Lessons Archives - HugoJacquetGuitar

Alternate Picking: Pick Slanting

October 8, 2015October 8, 2015 by Hugo

With Alternate picking we (you) encounter a big problem: when switching strings you need to hop over te neighboring string to be able to pick that string. There is a solution for this . It is called “pick slanting”. Fast players/ shredders like zoals Al Di Meola, Paul Gilbert…use this technique, even if they are not aware of this. … Read more…

Play Sunny With Shell Chords (with video)

August 21, 2015August 13, 2015 by Hugo

Once you learned what shell chords are and how to play them, it’s time to play a tune with these. Sunny (Bobby Hebb) is a very popular song that is quite repetitive in its harmony (chord progression) and therefore not that hard to learn. The song can also be played in different styles, you should check out the versions by Pat Martino and Greg Howe. This is by the way one of the criteria to that defines a “good” standard (and one of the reasons why a song becomes a standard), the strong melody and harmony allows for multiple interpretations.

Sunny also emerges regularly at jamsessions, so it’s no luxury to learn to play it (well). Besides that, it’s just a fun tune to play.

Video at the end of the page.

Shell Chords

August 20, 2015August 9, 2015 by Hugo

Shell chords are a “simpler” way to play 7th chords (all families, maj7, dom7, min7 etc…). To obtain a shell chord we cut the “fat” by omitting the 5th degree of the chord. So you retain only the root, third and seventh degree of the chord.

Why are we omitting the 5th degree? By doing so we make the sound of the chord less bottom heavy AND you economize on fingers (you only have 5 fingers from which you use only 4 most of the time ). Fingers that you can use for more interesting notes, like a 9th, 11th or 13th later on. (video bottom of the page)