Guitar Lesson - String Bending Basics

Steve Vai On His Audition for Frank Zappa's Band

frank zappa and steve vai. 'stevies spanking'

String Bending Techniques Used By Blues Guitar Greats

Guitar Lesson - Minor Blues Chord Progressions

Guitar Lesson - Essential Blues Guitar Practice Tips

Music Fundamentals - Intervals

by: Nigel Rowles


Intervals are the fundamental building blocks of music allowing us to read and write music, and most importantly, to help us construct chords and harmonies. However words like major, minor, augmented, diminished, enharmonic and compound leave many people a bit confused, hopefully this article will throw some light on the subject.

The ‘distance’ between two notes is known as an interval. This is the difference in pitch between two notes. The size or amount of distance is measured numerically.

If we consider the C scale there are 8 notes; C D E F G A B C numbered from 1 through to 8. As an example the interval from C to G is a 5th as G is 5 notes above C. The interval from C to F is a 4th as F is 4 notes above C.

All intervals are measured from the first note of the scale. These intervals are given a name as well as a numeric value and in order of progression they are: C-D is a major 2nd, C-E is a major 3rd, C-F is a perfect 4th, C-G is a perfect 5th, C-A major 6th, C-B major 7 and finally C-C is a perfect octave.

The intervals that are perfect are so called because they have a certain purity about them that comes from the overtones and upper-partials that are contained within them (these will be explained in another article)

Intervals can be raised or lowered by a half-step/semitone. If a major interval is chromatically reduced by a half-step it becomes a minor interval e.g. C-E is a major 3rd, if it is lowered by a half-step (from C-Eb) the interval becomes a minor 3rd.

If a perfect interval is chromatically reduced by a half-step it becomes a diminished interval i.e. a perfect 4th lowered by a half-step becomes a diminished 4th.

If major or perfect intervals are raised by a half-step then they become an augmented interval i.e. a perfect 5th would become an augmented 5th.

Compound intervals are those that extend into the 2nd octave. C to D (in the next octave) is called either a major 9th or a compound major 2nd. C to F (next octave) is a perfect 11th or a compound perfect 4th.

Enharmonic intervals are those that differ in name but not pitch, for example C-G# is an augmented 5th and C-Ab is a minor 6th.

When intervals are inverted they reverse the relative position of the notes. C-G (perfect 5th) becomes G-C which is a perfect 4th, a 3rd would become a 6th. Perfect intervals when inverted remain perfect e.g. C-G being a perfect 5th would become a perfect 4th when inverted, a major becomes minor, minor becomes major, diminished becomes augmented and augmented becomes diminished.

These rules apply to all scales.


About The Author
Nigel Rowles 1986 Diploma in Music – Classical Guitar Major. I have been performing for 34 years either as solo instrumentalist, in duos, trios and in rock bands playing guitar or bass guitar. 10 years ago I started teaching guitar, bass and music theory which led me to independently writing, producing and publishing The Guitar Instruction, Musicianship & Reference Manual with DVD on Left & Right Hand Techniques. http://www.nofretguitarlessons.com.au

The Profiles of Some Famous Guitarists

by: Patrick Carpen

Most of us are quite enchanted by the magic of guitar. The mesmerizing tune and sweet tingling of the guitar strings have enamored many a man who has later moved on to become musical legends in their individual niche. There is a roster of famous and successful guitarists who have mastered this enigmatic art of music.

Amongst the many legendary stalwarts, Jimi Hendrix undoubtedly tops the list of profiles of famous guitarists. A genius in its truest sense, the legendary Hendrix was born in 1942. An American by birth, the maestro was a singer and lyricist, and is considered around the globe as one of the most influential and enigmatic personas in the ambit of rock music. One of the milestones in his career was his 1967 performance at the Monterey Pop Festival which raised him to instant fame in the United States and was followed by many accolades.

Besides earning a huge name and fame for himself through his forte as a great singer and musician, the legendary maestro also improvised the art of rock music in his own signature way, and he incorporated a number of innovations and techniques into the older forms of rock and jazz music. Quite recently, Hendrix was inducted into the USA's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992, and into the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2005.

The very meaning of rock music becomes insignificant without the mention of B. B. King, the master craftsman in the art of music. An ingenious guitarist and singer-cum-song writer in the American Blues, B.B. King was considered the Third Greatest Guitarist of All Time in the 2003 listing of Rolling Stone magazine.

The legendary musician started his journey in the world of music in 1946, and worked in the local R&B radio channel as a vocalist. However, soon after this he began recording under big names and became a prominent figure among the best musicians in the R&B music scene. Some of his greatest all time hits during this period include, "Whole Lotta Love," "Every Day I Have the Blues," "You Know I Love You," and "Please Accept My Love." Amidst his many achievements as a successful singer and composer, is included his most recent felicitation at the Three Deuces Building in Greenwood, Mississippi, for his maiden in radio broadcasting. Also, a grand memorial in the name of B. B. King Museum and Delta Interpretive Center is all set to be inaugurated on September 13, 2008, in Indianola, Mississippi.

Robert Johnson is another of the famous names in the world of guitar and its magic. Born on May 8, 1911, as Robert Leroy Johnson, the veteran guitarist was one of the brightest stars in the entire Delta Blues group. The period between 1936 and 1937 saw him in great guns when he claimed and proved his forte as a brilliant guitarist and lyricist, as well as an awesome singer. Often regarded as the "Grandfather of Rock-and-Roll," Robert Johnson is believed to have been a great influence in the world of rock music, inspiring many legends of the same genre, including Bob Dylan, The Allman Brothers Band, Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, The Black Keys, and many others. Eric Clapton, another legend of the same kind, has called Johnson "the most important blues musician who ever lived."


About The Author
Patrick Carpen is the designer, writer and owner of the website http://guitaring.infobay.ws/

Dire Straits - Private Investigations

Private Investigations Lyric

Its a mystery to me
The game commences
For the usual fee
Plus expenses
Confidential information
Its in a diary
This is my investigation
Its not a public inquiry

I go checking out the report
Digging up the dirt
You get to meet all sorts
In the line of work
Treachery and treason
Theres always an excuse for it
And when I find the reason
I still cant get used to it

And what have you got at the end of the day ?
What have you got to take away ?
A bottle of whisky and a new set of lies
Blinds on the window and a pain behind the eyes

Scarred for life
No compensation
Private investigations

Song Notes : "Dire Straits exploded onto the UK music scene in 1978 with the single "Sultans Of Swing" and a unique guitar style from frontman and songwriter Mark Knopfler. Four years later they released a single in an entirely different style. "Private Investigations" begins with a lengthy acoustic introduction; the words are spoken, whispered, rather than sung"

"In Michael Oldfield's illustrated history of the band to date - published in 1984 - Knopfler said the song was sparked off by something he'd read about Philip Marlowe, adding "You hear different interpretations of it, but to me it's deliberately movie." Philip Marlowe was the private detective created by the American novelist Raymond Chandler. The Marlowe novels could have been tailor made for film noir, a style of cinema that evolved in the United States after the Second World War, low budget gangster films and such made in black and white and portraying the underside of the American dream. Marlowe found his way onto both the big screen and TV."Private Investigations" captures the genré more than any other song, including contemporary songs. If it had been written thirty years earlier it would almost certainly have won an Oscar for a film noir soundtrack"

Dire Straits - Your Latest Trick

Your Latest Trick Lyric

All the late night bargains have been struck
Between the satin beaus and their belles
And prehistoric garbage trucks
Got the city to themselves
Echoes roars dinosaurs
They're all doing the monster mash
And most of the taxis, most of the whores
Are only taking calls for cash

I don't know how it happened
It all took place so quick
But all I can do is hand it to you
And your latest trick

My door was standing open
Security was laid back and lax
But it was only my heart got broken
You must have had a pass key made out of wax
You played robbery with insolence
And I played the blues in twelve bars down Lover's Lane
And you never did have the intelligence to use
The twelve keys hanging off my chain

I don't know how it happened
It all took place so quick
But all I can do is hand it to you
And your latest trick

Now it's past last call for alcohol
Past recall has been here and gone
The landlord he finally paid us all
The satin jazzmen have put away their horns
And we're standing outside of this wonderland
Looking so bereaved and so bereft
Like a Bowery bum when he finally understands
The bottle's empty and there's nothing left

I don't know how it happened
It was faster than the eye could flick
But all I can do is hand it to you
And your latest trick

Dire Straits - Once Upon a Time in the West (1980)

Once Upon a Time in the West Lyric

Some people get a cheap laugh breaking up the speed limit
Scaring the pedestrians for minute
Crossing up progress driving on the grass
Leaving just enough room to pass
Sunday driver never took a test
Oh yeah, once upon a time in the west

Yes it's no use saying that you don't know nothing
It's still gonna get you if you don't do something
Sitting on a fence that's a dangerous course
Ah, you could even catch a bullet from the peace-keeping force
Even the hero gets a bullet in the chest
Oh yeah, once upon a time in the west

Mother Mary your children are slaughtered
Some of you mothers ought to lock up your daughter
Who's protecting the innocenti
Heap big trouble in the land of plenty
Tell me how we're gonna do what's best
You guess once upon a time in the west

Oh yeah once upon a time in the west
Oh yeah once upon a time in the west
Oh yeah once upon a time in the west

Once upon a time in the west

Dire Straits - Ride Across The River

Ride Across The River Lyric

I'm a soldier of freedom in the army of man
We are the chosen, we're the partisan
The cause it is noble and the cause it is just
We are ready to pay with our lives if we must

Gonna ride across the river deep and wide
Ride across the river to the other side

I'm a soldier of fortune, I'm a dog of war
And we don't give a damn who the killing is for
It's the same old story with a different name
Death or glory, it's the killing game

Gonna ride across the river deep and wide
Ride across the river to the other side

Nothing gonna stop them as the day follows the night
Right becomes wrong, the left becomes the right
And they sing as they march with their flags unfurled
Today in the mountains, tomorrow the world

Gonna ride across the river deep and wide
Ride across the river to the other side

Metallica- Brothers in Arms (Bridge School Benefit)

Dire Straits - Brothers in Arms

Brothers in Arms Lyric

These mist covered mountains are a home now for me
But my home is the lowlands and always will be
One day you'll return to your valleys and your farms
And you'll no longer burn to be brothers in arms

Through these fields of destruction
Baptisms of fire
I've witnessed your suffering as the battles raged higher
And though they did hurt me so bad
In the fear and alarm you did not desert me
My brothers in arms

There's so many different worlds, so many different suns
And we have just one world but we live in different ones

Now the sun's gone to hell and the moon's riding high
Let me bid you farewell, every man has to die
But it's written in the starlight and every line in your palm
We are fools to make war on our brothers in arms.

Song Notes : "This song is about the Falklands War, which was going on when Dire Straits lead singer Mark Knopfler wrote the song. The Falklands War was a conflict between Argentina and England over islands off the coast of Argentina that each country claims rights to. The islands are British territories, but in 1982 Argentina tried to reclaim one of the islands. Britain reclaimed their territories, but lost 258 soldiers in the conflict"

"In 2007, a new version of this track featuring Mark Knopfler was released to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Falklands War. Proceeds from the sale of the single went to a program that brought British veterans back to the site of the war in an effort to help them deal with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder"

"Metallica covered this song when they played Neil Young's Bridge School Benefit on October 27, 2007"

Dire Straits - Money for nothing (1984)

Money For Nothing Lyric

Now look at them yo - yos that's the way you do it
You play the guitar on the MTV
That ain't workin' that's the way you do it
Money for nothin' and chicks for free
Now that ain't workin' that's the way you do it
Lemme tell ya them guys ain't dumb
Maybe get a blister on your little finger
Maybe get a blister on your thumb

We gotta install microwave ovens
Custom kitchen deliveries
We gotta move these refrigerators
We gotta move these colour TVs

See the little faggot with the earring and the makeup
Yeah buddy that's his own hair
That little faggot got his own jet airplane
That little faggot he's a millionaire

We gotta install microwave ovens
Custom kitchens deliveries
We gotta move these refrigerators
We gotta move these colour TVs

I shoulda learned to play the guitar
I shoulda learned to play them drums
Look at that mama, she got it stickin' in the camera
Man we could have some fun
And he's up there, what's that? Hawaiian noises?
Bangin' on the bongos like a chimpanzee
That ain't workin' that's the way you do it
Get your money for nothin' get your chicks for free

We gotta install microwave ovens
Custom kitchen deliveries
We gotta move these refrigerators
We gotta move these colour TVs, Lord

Now that ain't workin' that's the way you do it
You play the guitar on the MTV
That ain't workin' that's the way you do it
Money for nothin' and your chicks for free
Money for nothin' and chicks for free

Song Notes : "Mark Knopfler wrote this after overhearing delivery men in a New York department store complain about their jobs while watching MTV. He wrote the song in the store sitting at a kitchen display they had set up. Many of the lyrics were things they actually said"

"This was the first video played on MTV Europe. The network went on the air August 1, 1987, 6 years after MTV in the US"

Sting sings on this and helped write it. That's him at the beginning singing "I want my MTV."

"Dire Straits recorded this in Montserrat. Sting was on vacation there and came by to help out"

Sting did not want a songwriting credit for this, but his record company did because they would have earned royalties from it. They claimed it sounded very similar to a song Sting wrote for The Police: "Don't Stand So Close To Me."

"The innovative video was one of the first to feature computer generated animation. The characters were supposed to have more detail, like buttons on their shirts, but they used up the budget and had to leave it as is. It won Best Video at the 1986 MTV Video Music Awards"

"In the video, a microwave oven is shown with "Low, Medium, and High" settings. This is a veiled reference to how frequent radio stations play a particular song. A "High" frequency song is usually a current hit on its way up the charts, while a "Low" one is usually on its way down"

"This won a Grammy in 1986 for best Best Rock Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group"

Mark Knopfler played a Les Paul Junior plugged into a Laney amp on this track. Producer Neil Dorfsman recalled in Sound On Sound magazine May 2006 : "We were going for a ZZ Top sound, but what we ended up getting was kind of an accident."

Carlos Santana- EUROPA

Carlos Santana - Samba Pa ti

Santana ft. Rob Thomas - Smooth

Smooth Lyric

Man it's a hot one
Like seven inches from the midday sun
I hear you whisper and the words melt everyone
But you stay so cool
My Muñequita, my Spanish Harlem Mona Lisa
You're my reason for reason
The step in my groove

And if you said this life ain't good enough
I would give my world to lift you up
I could change my life to better suit your mood
Cause you're so smooth

And it's just like the ocean under the moon
Well that's the same
As the emotion that I get from you
You got the kind of lovin' that could be so smooth
Give me your heart
Make it real
Or else forget about it

Well I'll tell you one thing
If you would leave it'd be a crying shame
In every breath and every word
I hear your name calling me out
Out from the barrio,
You hear my rhythm on your radio
You feel the turning of the world so soft and slow
Turning you round and round

And if you said this life ain't good enough
I would give my world to lift you up
I could change my life to better suit your mood
Cause you're so smooth

And it's just like the ocean under the moon
Well that's the same
As the emotion that I get from you
You got the kind of lovin' that could be so smooth
Give me your heart
Make it real
Or else forget about it


And it's just like the ocean under the moon
Well that's the same
As the emotion that I get from you
You got the kind of lovin' that could be so smooth
Give me your heart
Make it real
Or else forget about it
Or let's forget about it
Or let's forget about it
Or let's forget about it
Or let's forget about it
Or let's forget about it
Or let's forget about it
Or let's forget about it
Or let's forget about it

Song Notes : "Thomas sang lead on this, but when he was writing it he thought they were going to use someone else. He and Shur would try to figure out who they would get to sing it, but then Arista contacted Thomas and asked him to do it"

"Many of the lyrics are Thomas' ode to his wife, who is Puerto Rican ("My Mu Equita" translates to "My Little Doll" in Spanish). She ended up in the video"

"This won Song Of The Year, Record Of The Year and Best Pop Collaboration With Vocals at the 2000 Grammys. Supernatural also won for Best Rock Album and Album Of The Year"

"Clive Davis is a legendary record executive who was the mastermind behind this album. Santana had not had a hit since "Hold On" in 1982, so Davis teamed him up with contemporary musicians like Wyclef Jean, Everlast and Lauryn Hill to make sure the younger generation took notice. The result was a wildly successful album that went over well with Santana's old fans and created a legion of new ones. This was the first single, and it spent 12 weeks at #1 in the US"

Shur: "The guitar solo from my demo, Santana copied that solo, which was a huge compliment and all the breaks were also on my demo. It was really weird, my demo was kind of like a template for the live band to play. They sped up the song 2 beats: it was like at 1/13 and went to 1/15 and it went from A Flat Minor to A Minor. They played it as a band and recorded it all live, pretty much. Me and Rob, when we were writing the song, the verses were fine, but we went through about 4 or 5 changes with the record company; from like, "Give me the ocean, give me the moon," "You're just like the ocean..." Pete Ganbarg, who if it wasn't for him this song wouldn't have come together because he put me and Rob together, he said some really good comments about the lyrics - he was an English major and really picky about lyrics. It was a really good collaboration."

Carlos Santana and Buddy Guy - Montreux Jazz Festival

Buddy Guy - Voodoo Chile