These days, “Neo-classical” gets a bad rap from many players, but in its prime, the neo-classical movement inspired an era of innovation and accelerated evolution in the world of guitar.
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These days, “Neo-classical” gets a bad rap from many players, but in its prime, the neo-classical movement inspired an era of innovation and accelerated evolution in the world of guitar.
Spearheaded by Yngwie Malmsteen and Randy Rhoads, inspired by Uli Jon Roth and Ritchie Blackmore (and Bach, Mozart, Paganini, etc.) and taken to its heights by Jason Becker, Marty Friedman, Tony MacAlpine and the other early Shrapnel Records artists, the neo-classical period in modern rock guitar was a time of previously unimaginable technical progress and harmonic inventiveness.
Why? Because it was fun to play and sounded cool!
One of the coolest components of the neo-classical sound, which will work in all musical styles, is the use of pedal points (AKA pedal tones: repeating, static notes. Think the first half of the “Crazy Train” riff or the Halloween theme). And since no discussion of neo-classical musical theory would be complete without some Italian terminology, the following examples in E harmonic minor (E, F#, G, A, B, C, D#) use pedal points in ostinato-type phrasing, with a repeating musical pattern.
Getting fluent with this type of phrasing can add a thematic element to your playing and help you create attention-grabbing passages that will bring your improvisations to new musical heights. EXAMPLE 1 uses the E note at the 12th fret on the high E string as its pedal tone, and the ostinato is the “12-11-12." The first note of each 16th note group changes with every beat. Use your index finger for all of the changing notes except use your middle finger for the A (10th fret) on the B string.
EXAMPLE 2 contains a larger ostinato in the groupings of the high E string notes with a pinky note pedal point,