The crossroads

Richard Barrett is on a mission to make you a better blues player – with full audio examples and backing tracks

OVER THE LAST two columns, I’ve demonstrated a handful of what I consider to be essential “blues approved” licks that work well both as embellishments to rhythm parts or as phrases within a solo. Our

The month’s best guitar music – a hand-picked selection of the finest fretwork on wax

ONE OF MY biggest musical influences is the king of blues power, Albert King. There are so many things that define his unique approach to playing, and I think about these things every time I pick up m

Why are more and more guitar builders making their own pickups, wonders Dave Burrluck, and does it affect us players who are used to decades-old designs road-tested by giants?

When the Irish band were a folksy blues three-piece, it was Eric Bell who defined Thin Lizzy on their 1971 self-titled debut and early 70s follow-ups, Shades Of A Blue Orphanage and Vagabonds Of The Western World