Getting the feel for the Jimi Hendrix R&B type of rhythm-lead style, like the intro to “Little Wing”, really is not too hard to do. This lesson will not show how to play the “Little Wing” intro itself, as the tab is available elsewhere, but it will try to explain how to use that style with your own playing.
The concept behind this style is to allow for a more full sound when performing with a three-piece band. The guitarist will incorporate double-stops (two notes played simultaneously, usually on adjacent strings) and triple-stops (three notes played simultaneously) with single note work. In it’s most basic form, it’s not that different from what Keith Richards does on things like “Start Me Up” and “Brown Sugar”.
Since the whole concept is to combine rhythm and lead, I find it easiest to approach this as merely playing around with chord shapes. Let’s start by looking closely at a couple of barre chord fingerings for a D chord:
The A shaped chord:
E---5-------
B---5--7---
G---5--7---
D---5--7---
A---5------
E-----------
The G shaped chord:
E--------10-
B---7---(10) either
G---7-------
D---7-------
A------9----
E--------10-
Now if we break it down to where we are only playing a fragment of these full fingerings, the common starting point for both of these is:
D chord
E----------
B---7-----
G---7-----
D---7-----
A----------
E----------
This fragment is the starting point for chord riffs like the aforementioned “Start Me Up”, as well as Van Halen’s “Running with the Devil” and Queen’s “We Will Rock You”.
Next, the hammer-on notes these songs use to make other chords would be:
E----------
B---7-8---
G---7---(9) optionally add this for a full Am shaped chord
D---7---9-
A----------
E----------
This fragment could be viewed as either an Am7 shaped barre chord, or part of a C shaped barre chord:
Am7 shape
E---7------
B---7-8---
G---7---(9) optionally add this for a full Am shaped chord
D---7---9-
A---7-----
E----------
C shape
E---7------
B---7-8---
G---7-----
D---7---9-
A---7----10
E----------
Now, by combining all these shapes, play the following over a D bass note or D chord:
E-------------------------------------------------
B---7h8p7---7----------------------------------
G---7---------7h9p7---7--------7-----7-------
D------------------------7h9p7--7-----7-------
A----------------------------------7h9--7h9----
E----------------------------------------------10-
The use of hammer-ons/pull-offs and slides are much more prevalent in this style than bends, but work out what works best for you.
There can be much more to this style, and this lesson is far from all-inclusive. The most important step in making this style work easily is visualizing the underlying chord shapes. Similar concepts apply to working with E and Em barre chord shapes.
After grasping this concept, now go look at the tab to the intro of "Little Wing" and see if it starts to make more sense.
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