On Practicing Guitar

Using Guide Fingers on Wild Thing - Easy Guitar

 

The biggest challenge facing beginning guitarists is the question of how to improve the speed and accuracy of chord changes. How do the fingers move as a unit? Which finger moves first? The truth is, a kind of organization is involved with each chord change, and one can cultivate that skill.

One of the most useful techniques is the use of “guide fingers.” A guide finger is a finger, for example the third or ring finger of the fretting hand, that is used in both of the chords in a chord change, on the same string. The guide finger slides along the string from the fret of one chord to the other, maintaining contact with the string that it has in common with both chords. The song “Wild Thing” is excellent for learning this technique because it uses two different guide fingers in the main sequence, the third finger and the index or first finger. A very simple arrangement of the song is in the tab below. But it’s most important to learn the basic changes of the verse and incorporate the guide finger technique.

 

“Wild Thing” starts on the chord A major and then changes to the chord D major. Play A in the old fashioned way, the one-two-three fingering shown below and in the video. The third finger slides up and along the B string from the note C# at the second fret to the note D at the third fret. Maintaining contact with the B string saves time (the third finger doesn’t have to find the string of the new chord, just the fret – and it’s going directly there via the shortest possible route), and adds organization to the complex movement needed to change chords.

There are actually three moves that have to be executed for a guide finger chord change. It may seem like a lot, but in the end, when all the parts of the hand are moving at the same time, it will save a lot of time and work. First, lift the non-guide fingers, ie the first and second fingers. This frees up the motion of the hand itself and gets the fingers on their way to their new positions in the D chord. Next, slide the guide finger up to its new position at the third fret on the B string, maintaining contact but not pressing on the string. Finally, place the first and second fingers in their new positions on the D chord. You must also practice the change in the opposite direction, from D to A.

Use the same strategy when changing from the D to the E major chord. Pick up the second and third fingers from the D chord, then slide the first finger along the G string into place at the first fret for the E chord. Then place the second and third fingers into their respective positions in the E chord.

The rhythm pattern for the song is perfect for adding a little urgency to the situation. Practice very slowly at first, without rhythm. Then gradually increase the tempo and add rhythm, and keep the right hand moving if possible, mistakes and all. Remember, the right hand dictates the rhythm and therefore the timing within which the left hand must move. Don’t let the left hand slow things down. It has to hustle!

Notes on the chart/tab: The main chord change goes three times plus an incomplete third time where it transitions to the break. Beware the repeat sign! For the break, just take your fingers off the A chord and use the open B, G and D stings to form a G chord with A in the bass. This alternates with the A chord (see tab). Good luck and have fun!

-Christian Botta

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Sex Pistol Steve Jones' Lonely Boy Review

 

The Sex Pistols are such a media driven band that one would think that there’s not much more you could learn about them. I even wrote a term paper in grad school mainly about the Pistols. The course was entitled, Music and Indoctrination. But there is still plenty to learn until Paul Cook’s bio comes out. I’ve read and own Glen Matlock’s, I Was A Teenaged Sex Pistol and John Lydon’s Rotton: No Irish, No Blacks, No Dogs. But Steve Jones’ Lonely Boy, written with Ben Thompson, is the most entertaining and possibly the most revealing.

Written in a cockney slang style with plenty of four letter words thrown in, Jones claims to have been largely illiterate until he brushed up on his reading and writing skills in recent years. During this time he has also been seriously focused on his pursuit of sobriety, something that he brings up at the beginning of the book. The title of the book doesn’t become completely clear however until the end. Jones makes a lot of what he calls his “dark and depressing” upbringing and childhood and . There is an open and honest psychological aspect to the book, something you might not immediately expect from a roughneck like Jones, but there it is.

Jones works one of his many high quality axes onstage with the original lineup of the Sex Pistols

However, you keep wondering if he’ll finally meet and settle down with one of the multitude of women that he beds, but he never does. I don’t think I’m spoiling anything for anyone here. Many readers could have easily predicted that and it doesn’t change anything. There is really no suspense.

There are plenty of good times, though, and interesting stories. Fans of the Sex Pistols and of the glam rock era bands like Mott the Hoople that preceded their rise will definitely want to get a hold of a copy. Steve Jones is good company, just as long as he isn’t stealing your guitar or your girlfriend. He makes a lot of those two themes, but he knows what he’s talking about. I wish that he would have spent a little more time looking into his musical career but he claims to not remember a heck of a lot about various periods. I would have especially liked to have heard about his involvement on Iggy Pop’s Instinct, certainly my favorite Steve Jones album after Never Mind The Bullocks.

Also given his perverse love of guitars and the ferocious sound he is able to get out of them, one would think that he has something to say about guitars and musical equipment in general. But he doesn’t seem to be too focused on music right now. At the time of writing, he had resumed his DJ gig in L.A. and he’s appeared on numerous albums over the years but the last few Sex Pistols reunion tours seem to have taken something out of his drive to play guitar. It would seem that music is really just one of his numerous and not always healthy obsessions, the only real work he has ever done.

The Pistols on stage with Sid Vicious

I’ve been reading a lot of rock bios lately and I read this one in one sitting, on a plane flying from Budapest to New York City. It’s a long flight and I planned to have a good read this time. It turned out well. How did Steve Jones get so good on the guitar so fast? The method was similar but different to one followed by Duane Allman, ironically. One of my first guitar teachers told me that story many years ago. You’ll have to read the book to find out. Don’t try this at home, kids!

Digging Into The Budapest Music Scene

Budapest is a city that conjures an exotic image: Eastern Europe, Brahms’ Hungarian Rhapsodies... Palinka! I made my second visit there this past March and continued to find my way into the city’s fascinating cultural life, especially the music scene.

The first stop was the jewel-like State Opera House (above) where I finally got to see a performance of a Wagner opera, in this case the inspiring Siegfried. Fate and the absurdly high ticket prices at the Met in NYC had kept me in the dark for so many years and it was an astounding and satisfying first take on one of Germany’s greatest composers. Although I had dipped my toes in the watery currents of the Tristan Prelude over the past few years, seeing is believing.

The next day I was invited for a jam and a chat by a Facebook friend named Viktor in the suburbs of Budapest. Viktor’s friendly and open attitude was refreshing and on top of that he is an excellent guitar player. We met through guitarist Tom Guerra last year when I told Tom I was going to Budapest and he suggested that I give Viktor a call. Viktor invited me into his home and let me play a couple of his best axes. One was a ’59 slab board Stratocastor – the first year of the rosewood fretboard – and the sound and feel was just stunning: Fat, juicy and very detailed with tremendous sustain and texture (shown above with Viktor and me). Another was a ’56 Les Paul Goldtop with P90 pickups. The sound was more classic Les Paul than P90s raunch. Think sparkle, density, bite, power, sweetness, sustain, balls and everything else you ever wanted to hear out of this top of the heap model.

I always try to stop into a local jam session when I am traveling. This time I was pleasantly surprised by the nature of the jam at a basement club called Lampas that was right near our downtown Budapest apartment on one of the many narrow streets that are thronged by young people every night. The style of the jam was unique in my experience, with a kind of ‘make it up on the spot’ ethic. This resulted in a solid but hot ‘funk jam’ musical vibe. I was lucky – the jammers show up late and although we arrived fairly late, I was the second jammer to get up on the stage (see video above). I was a bit flummoxed by the house band guitarist Christof’s multi-effects pedal driven rig (I should have just tried all the presets – duh!) and ended up with a very clean sound. The Squier 51 that I keep set up for slide was a far cry from Viktor’s ’59 Strat but I managed to rock a few “No Quarter” style licks and they were starting to play a blues (!) when my time was unfortunately up! 

On Wednesday night we went to the beautiful Bela Bartok National Concert Hall (above) and saw a spellbinding performance of Thus Spake Zarathustra by Richard Strauss, which everyone knows from the opening chords which form the main theme of Stanley Kubrick’s 2001 A Space Odyssey. The program was conducted by Ivan Fischer, who gained some recent notoriety by refusing to buckle under to the absurd neo-Fascist travel ban attempted by the executive branch of our sadly down-in-the-mouth U.S. of A. On the way there a woman on the tram told us we were in for a treat and that Fischer is one of the greatest conductors working today. She was right on. There were over one hundred musicians on the stage for the Strauss and it was beautifully played, a muscular orchestral sound with clarity and precision but no lack of swagger plus a loose, risk-taking attitude that included several instrument swaps among the violinists. Beforehand, a passionate and daring performance of Liszt’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in A by Dejan Lazic was capped by a lovely encore of a short solo Brahms piece. Heaven!

On the last night, we headed to the Budapest Jazz Club, which is a bit north of the city center on the Pest side of the Danube. One enters the club through a medium sized café before ascending to an elevated, circular stage and seating area where the performers lay it down. Most nights begin with a more formal concert that is followed by a jam session. We went late on a Saturday night and caught the jam. It was smoking, but those expecting a ground-breaking new or out jazz performance might be disappointed. Instead it was a late ‘50s Miles/Coltrane inspired quartet and quintet styled performance, rich and luxurious, comfort food for the soul. The sound of the room and the musicians was resonant and tight. We were sorry to leave but there was a plane to catch in the morning. Next time, I’ll set aside more time for this cozy den. What a cool hang! -Christian Botta