No. 29: Frank Zappa, Part I
This is my latest lesson for Premier Guitar magazine…long story short, I had so much fun working on this lesson, it will be the first in a series of Frank Zappa lessons. Part II, with video, coming soon!
This lesson simplifies Zappa’s ideas to make them more approachable and playable. Almost all of the examples begin on the downbeat, making them a bit stiff compared to Frank’s unpredictability, but easier to comprehend. I also repeated them several times, which Frank rarely did unless stating a theme or melody. This is the irony of Frank’s compositions versus his solos: The composed pieces are exacting and played meticulously, the solos are loose and performed with wild abandon.