Category Archives: The Player’s Room

Have you ever wondered how they make all of those cool sound effects in your favorite thrillers? On those backlot tours I learned that there are entire crews of people dedicated to that very purpose for every horror film that is made. The cool part? You can use your guitar to make some of the very same sounds you’re used to hearing during your favorite horror movies.

If you’re not a fan of the Floyd, you might want to look away. Because this post is about how to make a whole bunch of freaky alien horse noises with your Floyd Rose.

Contrary to where modern guitar has gone, it started life as a rhythm instrument, bashing out chords on a large archtop (or larchtop*) in the back of the band. Yes, it is hard to believe that at one time, the idea of sweep picking lydian-dominant arps at 200 bpm was unheard of, and the idea of having a great chord vocabulary (and being able to improvise with those chords) was essential to be considered a great guitarist that could work steadily and support all of those spotlight-stealing brass players. These days, being an amazing rhythm player is downplayed in favor of other aspects of guitar playing, but understanding some small things about chords will only let our solos stand out more, and give us more interesting things to play over. If you haven’t read it yet, I would also suggest reading my article about 7th chords, as this article will build on those concepts.

Simply, do you like bands that play everything exactly like the CD or do you like when bands (and their guitarists) take chances and deviate from the recorded version? With songs you might right and record, is there a conscious effort to replicate everything note-for-note live? Or is the recorded (or written) version simply a…

In 1987, Jason Becker was one of the fastest rising stars of the world of guitarists. Having joined Cacophony with Marty Friedman at just the age of 16 and played on Speed Metal Symphony and Go Off, his skills were on full display. Becker was a highly experienced neo-classical metal guitarist who would incorporate every…

Misunderstanding the modes of the major scale is common among guitarists. We practice them in all keys, up and down the fretboard, in sequences, with different rhythmic groupings. The secrets to these mysterious inversions of the major scale lie in the chords they are played over. This article will explain some ways we can hear the unique sound of each mode, and develop interesting chord progressions that allow us to hear them in their native habitat.

Maybe it’s because I’m feeling nostalgic now that David Letterman has announced his retirement, and with that comes the retirement of his infamous Top Ten List. Maybe it’s because I enjoy sharing my opinion on bassists you should listen to, and like reading a lot of angry retorts. But maybe, as a musician that works hard to continually improve, listening is one of the easiest things we can do to achieve that goal. And with that in mind, I present to you yet another TOP TEN list, but this one’s a bit different. These are guys/gals that you probably haven’t heard of, but you owe it to yourself to listen to them.

I started my walk on the musical road to perdition not as a guitarist, but as a singer. I received a fairly traditional, classical education. I learned to read notes, solfege (learning relative intervals: think of the famed scene of the Sound of Music where the children learn to sing via Do-Re-Mi: that’s solfege!), all the modes. When I switched to the rock and metal side of music I experienced major troubles: I couldn’t get rid of my belcanto-techniques.

Mom always told you when you were young (and probably also when you were old enough to know better), “Play nice!” And while it was probably given to you in the context of a sandbox, or during a Transformers debate (because while everyone longs to be Optimus Prime, they yearn to rule the world with the cold hand of Megatron), it translates directly into the role of a musician, especially when it comes time to play with musicians you’ve never met or played with before, or when you walk into a situation that you’ve never been in. And that ability to “play nice with others” will provide invaluable as your musical palette expands.

In the last music theory blog article, I introduced you to the odd and sometimes dissonant chords derived from the melodic minor scale. This time we’ll look at the prettier-but-slightly-aloof older sisters of the melodic minor chords: harmonic minor chords. This article will explain how to derive the chords from this dramatic scale, and provide some…