Tag: Guitar Solo

This blues shuffle guitar solo is played over parts A & B of the backing track (see below). Part A is a basic 12-bar blues in A, where part B (‘the chorus’) is an 8-bar vamp that starts from the IV chord (D7). In the B-section, the B3 Hammond organ enters for a fuller, sound and the bass starts ‘walking‘ in the groove. I love playing over shuffles with ‘real-life’ musicians, so I spend quite some time on the drums & bass to create a natural shuffle groove. Part C is a break, where drums & bass play a little softer, and the harmony stays on the I-chord (A7) twice as long. Enjoy!

Original Christmas swing guitar track in Bb (first video in this key). The video starts with a slow, jazzy turnaround drenched in lo-fi effects (RC-20 Retro Color). After the turnaround, the sleigh bells indicate a tempo change, and off we go for a festive ride along with some tasty jazz-blues-swing licks, the beautiful b9, and the magical mysteries of the diminished scale. As usual, you get the guitar tabs on the screen & a few surprises along the way 😉

I love playing solo’s in major keys, although it can be a bit of a challenge to keep things interesting. In my experience, it helps to play around with the major third and to search for chord suspensions (sus2 and sus4). I can’t pinpoint a clear artist influence for this melodic guitar solo, although some ‘Joe Satriani’ is going on (e.g., the legato flurries in bars 16 and 17). I aimed for a modern, spacious guitar sound, leaving room for your timed delays to ring through 😉

I wrote this minor blues track to express a recurring feeling I experience in Autumn, a feeling of quiet gloom, best felt when talking a walk into the colorful woods this time of the year.

The solo is heavily influenced by Mark Knopfler’s playing. A clean, spacious guitar sound with emphasis on right hand dynamics, the A minor pentatonic and the odd blue note (Eb).I love these slow-burning blues-country-roots licks that you’ll find in Mark Knopfler’s more recent work.