This is a guest post by David Hamburger, a great fingerstylist, blues authority, and a teacher I respect greatly. Check out his lesson on “Statesboro Blues“. School is back, sort of, but getting there on time was never our strong suit, and now we’re rusty. We live close enough to walk, but some mornings when […]
For What It’s Worth (SOTW)
The Buffalo Springfield were as influential as they were short-lived, but created one of the the most iconic songs of the 60s with “For What It’s Worth”. Releasing 3 albums between 1966 and 1968, the band then splintered to launch the careers of the band’s three singer-guitarists: Stephen Stills, Neil Young, and Richie Furay. The […]
Crosscut Saw (Albert King): easy blues guitar intro
If you want to learn to play blues lead guitar, you need to to back to the source. To understand Stevie Ray Vaughan, Joe Bonamossa and Eric Clapton, start with the “3 Kings”: B.B, Freddie, and Albert. Albert King’s fat, singing tone on his Gibson Flying V is one of the definitive models for the […]
SOTW: Carolina In My Mind, part 2
As promised, this followup lesson looks at the verses, bridge, and outro of James Taylor’s “Carolina In My Mind”. You can download tab here. But I’d also suggest you download the chord chart. Remember, TAB gives you a sequence of events, a series of locations on the neck. And it’s possible to grasp the musical […]
Essential Riffs: Funk 49
Joe Walsh’s riffing on the James Gang’s “Funk 49” is epic and definitive for classic rock. The intro is a great workout for string bending, while the main riff is a great example of the use of triads in a power rock setting. The opening lick is played strictly in the 5th position, and features […]
Picker’s Delight: Uneasy Rider
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 […]
