CD INCLUDES ACOUSTIC . vi * A Pe ee ee) SD D1 dD COD) ee ee Oe ee oaCONTENTS (CD Track List Introduction Music Notation Key GETTING STARTED Gakars, Slides, and Tuoings Single String Melodies Gacina Blues Working in the Thurals Seady Now ffoeat ives MOVING AROUND THE NECK (Open G Tuning and Closed Position From Twelve to Seven Trensposin’ ard Tarnblin Splicing Up Your Melodies Three-Note Jarnp Tw0-Chord brew Shutting in £ The Coversp Rotter Late Than Never MORE TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES. Travis Picking Shaun’ aval Frey Since Ive Lald My Burden Down Pallofs, Hammerons, and Blue Notes Blo Note Muddy’s Blues Turnarounds and Moving Bass Lines Mudeby's Blues #2 Gon’ Back ro Clarksdale Further Listening and Learning About the Author 2 8 6 8 oA 8 ”CD TRACK LIST LESSON Tune-ap: Open D Tunes: Open G single-strmg Metocies Cucina Blues Waring inthe Thumb Diteat Blues ‘Opens Tuning and Closed Fosition From Twetee to Seven picing lp Your Melodtes Three Note lump TworChord Draw shoffing 1 Covers eter Late Than Never Travis Picking Stud’ and Freton since Ive Latd My Burden Down Pulls, Hamer-ons, and Blue Notes Blue Note Special Mudiy’s ues Turnaround and Moving Bass Lines Imuatty's Bes 82 Goin’ Back t Clarksdale TRACK NUMBERS 78-90 20 91-99 ieINTRODUCTION Upitesitemey be ne tte at evens expresne ways to cone sound from an acoustic Toots of the blues are entwined with the roots of slide guitar, and the slide sound has uaveled up through most of he largest branches of American music. While there are countless shacles of blues—both cout: try and urban, prewar and postwar, solo and band—slide itaris often considered the epitome ofthe blues spirit. And the slide pantheon itself is @ cverse one, home to both the classic Delia repertoite of Robert Johnson and the hettieneck yospel recordings 0! Dlind Wilke Johnson, to both the witty, polished solo instrumentals of the prellic Tampa Red and the evocative landseapes of Ry Cooder’s present-day sound trecks, This book is designed as an Introduction to acoustic slide guitar, so even if you have never put bottienect to strings, you can start here. It you've done a little fir gerpicking alrealy play some blues, or have focled around with open tunings at al, that will certainly help. The focus here is on the fundamentals of playing solo acoustic se: understanding open- ancl oper-D tuning. playing fingerstyle (eoore inating @ melody or chord pattern played by your fingers with a bass pattern played by your thumb); leaming various le hand and righttand tecaniques for get Inga clean, elear sound with the slide: and using shuffle straght-elghth, and alter nating-bass patterns to play a variety of eightbar and (2 bar LIV-V chord progres: slons, you don't know what some of these terms mean, hang in there, hecause by ine end of the book you wil. Each chapter of Acoustic Gutar Slit Hasics introduces you toa particular aspect of playing slide, Short examples throughout each chapter wi ic vou through a pro- {gression of licks, phrases, and patterns while highlighting speeiie musteal concepts central to the elide style ich chapter also includes two or three longer examples in which you pat everything together to play a tune, Slide guitar is one of the great sounds of American roots music and ene of the Most mysterious to the uninitiated. When you've finished this book, you'l be well equipped to start hguring out recordings or transcriptions and to begin making up some pieces of your own, With a good grasp of the basies, you'll be on your way. David Hamburger ‘Need help with the lesson material in this book? Ask a question in aur froe, online support forum in the Guitar Talk section of ‘cwu.eeoustieguitarcon. raduction @MUSIC NOTATION KEY The music in this book is writen in standard notation and tab- lature, Here's how to read it STANDARD NOTATION Standard notation is writen on a fiveline staf, Notes are writ- ten in alphabetical onder trom A to G, ee The duration of a note is determined by three things: the note head, stem, and flag. A whole note («) equals four beats. A altof th one heat, an eighth note (.)) equals half of one beat, and 4 16; at (there are four 1Btn notes per heat) two bests. A quarter nate (J) equale net 2 s 4 5 Flahth Notes mis 1 Bipot 2 prt B lpi + erp The fraction (4/4, 3/4, 6/8, te.) oF e character shawn at the beginning of a plece of music denotes the tme signature, The top number tells you how many be: the bottom aumbar indicates the rhythmic value of each beat (4 equals a quarter note, 8 ecuals an eighth note, 16 equals a 16th note, and 2 equals a hall note). The most common tine signa 2 are fn each measure, and ure ie 44, which eignifie four quarter notes per measure an is sometimes designated with the symbol (for common time) The symbol ¢ stands for cut ume (2/2). Most songs are etter in 44 06 3/4, TABLATURE In tablature, the six horizontal lines represent the sit strings of the guitar, withthe first string on the top and sixth on the bot tom, The numbers refer to free numbers on a given string, The notation and tablature in this book are designed to be used in jer to the notation to yet the rhythmic information ablature to get the exact ‘and note durations, and refer to t locations of the nates on the gultartlngerboard. FINGERINGS Fingerings are indicated with sinall numbers and letters in the rotation, Fretting hand fingeringie indicated with I for thencex finger, 2 the middle, 3 the ring, 4 the pinky, and T the thumb, Picking-nand fingering is indicated by tor the index finger, m the middle, @ the sing € the pinky, and p the thumb. Circled rumbers indicate the string the note is played on. Remember, that the fingerings indicated are only suggestions: lf you find a Cillerent way that works better lor you, use I Bh,CHORD DIAGRAMS Chord diagrams show where the fingers go on the fingerboard, Frets are shown horizontally: The thick top line represents the fout. A Roman numeral to the right of a diagram indicates a chord played higher up the neck (inthis ease the top horizontal line is thin) Strings are shown as vertical lines. The line on the far leit represents the sith Gowest) string, and the line on the far right represents Ue frst (highest) string. Dots show where che fingers yo, and tick horizontal tines indicate barres. Numbers above the diagram are lef-hend finger numbers, a used in standard notation. Again, the fingerings are only sug gestions. An X Indicates a string that sheuld be muted or not played: O indicates an open string c G Az Dm CAPOS Ha capo is used, a Roman numeral indicates the fret where the capo should be placed. The standard notation and tablature is writen ae if the capo were the nut of the guiter, For Instance, a tune capoed anywhere up the neck and played using keyot chord shapes and fingerings will be written In the key of G Likewise, open sirings held down by the capo are whiten as open strings TUNINGS Alternate guitar tanings are given trom the lowest (slath) string lo the highest (rst) string. For instance, DAD GIB F indicates standard tuning with the bottom string droppedl to D. Standard notation for songs in alternate tunings always relects the act al pitches of the notes. Arrows underneath tuning notes indicate strings that are altered from standard tuning and whether they are tuned up or down, VOCAL TUNES Vocal tunes are sometimes written with a fully tabbed-out intro ‘duction and a vocal melody with chord diagrams for the rast of the piece. The tab intro is usually your indication of which strum or fingerpicking pattern to use in the rost of the picee ‘The melody with Iyrics undemeath is the melody sung by the vocalist: Occasionally, smaller notes are writen with the melody to indicate the harmony part sung by another vocalist, These are not to be confused with eve notes, which are small notes that indicate melodies that vary when a section is repeat ‘ed. Listen to a recording ofthe piece to get a fee! for the guitar accompaniment and to hear the singing if you aren’ skilled at reading vocal melodies, ARTICULATIONS, There are a number of ways you can articulate a note on the gut tar. Noes connected with slurs (not to be confused with ties) in the tablature or standard notation are articulated with either a hammeron, pull-of, oF slide, Lower notes slurred to higher notes are played as hammer-ons: higher notes slurred to lower notes are played as pulhotis. While it usually obvious that slurred notes are played as hammer-ots of pullolfs, an or Fis included above the tablature as an extra reminder. Slides are represented! with a dash, and an S is included above the tab. A dash preceding a note represents a slide Into the note irom an Indefinite point in the dizection ofthe slide; a dash following a ote indicates a slide off of the note to an inde! inte point inthe direction o the slide. For two slurred notes ‘connected with a side, you should pick the first note and then slide into the secone. ends are represented with upward curves, es shown in the nest example Most bends have a speciilc destination piteh— the number above the bend symbol shows how much the bend! rales the atring’s pitch: vg fora slight bein, v2 for all step, 1 fora whole step. Grace notes are represented by small notes with a dash ‘Uirough the stein in standard notation and with small numbers in the tab. A grace note Is « very quick ommament leading into a note, most commonly executed ag a hammeron, pull-ff, or sic. In the folowing example, pluck the note at the fifth fet on ‘the beat, then guickly hanuner onto the seventh tret. The sec- ‘ond example is executed 43 a quick pull-off rom the second fret to the open string. Inthe third example, both notes atthe fifth fet are played simultaneously (even though It appears that theLith fret, fourth string. is to be played by itself, thes nth fet, fourth string, 1s quickly hararnered, HARMONICS Harmonies are represented by dismoad shaped notes In the stan dard notation anda small cot next to the tablature numbers Natural harmonies are indicated with the text “Harmonics” or Harm,” above the tablature, Harmonics articulated with the right nand (ten called Inelude the toxt “RH Harmonies” or RH. Harm." abave the tab, Right hand fiarmonies are executed by lightly touching the hammonle node (usually 12 artificial harmonies rots ahove the open string or fretted note) with the rightdiend nex finger and plucking the sri Forex with the thumb or ring ger ned phrases played with right-hand harmonies, fretted notes are shown ln the tab along with instructions to monies 12 frets above the notes. REPEATS. One of the most confusing parts of a musical seore can be the navigation ayinbols, such as repeats, 0.5, al Coda D.C a! Fine, OULD EFF ETAT A ia Cord, ee Repeat symbels are placed at the beghining and end of the passage to be repeated. CAAT You should ignore repeat symbols with the dots on the right side the fret time you encounter them; when you come to a repeat symbol with dots on the left side, jump Ke to the pre vious repeat symbol facing the opposite direction (it there is no Previous symbol, go to the beginning of the plece). The next Lime you come to the repeat symbol, ignore it ancl keep going Unies it includes instructions such as “Repeat throe times. A section will often have a dlferent ending alter each repeat. The example below includes « first and a second ending. Play Until you hit the repeat symbol, jump back to the previous repeat symbol and play until you reach the bracketed first end ing skip the messures under the bracket and jurnp Immediately to the second encing, and then continu. GAZ FATA AZ DS ets encounter t for dal segno or “from the sign.” When you js indication, jurmp immedistely to the sign (B). DS. is usually accompanted by al Fine or al Cada. Fine indicates the woud of a piece, A coda is a final passage near the end of a piece and is indicated with ©. D.S. al Coda simply tells you to jump back to the sign and continue on until you are instructed to jump to the coda, indicated with To Coda # 8 foto as aca Code LALIT ZZ TELL (hAZEA ‘D.C stands for da capo or “trom the beginning” ump to the 109 of the piece when you eicouinter this indication ea => 0 Coda ToGeds@ 1.6.31 Coda EDP) PPLE EED 1 BELAY DG al Fine tells you to junnp to the beginning of a tune and continue until you encounter the Fine inating the end of the Dlece (ignore the Fine the first time through),GUITARS, SLIDES, AND TUNINGS SIZE AND SCALE LENGTH Sorry, but piaying side desi’ necessarily mean that you have to buy anew (or old) guitar. You ean literally play slide on any ‘ine o| yutter, bu sone guitars wil work much better than oth= crs. To narrow it down a lite, steel strings are going to work much better than nylon string ‘They'll sustain betier with a slide and they'll get more of that cheracteristically “slide yur tar tone, After that, scale langth and setup are the most immpor- tant factors. Scale length is the cistance from the mut to the bridge, and generally, the longer iti, the s the strings f ‘under your fingers. Ditferent models of guitars have different scole lout; for example, dreadnought style guitars have a longer scale length, while jumbo-style and smaller bodied gui ave shorter seale lengths, Smelhbodled gui are prized by fingerpickers for the easier, springier fee] thet shorter scale len be sgolag on when you start to use a slide rh provides, but that's not necessarily thing for playing slide. Why not? Wel, e's looke at what's SETTING UP FOR SLIDE When you play slide, you move the slide along the strings without actually pressing the strings to the iretooard, Higher action, light-gauge strings (012 oa top) of heaw ies and the sulfer response of a longer scale length guitar all contribute to an easier Ssctup for slide because they create more resistance when you press the slide to the strings. There's more holding you back, so you can dig in with the slide, making Stronger contact with the string (which is good) without getting $0 close to the iret- board that you start Imocking into the frets at you slide up or down the strings ‘huh is bad). ‘Coolt” you think to yoursell, “I'l just use that old guitar of mine with the totally warped neck and the cheese-grater action—you couldn't get those strings within half &n inch of the fingerboard without using a Clamp.” Well, you could, and some peo- le do actually prefer cheap guitars for slide—ihey say these struments create a ‘ore “anthentic® tone, more lke what the carly bluestaen played. BUL here's the tricky part: You want to clear the [rts easly with the slide, bat unlike a Dobro or lap National ResesPhonic 50 Fins triconesteel guitarist, you're still oing to be fretting some notes with your lingers. So you don’t want an instrument that’s completaly unplayable the conventional way. It is hice to have a spare instrument you ean just leave in an open tuning while you leare ssa you might want to geore some kind of just-playable steetstring for that purpose DOBROS AND NATIONALS In the late 192s the Dobro and National guitar companies began making metal- and wood-bodied instruments with various sizer and combinations of cones, or res ‘onators, built into the faces of those instruments. These metal cones, shaped like speaker cones, were designed to acoustically amply the instrument's output, and the resulting sound was distinctly diferent from a flatiog guitar's. Many bluestpen have used resophonie guitars over the years, but during the Depression such instrumeats ‘were generally beyond the budget of all but the most successful musicians. So while Tampa Ree, wit bis string of hokum bits, could sport a fancy engraved ticone, most musicians cranked it ovt on more alfordable Stelias, Regals, oF whatever else was at hand, Robert Johnson posed with a Gibson flattop, and even that may have been bor rowed: whatever he cid record with. it's generally agreed tat it wasn't a resophon! ofthe pleture, it's han the whole story. Which ultimately just means that, all those album covers to the cor instrament, So while {he National sound is signfican rary, you don't actually need « vintage resophonic gular to get going. (Nice try) CHOOSING AND WEARING A SLIDE You wilf need to get a slide, and there are many kinds to choose trom, You'll need to -y out 2 few different diameters, lengths, and materials 10 See what sults you best Most acoustic slide tarists place the slide on their pinkie, leaving three finger for forming chords and fretting single not 1 without the aide, Placing it on your ring Finger les you grip the slide from both sides, with your middle finger and pink, but it leaves yau with only two fingers frea for chardling and fretting withont the slide Generally, the heavier the slide, the better the tone, with a higher ‘notete-buz2 ratio, At the same time, ahe: vier slides harder to manipulale—tere’s more to move around, and Mf your gultar sul has relatively 1 strings or tow action, i's golng to take more finesse to keep & heavier slide fan bumping into the | just part of an equation that also includes whet the board. But weight slide is made out of The two classic slide materials are glass and metal. Some of the first silos were mace from the tops cf wine batties (hence the term bottleneck guitar) or trom lengths of pipe (hence the term... er... meta slide), Glass tends to have a smooth rounder sound; the distinction fs particularly nowceeble oa the lower, wound strings, where a metal slide ean get really raspy A thick and hefty brass slide will have more smoothness to it but can be 2 lot of weight to haul around the fretboard at frst Thin-walled glass slides wil just sound plinky, with almost em sustain, and thin metal sides, usually steel with a chrome coat- Ing, will be equally dificult to coax a great sound from. i you've be using one of these, yes, you can blame your yeaCeramic and porcelain slides are a mors recent development olferig the best of both glass and metal: they're smeoth and relatively light like glass, but they ieel denser and olfer a touch and sustaln more reminiscent of metal. They've a little on the fragile side, chipping and cracking easily if you don't take especially good care of them. Meanwhile the are various siall manulacturers making heavy, hane-blown slass slides, tides made trom real botUenecks, ark various kinds of tapered anid ‘curved brass slides a¢ well, all of which are worth checking oUt AAs for the size ofthe slide it's essiest to continue to fret chords and single notes ifthe slide covers just the first teo joints of your pinkie, This meens finding a slide ‘that ts snugly enough that it comes to.a stap right absve your second kuti, yet is long enough to cover all su strings when you lay the slide across the iretboard (see hoto below). Aaythlng louger will just make i that much harder to sense where your finger is inside the slide, which in tuum will affect your sense of w to place the slide to cover a particular string er fret. Anything shorter will make it impossible to play a fall chore with the slide acroes all the strings, or to eover bass notes with the slide while playing a melocly on top. TUNINGS We're going to workin the two mont essential slide tunings, open G and open D, Just 0 give your ears a few reference points, open Gis the tu wg for Son House cunes like Death Letter" and “Empire State Feprese.” early Mucily Waters recordings on Chess Including “Mean Red Spider.” *Can't Be Satis ed.” "Long Distance Call," and ttle Geneva,” and, when eapoed or tuned up three half steps to Bk, Robert Johnson's ‘Wolkin’ Blues” an! “Come On in My Kitchen.” is also the tuning Bevanie Raitt uses fon “I Feel the Same” and “Shadow of Doubt.” Open Dis the tuning for Blind Wile Johnson's ‘Dark Was the Night” xl "Nobody's Fault but Mine; all of Eimore James work, ineuding ast My Broom”; much of Ry Cood slide work on Boomer’s Story, Into the Purple Valley: and Paradise and Lurch; and, when raised up a whole step to E Tampa Red's "Denver Blues" and "Thirus Be Following are explanations of how to ge into open-G and oper-D tuning fox stan. it Comin’ My Wag.” ord tuning, You may alse find yourself wanting to go om one open tuoing, to anoth- 80 there are also step-by-step explanatious ul how to get from open D to open G and vice versa. When written out, the notes of each tuning are listed from the sixth string up to the first string (L.., from the lowest, heaviest string to the highest, light est string). For example, standard tuning would be written out aS EAD GBE, low to high D and G tuning involve lowering three or four strings, Including the sixth string. lusteed of starting from the sixth string and working up to the top es we would for standard tun ing, we're goi g to use harmonics to check the strings we have to change against the ones that remain constant. You make a harmonic by touching your finger toa string directly over the ‘ret, without pressing it to the fretboard, and lting your finger from the string as soon as you've picked the note. Oi course, the CD includes a set of tuning tracks, so you ean work direc ly with them or use them to check your progress with the rnethadls deseribed on page 12.TUNING TO OPEN D FROM STANDARD TUNING Open D ts DADE A D, low to high. cdc, 1+ Lower your sixth string a whole step to D, Tuning to Open D Checks 12th-ret harmonic, sixth sti ypen fourth string (Or fitth-ret hermonie, sith string » 12th-ret harmonic, fourth string. Lower your frst string a whole step to D. Check: 12th-ret harmonic, fourth string = open frst string Or fith-tret harmonic. fourth string = 12th-ret harmonie, first string Lower your second string & whole siep to A. (Checks 12thret harmonte, fit string = open second string OF fiftsfret harmonic, ith string Met harmonic, second string 4, Lower your thied string a hall step to Check: Fourth fet, lourth string - open third string Strum across al sx strings, bottom te Pa you should hear a nice D chord TUNING TO OPEN G FROM STANDARD TUNII 1G Dpen Gis DG DGB 1. Lower your sith string a whole step to D. ho ohh ning to Open Check tetera, sith tring - open fourth ting Orithine haemene, sich sng = Lthirt harmonic, fourth ting Lower your list sting a whole seo tol heck: 12thret harmonic, fourth string = open first string OF hithtret harmonic, fourth string = 12ihret Narmonic, frst string Lower your fifth string a whole siep to G heck: 12th-ret harmonic, fifth string = op id st Wr fith-fret harmonic, ith string = 12e ret harmonic, thied string When you are in tune, you should he able to get & good-sounling chord by strum ming across the strings starting with the fith string TUNING TO ©} G FROM OPEN D ToD GDGED from DAD RAD. 1. Tune your fifth string down a whole step, from A to G. Check: Seventh fret. ith string = open fourth steing ‘Tune your second string up a whole step, from A to B. CCheok: Third fet, second string = open first string 8. Tune your third string up a hal step, from F to G, Cheok: Pith iret, fourth str ‘open third string TUNING TO OPEN D FROM OPEN G ToD AD RAD#omD GDGBD. 1. Tune your ith string up 2 whole step, from G to A. Check: Fith iret, fit string = open fourth string 2, Tune your second string dowa a whole step, fram B t0 A. Check: Seventh fret, fourth string - open second string 3. Tune your third string down s haf step, to F Check: Fourth iret, fourth string = open third stringSINGLE-STRING MELODIES When you play with a slice, yon dan't want to press the siring down to the [ret board. When the slide makes contact with the string, the effect isthe ea ing the string into contact wit a fet: the string length is shortened. ereating a high er pitch. This means that to get a pitch with the slice that matches the p get with 3 ch you'd fretted note, you rived to be righ over te fet, not in between two frets as you would be without the slide. It is having the slide, not a ret, stop the string that makes slide guitar sound like slide guitar, hecause unlike a fret, you can move the slide while the note is stil vibrating That's how you get the unique sound of slide gut lars the sound of a stri’s pitch being moved fluidly, with no step-by-atep ine ts, (rom one pitch to the next Make sense S0 you've got to really pay attention to your touch—how heavily or ightly you bear down on the strings with the slide, And there's more: since the pitch yo et from the strings the direct result of where you place the slide on it, your anto- Ration matters now That means that not only does your guitar need to be ln tune, but rot! need fo be in tune—you need to he able to hear it you're a You can-do a et th tain amount of slide placement hy sight, but to pl pitch you want lay lide convine- ingly requires learn your way around with your ears as well, ‘Your fretting hand can help too. While t's true that you ve got this side coming between you and strings, and you don't have the eel of he frets to suide you, you've stil got your thumb riding along the back of the neck when you ph and your Index finger riding along the strings behind the slide (more on that later). You can use thes to stay oriented 30 that you con't feel lke your fretting hand is just floating in space, (OK Having said ai that, Jet's see what it actually feels lke to playa little side FIRST SLIDE We're going to begin in openD tuning (rom the sixth string to the first, DAD PAD. you need 2 quick retresher on getting into this runing, see page 12. Otherwise, just tune down and then compare your open strings against trace? to malee suro you ore in tune with the CD. Open D is & good beginning point for slide, because it allows you to play a wide range of melodies without ever leaving the high séring, and the high string isthe as- lest string to play cleanly on with the slide. Let's start by placing the side directly over the fret you want, Play Example 1 on page 14 by placing the slide on the string directly over the fourth fret each time there's four in the tablature {ng the open high string in between (the zeros in the tablature), hgh ‘and pley- Prep epcsrenrse a sia 14276.D, ohh, ne Ses ae Us he Dn os ‘ih Fon Deets Late ie Peco Cag Columbia NEW PROCESS RECORDS Msn asters Gospet bluesman Bund Wile Johnson.Tuning: DAD FA AD abe ‘The slide doesn't have to cover all ix strings, nor de you have to use the end of the hée closest to your palm If you're laying the high string. With these single: string exercises, you can get a cleaner sound by angling the slide so that it's touch- ‘ng onty the high string (See photo), The idea is to cover only the strings you're actur ally applying the slide to, Angling the slide to play only Right. So le'e got some pr the high sting one place tee dropping the slide onte the string in more than sample 2is made up of pat of the D.major seale: ayer O m2 ' hear you say, “This ts swell, Dave. When are we going to actually slide on the strings?” An excellent point, Wel sliding is pretty much ¢ matter of accurately get- fo 4 specific place by moving along the string from a specilic place. Dig, as the arz cats say, Example 3.-a cide from the accond to the fourth rets, ae Now; as fit were a tongue twister, do that en times fast. What happens? Are you letting lots of open high-string noise in between? Maybe some clank or rattle or buzz as yout come back into the second fret or ae you come olf of the fourth fret to start over again? Try this: The index finger on your slide hand has nothing better to da right now, so let It ride along the strings behind the slide, See if you can get it to land on the strings just before your slide does and get to leave the strings lust alter the slidedoes. The idea is to have your index finger act as a damper on the open strings, keep {ng thei from ringing when the side sia transition between notes. This is called lent hand damping (see photo). Note: if you're already doing this Intuitively, great. Meanwhile, make sure youre hot keeping the slide on the siring in between landing at the fourth fret and going back to the second. In other words, you don't want to be just sliding hack and forth between the second and iourth {res without ever lifting the side, this over a few more notes, asia Example 4 ‘The index finger tras on the strings before the slide and keeps them fro ringing owe GRACE NOTES, MUTING, AND OTHER ESSENTIALS Somatimes you're playin wo distinet notes, as tn Exaumy fromone to the next. Other times you might slide into a note just for I sound of slicing into k other words. the first note is something you blow through to yet to the second noe. In that case, there are first and second notes but the first note is just par ofthe sound of geitng to the second, slitinto note, Confused? Check out Example 5 on paper and on the CD,and then welll discuss it ANI right. Unlike Example 3, the pomt here is just the fourth fret, the A. The &, at the second fret, is what the classical folks call a grace nove t's the note that flavors the P, giving you that nlee, honkin’ slide up from below. asin Example 6, Watch your step on the way back down in particuler. Then i's time to add Try grace-noting your way into all the notes we covered in Exam ina little right-hand coordination. In Example 7. while continuing to play grace-note slices, repeat each note that you land on three more tines while holding the side in place“ene Ex.6 Swing (=) 5) rp ty eer me l' , bees ie ps beige Remember to use that lelt-hand index finger as a damper, especially on the jump from the seventh fret back to the fourth iret in measure 2 ‘Your right hand can take care of muting the strings as well. You eau efleetively and completely stop a note from rloging out by bringing your picking finger back to test ‘on the same atring alter yeu play In Exaraple 8, use your picking finger to mate the string after each pair of eighth notes, creating a beat of rest each time, I love you'll hestunned to learn that this is called righthand musing So far we've done our sliding in one direction only, and we've used left hand damp: ing or right-hand mating to give us time to move the slide back down the string. But there are reasons to slide in the other direesion as wa Play Example 4, and notice the attention it takes to accurately pull the slide fuck to the pitch you started from: ny Ex. 9 wing (J2=J'9)Exzimple 9s @ situation in which you can use your fretilag-hand thumb 19 stay or ‘ented. Plant your thumb at a comfortable point on the back of the neck and play at the fourth fret. Without moving your thumb from its epol, slide up to the filth fret, stretching your hand. Then bring the slide back to the fourth fret. Move your ane, Including your thumb, up toa point where you can do the same kind of streteh from the fifth Lo the seventh fret and bsck, and so on (see photos) Try this in conjunction with a gracenote slide, Example 10s shows a quick slide Up te the fifth fret before sliding back to the fourth iret at the beginning of the next seasure. Example 10b is the same idea a couple of frets up, @ 102 Bx. 10b ‘The nest two examples illustrate how you can start putting some of these differ re thumb stays planted while the side cnt Kleas together to mske masieal phrases. In Example La, pay attention to your — mobos ep left-hand damping on the jump from thetith fret tothe race note starting an the sec- ‘ond iret Ox. ORT) Ex. tb TRIPLETS While masic is mace up of all kinds of rhythmic values in all kinds of configurations, 1s amazing what you catt accomplish with a band of humble elgheh, quarter, and half notes, The key is phrusing—how the notes are placed across the beat. Even in Example 10 you can hear the Impact of beginning a phrase belore the dawnbest, or 1, of measure Triples, a8 the name implies, ten to suriace in threes, You can have triplets of any kind of note—quarternote triplets, halfnote triplets, eighth-note triplets, Imagine three big gangsters in matching checked sults trying to squeeze Into a twoseater convertibie (imagine bucket seats while you're att), That's what triplets are like— they are three netes trying 1o squeeze themselves into the space of v0,8 AcoUSHIC SUNAK StIDE BASIC ‘ook at aad iste to Example 12. Inthe fist half of the measure, we've gut two pars of regular eigith notes. Then, in the sevond hal othe messure, we've got two sets ofeightIruote triplets. Auy Unee elgttenote tplets take up the same amount of time as two regular eighth notes, bu they squeeze In at extra note, and all three notes are the same length, Very sneaky, ond are they? Well, check ou the lek we can get in Example 13 by incor poratinga triplet rhythm into a series of nosefaraiar slide moves a3dcy oO ‘2 Ex. 13 fel CUCINA BLUES Before we wrap up with a short song, let's sum up th his chapter * Flace the slide dlecetly over the fret ‘Use the leit-hand index finger for demping the strings ‘+ Angle the slide when pl Ang only on the high string. s0 that you touch only the high string withthe slide ish between sliding between two fullvalued nates and using a iret note as.» grace note into a Second, main note * Use your picking Ginger to ima airing © your frettingshand thumb as a pivot when slit to and from a note in the seme phrase ‘These are many of the key elements of slice playing Congrats you're on your way Now try yo hand atan eight-bar blues melody entitled “Cucina Blues,” This tune may remind you of an eightbar blues by Robert Jokinson, the one whose lyries Involve lost love, a suggestion, and the threat of ielement weather, elements we've intraduced in I aCUCINA BLUES atder @ wrre paveracWORKING IN THE THUMB OL ere 20 you can provide backup for yoursell: once you've got some funky melodias going withthe slide, you can get the bass going with your thumb at the same time. After you work through this chapter, you'll Leable to thump out a steady quar- terote groove on the low siring while conunuing to synco- ool licks on top. The first step is fining the bass notes “with the thumb; next comea using the thumb to keep a steady hhags groove going, Once-you can do that ite a matter of lasrm 0 play licks with the slide without losing track of the hass part your thumb is playing. If you take it in steps, it can be make you one, and more important, being able ta do so w tres popular at parties, Let's start with the opening lick of “Cucina Blues” from the Inst os or Thia tne, well play It.as a call end response. How play the melody that work? In Example |, your fin With the slide, Just lke before (that's the coll), and this time you answer with [wo bass notes, played by your thumb (thats the response) To betier hear where those bass notes are falling in each yeasure, repeat Example 1a number of times, as in Example until you can keep it going with a good sense of groove: Nersatile slide man Ry Conder Tuning: D AD F# AD Ex, 2 Swing (T2=J">) Raising the stakes just a litle more nov, try dropping in thes bass-note respons- first two mex es while playing a sequence of two different melody phrases, 0 sures of Cucina Blues," as in Example 5— —— os Se At this point, you may have guessed wiat’s next. Yep, you could play the entire elght-bar blues atthe end of the last chapter using this calhand-zesponse approach, and playing pleasure, in Example Here iti, laid out for your read “End Sring (12653) $4 ea STEADY ON “Great. [hear you say, “but what if want to keep the bass going all the time? Can it bbe done?” At this point, 1 could respond in one of two ways. I eiuld look around, lower my voice, hunch over the table, ané hand you a dirty, chipped glass slide made cout of the last whiskey bottle Charley Patton drank (rom, Then I eould press a torn and faded map of the Mississippi Delta into your hands andl tell you that you may never see me again, and the camera would cut to reveal a posse of bad guys and bell hounds waiting for me in the ving rain atthe crossroads on the way out of town, | could just say, “Yep. Read on.” I hate unnecessary drama, so Tm going with the second answer, The best way to gota steady bass going isto take It siep by step, Start by hitting quarter notes with ‘your thumb of the low string. Bonk, bonk. bonk, book, Just as in Example. Then add{ie bigh string on the frst best of each measure, using your index or middle finger as in Example 6. We call this rignt-hand technique a puncir: you are pleking simulta neously with your thuinb aud finger, and the two digits are moving toward each other as in, ou guessed It, a pine Once you've got that coordinated and can do several groovy, ntime repetitions in row, make that note on the high string a slide note, as in Example 7. Then do hal notes: keep the thumb thonking away and play @ side note on beets J and 3, as I Example 8. Nect proceed te quarter notes, ae in Example 9 aide into the first note and then keep picking with the sli the fourth fret for the next three notes. Notice tat you're now pinching with your thurmb and fi wer on every heat ASAE Ex.7 Ex8 Ex.9 Let's make things even more interesting. In Exaraple 10, you are still keeping the "wm going ike clockwork and playing quarter notes on the high string, but now it's «different note on the high string each time, So you'te moving the slide around ancl picking with your finger while maintalnlng the low end at the same time, Realy, you should have considered the circus if you can do allthis,At this point, you may have guessed what's next. Yep, you could play the entire cight-bar blues at the end of te last chapter using this calhand-tesponse appr Here ti, laid out for your readin and playing pleasure, in Example 4: Ex.4 STEADY ON “Great,” [hear you say, “but what if] want to Keep the bass going all the time? Can it be done?” At this point, | could respond in one of two ways. | could look around, lower my voice, hunch over the table, and hand you a ditty, chipped glass slide made out of the last whiskey bottle Charley Patton drank trom, Then I could press a torn land faded map of the Mississippi Dela into your hands and tell you that you may never see me again, and the camera would cut to reveal a posse of bad guys and hell hhounds waiting jor me in the driving rain at the crossroads om the way out of town. Or | eould just say, “Yep. Read on.” Thate unnecessary drama, so I'm going with the second answer. The best way to get a steady bass golng Is to take it step by step. Start by hitting quarter notes with your thumb on the law string. Bonk, bonk, bonk, bouk. Just as la Example 5. Then addRight-hand damping helps keep the bass notes trom drowning out the melody, and i Increases the impression that you're playing two different things at once by sharp ening the difference in timbre betwaen the base notes and the high strings. Listen to Example 11, in which you can hear first undamped and then damped base notes, Go back to some of the earlier examples in thie chapter and llsten to the difference \when you consciously apply righ-hanel damping to the bass notes, EIGHTH-NOTE MELODIES DF oUF next trick, we're going to get our fingers moving faster than our thumb, Example 12 involves playing eighth notes in the melody over « steedy quartet note bass. Note that you only have to slide twice per measure, on the downbeats of Land 3: Be 2. Suing (2-13) The important thing to listen for right now is H you're fipllepping: laying ‘the eighth notes on the low string with your thumb instead of on top ath your fin sers."Not mel" you exclaim. And maybe not. But it can be tricky to read the tab. play the notes, ond listen to yourself analytically at the same time, so it is always ‘8 good idea to tape yourself occasionally and listen back to what you're doing. For any kind of fingerstyle play you're playing in the bass and to be able to maintain that regardless of what you lay on top. Most often i areal musical situation youl find yourself misingit up in the melody I's essential to have control at all times over what between eighth notes and quarter notes; one way to sharpen your reflexes is to prac Uce going back and ferth between the two—as in Example 13gue lis, Swing (2-33) PLAYING ON THE OFFBEAT Melodies often call for beginning a phrase on an offbeai—on the and, as the jaze cats lke to say; "L anal 2 and 3 and 4 and” Example 14 provides you with some practice playing all offbeets over steaily bass notes that stay on the beat. Exampie 15 is one more exercise along these lines, in which we combine eighth notes on the downbeat with eighth notes on the offbeat, ‘Offbeat Blues" on page 26 i another blues with a Temi > pentatonic meteay, I includes some slippery eighth te action, with most of the melody notes in mea sures 446 falling on the offbeats. Compare this with “Steady Now" to ses how much of a difference it makes just having control over where the eighth nates are placed. For more practice playing offbeat elghth notes over a steady hass. try taking just measure 4, measure 5, or measure 6 and playing ttn @ loop,OFF BEAT BLUES “gat Tuning: DA DER ADOPEN-G TUNING AND CLOSED POSITION Frets arte int ine neon. were ong to ste nm opond tng other most comm notes are D GD GBD, tuning for acoustic slide, namely apen G. Low to high, the fe 12 for tips on retuning your guitar to open G, and ilodles up and down the We're goin. te begin in ‘open Gusing the slide across the top three strings, playing everything up at the 12th Inet (where the notes are conveniently the same as the open strings, but an octave In closed position, because there are ns open strings nthe slide, higher). Th ay played supe ell be using more than ove string to play melodies. te willbe helpful to Involve B assign one picking finger to each YY sing your index finger Jor the third for the high string, This is only a starting point try this approach as you work through the exarn string, your middle finger for the second string, and your ring fin ples in this chapter, but if something else seems more comfortable to you, tey that ‘out as well. Example 1 1s a good exereise for getting use to this picking system Blueaman Bokka White, 1970.Tuning: 9 GDGBD 2 = STRING TO STRING Working on more than one string makes t possible to slide into one string and thes, pickan adjacent string “Why,” Lear you ask, “would | war Well, because it's cvol es you can hear in Examples 2 and 3, Esample 4 is a slight Jy more elaborate move, with an additional eame string slide atthe end, Ex4 10-1098 6 land oa In Example 5 you slide up on the B string pe high string, then slide up fon the B string again to lan on the third string: in Example 6 you land frst on the third string, then on the high string: EB Swing (Sed 3) TRANSPOSING ‘Transposing means changing the key of something while keeping it shythmically and melodically intact. In other words, you've moving every note in a phrase, a lick. or a ‘whole plece up or down the same amount, (When you put 2 capo on a guitar at the second fret, you're transposing everything up a whole step: your G chord becomesan Achord, and so on.) Allthe licks we've played so far In open G involve twa ar three: of the top three strings, and therefore, because of the tuning, they spell out most or allol a Ganajor chord, They'll sound great over a G chord or @G note in the bass, Dut ‘what if we want to go to ancther chord? No problems playing side in an open tuning rakes it easy to transpose those licks to ancther position. likely story you say “Last time someone told me things were going to be easy, Hound myself swaying in the braeze 50 feet ahove the ground on the ropes course st summer camp, hanging on for dear lif." OK, you've got a point. But there's nothing ere to give you vertigo, except maybe the lolly music theory involved, and you can always ignore that and Just play the notes, So 1's see allitie transposing in action, Playing the top three strings atthe 12th fret spells out a G chord, or the I chore in the key of G.I we want to imply or spell out a D chord, or the V chord in the key of G, all we need to dois move the slide down live frets, to the eeventh fret position, and play the same licks. The three haste nates in Example 7a we'll now play as the three Oe Ex 7b ——— fs pete ‘Therefore, a lick like Example 8a will hecome the lick in Sb ‘saat Ex. Ba Suing (213) Ex. 8b Which means we can now play the whole 1Gbar groove in “From Twelve to Seven." This up-tempo shutfle rocks back and forth between the I chord (G, with licks at the 12th fret) and the V chord (D, with licks at the seventh fret), Note that when you're playing in D and based around the seventh fret, you're going to go below the seventh fret, down to the tft tres, to slide into the notes you want, Think about like this: Chord Played ot Side from 6 12th fet 1th feat D Th fret Sth fret20 ACOUSTIC GuIras slne tasies FROM TWELVE TO SEVEN SO mergrsee Swing (=. 9) i ————— RETURN OF THE TRIPLETS ‘We've already tangled with triples in D tuning; now we're going to hear how they sound in closed position, in G tuning. | hear you say, "Well, how do thay sound?" And ‘the answer is:"Pretty cool” They just take a litte fancy dingerwork to come off prop- nly, Take Example 9 out for a spin‘Things move pretty quickly when you're playing triplets. The main issue in Example 9 is getting back down to the 10th fretoa the B string exch tae you're about tomake the upward slide again. Ifyou mute the high string with your ring finger aiter the last note In each triplet, you can move the slide quickly back to the tanth iret without hearing any extra sounds from the high string, Example 10 mixes triplets with quarter notes, in this example, the tricky part Is sliding upto the 12th fret at the ene of each triplet and then sliding from the tenth to ‘the 12th fret on the high string for he grace note into the querter note. I you tlt the slide to play on the high steing while damping with your lefthand index linger, you ‘won't hear any extra sounds from the second or third string, VIBRATO Vibrato is that subtle (or notso-subtie) quavering of pitch that happens oa sustain oles, especially atthe end of a phrase. i's sapting to say that you can figure cut vibrato only by hanging out en street corners, in poorly it pool halls, or down by the docks in the bad part of town near the abenvdoned freight yard with the one-armed conductor who's seen only on Halloween. But there isan identifiable technique to I although probably everybody has a diferent way of describing it Here's mine, ‘Vibrato sounds like an effortless undulation of the slide, but you can actually Gevelop that elfortless sound by practicing a series of very specific, controled slides, ‘These are slides madle down ftom the note you're applying the vibrato to and hack up toit. There are times when you want a wld, almost out-of-control buzz around the note you're playing, but to get that subile, vocaltike vibrato that caresses the tote without sounding out of tune, its key to consider the point dircelly over the fret as the absolute top of your motion with the slide. All motion away irom that point yoes only below and back up to that point. Try Example 11. Aer you ici the note at th 12Uh fret, dip the slide a bit below the 12th fret.Next, pick at the 12th fret dip the slide below the note, bring it back up, and dip ®t again betore picking again, as in Example 12 Then make these dips happen twice es rapidly and pick the string half as trequently as in Example 13. The motion of the sllde lisellagalust the string st Om Ex 12 Ex. 13 While you should be able to count and feel Lie 16th notes go by. the next step isto 0 beyond countable notes 10 create a subtle Aum of motion #8 You mot back and forth, Wh days or weeks belove it suddenly jaumps into your hartds), try Exam he slide ‘that is happening (and be patient—you might work on this for 4, The idea to slide into a note, hold it a moment, aa! then bring ft tole with a litle vibrato Onn Note: For the sake of these exercises, [havenotated the vibrato motion as a I6thnot slide (om the 12th fret to the 11h and back again: normally Is indicated with a squiggly line above the staff. The distance and speed of the vibrate are up to you, THE IV CHORD So far we've dealt with just the | and the V chord, ut transposing makes getting to the IV chord just as easy as getting tothe V chord. In the key of G, the TV chord is C, and in open-G tuning we can find the notes we need to spel oat a C chord atthe fith fret, as shown in Example 15 citer OxWe're moving tried notes around the same way we did when we stasted going to the V chord. So lickin G ike Example 16a becomes a lick in € (Example 16b) when played at the fifth ret: For licks in C, or the IV chord, all your elides will start two frets below fh re— that is, you'll begin at the third iret and slide up to the fifth fret {nour elosing tune, “Transposin’ and Tumblin.” the V-chord () figure at the sew ) to work in any vibrato until the twa cath fret in measure 2 is transposed down a whole step to beceme a IV-chord ( Ure In measure 4. There isn't a whole fot of tn Tong G notes atthe sat the beginning of measure 7 and measure 8, There are, how- ‘ever plenty of triplets and several of the siring-crossing slides we've been working on TRANSPOSIN’ AND TUMBLIN’ue SPICING UP YOUR MELODIES melody notes with the slide as lar down as the third string Delta master Robert fobnson, Wieterey inopen G, To add in a bass-string root note we need to use the G at the open fifth string. The combination of bass notes on the fifth atring and melody nates as low as the third string means that you will often have as little as only one unused string between bass and melody notes. Your mission now Is tolearn how to handle the slide 0 that you can get those melody notes on the seccnd or third string without the slide interfering with the bass Hotes. Wel art by just getting fmiliar with placing dosed: posttion notes overa steady bass on the fith string. Play cach measure of Example } several thes to g of sliding into each string over the G bass note the feetTuning: GDGBD you have trouble hating the fith string clearly and consistently, work on Just play ‘acid in the slide notes on top with ing bass notes with your thumb before starting t your fingers. In Exampl 2, you're changing strings on top every two beats. Work on getting to ‘where you ean play this one smoothly several timer in a row. Then proceed to Example 3. in which you're playing twice as many notes—one quarter note on top for every quarter note in the bass—but only sliding into every other note, Example 4 is about placing eighth notes in tie melody over 8 cuaree- Into the frst an¢ nth notes o ote bass, while sliding only fhe measure. Try this thythumic pattern on the second ‘and thied strings, toIn Example 5, you're placing triplets over the bass notes. As with Example 4, you ccan also practice this pattern on the second and third strings. Examples 6a and fb take a couple of those string-crossing moves from the last chapter and syuchronize ‘them with a steady bass. Example 7 gives you a little more practice with this idea ‘while incorporating triplets as well 1 wte — hot oad a Po 5 5» 5 — gp Here's a longer example, the kind of thing you might play forthe frst four bars ot ale In the last chapter, we transposed Fchord licks into V-chord licks by moving then down tive frets, to the seventh iret, This turned our G licks into D licks. To keep & steady bass golng under those D Licks, or V-chord licks, just drop your tum down to the lowest string, which, in 0 ren-G tuning, fs aD. We've got D licks, and we've got ‘aD base note. How coolio that? So we can turn Example 9 into Example 16,