I came across this one on YouTube today and had to share.  You’ll learn real quick on this website what a huge Chet fanatic I am, although it may not seem that way because of all of the blues lessons that are on the site.  I guess I’ve always been conflicted as a guitar player because I love both styles of music equally but they are so different.  On one hand you have Chet Atkins who is about as white as they come, classical, super technical, jazz, Lite FM style - and then on the other hand I love artists artists like Albert King, Muddy Waters, Robert Cray etc… who are kind of the opposite, less technical and much less white.  I guess the only common element is that they’re good pickers.  Anyway, enough blabbing - I hope you like this Chet Atkins / Mark Knopfler version of “I’ll See You In My Dreams” and “Imagine”.  Very well done.  Not to mention that it would be extremely difficult to walk right on to a stage, sit down on a stool and play those songs without flaws because your nerves would be and their peak - I guess they don’t have any.  By the way, if you don’t have it - be sure to get the album that these two did together, “Neck and Neck”.

 

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. 

I'm finishing up the Eric Clapton lesson, should have the video and tab uploaded by tomorrow evening so stay tuned. Here's an audio sample of the guitar lick that I'll be demonstrating.

This Eric Clapton guitar lesson is now complete!

I was recently surfing YouTube (as I often do) looking up specific performances by my favorite artists and I came across this one of Eric Clapton playing Bob Dylan's "Don't Think Twice, It's Alright" from the Bobfest concert back in 1992 or early 1993. Being a huge Clapton fan, I've seen (or listened to) just about every bootleg / legitimate concert media there is in existence on him and in my opinion, this particular performance is EC at the top of his game. We all have our favorite eras with his career (and he's had MANY), but to me.. it all came together for this single performance. It's perfect vocally, the band sounds amazing, his guitar playing is phenomenal, for whatever reason - that performance says it all. Keep in mind he had just recorded his Unplugged session just prior to this (and if I remember correctly when Ron Wood introduces him, he makes a comment about his short hair cut), so I think everyone was expecting him to come out and do an acoustic number. It's also interesting that he doesn't play rhythm in this, just plays on in the moments that he's not singing (very much of a BB / Freddie King thing to do), and to be honest I can't think of many other times he's played this way, I suppose it doesn't hurt to have Steve Cropper and G.E. Smith backing you up. Anyway, I love coming across performances like these on YouTube that would be otherwise extremely hard to find.