Tag: video tab

Surf Guitar Instrumental & Solo in E minor

09/08/2020 Video Tab No Comments

Original SURF guitar instrumental and solo I wrote, called ‘El Camarón’ (The Shrimp), inspired by an imaginary shrimp super-hero and its quirky adventures in the beach sand 🙂 Aside from this sunny backstory, the track is inspired by the surf hits of Dick Dale, Hank Marvin (The Shadows) and others! Download the TABS (pdf) here: 

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Surf Guitar Instrumental

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About the solo

This uplifting, instrumental surf song is in the key of E minor. The song is inspired by surf instrumental classics from Dick Dale, Hank Marvin (The Shadows) The Ventures, and other surf instrumental bands. The track has a repeating motif with a clear Tex-Mex sound to it. I love this blend of Latin, Spanish and Exotic riffs in Surf Music. This is really fun to play for guitarists.-

Gear
  • To record this track, I went back to ‘basics’, playing my 1994 Fender American Std Stratocaster into a Fender Blues Jr. I used the spring reverb from this amp and added some more by sending the recorded signal through the Eventide H9 spring reverb algorithm.
  • Bass: Spectrasonics Trilian Drums (programmed by Maarten)
  • Steven Slate 5.5 (programmed by Maarten)
  • Recorded with Logic Pro X, mixed with Steven Slate & Izotope plugins.
Backing track

Check out the backing track here.

Jump Blues Solo in C

26/06/2020 Video Tab No Comments

Jump Blues Solo in the key of C, in the style of Duke Robillard, JP Soars, Charlie Christian, and others. Download the tabs or jam along with the backing track. Enjoy!

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Jump Blues Solo in C

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Start of the solo

After a classic turnaround introduction, the guitar solo starts with a quintessential jump blues lick. I play two choruses of 12 bars, emphasizing chord tones and paying attention to the swinging groove of this uptempo jump blues song in the key of C. 

Featured lick

In the 3d chorus, the groove breaks up with the drum playing accents on the first beats of every bar. The lead guitar keeps jumping; however, with a part that is somewhat inspired by the playing of the great Charlie Christian on Stompin’ At The Savoy. 

Jump Blues Lick
Jump Blues Lick

The circled ‘1’ on the chart indicates a position switch with the left hand. 

Outro

When the band enters again, the solo guitar plays hints of Rockabilly before entering the outro that is inspired by the playing of ‘red hot’ JP Soars and  ‘the Duke,’ Duke Robillard. After three turnarounds, the solo ends on another classic outro lick (covered in this post).

Backing track

Jump Blues (12-bar blues in C) backing track here.

Intense Melodic Rock Solo in A minor

31/05/2020 Video Tab 2 Comments

Intense Melodic Rock Solo in A minor, that complements my intense rock ballad backing track (Rain Jam). Download the tab here:

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Intense Melodic Solo in Am

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The idea

A few weeks ago, one of my YouTube followers left a comment on my channel about wanting the next solo video to be about a ‘sad ballad.’ My latest video at that time was the Sunset solo, a slow ballad in a major key and with quite an uplifting chorus. I thought it would be a challenge for me (being an optimist) to write an emotional and melodic guitar solo in a minor key. Certain emotions are better transferrable in a minor key. For the occasion, I wrote an intense rock ballad backing track, called ‘Rain Jam’ in A minor.

About the solo

After the publication of the backing track, I started writing this intense melodic rock solo. After a short acoustic intro, the A-section (verse) follows a dreamy chord progression in the key of A minor (with the occasional G-chord).  To translate the emotional element, I focus on the notes of the A Aeolian mode, chord tones (thirds), and the friction of string bends and suspensions (like the 9th). Similar to earlier solos, I balance longer notes (with vibrato) with faster licks. There are a few shred licks in the guitar solo because this also helps to discharge melodic tension. Look at these shred licks as a way of releasing feelings of agitation.

The B-section chorus moves the melody up the octave to intensify the emotional component of this guitar solo. The second chorus brings a new theme to drive this story home. The guitar solo ends with a melody in octaves. 

Featured Lick
Octaves Melody Guitar Solo
Melodic Octaves In A Guitar Solo

Near the end of an intense solo, I like to switch to octaves, because it is one of the few options you have at that point to increase the energy. (Other options are playing double stops or harmonizing). The cool thing about octaves is they created a sustained, but rhythmic wall of sound. In the intense melodic solo video, I follow the steps of the A minor scale, but in bar 34, I move to the G# (the third of E7 or natural seventh of Am). This note is hugely expressive and captures the attention of the listener immediately. Some people might consider this a cliché, but cliches work in the right places, is it not?  😉

Gear used

GEAR: Suhr Guitars / Suhr Modern Pro HH with Floyd Rose (all solos) Martin HD-16R Acoustic (intro)  All guitars played by Maarten Bass: Spectrasonics Trilian Drums: Steven Slate 5.5 Recorded with Logic Pro X

I hope you enjoyed this emotional ballad solo and tab sheet music, 

I dedicate this video to Alepsis Cruz as a thank you for inspiring me,

Cheers, Maarten 

Emotional Ballad Guitar Solo in E

10/05/2020 Improvisation, Video Tab No Comments

Emotional ballad guitar solo (with guitar tabs) for the original jam track (‘Sunset Jam’) I posted earlier. Enjoy!

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Emotional Ballad Guitar Solo in E

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About the track

After a short acoustic intro, the A-section (verse) follows a gorgeous chord progression in the key of E major. I play in the split coil position of the Suhr Modern. The bluesy guitar licks follow the groove of the emotional ballad backing track and leave room for the other instruments.

The B-section opens with a distant slide guitar, warm piano sounds, and acoustic guitar harmonics. The lead guitar switches to the bridge humbucker, and starts building up the melody into a higher register.

After an alternate picking riff, the C-section (chorus) presents itself with long, high notes. Here I’m thinking about the D major pentatonic. The D-chord in the chorus (bVII) implies a modulation to A major, thus bringing some Lydian flavor into the game. Mixing this part turned out the be a challenge because of the high pitch of the lead guitar. With extra delay (Soundtoys Echoboy) reverb (Exponential Audio Nimbus) and a hint of extra compression (Waves CLA Guitars), the guitar notes sustain longer to carry the melody over the chords.

Featured Lick (Bar 25)
Ascending Shred Lick
Ascending Shred Lick (B Mixolydian + Chromatic)

Ascending shred licks are a great way of connecting melodies between verses and choruses. In the emotional ballad guitar solo video, I use this technique in bar 25 to lead the listener’s ear from the bride (B-section) to the chorus (C-section). The lick starts on B and ends on E in the first beat of the next bar. In between is a B Mixolydian permutation (pattern of 3 sextuplets), followed by two triplets of sixteenth chromatic notes. Pro Tip: use the chromatic scale sparsely in your playing and save it until the very end of a bar.

Featured Plug-In

I highly recommend the Flux Stereo Tool v3 Plugin (freeware). I use it on summing tracks, the mix-bus, and FX-bus to build, check, and (if necessary) correct the stereo image. This plugin proves that the most straightforward tools sometimes turn out to be the most useful. One of my most used plugins. And did I tell you it was free?

Flux Stereo Tool v3
Flux Stereo Tool v3 On My Sunset Solo
Backing Track
Check out the SUNSET JAM Emotional Ballad backing track here.
Gear

Suhr Modern HH with Floyd Rose (all solos)
Martin HD-16R Acoustic (intro)
All guitars played by Maarten
Bass: Spectrasonics Trilian
Drums: Steven Slate 5.5
Recorded with Logic Pro X

Check out some of my other ballad solo's