Mr. Fastfinger - Blog

Zing Zing - The Tap

Tue, 2 Mar 2010 12:55:00 +0100

Here's the tapping version of the same Zing Zing pre-chorus. Based on the same chord progression of C- Dm - Bb - F as the riff. On the song the riff changes into this tapping pattern on the second (and third) round.

To save the space the repeating tapping patterns are only written once. Always repeat 4 times except for the last bar.

On this recording you can hear a magical phaser effect, it's from TC G-system. The tapping line was also doubled with a synthesizer. The rhythm guitars are playing power chords.

Oh Yeah. Tap on!

Zing Zing - The Riff

Sun, 21 Feb 2010 20:33:26 +0100

Sometime ago there was a request to transcribe the pre-chorus riff from Zing Zing. Here it finally is!The riff is mostly just arpeggiating the chords from the progression of C - Dm - Bb - F. Plenty of palm muted notes you find. Pay attention to some of the dynamics in playing. Especially the Bb notes in bar 7. In bar 6 there's two guitars playing the slided melody line. Feel free to experiment if you can play the both lines together. Also remember to keep focus on your timing!

Zing Zing was one of the very first song written for the album. I wanted to have a 80's hard rocking kind of track. And this sure has some of that wibe. Enjoy the riff.

Btw. If you have any requests for parts to transcribe from the album let me know. I try to keep these coming if there's some interest for this out there!

Mr. Fastfinger Turns Mark Knopfler

Wed, 3 Feb 2010 13:09:16 +0100

...Well, for a while maybe:) Happy to let you know that Mika wrote a guest column for Guitar9.com. It's about mind game methods for creating the right solo for the song...
http://www.guitar9.com/columnist698.html
Includes transcription, audio and analysis on "Creatures of the Midnigt" solo.

And here's a special backing loop for jamming, just for MrFastfinger.net users

Download backingtrack

Very important : Basic Timing

Fri, 15 Jan 2010 20:31:07 +0100

"In my personal life I'm always late.
But as a guitar player I'm usually ahead."

For a guitar player it is very tempting to focus all the energy and interest to master flashy stuff and fast techniques. But sometimes most essential things are forgotten. Timing is one thing that many forget to pay attention. Attention lead guitar players!!! Timing does not cover only your rhythm guitar playing but lead playing equally as well. Guitar solos without good timing sound very crappy too. Sad thing is many players don't realize that their timing sucks, before somebody else tell them. Recording your playing to a metronome sharp rhythm track can reveal something too. Sometimes you realize your mistakes only after you hear them played back.

Enough said. Here's a few excersises.

Ex. 1a ] Put metronome clicking at 120 bpm. Clap your hands along it and try to find the perfect sync between your claps and the clicks.... Okay that's pretty easy for you I guess.
Ex. 1b ] Now put the metronome clicking at 50 bpm and try again! .... Yes. it's much harder to keep in sync!

The slower, the more challenging! But why do I need to keep the timing?
The fact is the better you can keep your timing with the metronome, the better you can play in sync together with other musicians.

Personally speaking, I've know for long that timing is something I need to work on more. It's one of those things that can be is easily forgotten. I've decided it's finally time to do something about it. Before juming in to any crazy polyrhythmics or out of this planet funk guitar I think it's good to work on basics. Here's one exercise that is fun.

Ex. 2]

I would put the metronome around 100 at first. Then later work on slower and faster tempos. The challenge here is to smoothly turn between quarter to 8th notes and 16 notes. To really play it sharp can be trickier than you first think. The variations in downstores and up strokes make a difference too.

The notation has only xxxxxx on all six strings. It's because I want you to decided what chord(s) or note(s)to play in the written rhythm. I'd recommend to try playing it with basic chords one day, single notes one day. different chord progressions other day. It will keep it interesting. Also play with dynamics. Try playing it with very softly or very aggressivily. Blah, blah, blah... You know what to do. Leave comments or questions if you please.

Perhaps we should continue another time on talking about playing ahead and behind the beat and the groove?!

How do you practice your timing? Share ideas with us all!

Have fun.

Licence to Tap

Fri, 8 Jan 2010 15:47:16 +0100

Here's a nice little excercise for tapping. Came up with this lick during a guitar lesson I was giving. It has those hammer-ons from nowhere happening (you don't always need to start now string with a tapped note). Found out it is a good excercise. Practice with a metronome. Begin with slow tempo. Pay attention to the flow of your notes. Make sure you got nice even rhythm going with the line. Later speed up the tempo just a little bit.
Also try playing this one octave lower on 3rd and 4th strings.

It's the year of the guitar

Tue, 5 Jan 2010 20:24:37 +0100

Not sure if the chinese agree, but I believe it's the year of the guitar!
It doen't matter wether you're practicing at home, jamming at your local pub, doing a concert at rock club, playing at huge arena, or meditating at beach. It's important to enjoy every moment spent with your guitar!

Maybe it is time for you to make a new years promise. It not too late. How about scheduling your self some good dedicated quality time with just for you and your guitar. Decided how many hours a week you will practice, play and spend the time with the instrument. Book the time from your calendar asap. And start planning how you're going to spend it. You need to write it down and obey the schedule. You need discipline!

Mika's new year promise is to practice 60 minutes a day and 6 days a week. The time will be used on pracitising various topics. Like rhythm and timing, scales, chords, arpeggios, various lead and rhythm guitar techniques, ear training, improvisation on chord changes. In other words Mika wants to practice stuff that needs practicing!
Blogs about these topics will follow, revealing stuff that is being practiced.

This year we shall practice guitar playing more and harder!
Cherish the moments with your guitar 2010!

Important holiday message from Mr. Fastfinger

Mon, 21 Dec 2009 17:37:28 +0100

Enjoy the holidays. Thanks to all our friends and supporters. This year was very good. Next one will be better. Hope to see you soon!

Grace the Notes II

Sat, 19 Dec 2009 16:34:26 +0100

LESS TALK, MORE EXCERCISES!

Ex.4

4a Grace notes following a pulled note.

4b Grace note folloing a double pull off. Gets more interesting!

Ex.5

5a Grace note and hammer on

5b Grace note and double hammer

Ex.6

Here a musical idea, utilising serious grace notes and double pulls. This kind of use of grace note makes a simle melodic line sound fun!

Put the metronome on. It's time for rehearsing!

Grace the Notes!

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 10:43:03 +0100

Grace note is an ornament of a note. A quick passing note played in front of an actual note. Grace note can be performed using various techniques: hammers / pulls, slides, bends, or even taps. In notation / tablatures it's written on a smaller font. It's decoration of the note and not counted as part of the rhythm of the measure. You just SQUEEZE it there!You can play the grace just before the beat so that the folllowing note lands on the beat. Or play the grace on the beat and let the actual note start a little layed back. Nice!

HAMMER / PULL
Most typically grace notes are hammered or pulled. Ex. 1 showcases the tone differences of a) a note with b) grace notes below and c) above.

Ex.1

Ex.2

Here's a simple showcase of what a simple melody line can become when you add grace notes. The actual notes used as grace notes are here simply the nearest notes within the scale. a) above and b) below. Practice with a metronome to check your timing.

USING CROMATIC APPROACH NOTES
Try using cromatic approach notes as grace notes. Cromatic grace notes can be found a) below and b) above the note. The recording also showcases the use of stacatto notes.

Ex.3

Try mixing this idea but playing some grace notes above and some grace notes below. Experiment!

In a real musical context try using grace notes wisely. Using it all the time is not very good idea. Grace note can give the note more character. They can give the notes more punch and meaning when used in right place. Always consider where you want the accent to be.

Let's take it from here next time. Move advanced ideas soon!

Glissando Gestures

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 12:53:00 +0100

Here's something that came out after thinking of those glissando slides. A short calm down improvisation. Enjoy!

Download