TJ Helmerich: Eight-Finger Freedom lesson with tab

DOZENS OF STUDENTS FLOCK TO TJ Helmerich’s recording class at Musicians Institute each quarter, but perhaps not all of them realize that their esteemed and humble maestro of the mixing console is also a GIT alumnus and a truly innovative guitarist. With both hands on the fretboard, Helmerich can play astonishingly lyrical lines that often feature wide, pianistic leaps and elegant turns of musical phrase. Even with a distorted rock tone dialed in, when Helmerich has his Steinberger GM angled near vertically in his lap, his guitar takes on an element of wind instruments. The notes on the neck seem to be arranged as conveniently for all eight of his fingers as the keys of a saxophone.
“I had no eight-finger influences,” says Helmerich, whose pioneering playing has earned him work with everyone from Planet X to Zappa Plays Zappa, Paul Gilbert to Autograph, U.K. to Uncle Moe’s Space Ranch, and also can be heard on solo albums for Shrapnel and other labels. “All my early heroes—DiMeola, Michael Schenker, Larry Carlton, Rush, Kiss—played ‘normal’ guitar. But when I read in Guitar Player one day that the most valuable thing to have is a unique style, I immediately asked myself, ‘What is no one else doing?’” more