5 instrumental rock guitar licks by Alex Cordo (free tab)

Alex Cordo offers us 5 cool licks from his latest album to download for free. In an exclusive interview, the guitarist talks about his debut, his pedalboard and his experience with Guitar Pro 7.5. Let’s play!

“Here are five extracts from my last album, “Origami”. For the sound settings: we’re on lead, with a high gain enough to get some sustain, but not too high to keep a maximum of dynamic on the attack.

I sometimes set the gain high enough on the amp, while opening the volume control on the guitar a little bit to dose. You can also add a little delay to give depth.

The difficulty of the examples is progressive. ” Alex Cordo.

“5_instrumental_rock_licks_GuitarPro7.zip”
(click on the picture to download the zip file)

Lick 1

“Time_For_Redemption_GuitarPro7”
(Click on the image to download the Guitar Pro 7 file)

That’s the theme of Origami’s latest song: “Time For Redemption”. The climate is quite dark and the theme is built on a series of sixth intervals, which gives it a little classical connotation. There are few notes, but you have to take care of the quality of the attacks for each one and find the right vibrato. The vibrato evolves on the different parts of the theme: almost clear notes at the beginning, and more intense vibrato later in the piece.

Lick 2

“Hands_Up_GuitarPro7”
(Click on the image to download the Guitar Pro 7 file)

It’s one of the catchy tracks on the album and it’s the theme of the chorus I’m proposing here. A heady theme built on open strings. You have to vibrate on the long notes, to emphasize the syncopations.

Lick 3

“Sunny_Day_For_An_Opossum_GuitarPro7”
(Click on the image to download the Guitar Pro 7 file)

Don’t ask me where the title comes from! What I can say is that we’re dealing with a piece that is a bit “solar” in my opinion. Basically, it was a jingle I wrote for Guitar Part! We tackle the chorus here, which ends with an ascending scale on two strings built on the pentatonic scale of E major.

You have to respect the articulation to have the right phrasing: some notes are attacked, others played in pull-offs. You go from one position to the other with a slide, and you end in beauty with a bend.

Lick 4

“Above_The_Clouds_GuitarPro7”
(Click on the image to download the Guitar Pro 7 file)

That’s the end plan of “Above The Clouds”, one of the atmospheric tracks on the album. A plan based on a Paul Gilbert-like skipping pattern. You have to respect the articulation and above all the sense of the pick to the letter in order to pass it quietly.

Lick 5

“Memories_GuitarPro7”
(Click on the image to download the Guitar Pro 7 file)

There had to be a ternary piece, and that’s “Memories”! The lick presented here is situated in the middle of the song, a bit at its climax in terms of tension. And precisely, the harmony is very tense: we are on an altered C# chord and we move to a diminished arpeggio from 3 frets to 3 frets.

It is the sweeping technique that is used here, and once again, the sense of the pick must be respected. It is not superfluous to work each arpeggio in a loop on itself before moving on the neck!

The interview

• We’ve noticed that you transcribe all your compositions with Guitar Pro: why do you use Guitar Pro?
  
  I’ve been using Guitar Pro for years, not only to edit the scores of my compositions, but also for my lessons, my transcriptions, and Guitar Part columns (the magazine uses Guitar Pro files in its pages, by the way).
  
  It’s just THE reference in terms of guitar sheet music publishing. Editing is easy, fast (which is far from being the case with other softwares) and particularly adapted to guitar notation, which includes very specific things like bends or the use of the vibrato bar for example.
  
  It’s easy to use and very intuitive, although the software is very complete. In addition to the editor function, it’s also a great tool to work with: listen to a score of course but also slow down and transpose, make loops… and simply play with the very realistic virtual amps!
  
  The subscription to mysongbook.com, which gives access to a maximum of verified scores is also very practical.”
  
  
• What do you like about Guitar Pro 7.5?
  
  

“I’m won over by the new function that allows you to interact with the elements of the score by clicking directly on them, such as time signature, tempo, key, etc.

I’m very pleased with this new feature. It saves time and navigation is even more intuitive. And it’s fun!

The explorer (File > Browse) is also very handy for instantly finding a file, previewing and listening to it, which is really useful when you have a large database of scores.”