Acoustic Nation with Dale Turner: The Sullen Guitar Sounds of Damien Rice

These videos and audio files are bonus content related to the February 2015 issue of Guitar World. For the full range of interviews, features, tabs and more, pick up the new issue on newsstands now or at the Guitar World Online Store.

It has been eight years since Irish singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Damien Rice, known mostly for mournful smashes (included on many film/TV soundtracks) like “The Blower’s Daughter” and “Cannonball,” issued a “proper” studio album.

Since the 2006 release of his sophomore effort, 9, Rice has toured regularly and participated in numerous collaborations, with Ray Lamontagne, David Gray, the Cheshire Project and others.

Finally, on November 11, 2014, Rice released his Rick Rubin-produced third album, My Favourite Faded Fantasy. Let’s run our fingers through some of the guitarist’s signature acoustic moves, with a mix of thumb-strummed passages, rhythmic pick-style grooves and traditional fingerstyle techniques.

Rice’s first foray into the music biz was a stint in the indie-rock band Juniper (1991-98), signed to Polygram in 1997. But creative tensions between the band and label prompted Rice to hit the road—literally; he quit the band and spent the next few years “busking” (performing in public places for tips) throughout Europe.

By 2001, some of Rice’s demos had found their way to producer David Arnold (who also composed music for several James Bond films), resulting in the single release of “The Blower’s Daughter,” its thumb-strummed chords (yielding a softer sounding attack than pick-style strums) depicted similarly in FIGURE 1.

Of course, this is just an excerpt. For the complete lesson, check out the February 2015 issue of Guitar World.