Guitar Licks and Tips

This song is not about an actual restaurant, but there is an Alice in the song,but it is very near to where Alice lives. This song is one of the many memorable anthems of the 60′ & 70’s, that most people of that ear remember if they still can, that was from the creative mind of Arlo Guthrie!

This song was also turned into a movie by Arlo and here you can see my favorite part!

If your a guitar player this song will send shivers up and down your spine! “Oh my God”, is what you would say if you HAD to play this song because it’s 19 plus minutes long!!! AND, to add insult to injury, it is played in a picking style of drone, or blue grass style.

I play this song, but NOT in it’s entire length, in a readers digest format. The picking is SO MUCH FUN if you can play this picking technique but I will guarantee you you fingers will desperately need a massive break if you play it! I highly recommend that this be the last song, or the only one, in your set if you play this one live!

I have set up a couple of ways in which to play this song, because I love having many different ways in which to play it so as to keep it interesting not only to you but your audience. BTW, these are the versions that I use, together throughout the song, good luck and get back to me on how it is going! REMEMBER, play these sections SLOWLY to be able to master them, thus making it enjoyable for everyone!

Version
(1)
(2)
(3)

This post is dedicated to great Jon and Scotty(mighty) Myro!

Keep on Jammin’

This is the best interpretation of playing Neon from John Mayer on the acoustic guitar. This is the video that I used to play it and I hope that you work on it, get the chance to play it live and most of all enjoy it!

This is the version that he plays that really got me hooked on it in the first place.

Below is the video that helped me, and I know it will help you, figure out this tune and play it live! Enjoy.

Keep on Jammin’

Ok everyone, I realize that I have slowed down a lot on posting to this site but no one has commented on the grand old lady of finger picking? The women is a legend and no one seems interested in her?

I hoped that introducing you all to new genres of playing stirs up some thought provoking discussion. This almost forgotten way of playing is huge! She was the Van Halen of her day. Imagine all the trials and tribulation that she has gone through. She stopped playing guitar for many years and came back out of obscurity to the top of her game here kidz!

If you innocently missed this post I highly recommend that you go back and check it out with a fine tooth comb.

I’m not mad but a little bit confused … I feel like a mis-understood parent. Please help me out here kidz, love ya all live!

Keep on Jammin’

Now this is very some picking technique to look at more then once! I was looking up one of Mississippi John Hurt’s tune on youtube and I just stumbled upon this beautiful guitar player named Elizabeth Cotton.

Her approach to the drone picking, looks like something that I would find easier, if in fact, I played guitar like her.

She makes it look so easy and effortless. Her index finger bounces around the E and A string like my puppy when we tell her it’s time for supper! God it’s just beautiful to look at and hear.

Here she is a 92 years of age playing this song that she made up when she was 12 years old! Come on everyone sign along!!!!!

Keep on playin’ Elizabeth Cotton wherever you are.
(Jan. 5, 1893 - Jun. 29, 1987)

I was at our pharmacy the other day picking up some meds for my wife and I had to wait for the quit a while for the prescription to be filled. As everyone knows, there is only so many things you can do to pass the time waiting in any pharmacy, so I picked up a guitar magazine. While browsing their selection I came across Guitar World, the one with Eddie & Wolf Van Halen on the cover.

I took the book out of it’s plastic cover and started to leaf through it. The articles were interesting enough and the behind the scene photo’s of Zeppelin’s reunion concert was worth the price!

The one thing that caught my eye was this CD/DVD that came with it. It had Lenny Kravitz Exclusive Lesson on the cover of it, (ahhhh) and other video’s about “Special Riffs” and “String Bending” … When I got home I put the CD into the old computer and checked it out!

They had all sorts of stuff on it but the best was from this guitarist called Phil X. His little thing on this was called ” Betcha can’t play this, with Phil X“(I realize that his video on the DVD is not up there right now, but wait a month to try this out, you’ll see what I mean!).

It was about this speed freak on guitar playing this riff on his axe, at around MACH 5 no less!!! He did it a couple of times and then slowed it down one time to let us mere mortals to watch in real time. He reminded me of Wayne and Garth so much that I just had to share this with all of you!

Keep on Jammin’