It takes a lot of discipline to be very proficient on your instrument. You really have to exercise your willpower - reach down really deep within and pull out stuff you never knew you had, strength you never bothered to find before.
- Steve Vai
Daily Definition:
Console
Also known as 'mixing console' or 'board', a large unit having additional functions such as tone control, equalization, pan pots, channel assigns, monitoring sends, and control of signals sent to external signal processors.
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Blackberry Blossom
Here is a riff from a classic Bluegrass standard tune that sounds best played fast. See if you can keep up!
Category: Riffs
Subcategory:
Published on: 14 Oct 2003
This week's example is a groovy blues combo with a heavy BB King influence, including the sound of his guitar, "Lucille". There are two guitar parts in this example, and you should learn them both. Notice the call and response action, or in other words the "conversation" going on between guitars.
Category: Riffs
Subcategory: Introduction
Published on: 29 Jul 2005
Hidden Beast
More recent Steve Morse work brings us this lick. This is a good speed drill, and when you finally get it up to speed and use distortion, you can hear the the beast emerge. It's cool!
Category: Riffs
Subcategory:
Published on: 14 Oct 2003
No matter how fast you can play, no matter how technically brilliant your fretwork, unless you build good melody into your lead playing, you will quickly lose your audience. This lesson will show you how you can use droning and pedal notes for solo practice to help your sharpen your melodic sensibilities and make your solo and lead playing more interesting and emotionally compelling.
Category: Brown Belt: Licks
Subcategory: Lead
Published on: 20 May 2004
Having trouble hearing all those fast notes from your favorite players? Try the techniques in this lesson to help you dissect and interpret the most elaborate and lively leads. Learn to make the leads uniquely your
own, while preserving the essence of the original artist.
Category: Brown Belt: Licks
Subcategory: Lead
Published on: 21 May 2004
This riff, inspired by the Beatles "She's So Heavy" has a lot of noteworthy elements in it. First is the driving 6/8 meter that doesn't pause to let you rest. Next is the base note melody of the minor scale while the arpeggiated chords ring above the dark melody. In bar 7 we threw in major 6th intervals walking down chromatically, which is a really hard to pick out by ear in some leads, especially when played fast. This riff also sounds great on acoustic, classical or electric guitars (jangly, glassy tones work well, and if you have phaser or chorus, it also adds depth to the riff).
Category: Riffs
Subcategory:
Published on: 10 Oct 2003
This lesson will present some common and useful blues licks for those just starting out. Take these for a test drive and see if they can get you off to a good start.
Category: Green Belt: Licks
Subcategory: Licks
Published on: 01 Apr 2004
