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Venture into the warm waters of surf guitar and ace these classic, fun-to-play licks. With audio examples
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To get the staccato sound on this and the other exercises in this lesson, place the heel of your picking hand on the bridge of the guitar so that you mute the strings you’re playing. This technique, called palm muting, is used in many types of guitar playing, but in surf guitar, it separates the notes, preventing the reverb from turning the fast licks into a mushy wall of sound.
DOUBLE-PICKED PYRAMID shows the same melody, only this time, you’ll double-pick the first part of it, picking each note twice using an alternating down-up pattern. If you haven’t already mastered the alternating down-up picking technique, this is a perfect time to try it out. Since the riff is on one string, you can keep your picking hand in the same position as you descend the fretboard.
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Double-Picked Pyramid
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Develop a Rapid-Fire Attack
OK, how’s your right hand doing? If this workout is making you want to head to the beach for a break, grab an umbrella and stake out a spot where the waves are breaking. Consider it research.
But keep playing, and KING OF THE SURF GUITAR will give you a real sense of where players like Dick Dale are coming from. You’ll still use down-up picking, but instead of double-picking, you’ll quadruple-pick this one! To get started I want you to pick just one note. Keeping your palm muting the string, pick that note as fast as you can, maintaining a steady tempo and making sure each pluck of the string is even.
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King of the Surf Guitar
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If you were to take this technique and simply allow your fretting-hand finger to slide downward one fret at a time, you’d get the classic surf glissando. Start at the 12th fret of the low E (sixth) string, and quadruple-pick as you slide down with your fretting hand all the way down through the first fret and to the open string, as in SURF AND SLIDE. Finish up with an E-minor chord strummed once and a little wiggle of your tremolo arm (for more on these, also known as whammy bars, check out “What’s That For?” on page 62, Summer 2007, Play Gutiar!), and you have a classic surf riff! Awesome!
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Surf and Slide
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Printable Version
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