Resonator for the Rest of Us: Rob Ickes Demystifies the Dobro

Oct 27,2009
IF JERRY DOUGLAS IS THE MUHAMMAD ALI of the Dobro, then Rob Ickes is like the instrument’s Michael Jordan. Through his work on four solo releases, with his bands Blue Highway and Three Ring Circle, and sessions with a Who’s More...

GITs Dean Brown Maps the DNA of the Great American Groove

Jul 1,2010
“EVER BEEN TO THE EXPERIENCE MUSIC Project in Seattle?” asks Dean Brown. “You gotta go. They have that big Hendrix exhibit, and one cool thing you can do there is listen to famous Hendrix tunes with the different tracks More...

Robot Invasion Further Experiments with Diminished Transformers

Jul 1,2010
IN LAST MONTH’S LESSON [“Diminished Transformers,” June 2010 GP], we explored the concept of unfolding a diminished 7 chord into four dominant 7s, an idea we can attribute to Pat Martino. We compared this process to More...

Quick Licks

Feb 7,2012
Hinds’ Nifty Sevens This lick was inspired by Allen Hinds’ solo in “Oscar’s Swagger,” off his great Monkeys and Slides album. It’s an easy, symmetrical pattern, but the key is to arch your pinky so the last two notes in each More...

Justin Derrico’s “Fricken Chicken” Workout

Feb 7,2012
Justin Derrico’s debut solo record, Boldly Going Nowhere, features blazing guitar work from start to finish. The tune “Fricken Chicken” shows Derrico’s debt to Brent Mason and is a great showcase of his hybrid-picking More...

Johnny Hiland on String Bending

Feb 15,2012
“When I first heard guys like Ricky Skaggs, Marty Stuart, and Jimmy Olander playing with B-benders,” recalls Johnny Hiland, “I didn’t know what a B-bender was. I learned their licks without a bender, and that really helped More...

Quick Licks December 2011

Feb 14,2012
Happy, Scrappy, and Snappy This is one of my all-time favorite licks. I play it by snapping the accented notes with my right-hand index finger, with pretty much every other note being a hammer-on or pull off. When your More...

10 Things You Gotta Do To Play Like Roy Buchanan

Aug 1,2009
HE WAS THE RAREST OF BREEDS—A GUITARIST’S GUITARIST WITH AN innate grasp of bittersweet country sounds, wailing blues licks, sophisticated jazz harmonies, and balls-out rock and roll, all presented with spine-tingling tone, More...

A Lap Slide Lesson with Jerry Douglas

Apr 19,2005
As Jerry Douglas’ shiny tonebar skips and dances across the strings of his growling resonator, funky blues licks echo through his attic studio. Built over a two-car garage, it’s a spacious, bright space filled with custom More...

Quick Licks April 2010

Apr 1,2010
BONELESS CHICKEN PICKIN’