Understanding Pete’s guitar style

The power chord

(i.e., 1st and 5th of the chord, e.g., x02xxx,as well as the first, fifth and octave, e.g., x022xx); but more so, it’s the “hermaphrodite” chord that contains no 3rd; that is, no major or minor tonality —e.g., for A: x02255, E: 022400, G: 3(t)x0033 (t=thumb). The bass and vocals are then free to determine the major/minor tonality of the passage. (To eliminate errant notes, Pete often uses his thumb to wrap around to either play a the bass note of a chord, such as G, or to block the E or A string from ringing, such as A: x022xx; see Power chords and windmills, below, and Chord fingering – Pete style.)

Pete’s theory about this is that true tube amp distortion adds harmonic colorization to the notes in a chord. According to Pete, the distortion actually adds a second- and third-harmonic overtones, so, the first note you hear is the third, the second note is the fourth and the last note is the fifth. When the third is actually played, you end up with a note a fourth higher than the third, which, according to Pete, gives a C13.

I couldn’t tell you if Pete’s math is right, as I don’t really know theory too well, but I do know it ends up sounding like dissonant mush. Regardless, the theory won’t apply to a transistor (solid state) amp, because they don’t create harmonic distortion, or to an acoustic. However, Pete has defined his unique acoustic style using this chording method, even though it doesn’t exhibit the same harmonic overtone effect as when using an amp.

In addition, the practice transferred into his writing style, where, in essence, he rarely wrote a song in a true minor key.

For more information on chord fingering, see Chord fingering – Pete style.

Acoustic underlayment of everything

… in a percussive style. [also: it’s usually miked so that the microphone is aimed at about the 12th fret, not the soundhole, so you get much more of the string sound, which lends itself to the percussive feel of the acoustic.] With the acoustic used as either the up-front or the rhythm instrument beginning with Sell Out and becoming fully realized in post-Tommy albums, because of the nature of the interplay between the bass, drums and electric guitar, the acoustic provides the foundation and propels the track, allowing everything else to fly in cacophony around it. The best way to describe it is fluidity. On tracks where there’s both an electric and acoustic, the electric is usually playing block chords on the beat, and the acoustic then is driving the track with fills and flourishes of 16th- and 32nd-note runs. The bridge (“when my fist clenches...”) of Behind Blue Eyes, where the electric is on the beat and the acoustic is in front of it playing fills, is a perfect example. Another is the instrumental Quadrophenia, with its multiple electric and acoustic guitars complementing and contrasting each other.

For a showcase of the acoustic, check out a song like Bargain, where the acoustic propels the song, driving the beat yet playing around it, too. The rhythmic fills, which incorporate the next point (Leading in front of the first beat), make it interesting and ensure there’s no monotony.

Furthermore, this acoustic style transferred to his general rhythm style — where the emphasis is on the driving the song through the guitar — quite effectively. To hear an example, turn the balance to the right on Sea and Sand from Quadrophenia, and listen to the outro. Yes, it’s the same three-chord pattern (as mentioned below in The V, IV, I chord progression), but the slight shifts every few measures provide a unique and interesting rhythm pattern, not the same monotony for two minutes. (The electric Love Ain’t For Keeping from the remastered Odds and Sods and Baby Don’t You Do It from the remastered Who’s Next are other good examples; during the solos, turn the balance to the right (or left for Baby Don’t You Do It), away from Leslie West’s lead, and listen to Pete’s playing to get a feel for his rhythm style.)

From the October 1989 issue of Guitar Player

When you do your flamenco-style strumming, how rigid do you keep your picking hand?

It’s quite slack. I’m using quite a heavy pick — a Manny’s heavy — but I’m not actually holding it. It’s floating, just literally being held in space [laughs]. It’s a trad banjo technique [sings twangy strums], a ukulele/banjo technique that lends itself to the guitar quite well, although I think it’s one of the things that has inhibited me being able to play faster, because I’m using such a heavy pick and I’m holding it in such a strange way.

Leading in front of the first beat

32nd notes functioning as rhythm fills, e.g., the opening of Athena — the best way to describe it is: duh-duh Duh, with the last Duh being on the beat, the duh-duh leading up to it after the 4th of the measure.

[Example, with 4/4 timing; the e & uh represent 8th and 16th notes in between:]

time: 1 e & uh 2 e & uh 3 e & uh 4 e & uh 1 e & uh 2 e & uh 3 e & uh 4 e & uh
     |-------------------------------5/5-|5----------------------------------|
     |-------------------------------5/5-|5----------------------------------|
     |-------------------------------2/2-|2----------------------------------|
     |-------------------------------2/2-|2----------------------------------|
     |-------------------------------0/0-|0----------------------------------|
     |-----------------------------------|-----------------------------------|

You’ll find examples of this throughout both Pete’s and John’s playing — and it’s not limited to the intro of songs. Rather, flourishes before the beat can be found on most any Who track, especially those with an acoustic underlayment. Drowned performed live on solo acoustic comes to mind as a perfect example.

Another take on this component is leading the beat completely, in that the chord is played in front of the beat, not as a means for leading up to the beat. A basic example from 5:15, where the guitar and bass precede the beat on the “4&,” whereas the drum accents the “1” Though difficult to represent in tablature, listening to the record will give you a good idea of this element:

  & 1    2     3    4    1                          
   |F          C        |G                     |
---|--------------------|----------------------|
--6|--------------------|----------------------|
--5|-----------5--------|----------------------|
--3|-----------5--------|5---------------------|
--3|-----------3--------|5---------------------|
---|--------------------|3---------------------|
[bass]
---|--------------------|----------------------|
--3|------------------5-|5---------------------|
---|---------3-3--------|----------------------|
---|--------------------|----------------------|

The suspended fourth

Dsus4 is one of Pete’s most common chords. You’ll find examples of the suspended fourth throughout many, if not most, of Pete’s compositions. A song like Pinball Wizard relies completely on the interplay of suspended chords.

Another example, prevalent in Tommy and elsewhere, is the “passing” chord. This is used as a means for embellishing the root chord by adding on the fourth (and technically, the sixth). Examples include the G to G/C shift: 3x0003 to 3x2013; A to D/A: x02220 to x04230; and less so, E to A/E: 022100 to 042200. Other passing chords include the second/ninth (such as Dsus2: xx0230; and Asus2: x02200).

Feedback as a musical element

This started on stage with Pete’s setup (Dave Davies and Jeff Beck were also doing this at the same time) of a semi-hollow Rickenbacker (stuffed with paper) and a waist-high speaker cabinet connected to a 100-watt amp. Early records used close- and room-miking techniques — paired with a Fender Pro and Fender Bassman — to try to capture this sound on tape. Anyway Anyhow Anywhere and My Generation are the earliest and best-known examples.

He perfected the sound on record for Who’s Next with his setup of the ’59 Gretsch 6120 Chet Atkins Hollow Body into Whirlwind cable into Edwards Pedal Steel volume pedal into ’59 Fender 3x10 Bandmaster amplifier, all a gift from Joe Walsh.

The pedal note

Either high or low: Substitute and Sparks with their pedaled eighth-note open D; Dr Jimmy and Punk and the Godfather from Quadrophenia with pedaled open A (The Dirty Jobs is the same chord progression as Dr. Jimmy, just with the capo on 3, meaning the pedal is C); You Better You Bet with the high G under C, Fadd9 and G.

[Example from Substitute:]

|D   D A/D      |G/D   D D      |D   D  A/D     |G/D   D D      |
|5---2---5-----3|--3-----2------|5---2---5-----3|--3-----2------|
|7---3---5-----3|--3---3-3------|7---3---5-----3|--3---3-3------|
|7---2---6-----4|--4---2-2------|7---2---6-----4|--4---2-2------|
|0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0|0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0|0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0|0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0|
|---------------|---------------|---------------|---------------|
|---------------|---------------|---------------|---------------|

Arpeggiated chords

Examples include: Behind Blue Eyes; Naked Eye; Tattoo; I’m a Boy; Sparks and Underture

The above are certainly strict examples, but arpeggios can also be found sprinkled throughout songs like the intro to the Overture. Arpeggios involve fingering the chord but playing each note individually while allowing all notes to ring throughout. Somewhere in between a full chord and an individual picking of the note. The first three examples demonstrate the broader arpeggiation, where each note is succinctly seated as a measured note (e.g., 8th or 16th note), whereas I’m A Boy, Sparks and the Overture intro (acoustic part) provide far tighter arpeggios, essentially lengthening the chord across the beat.

[Example from Tattoo:]

|Bb+b5       |Fmaj7       |Cadd9       |Bbadd9+b5   |Bbadd9+b5   |
|---0-----0--|---0-----0--|---0-----0--|---0-----0--|---0-----0--|
|--6-6---6-6-|--6-6---6-6-|--3-3---3-3-|--1-1---1-1-|--1-1---1-1-|
|-7-----7----|-5-----5----|-5-----5----|-3-----3----|-3-----3----|
|8-----8-----|7-----7-----|5-----5-----|3-----3-----|3-----3-----|
|------------|------------|------------|------------|------------|
|------------|------------|------------|------------|------------|

[Example from I’m A Boy, with timing indicators]

|A                    |Esus4       E           |
|1     2    3    4    |1      2    3      4    |
|----0----------------|-----0-----------0------|
|---2-----------------|----0-----------0-------|
|--2------------------|---2-----------1--------|
|-2-------------------|--2-----------2---------|
|0--------------------|-2-----------2----------|
|---------------------|0-----------0-----------|

The I, VII, IV chord progression

Examples include Real Me: C Bb F; Sister Disco, Sea and Sand or Won’t Get Fooled Again: A G D; 5:15: G F C; and countless others.

Conversely, the I, IV, V chord progression (very common in rock music) pretty much gets you the rest of the catalog: e.g., Baba O’Riley: F C Bb; Squeeze Box: G C D; You Better You Bet: C Fadd9 G;

The capo

To allow open chording in any key. Usually on 1, 3 or 5, though some have it on 2 or 7. Often, there will be two or three guitars on a track, all of them with different capo settings or tunings. A good example is Love Reign O’er Me, in which the acoustic is capoed at the first fret, and the electric is tuned down a half step to Eb.

Examples with 1:

Baba O’Riley,

Love Reign O’er Me (acoustic),

Join Together.

Examples with 2:

However Much I Booze,

Imagine A Man,

Sheraton Gibson,

Glow Girl

Examples with 3:

5:15,

The Real Me,

Had Enough,

I Don’t Even Know Myself,

Another Tricky Day

Examples with 5:

Drowned,

Is It In My Head? (acoustic),

Dogs,

Keep Me Turning

Examples with 7:

Going Mobile,

Bargain (acoustic),

Blue Red and Grey (ukulele arr. for guitar)

For more information, see How to Read Transcriptions – the capo.

Leads with the 5th and major 3rd of the chord

Examples include: See Me Feel Me and Naked Eye solos: C: xx5x5x).

This can be applied to scales too, with the blurring of major and minor pentatonic leads, regardless of the tonality of the chord (for an example, see Relay, where the chord is E major, but the lead is E pentatonic minor and major.).

[example from Naked Eye]

|F6/9                 |Cadd9               |
|---------------------|--------------------|
|---10---10---10---10-|---5----5----5----5-|
|---------------------|--------------------|
|0h10-0h10-0h10-0h10--|0h5--0h5--0h5--0h5--|
|---------------------|--------------------|
|---------------------|--------------------|

I was wondering how you play a certain part in the My Generation Melody on the Live at Leeds album. About 5:19 in the song he does something like this. When I try to play this it doesn’t sound anything like it sounds on the record. Can you tell me anything that would help me play this (i.e. hand position, finger movement, etc.)?

I’ll try to describe! First, it’s likely impossible to get it to sound correct on anything but an overdriven guitar (though I don’t think I’ve tried on an acoustic or anything. So if you start there, that will at least help.

I use my middle finger (or maybe index?) for the hammer-on on the fourth string, and the ring finger for the second string. The second string note should be allowed to continue to ring. I pick the fourth string with my pick, and the second string with my middle finger. In picking the fourth string, just the open note, then the hammer on covers the higher note. So you’re basically hammering on/releasing immediately on that string.

You’ve got to have enough power in the hammer on to effect the note. I think I find that if I straighten my thumb out behind the neck, it helps to provide additional power in the hammer on (I’m also using .011 gauge strings, so it would be necessary anyway).

Pete also used double-stops quite a bit in leads, which tend to blur the distinction between lead and chord (a double-stop is two notes being played at once).

[example of double-stops]

 B
|7---7-7---|
|7---7-7---|
|----------|
|--9-----9-|
|----------|
|----------|

I’m putting leads last in this list because, while it’s a key to his style, Pete’s mark on the world of rock guitar is the way he propelled the use of the guitar as a rhythm and “soundscape” in a way no one ever had. And the lead style Pete developed over time was pretty much based on the styles of other late ’60s guitarists, though he executed it quite differently (see Young Man Blues for the definitive lead style of that era). But, if I were to make a recommendation (and I’m not…), conquer the other aspects first — those that made his style unique — then move on to leads.