The Guitar Player's Resource
Welcome back! First off, I would like to mention that I just released my 8th solo CD titled "Chameleon", which has 12 new tracks and is over 60 minutes in length. For this lesson, I would like to break down just a few sections of a couple tunesoff the CD. This album is chock full of guitar lines and solos. But, for now I will just give you a couple of examples.
Example 1 is the opening line on a track called "Firefly in a Bottle". It is a very fast arpeggio sequence that is based out of a G# augmented arpeggio. To keep it simple, the notes in this arpeggio are G#, C and E. If you know about augmented triads, they consist of 2 major 3rd intervals and the formula is (1, 3, #5). Each one of these 3 notes can be the root, and the same notes repeat in major 3rd intervals. This is a 3 note inverted type sequence that is common in a pentatonic scale or major scale, but it is applied to the augmented arpeggio. For the last bar on beat 2, I use sweep picking for the C augmented arpeggio.
MP3 - Chameleon, Example 1, Slow
MP3 - Chameleon, Example 1, Fast
Example 2 is off the track called "Chameleon", the title track of the CD, and it is the opening riff. This is a intervallic type slide line that is based on the D minor scale (D, E, F, G, A, Bb, C) and it uses all different types of intervals, mainly 3rds, 4ths and 5ths. It is pretty easy to play and I did add a few suggested fingerings in tricky places.
MP3 - Chameleon, Example 2, Slow
MP3 - Chameleon, Example 2, Fast
Example 3 continues with the same tune as Example 2. But now I would like to show you the bridge section that occurs at about 4:38. This is a real neat sequence that moves up the neck and the same pattern continues right inside the scale. It mainly uses all 16th notes, except on the last bar where it jumps to 32nd notes.
MP3 - Chameleon, Example 3, Slow
MP3 - Chameleon, Example 3, Fast
Ok, that is it for now! These are just a few short examples from the CD, and there really is so much to cover. Let me know if you would like me to break more examples down and if you want to get more information about the CD, visit mikecampese.com.
Mike Campese is an all-around music performer, session artist and teacher competent in many musical styles, electric and acoustic. He has studied at G.I.T. (Honors Graduate), and with Paul Gilbert, Norman Brown, Stanley Jordan, Scott Henderson and Keith Wyatt.
