Joe Bonamassa Style File

Did I Just Invent The Scariest Pentatonic Lick Ever??

 

Why I Suck... Series 2, Episode 11 - Joe Bonamassa

So, back in 2019, during the closing weeks of The World That Was, one of my students gave me a copy of Joe Bonamassa's “Live At The Greek” - I'd been aware of him for a while but had never really sat down and checked him out. Suffice it to say, I liked what I heard and “Live At The Greek” was a fixture in my car for quite a while. I also jammed along with it at home and discovered that OK, I could play some fast and widdly stuff but compared to Joe, I just.... sucked.

Now, in fairness, most players will come up short measuring themselves against someone like him, but there was something about it niggled me... the sheer inventiveness, confidence and elegance of his phrasing.. this wasn't something you could learn by pounding up and down scale patterns with a metronome. And then it hit me – Bonamassa had spent years picking out the licks of the Kings, T Bone Walker, Hubert Sumlin and co by ear, whereas I.. hadn't. I'd skipped a crucial part of my education. And this made me rethink the blog as a practice tool – by learning to transcribe the licks of these pioneers, I would learn phrasing and feel, become a better and more well rounded player.

It's worked. And I've truly fallen back in love with the guitar these last two years, discovering the joy of getting inside the heads of guitarists I've long worshipped and discovering exactly what Jimi or BB or Clapton were trying to communicate – intangible things that sheet music simply can't communicate. So in the unlikely event that Mr. Bonamassa is reading this – I owe you a debt of gratitude.

Right, onto the man himself! Born in New Hartford, New York just a mere six months before me (so we've both outlived Freddie King), young Joe didn't wait until he was 17 and instead got started at the age of 4. By the age of 11 he was being mentored by the insanely gifted and tragically departed Danny Gatton (who is yet another candidate for a spot on the blog), by 12 he was opening for B.B. King – I think by that point I'd managed to master “Cockles & Mussels Alive Alive O” on my very first nylon string. A cautionary tale indeed. Start early and go hard to achieve greatness! By 18 (when I managed a shambolic, under rehearsed gig at a sixth form prom in Long Clawson), Bonamassa was playing in a band named Bloodline – featuring the sons of jazz legend Miles Davis, Doors guitarist Robby Krieger and Allman Bros bass player Berry Oakley. His first solo album debuted in 2000 (in fairness, mine debutedv1998, but it was AWFUL and was made entirely on cassette on a Tascam 414, whereas Joe's was recorded at Pyramid Studios in New York.. and I doubt Joe is as embarrassed by his as I am by mine!)

Live At The Greek, where all of these examples are drawn from, was recorded in August 2015 and released in 2016, at the finale of the Three Kings tour – a tribute to the music of BB, Freddie and Albert King and I heartily recommend it to any fan of blues or just guitar playing in general as Joe really goes to town, stretching his legs with some absolutely sublime playing.. so let's get to business and steal some licks!

This first comes from Freddie King's “Love Her With A Feeling” using the Bb blues scale, and notice the artful use of the quarter tone bend between minor and major 3^rd and the slippery slides into the b5 (E in this key) on the 9^th fret G and 7^th fret A strings, as Joe echoes himself in a lower octave- like Hendrix last month, there's a lot of micro-scale “storytelling” here, continuation of theme.

This is drawn from the gospel standard “Ole Time Religion” again in Bb and stands as a brilliant example of how to keep your nerve at a very high tempo and stay melodic! Joe is using Bb major pentatonic (R 2 3 5 6 -although he does tweak the ear with the odd b3 in paces) but what is noticeable here is his skilful use of the 4^th (Eb) on the 16^th fret B – outside the major pentatonic, and often a bridge note between major and minor, the way he integrates it into a pretty standard “magic 3 notes” lick is beautiful and as always – even at this tempo – he makes it sound absolutely effortless.

Here we have a lie from “Sittin' On The Boat Dock” in C# and shows an interesting approach using position 3 of the minor pentatonic and introducing the 2^nd, creating a hexatonic scale (also used by Eric Johnson, among others) and cycling through the pattern using a slight rhythmic offset that tricks the ear into thinking that there's more going on than actually is there! Introducing the 2^nd to the minor and the 4^th to the major pentatonics creates a cool hexatonic effect that's actually pretty easy to begin integrating into your own playing.

The big one! This is the absolute monster, jaw-drop “how the hell did he do that” lick from “Going Down” and Joe is absolutely pedal to the metal here – this is in D minor pentatonic and Joe again starts from position 3 using the magic 3 notes again but stretching out to the 20^th fret on the high E with the little finger, effectively “stealing” a note from position 4 before slithering down through position 2 into position 1 – note also the 3^rd finger roll down from 13^th fret B to 13^th fret G (b5), sliding down to 12^th and pulled off to 10^th, a move heavily associated with Stevie Ray Vaughan – finishing off with alternating between the 5^th (A) on the 10^th fret B and root on the 10^th fret high E. Wow.

So there we go, a brief look at the approach of a very formidable, very complete guitar player who I have learned a LOT from this month. Next up, we return to SRV and I'm attempting to transcribe what I consider the greatest piece of guitar playing ever - but before that, I need to do some practice before putting the YouTube demo video up....

Jimi Hendrix Style File

Why I Suck.... Series 2, Episode 10 - Jimi Hendrix, "Are You Experienced"

 Winter is upon us (nearly) and as the nights begin to draw in I set myself the task of transcribing every solo off Jimi Hendrix's iconic first album, “Are You Experienced” - and I'm pleased to say I just squeaked across the finish line, in no small part having already done “Red House” last year.

We've already looked at Jimi's early history, so we'll pick up his story in Greenwich Village, New York in 1966. This was where he would meet Animals bass player Chas Chandler, playing the Cafe Wha? with his band Jimmy James & The Blue Flames – the two first met in July, but Chandler was so impressed with the young American that he returned in September with the intent of signing him. Chandler persuaded him to com e to London, and after a series of auditions settled on Noel Redding and Mitch Mitchell on bass and drums respectively. During this time, Jimi saw Cream at London Polytechnic and sat in for a couple of numbers, including Albert King's “Killing Floor”- which left a deep mark on their regular guitarist, Eric Clapton.

Their first single together as The Jimi Hnedrix Experience (Chandler having convinced Jimi to change the spelling of his name to make it more exotic) was “Hey Joe”, a cover by US folk singer Billy Roberts, which stayed in the charts for ten weeks, peaking at No. 6, and was quickly followed by the release of “Are You Experienced” which would go on to be one of the most popular and iconic rock albums of all time- and that's where we leave the history this month! Let's dive in and check out some of the licks and solos from this album.

This first is the entire solo from “Fire” and although not particularly technically challenging, it's interesting to view from the standpoint of structuring – the howling unison bend on the E that kicks off each phrase provides the “call”, and then Hendrix develops the response from phrase to phrase. Notice that both the first and the last phrases finish on a heavily vibratoed G note.

The next lick is the conclusion run from the end of “Foxy Lady”- having run through a series of screaming string bends, creating tension (“pulling back the spring”), Hendrix releases it with this run down the F# minor pentatonic. Note the “Magic 3 notes” at the heart of this, as well as the harmony bend and the rhythmic motif in the midst of this – there's actually fewer notes here than you might think, Hendrix making excellent use of space. This one is easier to show than tell, so wait for the YouTube demonstration video where I'll walk this one through!

Next, this comes from the solo to “Highway Chile” in E minor pentatonic. This is another exercise in motif development – taking the basic form of bending the 14^th fret G, then picking 12^th fret on the B and E strings and bending the 15^th fret B. This pattern underpins the solo and Hendrix milks it expertly to create a very lyrical, musical solo.

Something a little different for our last lick – this is from Waterfall, using the A major scale (although on the recording Hendrix is detuned by a semitone) and the entire thing is played along the G string, using slides, hammer-ons and pull-offs to smooth out position shifts. This is entirely different to the first position pentatonic approach we've seen in most of these solos and shows just how well he was able to feel the intervals horizontally across the guitar neck as well as just firing off pentatonic runs. Interestingly, Hendrix gravitates to the C#, the 3^rd of the I chord, and G#, the 3^rd of the V – this targets the emotional core of the underlying chord and helps to create something that fits the ballad feel of the song.

So that's another one off the list! I must admit, going back to my roots here (I had this album on cassette when I first started playing...) has been a LOT of fun, filling in some blanks and giving me a new appreciation for the sheer musicality and agility of Hendrix's playing. We'll come back to him to take a look at Axis: Bold As Love next and chart the development of his playing as his career moved forward.

Stay safe and sane out there, see you for the YouTube demonstration video... and next month, the chap who gave me the metaphorical kick up the arse I'd been needing for a long time, Joe Bonamassa!

Erci Clapton (Cream Era) Style Analysis

Why I Suck... Series 2, Episode 9 - God Revisited! Cream Era Eric Clapton

 Get your strawberries, because here come the Cream....

I'll get my coat.

When we last investigated Eric Clapton, it was focusing on his playing with John Mayall's Bluesbreakers on the iconic “Beano” album – now it's time to wind the clock forward and look at the next instalment of his career alongside bassist and singer Jack Bruce and drummer Ginger Baker, in the ill-fated supergroup Cream.

Cream formed when Clapton left John Mayall's Bluesbreakers for good in 1966 and met Bruce and Baker as the two were playing with the Graham Bond Organisation and were becoming progressively more frustrated and jaded with the band, Ginger Baker had decided to strike out on his own, and sought out Clapton – now something of a blues superstar. Bruce and Baker had – well, a checkered past, put it that way – but Clapton had been very impressed by Jack Bruce when he had briefly stood in with the Bluesbreakers on bass, and while Clapton agreed to join the new band Ginger Baker was setting up it was on condition that they brought in Jack Bruce as bassist and vocalist. The three were well known for their proficiency and Cream is widely regarded as the first “supergroup” - but ultimately the tensions between Bruce and Baker would cause them to split in November 1968.

They did keep busy, however – recording Fresh Cream (1966), Disraeli Gears (1967), Wheels of Fire (1968) and Goodbye (recorded in 1968 but released 1969). Indeed, one of their standout tracks - “Politician” - was allegedly written while in a waiting room at the BBC while waiting to perform live, so they clearly weren't ones to waste time. They even impressed Hendrix, who – on learning of their demise – stopped playing Hey Joe live on air for the BBC and dropped into a cover of their most famous song, “Sunshine Of Your Love”. Unfortunately the tensions between Bruce and Baker were never resolved, even at a reunion gig in 2006, and both men sadly died still carrying their enmity – Bruce in 2014, Baker in 2019.

However, sad as the eventual story of Cream proved to be, that's not why we're here – so on to the licks!

We begin with a fairly standard “tension and release” lick, based on the Magic Three Note concept in G minor pentatonic, taken from the cover of Albert King's blues standard “Born Under A Bad Sign”. Clapton begins with a brief walk up to the root note, played by bending the F (b7, 18^th fret on the B string) up to the root and holding it with some vibrato, before concluding it with a run down to the root again an octave lower on the 17^th fret D string.

The next excerpt is taken from the famous “Crossroads” solo, and Clapton is using A minor pentatonic, but notice his use of major 3^rd (C#, 6^th fret on the G string) – this run up serves as a kind of “launch pad” for his flurry of legato. Take note of the double stop in the second bar, where Clapton hammers G into G# before finishing on the E note (7^th fret A string), outlining the change to the V chord (E, in this key).So while we tend to think of EC as strictly pentatonic, in fact he's often more aware of chord tones.

Staying with the iconic “Crossroads” solo, this next lick is taken from the end solo where Clapton is up at the 17^th fret and and just burning, pedal absolutely to the metal. Notice the triplet phrasing (and the Magic Three Notes – see, even the big boys use them!) building the tension before releasing with a held bend up to the root note on the 20^th fret B and running down the scale.

Finally we take a look at the solo from one of the most famous Cream songs, “Sunshine Of Your Love”, based in D minor pentatonic. Notice the double stops in the opening bar, and the nifty position shifts in the second, moving into the 2^nd position minor pentatonic connected by slides.

It's also worth noting that at this point Clapton was very much into his “Woman Tone” era, using the famed psychedelic Gibson SG generally with the tone controls rolled right down, and generally with the bridge pickup selected. This can be quite tricky to get used to, akin to trying to run through mud or water, but it's an interesting effect to try.

See you next month as we revisit Jimi Hendrix with an examination of his “Are You Experienced” solos – stay safe out there and see you over on YouTube for the demonstration video!

Jimmy Page Style File

Why I Suck... Series 2, Episode 8 - Jimmy Page

 Whoops, just looking back at my plan it seems I got Jimmy Page & Cream-era Clapton round the wrong way.. ooops. Still, never mind, I'm sure you gentle readers out there (both of you) will forgive me..

There's a fair amount of controversy regarding some element's of Jimmy's life – largely centred around drug use, occultism and so forth – but seeing as Hello! Magazine has probably got that all covered, we're going to focus on the interesting stuff – the playing, and also the production tricks, as Jimmy was very skilled in getting the most out of the equipment of the day.

First, a brief potted history. Born January 9 1944 in London, Page moved to Epsom in Surrey aged 8, entering the legendary “Surrey Delta” that also included Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck. When the family moved to their second house in the area, on Miles Road, Jimmy (now 12) discovered an old Spanish guitar, possibly left there by a previous owner, and inspired by Elvis Presley – in particular the song “Baby Let's Play House” began to play in earnest, devoting as much as six or seven hours to practice. His tastes expanded to include the skiffle craze (proto-rock & roll for British kids with no money to buy expensive instruments, essentially) that swept the UK in the early-mid '50s as well as the Chicago blues of players like Freddie & B.B. King – but interestingly, he always kept an affection for traditional folk music, something that would come to the fore frequently in his later years with Led Zeppelin.

Now, I would be remiss if I didn't include this famous clip of a VERY young Jimmy Page's first television appearance:

His teenage years followed largely the same blueprint as most British guitar heroes of the time – art college (where he met and befriended Jeff Beck) and although he never joined John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, he did spend time as a member of the Yardbirds, which seems to have served as something of a finishing school for guitar heroes during this time, Clapton and Jeff Beck both having been members. However, while still a student, a young Jimmy was busy taking every gig he could get and was spotted by singer Neil Christian and asked to join his band, The Crusaders. Now 15 years old and having left school with 4 O levels with the intent of pursuing a career in music, this seemed like the perfect break but unfortunately an attack of glandular fever put paid to that- and if you've ever suffered from that yourself, you'll understand why.

Page kept playing through his recovery, and was spotted by John Gibb of the Columbia Gramophone Company who asked him to come and play on a few recording sessions with The Who and this break set him on the road to becoming an early unsung guitar hero of the 1960s along with Big Jim Sullivan (who I think deserves his own entry one of these days...) as he fast became the favoured session guitarist of legendary producer Shel Talmy, who was responsible for producing albums by The Kinks and The Who. Page played on a wealth of recordings by them and various other artists (including, incongruously enough, “Downtown” by Petula Clark) – in 1965 he was hired as a producer by Rolling Stones' manager Andrew Loog Oldham for their newly formed label Intermediate Records, and would have likely continued down this career path had it not been for the increasing influence of Stax Records on the popular music scene, which meant the phasing out of guitars in favour of brass and string arrangements.

Growing dissatisfied with this, Page reached out to the Yardbirds, who as early as 1964 had been in touch with him as a potential replacement for Eric Clapton. Now with Jeff Beck playing lead guitar, bass player Paul Samwell-Smith quit the group and Jimmy took up his slot. It didn't take long before rhythm guitarist Chris Dreja took over the bass slot and allowed Jimmy to play dual lead with Jeff Beck – understandable enough, I think I'd have done the same thing in his shoes...

Jimmy recorded the album Little Games with the Yardbirds and although it wasn't particularly successful the group had tour dates booked to promote it. However, singer Keith Relf and drummer Jim Mcarty both quit the band, leaving Page with the contractual problem of having a tour booked and no band! So, reaching back to an idea he'd had in 1966 whilst recording the single “Beck's Bolero” with Keith Moon, John Paul Jones and Nicky Hopkins, he decided to put together a new group building on the heavier and more experimental aspects of The Yardbirds... fellow session player John Paul Jones was duly recruited to cover bass and any keyboard duties, and the Birmingham duo of Robert Plant and John Bonham took on vocals and drums respectively and The New Yardbirds was born. Over the course of the tour the name was changed to reflect a joke Keith Moon had made during the “Beck's Bolero” recordings, that a supergroup made up of them all would “go down like a lead balloon” - the group took on the moniker “Lead Zeppelin”, changed by their manager Peter Grant (in order to avoid mispronunciation) to “Led Zeppelin”.

And that is where our history lesson ends – let's get stuck in to some licks!

This first is the iconic opening to “Stairway To Heaven” - at first glance this might seem like a pretty stock “bend and widdle” tension and release idea using A minor pentatonic, but check out the last note – F. Jimmy moves outside the minor pentatonic to target the root note as the chord sequence moves Am- G – F. So simple, but so effective.

Moving on, the next example comes from one of my all-time favourite solos, “Since I've Been Loving You” from Led Zeppelin III – this is based on a 12 bar blues sequence in C minor, and was recorded as something of a middle finger to the music press that had lambasted Led Zeppelin for being all bombast and no depth, this song is a masterclass in dynamics and music as cinema. Using the C natural minor scale, Jimmy plays this line over the IV chord (Fm) which plays heavily on the D and Ab notes, 2^nd and b6th but which over the Fm sound as 6^th and b3rd, giving something of a jazzy Dorian vibe.

I couldn't do a piece on Jimmy Page without looking at some of the fast repeating licks which dazzled me as a beginner delving in to the world beyond Oasis and Nirvana, and to that end, here is the beginning of Communication Breakdown from Led Zeppelin I, played on the recording with a wah wah pressed down into full treble position. You can see how Jimmy uses the “Magic 3 Notes” plus the 12^th fret E creating a fast cycling blistering effect that hits you like a freight train straight out of the blocks.

Last up, this is from “Good Times, Bad Times” (again on Led Zeppelin I) – another E minor pentatonic blitz that had my beginner's jaw dropping. Initially I though this was going to be a simple E minor pentatonic sequenced in threes, but listening more intently and slowing it down I discovered that it's a little more involved than that, as he makes clever use of the C# on the 11^th fret D string “sweetening” the sound slightly and giving it a Dorian/ Mixolydian vibe that's subtly different from just the minor pentatonic. Take this one, practice each beat individually before putting it all together and take note of the overall sequenced in threes pattern.

I've thoroughly enjoyed this deep dive into these classic solos, it's surprising just how much of an influence it's had on my playing – even though I hadn't really listened to any Zeppelin for a while, straight away it took me back to my early days and being able to pull apart and transcribe these Holy Grail solos has been an absolute blast!

Next month we're revisiting God himself, in his 2^nd incarnation – get ready for some Cream!

Jeff Beck Style File

Why I Suck... Series 2, Episode 7 - Jeff Beck

 “Jeff's great, man. He's God's own guitar player”.

Thus spake Toto guitar legend Steve Lukather in an interview for Guitarist magaine way back when. And frankly, he's got a point – I remember getting the goosebumps when I first heard “Cause We've Ended As Lovers”, and being completely obsessed with the track, performing my own – probably hamfisted – version as my first performance piece at music college. Those eerie, poignant intro bends, the languid melody, the sheer disregard for anything resembling scale shapes, just chasing the melody down wherever it might lead you on the fretboard... I was hooked.

Of the Big Three of 60's British blues greats – Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page and Eric Clapton – it's Jeff Beck that has had arguably the most checkered of careers.Whilst EC is still going strong, if somewhat erratically, and Page has had his years of world domination with Led Zeppelin and it's various offshoots and descendants, Beck has always been something of an outsider, never quite reaching the levels of the other two. To be fair, he's not exactly languishing in obscurity, having twice been inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, earned eight Grammy awards and sessioned with the likes of Stevie Wonder, Tina Turner and Bon Jovi – but while everyone has heard of Clapton, and everyone knows about Zeppelin, Beck has never made it to the mainstream in quite the same way, remaining the guitarist's guitar hero.

My initial exposure to him was actually through this:

Yep, Lenny Henry, singing the blues! Check out the intro solo though – THAT got my attention.

So, before we dive in to some licks from this quirkiest and most distinctive guitarist, a little history. Born June 24 1944 in Surrey – the same “Surrey Delta” which produced Clapton and Page at around the same time – Beck's career followed a similar path, falling in love with the sound of an electric guitar after hearing Les Paul playing How High The Moon on the radio aged 6 and building various instruments of his own to try and replicate what he saw and heard. It's important to note that during his childhood and much of the 1950s, the UK was in tatters with wide ranging poverty and rationing still continuing for several years post-war. These were emphatically NOT the “boom times” that the USA was enjoying during the same period, the UK was a grey, miserable, poverty stricken place trying to recover from the enormous damage and cost of fighting WW2. An electric guitar, in these times, was as far out of the reach of most regular families as a Ferrari is now. So it's worth remembering that while we might scoff at the idea of white kids from Surrey having anything in common with the black musicians of the Mississippi Delta or Chicago, at that time both were coming from a place of deprivation, poverty and desperation.

As with many musicians, Beck went on to art college – specifically, Wimbledon Art College where he met Jimmy Page. During this time he was playing with many local covers bands and got a first taste of session work in 1964. In 1965 he went on to replace Eric Clapton in The Yardbirds – the group had turned away from the traditional blues that Clapton was interested in and started to become more pop-orientated with the release of “For Your Love”. The group had originally wanted Jimmy Page but at that time he was busy with session work so suggested his old mate from Wimbledon Art College, Jeff Beck.

His time with the Yardbirds was short – 20 months – but intense, including the recording of the instrumental “Beck's Bolero” which featured Jimmy Page on rhythm guitar and John Paul Jones on bass as well as The Who's Keith Moon on drums, and Page would join the Yardbirds initially on bass but subsequently as second lead guitarist, and the two featured in the 1966 film “Blow Up”. However, Jeff Beck at this point proved himself no easy person to work with – tales abound of relentless perfectionism, explosive outbursts and flat out not showing up to gigs which unsurprisingly led to him being fired from the band in 1967.

From here began the first tentative steps at a solo career – first as a session guitarist for the infamous pop producer Mickie Most, ironically producing probably his most successful foray into mainstream pop music – Hi Ho Silver Lining. Yes, that's Jeff Beck playing the solo. And no, I won't be tabbing it out here.

The next big step in his career was the formation of the Jeff Beck Group, featuring Rod Stewart on vocals, Ronnie Wood on bass, Nicky Hopkins (who had taken part in the Beck's Bolero recording) on piano and Aynsley Dunbar on drums. Rod Stewart and Ronnie Wood would later go on to form The Faces before going their separate ways, Ronnie joining The Rolling Stones and Rod Stewart... well, you all know who Rod Stewart is. 

They released two albums “Truth” (1968) and “Beck-O-La” (1969), the former containing a cover of Willie Dixon's “You Shook Me” strikingly similar in arrangement to the version that would appear later on Led Zeppelin I. However, everything came to a halt in December of 1969 near Maidstone when Beck was involved in a terrible car accident and fractured his skull.

Moving into 1970, having rehabilitated and returned to health, with the help of Mickie Most, Beck set about forming a new Jeff Beck Group. He flew to the US and recorded several tracks at Motown Studio A with the help of various US session musicians and they toured briefly as “The Jeff Beck Group” but this new incarnation had a very different sound from it's previous one, much more towards a funk vibe. Beck recruited bassist Tim Bogert and drummer Carmine Appice and the band morphed into “Beck, Bogert & Appice” as a power trio – this lineup recorded a proto-heavy metal cover of Stevie Wonder's “Superstition”. However, they never really broke through commercially and dissolved in 1974, which is where we get to his first true solo album, “Blow By Blow” in 1975 which is where I took most of my examples from. This had much more of an exploratitive jaz-rock feel, as did it's follow up, “Wired”, released in 1976.

We'll leave the history there and start an exploration of Jeff's style from around this period.

This first example is from Freeway Jam in G (G Mixolydian to be exact) and illustrates his quirky and explorative approach to the minor pentatonic. Note the howling and aggressive harmony bend that starts it, the heavy use of quarter tone bends going between minor and major third, the chromatic passing tones (6, b6 and b2) finishing with an unusual bend on the b7 (F) into the root on the low E string.

The next examples are taken from “You Know What I Mean” on Blow By Blow, which at least starts in B minor but is pretty wide open harmonically. Beck uses a series of major and minor 6^th intervals, relatively common in blues and country music before morphing into what is more or less an F dominant 7 arpeggio, with the 6^th and minor 3^rd involved as passing notes.

The next example is broadly based in G minor pentatonic and with a variety of chromatic notes used to spice it up. 2^nd, major 3^rd, 6^th. There's some seriously complex stuff going on here so take it slow, watch for repetitive patterns. Jeff had his foot well and truly to the floor for this one.

This last is the conclusion to the previous line , and notice anything? Amidst all the blazing repetition and howling harmony bends, can you spot our old friends, the Magic Three Notes? That's right, even the big boys use them too! One final touch, Beck resolves to the root note, but an octave lower than where the rest of the lick takes place – those wider intervals represent another quirk of his playing that marks him out.

It's been a thoroughly enjoyable journey investigating this leftfield take on the conventional blues rock licks, and I've no doubt I'll be revisiting this iconic guitarist again sooner or later... there'll be a YouTube video demonstrating these licks along shortly so make sure you're subscribed! Meantime , stay safe out there and tune in next month for Led Zeppelin's own riffmaster, Jimmy Page!

Play The Blues Like BB King! A Style Analysis

Why I Suck... Series 2, Episode 6 - BB King Pt. II

Another month, another deep dive into the legendary King Of The Blues. We've already covered the extraordinary life and times of Riley B. (aka “blues Boy” or “BB”) King in last year's blog, so here we'll limit ourselves to another in-depth look at his style. Last year's entry was focused on the legendary “Live At The Regal” album, but this time I've cast the net a little wider and gone through my “Best Of” album to take a look at examples from both the earlier and later parts of his career.

Let's start with an early example – BB got his start as a gospel singer and guitar player and this example, taken from “I'm Working On The Building” features some beautiful jazz tinged soloing (it also features a nifty use of diminished chord and an interesting turnaround that I think Showaddywaddy might have pilfered – more on that in a moment!). This track is in C and we're based on the major pentatonic with a healthy dose of chromaticism to spice things up:

Play this at speed with a swing rhythm and notice the great sense of resolution as you come off the G at the 15^th fret E string to the C on the 13^th fret B string – from the 5^th to the root, a mini V-I perfect cadence. The chord sequence to this song also merits a look, as it's an interesting divergence from a regular 12 bar blues:

// C / C / C / C / F / F / G / G / C / C / F / F#dim / G Am / Dm G / C F / C G //

Notice the interesting use of the #IVdim as a chromatic passing chord between the IV (F) and the V (G), as well as the turnaround – V vi ii V I IV I V . This is a deft use of relative minors in the Am and Dm chords being substituted for their relative majors, C and F. Without the relative minors the turnaround becomes / G C / F G / C F / C G / - not exactly unpleasant, but a bit bland, and the use of relative minors for chord substitution show an interesting evolution here, blues based players and composers trying to evolve the 12 bar template without getting rid of it completely. You'll also find that turnaround used in Showaddywaddy's “Under The Moon Of Love”, which is played at EVERY WEDDING EVER (or so it seems).

An interesting note choice which crops up quite a bit in BB's soloing is his use of the b6 interval, bent up into the b7. This would technically fit nicely inside a minor blues but he manages – apparently by sheer force of will and charisma – to make it fit over a major key one too, and this cadenza lick from “Payin' The Cost To Be The Boss” is an excellent example of this. This is in the key of Bb (a sop to the horn section, I would imagine) and starts off on the Gb (b6) bending into the Ab (b7), followed by a quirky first finger bend on the 11^th fret E (Eb bent to F 4^th to 5^th) , includes the major 6^th (G) on the rundown and ends with his characteristic “stinger” high root note on the 18^th fret high E (see last year's entry for more on that technique).

This last example is a big one, as it deals with BB's use of the major 6^th in a turnaround. This example is from the Blues Collection recording of “You Done Lost Your Good Thing Now” in A, and listen to how skilfully he uses the 6^th (F#) to imply the V chord. I've tabbed out the entire turnaround section, and things to look out for are the use of the E bent up to F# (5^th to 6^th), interplay between minor and major pentatonic, minor and major 3rds, and the use of the 3^rd (C#) and 4^th (D) played to imply a sus4 to major resolution. It's just FULL of BB-isms, including it's resolution to the E, the 5^th, giving a sense of purpose – now we've introduced the song, pay attention as we go into the first verse!

This is the second look at BB King and as before I've come away with a sense of awe that he could be so unique and so inventive with really very basic tools at his disposal. Although we've delved a little into tsome of the nuts and bolts of his note choice there is so much of his style that realy defies quantification and explanation, so I urge you to pull out any of his material you might hae – or hell, go nuts and buy yourself a copy of one of his many Greatest Hits collections – and see what you can pick out yourself, there's a reason so many great players in their own right (looking at you, Pete Honore) list him as a key influence.

See you next month for “God's own guitarist”, Jeff Beck!

Why I Suck... Series 2, Episode 5 - "Danish" Pete Honore!

 If you have a guitar and a YouTube, you've almost certainly stumbled across the internet phenomenon that is the Andertons TV YouTube channel and it's panel of hugely talented and entertaining product demonstrators. Typically, I was late to the party, having only found them in 2019 when I began researching a replacement amp for my dear old much loved but insanely heavy Laney TT50 combo. The two demonstrators, Danish Pete & Rabbea Massad, effectively sold me on the Katana and when I went and tried it in the flesh and blew the competition straight out of the water.. and even with the 100w 2x12” version, after years of lugging 30+ kilos of Laney around it felt like I could pick it up and juggle it!

(Full disclosure – I didn't actually buy it from Andertons, I got it from PMT in Nottingham, because the staff there were very patient bringing me amp after amp for a good 2-3 hours letting me try them out.. I could probably have saved £20 by getting it from Amazon but if we all do that then very soon we won't have any music shops at all, so let's think about the long game when shopping for gear...)

After this I effectively became an Andertons junkie – and if you're reading this, chaps, then “The Captain Meets... Neil Zaza” NEEDS to happen – and having thoroughly enjoyed my dues paying with the classic blues greats throughout 2020 I decided to expand my palate for 2021 to include anyone and everyone I happened to enjoy. So, over the next coupe of years all the Andertons team will be featured in the blog. I decided to start with “Danish” Pete Honore as there was something in his jazz & country tinged blues style that I connected with... another case of “He's just like me... but better!”

First a little potted history – for more details on Pete's life, career and country of origin check out this YouTube interview on the Andertons channel – and a little bio on his website here: https://www.mrpeterhonore.com/about. Born in Copenhagen, Pete received his first guitar aged 11 and was shown the A, D & E chords by a family friend. This sparked an interest and the same family friend would go on to teach him how to play Blackbird, and from then on Pete was hooked! This natural ability, plus a lot of dedication and practice, would see him move to a music academy in Copenagen, and to cut a long story short a little being in the right place at the right time coupled with a LOT of ability quickly saw him move from playing in cover and tribute bands to playing at the Brit Awards with Tom Jones in 2003. This was the breakthrough gig that saw Pete move into session work, touring with multiple chart topping bands like Girls Aloud and Il Divo before the rigours of balancing touring commitments alongside family caused him to seek more stable employment – which in it's turn led to Andertons, and YouTube stardom!

Every single blog entry since I've started doing this has said that the minor and major pentatonic forms the basis of whatever player I've been looking at's style, so I think we can take that as read.. but actually Pete tends to favour the blues scale, the minor pentatonic with a b5 added (R b3 4 b5 5 b7). Just as you can move the minor pentatonic shape three frets back to get the major pentatonic (R 2 3 5 6), you can do the same with the blues scale pattern - in this instance the b5 in the blues scale becomes the b3, giving what's often called the “country” or “major blues” scale, consisting of R 2 b3 3 5 6. There's an absolute truckload of ingenuity and musicality in Pete's playing, so let's get to it!

The licks that follow come from “The Captain Meets... Danish Pete” interview jam – and when you consider that everything transcribed here came from a two improvised solos, it's even more impressive!

This first is in E major, leaning heavily on the 4^th (A), and using a beautiful lateral move along the B string, moving from the root E on the 5^th fret hammering onto the 7^th fret F# (2^nd), sliding into the G# (3^rd) and with a wonderfully languid semitone bend to include the A (4^th) and ending on the B (5^th) – as with the Albert King Lick (remember that?), ending on the 5^th gives a powerful sense of leading somewhere.

About 20 seconds later into the same solo, Pete hits the accelerator and pulls out this blistering little E major pentatonic run. It's largely fours – based, but far from being a straight up shred pattern there's a lot of clever stuff going on here, hidden in plain sight. He burns his way up position 1 of the C#m pentatonic shape (C#m is relative minor to E major, so this gives us a major pentatonic sound) before deftly slipping into position 5, then back into position 1 and he's running down in groups of 5 played across a 16^th note (4 to the beat ) rhythm, before resolving, unusually, to the C# (6^th). This is not a particularly strong tone to resolve to, but what he's actually doing is setting up tension to resolve in the next lick:

Scooting around the nether regions of the C#m scale to begin with, Pete makes deft use of hybrid picked 6ths on the A and G strings, before a slide/ pull off manouevre resolving to the 5^th, which he then echoes to resolve to the root E on the 2^nd fret D string. Never overtly showy, nevertheless his playing is full of this type of musicality.

Later on, in the end jam section, the key switches to G and here Pete flexes his country chops with a neat hybrid picked idea involving the open D and G string with the middle and third fingers while the plectrum picks a riff from G minor pentatonic (position 5)

This isn't particularly tricky to do, it's just yet another cool little idea Pete uses that I hadn't come across before. Try this on a bridge single coil with a Fender-style twang and it's pure Nashville!

However fast forward 20 seconds and he's gone full on jazz!! Check this out:

G Blues scale, zipped through with pull offs and slides to smooth out the transitions and check out the chromatic notes on the E string! Also, note the nifty position shift to include the b5 (Db) on the 14^th fret of the B string.

I could wax lyrical about Pete's playing for pages but at some point I have to respect the fact that this is a blog post not a novel, and with that in mind this is the final lick (you can find more on the YouTube channel in the One Minute Lick playlist) – but we're ending on a high:

Starting up in G major pentatonic, this nods to the minor by bending 2^nd to b3, before nimbly skipping across to position 1 of G Blues and then finishing with a sequence of 10ths picked with plectrum hitting the A string and middle finger plucking the B. If you're not familiar with the concept of 10ths, basically a 10^th is what you get when you take the 3^rd of a chord and boost it up by an octave. Pete further puts his own stamp on this by bending each 10^th up a quarter tone to sit in between major and minor, and moves from a scalic progression in the 3^rd bar of the lick to a chromatic one in the 4^th.

And with that, we wrap things up – I did have lofty ideals of doing an interview but unfortunately that's not proved possible at time of writing – I'm guessing juggling a pretty intensive work schedule coupled with three kids doesn't leave a whole lot of time for stuff like that! Respect due though, I've chatted a little with both Pete and his wife on Instagram and they do seem genuinely nice people. And let's be honest, it's a crazy old world out there and as far as they know I could be a stalker or God knows what, so I do appreciate the time taken, and if the opportunity to do an interview or something similar crops up, I've got my research all done and ready!

I'll end with a link to Pete's YouTube channel and just in case you've been living under a rock, the Andertons' channel too – I believe he has plans in the pipeline for some recording and I wish him all the best with it, this has been a absolute blast learning these licks. Very educational and hugely enjoyable!

Links:

mrpetehonore.com

Facebook: facebook.com/mrpetehonore

Instagram: @mrpetehonore

YouTube: youtube.com/user/peterhonore

Next month – the One King To Rule Them All..... oh yes. Mr. Riley B. King, other wise known as “Blues Boy” or B.B. King steps up for another shot. Get that tux pressed and dust off the 335...

How To Play The Blues Like Freddie King

Why I Suck... Series 2, Episode 4 - Freddie King Pt. II!

 And we revisit the Palace Of The King! In the original article I gave a potted history of Freddkie King's life and career, so we won't belabour that here... suffice it to say that by the time he was my age at the time of writing, Mr. King had 7 kids and been dead for a year, and it's hard to think that the two things weren't intertwined... and of course his habit of substituting Bloody Marys in lieue of actual meals can't have helped... anyway, let's dive straight into the style!

As a primarily pentatonic player, one of the key facets pf Freddie's style was an ability to deftly switch between minor and major pentatonic – I think one of the best examples of this comes in his “pop” hit, “I Would Rather Be Blind”, where he moves between G minor pentatonic for the fills in the verses and switches to E minor- the relative minor of G major – fo rthe bridge section, and he takes a lightly more elegant approach than simply shifting everything three frets back:

As you can see, the minor pentatonic (R b3 4 5 b7) and major pentatonic (R 2 3 5 6) do share some notes – the root and 5^th. Not just that, but the 2^nd and 6^th – the “sweet” notes – are located just a semitone below the b3 and b7 in the minor pentatonic, and the major 3rd can be accessed by bending the 2^nd up a tone.

Another noticeable aspect of his style is the way he would “change gear” by shifting to different pentatonic shapes – generally he would use shape 1 to create fills around the vocal, before moving to shape 2 to begin the solo. However, he doesn't always stay there – there's a nice contrary motion effect he gets by moving from shape 2 to shape 1 when the chord sequence moves to the IV. Check out this lick from “Me & My Guitar” to see this idea in action:

This lick works by targeting the 5^th of each chord – bending the A up to a B over the E chord, and then D up to E over the A chord, finishing up with a quarter tone tweak in between minor and major 3^rd over the E chord.

There's some neat turnaround work in the same track, following the chord pattern – B7, A7, E7, B7 – outlining the arpeggios and with some chromatic passing notes thrown in and using the open E minor pentatonic with a healthy dose of major 3^rd added.

An often overlooked part of Freddie's technique was his use of hybrid or fingerpicking to access wider interval jumps across strings, and there's an interesting example of this in “Just A Little Bit” - jumping from the D to the B strings and back again, before faking you out a little bit... just when you think he's about to resolve to the root (Bb) on the low E, he instead reaches out with his pick hand middle finger to pick the high E instead. It's a really interesting, quirky effect.

The same solo ends with a neat “tension and release” scale run – a long, held bend from the b7 up to the root providing the tension, and a flurry of pentatonic triplets providing the release – think of pulling back an elastic band and then letting go! Also, check out the way Freddie would weave pre-bends into the run, as well as the bluesy aggression caused by resolving the lick to the b7 instead of the root:

So, plenty to take away and play with from this month – just remember kids, a Bloody Mary is NOT A nutritional breakfast!

Next month, an internet legend and very possibly a serious coup.. let's keep those fingers crossed....

Shred Like Sophie Lloyd! A Style Analysis

Why I Suck.. Series 2, Progress Report 3 - Sophie Lloyd

 And with a bang, we jump right into the 21^st century to examine the playing style of YouTube sensation Sophie Lloyd! I first became aware of her when Guitar World did a piece on her version of“Bohemian Rhapsody” during summer 2020, and I will hold my hands up here- when I clicked on the video and was met with the image of the glamorous blonde, perfect make up etc, my inner cynic's first thought was “OK, I can see why she's popular..”

By about the fourth bar, however, my inner cynic had shut up entirely, and I was busy picking my jaw up off the floor. Now, here's the thing – when you're confronted by someone on YouTube who's a better player than you, you can either think a) “Oh, this is hopeless, I'll never be able to do that, might as well give up now” or b) “Right, let's slow that down and figure out what he/she is doing there then”. I chose “b”, and (as any of you who follow my One Minute Lick posts on Instagram will be aware) have been richly rewarded with an absolute plethora of licks and runs, which we'll take a look at in this article.

First, a little potted history - Sophie began playing guitar at a young age and reached grade 8 by age 16, drawing influence from classic rock and metal bands like Iron Maiden, Pantera and Black Label Society (a fellow Zakk Wylde fan!) and went on to complete a music degree at the Brighton Institute of Modern Music (BIMM) London, graduating with first class honours.. She released her first EP, “Delusions” in 2018, but the real source of her fame is undoubtedly her YouTube channel, where as well as gear demos and original music she performs shred versions of classic rock tunes such as “Bohemian Rhapsody” and “Highway To Hell”. Beyond that, information is a little bit sketchy, but it's safe to say that unlike most of the players we've checked out in the blog she's at the beginning of her career, rather than being firmly established like Neil Zaza or, well, dead. So one to to keep an eye on, especially as she's building up to a big release.

So, onto the juicy stuff – the licks! I'll admit to being a bit intimidated at first but when I started slowing things down and drilling down into the detail I started to decode some of the patterns she tends to favour, and like most of us, her playing is based predominantly around the minor pentatonic and position 1 three note per string major scale shapes.

She often favours simple repeating “stacked” patterns of 6 and 12 notes, played in a sextuplet (six note per beat) rhythm – count “1 & a 1 & a, 2 & a 2 & a..” etc to get this feel. Make sure to try these lines both picked and legato (hammer-ons and pull-offs), and of course in every key.

A word on practicing these patterns – all too often students practice these patterns in isolation and then find they struggle to apply them. One trick to use to help here is to alternate rhythm and lead – for example , in the examples tabbed, practice chugging on a G powerchord for a bar before switching to one of the lead patterns for a bar, and then back to rhythm and so on. Make sure you keep a steady tempo whilst practicing, either with a metronome or drum machine, or just by tapping your foot. You'll have noticed that the stacked 12 pattern fits nicely into the bar, but for the 6 pattern you'll need to trim a group of 6 to make it fit the bar.

Developing these ideas further, Sophie often brings in pick hand tapping with runs like this one from her version of “Highway To Hell”, which combines the E natural minor 3 note per string fingering in the left hand while the right hand taps the A minor pentatonic at the 17^th fret. The main chord in Highway To Hell is an A power chord, so this evens out as an A Dorian sound. The keen eyed amongst you will notice a rogue C# at the end, but that works out as a major 3^rd over the A power chord, and of course power chords don't have 3rds in them so there's no clash. Nice.

She's also quite fond of lateral or horizontal legato runs along a single string, as in this example from her original track “After Insanity”, which is played with a five note per beat rhythm – however, this is split into a 16^th note triplet followed by a pair of regular sixteenth notes, so think “1 & a 1 &” when you're counting. This run uses the A natural minor running from the G (b7) at the 15^th fret to the D (4^th) at the 7^th fret G. Don't neglect the rhythmic elements when practicing these licks, so tap the foot firmly on each downbeat to ensure you're grounded.

As well as these shred three note per string ideas, Sophie doesn't neglect the humble minor pentatonic, and a couple of tricks she likes to use include string skipping, like this lick in “Highway To Hell” using position 1 of A minor pentatonic at the 17^th fret:

And she's not afraid to move laterally around the fretboard, as this lick from “Bullet Proof Revolver” shows, moving across the B string, starting in position 1 and then moving through 2 and 3 before finishing in porition 4 – this lick will be familiar to anyone who's checked out my horizontal/ diagonal pentatonic techniques in Progressive Guitar Training... great minds think alike!

That concludes our examination of Sophie Lloyd's style for now, but there's a LOT more to check out – we haven't touched on her use of arpeggios, for example, or how she integrates sweep picking into her runs... but that's fine, like Neil Zaza it just gives me an excuse to revisit! There's a lot this month that has dovetailed with my own playing – unlike a Steve Vai or Allan Holdsworth, when you get right down to the details, she plays a lot like I do.. just better! Which makes this exercise all the more rewarding.

Next month we're back to the blues, as Freddie King gets another turn under the microscope... until then, stay safe and happy practicing!

Why I Suck... Series 2, Progress Report 2 - Albert King Revisited

 Back to the Velvet Bulldozer! You can't argue with Albert King and his mastery of microtonal string bends and his ability to achieve so much expression with so few notes.

Having covered The Albert King Lick right back at the start of this project (in the world that was, back before R numbers and PPE were everyday concepts...), this time I'm going to look a little deeper into both the man's playing and history, as his career path is not exactly what you'd expect from a “rock star”.

For a start, his name wasn't actually Albert King. Born Albert Nelson on April 25 1823 in Indianola, Mississipi, (the same city which gave birth to B.B. King) young Albert's early life is something of a mystery – largely because the adult Albert was adept at crafting a media-friendly backstory, claiming at various times to be B.B. King's half brother, and going as far as naming his guitar “Lucy” in emulation of B.B. King's legendary “Lucille”.

He began in the same way as many blues musicians, constructing a “diddley bow” guitar – for those of you unfamiliar, this is basically a bit of wire stretched over a plank of wood and wrapped around a bottle at one end, played with a slide. I built one myself back in 2012 and I recommend it as a great way to get in touch with the roots of guitar playing.

The next step was a cigar box guitar – essentially a more portable version of the diddley bow, this used a cigar box for the body, a piece of bush for the neck and a length of broom wire for the string. In time, Albert was able to upgrade to a real guitar, bought for $1.25. He cut his teeth playing with gospel groups – most notably the Harmony Kings – but became inspired by the work of Delta blues artists like Elmore James and Blind Lemon Jefferson and turned over entirely to playing the blues himself.

An important part of his style came from King being left handed, but playing the guitar flipped over – this may well have influenced his choice of the Flying V guitar in later years, due to its symmetrical body shape – and using an unusual open tuning, (or more likely series of open tunings) variously described as open Cm, C#m, open F, frequently without the lowest string being used. This is why The Albert King Lick never sounds 100% right when played on a conventional guitar! He also used very light strings (for the standards of the day) – 0.009” to 0.050” according to luthier Dan Erlewine – helping with the soaring string bends and microtonal control that characterise his playing style.

Albert's musical career included a few false starts in the mid 50's with small time record deals that failed to really go anywhere – interestingly, he was a regular attraction alongside Chuck Berry & Ike Turner – but his first hit, “Don't Throw Your Love On Me So Strong” came in 1961 (keep in mind, this would have placed him at 37-38 at this point) on the small Bobbin record label, but his real breakthrough came in 1966 when he moved to Memphis, signing to the Stax record label and developing the smooth, soulful, funky sound that he would become associated with. Most of these recordings feature the Stax house band Booker T & The MG's, including legendary session player Steve Cropper on rhythm guitar, but that's a story in its own right. During this period he would record most of his most famous songs - “Born Under A Bad Sign” (written by Booker T and William Bell), “I'll Play The Blues For You”, “Cold Sweat”, “The Hunter”, “Crosscut Saw” (notable for lyric “I'm a crosscut saw baby, drag me across your log” which is utterly impossible to pull off with a straight face) to name but a few.

Interestingly, as the 70s dawned, Albert was keen to embrace new musical trends to stay current and commercial – this is something we often overlook in our quest for “authenticity”, the fact that these guys knew damn well they relied on record sales to pay the rent, so the Kings, Buddy Guy, T Bone Walker etc were always happy to adapt their styles to the trends of the time. Chasing commercial success at the cost of “artistic integrity” is not a conversation you need to have when you've come from picking cotton to pay the rent, and Albert himself did that as well as working construction (including driving a bulldozer, a possible origin of his nickname) and many other menial jobs to support himself while building a musical career.

The Stax years were really where his career peaked, and after the label went bust in 1975 he moved first to Utopia records and recorded three albums, none of which were particularly successful but did include a duet with Rory Gallagher (who is well overdue his own article) on 1977's “As The Years Go Passing By”. In 1978 he moved to Tomato Records and recorded a mix of old and new material, but the late 70's were a disappointing period commercially. A short-lived retirement followed but in 1984 he recorded “I'm In A Phone Booth Baby” which was nominated for a Grammy, riding the early 80s blues revival that artists like Clapton and Stevie Ray Vaughan were pushing. He continued to tour regularly, remaining a major force in blues,but ironically (sadly) he never achieved the level of commercial success that those artists who held him up as an influence did. He died of heart attack on December 21 1992, in the midst of planning a tour with B.B King and Bobbly “Blue” Bland.

Undeniably he is an architect of the blues, having influenced so many players with his unique and instantly identifiable playing style, but for someone who has become a touchstone of what it means to be a blues guitarist it's interesting and not a little sad to see how precarious his career was at different points. It's also a stark contrast to realise that his breakthrough years came with Stax at 42-43 (something that would be impossible in the youth obsessed pop industry) whilst another of the Three Kings, Freddie, was dead at 42! Although we often lump the Three Kings of blues together, their careers and stories are radically different.

So there's the potted history, on to the licks!

I've taken three licks which I think characterise his style.

In this first example, taken from “Blues Power”, you can see how he approaches the root note G from the 5^th below, following the Dm-shape Gm arpeggio – this is a very signature blues move, having the effect of “serving up” the root note to the listener. This is followed by a soaring held bend on the C bent up to D (4^th til 5^th of the scale) before a quick burst of 16^th notes running down the Gm arpeggio and facilitating a position shift to Gm pentatonic shape 1.

This second example is taken from his signature song “Born Under A Bad Sign”, in C#m, starting with a quick stinging move from the E to the C# - b3 to root – followed by a swift run down the C#m minor pentatonic including a neat little slide on the G string from the 11^th to 13^th frets and back – F# to G# (4^th to 5^th) and back again, puling off to the b3 and finishing on the b7. Notice that like the first lick, this has a long held first note followed by a burst of energy.

The third and final example is in the style of the instrumental “Cold Sweat” in Dm and illustrates a signature string bending technique, bending the 4^th (G, on the 15^th fret E string) up a tone to the 5^th, then bringing the bend ever so slightly flat, repicking it and bringing it down. In true Albert King style, he milks this idea over the course of two bars – although frequently he would play almost an entire 12 bar chorus just remorselessly milking one lick – before finishing with a pull off and a double struck root note, played with a solid chunk of vibrato to really make it sting.

Thanks for reading, and next month we'll be shifting styles and centuries as we tackle the Canoness of Shred herself, the YouTube sensation Sophie Lloyd! See you then, stay safe and happy practicing.