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Learn these songs by The Police with Fret Zealot
/by Kaley LynchThe Police emerged into the British new wave scene in the late 1970s and early 1980s, bringing their reggae-infused rock sound to radios everywhere. The trio formed in 1977 in London, with Sting (bass, lead vocals), Andy Summers (guitar) and Stewart Copeland (drums, percussion). The band found huge commercial success, being billed by Rolling Stone as “the first British New Wave act to break through in America on a grand scale, and possibly the biggest band in the world” in 1983.
Concert de “The Police” au Madison Square Garden – New York le 1er Aout 2007
The group disbanded in 1986, but occasionally got back together for single performances before going on a world tour in 2007. Despite having a relatively short career, The Police have won six Grammy Awards, two Brit Awards, and an MTV Video Music Award.
You can learn these songs by The Police and Sting with Fret Zealot.
Every Breath You Take
The Police’s signature song, “Every Breath You Take” was recognized in May 2019 as the most played song in radio history by BMI. Sting said that he wrote the song while thinking of “Big Brother” and surveillance while writing the song. “I think the song is very, very sinister and ugly and people have actually misinterpreted it as being a gentle little love song, when it’s quite the opposite,” he told BBC 2 Radio.
Message in a Bottle
Andy Summers said that the “Message in a Bottle” guitar riff was originally supposed to be for another song, but during the band’s first American tour, Sting kept fiddling around with it until it became the riff as we know it today. Sting sings “sending out an S.O.S.” 31 times throughout the course of the song.
Roxanne
Sting wrote “Roxanne” while the band was staying in Paris, France – and the song’s name comes from a character in the play Cyrano de Bergerac. An old poster or the play was featured in the foyer of the hotel. While recording the song, Sting sat on a piano keyboard by accident, causing the dissonant chord and laugh you can hear at the start of the track. Sting is even credited for this “contribution” in the liner notes, where he’s listed as providing “butt piano”.
Englishman in New York
On his second studio album, Sting wrote “Englishman in New York” about Quentin Crisp, a British raconteur and gay icon, who moved from London to Manhattan, where Sting met him.
Five need-to-know strum patterns
/by Kaley LynchWorking on playing rhythm guitar? Learning a variety of strumming patterns is critical to mastering songs from artists like The Beatles, Weezer, the Police, and more!
Here are five strumming patterns to learn:
“Call the Police”
Strumming upwards requires a different approach than strumming up and down. It’s used in many reggae-infused genres, as seen in songs by The Police.
“The Proud Mary”
A muted string strike on beats two and four adds lots of interest to a simple chord progression! Try it with Creedence Clearwater Revival’s hit “Proud Mary”.
“The Fast Cowboy”
Want to be like the Man in Black? Try this down, down, up, down, up pattern beloved of country singers like Johnny Cash.
“The Bob Marley”
A syncopated up beat is the hallmark of reggae songs! Use it for traditional reggae songs like “Buffalo Soldier”.
“The Threes Company”
Need to break out of the 4/4 rut? Use this 6/8 strum pattern for songs like “Norwegian Wood”.
Get the detailed instructions for each of these strumming patterns, plus ten more with this course!
How to make your chord changes cleaner
/by Kaley LynchIf you’re a new guitar player, one of the challenges you’ll likely face is learning to cleanly transition between chords so that there isn’t any string buzzing or muting.
Quick and clean chord changes will become easier as you build strength and muscle memory in your fretting hand. Here are some tips to help you get clean chord changes every time:
Make sure each string rings clear
Practice chords one string at a time, to make sure every string is ringing clean without any buzzing. This will help you identify any fingers you may need to work on strengthen or any shapes that need practice or modification.
Practice slowly
Use a metronome (there’s a free one in the Fret Zealot app!) and play through the chord changes of a song much slower than you would play it, to make sure that each chord is ringing clean.
Use chord inversions
Some chords will be more difficult to change between. Luckily, there are many different ways to play chords! Experiment with different chord inversions or use barre chords to minimize how much your fingers need to move.
Practice
It might seem obvious – but the more you practice, the easier it will get! Here are some ways you can incorporate practice time into your day – even if you’re really busy.
How to overcome stage fright
/by Kaley LynchIt’s a familiar story – you get on stage for a performance, and suddenly, your heart starts racing, your palms start sweating, and you start getting lightheaded – your body goes into panic mode at the thought of performing!
Many musicians – even really famous, successful ones – deal with stage fright. Adele, Ozzy Osbourne, and Eddie Van Halen have opened up about severe anxiety before performances.
See what Billboard Top 20 artist XIMXIA has to say about stage fright:
Luckily, there are a lot of ways to combat stage fright. Here are a few tried and true tips:
PRACTICE
Practice your songs back and forth, so that playing them is second nature. The less you have to think about what you’re playing, the easier it will be. If you have new or improvised songs in your set, put them toward the end, so you can feel more comfortable when it’s time to play them.
Give yourself grace
At the same time, if you do make a mistake, don’t get down on yourself about it. Even the pros make mistakes! Keep playing the piece and don’t let a wrong note get in your head. It’s unlikely the audience will notice small mistakes anyway.
Visualize your performance
Imagine that you have a perfect gig – what would that look like to you? How would it feel? Conceptualizing a performance will help you make it happen in real life.
Be prepared (to the best of your ability)
Make sure your gear is working and ready to go the night before the gig, make sure you have setlists, capos, and any other gear you might need, and get rest and a good meal before your performance. If you’re feeling stressed about gear, it will only make stage fright worse.
Practice breathing exercises
Practicing mindful breathing before a performance will help you to ground yourself. You can find helpful tutorials on YouTube or Tiktok.
Fake it till you make it
You’ve probably heard that pretending to have a quality actually helps you achieve that quality in real life. If you tell yourself that you’re confident to go on stage, eventually your brain will believe it.
Connect with a friendly face
Do you have a friend or family member in the audience? If you do, lock onto them until the jitters subside. If you’re playing in an unfamiliar place, scope out a friendly face in the audience and imagine that they just said your guitar playing is amazing.
Just keep at it
Eventually, performing will become second nature, and the pre-show anxiety will subside. Just remind yourself why you love playing music, and don’t give up!
Five of the most iconic guitar solos of all time – and the stories behind them
/by Kaley LynchAn incredible guitar solo can make a good song unforgettable. Guitar solos embody the emotional climax of a song, whether they’re minutes-long technical shredding or a simple line that sticks in listeners’ minds.
Here are five of the greatest guitar solos of all time, and the stories behind them.
Sweet Child O’Mine – Guns ‘n Roses
The riff for “Sweet Child of Mine” started off as a joke, as GNR guitarist Slash played what he considered a “circus melody” at his bandmates for laughs. Lead vocalist Axl Rose wrote the lyrics to the song the next day.
The solo for “Sweet Child” is built around the Eb minor scale with a few major 7ths thrown in, before getting more aggressive in the second half of the solo as the tension builds.
Learn how to play “Sweet Child O’Mine”.
Free Bird – Lynyrd Skynyrd
A guitar solo that inspired many heckles, “Free Bird”’s guitar solo clocks in at 143 bars, an extra-long solo. Guitarist Allen Collins recorded both guitar parts. “He was bad. He was super bad! He was bad-to-the-bone bad,” Gary Rossington told Guitar World about the recording. “When we put the solo together, we liked the sound of the two guitars, and I could’ve gone out and played it with him. But the way he was doin’ it, he was just so hot! He just did it once and did it again and it was done.”
Learn how to play “Free Bird” with this lesson.
Stairway to Heaven – Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page used a “magical guitar” – a telecaster, not his signature Les Paul – to play the solo for “Stairway to Heaven”. He told a magazine in 2021 that he played the same telecaster he used on the band’s first album, which Jeff Beck had given him when he played in The Yardbirds.
His flowing solo on “Stairway” was ad-libbed in the studio during recording. “It’s not a laboured solo, it’s not something that’s worked out, written down and read, it’s more like a stream of consciousness,” Page said.
You can study Page’s signature style with this course.
Hotel California – The Eagles
This “guitar solo” is more of a guitar duet, as Don Felder and Joe Walsh trade licks before doing harmonized licks together. Both guitars are playing arpeggios of every chord, with one guitar playing one note lower down in the chord.
Walsh said in an interview that he and Felder worked out who would play when during the solo, but the solos were not planned. “They were spontaneous playing off of each other,” Walsh said. “We were really good at that, and the rest of the song was kind of planned out, we put those descending lines on because that was the first set of overdubs”.
Eruption – Van Halen
One of the most mind-bending solos of all time, “Eruption” was only meant to be a warm up, not a recorded song. Guitarist Eddie Van Halen said he arrived at the recording studio one day and started practicing his guitar, when the band’s producer heard it and asked him to record it.
“So I took one pass at it and they put it on the record,” Van Halen said. “I didn’t even play it right. There’s a mistake at the top end of it. To this day, whenever I hear it, I always think, ‘Man, I could’ve played it better.”
Learn Eddie Van Halen’s signature style with this course.
Songs for performing CPR
/by Kaley LynchLearning how to perform CPR? You’ve probably heard to pick a song between 100 and 120 bpm for performing chest compressions. In a life-or-death situation like CPR, it’s good to pick a song you’re really familiar with. If you know the song on guitar, it can help commit it to memory.
Here are some songs recommended for CPR chest compressions by First Response Training International.
Stayin’ Alive – Bee Gees
Numb – Linkin Park
More Than a Feeling – Boston
Highway to Hell – AC/DC
Dancing Queen – ABBA
Sweet Home Alabama – Lynyrd Skynyrd
Another Brick in the Wall, pt. 2 – Pink Floyd
Smells Like Teen Spirit – Nirvana
Electric guitars vs. acoustic guitars – which is right for you?
/by Kaley LynchIf you’re a beginner guitar player, you’re probably wondering whether an electric or acoustic guitar is right for you.
Guitarists’ instrument preferences are as unique to them as their playing styles. What’s right for one person might not be the best pick for another.
Here are some things to consider when you’re choosing your first instrument:
Building hand strength
Acoustic guitars are harder to get sound out of than electric guitars. They have thicker strings which require more pressure to hold down, especially while playing barre chords. They also rely purely on acoustics to produce sound, so it’s not tempting to simply crank the volume up as you could on an electric guitar. However, this makes acoustic guitars a good pick for first time learners, as you will build up strength (and calluses) in your fingers faster than on an electric guitar. They’re also good for learning strumming and picking patterns, since you have to get a feel for the strings’ vibrations when strummed.
Equipment
An acoustic guitar needs no amplification for regular playing – although you can purchase an electric/acoustic version if you want the ability to easily plug in. If you plan on performing with it live, consider that you’ll need to mic it separately.
An electric guitar requires an amplifier and a cable at minimum. If you want to play it in spaces that don’t allow loud noise, you can get a set of headphones to go into the amplifier.
Size/weight
Electric guitars usually have flatter bodies and thinner necks than their acoustic counterparts, making them easier to hold close to your body and move your hand around the fretboard. However, they weigh more than acoustic guitars (since acoustics have hollow bodies).
The average acoustic guitar weighs about 2.5 to 5 lbs, while the average electric guitar weighs about 8 lbs.
Genre
Another factor to consider in your first guitar purchase is what genre you’re most interested in playing. Electric guitars are versatile for a range of genres including rock, metal, punk, funk, and more.
Acoustic guitars are a good pick if you’re primarily interested in being a singer-songwriter and performing solo, as well as if you’re interested in playing country, bluegrass, or folk music.
Sound customization
With pedals, you can get a large range of sounds and tones out of an electric guitar, whereas an acoustic guitar might not have the same range of expression. However, an electric-acoustic guitar can still be used with pedals.
Fret Zealot course of the month – September 2024
/by Kaley LynchEach month, we’re putting the spotlight on one of our favorite Fret Zealot courses!
Ultimate Guitar Tone School
Instructor: David Wills
How much do you really know about guitar tone? All of the guitar techniques in the world can’t help you produce a good guitar tone – but this course can. David Wills will teach you about tone from the ground up – from understanding how sound waves are produced, to how to optimize your rig for the best possible sound. In this course, Wills provides demonstrations of the pickup selections for all of the main types of electric guitars, so you can get the best sound possible out of your instrument. He even walks you through some of the most iconic tones of all time, pioneered by guitar greats like Jimmy Page, Billy Gibbons, and Chuck Berry.
What We Like
This course is a one-stop shop for learning all things tone – from understanding effects pedals to making sure your stage setup has the best sound possible. It’s perfect for the guitarist who is ready to play out, but needs the finishing touch.
Once you’ve complete this course, try it with the following lessons:
November Rain
Walk This Way
Babe – I’m Gonna Leave You
Learn these songs for the end of summer
/by Kaley LynchLabor Day is almost here. Say goodbye to summer with these wistful songs about the last few warm days of the year! You can find tabs for all of these songs in the Fret Zealot app.
“Cruel Summer” – Taylor Swift
Lyrics: “I snuck in through the garden gate every night that summer just to seal my fate”
“Stolen” – Dashboard Confessional
Lyrics: “We watch the season pull up its own stakes/And catch the last weekend of the last week/Before the gold and the glimmer have been replaced/Another sun soaked season fades away”
“Boys of Summer” – Don Henley (also The Ataris)
Lyrics: “Nobody on the road/Nobody on the beach/I feel it in the air/The summer’s out of reach”
“Summer of 69” – Bryan Adams
Lyrics: “Oh, when I look back now/That summer seemed to last forever”
“The Last Day of Summer” – The Cure
Lyrics: “But the last day of summer/Never felt so cold/The last day of summer/Never felt so old”
Learn these Adele songs on guitar with Fret Zealot
/by Kaley LynchBritish singer-songwriter Adele started playing guitar as a teenager, citing Amy Winehouse as her inspiration for picking up the instrument.
Many of her songs are fairly simple to play on guitar, making it easy to accompany yourself singing. You can learn these Adele songs with Fret Zealot.
Rolling in the Deep
This 2011 smash hit was written in a single afternoon by Adele and co-writer Paul Epworth. Adele had just broken up with her boyfriend, and the song was written as a reaction to “being told that my life was going to be boring and lonely and rubbish, and that I was a weak person if I didn’t stay in the relationship”, she told The Independent.
Chasing Pavements
Adele said that a fight with a former boyfriend inspired “Chasing Pavements”. She told ELLE that she had slapped him during the fight at a club and ran away, only to look back and see that no one was chasing her.
Someone Like You
Adele started writing “Someone Like You” on her acoustic guitar after finding out that her former boyfriend was engaged to someone else just months after their breakup.
Daydreamer
“Daydreamer” is the first track off of Adele’s first album, 19. She played guitar on the studio version of the track.
Skyfall
Adele wrote “Skyfall” with co-writer Paul Epworth for the James Bond film of the same name. The pair worked to capture the “James Bond feeling” of previous movies’ theme songs in the original composition.
Make You Feel My Love
Adele recorded a version of this song for 19, but the Bob Dylan-penned tune has been recorded by hundreds of artists, including Billy Joel, Michael Bolton, Boy George, Joan Osborne, Kelly Clarkson, and Pink. Adele wrote or co-wrote every other song on the album.
Hello
Adele played drums on this chart-topping song from 25.