COLUMNS_SAM BELL COLUMNS SAM BELL RHYTHM GUITAR CONCEPTS
By following this through the A section, I
managed add some syncopation to the very
straight feeling backing track whilst also
adding harmonic interest and something
that wasn’t too busy. In Bar 4 I added a little
interest and contrast with a staccato/palm
muted single note line which helps bridge
the D13 to GMaj9 harmony change. Notice
how this also starts on the + of beat 1. To-
wards the end I play some small modal voic-
ings that outline an A9 or A11 sound before
moving into the B section.
Section B – Bars 9 – 17
Now the harmony of the tune goes to the
following implied chord sequence.
B7 – Gmaj7 – F#m – A
I have a simple palm muted single note
part, very inspired by the kind of single note
guitar parts from 80s pop records. The goal
is to keep in the pocket and get the tone re-
ally consistent with the picking hand. The
note set highlights a B7 arpeggio over the
B7 chord, when the underlying harmony
changes to GMaj7 I change the D# (Major
3 rd over B) to D which gives us the 5th over
the GMaj7. It then also stays diatonic within
the key of D Major/B Minor for the follow-
ing F#m and A chord changes.The example then ends with a Badd9 voicing
(with no B root note) which is raked with
the side of the pick for a nice clean shimmer.Summary:I personally get great satisfaction from writ-
ing guitar parts like these, or playing classic
guitar parts of a similar fashion. It feels great
to play something that is simple, that grooves
and sounds great within a track. It feels like
as a Guitar Player you’re really adding some-
thing rather than just throwing something
over the top. Which leads me to this quote
that I found very inspiring, whilst not com-
pletely related to this column, I think its
essence follows the same principle. The quote
is from Victor Wooten and I am paraphras-
ing here:‘Practice Music not to make yourself better,
but to make the Musicians around you bet-
ter’Happy Practicing, see you next time here at
Guitar Interactive Magazine!END <<(^176) Guitar Interactive Issue 66