JFRocks.com mini guitar lessons page

The technique lessons featured on this page are designed to be for Electric guitar. Most of the lessons covered here however will transfer to acoustic without any issue. This lesson page will be updated as often as possible. The other pages on JFRocks and JFRocks UNplugged keep me rather busy and I try to keep all technique lessons to CD ROM. What this page will do a lot of the time is expand upon lessons covered on various CD ROMs. If this is the case the Category below will state which CD ROM the lesson is expanding on. I hope you enjoy these mini lessons as I call them and remember all lessons from the past are located on the Lesson Archives page.

*Remember Effect suggestions are my suggestions for the home player. Usually suggestions are geared for a low budget.

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MP3 #1 Examples

MP3 #2 Song

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This Lesson's difficulty level 1-10 scale

By request this week we're going to take a look at some surfalicious riffing. This is one of my favorite kinds of music. Surf music to me is kind of fun to do and the thick reverb clean sound of it is very cool too.

Ideally you use a single coil pickup for this type of music. Fender guitars are popular for this type of music but any single coil will do.

The lesson below contains some cool riffs for you to mess with. Some are my own riffs and some are portions of classics that I have slightly embellished. The theory behind them is all the same.

We will look at common scales used for this type of music and the structure of the riffing involved.

I strongly suggest downloading the video lesson if you have a fast enough connection. It will be helpful to you.

________________________________________________________________________________

Pitches = E, F, G, A, Bb, B, C, D, Eb. This is a "9" tone scale. There are 9 pitches in it. We have covered these before in Vin Heuton lessons. These scale can be slid anywhere on the fret board and the key is dictated really by the position of it.

E______________________________________0_1_3_5_6_7_8_10_11_12__
B______________________________0_1_3_4_________________________
G________________________0_2_3_________________________________
D________________0_1_2_3_______________________________________
A________0_1_2_3_______________________________________________
E__0_1_3_______________________________________________________

This of course is not the only scale used in surf music. That is why above I put Common in quotes. This is however the primary scale we will be working with for this lesson and this scale is the most common one used in surf music.

Oh sure, some say the common on is harmonic minor or some say it's a Mixolydian scale blah blah blah. No the truth is surf music needs chromatic intervals to work and to sound surfalicious.

The 9 tone scale above has enough chromatic intervals to it to make up thousands if not millions of surf sounding riffs.

Now, REMEMBER, it's the pitches that are important, NOT the scale pattern I gave above. Although that is a common scale pattern, in some cases pitches from that pattern will be use higher up the fret board or on a single string, as is often the case with the king of all surf music, Mr. Dick Dale.

Diagram of the pitches in this important surf scale all on 1 single string.

A# = Bb & D# = Eb ** Kelly has not gotten around to making me Bb and Eb gif images yet. lol

Notice how many chromatic intervals are in this 9 tone scale. (chromatic intervals are half step or 1 single fret apart)

Diagram of the pitches in this important surf scale as tabbed out at the top of this lesson in the open position.

Below are a few surf riffs for you to practice with and mess with. For the most part we will stay within the context of our scale we are using in this lesson. In same cases such as bridge riffs we may stray but this is usually due to a key change and not so much a straying from our scale.

On the video I will give you some added details on performance technique and how to get these riffs to sound right by using proper muting techniques as well as speed picking techniques.

Above all with this lesson, have fun. Surf music is about fun, not technical B.S. It's not virtuoso music, it's about partying on the beach and surfing. It's about the groove and feel.

Riff Exercise #1: Palm muted classic surf style riff. Root, m3, m6, 5 chord pattern, Em, G, C, B. With bridge, C#m to Am to G#m to A to Ab to B. Bridges are sometimes exceptions to the rule of things. They actually change key in a lot of cases then come back around.

E________________________________________________
B________________________________________________
G________________________________________________
D________________________________________________
A________________________________________________
E_12/////>>>>/////>chromatic downward muted 16th notes_________

E_______________________________________________
B_______________________________________________
G_______________________________________________
D_______________________________________________
A____2___2___2___2___2___2___2___2______________
E__0___3___0___3___0___3___0___3___etc.__________

E_____________________________________________________
B_____________________________________________________
G_____________________________________________________
D_______________________________________2______1______
A_________________2____2____1---3__3_3_3____2_2___2____
E__0__0_0_0__1---3____3____3___________________________

E___________________________________________________
B___________________________________________________
G___________________________________________________
D_______________________________________2___________
A_________________2____2____1---3__3_3_3____2_2_0_____
E__0__0_0_0__1---3____3____3______________________1--3_

Now as I stated at the top of this lesson the bridge parts sometimes change key or incorporate exceptions to the rule. This is a good example of this.

The purpose of the bridge is to build up back to the main riff. Or get the audience excited that the main riff is coming again. We do this by making the bridge tense or with tension to it. You see typically in surf music the main riff and chorus are one in the same and the chorus is usually the big seller of a tune. Or what everyone likes about a tune.

E_______________________________________________
B_______________________________________________
G_______________________________________________
D_______________________________________________
A__2---4__4_4_4__6_7_6_4_6_______________________
E_________________________1--5__5_5_5__7_8~---->dwn_

E_______________________________________________
B_______________________________________________
G_______________________________________________
D_______________________________________________
A__2---4__4_4_4__6_7_6_4_6_______________________
E_________________________1--5__5_5_5__7_8~-----0__

E_____________________________________________________
B_____________________________________________________
G_____________________________________________________
D_____________________________________________________
A_____________________________________________________
E_4__4_4_4__5___4__4_4_4__5___4__4_4_4__5__4_5_4_5____

E__________________________________________________________
B__________________________________________________________
G__________________________________________________________
D_6__6_6_6__7___6__6_6_6__7___6__6_6_6__7_7__8_8__9--sl dwn--__
A__________________________________________________________
E_4__4_4_4__5___4__4_4_4__5___4__4_4_4__5_5__6_6__7--sl dwn--__

This classic riffing style used a lot in the 60's was a mainstay in surf and tv show themes for some time. Actually when used in different phrasing sections you can get 100's of tv themes from the 60's out of this. I started writing riffs years ago by learning tv show themes. They are actually quite a lot of fun. The owners of the copyrights on them are not too keen on them being copied so this is a loose interpretation of a mock show called the Funsters. :) Staring of course, Guitarman FunsteR.

Palm mute all notes, some lightly some not so light. Just do it to feel. I have added some parts of my own to this to make it more fun.

E__0______0______________________________________
B__0______0__________0___________________________
G__0______0__________0___________________________
D__0______0__________0___________________________
A__7______7__________7___________________________
E__0______0___6_7~___0___________________________

E_______________________________________________
B_______________________________________________
G_______________________________________________
D_______________________________________________
A_7_7_______7_7_______7_7_______7_7_____________
E_0_0__6_7__0_0__6_7__0_0__6_7__0_0__6_7________

E___________________________________________________________________
B___________________________________________________________________
G___________________________________________________________________
D___________________________________________________________________
A__7_______________7________________7_______________7_______________
E__0_x_6_7~_7x_0x__0_x_6_7~~_7x_0x__0_x_6_7~_7x_0x__0_x_6_7~_7x_0x__

E__________________0______________________________________
B________________0____1_0_________________________________
G______0____2--3___________2__x_x__2---4_2_0_0-2_0___________
D_1--2~___2______________________________________2---4_2_0__
A_________________________________________________________
E_________________________________________________________

Same riff but 1 octave higher and more in the style of Eddie Van FunsteR. Using his style of bend and releases and and slides and positioning etc.

E__________________________12~____________________________________________
B_______________________12_____12-13_12____________________________________
G_________12_____14^1/2~_________________14~_14^1>release_14-12~-14-12~_11_9_7___
D__8----14~____14____________________________________________________________
A__________________________________________________________________________
E__________________________________________________________________________

E______________________________________________________________
B______________________________________________________________
G______________________________________________________________
D______________________________________________________________
A__7_______________7________________7_______________7__________
E__0_x_6_7~_7x_0x__0_x_6_7~~_7x_0x__0_x_6_7~_7x_0x__0_x_6_7~___

Mock ending for this could be as tabbed below which is what I did on the video.

E__0_______________0________________0_______________0____5h___________
B__0_______________0________________0_______________0_______5h________
G__0_______________0________________0_______________0_________________
D__0_______________0________________0_______________0_________________
A__7_______________7________________7_______________7_________________
E__0_x_6_7~_7x_0x__0_x_6_7~~_7x_0x__0_x_6_7~_7x_0x__0_________________

You can pretty much do anything here. In fact to take a lesson from Dick Dale you can actually just use a straight up chromatic scale if you wanted. Meaning all of the notes. But for lesson purposes I will tab you a simple practice surf riff on one string that sticks to the rules of our little 9 tone scale.

You will need to trem pick or speed pick these notes. However you also need to slightly palm mute them for string control. You don't want the open string or any fretted notes to ring out of control. Constant control over you strings is essential here.

Click here to listen to an mp3 copy of this example with drums, bass and backup guitar. Featuring Kelly Ross on the Fender Jazz master bass. Can also be accessed from our mp3 page.

E_______________________________________________
B_______________________________________________
G_______________________________________________
D_______________________________________________
A_______________________________________________
E_12----fast slide down--_________________________________

E____________________________________________________________
B____________________________________________________________
G____________________________________________________________
D____________________________________________________________
A____________________________________________________________
E_0/////__0////_7////__11/////_12//////__12//>>>////__1/////__3////_--5////__0/////______

E____________________________________________________________
B____________________________________________________________
G____________________________________________________________
D____________________________________________________________
A____________________________________________________________
E_0/////__1/////__3////_--5////__0///////////////////////____________________________

Use your Index, middle and ring fingers to do this. And a steady picking motion. Start around the 19th fret are and and slide steadily downward to feel.. ALL NOTES ARE MUTED no notes are fretted at all.

E________________________________________________________
B_19x_>>>>>>_____________________________________________
G_19x_>>>>>>___see video for help with this Dick Dale classic technique____________
D_19x_>>>>>>_____________________________________________
A________________________________________________________
E________________________________________________________

**Interesting Tip** Some would play this type of higher version of the riff on the open 1st string and just match the frets of the open 6th string. I had the great pleasure of Seeing Dick Dale up close from the front row back in July of 1996 when he appeared on the Santa Monica pier during their summer concert series. Saw a lot of great acts that summer for free actually, It was awesome . Anyway, When he went into Miserlou I noticed that he didn't do the higher portions on the open 1st string as many tabs of the day had it. In fact he played it off the 2nd string and I made a mental note of that.

The reason this is important is for the slide shifts and the sound of the string as well. The second string is beefier than the open 1st string and having all of the notes fretted allows for the slide ins and gives it a certain feel that it needs.

Granted this is not a Dick Dale riff that I'm doing here, however it is a Dick Dale Style riff and if I know how someone did something, I will share it with you. Usually it's just a guess on my part but in this case I was literally 5 feet away from him. I was surprised to see him do his Miserlou riff off the 2nd string. And that was when it finally started to sound right to me and feel right when I would play it at home.

So this is just a tip. You can play if off the open 1st string if you want. I'm just sharing a little tid bit of something I saw first hand for all who are interested in this type of playing.

You can extend this however long you want, I just tabbed the main theme idea I had 1 time for ease of reading.

E________________________________________________________________________________
B_0_0__1-----5/////_5/////_-----12////__16///_17////_17///>>>///__6/////_8////_--10////_---5/////_>>>down////1---5//_
G________________________________________________________________________________
D________________________________________________________________________________
A________________________________________________________________________________
E________________________________________________________________________________

E________________________________________________________________________________
B_5/////_-----12////__16///_17////_17///>>>///__6/////_8////_--10////_---5/////___6/////////___8////////__5////////~~_____
G________________________________________________________________________________
D________________________________________________________________________________
A________________________________________________________________________________
E________________________________________________________________________________