Charlie Daniels’ story of a roadhouse encounter gone wrong is a classic country “talkin’ blues”. The song itself simply repeats a simple eight-bar progression in C: C C F FG G C (C G) Or, in numbers: 1 1 4 45 5 1 (1 5) Follow strict alternate picking: downstroke on the downbeat, upstroke on […]
SOTW: Sister Golden Hair
This classic hit by America is a great barre chord workout, and can be played with a very simple strum or with several varying parts. Download the full tab. Here are the primary chords. Notice the use of the 5-string form of C#m at the beginning, but all the other barre chords are 6-note forms […]
Picker’s Delight: Sugarfoot Rag
Sugarfoot Rag was first recorded as an instrumental by guitarist Hank Garland, and scoring him a hit at the age of 18. He went on to be one of the top session guitarists in Nashville, working most notably with Elvis Presley (that’s him on “Little Sister”) along with a who’s who of the top country […]
SOTW: Sunshine Of Your Love
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 […]
