Music
Guitar Lesson 6: Tapping and Groove
Ahoy, maties! Welcome back for June 2006’s guitar lesson with your favorite internet pseudo-guitar-teacher. This month, we’re going to talk about two things: tapping and grooooove. The thing about tapping is it generates a lot of curiosity (and web site traffic) and it’s fun to do if you like to noodle around like I do. Two guitar players I can think of off the top of my head that are noodlers are John Petrucci of Dream Theater and Paul Gilbert of Racer X.
The past few months have been about fairly serious and “heavy” things. I wanted this month to be a bit more light-hearted. Hopefully you’ll enjoy, too.
Tapping – Sarah’s Balance
When I was 16, a song came to me as I was leaving a dream. It was a very strange dream. I dreamt that my high school crush (now my wife), Sarah, was a part of Monty Python and the Holy Grail. She was on one of those giant balance things being weighed to see if she weighed as much as a duck. For those of you who’ve seen the movie, I don’t need to explain any more. For those of you who haven’t seen this movie, you should be pummelled.
Don’t ask me why this song came into mind after a dream like that, but it did. So, I figured out what was going on (I was listening to a lot of Joe Satriani’s “Mystical Potato Head Groove Thing” from “Flying in a Blue Dream” and used a two-handed tapping approach instead of the one-handed thing Joe does) and recorded it on my dad’s Teac 4-track 1/4” tape recorder. The demo turned out well enough and I re-recorded it when Dad got an ADAT XT for the humble Cow Pilot Studios (also known as my bedroom at my parents’ house). The song ended up on my first album, Hansel Vs. Gretel, and you can listen to an mp3 of it at the Hansel Vs. Gretel page.
Over the years, I’ve gotten quite a few requests for the tablature (also known as “tab” if you’re cool) for this piece. So, without further ado, here it goes…
Oh wait… I forgot about the exercise that’ll help you get going on this suckah. Here’s my fingering approach to this song:
- Use your left index finger to lightly bar all of the strings to act as a mute. Some people, like Michael Angelo Batio and Victor Wooten, use a stretchy hair thingie to mute their strings, but those guys are wusses and don’t know how to play as well as I do.
- Use your left ring finger to play the first and elleventh (root) notes and fourth and eighth (major third) notes.
- Use the right index and middle fingers to tap the rest of the notes. They are mostly in the “power chord” shape, so it shouldn’t be too hard. You can use your ring finger instead of the middle finger for the tapping just as well.
- ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS play this song with a metronome. In the original recording, you can hear the click track in the ending. This was before I knew anything about busses and aux sends.
- This song is best played somewhere between 150 and 160 beats per minute. If you are going to play this song for other people, add some reverb and delay so you don’t sound like a robot computer calculating the meaning to life, the universe, and everything.
- This song is also in 3/4 (waltz) time. Please play accordingly.
Okay….NOOOOWWWW we can start with the first exercise.
Exercise 1, foo!
LH = Left-hand fingering RH = Right-hand fingering a = Ring finger m = Middle finger i = Index finger LH a a a a RH i m i m i m i i |------------12--------------| Lather |---------10----10-----------| 3 |-------6----------6---------| Rinse 4 |-----9--------------9-------| |---7------------------7---7-| Repeat |-5----------------------5---|
See? Pretty simple and straightforward. To save myself some typing, I’ll tell you that the fingering pattern remains consistent throughout the entire song. So, you won’t see any fingering charts on the tab of the full song. A video of the above example is in the beginning of the video that follows the full tab below.
Sarah’s Balance Tablature
Get out your metronomes and trim those right-hand fingernails!
|------------12--------------| |---------10----10-----------| 3 |-------6----------6---------| Play 4 |-----9--------------9-------| Twice |---7------------------7---7-| |-5----------------------5---| |------------12--------------| |---------10----10-----------| |-------7----------7---------| |-----9--------------9-------| |---7------------------7---7-| |-5----------------------5---| |------------12--------------| |---------10----10-----------| |-------6----------6---------| |-----9--------------9-------| |---7------------------7---7-| |-5----------------------5---| |--------------17-----------------| |-----------15----15--------------| |---------6----------6------------| Play |------14--------------14---------| Twice |---12--------------------12---12-| |-5--------------------------5----| |--------------17-----------------| |-----------15----15--------------| |---------7----------7------------| |------14--------------14---------| |---12--------------------12---12-| |-5--------------------------5----| FOR THIRD ENDING, GO TO CODA HERE |--------------17-----------------| |-----------15----15--------------| |---------6----------6------------| |------14--------------14---------| |---12--------------------12---12-| |-5--------------------------5----| |----------------19-------------------| |-------------17----17----------------| |----------14----------14-------------| Play |-------18----------------18----------| Twice |----16----------------------16----16-| |-14----------------------------14----| |----------------19-------------------| |-------------17----17----------------| |----------13----------13-------------| Play |-------18----------------18----------| Twice |----16----------------------16----16-| |-12----------------------------12----| |----------------17-------------------| |-------------15----15----------------| |----------11----------11-------------| Play |-------14----------------14----------| Twice |----12----------------------12----12-| |-10----------------------------10----| |--------------17-----------------| |-----------14----14--------------| |---------9----------9------------| Play |------14--------------14---------| Twice |---12--------------------12---12-| |-9--------------------------9----| FIRST ENDING |--------------14-----------------| |-----------12----12--------------| |---------7----------7------------| Play |------14--------------14---------| Twice |---12--------------------12---12-| |-7--------------------------7----| |--------------17-----------------| Play |-----------14----14--------------| Twice |---------9----------9------------| Then |------14--------------14---------| Back |---12--------------------12---12-| To The |-5--------------------------5----| Beginning SECOND ENDING |-------------12---------------| |----------10----10------------| |--------7----------7----------| Play |-----11--------------11-------| Twice |---9--------------------9---9-| |-7------------------------7---| |------------12--------------| |---------10----10-----------| |-------6----------6---------| Play |-----9--------------9-------| Twice |---7------------------7---7-| |-5----------------------5---| BRIDGE |--------------------------| |-----------10-------------| |-------6-9----9-6---------| Play |-----9------------9-------| Twice |---7----------------7---7-| |-5--------------------5---| |--------------------------| |-----------10-------------| |-------4-9----9-4---------| Play |-----9------------9-------| Twice |---7----------------7---7-| |-4--------------------4---| |--------------------------| |-----------10-------------| |-------2-9----9-2---------| Play |-----9------------9-------| Twice |---7----------------7---7-| |-2--------------------2---| |--------------------------| |-----------10-------------| |-------4-9----9-4---------| Play |-----9------------9-------| Twice |---7----------------7---7-| |-4--------------------4---| |--------------------------| |-----------10-------------| |-------6-9----9-6---------| Play |-----9------------9-------| Twice |---7----------------7---7-| |-5--------------------5---| |--------------------------| |-----------10-------------| |-------4-9----9-4---------| Play |-----9------------9-------| Twice |---7----------------7---7-| |-4--------------------4---| |----------------17-------------------| |-------------15----15----------------| |----------11----------11-------------| Play |-------14----------------14----------| Twice |----12----------------------12----12-| |-10----------------------------10----| |----------------19-------------------| |-------------17----17----------------| |----------14----------14-------------| |-------18----------------18----------| |----16----------------------16----16-| |-12----------------------------12----| |----------------19-------------------| Play |-------------17----17----------------| Twice |----------13----------13-------------| Then |-------18----------------18----------| Back |----16----------------------16----16-| To The |-12----------------------------12----| Beginning CODA |------------12--------------| |---------10----10-----------| |-------6----------6---------| Play |-----9--------------9-------| Twice |---7------------------7---7-| |-5----------------------5---| |------------12--------------| |---------10----10-----------| |-------4----------4---------| Play |-----9--------------9-------| Twice |---7------------------7---7-| |-3----------------------3---| |------------12--------------| |---------10----10-----------| |-------6----------6---------| Play |-----9--------------9-------| Twice |---7------------------7---7-| |-5----------------------5---| |------------12--------------| |---------10----10-----------| |-------4----------4---------| Play |-----9--------------9-------| Twice |---7------------------7---7-| |-3----------------------3---| LH: 1 2 4 3 RH: 1 2 4 |------------12---17---------| |---------10-----------------| |-------6--------------------| |-----9----------------------| |---7------------------------| |-5--------------------------|
Playing with Style
As I’ve mentioned before, I love to look up guitar videos on the internet. It’s wonderful to see other people enjoying the craft so much. Unfortunately, I also see a lot of bad guitar playing. Even more unfortunate is that a lot of these people don’t understand the difference between their playing and the players they are emulating. I want to give you some insight as to what some of those differences are.
For this portion of the lesson, I’m including two different examples: “The Boy From Seattle” by Steve Vai off of his Alien Love Secrets album and “Mombasa” by Tommy Emmanuel off of his Only album. These songs have feel. I mean, they’ve got grooves.
“Mombasa” by Tommy Emmanuel
I’ve seen plenty of videos of Tommy Emmanuel playing live. I’ve seen him twice in concert. I will see him every single time he comes to my area. Why? Because I think he’s the greatest guitar player in the world (other than Allan Holdsworth and maybe Tuck Andress). Not only is Tommy an example of how to play well technically, but he also plays with so much emotion. His music is beautiful and moving. And it’s not because he can write a good song, but he can take a crappy song and play it REALLY well.
I’ve seen a few people trying to play Tommy Emmanuel songs here and there and almost all of them lack “feel.” “Feel” is a term used by musicians to describe when a person is playing musically and emotionally. It’s the difference between someone like Prince and someone like George Bellas. Prince’s music makes people get up and dance. George Bellas…well, I don’t even know what to say. If it makes your head bob up and down (not headbanging, fellas), then it’s got “feel.”
Tommy Emmanuel’s music is extremely technical and difficult. But, to play it right, you’ve got to have “feel.” Whenever you see Tommy playing his music, he’s always tapping his foot, bobbing back and forth, and smiling. I’ve provided a video example of how to not play “Mombasa,” and how to play it better. Note, only Tommy plays his songs the way he does. I am nowhere near as talented as he, but even I can hear the difference between the way I play it and the way a lot of other people play it.
“Boy From Seattle” by Steve Vai
“Boy From Seattle” is one of the first hard songs I ever tried to learn. I had no tablature and only an ear to pick it apart. I had a crappy guitar and I plugged into a stereo for an amplifier. My ear was not yet mature and couldn’t quite hear all the nuances of Steve’s playing in this song. Nevertheless, I did my best and learned it. Later, when I bought the tablature book for Alien Love Secrets, I saw a lot of things I was doing wrong and a lot of things I was doing “differently.” However, I still couldn’t HEAR what I was missing. You know what it was?
That’s right… I was missing “feel.”
The tablature book didn’t say anything about how to strum the pick to this song. It didn’t say anything about getting into the groove of the song. It merely told me where to put my fingers and how to physically play the song (pull-off here, hammer-on there). I thought I knew this song through and through.
A few years later, I thought of trying this song out again. I could hear that there’s a shuffle rhythm going on. I could feel that I wasn’t playing “in the pocket.” What was wrong? You see, I wasn’t thinking like a guitar player. I was just trying to play the notes. This song was so much easier when I found the right strumming pattern to play it in. Granted, the song is still very, very difficult, but once I found the groove, it was a lot easier to play and I was thinking a lot less about how to play it.
So, I present a video to you to pick apart and see if you can tell the difference between the wrong way to play this song and the “right” way to play it.