trapp map out some recording strategy for In Stereo, with an acoustic guitar and air drums.
Nashville session and stage MVPs craft an aural wonderland with their genre-defying instrumental album, In Stereo.
Working from a shared language of elegance and grit, Nashville guitar domos Tom Bukovac and Guthrie Trapp have crafted In Stereo, an album that celebrates the transcendent power of instrumental music—its ability to transport listeners and to convey complex emotions without words.
In Stereo also honors Trapp and Bukovac’s friendship, which ignited when Trapp and Bukovac met over a decade ago at Nashville’s 12 South Taproom eatery and club—an after-hours musician’s hangout at the time. They also sometimes played casually at Bukovac’s now-gone used instrument shop, but when they’re onstage today—say at Trapp’s Monday night residency at Nashville’s Underdog, or at a special event like Billy Gibbons’ BMI Troubadour Award ceremony last year—their chemistry is obvious and combustible.
“Guthrie is very unpredictable, but for some reason our two styles seem to mix well.”—Tom Bukovac
“It’s like dancing with somebody,” Bukovac says about their creative partnership. “It is very easy and complementary. Guthrie is very unpredictable, but for some reason our two styles seem to mix well, although we play very differently.”
As Pepé Le Pew probably said, “Vive la différence.” While they’re both important figures in Nashville’s guitar culture as badass, in-demand session and live players, Trapp also points out that the foundation of their respective careers is on opposite swings of that pendulum. Bukovac’s reputation was built on his studio work. Besides his touring history, he’s played on over 1,200 albums including recordings by the Black Keys, Glen Campbell, Keith Urban, Stevie Nicks, Bob Seger, and Hermanos Gutiérrez. And Trapp considers himself mostly a stage guitarist. He emerged as a member of the Don Kelly Band, which has been a Lower Broadway proving ground for a host of Nashville 6-string hotshots, including Brent Mason, Johnny Hiland, and Redd Volkaert. In recent years, you may have seen him on the road with John Oates. It’s also possible you’ve heard Trapp on recordings by Rodney Crowell, Emmylou Harris, and Roseanne Cash, among others.But back to In Stereo. “This record is truly for the love of music and not giving a shit what anybody else is going to think about it,” relates Trapp, as he, Bukovac, and I sit and talk, and they noodle unplugged on a Danocaster and an ES-355, respectively, in the warm, instrument-filled surroundings of the Cabin Studio in East Nashville. The album was recorded there and at another studio, simply called the Studio, with Brandon Bell engineering.
“When we started working on the album, it was very loose,” explains Bukovac. “I never wanted to bring in anything that was complete because the key is collaboration. So, I knew better than to come in with a complete song. And Guthrie didn’t do that either. We would just come in with a riff for an idea and then let the other guy finish it—and that’s the best way to do it.”
“It’s got enough humanity—real playing—mixed with the cinematic side of it.”—Tom BukovacAll of which helped make In Stereo’s 11 compositions seamless and diverse. The album opens with a minute-long ambient piece called “Where’s the Bluegrass Band,” which blends acoustic and electric guitars, feedback, and keyboards with generous delay and reverb—telegraphing that listeners should expect the unexpected. Of course, if you’ve been following their careers, including their estimable YouTube presence, you’re already expecting that, too. So, a soulful composition like “The Black Cloud,” which builds from a Beatles-esque melody to a muscular and emotive power ballad of sorts, comes as no surprise. “Desert Man” is more of a mindblower, with its dark-shaded tones and haunting melodies. “Cascade Park” is an unpredictable journey that begins with delay-drenched piano and leads to Trapp’s acoustic guitar, which evolves from contemplative melody to feral soloing. And “Bad Cat Serenade” and “Transition Logo Blues” balance the worlds of country and jazz fusion. Overall, the music is timeless, emotional, and exploratory, creating its own world, much as Ennio Morricone did with his classic film soundtracks.
Tom Bukovac's Gear for In Stereo
Tom Bukovac and his ’58 Les Paul sunburst—one of just a handful of guitars he used to record In Stereo.
Guitars
- 1958 Gibson Les Paul ’Burst
- 1962 Stratocaster
- Harmony acoustic rebuilt by James Burkette
- Jeff Senn Strat
Synth
- Roland XP-30
Amp
- Black-panel Fender Princeton
Effects
- Nobels ODR-1
- Strymon Brigadier dBucket Delay
Strings & Picks
- D’Addario NYXL’s (.010–.046)
- Fender Mediums
“It’s a lot to ask somebody to sit and listen to an instrumental record,” Bukovac offers, “so I was just trying to make sure—and I know Guthrie did the same—it doesn’t get boring. When I finally sat and listened to this thing in its entirety, which was many months after we actually recorded, I had forgotten what we’d even done. I was overwhelmed. I love that I never got bored. It moves along and has moments where it gets into sort of a trance, in a good way, but it never stays there too long. It’s got enough humanity—real playing—mixed with the cinematic side of it.”
Trapp picks up the thread: “If you’re in Nashville for a long time and you’re paying attention at all, you understand this is a song town. No matter how you slice it, it’s all about the vocal and the lyric and the song. So, it doesn’t matter if you’re making an avant-garde instrumental guitar record. That influence is pounded in your brain—how important it is to trim the fat and get down to the song. A song is a song. It doesn't matter if it’s instrumental or not. It’s a ‘Don’t get bogged down and get to the chorus’ kind of thing.”
“A song is a song. It doesn’t matter if it’s instrumental or not. It’s a ‘Don’t get bogged down and get to the chorus’ kind of thing.”—Guthrie Trapp
Which alludes to the sense of movement in all these compositions. “It’s very important that every section of a song delivers every transition,” Bukovac adds. “When you go into a new room, when you open that door, it’s got to be right. That’s what I think about records. And there’s a lot of shifting on this record. We go from one field to another, and were very concerned about making sure that each transition delivers.”
Guthrie Trapp's Gear for In Stereo
Guthrie Trapp recording with his Danocaster Single Cut, made by Nashville’s Dan Strain.
Guitar
- Dan Strain Danocaster Single Cut
Amps
- Kendrick The Rig 1x12 combo
- Black-panel Fender Princeton
Effects
- Strymon Brigadier dBucket Delay
- Strymon Lex
- Nobels ODR-1
- Xotic RC Booster
- T-Rex Tremster
- Boss TU Tuner
Strings & Picks
- D’Addario NYXL’s (.010–.046)
- Medium celluloid
That kind of thoughtful development—the set up and delivery of various compositional sections in songs—isn’t exactly a lost art, but it’s certainly rarer than in earlier decades. Listen to Elton John’s Goodbye Yellow Brick Road to hear how Davey Johnstone sets up verses, choruses, and bridges—or anything by David Gilmour—for reference. It’s also a goal best accomplished with a team of exceptional players, and, of course, Trapp and Bukovac enlisted some of Music City’s finest. The cast includes steel-guitar legend Paul Franklin, keyboardist Tim Lauer, bassists Steve Mackey and Jacob Lowery, and drummers Jordan Perlson and Lester Estelle.
“Don’t tell my mom, because of course we all want to make a living, but playing music that has integrity is at the top for me.”—Guthrie Trapp
“We recorded the basics—really, most of the tracks—live on the floor,” says Trapp.
“We kept a lot of the original throw-down/go-down solos,” Bukovac adds. “There were very few fixes and overdubs. One of the best moves we made was letting an outside person objectively sequence it, because you can get a little bit too inside your own thing. It’s like … if you’ve ever done a photo shoot, if you let somebody else choose the photo, it’s never going to be the one you’d choose, and it’s probably a better choice.” That task fell to bassist and singer Nick Govrik.
The terrain Bukovac and Trapp cover on their first album together is expansive and transporting—and packed with impressive melodies and guitar sounds.
The shipment of In Stereo’s vinyl arrived shortly before Trapp, Bukovac, and I talked, and while Bukovac released his first solo album, Plexi Soul, in 2021, and Trapp put out his releases Pick Peace and Life After Dark in 2012 and 2018, respectively, they seemed as excited to listen to it as teenagers in a garage band unveiling their debut single. That’s because, despite their standing and successes, playing guitar and making music is truly in their blood. What they play is a genuine expression of who they are, ripped from their DNA and presented to the world.
“Don’t tell my mom this, because of course we all want to make a living, but playing music that has integrity is at the top for me,” says Trapp. “These days, with AI and people worried or insecure about where the music business is going, and all these Instagram players who just are fixing everything with Pro Tools so they sound like they’re in a studio, I don’t worry because we’re not selling bullshit. We have 35 years of real experience between us, and when we do social media, we’re just reaching for a cell phone and posting it. It’s organic. That, to me, is a big difference. At the end of the day, I can sleep well knowing that I have earned the respect of the people that I respect the most. It’s just authentic music made for the very reason we got into this in the first place. We love it.”
YouTube It
Guthrie Trapp and Tom Bukovac practice their live chemistry together at Trapp’s standing Monday night gig at Nashville’s guitar-centric Underdog.