Steve Morse is potentially one of the most diverse and virtuosic guitarists alive today. A true master of the guitar, Steve is an extremely versatile guitarist. His style and compositional skills draw from classical, jazz, country, blues, folk, and rock. As a founder of the fusion band Dixie Dregs, Steve has been playing and touring since the 1970’s. He has also released over ten albums between his solo efforts and The Steve Morse Band. In 1992 he replaced the legendary guitarist Richie Blackmore in the rock band Deep Purple. Steve currently plays in Deep Purple where he continues to record and tour extensively.

Steve’s approach on the guitar is one of extreme precision. He has the ability to play extremely complex lines and still remain musical. He is known for producing an exceptionally clean sound through double picking a majority of his notes. Through his dedication to the instrument he has also been a recipient of Guitar Player Magazine’s “Best Overall Guitarist” over five consecutive years.

This is a live clip taken from a Deep Purple performance in Australia in 1999. This is Steve’s solo in the concert. In this 8:37 clip, he plays through an eclectic mix of style and technique demonstrating his immense ability on the guitar.

(This clip is available in HD! If it plays to slow, click the red HD button above to turn that off and it should load faster.)

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For passionate guitarists, developing their sound and technique is an experimental quest that lasts a lifetime. Some search and develop their sound for years, and others are never truly satisfied. There are also a select few who possess their musical voice early on. This can be said about Duane Allman. One of a small group of guitarists in rock history, Duane left a major impact over the span of only a few years.

Known as a powerful slide guitarist and improviser, Duane also co-founded the infamous southern rock group The Allman Brothers Band in 1969. Throughout his brief career Duane also established himself as a session player. He was recruited to play on albums for artists such as Wilson Pickett, Aretha Franklin, and Otis Rush, to name a few. One of his more notable sessions outside The Allman Brothers Band was his contribution to Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs, an album by Derek and Dominoes. For this session Duane was tracked down by their guitarist Eric Clapton, where the two developed a strong mutual admiration.

A large part of Duane Allman’s approach was his use of bottleneck slide on a Gibson Les Paul. He also possessed great improvisational facility without the slide. Within the band, Duane mixed blues, soul, and country music with fellow lead guitarist Richard “Dickey” Betts. The two defined The Allman Brothers and southern rock sound by often playing melodies in harmony. Duane’s style was highly influential in the development of southern rock and continues to be held in high regard among slide and rock guitarists alike. On October 29th, 1971, Duane Allman was killed in a motorcycle accident just prior to his 25th birthday.

These live clips feature The Allman Brothers Band with Duane playing in New York at the Fillmore East in 1970. The first clip “Don’t Keep Me Wonderin” features some of Duane’s tasteful slide playing. The second clip “Whipping Post” shows his improvisational lead playing ( 1:30 – 4:05 ) and also the Allman Brothers dual lead melodies.

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This piece is not meant to be a theory lesson in meter and time signatures. Rather, it is meant to help you open up some new doors and hopefully get your creative juices flowing!

Most of us have grown up listening to music characterized by the familiar time signatures of 4/4 or 3/4. 4/4 is the most common time signature in rock, blues, country, funk, and pop while 3/4 is often used for country & western ballads, not to mention waltzes, minuets & scherzi!

Both of these time signatures are considered ‘simple time signatures’. But what about ‘complex time signatures’?

When I was very young, I listened to a lot of pop, rock and folk. Almost all of it was written in 4/4 time. When I turned 14, I was introduced to the progressive rock bands King Crimson, Yes, Genesis and Gentle Giant. One of the first things I noticed was that I could not easily tap my foot to some of the tunes. When I tried to count them out, I realized that many of these songs were written in complex time signatures and some even used mixed meters, moving from 9/8 to 4/4 to 13/8 etc.

As my internal clock became familiarized with these new meters, I eventually became very comfortable with them and as I began to write songs, I found that I often gravitated towards 7/8.

To me, 7/8 is a wonderful time signature in that it is not necessarily locked to a solid down beat. As I tend to focus more on melodic phrasing than meter, I found that 7/8 was a wonderful pallet on which to compose and improvise because it allows me to play extend melodic phrases.

The following piece called Cogitation is a raw sketch for a song I have yet to finish. I hope you will enjoy it. I offer it as an example of the musical possibilities offered by 7/8 (Don’t mind the cheesy drums and very average mix..remember it’s a raw sketch!)

Cogitation (click to play)

One other thing I will mention about 7/8 is that its possibilities are greatly expanded by where you place the accents. Cogitation is counted with the accents emphasized as follows:

1  2  3  4  5  6 7

However, I also have written pieces with the following accents. (Try taping them out emphasizing the bolded number)

1  2  3  4 5  6  7

and

1  2  3 4  5  6 7

If you want a wonderful example of 7/8, have a listen to the long synth solo in the song The Cinema Show by Genesis from the album Selling England By The Pound. Here is a live version of that solo from YouTube though personally, I prefer the studio version.

Have fun with 7/8!!

P.S.

Here is a good article from Wikipedia on Time Signatures ..

© Gil Namur, 2009

Les Paul
June 9, 1915 – August 12, 2009

Les Paul was one of the most significant musical inventors and innovators of our time.

Born in Waukesha, Wisconsin in 1915, Les began playing harmonica at the age of 8. His lifelong music career began soon thereafter. By age 13, Les was performing as a country western singer. A move to Chicago at age 19 sparked his interest in jazz. Soon after, Les formed the Les Paul Trio. By 1939 the group left for New York where Les began experimenting and altering his acoustic electric hollow-body guitars. These ideas would lead to his endorsement and contribution to the development of the solid body electric guitar which bears his name, the Gibson Les Paul.

Through the 1940’s and 50’s Les also began experimenting with recording techniques. He would record an idea to acetate disc, then with another disc record a part layering the previous idea. This was the beginning of multi-track recording. Multi-tracking would also allow him to experiment with the speed in which the parts were recorded. After transferring his multi-track technique to tape, Les developed other major recording innovations such as overdubbing and electronic echo.

Les Paul’s contributions to the advancement of music are unsurpassed. The invention of his 8 track recording device created the platform for modern recording. It also set the path for the recording approach of the 60’s which produced some of the most influential recordings of all time. Through his career, Les Paul was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the Grammy Hall of Fame, the National Inventors Hall of Fame, and the National Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame.

On top of all that, Les is an excellent guitar player who is held in high regard by some of the greats. This is a clip of him performing with Mary Ford in 1953. It shows his creative blend of jazz and country played with great facility.

With his passing in August of 2009, the world has lost a remarkable innovator and musician.

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Edward “Eddie” Van Halen is undoubtedly one of the top influential guitarists in rock history.  Eddie and his brother Alex originally formed the band “Mammoth”.  With the addition of bassist Michael Anthony and singer David Lee Roth, the group then became “Van Halen”.  Their 1978 self-titled debut was the lunching pad for them to become one of the most popular and influential rock bands to date.  Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2007, the band has sold over 80 million albums in their career.

Eddie’s virtuosic abilities have had a significant impact on endless rock guitarists.  His technically demanding approach, which includes two handed tapping, legato, and tremolo picking, has set him apart throughout his career.  Influences such as Allan Holdsworth sparked the inspiration for Eddie to approach the guitar in an unorthodox way.   Large components of his sonic brilliance come from his unparalleled use of feedback and harmonics.  Eddie is a true creative original.  Everything from his songwriting, technique, sound, and guitars all bear his unique stamp.  It’s the creative combination of these elements which make Eddie Van Halen a musical great.

This video clip was taken from a live concert in Connecticut in 1986.  This is Eddie’s improvised version of two solo pieces 316 and Eruption.

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