Even with a wealth of theoretical concepts at his fingertips, Mahavishnuās leader still plays from the gut.
Chops: Advanced
Theory: Advanced
Lesson Overview:
ā¢ Understand how to use odd time signatures.
ā¢ Create extremely syncopated and emotive solos.
ā¢ Learn how to use the ādouble harmonic minorā scale.
Click here to download a printable PDF of this lesson's notation.
What do you get when you cross odd meters with synthetic modes, displaced accents, Eastern philosophy, Marshall amps, and unbridled energy? Unfortunately, most of us would just get a mess of noise, but if youāre John McLaughlin you get the essence of the Mahavishnu Orchestra and some of the most revolutionary music to come out of the 20th century.
In The 50 Greatest Guitar Books I wrote extensively about how The Inner Mounting Flame, Mahavishnu Orchestraās debut recording, literally changed my life overnight, so I wonāt retell that story here. Nevertheless, itās worth saying that hearing John McLaughlinās music for the first time was a pivotal moment, and I am delighted to have been given this opportunity to try to relate some of his musical concepts to you.
McLaughlinās musical legacy is vast in scope and material. Thus, this lesson focuses on only one aspect of his 50-year career, specifically the original incarnation of the Mahavishnu Orchestra, which lasted from 1971-1973. Yet even limiting ourselves to just three years and three albums gives us an enormous number of musical concepts to explore, so letās get started.
To grasp McLaughlinās playing and compositional style, itās essential to have a basic understanding of modes. While space limits us from exploring modes in depth, the first few examples provide insight into the variations one can create from basic scales. For our examples, weāll stay in the 12th position and base our fingerings on an E tonality. In Ex. 1, you can see a basic fingering for the E natural minor scale, otherwise known as E Aeolian (EāF#āGāAāBāCāD).
Our next example (Ex. 2), illustrates the harmonic minor variation. There are several different ways to think of E harmonic minor (EāF#āGāAāBāCāD#), but for our purposes we will consider this an Aeolian scale with a natural 7 (D#).
Ex. 3 is what McLaughlin calls a āsynthetic scale,ā or a scale that doesnāt occur natively in Western scales and modes. He describes it as the ādouble harmonic minorā scale. Basically, itās a harmonic minor with an added b5 or āblueā noteāin this case, Bb.
Itās worth mentioning that in John McLaughlin and the Mahavishnu Orchestra scorebook, McLaughlin includes no fewer than 16 synthetic modes as points of reference āfor the benefit of the serious music student.ā
Ex. 4 is where things start to get interesting. This is a classic McLaughlin-esque arpeggio figure that uses notes from all of the aforementioned scales, thus giving us nine different notes to work with. But it gets even better! Since the arpeggio starts and ends on B, we are actually playing in a synthetic version of B Phrygian dominant (BāCāD#āEāF#āGāA), which is a mode found in the E harmonic minor scale.
If all of this seems needlessly confusingāI hear you screamingāI would agree ā¦ up to a point. But it is important to remember that McLaughlin knows, understands, and uses all of these concepts in his playing and composing. So if you want your own music to be unique and innovative, a little knowledge (confusing as it may be at first) can go a long way.
The modes are just the start of what makes this unusual arpeggio pattern so unique. The next aspect to consider is the rhythm McLaughlin used. The time signature here is 5/4, a meter that appears throughout Paul Desmondās āTake Fiveā and in portions of the theme to Mission Impossible by Lalo Schifrin. McLaughlin has a habit of making his odd meters even more challenging by displacing the accents of his bass notes, which I have also done here. Youāll hear these displaced accents throughout McLaughlinās career, most notably in the Mahavishnu pieces āThe Dance of Mayaā and āHope.ā
Moving on to our melody (Ex. 5), we revisit our modes and find a highly syncopated line played in octaves (one guitar is played up an octave to emulate the register of Mahavishnu violinist Jerry Goodman) using notes from the B Phrygian dominant scale. (Remember, thatās also the E harmonic minor scale.) This melody or head, as jazz musicians call it, is slow enough to be recognized as a theme but too angular, syncopated, and dissonant to be called catchy. But who needs catchy when you can have angularity, syncopation, and dissonance?
Finally we put everything together and add in the solo (Ex. 6). Ironically, thereās not much theory to discuss, though there are plenty of stylistic details to absorb. Personally, Iām of the opinion that when it comes time to solo over a Mahavishnu tune, McLaughlin lets go of his modal concepts and becomes a much more intuitive player. He frequently plays pentatonic lines over his modal arpeggios, letting the harmony do the work of establishing the exotic mode, while he solos more like a hyper-speed Hendrix than a technically precise music theoretician. When it comes to McLaughlinās Mahavishnu soloing, the term āreckless precisionā has never been more apt.
The solo highlights several of McLaughlinās signature licks and concepts, including his use of accelerando, or speeding up (measures 2, 5, and 6 of the solo), repetitive licks, and playing on the lower strings in the higher register. And, of course, extreme speed and syncopation.
Click here for Ex. 6
You can see that itās not any one concept that makes John McLaughlinās playing unique. Rather itās his liberal use of a multitude of influences, both musical and philosophicalārock and jazz, East and West, logic and intuitionāthat creates his inimitable style. If you hope to attain any resemblance to McLaughlin, you must open your mind, open your heart, and practice, practice, practice.
One of the heaviest guitarists to come out of Seattleās grunge scene combines flashes of Hendrix with glimpses of Sabbath.
Photo by Chris Kies
During the late ā80s and early ā90s, the focus of the music industry shifted towards Seattle and the grunge movement. Gone were the big-hair bands, their spandex and pointy- headstock guitars swept away by groups offering a more blue-collar approach to rock. One of the biggest bands to emerge out of this scene was Alice in Chains. Formed by guitarist Jerry Cantrell, vocalist Layne Staley, drummer Sean Kinney, and bassist Mike Starr, the group had a different sound from other alt-rock bands that emerged from the Emerald City. AIC was much heavier, yet also featured rich vocal harmonies, and even folk and acoustic elements.
Their debut album, Facelift, spawned āMan in a Box,ā which was in heavy rotation on MTV. Dirt, the bandās multi-platinum second album, proved to be their most successful with āWould?ā gaining traction on the soundtrack to the movie Singles. Sadly, Staley and Starr (who left the band in 1993 and was replaced by Mike Inez) died from drug-related incidents. In 2006, William Duvall stepped in as vocalist and contributed to the two most recent albums, Black Gives Way to Blue and The Devil Put DinosaursĀ Here.
Chops: Intermediate
Theory: Beginner
Lesson Overview:
ā¢ Learn how to incorporate Hendrix-style bends into a solo.
ā¢ Create down-tuned riffs using dropped-D tuning.
ā¢ Understand how to play in unusual time signatures.
Click here to download a printable PDF of this lesson's notation.
Jerry Cantrell has a very thick and powerful guitar sound that packs plenty of crunch. Heās a huge fan of dropped-D tuning and likes to layer guitar parts with a variety of tones. For our lesson, I was inspired by both old and new AIC, including āMan in a Box,ā āThem Bones,ā āGrind,ā and āCheck My Brain.ā In this example, Iāve included droning bends, chugging dropped-tuned riffs, and some melodic chord sequences.
Click here for Ex. 1
The intro kicks off with a riff inspired by āCheck My Brain.ā Youāll notice weāre in dropped-D tuning, so donāt forget to lower your 6th string a whole-step. The riff is based around a bending figure that needs a bit of explanation. Throughout the measure, continue to pick eighth-notes while slowly bending the string up a whole-step. It creates an awesome droning effect and serves as a āquestionā to the next measureās āanswer.ā You can see we have two alternating answer measures. The first one moves between the open 6th string and C on the 5th string. The alternate measure features a sliding octave shape. To fully emulate the AIC sound, Iāve doubled this riff an octave higher.
In the next section, we start with a thick rhythm part. For the double-stops, use all downstrokes and keep the chugging feel going. Dig into the strings and drive through the riff. Check out the Dm7 voicing at the 10th fret and add some vibrato.
For the chorus, we explore a slightly more open feel that includes some syncopation. This section was inspired by āGrindā from AICās self-titled album. Focus on connecting the sound between the double-stops and then move to the chugging feel for the Eb5 chords.
Next we move to a 6/4 time signature for the bridge, much like āThem Bones.ā AIC often favors unusual time signatures, such as 7/8. Here, we keep a similar feel going with some chromaticism as we climb up the neck.
Cantrell is heavily inspired by Jimi Hendrix, and Iāve tried to capture that in the solo. Things kick off with a fast trill before moving into the D blues scale (DāFāGāAbāAāC). Pay attention to the huge (minor third) bend in the soloās third measure. Keep it in tune! After a flourish of triplets, we move up to the safe confines of the D minor pentatonic scale (DāFāGāAāC) in the 10th position. After the whole-step bend up to A on the 3rd string, keep it in place while picking the tripletsāa classic blues-rock move. In the soloās conclusion, a bit of shred pops up with a fast sextuplet lick based around legato phrasing within the D minor pentatonic scale.
Recording details. Cantrell is known for his signature G&L Rampage, a guitar heās been using throughout his career. Heās also been seen playing Gibson Les Pauls and older Music Man models. Lately, Cantrellās backline consists of Freidman heads (including his signature model) and Bogner cabs. For our track, I used my Music Man Axis into JamUp Pro on an iPad, and that was routed to Steinbergās Cubasis via Audiobus. For the crunchy rhythm guitars, I used an amp model based on an old Peavey 5150. To record the solo, I moved to a 5150 MKIII with a model of an MXR Micro Amp in front. Though I didnāt use many effects, I added some ambient reverb on the rhythm parts and a stereo delay on the leads. I grabbed a Sterling by Music Man StingRay 5 for the bass parts and ran it through an Ampeg-style amp in JamUp.
Climb inside riffs inspired by one of rockās biggest bands.
Chops: Beginner
Theory: Beginner
Lesson Overview:
ā¢ Learn how to create rhythmically compelling power-chord riffs.
ā¢ Add open strings to barre chords.
ā¢ Create melodic octave-based solos.
Click here to download a printable PDF of this lesson's notation.
The Foo Fighters are one of the most successful bands to emerge from Seattleās post-grunge scene. While drumming for Nirvana, Dave Grohl was quietly writing material, and after Kurt Cobainās death, he entered the studio to record the groupās self-titled debut album. Heād played all the instruments on the record, so once the buzz began to spread, Grohl had to put a band together for live shows. Lineups have shifted over the years, but currently the band includes drummer Taylor Hawkins, bassist Nate Mendel, and guitarists Pat Smear and Chris Shiflett.
Mixing melodic hard rock with punk and blues elements, the Foos draw their influences from many bands and artists, including Black Flag, Queen, and Tom Petty. Their latest album, Sonic Highways, is an epic project that spawned a series of documentaries about legendary studios around the United States. The band spent a week in each studioās respective city, soaking up the areaās culture and vibe before writing and recording a song inspired by the experience.
For this lesson Iāve drawn ideas from such tracks as āMy Hero,ā āMonkey Wrench,ā and āAll My Life.ā Weāll focus on tight power-chord riffs, chords that contain fretted notes and open strings, and melodic octave-based lines and figures.
Click here for Ex. 1
The etude kicks off with a riff based on a standard B5 chord, but also throws in the open 5th string. Notice how the rhythm produces a very tight, punchy sound when locked in with the drums and bass. On the last beat of measures two and four, we give the harmony a bit of movement by throwing in a D5 and an E5. Simply shifting the start of a riff from beat 1 to beat 2 can really change a rhythm partās sound and feel. Check it out.
In the next section, our riff repeats, but we change the ending by going to an E/G# chord before hitting a huge E5 shape and then building tension with the D5 chord. The second half of the verse is mostly the same as the first eight measures, but with a simple twist: In the last measure we move to a D6(add9) to set up the chorus. This is a great demonstration of how a basic power chord can be embellished by simply including some open strings to add color. You should also notice that the second half of the verse concludes with an eighth-note rhythm as opposed to the tight 16th-note rhythm from measure eight.
Open strings play an essential part in the chorus riff that starts in measure 17. Throughout this section we let the top two strings ring out while moving chord shapes underneath. Check out how the A(add9) chord comes in on beat 4 rather than the start of the next measure. The second half of the chorus goes from F#7(add11) to E5 (keep those open strings ringing) before returning to the D6(add9).
The bridge starts with a melodic section that is reminiscent to the intro of āMy Hero.ā For this I composed a simple melodic figure based in E major (EāF#āG#āAāBāC#āD#) that continues to use the open 1st and 2nd strings to create some dissonance. As always, where thereās tension there must be resolution.
Distorted octaves pop up in the last section. This progression is very similar to the verse, with the exception of the A(add9) chord. The octave melody follows the rhythm of our accompanying riff, although in places it includes some fast 16th-note rhythmic ideas.
Recording details. Grohlās main guitar is his signature Gibson DG-335, but he also uses Explorers, Les Pauls, and even Telecasters on occasion. For our lesson I used my Music Man Axis Super Sport guitar and a Music Man StingRay bass. I used Steinbergās Cubasis on my iPad to record the tracks, and Positive Gridās JamUp Pro app provided the guitar and bass tones. For the guitar, I dialed up a model based on a Mesa/Boogie Dual Rectifier and a vintage Ampeg-style setting for the bass. The drums were programmed with the Drums HD app, but I chopped a lot of the fills to create the final drum part. When it comes to Grohlās tone, opt for a thick overdrive sound, but avoid saturationāwe need to hear those open strings!