P REMIERCLINIC
Matthieu Brandt’s Slap,Frailand Thump
Everglades of Time
F INGERSTYLE
The techniques of slapping, frailing and thumping give us a great
percussive backbone when we’re playing by ourselves – instead of
having to rely on a drummer to give us a clear two and four, we are
now self-sufficient in the rhythm department. As an added bonus,
these techniques give us strong bass parts that can lead us through
a chord progression. But what happens if we have a band and we
want to integrate these playing styles in our arrangements? Will
it work? In most cases it will, if we take into account that we have
to stay away from certain parts to give the other players space.
“Everglades of Time” is a song where we’re using a slap technique
on the acoustic guitar in an electric band setting. Because there’s
also an electric bass, drums, keys, an electric guitar and vocals, we
have to undress the acoustic guitar part. In this one we’ll be playing
with a capo on the first fret, and referencing the key of A minor.
The first example shows the main verse of “Everglades of Time.”
The groove starts out with an anticipated open A string; pick it
with your thumb. The first set of intervals is played on the third and
fourth string and they’re all part of the A minor key – we’re playing
the melody and harmonizing it within the scale. Play the first inter-
val with the ring finger, picking the second with the middle finger
and index finger. The first interval sits on beat two, which means
we’re slapping. Aim the index and ring finger of your right hand at
the third and fourth string and play a controlled slap.
The second interval is plucked with your index and ring fingers, as
are all the other intervals in this exercise. On the and of four, we’re
plucking the open second and third string, and on beat one of the
second bar we’re hammering on the top part of an Am. Play those
two notes with your index finger on the first fret of the second
string and with your middle finger on the second fret of the third
string. Pluck the open first string after that and play a slap on beat
two followed by another minor third interval two frets up.
The pattern in the first two bars is answered by a similar pattern in
bars three and four. Note that in this groove, you only play a bass
note before or on bar one of the two bar pattern. By only playing
the tonic and leaving out the other bass notes, we leave the bass
player space to do his work.
The sixth bar begins the second part of the verse of “Everglades.”
The techniques here are similar to the first part – you start off with
the D bass note on beat one, playing it with your thumb. The inter-
val at the fifth fret is played with your index finger flat on the sec-
ond and third string – slap those two notes the same way you did in
the first part. On the and of three, add your middle finger or your
ring finger on the sixth fret of the second string and pluck the same
two strings. There’s a slap on beat four and you can anticipate the
seventh bar by playing the third fret of the second string and the
fourth fret of the third string – leave those notes ringing until the
slap on beat two of bar seven. Then pluck the open second and
third string, hammer-on the first fret, second string and second fret,
third string. Immediately slide up two intervals, or two frets and
slap the top two strings on beat four. Anticipate the next bar again
by playing the two open strings on the and of four.
Exercise 174 introduces us to the bridge; here the feel of the song
is a little more even with less movement. This means we can throw
in some thicker chord-like voicings without getting in anyone’s
way. The chords are C, F, D, A, and you can see the voicings we
are going to use marked. There are only slaps on beat four in the
first and the third bars of this four-bar pattern. This makes it feel
more open, and because there’s fewer chords per bar and the bass
progression is less busy; the bridge feels a lot quieter. Instead of
slapping and frailing full chords, you can get away with playing just
intervals and leaving the bass out.
As you play, be aware of your techniques – you may very possibly
come up with your own percussive effects. They may show up in
your playing by accident, but when it happens, try to repeat those
“mistakes.” Listen and watch other guitar players, and try to emu-
late grooves you like.
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