Billy Gibbons is the guitarist of Texas based three
peice blues/boogie band ZZ Top, also consisting of
members Dusty Hill on bass and Frank Beard on drums.
Billy is known as among the top guitar players for
his ability to play many different playing styles
and his use of many different guitar tones that
range from power rock, to his extreme blues sound.
Playing a wide variety of guitars, one his favorite
instruments is a custom made "Erlewine" guitar,
made by guitar master builder and repairman Mark
Erlewine.
Here's what blues guitar great Johhny Winter had
to say about his Erlewine Lazer guitar:
"It's the closest thing I've found to sounding
like a Strat, and feeling like a Gibson. 
Click here to read more about Erlewine guitars.

The many attributes to Bill's playing style include
his use of powerchords, blues scales and runs, his
use of doublestop's (playing 2 strings simultaneously)
and his extreme use of artificial harmonic's by using
the edge of the guitar pick. This lesson will teach
excerpts from ZZ Tops biggest classic hit "La Grange" 
and will focus on Billy Gibbon's guitar techniques. 
Although many of these techniques are explainable when 
written in text, the one technique that is nearlly 
impossible to explain is the "artificial harmonic's" 
also commonly referred to as "pick harmonic's.

If you are new at learning or struggling to obtain this
sound to add to your playing vocabulary, for a detailed
explanation and quality demonstration, it's recommended
that you purchase You Can Play Guitar Volume 4 titled
Guitar Trix & Whammy Bar Licks



Lesson Part 1 * La Grange Intro
Note that the symbol shown on the G string (1/4)
indicates to bend one fourth step, which is a major
part of Billy's accurate and precise playing style.

Intro example:

e :-------------------------------------------------|
B :-------------------------------------------------|
G :---------------------5---(1/4)-5--2-2-2-2-2-2----|
D :-2-2-2-2-2-2-(2)-5---2---------2--2-2-2-2-2-2----|
A :-----------------0-0---0-------------------------|
E :-------------------------------------------------|

                        etc...     end change
e :-------------------------------------------------|
B :-------------------------------------------------|
G :----2----5-----2-2-2-2---------------------------|
D :-2--5-2--2-----2-2-2-2------------2-2------------|
A :-0----0-----0-----------------------3-5----------|
E :-------------------------------------------------|

Example of main riff

e :-------------------------------------------------|
B :-------------------------------------------------|
G :---2-2-2---2--2----------------------------------|
D :-2-2-2-2-2-2--2----------------------------------|
A :-0-------0----2--3-5-----------------------------|
E :-------------------------------------------------|

Lesson Part #2

During solo #1 Billy modulates to the key of C. This
solo is derived from C pentatonic minor and C blues
scale and run. (See scales).

Sample guitar lick taken from beginning of guitar solo.
Symbols used are: v=vibrato   b=bend 1/2 step
f=full bend   p=pull-off  h=hammer-on   s=slide
ah=artificial harmonic

  Lick example #1
    f.v           p
e :------8------------------------------------------|
B :-11-----11-8-11-8----8---------------------------|
G :------------------10---8----10-8-----------------|
D :-------------------------10-------10-10----------|
A :-------------------------------------------------|
E :-------------------------------------------------|

     h       p s    v      
e :-------------------------------------------------|
B :-------------------------------------------------|
G :-------------------------------------------------|
D :------8----------10------------------------------|
A :-8-10---10-8-6-----------------------------------|
E :-------------------------------------------------|


Lesson Part 3 * Blues turnaround
Example of Billy's spicy version of the traditional
blues turnaround:
 
    s                   s
e :------5---5----5---------5----5---5--------------|
B :-------------------------------------------------|
G :-------------------------------------------------|
D :-4-5----4---4--------3-4---4----4----------------|
A :-------------------------------------------------|
E :-------------------------------------------------|

                         h
e :---5----5---5------------------------------------|
B :-------------------------------------------------|
G :--------------------------2----------------------|
D :-3---3----3--------2------2----------------------|
A :----------------0--0--3-4------------------------|
E :-------------------------------------------------|

Lesson Part 4 * Guitar Solo #2
During guitar solo two, Billy remains in the key of A,
demonstrating his extreme use of the "artificial harm-
onic" guitar technique. This soley is mainly based upon
A pentatonic minor and A blues scale and run. 

         p    b.f               f f f f.v.rel.p
e :-------------------------------------------------|
B :-----------------------------8-8-8-8----------5--|
G :---5--------7---5--------------------------------|
D :-7---7-5-----------7-(7)-------------------------|
A :-------------------------------------------------|
E :-------------------------------------------------|


   ah.f.v     ah.f.rel.p      ah   f     f   ah 
e :-------------------------------------------------|
B :-8---------8---------5-----8---------------------|
G :--------------------------------7--7--5---7------|
D :-------------------------------------------------|
A :-------------------------------------------------|
E :-------------------------------------------------|

    f   ah.v
e :-------------------------------------------------|
B :-------------------------------------------------|
G :-5-----------------------------------------------|
D :-----7-------------------------------------------|
A :-------------------------------------------------|
E :-------------------------------------------------|


Griff HamlinPlaying Through The Blues



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