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Santana Guitar Lesson - Santana Lick in C Minor - Guitar Tricks Channel 95 - easy guitar lesson

2011-09-08T12:43:00.000-07:00

Awesome Santana Solo Tutorial

Santana Solo Guitar Lesson - Santana Lick Request - Guitar Tricks Channel 93

2011-08-24T11:20:00.000-07:00

Check out this santana solo guitar lesson on Youtube!

Sweep Picking Guitar

2011-05-11T12:55:00.000-07:00

For more sweep picking and other guitar lessons check out Guitar Tricks.com

What's Inside Message In A Bottle tabs

2011-01-27T15:32:00.000-08:00

So you want to be a better rock guitar player eh? When you're on an adventure to learn rock guitar and stumble across a Police guitar lesson online, play close attention to a message in a bottle tabs. As you learn guitar, you'll notice that the main riff seems like its using a chord that might look a little funny. This odd-looking chord is what is sometimes referred to as a “power-nine” chord. What this means is that it is a power-chord with an added 9 to it. This chord is present in a lot of police tabs, so you should definitely take notice of I as you continue your guitar lesson online.

One thing I’ll mention to my fellow guitarists out there is look out for your hands as your going through a message in a bottle tabs. Although you might think you can learn guitar easier than anyone, the “Power-Nine” chord might be a little tricky. The “Power-nine” chord stretches over 5 frets so it might make an inexperienced guitar player's hand strain a little. So definitely use caution and use the right fingers to ensure a comfortable grip. As your searching through Police Tabs, you'll also notice that the guitarist, Andy Summers, is always using this chord. So be on the look out! Andy Summers has made some amazing discoveries in the realm of rock guitar! Don't take this as just a guitar lesson, but as a reminder to use caution when playing.

Jazz and Rock Guitar Collide, in She Will Be Loved Chords

2011-01-27T15:24:00.000-08:00

Ever notice where some guitarists get their inspirations?? Some learn guitar songs that are completely out of their realm of music playing, others turn to different styles of music and pick up a guitar lesson on something that might help them. While rock guitar players are out there shredding away, they pick up on influences that transform their song-writing and guitar playing to other areas. One example of a band that explores their musical realms is Maroon 5. If you look at She Will be Loved tabs, you'll find that it might not just be your average, simple rock guitar song, but that they incorporate elements from jazz that make it more interesting to your ears!

As you learn guitar and embark on an online guitar lesson, take notice of She will be loved chords. The first two chords in the song, which basically are a Cm chord and a Bb chord, are transformed to make the chords more colorful. Maroon 5 guitar player, James Valentine, takes the initial two chords and removes his pinky off the chord. As you look at She will be loved guitar chords, you notice that this minor change switches the entire feel of the song. The chords are now a Cm7 and a Bb Dom 7 chord!! Not bad eh? This shows how some rock guitar players know how to spice things up a little!

Is Fingerpicking Guitar Hard To Learn? Not With Hey There Delilah Tabs and Some Practice

2010-11-12T14:18:00.000-08:00

The beauty of the hit song Hey There Delilah is recognized not just from music fans, but by musicians as well.

Tom Higgenson pairs simple fingerpicking guitar with catchy melodic vocals, in a way that is inspiring to many musicians learning to be a singer songwriter. While the chords are relatively easy to play and common, the manner in which they are played give them their character. Anyone that has studied Hey There Delilah tabs knows that there is a certain "feel" that the song needs to be played with to really get it right. Part of this comes from the fingerpicking technique on guitar.

Fingerpicking is found mostly in the sounds of folk music, but can also be heard from some rock and indie guitar players. It's characterized by plucking the strings on a guitar with multiple fingers, rather than a guitar pick and requires more concentration, as both hands need to do intricate work.

Many players when trying to learn guitar go to songs that they wish to emulate. For many people, Hey There Delilah tabs are a good starting place. The fingerpicking technique often intimidates new trying to learn guitar, but Hey There Delilah offers an easy introduction. For this reason, instructors often train new acoustic guitar students using Hey There Delilah tabs to build confidence.

Learning To Play Southern Rock with Freebird Tabs

2010-11-12T14:09:00.000-08:00

So many of the most recognized guitar playing that distinguish southern rock was first heard in the song Freebird, as made famous by Lynyrd Skynyrd. Musicians all over the world study with freebird tabs to gain a wealth of knowledge into the sound, style, and feel that makes southern rock guitar.

Clocking in at over 9 minutes long on the album version, Freebird features multiple solos and jam sections. This lead guitar and also the melody are played with a slide, adding a bluesy side to the song. While many credit Lynyrd Skynyrd guitar player Gary Rossington for coming up with this sound, he often has said that when writing the part he was trying to copy the playing of Allman Brothers guitarist Duane Allaman. Allman a main musical influence for Rossington’s main, and this influence played a big part in shaping the sound of Freebird guitar lines.

The multiple Freebird guitar solos and other key parts are still relevant today for musicians. Freebird tabs are a great source of inspiration when learning to play southern rock specifically, and are appropriate for most intermediate guitar players. While there are many places to get Freebird tabs online, to really get a deeper understanding of the song, it’s important to go beyond guitar tabs. It's important to understand the feel that the song has, because it's this that made Freebird so unique. Musicians that take this step will become much more knowledgeable about rock guitar.

Spirit: 60's Rock Guitar Worth Checking Out

2010-11-05T12:55:00.001-07:00

Lashed together in an almost haphazard and fortuitous fashion under a haze of patchouli, light shows and the rumblings of the peace and love mantra that characterized the 60's Southern California sound, Spirit rose from the psychedelia to become, for a time, an iconic band that embodied the end of an era. They became darlings of the period's music critics and remain an oft-cited influence of many bands that followed. With their seriously eclectic mix of styles, everything from blues, country, folk, psychedelic and jazz fusion, Spirit remains a band that is difficult to categorize and yet their sound, clawing its way out of the past, remains fresh and interesting.

Music for musicians.

Spirits story actually begins at the Ash Grove, a famous L.A. night club. The owner of the club had a habit of taking performing artists home to meet his nephew, a very young and talented guitar player named Randy Wolfe. As a young man, Wolfe met artists as diverse as Lightnin' Hopkins, Brownie McGee and Sonny Terry and the Carter Family; the perfect inspiration for an exceptionally talented novice guitarist. As fate would have it, Randy's mother, a divorcee' raising Randy on her own, met and married jazz/blues drummer Ed Cassidy. Cassidy had been a regular at The Ash Grove and had played behind artists like Thelonius Monk, Cannonball Adderly and Roland Kirk. At the time he married Randy's mother, he had helped form and was playing behind another famous Ash Grove act, The Rising Sons (featuring Ry Cooder and Taj Mahal) but had to leave the band after injuring his wrist in a rather ambitious and extended drum solo. (One of Cassidy's trademarks was playing his solos without drumsticks; rather he would rip into his breakneck solos, hitting the drum skins with his bare hands)

While in high school, Wolfe had formed a folk band called The Red Roosters (with guitarist Jay Ferguson, who had a brief moment in the sun with his single 'Thunder Island') and by the end of 1965, Cassidy was sitting in with them. The Roosters disbanded in 1966 when the Wolfe/Cassidy clan relocated to New York City. During the move, Wolfe lost his guitar. Certainly devastating but it proved to be a pivotal moment. While shopping for a new guitar at Manny's Music Store in Manhattan, Wolfe met Jimi Hendrix (who at that time was known as Jimmy James). Jimi dubbed Wolfe as Randy California and offered him a spot in his band, Jimmy James and The Blue Flames. The reason for giving him the name Randy California was that the bass player in The Blue Flames was Randy Palmer who hailed from Texas. To avoid confusion, Palmer became Randy Texas and Wolfe became Randy California, a stage name he kept for the rest of his life.

Randy played with Jimmy James and The Blue Flames at Café' Wha during the summer of 1966 and lasted until Hendrix was 'discovered' by Chas Chandler (of The Animals) who subsequently became his manager and invited to move to England to form The Experience. Hendrix asked Randy to come along but Wolfe had to turn him down.

He was 15 at the time.

Shortly afterwards Cassidy moved the family again, returning to California. In the spring of 1967, the pair decided to start another band and formed Spirits Rebellious (named after a book by Middle Eastern mystic and writer, Khalil Gilbran). Wolfe ran into Ferguson and Mark Andres (both former members of their original band, The Red Roosters) who had been playing music in various bands part time while attending UCLA. Wolfe convinced Ferguson, Mark Andres and his guitar playing brother Matt Andres to join up with himself and Cassidy. Their first move as a band was to shorten the name to simply Spirit.

By June, the band was landing gigs and with the help of Barry Hansen (better known as Dr. Demento), produced and cut their first demo. The tape made its way to record producer Lou Adler who brought the band in for an audition. Adler signed Spirit to his small feeder label, Ode Records which had a distribution deal with Epic (a subsidiary of CBS Records) by August of 1967.

Their self-titled debut album was released in January 1968. Although Jay Ferguson penned most of the tracks, California crafted an instrumental titled 'Tarus' which, as legend would have it, was very inspirational for Led Zepplin who essentially played it almost note for note on the opening of their classic 'Stairway To Heaven'. The album trolled in the bottom edge of Billboards Top 40 by April and spent 6 months hanging in the charts. The band hit the road hard in a supporting tour while at the same time preparing their second album. Add to the mix that the band was also scoring a soundtrack for French director Jacques Demy's film Model Shop at the same time, suffice it to say, the band was attempting to make hay while the sun was shining.

In October, 1968, the band released a single from their second album (The Family That Plays Together- released in December, 1968), 'I Gotta Line On You' (written by California) and it became the only certified hit for the band, settling in at the 25th spot on the Hot 100 charts by March, 1969. The album charted quickly based on the strength of the single.

The band released their third album, Clear, in July 1969 and the band found themselves foundering a bit. California and Ferguson attempted to strike gold again with the single 'Dark Eyed Woman', another scorcher based on the same mold of 'I Gotta Line On You' but the record never caught. The album also contained tracks that the band had done for Demy's film that, not surprisingly, sounded awkward and out of place on the record.

In December of 1969, the band released another single, '1984' which began a steady climb up the charts, reaching the 69th spot by May, 1970 before running into a snag. Radio executives became increasingly reluctant to play the track and its heavy and paranoid lyrics (the song was a passing nod to the dystopian novel '1984' by George Orwell). The single staggered and eventually fell off the charts, not a terrible shock without any real radio support.

Adler left CBS and headed to A&M Records and part of his deal included leaving Spirit behind on the larger CBS label. The band brought in producer Dave Briggs who had met with some success producing some of Neil Young's earliest recordings. The band was determined to get back into the public consciousness and went to work on their most ambitious recording. Like all grand schemes and dreams, there were setbacks, the most serious was an injury sustained by Randy. Falling from a horse, California sustained a head injury and was confined to bed for a month. But in November of 1970, the band released The Twelve Dreams Of Dr. Sardonicus, which many rock critics and writers gladly name to their list of the most influential rock recordings of the 60's and 70's.

Although Dreams was and remains a very solid record, it failed in the respect that it never had a proper single to release and the album made it to number 63 on the charts before heading back down to the basement. By February, 1973, both Ferguson and Andes quit the band to form up another fringe rock band, Jo Jo Gunne, along with Matt Andres and drummer Curly Smith. Shortly afterwards, California quit to give a shot at a solo career. Cassidy and Locke remained and brought in brothers Al Stehely (bass) and Chris Stehely (guitar) to give Spirit another shot. The band immediately launched into production for their next effort. Feedback was released in February of 1972 and met with the same fate as Dreams, peaking at 63 on the charts and disappearing quickly after that. Shortly after, both Cassidy and Locke left Spirit, leaving the Stehely brothers with the name.

While the band imploded, Dreams began to make a minor resurgence. Even without a solid single, the record became a mainstay of the young FM radio market and a constant seller. The record actually garnered gold status in 1976.

Despite his prodigious talent, Randy California's solo career never really took off. His initial offering was 1972's Kapt. Kopter & The Fabulous Twirly Birds failed to make a mark despite an uncredited appearances from Jimi Hendrix's rhythm section of Noel Redding and Mitch Mitchell. (California did not release another solo record until 1982's Euro-American which was only released in Europe) Shortly after Kapt.Kopter, California and Cassidy reunited, hired bassist Larry 'Fuzzy' Knight and toured Europe as Spirit in 1973. After their label rejected their next project, a concept album, California dropped out of music and moved to Hawaii.

Epic opted to release The Best Of Spirit and included the song 'Mr. Skin' from Dreams (which was a sly nod to Cassidy's shaved head). The band was again in demand. Cassidy, through some deft legal maneuvering, secured the name Spirit back from the Stehely brothers, grabbed up Knight once again and hit the road as Spirit on a yearlong tour through 1974.

Once the tour was completed, Cassidy went to Hawaii to seek out California. The pair reunited with the remaining members and Spirit was together again, although by this point, the supporting line up changed almost as often as the shapes floating in a lava lamp. The band continued to record and release albums through the 70's and into the 80's, despite dissolving and reuniting several times in the interim.

The 90's saw resurgence in interest in the band. California worked on re-mixing and re-releasing the first four Spirit albums and the band contributed a track to a benefit CD for the now defunct magazine, Ptolemaic Terrascope.

Any thoughts of Spirit continuing on came to a tragic end on January 2, 1997. Randy California and his twelve year old son Quinn were swimming off the coast of Hawaii when they became swept up in a rip-tide. Randy managed to get his son to shore but was unable to escape the tide himself. He was swept out to sea.

His body was never recovered.

The fact remains, despite his tragic end, Randy California remains one of a very few guitarists of his generation who came so close to matching Hendrix skill for skill. Yet despite his enormous talent, California never quite made it to the level of fame he truly deserved. Rather he was relegated to being an 'almost' legend, a guitarist that is spoken of in glowing terms by other musicians, band mates and discerning guitarists everywhere and yet barely noticed by the record buying public.

But for the fact that the band Spirit never really hit it as big as they should have, they remain an iconic west coast band of the 60's and 70's. In their way, Spirit truly did define the free spirit of American rock and roll at that time. Freewheeling, eclectic, superbly talented and just laid back and tightly grooved enough that the music still holds up today.

Spirit added a layer to that historic American rock and roll sound that remains undeniable.

Best Guitar Riffs: Sweet Home Alabama Tabs

2010-11-05T12:24:00.000-07:00

The southern rock classic Sweet Home Alabama offers one of the most instantly recognizable guitar riffs ever recorded. Some consider the song a Southern National Anthem, but it's relevance as a great guitar song is recognized all over the world.

Featuring elements of blues, country, and rock guitar, Sweet Home Alabama molds many different genres of music and guitar techniques together. The "boogie" rhythm heard during the song's chorus sections even recall the sounds of traditional bluegrass playing. Guitar players improving their rock guitar skills enjoy learning useful techniques like ghost notes, interesting chord tones and pentatonic lead playing in Sweet Home Alabama tabs.

If you are an intermediate or even beginner guitarist, trying to learn Sweet Home Alabama guitar is a great way to improve. Check out these Sweet Home Alabama tabs and video guitar lessons.