Music
Guitar Lesson 5: Musical Tapping and Scales
Well, I know I promised the rest of the Fripp stuff last month, but I don’t think I’m going to be able to do it. Believe it or not, it’s just too hard and too time-consuming for me to really want to do it. I’m not a Guitar Craft student, nor am I a full-time guitar player. It’s a wonderful hobby, but I don’t have the 30 to 60 minutes a day to practice non-stop sixteenth notes, wholetone scales, and string skipping.
Going through the Fripp stuff was difficult and I’m very proud of myself for having learned what I did learn of Fracture. I’ve picked apart the next big section, but it’s beyond the scope of what I can teach people. I’ll leave that to Mr. Fripp himself for his own students. And if you’re looking for the ending to Suite No. 1, I’m sure that if you can play what has already been posted, you can figure out the rest of it by ear. I might post a video of the whole thing at a later date. I can actually PLAY that… save the last two measures.
Anyway, what I wanted to write about this month is musical tapping. I’m not talking about the kind of tapping that people like Rusty Cooley does. I mean, musical tapping, like the kind that Jon Finn and Joe Satriani do. They tap the strings for the sake of playing a melody, not for adding more notes to a measure because the left hand can’t reach it. Don’t get me wrong… tapping can be a great tool to play extra notes and do all sorts of cool things, but I want to focus on useful tapping that will allow you to play songs that you might not have been able to play before.
A long time ago, I found some classical guitar tab of Toccata and Fugue in D Minor by J. S. Bach. It said in the tab description something along the lines of, “Since this piece is impossible to play on guitar, I only arranged what is actually playable to the classical guitar.” Unfortunately, the classical guitar is (usually) limited to the first 15 frets or so and I thought it might be possible to do it with an electric. So, I did my own little arrangement. I was a teenager, so it wasn’t very good. But, it was something that has stuck around with me these past few years and I thought that some of it might make for a decent guitar lesson.
Musical Tapping
The guitar is a wonderful instrument. It’s so versatile and you can do so much with it. You can add all sorts of effects, make it sound like other instruments, make it sound like something you’ve never heard before. It’s just so great. You can also play a lot of pieces that weren’t meant for the instrument. I like to take entire orchestral pieces and transpose them to the guitar. You might have heard the pieces I’ve done for my first two albums, Hansel Vs. Gretel and Mytopia, Concerto in D by Antonio Vivaldi and Symphony No. 40 in Gm by W. A. Mozart.
One of the techniques I get a lot of questions about is tapping. I check my search engine queries and a lot of people come here looking for tapping guitar lessons. So, I thought I’d write one. The following stuff is the famous part of Toccatta and Fugue by Bach. If you haven’t heard this piece of music, you’ve probably been living in a cave. And if you’re living in a cave, I have no idea how you got internet access to get to this page, but that’s an entirely different story within itself.
So, this piece is supposedly “impossible” to play on guitar. It turns out… it actually is. Well, at least I thought so when I was a teenager. My arrangement of the fugue goes from the beginning of the piece to the end of what you see here. What I’m offering this month is just the famous fugue part. The next part involved tapping that was beyond my own abilities and I only had a recording of the piece played on organ, which made it REALLY hard to figure out everything by ear.
Enough of my blather, let’s get on to the important stuff!
I’ve broken the piece down into three sections: a somewhat difficult tapping section, a fingerpicking section, and a final, fairly difficult tapping section. There’s nothing terribly complicated about how to play this stuff, it just comes down to how cleanly you want to play it and some of the timing.
Here’s what you’re going to be playing in its entirety. The videos this month aren’t up to snuff, but I’m not feeling particularly nitpicky about this lesson, so please deal with my mistakes.
And here’s the full arrangement, including mistakes, I wrote many years ago:
Toccata and Fugue Part 1
T => TAP with right hand
P => PULL-UP AND PICK the string above with tapping finger
= => HOLD NOTE
There are two "finger" notations for multiple left-hand fingers
finger T 4 T 3 T 2 T 1 T 1 T 2 T 3 T
finger
|-------------------------------------------|---
|-r-----------------------------------------|---
|-e-14-12-14-10-14-9-14-7-14-6-14-7-14-9-14-|---
|-s-----------------------------------------|---
|-t-----------------------------------------|---
|-------------------------------------------|---
4 T 1 T 2 T 3 T 4 T 1 T 2 T 3 T
|------------------------------------------|---
|------------------------------------------|---
|-10-14-2-14-4-14-6-14-7-14-6-14-7-14-9-14-|---
|------------------------------------------|---
|------------------------------------------|---
|------------------------------------------|---
3 T 3 T 1 T 3 T 3 T 3 T 3 T 3 T
P 1 P 2 2 2 2 2 2
|----------------------------------------------|---
|----15-13-15-11-15-10-15-9-15-7-15-6-15-7-15--|---
|-10----11----12-------------------------------|---
|-------------------10----9----7----6----7-----|---
|----------------------------------------------|---
|----------------------------------------------|---
3 T 1 T 1 T 1 T 1 T 1 T 1 T 2 T
2 3 3 3 3 3 3 1
|-----------------------------------------|
|-9-15-2-15-4-15-6-15-7-15-6-15-7-15-9-15-|
|-----------------------------------------|
|-9---------------------------------------|
|------4----6----8----9----8----9----8----|
|-----------------------------------------|
Videos:
Toccata and Fugue Part 2
You can use hybrid picking here, if you like. No one told you that you couldn’t hold the pick while you were playing this thing, you know.
There are three right-hand fingerings to show which fingers to pick with
They are designated by rf1, rf2, and rf3
Right-hand fingers are notated by
p => thumb (pulgar)
i => index (indice)
m => middle (medio)
a => ring (anular)
There are two left-hand fingerings to show which fingers to finger with
rf1 i p m p i p m p i p m p i p m p
rf2 m a m a m a m a
lf1 2 1 1 1 2 3 1 3 3 1 2 1 3 1 2 1
lf2 4 2 4 2 2 4 2 4
|-------10----------10----11----------11----------|---
|-11----11----11----11----11----11----11----11----|---
|-12----------12----------------12----------12----|---
|----------------12----12----10----10----10----10-|---
|----10----10-------------------------------------|---
|-------------------------------------------------|---
p p i p p p i p p p i p p p i p
i i i i
3 4 1 3 3 4 1 3 1 3 3 1 1 3 3 1
2 2 3 3
|-------------------------------------------------|---
|-13----------13----------15----------15----------|---
|-------12----------12----------15----------15----|---
|----15----------15----------15----------15-------|---
|-15-------15-15-------15-13-------13-13-------13-|---
|-------------------------------------------------|---
p p i p p p i p p p i p p p i p
i i i i
3 4 2 3 3 4 2 3 1 3 1 1 1 3 1 1
1 1 4 4
|-------------------------------------------------|---
|-11----------11----------14----------14----------|---
|-------12----------12----------12----------12----|---
|----14----------14----------14----------14-------|---
|-13-------13-13-------13-12-------12-12-------12-|---
|-------------------------------------------------|---
p p i p p p i p p p i p p p i p
i i i i
1 4 3 1 1 4 3 1 1 4 3 1 1 4 3 1
2 2 2 2
|-----------------------------------------|---
|-10---------10---------8--------8--------|---
|-------10---------10--------9--------9---|---
|----12---------12--------11-------11-----|---
|-8--------8-8--------8-7------7-7------7-|---
|-----------------------------------------|---
p p i p p p i p p p i p p p i p
i i i i
1 3 4 1 1 3 4 1 3 4 2 3 3 4 2 3
2 2 1 1
|---------------------------------|
|-6-------6-------5-------5-------|
|-----7-------7-------6-------6---|
|---7-------7-------7-------7-----|
|-5-----5-5-----5-7-----7-7-----7-|
|---------------------------------|
Videos:
Toccata and Fugue Part 3
2 T 2 T 2 T 2 T 2 T 2 T 2 T 2 T
3 3 1 1 1 1 3
|---------------------------------------------|---
|---------------------------------------------|---
|----14-12-14-10-14-9--14-7-14-6-14-7-14-9-14-|---
|---------------------------------------------|---
|-------------------10----8----7----8---------|---
|-13----12----10-------------------------9----|---
2 T 3 T 2 T 2 T 2 T 2 T 2 T 2 T
3 1 1 1 1 1 1 3
|------------------------------------------|---
|------------------------------------------|---
|-10-14-2-14-4-14-6-14-7-14-6-14-7-14-9-14-|---
|------------------------------------------|---
|-------4----5----7----8----7----8---------|---
|-10----------------------------------9----|---
2 T T 2 T T 2 T T T T
3 1 3 1 1 3 4 1
|--------------------------------------------|---
|--------------------------------------------|---
|-10-14-9-14-7-14-5-14-3-14-5-14-7-12-3-12---|---
|----------------------5---------------------|---
|------------9=====--------------------------|---
|-10=====------------------------------------|---
2 T T 3 T T 2 T T T T
4 1 1 1 1 3 4 1
|-----------------------------------------|---
|-----------------------------------------|---
|-9-12-7-12-5-12-3-12-2-12-3-12-5-10-2-10-|---
|---------------------3========-----------|---
|-----------7========---------------------|---
|-8========-------------------------------|---
2 T T 3 T T 1 T T T T
4 1 2 1 P 2 3 P
|----------------------------------------|---
|----------------------------------------|---
|-7-10-5-10-3-10-2-10-0-10-2-10-3-9-0----|---
|---------------------2========-------14-|---
|-----------5========--------------------|---
|-6========------------------------------|---
T T 1 T T 2 T T 2 T T
4 1 P 4 2 P 1 3 P 4 1 P
|------------------------------------------|---
|------------------------------------------|---
|------------------------------------------|---
|-11-14-8-14-7-14-5-14-3-14-5-14-7-12-3-12-|---
|-0=========-4========-5========-5========-|---
|------------------------------------------|---
2 T T 3 T T T T T 3
3 1 P 2 1 P 1 2 P 4 P 3
|--------------------------------------------|---
|--------------------------------------------|---
|--------------------------------------------|---
|-8-12-7-12-5-12-3-12-2-12-3-12-5-12-5-------|---
|-----------7========-0========-0----4-------|---
|-8========----------------------------------|---
1 3 4 1 1 1
|----------------10=========-|
|-------------10============-|
|----------10===============-|
|-------14==================-|
|----12=====================-|
|-10========================-|
FYI: if you don’t keep up your tapping calluses, you’re going to get blisters. Trust me… I got one on my right middle finger just recording these examples. I guess I don’t tap as often as I’d like to think.
Scales
I saw an interview with Billy Sheehan, the guy Steve Vai considers to be the greatest rock bass player to ever live, and Billy mentioned that he doesn’t really know much music theory. This was astounding to me because I’ve heard him play on some of the Niacin stuff and he’s playing with some pretty heavy hitters. He mentioned that everything he ever learned was from playing scales in every position on the neck of his bass. So, I thought that would be a good thing to get us guitar players into.
The following is basically an exercise or two that will hopefully give you a better understanding of how you can take scales/modes and turn them into “scorching leads,” as Sir Millard Mulch calls them. The idea for the first exercise is that you’re going to play, in the key of G, every mode available in the scale. But, you’re actually going to be playing two modes between the first and sixth strings. So, you’re going to start with one mode and end with another, then go back down and start on the next mode.
In case you’ve never heard of modes, the idea is that if you stay in the key of one scale playing the standard eight notes in a row, but start on different root notes within that scale, you’re playing modes. So, what we’ll be doing is playing the G major scale and starting on each different note of the G major scale (G A B C D E F# G), all the while staying in the key of G. It’s really quite fascinating what you can do with modes, but that’s a lesson for a REAL guitar teacher. I’m just a hack.
Here’s the pattern, suckerbutts:
- G Ionian into C Lydian
- A Dorian into D Mixolydian
- B Phrygian into E Aeolian
- C Lydian into F# Locrian
- D Mixolydian into G Ionian
- E Aeolian into A Dorian
- F# Locrian into B Phrygian
As you can see, we hit every mode twice. This will make more sense if you play through the exercises and figure out where each mode is.
Exercise 1
EXERCISE 1 - G Major Modes
All triplets (that's three notes per beat!)
Good tempo: 150 bpm
Challenging tempo: 180 bpm
John Petrucci tempo: 200 bpm
alt gives you another fingering option
fingr 1 3 4 1 3 4 1 2 4 1 2 4 1 3 4 1 3 4
alt 2 2
|-------------------------------5-7-8-|---
|-------------------------5-7-8-------|---
|-------------------4-5-7-------------|---
|-------------4-5-7-------------------|---
|-------3-5-7-------------------------|---
|-3-5-7-------------------------------|---
|--G Ionian---| |--C Lydian---|
4 3 1 4 3 1 4 2 1 4 2 1 4 3 1 4 3 1
2 2
|-8-7-5-------------------------------|---
|-------8-7-5-------------------------|---
|-------------7-5-4-------------------|---
|-------------------7-5-4-------------|---
|-------------------------7-5-3-------|---
|-------------------------------7-5-3-|---
|--C Lydian---| |--G Ionian---|
1 3 4 1 3 4 1 3 4 1 3 4 1 2 4 1 2 4
2 3 2 2 2
|--------------------------------7-8-10-|---
|-------------------------7-8-10--------|---
|-------------------5-7-9---------------|---
|-------------5-7-9---------------------|---
|-------5-7-9---------------------------|---
|-5-7-8---------------------------------|---
|--A Dorian---| |--D Mixolydian-|
4 2 1 4 2 1 4 3 1 4 3 1 4 3 1 4 3 1
2 2 2 3 2
|-10-8-7--------------------------------|---
|--------10-8-7-------------------------|---
|---------------9-7-5-------------------|---
|---------------------9-7-5-------------|---
|---------------------------9-7-5-------|---
|---------------------------------8-7-5-|---
|--D Mixolydian-| |--A Dorian---|
1 2 4 1 3 4 1 3 4 1 3 4 1 3 4 1 3 4
2 2
|-------------------------------------8-10-12-|---
|-----------------------------8-10-12---------|---
|----------------------7-9-10-----------------|---
|---------------7-9-10------------------------|---
|--------7-9-10-------------------------------|---
|-7-8-10--------------------------------------|---
|--B Phrygian---| |--E Aeolian-------|
4 3 1 4 3 1 4 3 1 4 3 1 4 3 1 4 2 1
2 2
|-12-10-8-------------------------------------|---
|---------12-10-8-----------------------------|---
|-----------------10-9-7----------------------|---
|------------------------10-9-7---------------|---
|-------------------------------10-9-7--------|---
|--------------------------------------10-8-7-|---
|--E Aeolian-------| |--B Phrygian---|
1 2 4 1 2 4 1 2 4 1 3 4 1 3 4 1 3 4
2 3 2
|------------------------------------------10-12-14-|---
|---------------------------------10-12-13----------|---
|-------------------------9-11-12-------------------|---
|-----------------9-10-12---------------------------|---
|---------9-10-12-----------------------------------|---
|-8-10-12-------------------------------------------|---
|--C Lydian--------| |--F# Locrian--------|
4 3 1 4 3 1 4 2 1 4 2 1 4 2 1 4 2 1
2 2
|-14-12-10------------------------------------------|---
|----------13-12-10---------------------------------|---
|-------------------12-11-9-------------------------|---
|---------------------------12-10-9-----------------|---
|-----------------------------------12-10-9---------|---
|-------------------------------------------12-10-8-|---
|--F# Locrian---------| |--C Lydian--------|
1 3 4 1 3 4 1 3 4 1 2 4 1 2 4 1 3 4
2 2 2
|----------------------------------------------12-14-15-|---
|-------------------------------------12-13-15----------|---
|----------------------------11-12-14-------------------|---
|-------------------10-12-14----------------------------|---
|----------10-12-14-------------------------------------|---
|-10-12-14----------------------------------------------|---
|--D Mixolydian-------| |--G Ionian-----------|
4 3 1 4 2 1 4 3 1 4 3 1 4 3 1 4 3 1
2 2 2
|-15-14-12----------------------------------------------|---
|----------15-13-12-------------------------------------|---
|-------------------14-12-11----------------------------|---
|----------------------------14-12-10-------------------|---
|-------------------------------------14-12-10----------|---
|----------------------------------------------14-12-10-|---
|--G Ionian-----------| |--D Mixolydian------|
1 3 4 1 3 4 1 3 4 1 3 4 1 3 4 1 2 4
2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3
|----------------------------------------------14-15-17-|---
|-------------------------------------13-15-17----------|---
|----------------------------12-14-16-------------------|---
|-------------------12-14-16----------------------------|---
|----------12-14-15-------------------------------------|---
|-12-14-15----------------------------------------------|---
|--E Aeolian----------| |--A Dorian-----------|
4 2 1 4 3 1 4 3 1 4 3 1 4 3 1 4 3 1
3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 2
|-17-15-14----------------------------------------------|---
|----------17-15-13-------------------------------------|---
|-------------------16-14-12----------------------------|---
|----------------------------16-14-12-------------------|---
|-------------------------------------15-14-12----------|---
|----------------------------------------------15-14-12-|---
|--A Dorian-----------| |--E Aeolian---------|
1 3 4 1 3 4 1 3 4 1 3 4 1 3 4 1 3 4
2 2 2 2
|----------------------------------------------15-17-19-|---
|-------------------------------------15-17-19----------|---
|----------------------------14-16-17-------------------|---
|-------------------14-16-17----------------------------|---
|----------14-15-17-------------------------------------|---
|-14-15-17----------------------------------------------|---
|--F# Locrian---------| |--B Phrygian---------|
4 3 1 4 3 1 4 3 1 4 3 1 4 3 1 4 3 1
2 2 2 2
|-19-17-15----------------------------------------------|---
|----------19-17-15-------------------------------------|---
|-------------------17-16-14----------------------------|---
|----------------------------17-16-14-------------------|---
|-------------------------------------17-15-14----------|---
|----------------------------------------------17-15-14-|---
|--B Phrygian---------| |--F# Locrian--------|
1
|----|
|----|
|----|
|----|
|----|
|-15-|
Videos:
Homework! (Exercise 2)
I would suggest you figure out what’s going on in these videos and how I came up with this little “run.” If you’ve ever listened to Paul Gilbert, Shawn Lane, or Buckethead, learning this run might help you figure out how to hear their solos a little better.