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2 New Songs | Free Online Guitar Lesson
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The intro kicks off with an arpeggiation of the open Am chord. Brad gives a quick review of the left-hand fingering for this chord. An arpeggiation occurs when the notes of a chord are picked individually rather than strummed.Right Hand Technique
Note: Open the “Supplemental Content” tab for fretboard diagrams of all the chords discussed in this lesson.
Pay careful attention to the picking of this arpeggio. It may help to print the tablature to the riff and indicate the pick direction of each note on the page.
As soon as you have successfully fretted the Am chord, access the tablature to this song under the “Supplemental Content” tab. Notice how the arpeggio pattern initially skips the G string. Arpeggio patterns frequently skip strings one or more times. To ensure accuracy and maximum comfortability while playing string-skipping patterns, certain right hand adjustments must be made.
A. Right Hand FingersPlaying the RiffWhen playing any arpeggio pattern, it is best not to rest the right hand fingers on the pickguard. Rather, they should loosely curl into the palm of the hand. Resting your fingers on the pickguard limits your range of movement. As a result, arpeggio patterns are difficult to play with this technique.B. The WristMost players prefer to rest their wrist on the bridge of the guitar. Others find they play with better control if they lift the wrist from the bridge, and rest the forearm on the body. However, this riff is played with a technique known as “palm muting.” To perform this technique, lightly rest your wrist on the strings slightly off the bridge. The pitch should still be clearly audible when a string is played. The sound is now slightly muffled or muted. You may need to experiment with the position of your wrist for awhile to achieve the right sound. Let your ears serve as your guide. Listen carefully to Brad’s sound when he palm- mutes. Try to emulate this sound when practicing the intro section.
Play the first four notes of the arpeggio pattern together. Each note receives the value of an eighth note. After the Am arpeggio pattern, a few quick chord changes occur. Once again, break up the riff into the next four eighth notes. Play the open E string, then quickly roll the first finger down. Now it is barring the E and B strings. The next chord in the riff is G. This chord shape is the basic F chord moved up two frets. The riff ends with a quick lick on the A string. Notice how C (3rd fret) is played as a quarter note. Fret this note with the third finger.Intro Riff No. 2
Note: The intro riff is repeated four times before the remainder of the song kicks in.
After the arpeggio patterns, the same progression is played. However, this time the chords are strummed. The progression begins with the same Am shape. Then the open G chord is strummed. (Brad provides a quick review of this chord if you need one.)Rhythm of the Riff
The rhythm to this riff is kind of tricky. Some strums are palm-muted and others are not. The first and fourth strums in the pattern are not palm-muted. Rather, these notes receive a sharp accent. Also, notice how Brad plays this entire riff using only downstrokes. Downstrokes give the guitar a much heavier sound when palm-muting is applied.Playing Octaves
This riff ends with the same lick that concludes the intro riff. However, a pick up note on the open A string is picked before the lick occurs.
Note: The following information comes from Lesson 9 of Matt’s Phase 2 rock lessons.
On the guitar, a note’s higher octave can be found two strings away. The higher of the two notes is two frets up the neck. There are two exceptions to this rule. In the case of the fourth and second string, as well as the third and first string, the higher note is three frets up. Simply play the two strings simultaneously while muting the string between them.
Playing any melody line in octaves has many great advantages. Playing octaves can fatten up the sound by giving it a simultaneous rhythmic/melodic feel. Octaves have a contrasting texture to single note lines. As a result, switching from a single note line to octaves can take a solo in a totally new, fresh direction.
This technique was originally exploited to great effect by jazz great Wes Montgomery. Listen to any of his recordings for countless examples of stellar octave use. Notice how he applies this technique when playing the melody, soloing, and occasionally while accompanying.
Instead of ending the second riff with the lick, an octave figure is often played. Begin with the C octave shape. The first finger frets the A string at the third fret. The octaves then ascend the C major scale to the notes D, E, and G.
Note: Octaves are covered in greater detail in later Phase 2 Classic Rock lesson.
Phase 2 of our teaching method focuses on genre specific techniques and skills. After you have mastered all of the lessons and topics covered in Phase 1, you then move onto your preferred genre of music. Our phase 2
lessons are taught with the overall idea that you are already equipped with a basic understanding of the guitar, how to play notes, read tablature, and position your finger correctly.
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