SONNY PARLIN

The most powerful impact that shred ever has on me is when I hear a guitarist who can play a melody with feel and authority and only shreds when the time is right and doesn't play a stock scale or arpeggio. That said, I have put together a couple of arpeggios and variations of those arpeggios that I would like to share with you.

The first is a Minor 7 b5 Arpeggio. I use a variation of this in a Project Finster song called "Into Deep". The first one is the stock Minor 7 b5 arpeggio, the second is the variation I use in the song which is in the key of Em:

B Minor 7 b5

Into Deep Clip from Into Deep

The stock arpeggio uses the b5 twice, I only use it once in the variation, during the decent. When I play the ascending half of the arpeggio, I don't play any b5's (which turns it into a Major 7 arpeggio).


Here is the second variation. I use this in a Project Finster song called "Error 58":

Error 58 Clip from Error 58

The third decending lick is actually the stock Minor 7 b5 arpeggio. As you can see, adding a b5 to your arpeggios can really make them stand out!


To hear these songs in their entireity, please visit www.projectfinster.com. Project Finster is a guitar instrumental band from the CT area. Project Finster is made up of two people, Michael Gargiulo and Sonny Parlin. Both have been playing guitar for over 13 years and both have similar influences. Sonny has been playing guitar for 14 years. Self-taught, his guitar influences include Greg Howe, Paul Gilbert, and Ritchie Kotzen. Some of Sonny's song writing influences include Greg Howe, Radiohead, and movie scores. Most of Sonny's song writing combines fusion and rock with changes not usually heard among guitar instrumental music, bringing a refreshing new style to the table. Sonny has played in many bands that span music scenes from CT to Boston, some of these bands include "Two Faced", "Higher Step", "Inate 53", and "Pull" (now known as Amusia).