Guitar Players

Here is a brief introductory list of some of the top guitar players in the world that should be studied.

Joe Satriani - Probably the best overall guitarist in the category of instrumental rock. Incredible tone and intonation. Always has a great rock rhythm, singing melodies and soaring solos. He goes above and beyond to add technicolor to his sound through high "squeals" and heavy use of wah. CLICK FOR VIDEO.

Andy Timmons - Probably one of the best overall players having fused more styles than any other guitarist. Very comfortable playing rock, jazz, country, blues, you name it. CLICK FOR VIDEO.

Eddie Van Halen - Pioneer in fretboard tapping. Probably the best guitarist in a rock band setting. Unmistakable tone. He changed the face of guitar with some of the flat-out fastest riffs in rock in the "Eruption" Solo.  CLICK FOR VIDEO.

Neal Schon - Probably the most melodic of all rock guitarists. His melodies are heart felt and emotional. His leads, presented in Journey songs, are known for their singable lines that go on until they crescendo into a blistering climax.  CLICK FOR VIDEO.

Andy Summers - Definitely the king in the Ska category. Andy is best know for his days with the Police, where he played contrapuntal to Stewart Copeland's neo-reggae drumming and Sting on bass. Key to his style is the use of energetic rhythms and fantastic color chords. CLICK FOR VIDEO.

More names...

Steve Vai
Eric Johnson
Jason Macedo
Shawn Lane
Jeff Beck
Steve Howe
Brian May
Steve Morse
Alex Lifeson
Randy Rhodes
Marty Friedman
Steve Luthaker
The Edge
Vinnie Moore
Tony MacAlpine

Jazz Guitar Chords

The world of Jazz music is dominated by chord extensions. Those are chord tones higher than the fifth scale degree. Any jazz chord chart you read is going to be at least a 7th chord if not a 9th, 11th or even 13th. Very rarely would you play a plain major or minor chord in a jazz setting, although it does happen.

To start visualizing jazz guitar chords, start with your basic "Oklahoma" D Major open chord. From low to high, you have the notes D, A, D, F#. Notice that you are duplicating the note D with the open D string and the D on the B string. In jazz, you are going to richen up your chords with a little more color.

Next, drop that D on the B string down to C#. This creates a Dmaj7 chord. Now you have a much  richer sounding chord with no repeated notes.

Learning Structures of Triads

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Picking Exercise - Alternate Doubles in Sequence

This pattern is a descending sequence of four notes in the key of G major with each note being picked twice.

This is a great workout for building coordination between right and left hands. The key to this exercise is that you are pushing your self both in picking precision in the right hand and scales and patterns in the left hand.

Keep in mind you are always maintaining alternate picking (up and down strokes). Try it starting with up picking on the downbeat and the next time start with the down stroke.

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So you can see the simple pattern taking place with the descending four note sequence. And instead of a straight sequence your are simply picking each note twice. Of course, the obvious thing is you want to continue this pattern all the way down the neck and then back up. And of course, you can do this in any key, I used G major in this case.


 Now here's the next frontier and this is very important - Instead of picking two times per note as above, try actually picking three times per note that way there are 12 notes per 4 note sequence. You will find you are having to actually pick much faster and your left hand will get slightly slower. Once you get this down go to four picks per note, etc. I actually go all the way to seven picks per note.


Lastly, go back to two picks per note, but this time change the number of notes in the descending sequence. A sequence of two, three, four, and five note patterns and beyond are possible.