Ronni Le Tekro's Machine Gun Technique!

Secrets of "Machine Gun Technique"!

Ronni Le Tekro is one of the most talented guitar player in the world. His phrasing, tone, and rhythm are very unique. And of course, his machine gun technique is nothing like other guitar players' palm-mute and fast picking. Listen to the solos like Mother Warned Me and Purple Mountain's Majesty (both are on the album Realized Fantasies) and you'll see how unique this technique is. In this page, you'll find some secrets of Ronni's machine gun technique.

1. Equipments

To get the tone as close as possible to Ronni's, you should get the equipments he uses. For more info on his guitars and equipments with pictures, click here.

2. Picking form

If you got all the equipments set up, let's talk about how you use your fingers. As you can imagine, you need to be able to move your left fingers as fast as possible, and hammer-ons and pull-offs need to be done with power that they sound like you are actually picking the string.

While he's doing the machine gun technique, his thumb is bent almost 90 degrees. Notice that the pick touches the string almost vertically, so that it has a lot less contact. Other than that, he uses the normal picking form like this.

Make sure to mute the strings strongly. He mutes so strong and it increases the pitch, so he has to tune the G string slightly lower. Also, he uses the pickup in the neck position as well as the one in the bridge position while machine gunning. You should listen to the song carefully and determine which pickup is used.

3. Basic patterns

Finally, Ronni is going to teach you how to play Machine Gun Technique! He did a guitar seminar in Japan when Realized Fantasies came out. And he revealed secrets :)

Q. You're good at playing at full speed with muting. You showed it on the albums and during solo at live as well. Would you show some examples?

Ronni: Basically I'm hitting 2 strings with only one downstroke. I use lots of open strings if the key of the song permits (Example A and Example B) and if it doesn't, I play like this (Example C).

Example A                                       Picking           Left hand      
|------------------------------------|        ^ - Down stroke    I - Index finger
|-^--------^--------^--------^-------|        v - Up stroke      M - Middle finger
|-0h5p0-^--0h5p0-^--0h5p0-^--0h5p0-^-|        h - Hammer on      R - Ring finger       
|-------7--------7--------7--------7-|        p - Pull off       P - Pinky                
|---I---R----I---R----I---R----I---R-|
|------------------------------------|

Example B
  [   5   ]  [   5   ]  [   5   ]  [   5   ]
|---^----------^----------^----------^-------|
|-^-5h7p5p0--^-5h7p5p0--^-5h7p5p0--^-5h7p5p0-|               
|-7----------7----------7----------7---------|               
|-R-I-R-I----R-I-R-I----R-I-R-I----R-I-R-I---|               
|--------------------------------------------|               
|--------------------------------------------|

Example C
  [     6     ]  [     6     ]  [     6     ]  [     6     ]
|----^--------------^--------------^--------------^----------|
|-^--7h9h11p9p7--^--7h9h11p9p7--^--7h9h11p9p7--^--7h9h11p9p7-|               
|-11-------------11-------------11-------------11------------|               
|-P--I-M-P--M-I--P--I-M-P--M-I--P--I-M-P--M-I--P--I-M-P--M-I-|               
|------------------------------------------------------------|               
|------------------------------------------------------------|
It might take a while to get used to 'down'->'down' picking. The most important thing is that you hammer on and pull off strongly and it should sound like you're picking. If you mastered these 3 examples above, try advanced patterns in the next section.

4. Advanced patterns

Advanced pattern 1 
  [    6    ]          [    6    ]   [    6    ]          [    6    ]
|------------------------^---------|----------------------------------|
|---^------------------^-0h3h5p3p0-|---^--------------------^---------|
|-^-0h3h5p3p0--simile--5-----------|-^-0h3h5p3p0--simile--^-0h5h7p5p0-|
|-5------------/---/---------------|-5------------/---/---7-----------|
|-R---I-R-I------------R---I-R-I---|----------------------------------|
|----------------------------------|----------------------------------|

  [     6     ]  [      6    ]  [      6      ]  [      6      ]
|----------------------------------------------------------------|
|----^--------------^--------------^----------------^------------|
|-^--0h7h10p7p0--^--0h9h12p9p0--^--0h12h15p12p0--^--0h15h17p15p0-|
|-10-------------12-------------15---------------17--------------|
|----------------------------------------------------------------|
|----------------------------------------------------------------|
You might have mastered Machine Gun Technique already, but don't you think it's hard to believe that his high speed playing is made with only downstrokes? Ronni explains...

Q. How do you pick when muting?

Ronni: Only one stroke.

Q. Always downstrokes?

Ronni: Yep.

Q. How about alternate picking?

Ronni: No, down only. Basically downpicking only and I keep on playing at that pace. DOWN!!! :)

Q. You really don't do alternate picking?

Ronni: Only downstrokes.

Q. You never do upstrokes?

Ronni: Only American do upstrokes :)

Stuff at the guitar seminar couldn't figure out exactly what Ronni was doing. They asked many questions and finally he said,

Ronni: I'm the greatest conman :) I'm a genius of these tricky techniques :) But basically I play something like this.

They taped what he did and found that he DOES do upstrokes!

Advanced pattern 2 (with upstrokes)
            [    5     ]            [     5      ]  [    5     ]  [     5    ]  [    5     ]
|---------|-----------------------|---------------------------------^-------------^----------|
|-^v^v^v--|----^------------------|----^---------------^----------^-0h9h11p9p0--^-0h9h11p9p0-|
|-xxxxxx--|-^--9h12p9-v----simile-|-^--12h15p12-v---^--9h12p9-v---9-------------9------------|
|-/gliss\-|-12--------12--/--/--/-|-15----------15--12--------12-----------------------------|
|-R-------|-R--I-R--I-R-----------|-R--I--R--I--R---R--I-R--I-R---I---I-R--I----I---I-R--I---|
|---------|-----------------------|----------------------------------------------------------|

  [     6    ]  [      6      ]  [      6      ]  [      6      ]
|---^--------------^----------------^----------------^------------|------|
|-^-0h9h11p9p0--^--0h10h12p10p0--^--0h11h13p11p0--^--0h12h14p12p0-|-14/c-|  /c - Choke up
|-9-------------10---------------11---------------12--------------|------|
|-I---I-R--I----I----I--R--I-----I----I--R--I-----I----I--R--I----|-R----|
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|------|
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|------|
Gliss up and down with full picking at first, then do Machine Gun Technique. This one is harder since there are upstrokes. Practice! That's the only way to become like Ronni!

5. Actual patterns used in songs

Here are some examples of Machine Gun Technique on the albums. Click each title of the song to listen to the MP3 file. All sound clips are modified so that you can hear Ronni's guitars more clearly.

1. Startrip Overload (CD time: 2'54" - 3'01" : 54kb)

This is the first song on Vagabond's second album A Huge Fan Of Life. He tunes his guitar a half step down on TNT songs and Vagabond songs on the first album, but he uses the regular tuning on A Huge Fan Of Life.

  [      5     ]  [      5     ]  [      5     ]  [       6       ]
|-------------------------------------------------------------------|
|-15-17-18-18-18--17h18p17-15-17--15h17h18-17-18--17-18-18-17-18-18-|
|-I--M--R--R--R---M--R--M--I--M---I--M--R--M--R---M--R--R--M--R--R--|
|-------------------------------------------------------------------|
|-------------------------------------------------------------------|
|-------------------------------------------------------------------|

  [       6       ]  [      5     ]  [       6       ]  [       6       ]
|-------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|-17-18-18-17-18-18--17h18p17-15-----15h17h18p17p15-----15h17h18p17p15----|
|--------------------------------18-----------------18-----------------18-|
|-M--R--R--M--R--R---M--R--M--I--R---I--M--R--M--I--R---I--M--R--M--I--R--|
|-------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|-------------------------------------------------------------------------|

  [       6       ]  [       6       ]
|------------------------------------------------------|----------------|
|-15h17h18p17p15-----15h17h18p17p15-----17hc/-Arm down-|-18p17p15-------|
|----------------18-----------------18-----------------|----------17c/~-|
|-I--M--R--M--I--R---I--M--R--M--I--R---M--------------|-R--M--I--R-----|
|------------------------------------------------------|----------------|
|------------------------------------------------------|----------------|
2. Startrip Overload (sort of)
He plays something like this in Startrip Overload. Note that this song is played with A string tuned down to G.

 |-------------------------|------------------------|
 |-------------------------|------------------------|
 |-----0h4h5p4p0---simile--|------------------------|
 |---0-------------/--/--/-|---0h3h5p3p0--simile----|
G|-7-----I-M-I-------------|-5---I-R-I----/--/------|
 |-P-----------------------|-R--------------------3-|
                                                  I
3. Good Neighbours (CD time: 3'20" - 3'27" : 59kb)
This is a song from A Huge Fan Of Life. Enjoy cool 16 beat cutting!

|------------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------|
|----------12---------------------------------12-|------------12---------------12------------|
|----------12--x-x--------------x-x-----------12-|-x-x-x-x--x-12-x-x-----------12--x-x-------|
|-12h14-14-I---mute------------------12h14-14-I--|------------I-------12h14-14-I-------------|
|-I--R--R--I-----------------10------I--R--R--I--|------------I-------I--R--R--I-------------|
|------------------10h12--12---------------------|-------------------------------------10h12-|
                   I  R   R  I  		   				       I  R
					 |-> Mute			         <-|
|----------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------|
|---------------------12----12------12~--|-[------6------]--[-------6-------]------------------|
|-------x-x-----------12--x-12-x-x--12~--|-----------------------------------------------------|
|------------12h14-14-I-----I-------I----|-12-0-12-14-0-12-----12------------------------------|
|----10------I--R--R--I-----I-------I----|-I----I--R----I---14----14-13-12-10--------10-gliss\-|
|-12-------------------------------------|-------------------------------------12-12-----------|
  R  I  		   				    R  I  R  M  I  I   R  R  I
4. Dealer (CD time: 2'46" - 2'54" : 64kb)
Solo of a high speed tune from A Huge Fan Of Life. He taps with his right hand using middle finger at the beginning (@ - in tab).

|-> Right hand tapping
|--------------------16-11-14-11--------------|-16-11-14-11---------------17-12-15-12--------------|
|-11---14---16---14---------------16-11-14-11-|--------------16-11-14-11---------------17-12-15-12-|
|-I----M----@----M---@--I--R--I---@--I--R--I--|-@--I--R--I---@--I--R--I---@--I--R--I---@--I--R--I--|
|---------------------------------------------|----------------------------------------------------|
|---------------------------------------------|----------------------------------------------------|
|---------------------------------------------|----------------------------------------------------|

								        |-> mute               <-| 
|-17-12-15-12-----------------------------------|-----------|----------------------------------------------|
|--------------17-12-15-12--17---15---12---14/hc|cd\--13h14-|p12------[-----5----]-------------------------|
|-@--I--R--I---@--I--R--I---@----R----I----R----|-----M--R--|-I---14--12h14p12p0----[----5-----]--[---3--]-|
|-----------------------------------------------|-----------|--------------------0--12h14p12p0-------------|
|-----------------------------------------------|-----------|----------------------------------0--12h14h12-|
|-----------------------------------------------|-----------|-----R---I--R--R-------I--R--I-------I--R--I--|

|---------------|
|---------------|
|---------------|
|---------------|
|-10---12---12c-|
|-I----R----R---|

6. Final note

Well, this is about it. I hope you enjoyed it and if can play like Ronni now, pay me for this lesson :)

Go back to the guitar tabs page.