Ahead of the release of his brand-new live album, Live in Boston, we're excited to bring you the exclusive premiere of a new live video from Venezuelan guitarist Felix Martin. Watch a live performance of "The Triangle Tune" below.
Martin — a Berklee graduate — plays a 14-string guitar he invented himself, which features two left-handed 7-string guitars on one neck.
Wanna know how it's done? Check out the live video below, and then scroll down to read a description from Felix on his unique approach to the guitar.
Live In Boston is available as a physical release today and is out June 5 via Prosthetic Records as a digital release. You can pre-order the album now at this location.
And for all of you scratching your heads out there right now, Felix was nice enough to send along a quick description of how to play this track.
"This song is divided into three parts. There are two reasons why I called this song 'The Triangle Tune.' One is because of the main chord on Part I. It is basically a minor 7 chord with every tension on it, having a triangular chord shape on each neck/hand. I call this chord the 'Triangle Chord,' and it’s played as lead distorted tone instead of clean/arpeggiated on this song.
"First Neck/Right Hand: R, 5th, 3rd (Triangle Shape) and an extra finger for the 13th. Second Neck/Left Hand: 9th, 11th, 7th(Triangle Shape) and an extra finger for the 11th.
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"The second reason it’s because the method that I’m using on Part II. Here I’m using three chords only (D-7#11, A-7#11,G-7#11) but I’m featuring three inversions of each one of them, making some sort of 'Triangle Cycle.' This is played using standard guitar technique.
"Part I (0:00) this is probably one of the most difficult sections that I ever played on the 14-string guitar. It features very fast leads and complex runs, very often using odd meters like 15/16 and 5/8. It is also hard to keep the resistance through the whole Part, because it doesn’t have many breaks and it features 16th and 32nd notes only.
"Part II (2:03) For this part, I wanted the song to breath a lot, making it softer, prettier, jazzier and having some sort of complexity at the same time. It keeps growing the intensity through each section until the solo improvisation at 03:39.
"Part III (5:55) This part is based on a repeating theme from Part I, having constant changes on the rhythm."
Felix will be hitting the road this summer in Europe, and you can check out his full tour itinerary below:
Josh Hart is a former web producer and staff writer for Guitar World and Guitar Aficionado magazines (2010–2012). He has since pursued writing fiction under various pseudonyms while exploring the technical underpinnings of journalism, now serving as a senior software engineer for The Seattle Times.
