Guitarists Influenced by Hendrix - Robin Trower Style

Michael Johnson >> Guitarists Influenced by Hendrix >>

Lesson Subject:
Guitarists Influenced By Hendrix I

What you learn: Robin Trower Style - Part 1

Teacher: Michael Johnson

Michael: Welcome class! This is our first lesson on Guitarist Influenced by Hendrix. This lesson features the rhythm guitar style of Robin Trower, one of my favorite players! Trower truly captured the spirit of Jimi Hendrix's music where he morphed into his own style. Robin uses the same tools of the trade as Hendrix, a Fender Stratocaster, Marshall, Wah, phaser/Roto-Vibe, distortion, etc. Check out the lesson sample of what you'll learn:

Michael: Let's dive in then, our first riff starts with the B/G#, this adds a cool bass overtones while playing the B chord.

Michael: You barre the 4th fret on the 2nd, 3rd, 4th strings using the 1st finger. You hold down the 6th string/4th fret with your thumb, you then jump into a lick using the E Major Pentatonic pattern.

Michael: Then ending of the lick you play a double-stop in the E Major Pentatonic scale pattern as well. I highlighted the notes you play for the last section of the lick:

Michael: Now let's jump to the next riff, this is the main groove of part 1. You start with the Db5 chord and jump to a lick using the E Major Pentatonic scale I gave you earlier. You play the chord again and then reverse the lick you played earlier.

Michael: Here's a jam track you can play over.

Michael: In this riff you climb playing barre chords, but you use the thumb on the root notes (6th string) instead of playing the standard fingering, you play a rhythm pattern using the F#m7, G#m7, A7, B7, C7 chords.

Michael: It takes awhile to get use to using your thumb for chords, but a little practice will make it easier in no time. Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughan and other players use this technique, let's jump to the next pattern.

Michael: I love the groove of this riff! Trower and Hendrix had such a talent for filling space and making the band sound like 2 guitarists were playing at the same time. Try playing to the jam track.

Michael: Notice in this riff you start with the E Maj 3rd interval then jump to an open E, then you play a riff on the 3rd fret 1st and 2nd string and then jump to the C7 and D7 and back to the open E. Using the open E keeps the sound going while it rings so you can jump to other licks, so there's always something going on. Now you can jam using the E Minor Pentatonic scale patterns, here's a few positions.

Michael: Try playing these scales over the jam track, on these tracks I'm using a Dunlop UniVibe, it's a perfect tool to achieve a Hendrix/Trower sound. You get this constant phasing that really helps give a cool sound. Here's the next riff.

Michael: This is a simple descending chord pattern using the chords we covered earlier, notice the hammer/pull offs on the first two chords. This is a nice transition riff, now let's jump into the mellow riffs.

Michael: These are basically easy chords, starting with the E min 3rd, the B Aug, the C maj7, then A7, C7 and B7, but notice you use polytonal type voicings throughout the chord progression. Here's the jam track.

Michael: This is very mellow sounding. The picking is basic up and down pattern, you can also jam in the E Minor Pentatonic scales over this section, try it, it's a lot of fun playing the scale over these chords. Keep playing everybody. Here's a live audio clip, I'm using the scale pattern I gave you earlier,

Teacher's Live Jam Audio

Michael: OK, now let's jump to the next riff, this riff uses the same concept as Part 2 where I use various positions of the scales and chords in E.

Michael: Here's the 7th chords you'll play towards the end of the phrase.

Michael: Try playing over the jam track.

Michael: I can tell you are all practicing, that's a very good sign 8-)

jivedude: Are you going to do another lesson focusing on his soloing?

Michael: You bet, in the next lesson, Here's all the parts you've learned, in a jam track.

Michael: I love Trower's leads, but first you need to understand his rhythms to truly nail his style, that's it for this lesson, I'll see you all next week!

Eric: Thanks!!

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