Jon Chappell
Contact Info
The Most Recent stories by Jon Chappell
- Flatpicking: The Licks, Tricks, and History Behind Fleet-Fingered Flat-Top Guitar January 2008
You can keep your flashy Tele pickers, with all their hybrid pick-and-fingers workarounds (cheaters!), their feather-light strings (wimps!), and their glass-bright pickups (glitterati!). If you want to hear real picking, in the buff ...
- A Guitarist’s Guide to the British Invasion January 2008
Lots of American guitarists who take a patriotic view of their music like to trace the lineage of rock and roll from blues to country to rockabilly and finally to the heavy stuff of rock’s golden age. Most draw a straight line from ...
- Texas Blues December 2007
Blues Guitar from a Lone Star State of Mind
- Muddy Waters - Guitar Heroes A-Z October 2007
Born in Jug’s Corner, Mississippi, in 1915, Muddy Waters (1915-1983, born McKinley Morganfield) was, to say the least, an important historical link between the acoustic and electric blues movements. It would be more accurate to say ...
- Roy Nichols - Guitar Heroes A-Z October 2007
Merle Haggard’s right hand guitar man for years was the late, great Roy Nichols (1932 2001), a teen prodigy whom Haggard first idolized from afar. Nichols was a multifaceted jazz and country player who brought his progressive playing into a
- Albert Lee - Guitar Heroes A-Z October 2007
Taking nothing away from Sir Paul and Sir Elton, but if the Queen is going to give out knighthoods for musicians, Her Royal Highness should at least bestow one upon her country’s undisputed king of country picking, the very gentlemanly ...
- Elmore James - Guitar Heroes A-Z October 2007
Elmore James (1918-1963) was a Chicago-based blues player best known for his electric slide work. His most famous song, “Dust My Broom,” was actually written and played previously by Delta blues great Robert Johnson, but James recast ...
- Duane Eddy - Guitar Heroes A-Z October 2007
Before there was Clapton, Page, and Hendrix, the reigning instrumental guitar god was a mild-mannered low-string picker from Coolidge, Arizona, named Duane Eddy. Between 1958 and 1996, Eddy released a staggering 30-plus albums that ...
- Chord Melody - How to Conquer Jazz’s Most Dazzling and Daunting Guitar Style October 2007
One of the most sophisticated, all-inclusive, and truly mesmerizing guitar styles is chord melody. A hybrid of rhythmic accompaniment and lead playing, this approach finds the guitarist providing the melody, harmony, and groove all ...
- Fingerstyle Blues June 2007
If you want to make money playing the blues, well, it’s gonna be tough—your best bet may be to get yourself an electric guitar, land a steady gig with a club band, and learn how to survive for weeks at a time on the Chitlin’ Circuit. ...