The late session legend and GP Studio Log columnist Tommy Tedesco’s 1979 book, For Guitar Players Only: Short Cuts in Technique, Sight Reading and Studio...
The late session legend and GP Studio Log columnist Tommy Tedesco’s 1979 book, For Guitar Players Only: Short Cuts in Technique, Sight Reading and Studio Playing (Dale Zdenek Publications), has long served as a bible for scores of bud- ding session players. Though times have changed, the information presented within its pages is still relevant for those wishing to hone their technique and sight reading chops. With that in mind, we present here a condensed Cliff ’s Notes-style overview of the book that offers an glimpse of its valuable content, with hopes that it inspires you to seek out a copy of this priceless tome (thankfully still in print, by Belwin Mills), and reap its wisdom.
PICK WISELY
In case you haven’t noticed, your choice of pick can drastically affect your tone. Try different thicknesses to hear and feel how each creates a different sound. Tommy would use a thick, stiff pick to get a softer note attack and a rounder tone (especially on nylon-string acoustic), and a thinner, more flexible pick for a brighter tone and a more “slappy” attack.
UPS & DOWNS
Alternate picking (down-up, or up-down) is hands down the most popular form of picking. This technique locks you in with the tempo and is typically employed with downstrokes on the strong downbeats and upstrokes on the weaker upbeats. Tommy ’s book contains a series of exercises designed to improve left- and right-hand synchronization, accuracy, and velocity. Examples 1a and 1b illustrate on the staff and in grid form—where the numbers indicate fingers—a one-finger-per-fret approach commonly used in position playing (more on that later). Though notated here in fifth position, this (and all) patterns can be played in any position. Don’t worry about reading the notes (yet); once you memorize the pattern, you can