The Guitar Resource

Guitar World Magaize

I just finished reading the issue of guitar world magazine and I wanted to share a few of the things I learned in this month’s issue.

I always learn a lot from Guitar World and this issue was no different. As usual, I learned something great just from reading one of the interviews. The interview was with jazz guitar virtuoso Pat Martino. And while the whole interview was enlightening, there was one part in particular that I liked. If you read my post on listening (click here if you haven’t), you know that I am a big advocate of listening to everything to make you a better guitar player. But Pat Martino made a comment that takes it even a step further and think it is such a great point. He says:

“As an improviser, you need to experience the moment—and that includes everything in the moment. Observe the people around you—the bandleader, the bartender—what they wear, how they deal with people, the simple continuity of their presence. As you do that, you’ll see how you affect them, and you’ll play and act accordingly. You need to study the reality of the moment, and that is very rarely about studying modes and intervals.”

Great stuff!

Another thing I learned was in the lesson “10 Things You Need to Do to Play Like T-Bone Walker.” I learned that T-Bone Walker was the originator of the “lazy” bend. I did a post on this technique titles “Bluesing your bends”. But the article had a bunch of other great blues playing tips.

I also learned a lot about guitar amplifier cabinets and how their construction affects your sound. We are all always trying to get the most of our tone and I think we sometimes overlook the small thinks like amp cabinet construction. This article helped break down how different types of construction affect your sound in different ways. A very cool article.

I also learned that cowboys can play jazz! (See the extended lesson “Wester Swing-Roping in the Rip-Roarin’ Riffs of Cowboy Jazz”.)

There were also a lot of other great lessons like Larry Carlton’s extended lesson on the blues, which was more advanced then you might think. And there was a great mini-lesson by Herbie Hancock on adding pedal tones to the highest note instead of the lowest note (the technique is called “pedal point”.)

All in all it was a great issue. For more information on Guitar Player magazine read my post “My Thoughts on Guitar Magazines”.