Steve Morse Dixie Licks

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DixieFlyer Takea tourof Steve Morse'ssmokin'Southern steel olantas he licks,downchurnsout a dazzling seriesof rippin'chicken-pickin' homeslidesand bluesvbends. BY JIüMY BROWI{ MoRsE, oNEof rock's most innovaSTEVE t¡ve and well-roundedgu¡tarists,is constantly expandinghis musical hor¡zons through d¡ligentstudy, creat¡veexperi mentionand prolificoutput.After finishing record¡nghis latest solo album, Coast Io Coast(MCA),Morse sat down and sharedsome of the secrets behind his monstroustechnique.This lesson exploresbut a few of the many aspects of Steve's multi-facetedgu¡tarstyle and vocabulary. vasttechn¡cal A LTE R T { A T E P I C X I G

The cornerstoneof Steve's technical arsenal¡s his fast, clean alternatep¡ck¡ng technique,wh¡chenables h¡m to achievehis scorchlngrock lead attack, fast countrypoppingand rhythm¡cally complexcounterpo¡nt.Havingmade up his mind to oerfect his Dlectrumtechn¡queatthe tenderageof 15, Stevewas soon winningbluegrasslatp¡cking contests and dazzlingaud¡encesthroughout the Southeastw¡th h¡s extraordinary chops. To understand the mechanics of lvorse's pick¡ngtechn¡que,we mustfrst take a look at h¡s unorthodoxr¡ght-hand oosture.Morse holds his oick between h¡s thumb, index and middle fingers (Photo A). This three-fingeredgrip pro' videsh¡mmax¡mumcontroloverthe pick and enableshim to qu¡cklyrevertto tatr p¡ng or touching harmon¡csw¡th the ¡ndexfingerwithouthavjngto reposition PHOfO É his hand.Notehow he rests his pinkyon the front of the guitar. Anchor¡ngnis ldon't have to work as hard to get a pinkythis way provideshis pickinghand goodsound.Thus,I tendto becomelazy w¡thgreaterstab¡l¡tyand a close point of and relyon the amp. I've foundthat if I reference,Steveoften uses his p¡nkyfor pract¡cethat way all the t¡me, I don't volumeor tone swells(PhotosB and C) soundas goodwhenI playclean.That's and for flick¡ng the p¡ckup selector whyI alwaysdo a certainamountof prac Ern¡e t¡c¡ngwith either a clean sound or no switcheson h¡s custorn-designed " Ball/Mus¡clvlanSteveMorsegu¡tar. amplificat¡on. Palm mut¡ngis also an ¡ntegralaspect Morseis verydiscipllnedaboutprac' technique.l\4uting tic¡ng.believingthat goodtechniqueis of lvorse's r¡ght-hand is what enablesthe D¡x¡edemonto p¡ck an essent¡al part of developingand fast, squeakycleanruns without annoy- express¡ng musicalideas.To avoidbore ing string noise.PhotoD shows Steve's dom and to keep his chops fresh, he right-handmut¡ngposture.Note howthe usuallyvarieshis practiceregimendarheelof h¡s palmcoversall s¡xstrings. ly. "l tend to get boredwith mechanical "Pract¡c¡ngthrough a loud, distorted practice,so lchange my practicerou amp helps remind me of the necessity tine all the t¡me.Onething l ll often do of mut¡ng,"Steve says. "l've noticed, is focus on a particularweaknessand however,thatwhen I playw¡thd¡stort¡on, composean exercisethat will attackthe üaY

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problem.Thal irpgs Keepme from getting bored. | ó,c. 'o.eaer. tend to fall backon cena - 'c-'-'! ||afmupexerc¡ses, espec¡ar! ñ'.!. I n¡ stand¡ngaround, waitingwrth ñ) gu{ar duringa soundcheck wathrh \olurne tumed down." sclLEs/IRPEGGTOS To keep ¡ s DcHngchopsin top form, lüorse consiantly praclices scales and arpeggios.-l defnrtely feel their beneficial effecls on my overallspeed and easeof e¡ecLitron-Stevebackedup his words b) systemat¡callytearingthrough tf'e se\e. d atonicmodesofthe A major modew¡th scale(Flg.1). Beg¡nningeach the Index r¡nger on the 6th str¡ng, he ascended and descendedtwo octaves across all six stringsIn a single posi tion.usingstrictalternatepicking."l nor-

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"lally run througheach mode posit¡on tw¡ce,the first time beginn¡ngon a down_ stroke,the secondt¡mebeginning on an upstroke."lvlorsecontinUed."l also prac_ tice d¡fferentfingeringsfor eachmode... Figure,2 depicts three d¡fierent f¡nger, ¡ngs Steve demonstratedfor a üooctave A major scale. He applies tnrs

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same fingeringapproachto each mode. "Another great picking exercise that also soundskindacool is sequencing a Scalar pattern up the neck on two str¡ngs." Steve demonstrates tnrs approachby playinga climbingsextuptet run on the 6th and 5th strings ¡n the key of F, movingup the neck in qu¡ckDos¡-

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tion shifts (Fig.3). Noticethe ¡nterest¡ng melod¡ccontourhere.Morse often uses this typeof ascendingrun to br¡nga solo to a dramaticclimax. Figure4 depictsa technicallydemand tng stt¡ng4rossing exercise Steve Dract¡ces. Each note falls on a different string, requiringthe p¡ckinghandto work ovenimeto keep up. This patternis also good for stretchingthe left hand. Stevewent on to demonstratehow he comb¡nestwo overlappingpentatonic "box" patternsto create a ,.superbox' that conta¡nsdoublednotes on adjacent strings (F¡9.5). Takingadvantageof nrs wide left-handreach, [Iorse often uses such patternsto create unusuallicís and melod¡esthat containlots of repeat_ ed notes, He demonstrateda verymusF cal appl¡cationof the super box Dattern shown in Figure5 by ptayinga variat¡on or rne open¡ngmelodyfrom the Dixie Dregstune "Holiday"lFree Fat\lFig. q. PhotosE and Fdepicthis approachó f¡n_ ger¡ng the doubled A and E notes, respectively. STRIl{GBE1{DIf{G/VIBRATO Anotherkey aspectof Morse,smuscular lead style ¡s his hightydevetopedst/,'ng bend¡ng and ylbfato technique. Recall h¡s w¡ndow-shattering soto in "Bloodsucking Leeches' llndustry Standaq. He ends just about every btister¡ng pnrasew¡th a screamingbend, followed by a brill¡ant,violin-esquevibrato. Steve often uses several f¡ngers to bend a s¡ngle s|fing lrcinforced finEering) lFig. 7. Photo c). Not¡ce how ne hooksh¡sthumboverthe top sideof the fretboardwh¡lepush¡ngthe str¡ngwith atl four fingers.Thethumbfunctionsas an

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anchor,keepingthe left hand stable as the f¡ngersrepeatedlypush and release the string. To maintain his finger strengthfor bending,Stevedoes "string pushups"with each individualf¡nger. Photo H shows h¡m bend¡ngsteel w¡th just his pinky!To bend or shake a note on one of the lowerstrings,he'll usually pull the string downward,as opposed to pushingit upward. Whileon the subjectofstring bending, Steve played a cool, country-sounding obliquebend(Fig.8, Photol), frettingan unbentC# noteon the 1st stringwithhis p¡nkywh¡lebendinga G noteon the 2nd string up a whole step w¡th his ring and ¡ndexfingers. The bright, major sound producedby this bend is characteristic of pedal-steelgu¡tarmus¡c. "l've heard Albert Lee play this type of bend many t¡mes.Thekeytomakingit soundlikean authent¡ccountry bend ¡s to pluck the stringswith your f¡ngers"lPhoto -ll.

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More than just a virtuoso flatpicker, Morse is also very sk¡lled aI fingerp¡cking, hav¡ngstud¡edboth class¡calguitar and banjo; the latter providedthe founchops. dationfor his chicken-o¡ckin' "We just recordeda countrytune on the new albumthat's basedon a clas" said Steve. sicafsoundingprogression, He then played a twangy country l¡ck us¡ng his bare thumb and fingers to pluck the str¡ngs (Fig. 9). Note the nding sophisticated, c lassical-sou chordal movementand use of pedalsteel-like oblioue bends-a oerfect example of Morse's unjque cross-poll¡nat¡onof two completelydifferentstyles.

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