5 soloing ideas you can learn from Richie Kotzen

Winery Dogs
Richie Kotzen and Winery Dogs partner, Billy Sheehan (Image credit: Lorne Thomson/Redferns)

As well as holding down a solo career, Richie has enjoyed stints with Mr Big and Poison, as well as critically acclaimed fusion collaborations with Greg Howe in the 90s; Tilt, released in 1995, is considered a hidden gem of instrumental guitar music. 

Richie clearly likes to keep busy as he is also a member of hard rock trio Winery Dogs with Mike Portnoy and Billy Sheehan. The Kotzen style stems from hard rock and blues attitude, fuelled by fast organic legato, and quick-fire pentatonics with fusion-esque intervallic choices which add a unique colour to the Kotzen canvas. 

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Charlie Griffiths

Charlie Griffiths plays guitar in acclaimed prog-metal outfit Haken, and has a wealth of experience handling corporate and session gigs for genres as diverse as rock, heavy metal and pop. He has been a regular contributor to Total Guitar, Guitar Techniques, and Guitar World for over a decade, and released his debut solo album Tiktaalika in 2022.