YouTube Playlist: Lead Guitar 1

YouTube Playlist: Lead Guitar 1

A Survey of Lead Guitar Styles From 1967 to 1995



? 2019 Greg Varhaug

PURPOSE This playlist will help you to get a feel for the evolution of lead guitar from its beginnngs as an electrified folk instrument to the instrument of choice for single-line leads.

Lead guitar solos replaced saxophone solos starting in the 1960s. But the sound of modern lead guitar wasn't established until the release of the Bluesbreakers album featuring Eric Clapton in 1967. Overnight, the bar was raised for professional guitarists. Clapton, Peter Green, and a handful of practitioners of this new art form showed the rest of the world a way forward.

The songs in this playlist each contain elements that you should recognize, know how to reproduce, and know how to respond to as a musician.

One reason why we need to go back to the birth of lead guitar is that it is important to learn what the electric guitar sounds like without electonic processing. The first few songs in this list were recorded before there were any guitar effects. In some of these recordings the overall recording quality isn't very good. So you have to "hear through" these recordings, past their

flaws, to understand the most important aspects of lead guitar, and rock music.

SECRET AGENT MAN - JOHNNY RIVERS ? 1966 This is an example of the sound of a typical `60s guitar solo, preClapton. This is a good-sounding lead, even though the articulation is a little jagged.

HIDEAWAY ? ERIC CLAPTON ? 1967 This is the first of two instrumentals from the Bluesbreakers LP that feature Clapton's fiery lead guitar style. These solos show more fluidity and precision than typical solos of the day. Clapton didn't invent this tone. Howard Roberts and a handful of obscure rock and blues guitarists developed the tone, and the precise articulations, but Bluesbreakers showcased those tones in a new way. Clapton has played Stratocasters for nearly his entire career, bu the guitar he used here was a Gibson Les Paul.

STEPPIN OUT ? ERIC CLAPTON - 1967 The second instrumental selection from Bluesbreakers with Clapton on lead guitar. This track features a more driving blues beat with a backing brass section. Also played on a Les Paul.

DRIFTING ? FLEETWOOD MAC ? 1967 Peter Green exploded onto the British blues scene with the original Fleetwood Mac, and the release of the original "Black

Magic Woman." This is the same song that Santana would make popular again about five years later, though the original sounds almost nothing like Santana's version. BMW is one of Santana's signature songs today.

"Drifting" is a better example of Green's blues playing. Many guitar players like myself have copied this track, not just for some of the great riffs, but also for the mood and the feel. Even though this track has a driving beat, it also has a lot of dynamic highs and lows. The emotional high point is where Green creates suspense with a repetitive, soft figure, before exploding into a machine-gun like blues volley. Played on a Les Paul.

DEAR MR FANTASY ? TRAFFIC ? 1968

This track has a blues feel, even though it isn't a blues progression. This is a jagged, heavy handed guitar solo. Not pretty by any means. It's a great example of a screaming Fender Stratocaster in the context of a blues. Many lead guitarists have studied this Steve Winwood solo in detail, both for the lines and the overall tone. The master recording is, unfortunately, not very good.

Traffic was one of the supergroups of the late 60s. This is the only track of its kind Traffic ever did. Mr Fantasy is more similar to jam tracks on the Blind Faith album that Winwood recorded with Eric Clapton before Traffic.

WOODEN SHIPS ? CROSBY, STILLS & NASH ? 1969

This track features the unique guitar stylings of Stephen Stills. What sounds like two guitars trading leads is really just Stephen changing between tones on his Fender Telecaster, with treble tones a little more brash than a Fender Strat.

SINCE I'VE BEEN LOVING YOU ? LED ZEPPELIN ? 1970

Before there was any such thing as heavy metal music, there were the Blues-based hard rock bands like Led Zeppelin, Trapeze, Free, and the early Black Sabbath. This song is typical of other blues songs performed by a number of pre-metal hard rock bands. Lots of dynamic highs and lows. Jimmy Page playing ? you guessed it ? a Les Paul.

FOR YASGUR'S FARM ? MOUNTAIN ? 1970

Even though this song has a driving beat, it has an almost hymnal feeling. Even though it's all electric guitar, organ, bass and drums, this track is hard rock's version of a pastoral mood. The song is in a minor key, but it ends on a major chord. That was called ending in "Picardy major," and it was considered oldfashioned in JS Bach's era.

This track, like other Mountain tracks, is a catalog of essential guitar tones, lead lines, lead fills, and chord/melody figures which can be used in both rhythm and lead guitar parts.

LAZY ? DEEP PURPLE ? 1972

Another example of blues based hard rock. The music press invented a term for Deep Purple and the other emerging

progressive rock bands who were raising the bar on technical proficiency. For a few years, the term "precision rock" was used to describe these virtuoso groups.

"Lazy" is a 12 bar blues, but with several twists. It changes keys twice, and has several pre-planned breaks. One of Deep Purple's best-arranged tracks, and the crowning example of 12 bar played by a hard-rock band. Ritchie Blackmore on, as always, a Stratocaster.

FRANKENSTEIN ? EDGAR WINTER ? 1972

This early prog-rock instrumental classic from Edgar Winter, brother of Johnny Winter, features several interesting lead lines on guitar and synthesizer. It's a complicated composition.

THE KING WILL COME ? WISHBONE ASH ? 1972

This is Wishbone Ash's biggest hit song, along with "Blowin' Free." This song is notable for it's exotic lead hook, and the extended lead solos.

GOOD DAY ? NEKTAR ? 1973 This song is not well known today, though Nektar got their share of airplay on early FM progressive rock stations. They are better remembered for their epic, "Remember the Future."

This song also demonstrates an effective use of dynamics. It goes from delicate and ornate, to screaming over-the-top. It's the first song in the list that isn't a 12-bar blues. It's also the first one played on a Fender Stratocaster. There's only one

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