This week’s pick comes straight to you from the 1987 album Appetite for Destruction and the hard-rock defining group Guns N’ Roses. Guns N’ Roses rose to worldwide fame (and infamy) after this song and several other Appetite hits brought them huge commercial success. Sweet Child O’ Mine is instantly recognizable from the start of…
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This week’s pick comes from the high energy rock group ACDC. “Thunderstruck” first hit the airwaves in 1990 and was the featured single for ACDC’s album, The Razor’s Edge. This track features an iconic guitar riff in the intro with a prodigious amount of hammer-ons and pull-offs. In this arrangement, I have simplified the lick…
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This week’s pick comes from one of the best selling albums of all time – The Dark Side of the Moon. “Us and Them” was written by Pink Floyd’s keyboardist, Richard Wright, and features a colorful jazz influenced chord progression. Throughout the verses, the bass guitar alternates between D and A pedal notes underneath implying…
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This week’s pick is perhaps one of the most iconic tracks to make it out of the 90s. Blind Melon released “No Rain” on their eponymous album in 1992 and it became a huge hit in 1993. The tune is instantly recognizable by the opening guitar line, and as a listener of a certain age,…
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This week’s pick is “Who Will Save Your Soul” from Jewel’s debut album Pieces of You. I remember when this song first hit the airwaves and introduced the world to Jewel’s amazing voice and wonderful folk-influenced songwriting. I always liked the acoustic guitar part and I think this is a great progression for beginning chord…
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The world lost a guitar legend yesterday. Eddie Van Halen changed the way we view and play the guitar. He pioneered techniques that are now considered standard in the rock guitar genre, and by pushing the envelope of what the electric guitar is capable of he has inspired generations of guitarists around the globe. Thank…
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Heavy metal pioneers Black Sabbath are perhaps best known for their bombastic guitar riffs found in popular songs such as “Iron Man” or “Paranoid”. Tony Iommi crafted many of rock’s finest riffs that have inspired generations of guitarists. This week’s pick is “Electric Funeral”, a somewhat more obscure track from side two of their sophomore…
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When I first took up the guitar those many years ago, there were several bands that captured my imagination and inspired me to practice every day to improve my skills. Metallica was one of those bands, and this week’s pick is a perfect example of what made old-school Metallica so great. The guitar parts of…
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This week’s track is Jessica by The Allman Brothers Band. Released in 1973, Jessica was written by guitarist Dickey Betts. He has stated in interviews that he came up with the signature melody as a nod to the jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt. He wanted to write a song that could be played with only two…
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This week’s pick was the track that first introduced me to the band Phish. Known for their out-of-this-world improvisational jams and quirky songwriting, Phish helped define an era in the modern jam band genre. Trey Anastasio’s guitar lines on this track are a great example of arpeggio and scale targeting where he outlines each major…
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