Latest articles by Richard Barrett
“It’s about building intensity… think of Jeff Beck shifting to Billy Gibbons!” How to solo over one-chord blues
Soloing over changes is cool, but sometimes the blues is all about exploring melody over a single chord
5 altered chords you need to know – and how they get their names
Altered chords can be intimidating at first, but here we demystify the naming conventions, and once you understand that, you can easily find your own
What we can learn from Mike Oldfield about breaking free of the pentatonic box
In this lesson, we reimagine folk, jazz, blues and Celtic music for a blues roadmap that takes the road less traveled
Demystifying 13th chords, the voicing that Stevie Ray Vaughan used to stunning effect in Lenny
This primer in 13th chords will give you five voicings to use in your playing – and an explanation on how they get their name
How to let it rip like the late, great Gary Moore
Time to show the Marshall amp no mercy and engage the Tube Screamer – this solo lesson works mid '70s Thin Lizzy into Parisienne Walkways and Still Got The Blues and doesn't hold back
Players like Steve Hackett are masters of extended chords/harmony – here’s how you can use them too
Today in extended chords 101, we look at 11th chords – both minor and major – and explain how these “harmonically dense” voicings look on the fretboard
Demystifying chord names, starting with a Hendrix and SRV favorite, the maj9
A little knowledge with naming conventions goes a long way to understanding complex chords and how they might sound
“Albert King once advised Gary Moore to ‘play every other note’”: Why keeping it simple can improve your blues solos
Peter Green, George Harrison, Gary Moore, David Gilmour... These are just some of the players inspiring this lesson in stylistic restraint, all in the pursuit of the blues
Pete Townshend, Ray Davies and David Bowie all used third inversion chords – here’s why (and how) you should, too
If the idea of third inversions seems all upside down, fear not: these five examples show how easy they are to put together – and how musical they are when you apply them in a song
How to use triads in blues solos like Stevie Ray Vaughan and Jimi Hendrix
When you’re the only guitarist in the band, triads are your best friends in a guitar solo – and Hendrix and SRV were the masters
David Gilmour is a master of melodic bluesy phrasing – here are 3 minor blues approaches you can expand your soloing vocabulary
Whether you call these solo ideas minor blues or embellished pentatonic/blues scale, the effect is the same, freeing you up from established patterns to hold your audience's attention
How you can swap the notes in a chord to give it a different feel
A lesson in second inversions sounds like advanced physics but it's simply swapping the root note for the 5th, expanding your chord vocabulary with a minimum of fuss
Rush’s Alex Lifeson was a master of first inversion chords – here are 5 voicings you can use in your playing today
Don't be intimidated by the terminology. First-inversion chords is the fancy name for slash chords and they can add some range and spice to your songwriting
How Jimmy Page used open C tuning to open up a whole new world of acoustic blues
In this tab and video lesson, we show you how open C tuning is great for slide, it can present adventurous players with fresh chords and help them reach notes they couldn't in standard
Loved by Joni Mitchell and Keith Richards alike, essential to slide players, here’s how you can explore chords in open D
These 5 shapes showcase the range of acoustic sounds and textures this open tuning grants access to
Decoding the magic of Carlos Santana’s supernatural soloing style
Stay cosmic with this lesson in how Carlos Santana took the blues as practiced by B.B. King and Peter Green, plus the new radical rock styles of the '60s, and put his signature spin on them
Learn 5 altered chords that can create or dissolve harmonic tension
Jimmy Page often employed dissonant chords with Led Zep and you can, too. You don't even need to know the name of the chord to use them
Buddy Guy influenced Clapton, Page and Hendrix – here’s what you can learn from the blues icon
No-one plays the blues like Buddy Guy – but that doesn't stop us trying. We look at four ways the blues icon approaches his solos. Warning: it's going to get fiery
30 beautiful acoustic guitar chords every player needs to know – and how to play them
Increase your musical vocabulary and expand your compositional horizons, in each and every key
4 searing blues guitar solo ideas in the style of Steve Lukather
Lukather might have made his name in box-office rock and pop, but the blues underpins it all, and this quick-fire tutorial with tab and audio unleashes some serious soloing heat
“The passion of Gary Moore with riffs inspired by Zeppelin”: The searing lead guitar of ’80s rock’s great journeyman
Exploring the lead guitar style of John Sykes, a player who – like Page, Blackmore, and Moore – balanced flair with power
5 lo-fi guitar chords to add to your progressions
These chord voices are so cool they're worth the stretch
How to weave crosspicking and Carter picking into your acoustic guitar playing
In this lesson inspired by Molly Tuttle, Trey Hensley and the O.G. of acoustic folk playing Maybelle Carter, we'll make one guitar sound like two with arrangements alive with rhythm and melody
Don't let chord inversions bamboozle you. This lesson explains all (and 5 ways you can play a Bmaj7)
Inversions are essential for jazz players, virtuoso cats such as Martin Tyler, but they are super-useful for any player looking for a fresh chord voicing. Let's take a look and demystify them with 5 ways you can play a Bmaj7
