Chord Melody Solo Techniques – Part 3

About Bill Palmer

BILL PALMER is a guitarist, composer/musician and an educational author. His style is a mix of rock tones, ambient sound-scapes and jazz-influenced harmony.

Along similar stylistic lines to Joe Satriani and Eric Johnson but with a voice all his own, Bill’s debut self-recorded album “Outlines” (ToneFreak records 2007) has garnered much critical acclaim from both music industry press and insiders and has been described as:

“Classic Satch style shred…” Australian Guitar Volume 64

“Face melting runs, complex arpeggios…” Rave Magazine 2008

“Your material is awesome, really great stuff…” Mark Holden – Aust. Idol Judge

“Great playing, writing and arranging – awesome!” T.J Helemerich (LA based producer)

“Bill Palmer’s “Outlines” is a guitar pickers heaven…” Manly Daily

“Tone, control and melody – epic sounding….” Australian Guitar Volume 64

“Plenty of heat, the songs are both catchy and original…” Manly Daily

Follow this link to reach Bill’s Website

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Chord Melody Solo Techniques Part 3

Hi there again. Welcome to the third instalment of playing “Tears in Heaven” as a chord melody solo piece.

As an “FYI,” here are the links to the previous 2 which may be helpful if you are only just now joining us on this:

Part 1 – http://www.learn-acoustic-guitar.com/chord-melody-solo-techniques
Part 2 – http://www.learn-acoustic-guitar.com/chord-melody-solo-techniques-part-2

In this installment, we’re taking a look at some of the guitar “fills” that are used in the recorded version of the piece. Keeping some of the original “licks” is a great way of not only breaking up the chordal momentum but also shows your listener that you’ve “done your homework” and is a subtle tip of the hat to the original composer, in this case, Eric Clapton.

The guitar fills used in the verse use what is commonly referred to as “double-stops” – this is where you play two adjacent strings together, simultaneously. Acoustic guitarists tend to favour these kinds of licks as they have a bit more “oomph” than a single-string line or fill. As I am constantly saying, start slow and practice these until you can fit them into the chord changes with ease. Experiment with different fingerings too, your mileage may vary!

The 16th-note (or semi-quaver) line used in the interlude is pretty much a scalar run employing the major pentatonic “box-pattern” shape rock guitarists have been using since forever. Pay attention to the articulations though as there are some hammer-on’s and pull-off’s taking place. This is a pretty standard type of run and you’re bound to come across endless variations on this kind of thing.

Lastly, the “solo” section which occurs are the bridge is a nice deviation in the piece. The tricky thing here is to get the bass notes sounding while you play the little fills underneath them. Also, the classical-type vibrato is a lovely effect that is worth spending some time on if you’re new to this kind of thing. It’s a much more refined sound to my ears than a blues or rock style vibrato and particularly suited to the nylon-string acoustic.

As always, please do feel free to comment or to get in touch. Catch you next time for some more on this piece!