Thursday, November 04, 2010

Guitar Workshop: Percussive Guitar
(Lessons 1, 2, & 3)

Last week, we introduced the "percussive guitar" technique that is becoming very popular in the last decade. One look at last week's samplings, and you're telling yourself, dude, we gotta break this down. To wit, we will introduce Dale Campbell from the UK, whose album "How The Light Gets In" is available on iTunes, Napster and eMusic. This first clip is Lesson 1 (right), where he shows you how to find the bass and snare drums, and the high-hat cymbal, on your guitar. (Yep, they were there the whole time.)

By the second clip, he's thinking, dude, I've got international exposure, I gotta do something with my hair. But never mind that. In Lesson 2 (left), while teaching "New Song 2006," his left hand is living dangerously above the twelfth fret. This is not only to achieve a certain tonal quality in the chords, but to better enable the percussive sound. In other words, when the length of string is shortened by playing up the neck, it makes for a tighter vibration, thus one that is more in control.

For future reference, here are the two chords he's showing you in Lesson 2 (above).

First Chord:
E A D G B E
0 14 14 13 0 0
(0 14 16 13 0 0)

Second Chord
E A D G B E
0 14 13 16 0 0

Notice how he uses standard tuning the entire time. Hard to tell, ain't it?

Now we come to Lesson 3, where our instructor has upgraded his video equipment, and we're all the better for it. He continues with a conclusion to the lesson for "New Song 2006." More information is available at: myspace.com/dalecampbell

Next week, a demo of a well-known pop song he has mentioned here, along with a surprising alternative.
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