White Pass Trail Lesson

Introduction

So here we go with the White Pass Trail, which starts with a kind of a rolling Celtic type pattern.

Techniques and Patterns

Left Hand Momentum

• There is a lot of hammers and pulls.
• Feel the momentum of the piece from what the left hand is doing.
• The accents come from some of these hammers.

Section Breakdown

• B Flat Bass Note: The same pattern comes over a B flat bass note and then a C.
• Low F Bend: Just a little bit of a bend on that low F.

Frailing Pattern

• Moves into a frailing pattern.
• Lightly brush the strings, hitting the bass note, and then a downward strum with the back of the second fingernail.
• A bit of an up and down strumming motion is occurring.

Expanding Melody and Strum

• The melody expands while keeping the frailing going.
• A strum comes up to signal the end of the first section of the tune.

B Section

Introduction to the B Section

• The B section, which follows, gets a little tricky.
• It has a strum happening on the C chord followed by an octave pattern.

Octave Pattern

• Hammering, hitting the octave above, and then pulling off.
• Here's how it goes: "I'll do that slowly like that."

Moving Up the Neck

• Moves up the neck. This section is pretty tricky.
  • Hammering
  • Sliding
  • Sliding back
  • Pulling off

Repetition and Power Chords

• The whole pattern repeats.
• Like in "Cobalt Blue," strum using little power chords.
• Strumming the bottom three strings with the back of the first finger.

Distant Train Impression

Creating the Sound

• A whole episode in this piece gives the impression of a distant train.
• I've got a bend with a little bit of vibrato.
  • "I try and take my time on that and just let it die out naturally."
• After that, I slide up to a unison off the open string.

Unique Lick

• The particular lick is done a little differently every time, embodying a "bluesy, slightly Celtic" feel.

Percussive Section

Technique Overview

• In this section, I hit the bass note with my index finger, followed by a finger slap of the 12th fret to bring out the harmonics.
• Using hammers and pulls to punctuate it.

Keeping the Rhythm

• Slides up in the bass, keeping the rhythm going, while also hammering.
• Using the backs of the fingernails to get little strums.

Aggressive Section

Building Intensity

• This is where it gets aggressive; do a hit here and a hit here.
• Just strumming and pulling up, leading to a busy hammer-pull pattern.
• The last note is played by strumming down for a muted pattern.

Returning to the Pattern

• Return to this pattern and repeat, which brings back the strum.

Final Licks

Closing the Lesson

• Slowly slide on the second and fifth strings from the 10th fret to the 12th fret, picking strings four and one open.
• The final lick involves raking across the strings using my thumb, followed by some power chords back to the original riff.

Harmonic Analysis

Simplicity and Complexity

• Looking at the harmonic point of view, there's not a lot of complexity.
• We have this C shape in DADGAD since everything on the first two strings and the bottom string is tuned a whole step lower.

Impressionistic Quality

• The melody evolves by playing the strings across the chord.
• The B flat bass note with a G, A, and D on top gives a rich B flat major 7 with an added 6.
• Some interesting textures arise from using open strings to generate extra overtones.

Conclusion

And there's the White Pass Trail with a nice strum at the end!