OZ NOY Video Masterclass

In another exclusive GT video feature, we welcome back New York based fusion icon Oz Noy to solo over Jason Sidwell’s new track, Guzzle. If you want to solo with bluesy sophistication over a Stax styled stomper, Jon Bishop is your guide.

- Jon Bishop

This month we are looking at another cracking lead performance courtesy of fusion master Oz Noy (check out Oz on the funky Grease & Grit from GT319). Guzzle is a retro ’60s groover and the second piece recorded by Jason Sidwell especially for Oz. This one is influenced by Booker T and The MG’s, the Stax house band that was central to much of the label’s artistic output (Otis Redding to Aretha Franklin). The track is in the key of E Major (more about that later) for the verses but to add harmonic colour, various other chords were added as well as temporary shifts to other keys for the various sections.

For the Intro’s B7b5 chord, Oz uses a strong rotary speaker effect courtesy of a Univibe style pedal. Very arresting. The Verse has a Booker T-style vibe where the home chord of E is generally played without a 3rd which means it’s power chord-like sound (E5) and can allude to E Major or E Minor. Rather than thinking of it like a rock chord though, consider it more like a bluesy E where E Major or E Minor phrasing can work. As Oz explains in the video, he treats the E chords from an E Minor Pentatonic (E-G-A-B-D) perspective with added notes. The chords move quickly here so the E Minor Pentatonic suits the E-G-A main progression well. We have written out a fretboard diagram for the six note E Blues scale, (E-G-A-Bb-B-D) as this is the main scale that Oz uses for the basis of his ideas. As an aside, other options are the E Major Pentatonic scale (E-F#-G#-B-C#) and E Mixolydian (E-F#-G#-A-B-C-D) but these Major based scales are more challenging to apply due to the progression’s quick G, A and C chords. That being the case, use these scales fleetingly for just the E chords.