Bill withersain’t no sunshine

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

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

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

Richard Barrett experiments with suspended and altered chords to bring a sense of suspense to your compositions

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

From Rikers Island to Amy Winehouse and “Uptown Funk”: how a late-blooming diva and an indie-label clique helped rejuvenate a classic sound