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Help for a guitarist: Richard Fortus style playing.


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After following Richard for about 6 years now, i've never seen playing like his.

It seems to be a mixture of all different forms of rock and roll, there's some classic pentatonic in there, but he also delves into Eric Johnson style licks and so on!

Finally I want to head out of Slash land and move on into Fortus techniques!

EG: The Chords/ Interpretation of Knocking on Heavens door (The intro chords/verses improvisation, as well as the miniature solos implemented in the breakdown) There's a goldmine of licks and tricks in there!

Just thought it would be a nice thing to discuss.

Feel free to bring in Bumblefoot tips/licks.....DJ Doesn't really have anything new to offer in my opinion (Don't just bash!)

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@Forsaken.

Great to hear a responce, thought it was a rather difficult question but I was wondering what sort of guitarist/musical instrument community is on here!

Any chance some forms of scales could be specified, I know there's loads, but I have plenty of time to kill once my exams are over, and I want to go heavy into playing some more guitar!

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His KOHD intro is totally a rip-off from Hendrix Little Wing.

About his licks, its not uncommon from him to use the same Buckethead repetitive licks.

Under no circumstances do I want this to turn into a Fortus bashing thread.

For me, I hear very similarities in Little Wing and his improvisation, presumably Fortus uses Hendrix inspired licks.....who wouldn't!

Regardless, even if it is a "rip-off" like you oh so claim, he's managed to implement similar techniques into a complete different song!

Anyway...if you don't have anything helpful to say....I think we should leave it at that!

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He's really solid at hybrid picking it seems. He incorporates it to things that do not necessarily require it. I've noticed that a lot of the time in solos he uses his pinky to pluck the high E string just for that tone even when he plays the rest of the solo with a pick.

Another interesting thing is the guy uses a .50mm Tortex pick for rhythm playing, once again for the tone, I think, but switches over to a Jazz III for solos! Not a lot of guitarists do that.

He also seems to prefer low output pickups, and a variety of amps, and has the most complex rig in the band. Think boutique and analog gear, although there's some TC Electronic product in there too.

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He's really solid at hybrid picking it seems. He incorporates it to things that do not necessarily require it. I've noticed that a lot of the time in solos he uses his pinky to pluck the high E string just for that tone even when he plays the rest of the solo with a pick.

Another interesting thing is the guy uses a .50mm Tortex pick for rhythm playing, once again for the tone, I think, but switches over to a Jazz III for solos! Not a lot of guitarists do that.

He also seems to prefer low output pickups, and a variety of amps, and has the most complex rig in the band. Think boutique and analog gear, although there's some TC Electronic product in there too.

Now that's a good answer! Any advancement on that?!

Yeah, I caught one of his picks in Manchester, and it's a really thick Dunlop, had a look on their site and they say he's a frequent user of the Jazz picks which is pretty cool.

The hybrid picking is something that....(for me as a guitarist) is something that can really flesh out a solo or song, are there any good lessons/videos on it going around?

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He's really solid at hybrid picking it seems. He incorporates it to things that do not necessarily require it. I've noticed that a lot of the time in solos he uses his pinky to pluck the high E string just for that tone even when he plays the rest of the solo with a pick.

Another interesting thing is the guy uses a .50mm Tortex pick for rhythm playing, once again for the tone, I think, but switches over to a Jazz III for solos! Not a lot of guitarists do that.

He also seems to prefer low output pickups, and a variety of amps, and has the most complex rig in the band. Think boutique and analog gear, although there's some TC Electronic product in there too.

Now that's a good answer! Any advancement on that?!

Yeah, I caught one of his picks in Manchester, and it's a really thick Dunlop, had a look on their site and they say he's a frequent user of the Jazz picks which is pretty cool.

The hybrid picking is something that....(for me as a guitarist) is something that can really flesh out a solo or song, are there any good lessons/videos on it going around?

Here's a good vid where he improvises using his fingers a lot, but also strums with the pick at points.

Really nice stuff :thumbsup: It seems hes so used to hybrid picking that he can pretty much blend his use of the pick & fingers as he wishes at any point.

Search YouTube for hybrid picking lessons :)

He also is great at alternate picking. At the end of the NR solo he plays a neat pentatonic shred run:

Remember, in the end he is a session guitarist and has to be able to cover many styles and tones, play in time, improvise, use dynamics like in the above vid, know his gear, and handle his theory: although he does not seem to use a ton of modes in soloing, he probably could. I bet he can read music too although that's not necessary for playing like him.

And this is a good interview of his philosophy:

He also has a killswitch in his Les Pauls in place of the pickup switch but oddly enough never uses that... he's moved the pickup switch to the place of one of the volume pots. I believe Richard got that idea of moving the pickup switch from Robin Finck who started doing it to his Les Pauls in NIN in the nineties and continued that with GNR, but Robin never used a killswitch.

And then DJ Ashba took Richard's wiring scheme to all of his Les Pauls.

And that's all I know I guess.

Edited by Jyrgen
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@Jyrgen

I can not count how many times i've watched the first video! I absolutely love it, i've even got it saved on my iPod as an MP3!

Yeah, I noticed just how locked down he's got his picking strokes when moving all around the neck, he seems to be able to perform really melodic shreds, something which I rarely see!

Great stuff you've linked me to! If you find any more let me know!

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I dont think Richard has his own unique specific style, in an interview he just stated that he loves playing all different styles. I dont think this answers your question but to me I dont find his style unique, just a combination of everyone elses unlike say Slash whos more bluesy, heavily influenced in that area.

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His KOHD intro is totally a rip-off from Hendrix Little Wing.

About his licks, its not uncommon from him to use the same Buckethead repetitive licks.

Under no circumstances do I want this to turn into a Fortus bashing thread.

For me, I hear very similarities in Little Wing and his improvisation, presumably Fortus uses Hendrix inspired licks.....who wouldn't!

Regardless, even if it is a "rip-off" like you oh so claim, he's managed to implement similar techniques into a complete different song!

Anyway...if you don't have anything helpful to say....I think we should leave it at that!

Too much sensitive?

I didn't bash Richard. I think he is a great guitar player and I do like to hear his leads, even though I don't think he is that original. I was only replying to you about the things you asked for.

When I said "rip-off" I was more joking than really anything else. But still, what he does in KOHD is hardly something original, as he indeed uses Hendrix and Buckethead licks and style there.

He also uses that bend-release-bend that goes from half step up and down and then to a full note A LOT in any improvisation (but its also found on Bucket's If the World solo on the record). His improvisations are often using the same pattern when he does that picking-fingering with a bend, something out of his country influence, I guess.

He also has a killswitch in his Les Pauls in place of the pickup switch but oddly enough never uses that...

He uses it on his solo spots, when he finishes the shredding part before going to the structured jam with the rest of the band. But I guess its more useful for him to cut his guitar's signal when he's not playing, I guess.

And Ashba uses it too, heard him using it in one of those last shows. It wasn't a big deal, just a not so fast killswitch thing - again, I guess it was on his solo spot.

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@ stumbleine I'm sorry but just LOL.

If anyone finds anything, be sure to post! I'll end up watching anything if it's helpful.

@ stumbleine I'm sorry but just LOL.

If anyone finds anything, be sure to post! I'll end up watching anything if it's helpful.

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First off, this is going to sound douche-ish, but I promise it's not. You shouldn't be trying to sound/play like anyone. Be original. Write and create your own stuff and develop your own style.

I think Richard just inspires him. No harm in that.

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First off, this is going to sound douche-ish, but I promise it's not. You shouldn't be trying to sound/play like anyone. Be original. Write and create your own stuff and develop your own style.

Well, knowing how other people play, can actually help you to create your own style. It's like "you can't break the rules, if you don't know what the rules are". :)

And I have nothing else to contribute to this thread. I love Richards playing, but don't know anything about it. When I play, I just slap powerchords together and that's it.

Edited by jekylhyde
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His KOHD intro is totally a rip-off from Hendrix Little Wing.

About his licks, its not uncommon from him to use the same Buckethead repetitive licks.

Under no circumstances do I want this to turn into a Fortus bashing thread.

For me, I hear very similarities in Little Wing and his improvisation, presumably Fortus uses Hendrix inspired licks.....who wouldn't!

Regardless, even if it is a "rip-off" like you oh so claim, he's managed to implement similar techniques into a complete different song!

Anyway...if you don't have anything helpful to say....I think we should leave it at that!

Voodoo child's just jealous that Fortus gets paid big $$ to rip off hendrix on stage, while he's stuck doing it for free in his bedroom...

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