Techniques of the heroes: Buckethead part 2

Alright then, there are many different aspects to Buckethead’s playing, so be aware that this will most likely be a long lesson. Most people who aren’t avid Buckethead fans will associate him with using five different kinds of effects for every single song, but while it is true that he uses a digi-tech whammy pedal quite frequently, those who listen to his music more closely will be likely to find some surprises along the way.

His guitar sound has been described by some as Randy Rhoads meets Eddie Van Halen, and it does go without saying that tapping is one of his signature tricks; so to start of this lesson, I will give you a brief overlook into how to get started with some tapping using some scale you may recognise, and some that I’ve definitely heard Buckethead use. Don’t worry though, as I will put everything down in tab form so that it’s easy to follow and simple rather than assuming that you know the theory already.

Tab key:-

--4-- = pluck the string shown while fretting the string on the fret numbered

--h6- = hammer-on your finger onto the string on the fret numbered, doesn't require the string to be plucked

--p2- = pull-off your finger from the string shown to sound a note while fretting the string on the fret numbered

--t12- = tap on the fret numbered firmly with one of the fingers in your plucking hand

/ = Slide finger(s) up the fret-board to the fret shown

\ = Slide finger(s) down the fret-board to the fret shown

--9v- = use vibrato by wavering the string up and down by bending it to get a sort of wavy sound

Natural major scale/Ionian mode

E||------------------|------------------||------------------|------------------|
B||------------------|------------------||------------------|------------------|
G||------------------|------6----8----9-||-9----8----6------|------------------|
D||-----------6----7-|-9----------------||----------------9-|-7----6-----------|
A||-7----9-----------|------------------||------------------|-----------9---7--|
E||------------------|------------------||------------------|------------------|

Now here’s a tapping lick using just the notes from this scale I’ve just shown you. This scale is a happy sounding scale, so it is most likely that you will get a happy sounding lick from it, but be aware that this is not always the case, so feel free to experiment. Also listen very carefully to the notes you’re playing, just because some of the notes are played on different strings doesn’t mean they’re not a part of the scale.

E||------------------|------------------||------------------|-------------------|
B||------------------|------------------||------------------|-------------------|
G||------------------|------------------||------------------|-------------------|
D||------------------|------------------||-7--h11---t14--p11|-7--h11---t14--p11-|
A||-7--h11---t14--p11|-7--h11---t14--p11||------------------|-------------------|
E||------------------|------------------||------------------|-------------------|

Now, those of you how are currently studying music or have degrees in it will recognise that this is using what’s known as major triads; to those of you who don’t understand this, don’t worry because you’re not alone. What this basically means is that you are playing a traid (a three note sequence) with a major third in it (a note which is the third note in a scale which known as a major third, in other words the third note sounds happy when played along with the rest of the scale). That’s all there really is to it. To give you another example, here’s the same lick but using the natural minor scale which I’ve also put below.

E||------------------|------------------||------------------|------------------|
B||------------------|------------------||------------------|------------------|
G||------------------|-----------7----9-||-9----7-----------|------------------|
D||----------------7-|-9----10----------||----------10----9-|-7----------------|
A||-7----9----10-----|------------------||------------------|-----10----9----7-|
E||------------------|------------------||------------------|------------------|

And here’s the tapping lick using the natural minor scale, which is usually quite a sad and emotional sounding scale.

 
E||------------------|------------------||------------------|-------------------|
B||------------------|------------------||------------------|-------------------|
G||------------------|------------------||------------------|-------------------|
D||------------------|------------------||-7--h10---t14--p10|-7--h10---t14--p10-|
A||-7--h10---t14--p10|-7--h10---t14--p10||------------------|-------------------|
E||------------------|------------------||------------------|-------------------|

This one is using minor triads (because the third note in the three note tapping bit sounds sad). And that’s pretty much it for basic tapping. You can add various different notes to your tapping licks depending on how many fingers you have left to hit the strings with, and you can also incorporate things like slides and bends into your tapping, but all of this in on three different lessons on my profile, so you can look at those for the full overlook on how to use tapping if you’d like.

Next on the list of Buckethead’s list of signature tricks is undoubtedly the trick that seems to automatically label any guitarist as a shredder: alternate picking.

Now I’m not a master of alternate picking, in fact I’m still learning how to pull it off correctly, but I’ll show some of the tricks that I’ve been taught to help me improve my alternate picking technique. The biggest point I will make about it though is to start out slowly, as going too fast too soon will only lead to bad habits.

Alternate picking is where you strike the string with you pick when you are pulling your hand up as well as when you thrust you hand down at the strings. Below is a lick that I have written for a song that I’m okay with anybody using in practice or for teaching other people in a lesson. Each note is played using alternate picking. The trick is not really on how to get your hand to go backwards and forwards, but to make that movement as smooth as possible. You want to be able to predict the timing on both you upwards and downwards picking, as this will not only greatly increase the accuracy of your playing, but if you can retain that while you slowly speed up, then you will have the potential to play twice as fast with just the same precision if you keep working at it.

E||------------------|------------------||------------------|-------------------|
B||------------------|------------------||------------------|-------------------|
G||------------------|------------------||------------------|-------------------|
D||------------------|-7-9-10-9-7-5-7-9-||------------------|-7-9-10-9-7-5-7-9--|
A||-7-9-10-9-7-5-7-9-|------------------||-7-9-10-9-7-5-7-9-|-------------------|
E||------------------|------------------||------------------|-------------------|

After you’ve got the hang of this you can move onto some more advanced licks to help push your playing even further, but really , the toughest part with alternate picking is when you are hanging which string you are currently plucking, because the pick won’t always be moving in that direction already.

Okay then, now we get to the chromatics part of Buckethead’s playing. This is what he uses a lot of the time when he’s just doing a guitar solo on his own because of the feel of movement that this technique evokes. Be aware that this does not fit in with other scales and is often used to break up a song, so depending on it for a main riff is quite risky.

Basically a chromatic is phrases that stay the same but has every note in it pushed up or down each time it is played. This gives it the feeling that a phrase is being pushed out of phase while retaining its technicality. Here is an example of a chromatic phrase.

E|------------------|------------------||------------------|--------------------|
B|-----7-8-10-8-7---|------8-9-11-9-8--||----9-10-12-10-9--|-----10-11-12-11-10-|
G|-7-9------------9-|-8-10-----------10||9-11------------11|10-12-------------10|
D|------------------|------------------||------------------|--------------------|
A|------------------|------------------||------------------|--------------------|
E|------------------|------------------||------------------|--------------------|

Apart from this we have one more major aspect of Buckethead’s playing that I can teach you without having to buy any pedals. This is his emotional side of his playing. The best example of this for me is probably his track Soothsayer. Here he doesn’t play as many notes as he has in other songs, but it feels very emotional because he’s chosen the notes carefully from a scale he knows will work well with the song he’s playing.

Soothsayer is written in Natural Minor in A sharp, and this is the scale that Buckethead uses mainly throughout to give the song its mournful feeling. Below is a written tab of the scale in two octaves and some of the riffs from the song.

E||------------------|------------------||------------------|-------------------|
B||------------------|------------------||------------------|------------9---11-|
G||------------------|------------------||----------------8-|-10----11----------|
D||----------------1-|-3-----4----6---8-||-8----10---11-----|-------------------|
A||-1----3----4------|------------------||------------------|-------------------|
E||------------------|------------------||------------------|-------------------|

I will put the names of the parts along with them as well so that it isn’t just a garbled mess. Also be aware that you’ll have to listen to the songs for the timing as its quite hard to get precise timing from a tab in this form.

Soothsayer Opening clean riff

E||------------------|------------------||------------------|-------------------|
B||-----------11-----|-14\13-11--9/11\9-||----9----------7--|-6----7p6----------|
G||------10----------|------------------||-------8-------6--|-----------6v------|
D||--8---------------|------------------||-6-------------4--|-------------------|
A||------------------|------------------||------------------|-------------------|
E||------------------|------------------||------------------|-------------------|
 
E||------------------|------------------||------------------|-------------------|
B||-----------11-----|-14\13-11--9/11\9-||-------9-------6--|-------------------|
G||------10----------|------------------||----8----------6--|-------------------|
D||--8---------------|------------------||-6-------------4--|-------------------|
A||------------------|------------------||------------------|-------------------|
E||------------------|------------------||------------------|-------------------|

Soothsayer main opening riff overdriven

E||------------------|------------------||------------------|-------------------|
B||------------------|------------------||------------------|-------------------|
G||-3--------3-------|-6---6------------||-11---------------|-------------------|
D||-3--------3-------|-6---6------------||-11---------------|-------------------|
A||-1--------1-------|-4---4------------||-9----------------|-------------------|
E||------------------|------------------||------------------|-------------------|
 
E||------------------|------------------||------------------|-------------------|
B||------------------|------------------||------------------|-------------------|
G||-3--------3-------|-6---6------------||------------------|-------------------|
D||-3--------3-------|-6---6------------||-4----------------|------6-4-3--------|
A||-1--------1-------|-4---4------------||-4----------------|3-4-6-------4-3----|
E||------------------|------------------||-2----------1-2-4-|-------------------|

This should give you a good start in searching for what musical theory is going on behind the white mask and KFC Bucket with ‘Funeral’ emblazed upon it. If anybody feels that I’ve missed something out then let me know and I will gladly add it in another part of this lesson. I hope that this has helped some of you guys out there.

Take care and I’ll see you next time!