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GOLDEN GODS HIGHLIGHTS

Talkin' Blues: Anatomy of a Classic Solo — Billy Butler and "Honky Tonk"

Posted 02/26/2013 at 3:39pm | by Keith Wyatt

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The following content is related to the April 2013 issue of Guitar World. For the full range of interviews, features, tabs and more, pick up the new issue on newsstands now, or in our online store.

Cool licks are everywhere, but truly great solos are rare. The missing link is structure—how ideas are joined together to create a whole that is bigger than the sum of its parts.

One such example of greatness is Billy Butler’s classic solo on Bill Doggett’s million-selling 1956 instrumental “Honky Tonk,” a recording that has been covered and cannibalized repeatedly for half a century. Let’s step inside and see how Butler turned a few cool ideas into a 36-bar masterpiece.

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April 2013

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mono45rpm

March 05, 2013 at 3:13am

I can't tell you how hip this column has become. There are obviously a million and one ways to play guitar, but GW and your commitment to featuring real R&B and Blues through Talkin' Blues makes the magazine essential to me even as a working guitar player. Who'd have thought that articles on Billy Butler, Mickey Baker, and Pop Staples would be available in middle America grocery stores in 2013?

Great playing, great teaching, essential curriculum.