Cream’s “Sunshine Of Your Love” has one of the most familiar and distinctive guitar riffs in classic rock, played by a young Eric Clapton. The song is a great place to start exploring the 60’s blues-rock style. The song follows a modified 12-bar blues form. A standard blues structure might go something like this: 1 […]
Lead Guitar 101: Phrasing and line
Say you’ve been practicing your scales diligently. You know your formations up the neck and can play a major scale in any key in any position. Maybe you’ve moved on to modes, and maybe you’ve even fully absorbed those too. Or maybe you’ve never played a lick of lead guitar in your life. Either way, […]
SOTW: Guy Clark’s “LA Freeway”
Guy Clark’s “LA Freeway” is a classic of the Americana genre, and a great example of what we might call the Texas folk picking style. Unlike what many people think of as a traditional “folk pick” with alternating bass strings, this part brings in a blues element by thumping roots notes in the bass against […]
Song of the week: Boom Boom
John Lee Hooker’s “Boom Boom” has everything that makes his music so compelling. To quote from another of his classics “Boogie Chillun”: One night I was layin’ down / I heard mama and papa talkin’ / I heard papa tell mama let that boy boogie-woogie / It’s in him and it got to come out […]
Do you practice music like you mow the lawn?
The way you mow the lawn might teach you something important about how to practice. Everyone has a method. Do you start at one side and make repeating alternate passes, or circle the perimeter until you get to the center? Either way, it’s a straight line: a job with a beginning and end and a […]
Guest post: jamming and playing by ear
Jamming on the guitar and playing by ear furthers your knowledge of the guitar, prepares you for many situations, and makes you a better rounded musician.
