In her latest lesson, virtuoso Nili Brosh analyzes techniques and approaches made famous on records from the venerated '80s record label.
Chops: Advanced
Theory: Intermediate
Lesson Overview:
• Work through sweep arpeggios in the style of Jason Becker.
• Add more chromatic notes to your improvised solos.
• Make your riffs more compelling with unexpected rhythmic subdivisions.
Click here to download a printable PDF of this lesson's notation.
Shrapnel Records introduced the world to some of the most virtuosic rock and metal guitarists to have ever plugged into a high-gain amp. Starting in the ’80s, an era that has subsequently become infamous for guitar gods, Shrapnel’s founder Mike Varney carefully selected the cream-of-the-crop players for his unique record label.
Some Shrapnel alumni are best known for sweep picking, others for insane alternate picking, and yet others for emphasizing legato fretwork. But all of them are known for playing a lot of notes in a very musical way. What made many of these players great, in my opinion, is that each took a unique approach to playing and writing within the fairly specific “shred” genre.
Want to acquire some tricks of their trade? Let’s take a look at key ideas and techniques used by several of Shrapnel’s heaviest hitters.
Most people associate Shrapnel guitarists with technical lead playing, but before we go there let’s first visit the often-overlooked art of playing rhythm. In my opinion, Paul Gilbert and Bruce Bouillet of Racer X were absolute masters of creating rhythmically exciting and unexpected metal riffs. These were often based on strong rhythmic hooks that included subdivisions and interwoven exchanges, and took surprising aural twists and turns.
Ex. 1 is a Racer X-style riff in A minor that illustrates the basic idea of taking one rhythmic pattern and throwing in surprise subdivisions. This riff’s main rhythmic pattern is based on three-note groupings of 16th-notes. In the first measure we encounter a new subdivision on beat 4. Hear how those 32nd-notes surprise the ear? It’s a great example of what Racer X was known for.
Another example of this effect is in the riff’s second fill. We have a 16th-note triplet run to wrap up the first repetition (starting on the “and” of beat 3 in measure 2), and again, the change in subdivision from the main 16th-note pattern creates an additional rhythmic twist.
Click here for Ex. 1
Now that we’ve had a dose of rhythmic content, let’s shift over to the kind of lead playing that makes many listeners’ jaws drop. Because he introduced pop and R&B-inspired chord changes and funky rhythms to what was fundamentally a hard rock and metal label, Greg Howe is arguably one of the most distinctive Shrapnel artists. To make things even more interesting, he favored an innovative tapping technique and infused his playing with chromatics.
Inspired by the record Introspection, Ex. 2 is a Greg Howe-style lick over a series of dominant 7 chords. Hear how the chromatics are interwoven between E7 and B7 chord tones on the weak parts of the beat? This is a common jazz guitar technique, but it’s made very Howe-ish thanks to Greg’s grooves, feel, and note choices.
Next over A7 comes one of Greg’s most famous tapping techniques. This line also demonstrates his “hammer-on from nowhere” technique, which means that the hammer-on note isn’t approached by a previously picked note. Finally, we have another of Greg’s famous tapping techniques over the F#7. Here, we take three-note-per-string scales and instead of picking every note or playing full-on legato, use a hammer-hammer-tap pattern to cover the ascending phrase.
Click here for Ex. 2
Another Shrapnel powerhouse is Tony MacAlpine, who is famously known for his blazing picking and his blend of classically inspired themes and contemporary instrumental music. Ex. 3 pays tribute to his approach to arpeggios.
The opening phrase is one of my favorite Tony-isms. We’re creating a major 7 arpeggio, in this case Dmaj7, by only using the lowest two strings. Keep in mind that there’s absolutely no picking here—it’s strictly legato and tapping. But the real interesting thing about this kind of line is the context in which Tony often uses it. Here, we’re in a Bm tonality, so we can use a D major arpeggio (Bm’s relative major) and still stay in the key.
Click here for Ex. 3
We’ve explored a variety of tapping and arpeggio ideas, but haven’t yet encountered one of the most common staples of the Shrapnel guys: alternate picking licks! Many of the Shrapnel guitarists are well known for playing long, scalar runs in which they pick each note. If used wisely, this can be one of the simplest ways to enhance your playing, as these runs are mostly pattern-based and primarily built on the three-note-per-string scale fingerings.
A simple alternate-picked line in B minor, Ex. 4 starts with a six-note scale shape that’s copied across three octaves. You’ll find this fragment (the first three beats of the first measure) on many Shrapnel albums. Keep in mind that strict alternate picking is crucial for the accuracy and cleanliness of a lick like this, so be sure to practice it slowly.
Because these lines work so well in the three-note-per-string fingerings, they’re often conducive to some sort of triplet subdivision. The kicker with such licks is that they’re very pattern-based and can end up sounding too much like an exercise. Use them wisely and musically.
Click here for Ex. 4
And last but not least, what would a column on Shrapnel be without a mention of the legendary Jason Becker? For dedicated shredders, his playing and spirit need no introduction, but if you need one, check out this trailer for the excellent documentary Not Dead Yet.
Ex. 5 is a workout in Becker-style sweep arpeggios. One point that was unique about Jason’s particular approach to sweep picking is that he extended certain arpeggio shapes further than other players did. In this example, all of the shapes extend down to include two notes on the 5th string. It’s fairly rare to see the Bm and E shapes extend down that far, but that’s part of Jason’s nuanced magic. The key to successfully playing sweep arpeggios lies in the picking pattern. It’s always a specific, non open-ended pattern that isn’t as simple as just constant downstrokes and upstrokes. A hammer-on or pull-off is included every time there’s two notes played on the same string.
Click here for Ex. 5
Keep in mind that playing anything cleanly and accurately lies in practicing very slowly, in time with a metronome. These guys were all masters of fast playing, but I believe they were standouts because they used their chops in clever and musical ways, and that composition was their first priority. So when you’re sitting down with your metronome to blaze through these licks, just remember that music comes ahead of technique.
Racer X
This blazing live performance of Racer X’s “Scarified” from 1988 illustrates how Paul Gilbert and Bruce Bouillet varied the rhythms within their warp-speed riffs.
Greg Howe
Greg Howe improvises an incredible solo over his tune “Come and Get It.” Check out 0:45-0:48 for a great example of one of his signature tapping techniques.
Tony MacAlpine
Here’s Tony MacAlpine playing “Pyrokinesis” with an excellent view of his fretboard. Marco Minnemann plays the drums on this track and MacAlpine plays everything else. Look for his tapped arpeggios sequences and notice how he weaves them into both the melody and the solo.
Jason Becker
The legendary Jason Becker performs a dazzling mix of feisty, extended-range arpeggios in this clip from a guitar clinic in 1989.
Legendary rock guitarists such as Paul Gilbert, Guthrie Govan, Shawn Lane, and Nuno Bettencourt created wildly interesting and provocative lines by simply skipping over the obvious choice.
Chops: Intermediate
Theory: Beginner
Lesson Overview:
• Become more fluent in three-note-per-string scales.
• Unleash the power of intervallic licks.
• Learn how to navigate arpeggios using string skipping.
Click here to download a printable PDF of this lesson's notation.
In this installment of Cram Session we’ll take a look at some inventive ways to practice and apply various string-skipping techniques. It was during the ’80s and ’90s that Eric Johnson, Paul Gilbert, Nuno Bettencourt, Shawn Lane, and other legendary rockers pushed the boundaries of what was possible on the guitar, and skipping strings was one of the principles these players refined and perfected.
The basic concept is simple: When you play a lick, don’t move to an adjacent string.
Guitarists generally play lines that follow ascending or descending patterns across adjacent strings. But by simply skipping a string it’s possible to produce lines not normally associated with regular guitar fingerings. Paul Gilbert once described the technique, as “a way to play licks that sound like they weren’t written on the guitar.”
It’s possible to use this technique to execute licks and melodies that incorporate wide intervals, and applying string skipping to modal or pentatonic scales can produce hip, distinctive lines. Skipping strings is also a great way to perform arpeggios using either legato phrasing or a combination of legato and tapping. Arpeggios are notoriously difficult to execute smoothly and cleanly on the guitar, as we often have to play single notes on adjacent strings. This can be very hard to articulate, and sometimes alternate picking or sweep picking can result in a less defined sound because the notes blend into one another.
One of the masters of the string-skipping approach is Paul Gilbert. He uses the technique to perform pieces by classical composers, transferring melodies written for either strings or keyboard to the fretboard. In the video below you can see him tackle a portion from Bach’s The Well-Tempered Clavier.
Ex. 1 is a simple exercise that demonstrates the string-skipping approach using the A minor pentatonic scale (A–C–D–E–G). You can see that we simply jump over the adjacent string and then jump back to the lower adjacent string and continue in an ascending form. We then simply reverse the idea for the descending form.
Click here for Ex. 1
Ex. 2 is a Paul Gilbert-style lick based on a phrase that can be heard on his blistering cover of the Jeff Beck song “El Becko.” I remember buying a guitar compilation album with this track on in the early ’90s and loving the sound of this unusual pentatonic phrase. Following a full bend, the lick descends with a string-skipping figure using notes from A minor pentatonic. The lick concludes on a pentatonic run enhanced with an added 2.
Click here for Ex. 2
We stick with the A minor pentatonic scale in Ex. 3. This lick is based around a sextuplet rhythm with an ascending pattern using the 3rd and 1st strings exclusively. The passage has a wide intervallic sound based around a familiar pentatonic figure.
Click here for Ex. 3
For Ex. 4 I’ve outlined a typical three-note-per-string scale in G major (G–A–B–C–D–E–F#). This scale shape is one of seven fingerings that cover the entire neck. If you don’t know the remaining six shapes, I suggest you look them up and learn them. They’re vital for being able to form extended runs all over the fretboard.
Click here for Ex. 4
Australian legato master Brett Garsed is the inspiration for Ex. 5. This example moves through all seven modal shapes of the G major scale. The lick concludes with the original shape performed an octave higher.
Click here for Ex. 5
We move into classic Paul Gilbert territory with Ex. 6. Again, we’re moving up the scale using each diatonic shape. This figure ascends on the 3rd and 1st strings and uses a mixture of legato and alternate picking based on a sextuplet rhythm.
Click here for Ex. 6
Ex. 7 is a variation of our previous example and features a figure based around a 16th-note picking sequence performed exclusively on the 3rd and 1st strings. Once again, this lick covers a large portion of the neck and makes use of all of the modal string shapes.
Click here for Ex. 7
Ex. 8 is a classic Paul Gilbert-style arpeggio that can be heard on his various solo recordings, as well as his recorded work with Racer X and Mr. Big. The idea of these arpeggios is that the note that’s normally played on the 2nd string, when playing either an E major or E minor arpeggio shape, is now performed on the 3rd string. This allows us to produce a smooth consistent sound by executing different sequences with a legato technique.
Click here for Ex. 8
A lick in the style of Nuno Bettencourt, Ex. 9 illustrates his approach to playing string-skipped arpeggios. Based on a sextuplet rhythm, this lick is built around a sequence that repeats through the various arpeggios and includes some different fingerings that let us play inversions of both major and minor arpeggios. The phrase concludes with an ascending and descending figure that uses diminished string-skipping shapes over the E7/G# chord.
Click here for Ex. 9
When I was studying with renowned session guitarist Phil Hilborne, I learned the approach used in Ex. 10. This lick presents fingerings for all the diatonic harmonized 7th arpeggio extensions in the key of G major. It arranges the arpeggios as string-skipping fingerings with the root notes situated on both the 5th and 6th strings. This is a very effective way of performing the slightly more awkward 7th arpeggio fingerings, plus it has a cool intervallic sound.
Click here for Ex. 10
Ex. 11 is a potent sequence in D Dorian (D–E–F–G–A–B–C) that outlines various arpeggio extensions over a Dm7. Using the string skipping technique with the 7th arpeggio extensions, it’s possible to perform very sophisticated phrases with ease.
Click here for Ex. 11
Our final exercise (Ex. 12) is in the style of my old friend, Guthrie Govan. This lick is based on Guthrie’s jaw-dropping four-note-per-string fingering for a minor 7 arpeggio. This lick will take some work as the stretches are wide, plus you have to sound the first note on each string with a left-hand hammer-on using the first finger of your fretting hand. I suggest working on the jump between strings slowly, but even at a slow tempo make sure you’re playing it with unwavering time.
Click here for Ex. 12
Beautifully integrated fuzz and reverb conspire in a bubbling-over box of shoegaze delights.
Reverb Types: Reverse, followed by two hall reverb samples and two shimmer reverb samples at various levels.
Reverse reverb – Heavy fuzz: Decay, Pre-Delay, and Blend at 2 o’ clock. Warmth at maximum. Level at 9 o’clock, tone at 10 o’clock, fuzz at 3 o’clock.
As far as I know, there’s no pedal category called “Kevin Shields in a Box.” If there were, the Keeley Sojourner certainly qualifies. It essentially combines Keeley’s Psi fuzz and Nocturner reverb circuits. But in doing so, it also combines a very creamy fuzz sound with reverse reverb—cornerstones of several My Bloody Valentine live and Loveless tone recipes.
Pink and purple shoegaze shades aren’t the only sounds on tap. There are also hall and shimmer reverb settings, although the latter uses a POG-like octave overtone path to “shimmeriness” that can sound less than seamlessly integrated. The hall reverb is more versatile, but neither is especially expansive.
Test gear: Fender Jaguar, Fender Telecaster Deluxe, Fender Champ, 1968 Fender Bassman
Ratings
Pros:
Fuzz and reverb work deliciously together. Makes small amps sound huge in recording sessions. Unique fuzz combines scathing ’60s buzz and warm Muff-like glow.
Cons:
Reverbs could be more expansive and offer more ambient extremes. Octave presence in shimmer mode lacks subtlety.
Street:
$299
Keeley Electronics Sojourner
rkfx.com
Tones:
Ease of Use:
Build/Design:
Value: