![]() On the topic of Eddie’s “Ice Cream Man” solo, EXAMPLE 3B is inspired by spirit and feel of the original lick. ![]() Try both the 1-2-4 and 1-3-4 fingerings to see which allows you to most efficiently play through the shape. Note the wider shift between the root note (E) and the 3rd (G#) of the arpeggio relative to the previous examples. While EVH has used many different forms and variations of these fingerings throughout the years, EXAMPLE 3A depicts the E major (E, G#, B)-based shape made famous on songs like “Ice Cream Man” from Van Halen. Of course, no discussion of symmetrical fingerings would be complete without mentioning Edward Van Halen, whose ever-unique guitar style has always utilized this technique with extreme sophistication, taste and conviction. Be sure to try out this pattern within some of your favorite three-note-per-string scale fingerings! ![]() ![]() Note the picking instructions and pay particular attention to the muted alternate-picked “turnaround and re-launch” in the latter half of the pattern on beat three of each bar. Stretch the pinky one fret further into an E minor arpeggio on the E strings (E,G,B) and you get the shape in EXAMPLE 2A, which was used to great effect by Dimebag Darrell all over the Cowboys from Hell album as well as many other examples from throughout his career.ĮXAMPLE 2B uses “The Dime” in a Paul Gilbert-inspired, shred-friendly string skipping legato pattern that covers a vast intervallic range with a smooth, yet aggressive flow. This creates a lot of interesting and unexpected melodic movement related to the fingering contour, depending on how the fingering patterns are phrased.īased on a 1-2-4 fingering E diminished arpeggio on the E string, EXAMPLE 1A is a shape often used by Zakk Wylde, John 5 and the aforementioned George Lynch.ĮXAMPLE 1B uses the shape in a ridiculously simple way to execute a pattern moving in groups of nine across successive patterns of three notes on three strings (E-A-D, A-D-G, D-G-B, G-B-E, then back the other way E-B-G, B-G-D, G-D-A, D-A-E). Most almost-the-same-as-the-scale fingerings sound only OK, so I’ll be basing most of the examples on arpeggio-related shapes, since they have a wide intervallic stretch on each individual string, while having much smaller jumps when moving from string to string. Symmetrical fingerings can work with any fretting or fingering pattern (Any 1-2-3, 1-2-4, 1-3-4 pattern will work). Just try to find at least two strings of the six whose fingerings sync up in some way to the key you’re playing in, and you’re ready to rock this! But there are keys-inside-the-key that you might also notice that can be used as well. In the case of these examples, I’ll show you how these symmetrical shapes relate to E for the convenience of performing the necessary stretches and for their ease of use over E major or E minor harmonies. The trick with these is that they use the same fingering and fretting on all six strings and don’t adhere to any pure scale continuity, so you need to fit them into a fretboard context that relates to the key or chord (and its associated fingerings) you’re playing in/over. In a guitar-player-friendly form, an easy way to play a lot of these purposefully performed “wrong” notes with conviction is through the use of licks and phrases composed of symmetrical fingerings. The dubious origins of this gem aside, I’ve always found this to be an almost religious concept to strive toward, where any note can work anywhere if it is done with purposeful conviction. It went something like this: “If you play a wrong note, play it again like you mean it and it’ll sound like the best note you played all night.” King say something that instantly improved his guitar style. I remember someone telling me that George Lynch once said he heard B.B.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |