OK, in case the title of these lessons is misleading, no one can solo
exactly like Buckethead.
A) because Buckethead is the almighty grand master
of guitar, and
B) everyone has their own individual style of playing.
However, I have made a few licks and exercises to help you come close to
recreating the Buckethead style. Please try to use them as an addition to
your style rather than as a way to copy Buckethead. All these examples are
played using a bridge humbucker pick-up and a compresser ideally.
Lesson 1: Speed Picking
To shred like Buckethead, you need to be able to pick fast and accurately.
In this lesson, I'll show you several Buckethead-like exercises, and then
put them all together to make a cool lick in the style of Buckethead.
Exercise 1: Tremolo
Before you start on any of the other exercises in this lesson I'd recommend
working on your tremolo picking. This will help you get used to the fast
wrist action. Make sure you're moving your hand, not your whole arm. Trust
me, your elbow will fall off. And we don't want anyone losing any arms...
yet. You can't get any faster than tremolo picking on one note. Take note of
how you find it most comfortable to hold the pick and where/how you're
anchoring your hand on the guitar, or if your floating your hand. You should
pick fast the same as how you pick slow. If you don't, your shred will not
be as good as it could be - when you're playing a solo, you need to be able to
speed up and slow down smoothly. If you change your picking action to go
fast, it will sound unhinged. Once you've got the tremolo picking down,
smoothly hitting the correct string only, at a constant speed, you'll be
ready to move on to the next excerise. (In the exercises, when tremolo
picking is used, I've shown it by putting 'tr' above the note.)
Exercise 2: Alternate Picking
Practicaly all of Bucketheads speed when he lets rip in a solo is alternate
picking. This is a good example of a Buckethead-like lick using alternate
picking, based around the E minor pentatonic scale:
e------------12-13-12--------
B---12-13-15----------15-13--
G---------------------------- (and repeat x8)
D----------------------------
A----------------------------
E----------------------------
Make sure that you use strict alternate picking, up, down, up, down, meaning
the new string is on an up pick. Once you get that mastered, you're on your
way.
Exercise 3: Ascending Lick
A classic ascending (ie: up) lick, this style of lick is heard in countless
Buckethead solos such as 'Binge And Grab' and 'Night Of The Slunk'. Once
again, strict alternate picking is required for this.
e------------12-13-15----------14-15-17----------15-17-19----------17-18-20-20b22~~-------
B---12-13-15----------14-15-17----------15-17-19----------17-18-20------------------------
G-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
D-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
E-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Exercise 4: Descending Lick
Another good example of a typical Buckethead descending (ie: down) lick.
Notice how the tremolo picked notes are thrown in to create an even faster
sounding lick. Each tremolo picked note should be played for the same amount
of time as it takes you to play all the other notes in the phrase, before
you hit the next tremolo picked note. Hope that's clear... if it isn't, read
it again ;-)
tr tr tr
e---20-20-18-17----------20-20-18-17----------19-19-17-15---------------------------------
B---------------20-18-17-------------20-18-17-------------19-17-15--17b19~~~~-------------
G-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
D-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
E-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A little note on descending licks: Descending licks sound faster than
ascending ones. Maybe 'cos I can pull-off faster than fret a note, but when
you play descending licks it really does sound like your doing a lot more
than you are. Try running down any minor Pentatonic scale using alternate
picking. It sounds like your shredding all over the place when actually your
just moving down a simple box shape.
Exercise 5: The Final Lick:
Now, put the last 3 exercises together to create this psycho-speed
Buckethead-like lick, and remember, strict alternate picking throughout. Try
to think of all speed solos like this - a collection of fast licks rather
than one massive section. The more licks you know, the faster and more
varied your solos will become.
e------------12-13-12----------------12-13-12----------------12-13-12----------------12-13-12
B---12-13-15----------15-13-12-13-15----------15-13-12-13-15----------15-13-12-13-15---------
G--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
D--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
E--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
e----------------12-13-12----------------12-13-12----------------12-13-12----------------12-
B-15-13-12-13-15----------15-13-12-13-15----------15-13-12-13-15----------15-13-12-13-15----
G-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
D-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
E-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
e-13-12----------------12-13-15----------14-15-17----------15-17-19----------17-18-20--
B-------15-14-12-13-15----------14-15-17----------15-17-19----------17-18-20-----------
G--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
D--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
E--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
tr tr tr
e-20-20-18-17----------20-20-18-17----------19-19-17-15------------------------
B-------------20-18-17-------------20-18-17-------------19-17-15-17b19~~~~~----
G------------------------------------------------------------------------------
D------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A------------------------------------------------------------------------------
E------------------------------------------------------------------------------
...and so concludes Lesson One.
Lesson Two: Advanced Taps
In this lesson I'll show you a few tapped sequences I made up/stole from a
song based on something I saw that sounds like Bucketheads trademark 'robot
tap' solos. There is already a great lesson with pictures on this site
showing how to do the infamous '6-finger' tap, so I'll leave that out.
Remember all of these exercises can be played anywhere on the neck, on any
strings.
Exercise 1: 4 and 5 finger sequences
I've based this on a number of vids I've seen where Buckethead appears to
use his index and middle fingers of his right hand to tap notes fretted with
his index, middle, and ring finger of his left hand. If you've never seen it
before, I'd advise trying to get hold of the first Rock In Rio 3 solo on
video, as you get a good close-up of the technique. Anyway, here's a little
sequence to practice using your index and middle finger to tap. Make sure
you always alternate fingers, so it's like: index, middle, index, middle.
This is a moveable pattern - move it up and down the neck and strings to
create a kinda robotic blur.
e---------------------------
B--------------------t13-9--
G--------t13-8-t12-7--------
D--t12-7--------------------
A---------------------------
E---------------------------
Exercise 2: 'Weird' Tap
I've called this one the weird tap because, ummm, it sounds kinda weird. I
made it up completly at random one day and it sounds kinda cool, so I've
included it in this lesson. For it to work properly, I hold my pick arched
inside my middle finger, like I discussed in my lesson on holding picks when
tapping. Then, I use my index finger to tap the A string and my ring finger
to tap the B string. However, play it however feels comfortable to you. Be
careful to advoid unwanted string noise because of the string skips. Try
muting with the fret hand, or use a Noisegate if you've got one. Remember,
this is just an example, extend it and play around with it...
e----------------------------------------------------------------------
B--------t13-7-------t13-9-------t13-11--------t13-12~~----------------
G----------------------------------------------------------------------
D----------------------------------------------------------------------
A--t12-5-------t12-7-------t12-9--------t12-10-------------------------
E----------------------------------------------------------------------
Exercise 3: Sliding Taps
This one rules! This is not a difficult exercise, as long as you can tap
fast. Simply tap a fret, pull-off, then hammer on with the fret hand, in the
classic Van Halen style. However, slide up the neck while doing it, so each
one of the phrases is only played once. Also, try not to worry about when
the exact moment is that you should be tapping, just tap fast and move
upwards, then downwards. This is difficult to show as a tab... but here's my
effort at it to give you an idea:
e----------------------------------------------------------------------
B----------------------------------------------------------------------
G--t9-3h5-t10-4h6-t11-5h7-t12-6h8-t13-7h9-t14-8h10--...and continue----
D----------------------------------------------------------------------
A----------------------------------------------------------------------
E----------------------------------------------------------------------
Exercise 4: Tremolo Tap
A simple but cool idea to end your tapping display. I can't show this in
tab, but I'll explain it. Tap as fast as you can, like mega-fast, on one
fret, eg, 17th on the B string. Then, with the left hand, slide from 2nd to
14th fret and back again as fast as you can without a break. This sounds
really frenzied. Try adding an octaviser to make a really weird robot
sound.
And that's it. Hope this helps you :-)