2020-03-01 Total Guitar

TOTAL GUITAR MARCH 2020

PLAY LIKE BILLIE JOE

LearnthesecretsoftheGreenDayguitarist’s playing techniques

01 HOLDING THE PICK

Billie holds his pick at an angle between his thumb and

index finger, not quite flat on the pad nor on the side,

which facilitates...

03 STUBBING

When fretting octaves or chords with their roots on the

fifth string, the tip of Billie’s index finger brushes (or

‘stubs’) the sixth string just enough to mute it.

06 RHYTHM PLAYING THUMB POSITION

Billie Joe doesn’t worry much about thumb placement

for rhythm playing, but he often uses this position. Do

what feels comfortable, as long as there’s no fret buzz.

05 LEAD PLAYING THUMB POSITION

Live, Billie uses this thumb position to fire off Chuck

Berry-style solos. It makes string bending easier on the

high strings, and he sometimes uses it for powerchords.

02 PICK ANGLE

...Billie’s pick angle. Attacking the strings at about 30

degrees gives Billie an aggressive tone and reduces

resistance so he can play faster.

04 FRET HAND MUTING

Billie Joe’s first finger rests across the first four strings,

muting them. Together with stubbing, he can pick

aggressively without unwanted open string noise.

07 PALM MUTING

This is where your hand needs to be for BJA’s legendary

palm-muted powerchords. Note how the back of your

hand touches the bridge saddles. Then, to switch...

B

illie Joe Armstrong sure

knows how to make guitars

sound big! Even shred god

Paul Gilbert described him as

one of the best guitarists in the world

for his blistering downpicking. Billie

Joe’s mastery of palm muting and

powerchordriffingrivalseven

thrashmetalgiantJamesHetfield.

Here,we’regivingyouthetoolsto

deliverGreenDay’sbreakneckriffing

andmelodicsolos.Theoutwardly

simpledeliveryis deceptive,and

you’llneed to develop highly accurate

fretting to make it work. To play as

hard as possible, Billie Joe often strums

all six strings regardless of the chord,

using his fretting hand to control

which notes ring out. Check out our

photos to see how small details make

simple riffs sound so great.

COVER FEATURE

Photo

: Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic