"Cannonball Rag" is known as The Thumbpicker's National Anthem (or so it's called in the picking circles). There have been a lot of versions of this recorded, b...
This piece, called "Karen", is named after Karen Carpenter, who I'm a fan of. She did things that were considered pop that I actually grew up with, using 50's p...
The words Haba Na Haba are from a proverb, which translates to "little by little your pot will be filled." Essentially, the saying means if you take things litt...
Based on the Charlie Parker standard "Confirmation", and featured on my solo guitar recording Indigo, this étude combines a number of exciting harmonic concepts...
This is an old traditional tune I learned from the listening to Tony Rice and Norman Blake. In the late 80’s they released two albums together with guitar and v...
Everybody knows that the blues comes out of the south, and was played on acoustic instruments. Then the blues migrated to the cities, and the urbanization of th...
There’s a real art to playing rhythm guitar. Creating the perfect rhythm part, staying in the pocket with the rhythm section, staying consistent throughout the ...
I ran across the original lead sheet for this song recently. It was called "Room 314" - Why? I have no idea. I don't know if that was a hotel room I was in when...
Well alright everybody, let’s solo over a modern country track in the key of C! This one has a real meaty feel to it and I think you're going to have a lot of f...
This is an 8 Bar blues tune in C with more advanced use of alternating bass techniques. There's a cool B section that gets us moving around the neck a bit as we...
This tune is called "Highlands", and it's from my record I'm Tired. It uses one of the most common chord changes in popular music, the I-V-VIm-IV. It shows us h...
"All the Things You Are" is a song composed by Jerome Kern with lyrics written by Oscar Hammerstein II. The song was written for the musical Very Warm for May (...
I love how the call-and-response approach allows you to reference more of an ensemble sound. More than just putting a few licks over a steady bass, you can star...
"Tears From Above" is a Texas blues inspired solo with plenty of nods to Stevie Ray Vaughan. As with all ten of these solos, there's plenty of call and response...
I'm basically going to be playing over the changes of Electric Gypsy. D major, A major, B minor, G major, and that just keeps repeating. When I play it live tha...
The first tune is "Drifting", inspired by the playing of the guitarist Preston Reed. The song features some unusual percussion, and the left-hand is playing abo...
Luys Milán lived in Spain during the Renaissance. "Pavan 1" was originally written for the instrument Milán played, the vihuela, a Spanish instrument similar to...
There are more guitar players today with incredible technical chops then ever before. Yet, so many of their solos and improvisations sound a bit dry and lifeles...
recently posted a note to aspiring songwriters via my Instagram account. It began simply, with these four words of advice: Finish what you start.
I then asked ...
If you Google “G, C, D Songs” you get 325,000,000 results. Now I don’t know if that has anything to do with how many songs there are out there comprised of just...
Something special for you this issue! Included in this special edition of Riffage are the audio MP3 versions of the songs presented by the educators in the ...
nyone who has ever dived into the deep waters of songwriting will emphatically agree that it’s a highly personal, introspective and complex craft. One can learn...
Here ye, here ye! Audiophiles, guitar aficionados and enlightened children of the ‘Fire — prepare thy ears and hearts for magical music from the artists and...
