Play Rock Guitar 7: Style Variations

Diversify Your Rock Guitar Chops with this Rock Learning Path Core Course

Marty FriedmanTommy EmmanuelSteve VaiEric GalesEric Johnson

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Play Rock Guitar 7: Style Variations

About this course

Welcome to Play Rock Guitar 7: Style Variations for intermediate to late Intermediate students of Rock guitar.

This Rock Learning Path core course is presented by 6 top TrueFire educators: Sonny Landreth, Oz Noy, Andy Aledort, David Hamburger, and Chris Buono.

The Style Variations curriculum is comprised of select guitar lessons from the educators’ existing TrueFire course libraries.

One of the qualities that attracts all of us to the guitar is the virtually infinite range of styles and techniques that are possible on the instrument. Having a grasp on a wide variety of styles and techniques not only broadens your musicality, it opens the door to many more playing opportunities with other musicians. You’ll gain more clarity on the instrument overall and expressing yourself on it will become a richer experience. The video guitar lessons in this core course will diversify your skill set and help take your playing to the next level.

Play Rock Guitar 7: Style Variations is organized into 2 sections. In the first section, you’ll work on the basics of Slide playing and learn how to use slide in a rock context. In the second section you’ll jump into playing some Funk and work on a ton of killer funk rhythms to get your groove on.

When you’ve completed the lessons here in Style Variations, you’ll find lessons focused on Fusion and World music techniques in Style Diversity, also a Play Rock Guitar 7 core course.

The educators demonstrate all of the key examples over jam tracks (where and when applicable) to simulate a real-world application, in a musical context. All of the key examples are also tabbed and notated for your practice, reference and study purposes.

You’ll also get Guitar Pro files so that you can play, loop or slow down the tab and notation as you work through the lessons. Plus, you’ll have all of the available jam tracks to work with on your own.

Take as much time as you need to work through each video guitar lesson before moving on to the next lesson. If you want to dig deeper or wider into any of the topics covered in this core course, check out the recommended supplementary courses in your learning path where you’ll find more examples, techniques and insight from top TrueFire educators.

Grab your guitar and let’s get started!

What you'll learn

  • Master different slide techniques
  • Apply major pentatonic techniques
  • Reduce chord complexity for tighter playing
  • Understand funk rhythm chord techniques
  • Develop precise left-hand sliding control
Release date: 09/14/2016 • 4h 14m runtime
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Sample lessons
Slide Vibrato
Slide Vibrato
Overview
Slides and Grace Notes
Slides and Grace Notes
Concept 2
The Santa Monicat
The Santa Monicat
Performance
Vibrato (Like a Leslie)
Vibrato (Like a Leslie)
Technique 16

What's included

62 lessons • 29 charts • 20 Jam Tracks

Play Rock Guitar 7: Style Variations
Welcome to Play Rock Guitar 7: Style Variations for intermediate to late Intermediate students of Rock guitar.

This Rock Learning Path core course is presented by 6 top TrueFire educators: Sonny Landreth, Oz Noy, Andy Aledort, David Hamburger, and Chris Buono.

The Style Variations curriculum is comprised of select guitar lessons from the educators' existing TrueFire course libraries.

One of the qualities that attracts all of us to the guitar is the virtually infinite range of styles and techniques that are possible on the instrument. Having a grasp on a wide variety of styles and techniques not only broadens your musicality, it opens the door to many more playing opportunities with other musicians. You'll gain more clarity on the instrument overall and expressing yourself on it will become a richer experience. The video guitar lessons in this core course will diversify your skill set and help take your playing to the next level.

Play Rock Guitar 7: Style Variations is organized into 2 sections. In the first section, you'll work on the basics of Slide playing and learn how to use slide in a rock context. In the second section you'll jump into playing some Funk and work on a ton of killer funk rhythms to get your groove on.

When you've completed the lessons here in Style Variations, you'll find lessons focused on Fusion and World music techniques in Style Diversity, also a Play Rock Guitar 7 core course.

The educators demonstrate all of the key examples over jam tracks (where and when applicable) to simulate a real-world application, in a musical context. All of the key examples are also tabbed and notated for your practice, reference and study purposes.

You'll also get Guitar Pro files so that you can play, loop or slow down the tab and notation as you work through the lessons. Plus, you'll have all of the available jam tracks to work with on your own.

Take as much time as you need to work through each video guitar lesson before moving on to the next lesson. If you want to dig deeper or wider into any of the topics covered in this core course, check out the recommended supplementary courses in your learning path where you'll find more examples, techniques and insight from top TrueFire educators.

Grab your guitar and let's get started!
Slide Guitar
In this section you will tackle the basics of slide playing - learning vibrato and muting, and dig into many of the riffs and techniques that make slide such a crucial style to get down in order to be a complete rock guitarist.

TIP! One of the best pieces of advice I ever got as a player, was to "learn it - then do it your own way". At first that seems counter-intuitive. Afterall we are trying to really nail the lessons we are working on, and once we do that… then we are supposed to change it? YES! Throughout history players have been borrowing, or outright stealing others licks and ideas, and then changing them to make them their own. Basically you have to start somewhere as you are developing your own voice on the guitar, so it makes sense to learn something that is already pretty cool, and then put your own spin on it. Try it out, learn a new lick or pattern, but then instead of just moving on to something else - look at how you can tweak, adapt, extend, change and make it your own.
Slide Guitar Essentials
Slide Guitar Essentials - Overview is a video guitar lesson presented by Andy Aledort and is sourced from Slide Guitar Power.

In this section we will address all of the essential elements of playing slide guitar, starting with the slide itself, whether to use a slide made of glass, such as a bottle or bottleneck type slide, or metal, such as chrome, steel or brass, or ceramic. Another essential decision is which finger of the fret-hand to wear the slide on: either the middle or ring finger, or the pinkie (though, very occassionally, the index finger has been used). The string action, the height of the strings in relation to the fretboard, is another important aspect of playing slide guitar, as is the choice of string gauges. We will also address proper slide guitar technique, which includes an investigation of proper intonation, right- and left-hand muting techniques, picking with the fingers, the pick or with both (hybrid picking), using a capo, and how to develop proper slide guitar vibrato.
Slide Materials
Slide Materials - Overview is a video guitar lesson presented by Andy Aledort and is sourced from Slide Guitar Power.

The very first decision to make when picking up slide guitar is what type of slide to use. There are many different materials to choose from, primarily glass, metal and ceramic. Another unusual choice is a Sears Craftsman spark plug ratchet, favored by both Lowell George of Little Feat and Dickey Betts of the Allman Brothers Band. As one could imagine, a metal slide has a sharper, more cutting tone to it; this is specifically why a metal slide is favored by Johnny Winter. Glass slides, such as bottlenecks cut from glass bottles, or small glass bottles such as that favored by Duane Allman (discovered when his brother Gregg brought him a glass bottle filled with a cold medication called Coricidin) yield a much warmer, smoother tone. Ceramic slides are also popular, and used occassionally by players such as Warren Haynes. Personally, I like ceramic slides better for acoustic playing, as the surface is generally rougher than glass or metal.
Wearing The Slide
Wearing The Slide - Overview is a video guitar lesson presented by Andy Aledort and is sourced from Slide Guitar Power.

Along with picking which slide you prefer - metal, glass, ceramic, etc. - you need to determine the best finger on which to wear the slide. The most commonly used fret-hand fingers for slide guitar are the pinkie, the ring finger and the middle finger (the index finger is used only very rarely, such as by slide guitarist Dave Hole from Australia). I got my start with a metal slide worn on the pinkie, in emulation of my primary slide influence, Johnny Winter. Johnny was influenced to use a metal slide on the pinkie by the playing of Robert Johnson and Muddy Waters. Wearing the slide on the pinkie also frees up the other three fret-hand fingers to use for fretting chords and playing riffs that are fretted conventionally. Duane Allman started the trend of using a glass bottle-type slide on the ring finger (as done today by Warren Haynes and Derek Trucks) and wearing the slide on the ring finger has an affect on the overall fret-hand movement, especially when adding vibrato. It also limits one's ability to fret notes conventionally. Wearing the slide on the middle finger frees up the ring finger and pinkie for fretting, and is favored by slide greats such as Bonnie Raitt, Ry Cooder and Dickie Betts.
String Action
String Action - Overview is a video guitar lesson presented by Andy Aledort and is sourced from Slide Guitar Power.

The next choice involves what action - the height of the strings from the fretboard - you prefer when playing slide. Generally speaking, it's good to raise the action a little higher than normal lead-type action for playing slide (unless, of course, you prefer high action normally). Many players prefer a lower action than what is generally used when playing slide. One way to describe it is to set the action along the lines of standard acoustic guitar action, which usually is at least a millimeter higher than standard electric guitar action. This way, there is less likelihood of banging the slide into the frets while playing, as the higher action insures the slide will remain a safe distance above the fretwire. Higher action also allows players to dig in more (apply more force) with both the fret- and pick-hands. I prefer the unwound higher strings to be set slightly higher than the lower strings because I spend more time playing on the unwound strings than on the wound strings. But some players, such as Derek Trucks, prefer very low action so that when switching to conventional fretting, it is easier to play.
Slide Positioning and Intonation
Slide Positioning and Intonation - Overview is a video guitar lesson presented by Andy Aledort and is sourced from Slide Guitar Power.

Slide positioning and intonation - playing notes that sound in tune - are essential for proper slide guitar playing. For a note to be intonated properly, the slide must be positioned directly above the fretwire, and try to keep the slide (somewhat) parallel with the fretwire. Apply only enough pressure to sound a note clearly; do not allow the slide to bang into the frets. Also, lightly rest additional fret-hand fingers across the strings behind the slide, as this will eliminate unwanted overtones and ghost notes.

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Reviews

3 results

wholmer

12/23/20

Try learning from the masters

So many styles from so many greats. There are months of lessons here to get you well versed in the mix of minor and major. This is the blues the way it should be! Once you get this added to your vocabulary will get you moving on to being able to express yourself.

javierON01

Verified buyer

10/14/20

The best on the internet to learn guitar

The best to Learn guitar

kuniya2

Verified buyer

07/06/20

Great combo!

I was looking into the vast array of funk and slide Lessons of Truefire for quite some time but couldn’t decide on which one to go for. This course gives me the perfect opportunity to get to know the basics of both styles and get to know a bunch of instructors at one time! I’ve just started to get into this course but I’m pretty sure that I’ll buy more from Chris Buono, he such an ace player and instructor.

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