Guitar Interactive Magazine | 2 years ago

BARS 1-4:

We're kicking off with some gospel-esque rhythm work. For this, use the middle position on your humbucker guitar, and regulate the level of distortion using your right-hand attack. One very cool takeaway from this section is the way Marcus uses semitone chord slides - this little trick sounds very sophisticated, but is actually very simple! It also works on any chord type - as you can see here, we're doing it on major and minor 7ths, but you can use this trick with dominant 7ths, m7b5, altered chords… you name it!

Keep your eyes peeled for the lick in bar 4 - this is an example of how pentatonic box 1 can be used to spice up a m9 chord!

BARS 5-12:

A more stripped back approach to the same chord progression, that's maybe more indicative of the sort of thing Marcus would play to support a vocal - there are still some tasteful fills, but nothing too outrageous. Something to keep in mind when trying this stuff out live!

BARS 13-16:

A little soul-inspired turnaround with some common voicings that are worth having in your repertoire. The sliding line in bar 13 is something you can use to ornament any E-shaped major or minor chord. The B11 in bar 15 is the classic "Carole King" voicing (no relation) that's a must have in any guitar player's chord library.

BARS 17-20:

On to the slide section! Some general performance notes here - you'll want to use your right hand fingers to sound the notes in these licks, so you can dampen unwanted noise from neighbouring strings. Also, aim for a time feel that's more "rubato" and less "Roboto" - don't be afraid to float around the beat instead of nailing the subdivisions. Also, switch to the bridge pickup and roll the tone control back about halfway.

Something to be careful of is the "fall-offs" at the end of the lines here. Be sure not to hang around too long on any of the notes in these "fall-offs", and be quick and decisive with your slides here.

BARS 21-24:

Here, we're transitioning onto the high E string - one of the more difficult strings to play side on because there isn't a string either side of it to support the slide. Be careful with your touch, and don't freak out if you accidentally "fret out" the occasional note - Derek Trucks does this all the time, and it sounds great!

BARS 25-28:

Multiple compound "fall-offs" here! If you can, try and play all the notes on the B string with just one "pluck" (ie: pick the first note and try not to pick the string again).

BARS 29-32:

Time to ditch the slide and kick on the fuzz for some high octane blues rock soloing! Stay on the bridge pickup, but roll the volume and tone controls up full. Keep a lookout for the repeated figure in bar 31 - it's a 6-note figure phrased as 16th notes, so the start of the lick moves subdivisions on each repetition.

BARS 33-36:

Some really frenetic stuff to finish up, starting with a really cool bending trick in bar 33. Here, we quickly release the bend and then bend up again without re-picking, then pick the note at the top of the bend. It takes a bit of getting used to, but it's a very cool sound that's worth mastering.

Grammy-nominated blues virtuoso Marcus King is a player with extraordinary depth and breadth to in his repertoire. While his most recent album, 2022's "Young Blood" is pure fuzz-soaked blues rock, Marcus is equally well versed in jazz, soul and gospel, along with his superb vocal slide playing. In short, I'd be doing him a disservice if this tech session simply focussed on his latest output. To this end, this tech session is divided into three distinct sections - the first being a study of the gospel-style comping heard on the earlier Marcus King Band albums, particularly 2016's eponymous release, "The Marcus King Band". The second part of this session focuses on Marcus's outstanding Duane Allman-esque slide work, while the final section looks at the fuzz-laden barrelhouse soloing heard on King's most recent release. But before we get stuck in, let's take a look at the gear we used to get the tones in this session.