The establishing riff from Dick Dale’s 1962 classic Misirlou. Dale’s surf guitar model had a resurgence in recognition while it appeared in the 1994 Quentin Tarantino blockbuster Pulp Fiction.
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Dick Dale and surf’s greatest guitar gamers on using the tidal wave of twang
This track is in fashionable tuning, so music your guitar to E A D G B E. Dale launches immediately into ferocious 16th notes at the sixth string. The essential phrase builds its Middle Eastern flavour with the E double harmonic fundamental scale (E F G# A B C D#). Dale emphasises this unique scalic lick by sliding and hammering to the notes within every phrase.
The trickiest aspect is maintaining choose attack for the 16th-be aware sense at the same time as dropping in slides and hammer-ons. To maintain the phrases flowing, attempt to elevate your fretting palms speedy after every be aware ends. This will deliver your melody a few a great deal-needed separation and forestall one note from bleeding into the subsequent.
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Get the tone
Dick Dale receives his attacking tone via the usage of a single-coil pickup in the bridge position. If you have a humbucker, you may get a barely thinner ‘single-coil’ sound with the aid of setting out a few gain and bass from the amp.
You’ll also want to select intently to the bridge for introduced twang. Use a pick of 1mm or above to get the real power and consistency within the 16th-note traces. To complete the surf guitar sound, use a first rate quantity of reverb.
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