I’m a big fan of Steve Vai and Guthrie Govan, both of whom are known for liberally employing legato articulations in their melody playing, such as slides, hammer-ons, pull-offs, bends and glissandos (long slides). These techniques are very effective for giving your lines a slippery, rubber band-like sound. The chorus melody from the title track to my latest album, Charisma , offers a nice example of how I use these techniques to create see-saw-like melodic figures during this section.
Figure 1 illustrates the eight-bar chorus melody of Charisma . In every bar here, I play a melodic line up and down the G string, with combinations of slides, hammer-ons and pull-offs. As this recurring phrase serves as the centerpiece for the chorus melody, it's essential for it to be performed in this specific legato fashion.
The song is in the key of F, and the chorus section begins on the IV (four) chord, Bb, starting with the notes D and F, which are, respectively, the major 3rd and 5th of Bb. I then shift to legato phrasing via the slide from C down to A on the 2nd string, followed by the slide and pull-off down to G and F on the 3rd string. I continue this phrasing approach through the G, C and A notes, all played on the G string and performed through the remainder of bar 1 through the first half of bar 2.
The impetus for this melody came from open-voiced triads, often referred to by guitarists as “Eric Johnson” triads, as illustrated in Figure 2 . Each is played on the A, D and B s.
