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Old 04-13-2015, 11:41 PM
dragnet99 dragnet99 is offline
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Default Fretkillr - Breaking down how he "jams"

If you haven't seen this guy, he's pretty fantastic:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bo-xhvmFHU4

Now overall, I think most of us can identify most of the isolated techniques here. He's in drop D, he plays some simple triad shapes on the higher strings, plays some drone chords (open shapes moved up the neck), and a LOT of D-major first position licks.

Of course his remarkable skill and finesse is what makes this all sound so great, but beyond all that, the one part I still can't quite crack is how exactly he keeps such a steady beat going.

Part of the reason he's in drop D, presumably, is so he can occasionally pluck the low D string to keep a droning bass note going while he darts around the neck. But I feel so much more momentum than that, even when he's way up in the higher frets playing a lead riff. I'm amazed at how close it sounds to two guitars (rhythm and lead) without a looper or second guitarist being involved.

The interplay between quickly strummed rhythm and very articulated lead fills is really hard for me to master. Can anyone help me break this technique down further into specific things I can practice? I feel like if he could just replay all this 10x slower I could learn it all in one shot, but alas.
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Old 04-14-2015, 12:01 AM
jseth jseth is offline
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Well, when YOU start playing this stuff, taking it a bit slower will probably help!

Nice playing on that video; I have heard the man play before but it's always just been someone else's song, so it was nice to hear him just riffing...

Okay, you've got the Drop D part of the equation... most of what he's playing is a D blues "rant", with an emphasis on a more "Appalachian" style, meaning he's throwing some bluegrass-y type licks into the mix... the only chords he's playing are the D, G and A chords, at different spots on the neck. He is not just playing a blues scale, however; he's doing his own interpretations of that scale... sounds like he learned a really cool "walk-down" from the top strings to the bottom D, and he uses that as a device many times.

He's also playing 3rds and 6ths with those double-stops up in the higher registers; you can practice those in the key of D just by following a "Do-Re-Mi" pattern using a) the top two strings, b) the 4th and 5th strings for the 3rds part... then use the high E string and skip a string, combining the high E string with the 4th, or G string. If you watch that video, you'll see portions where he uses both of those double-stops. Isolate one and go from there; trust your ears! You KNOW what "Do-Re-Mi" goes like...

He also employs suspended notes (like with an A major chord and hammering on the 2nd string at the third fret, and then pulling off again...), using both A and D shaped chords...

As far as the rhythm goes, the reason it sometimes sounds as though there's "more" is because, while he's strumming and picking, he doesn't mute those two lower strings... so they just keep vibrating... he also does a 'partial palm" mute, which lets just the lower frequencies ring through those strings.

Good luck with this! It's a really good "tack" to take... lots of great players do this sort of thing; Stephen Stills comes to mind, along with many others. I hope this helps you a little bit... just keep after it, you'll begin to get the hang of it.
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Old 04-16-2015, 02:33 PM
dragnet99 dragnet99 is offline
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Thanks for the additional tips and clarification, I appreciate it!
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Old 05-03-2015, 01:28 PM
billder99 billder99 is offline
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I'm sure there is a proper name for the style but I call this "melodic rhythm" (not to be confused with jazz chord melody), mixing in lots of single note work with a variety of poly-rhythms, using lots of voicing's for just a few chords. Daryl Scott does this really well, as does Ian Anderson, David Gilmour, John Doyle and many others.

This is the ecclectic style I now strive for, which can be applied to any genre. Five years in, I'm getting there... but still a long way to go.
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