How to play Sinner by The Last Dinner Party
Sinner by The Last Dinner Party is a great chart for electric guitarists. Although there are only two chords underpinning the whole song there are plenty of tasty lead riffs. Released in 2023, Sinner is the second single from The LDP’s album Prelude to Ecstasy. Unusually for current Pop, it features clear, well structured electric guitar solos that even include string bending - lets get into it!
Chords: G5 C5 / G C and G5 A5 Bb5 F5 B5 at the ending.
Pick or Fingers? - definitely the pick; the harder attack of a pick on steel strings is how you create the electric tone you hear on Sinner
Acoustic or Electric? the electric guitar! Check out the film clip . . .
Lead guitar : the solo sections in SInner are not as easy as you may think on the first hearing. The part requires good control of bending and includes quarter, half, and whole-tone bended notes.. It also includes some smart semiquaver passages that need precise picking coordination to play them well at the right tempo, especially the scale runs in the ending section.
How does the timing work? The TAB timing graphics used in this chart are all explained in Electric Guitar Solo Style, Book 1. They are the equivalent of one-beat, half-beat and quarter-beat values (crotchet, quaver and semiquavers) used in standard notation.
How do you play the 1/4 tone bends? Unlike half-tone and full-tone bends, quarter-tone bends are usually tugged down by just the finger on that note, but it depends on the phrase and where the next note is. Generally, the big bends push up but the small bends pull down.
How can I get faster on the scale runs in the ending section? These will need some specific practice; the final eight bars are the hardest part of the Sinner. Practice the semiquaver scale runs at half speed to be sure you have them correct, then gradually increase your speed. You need to play these with secure alternate picking to get the fluency required. Play down - up strokes throughout and make sure the first note on each beat is a downstroke.
Relevant pages in Electric Guitar Solo Style 1 : to learn more about the lead guitar techniques used in Sinner check out pages 8-9, 16, 20, 25-26 and 35.
Need a bit of help?
Electric Guitar Solo Style, Book 1 is the perfect companion for developing Electric guitarists, it has everything you need to master hammer ons, pull offs, bending and guitar soloing! It is specifically designed for electric guitar and presents the essential scales and lead techniques you need to get you started. And it will show you how to read these charts and understand how the timing works in metered TAB.
Electric Guitar Solo Style 1 is a gently graded course and is suitable for beginners. It ranges from beginner level to grade 3 level guitar towards the end. Perfect for young students 12 and up and adult electric guitar beginners.