Hey all, just curious what the interest level might be in participating in a live guitar lesson via ustream tonight (Tuesday, August 10).  This would allow me to broadcast live and you could interact via chat in real time… ask questions, socialize.. whatever.  So check back on the homepage here around 9:30 PM (CST).  If you are interested, do me a favor and shoot me an email to brian (at) activemelody.com and let me know if you’re going to try and make it. 

Ok, I'm honestly not trying to throw this guy under the bus - but seriously, would you even want to learn to play this way? I'm always amazed at the amount of "shred" guitar players that are still around. I still remember the front cover of Guitar Player magazine back in the early 1990s that had a photo of Joe Satriani laying in a coffin with his arms folded and a caption that read, "Shred is Dead"... that was almost 20 years ago and yet some of these guys can't seem to let it go. The only people that appreciate shredders are other shredders themselves, the average Joe couldn't care less about hearing someone play that way. Ok, enough ranting - am I right or am I right?

So on Saturday I spent the entire day in a guitar player's heaven, I'm talking about Eric Clapton's Crossroads Guitar Festival. The show started at 11:50 (kind of a random starting time) and Sonny Landreth kicked off the show. It's too bad they put him on as the first act because as he's playing most people either aren't there yet, or are trying to find their seats, etc. - he was absolutely amazing. He is such a phenomenal guitar player and had (to my ear) the best guitar tone of the whole event. His unique style of finger picking and slide, along with his amazing tone really made him stand out for me - if you aren't familiar with Sonny Landreth, search for him on YouTube and I think you'll agree with me.

Following Sonny Landreth was the Robert Randolph band, they were good as always, although there wasn't enough of Robert and his pedal steel, he only played 2 songs with "the Family Band" and then Joe Bonamassa came out and sort of stole his thunder. Joe was good, but I think he's a bit overrated. I know that's going to upset a lot of guitar heads out there, but he just seems too ... textbook to me. He's clean, fast, and loud but doesn't leave any kind of lasting impression with me. To be fair, this was the only venue I've seen him play so maybe he's much better at one of his shows.

Robert Cray and Jimmie Vaughn played next and they were smooth and polished as expected. I love both of those guys, but I honestly couldn't tell you what they played (a few of Robert Cray's new ones I believe) - Hubert Sumlin came out later and joined them and sounded pretty good, great version of Killin' Floor (especially given the fact that he was wearing one of those oxygen tubes in his nose) - I have a feeling Hubert won't be with us much longer so if you ever get a chance to see him and pay tribute to one of the greats, do so.

Up next were two guys that were terrible. The first guy, Bert Jansch was so boring literally half the place got up to go to the bathroom or buy more beer or whatever, Stefan Grossman was a little better (I guess), but he was a drag too - Keb' Mo' came out and joined him which helped (I love Keb' Mo'), but if those two guys never showed up I don't think a single person would have complained.

ZZ Top took the stage next. I've always had a huge appreciation for this band and love Billy Gibbons approach to playing, but I think anyone that was there would agree with me that they were pretty sloppy. The tone was horrible and there were a lot of dropped beats and sloppy notes from Billy Gibbons. I was really pulling for those guys too, I guess I just expected something more.

Doyle Bramhall II came out next and did his thing which was ok I guess. I think he's a really talented player but has kind of a strange band (I forget the name of them), he did a few experimental sounding songs which would probably be really cool to see in a small venue, but didn't work so well in a huge arena. The highlight of his set was when this guy Gary Clark came out to join them. There was a technical glitch with the audio when Gary first came out and in fact he played almost an entire song with the stadium speakers not working at all... the only sound we could hear was the monitor mix on the stage, but anyway, Gary Clark was a name I didn't know and was an amazing guitar player / singer. He played a very cool finger style electric shuffle.. very fast and driving. I highly recommend checking him out. Sheryl Crow came out and joined them and did 2 or 3 of her songs which were great (I love the way she changes the melodies when she sings live.. keeps it interesting)

The next group was the country portion of the show, so lots of telecasters and twang (which I loved of course). Vince Gill came out and was joined by Albert Lee, James Burton and Keb' Mo' - they played the usual mix of fast paced, chicken pickin' stuff which was a nice break to all of the blues. Albert Lee called his daughter out and let her sing one while he did his usual insane fast country pickin' - he tore it up as usual.

John Mayer played after the country set and my only complaint was that it wasn't long enough. He performed with his power trio and he played on several Strats and a Gibson ES-335 - it's easy to forget what a great guitar player that guy is because he's such a good singer / songwriter, but he really does seem to have it all. They played a killer version of Bill Withers, "Ain't No Sunshine When She's Gone", and also covered Jimi Hendrix's "Wait Until Tomorrow".

The next set included Buddy Guy and Jonny Lang and featured a guest appearance by Ronnie Wood - Jonny Lang had some of the best sounding vocals of the entire show.. he really sounded amazing. At one point they played the blues classic "Five Long Years" and Buddy Guy broke a string at which point Ron Wood took off his Strat and handed it to Buddy. You could tell they were really having a good time with each other. They also played "Miss You" by the Rolling Stones - the crowd went nuts for that one.

Up next we had the Derek Trucks Allstar band which included (his wife) Susan Tedeschi, Warren Haynes, Dave Hidalgo and Cesar Rojas (Los Lobos) - they jammed on several songs including "Three Hundred Pounds of Joy". On a very sad note, they called Johnny Winter onto the stage and his playing was beyond terrible. Everyone literally thought he was trying to be funny but then soon realized he wasn't. He stumbled his way through "Red House" and then left. Poor guy, it's as if he hasn't touched a guitar in years, and he was always one of my favorites.

Jeff Beck took the stage next and had the best mix of the entire show - not to mention an insane bass player. At the last Crossroads event he had Tal Wilkenfield, who was only 23 years old (although she looked like she was 14), this year he had some other girl that blew everyone away, playing a lot of slap funk bass.. she was amazing. I wish I knew what her name was (if anyone knows, leave it in the comments) He played a mixture of jazz and rock and did a very good version of "Somewhere Over The Rainbow", but the highlight of his set was his cover of Stevie Wonder's, "Higher" - that was actually one of the best songs of the entire event for me.

Eric Clapton then took the stage and played the Cream classic "Crossroads" - which wasn't anything we haven't heard him do a million times before, but then he had Jeff Beck join him back on stage and they performed "Shake Your Money Maker" together - very cool. Clapton then had Steve Winwood join him onstage and played a number of Blind Faith and Traffic Songs including "Dear Mr. Fantasy" - by the way, Steve Winwood is a killer guitar player, his style is very similar to Clapton's and if you close your eyes you actually have a hard time knowing who's playing. Together they played a few covers including Buddy Holly's "Well Allright", but their version of Jimi Hendrix's "Voodoo Chile" was probably THE biggest highlight of the entire show - the timing was perfect too because the moon was just rising over the arena as Steve Winwood sang the line, "the night I was born, the moon turned a fire red" - what an experience.

The show ended with B.B. King being summoned to the stage for what we all thought was going to be a big blues finale, but B.B. just rambled and rambled for 15 minutes or so about loving women and shaking your boogie and all kinds of things - meanwhile the rest of the band (Clapton, Robert Cray, Jimmie Vaughn, Buddy Guy) just sat there and stared at him - I think E.C. was disappointed to say the least. He ran about a quarter of the audience off (honestly!) and then finally started singing "Rock Me Baby", I actually decided to leave at this point (keep in mind it was now 11:30 or so and we got there about 12 hours earlier), but on my way out I heard him start "The Thrill Is Gone". I've always loved B.B. and was kind of sad to see him so delusional - he said he was 84!

Anyway, the show overall was really fantastic and well worth the price of admission. It makes for a longggg day and by the end of the night you sort of get to a point where you don't really care to hear another song - no matter who came out and sang.. but I'd do it again in a heartbeat. This one will be coming out on DVD and Blueray soon so you'll definitely want to check it out. I'll keep you posted when it does.

Ok, I came across this one today - and even though this video is all about drums and nothing to do with guitar I thought it was too good to not share.  You’ll have to watch the whole thing to really appreciate it - be sure to keep your eye on the drummer.  Good Lord is that guy a total spaz or what?

Hey folks, I wanted to give you a quick update on the next batch of lessons that are in the works. Thus far, I've been spending a decent amount of time with lessons that show how to play blues lead guitar which is really and endless supply of material. I'd like to switch gears now based on a comment made by saskstrum (an ActiveMelody member) and start focusing on how to play blues / rock rhythm. He mentioned that people tend to overlook the importance of playing good rhythm and he's right - there are a lot more people out there showing how to play lead guitar, but in a lot of respects, rhythm guitar is even MORE important because it really helps to define the song, so that will be my focus on the next few lessons. Trust me, these won't be the boring "up / down" strumming patterns or anything - I'm talking about creative / interesting rhythms that accompany the band.

In addition to the upcoming rhythm lessons (which I plan on having one up on the site late this evening or early tomorrow morning), I'm working on putting together some premium, deep-dive lessons that will be for sale in download format. Thus far, my videos are all hosted on YouTube which is great because there is a large number of people out there on YouTube, but the downside is that you're only allowed 10 minutes per video.. so it's REALLY hard to cram everything into a 10 minute session - I think having these deep dives will be very beneficial for those that are really interested in digging in at the root level of this stuff.. and I'm going to pour everything I know and have learned over the years into these. So be on the look out - and as always feel free to hit me with comments / questions.

-brian

I was responding to a post in the forum on this site in which someone asked what they should be focusing on in regards to learning to play the guitar and the first thing that immediately popped into my head was the John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers album featuring Eric Clapton. That album was the one that did it for me with the guitar - the Crown Jewel of guitar albums. If you're interested in the lessons I've been putting up recently on electric blues lead guitar, then you really HAVE to add this album to your collection. I love the fact that these tracks were recorded live in the studio and that Clapton was only 20 years old - there aren't many seasoned guitar players that can play with that intricate level of tone / vibrato / phrasing... it's simply amazing that he was sounding that good at that young of an age. I think the guitar tone he has for this album is incredible... the perfect amount of overdrive (all played on a Les Paul too I believe).

Anyway, if the Bluesbreakers with Eric Clapton album is the THE album for guitar players to own and study, the song "Hideaway" is THE song off that album to learn. It tooks me years to be able to stumble through it and to this day it still doesn't sound good enough. If you look around on YouTube you'll see a lot of shoddy versions of people trying to play it, some of them can hit all of the notes.. but to me playing a song like Hideaway is so much more than just hitting the notes, it's making them sound right as well. So to sum up, if you aren't familiar with this album - get familiar with it!

As a reference, here's the version of Hideaway from the John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers album featuring Eric Clapton.

If you took blues and jazz and put them in a blender you'd end up with something that resembles Robben Ford. Robben is one of my all time favorite guitar players (and singers), and for whatever reason he's relatively obscure. He actually has quite an impressive resume playing with Joni Mitchell, Miles Davis, George Harrison, Bonnie Raitt, and Michael McDonald to name a few. On top of being a great backup / session artist he has an equally impressive solo career. If you're interested in picking up a Robben Ford album, my personal favorite is called "Robben Ford & The Blue Line" which features his blues trio. I got the chance to see Robben play with that band (promoting that album) in Nashville several years ago and it was one of the more memorable shows I've seen.

Here's a video I came across on YouTube showing him playing "Nothin But The Blues" - great song, great playing!

Back in the mid / late nineties I was living in Memphis and being a big fan of blues guitar you can imagine the Euphoria I was experiencing regarding the local music scene. Great music, great food, although not necessarily a great place to live... at least not the area I was living in. Any way, I went out on a mission to find a decent band to listen to and stumbled into Young Avenue Deli (great place for music) and Bill Kirchen happened to be playing that night. At that time, I hadn't heard of him so I had no idea what to expect, but he completely blew me away with his guitar playing. His band was a little trio and they sounded so good that I went out and bought everything I could of his. It wasn't until later that I found out that he was in the band Commander Cody - so of course I had to get all of their material too, if I hear something I like I have to have EVERYTHING, I can't just settle on an album or two (I'm kind of OCD like that). He calls his style of playing "diesel billy" - and writes a lot of truck driving music. Also, if you're a fan of twang, he's about as good as it gets.

So anyway, if you aren't familiar with Bill Kirchen I highly recommend visiting his website and seeing if he is playing in your area any time soon, you won't regret it.

Here's a clip of him playing (without a band) his big hit with Commander Cody, "Hot Rod Lincoln". Great guitar impersonations in this one.

Eric Clapton recently visited the Manhattan Guitar Center store to do an interview and plug his upcoming Crossroads Guitar Festival, while there they presented him with his old Stratocaster “Blackie”.  You can read the interview here.  Also be sure to check out the photo shoot from the interview, there are a few shots of Eric playing on Blackie as well as some of him checking out other guitars in the store. 

Wow, and to think some people give up on playing guitar because their fingers get too sore. You've got to wonder how many times he's dropped that pick into the sound hole.