Putting it Together
June 26, 2010 by T.J.Jones
Filed under Featured, Guitar Central, Play Guitar Like
Odds are, if you have a band, you have tried recording or have considered the possibility of mixing a song with multiple tracks.
Whether you’re recording a jamming session with your group, or using amp simulators, drum and bass machines or other solo multi-tracking devices, there is a general order in which band music is constructed and tracks for each individual instrument are laid out.
Like most things, music consists of a base or foundation upon which a melody is built. There are constant and variables that change slightly amongst genres, but all repeat a general pattern of musical order. In a classic rock band line-up:
- The drums or percussion establish a beat and tempo to the mix, a constant that makes up the first and most important layer of foundation for a song.
- The bass aids the drums, incorporating a new, more defining tone for the rhythm of the song that gives cue to a rhythm pattern for the guitar.
- The rhythm guitar’s groundwork is more flexible than percussion and bass, and establishes a new base for the lead guitar to work around.
- The lead guitar is the most versatile and variable constant in a set of tracks, since the wavelength of sounds it can tackle is almost infinite in comparison to the founding instruments that require a more demanded constancy to maintain a tempo for the rhythm-pattern base.
Project Studios & Multi-Track Recording
From intricate DAW’s, mixing consoles/soundboards, isolation booths, commercial quality soundproofing to the physics of acoustics; recording studios have all the gadgets to produce quality sound multi-track records.
At home however, when putting together a project studio, it’s a little different.
Home studios are molded to each artist’s musical orientation and expertise, their space and budget.
Mixing consoles operate electrically for track mixing, sub-mixing and layout. Each track (signal) is processed and controlled independently. Like in many other multi-track recording devices, each signal can be managed with effects even after being recorded. It can also be merged into another track to create a sub-mix (or bus) like with a drum and bass, and be manipulated with many other recording/sound treatments.
In addition, many modeling amps have recording capabilities and sample tracks incorporated which can as well be used for these purposes.
Multi-track recording can now be easily achieved with multi-track recorders such as MIDI’s, analog and digital recorders, some as small as the size of an iPod.
In this video, I use a BOSS Micro BR 4-track recorder that provides me with built-in rhythm patterns, multi-effects and simultaneous playback tracks to explain track layout for a 4-man band.
How To Play Bass Guitar For Beginners
February 28, 2009 by T.J.Jones
Filed under Bass-Iks, Featured, Play Guitar Like
Bass Guitar Video For Beginners
If you are a beginning bass player, there are various things you can do to instruct yourself in the bass learning process. Besides studying some theory on bass scale and practicing your slap, pop, string bending and sliding; a good way to learn the variety of sounds and licks you can generate with your instrument is to familiarize yourself with some classic base lines. By learning different licks, it becomes easier to get used to the ample bass fret board, as well as the vast selection of sounds and techniques that can be applied during play.
Drum samplers are also a popular aid for beginning bass players; thus are recommended by most established bassists as an important resource for improvement. By utilizing a percussive foundation to create your own riffs, or to simply play along a song, you will be guided by the drums through the licks’ order, and rhythm. While there is plenty of drum sampling software out there that you can buy for a reasonable price (i.e. QuickBeat), and high-tech drum machines with endless assortments of drum samples; online you can find many drum recordings for free to help you in your practice. Some of these include SuperDrumFX v1.3 and Drum Station v1.09 which can be found in various download servers and music sites alike.
In today’s video, Tony will play a few classic licks for you to learn and practice some basic – and not so basic – bass riffs. The 7 base lines will be played in order of difficulty from the following songs:
1- Whole Lotta Love – Led Zeppelin (70’s heavy metal, blues, blues-rock)
2- New Year’s Day – U2 (Rock, pop-rock)
3- Radar Love – Golden Earring
4- Money – Pink Floyd (70’s blues, blues-rock)
5- Our House – Madness (80’s rock)
6- Tubular Bells Part 2 – Mike Oldfield (70’s blues, blues-rock)
7- Tony’s Own – Bass Slap Technique Sample*
*To play the slap bass technique properly it takes a good amount of practice. To slap a bass note, strike the string with your thumb placed, either completely parallel, or completely perpendicular to the string, always making sure to slap the string off of the fretboard. Remember, it takes some work to get it down, so don’t get discouraged if you don’t nail the technique in the first 10 tries.
While you watch the video lesson, I suggest you take a look at the bass tabs below to guide your fingers on the fretboard. Don’t know how to read tabs yet? Not to worry, it’s a fairly simple thing; take a look at our Fast Tab Reading Guide and get started!
Have Fun
Fast Tab Reading Guide
A Tab or Tablature is a form of music notation generally used for fretted stringed instruments, such as bass and guitar. The tab indicates the player what string to sound and where to place their fingers on the fretboard -as opposed to signifying the pitch like it’s the case in standard musical notation.
Since tabs give no suggestions of rhythm or tempo in their notation, their use of is always paired with a musical representation of the original tune- be it a drum sample, a lead guitar track, or simply your mental reproduction of the song. If you plan to use tabs to learn popular songs, make sure to have access to those songs so you can figure out the tempo and rhythm of the track and how long to hold down each note.
Here’s a sample bass tab:
G|——0—–| ß 1st string
D|——2—–|
A|——2—–|
E|——0—–|ß 4th string
Each line represents each string, and each number indicates the fret you need to press down on. When the number is 0 (zero) it represents an open string.
In the sample above, the strings are to be played simultaneously.
In the sample below, each string is to be played individually.
G|———-4–|
D|——-3—–|
A|—–2——-|
E|–1———-|
Tablatures also give indicatives on what techniques to apply while you play. The reference list below will help you identify each notation symbol:
(v) or (~): Vibrato
(x): Muted String
(t): Tap
(<>): Harmonics
(h) Hammer on: represented by an h in between the original note and the hammered on note. Ie. 3h4
(p) Pull off: indicated by a p in between the original note and the pulled off note. Ie. 2p4
(b) String Bending: represented by a b in between the original fret and the bent fret. Sometimes added in between parentheses. Ie. 2b3 or 2b(3)
(r) Return Bent Note: when the tab tells you to return your bent note to its original fretting position it is represented by an r in between the bent note and the original note. Ie. 3r2
(/) Ascending Slide: represented by a / in between original fret and slide fret. If you were to play on the 4th fret and slide up to the 1st it would be indicated as 4/1*
(\) Descending slide: represented by a \ in between the original fret and the slide fret. If you were to play on the 1st fret and slide down to the 4th, it would be indicated as 1/4.*
*Sometimes you can encounter longer slide references such as: 4/2\3. This would simply mean to press down on the 4nd fret, slide up to the 2nd fret, and slide down to the 3rd. Apply the same rules to even longer slide references.
Free – History of a Band
February 15, 2009 by T.J.Jones
Filed under Featured, Guitar Central, Play Guitar Like
Free was a British band that formed in Battersea, London during April 1968. An imminent result of the British Blues boom of the late 60’s, and influenced by the many artists that collaborated with the movement’s birth, Free adopted a hard blues-rock musical style. After having played together in the R&B band “Black Cat Bones”, 17-year old guitarist Paul Kossoff and 18-year old drummer Simon Kirke wanted to move forward. Having had recruited bassist Andy Fraser, who at 15 years of age had already performed with high profile bands such as John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers, the band was only missing a lead singer. Found not long after at a Brown Sugar concert in Finsbury Park’s ‘Fickle Pickle’, Paul Rogers was summoned by Kossoff to complete the final lineup of the band.
In November 1969 the group recorded their first studio album, ‘Tons of Sobs’ which wasn’t released until the following year along with their second, self-titled album. The debut of the band, however, was overlooked until the release of their third follow-up ‘Fire and Water’ in 1970, featuring the song “All Right Now”. An exceptionally acclaimed hit, the song placed #1 in UK’s rock and single charts and #2 in the U.S.A’s; also setting the band in excellent musical standings. Later, in 1990, it was recognized by the ASCAP for amassing over one million radio plays and awarded by the British Music Industry when the two million mark was reached. The release of a #1 song and a #2 album facilitated Free the opportunity to land a spot in 1970’s Isle of Wright Festival. A 600,000 people event, with shows from notorious blues-inspired groups such as The Who, The Doors, and guitarist Jimmi Hendrix; the festival provided the band with an even bigger public exposure. In addition, it allowed them to exploit one of their best abilities as a musical group and for which they’re still renowned for; their live performance.
During September of 1970, Free released their fourth disc ‘Highway’. Not selling well and under-placing on the 
charts, the album forced the band into retreat. Due to the inconsistency of sales and reputation, personal differences between Paul Rodgers and Andy Fraser, and the drug-abusing tendencies of Paul Kossoff the band broke up on April 1971. Despite their dissolution, the group still released their fifth, farewell album ‘Free Live!’, only to reform during early 1972 in an attempt to help Kossoff overcome his drug-addiction. In June of the same year they released their 6th album ‘Free at Last’, also lacking in popular recognition, at which point Andy Fraser left the band fed up at Kossoffs predictable unreliability.
In replacement of Fraser came in Japanese bassist Tetsu Yamauchi and an extra member, keyboardist John ‘Rabbit’ Bundrick, was added. The new, short-lived lineup was called ‘Kossoff, Kirke, Tetsu and Rabbit’ and released Free’s final album ‘Heartbreaker’.
In early 1973 Free ultimately disbanded. With Paul Rodgers and Simon Kirke forming Bad Company, Andy Fraser creating the Andy Fraser Band and Paul Kossoff going solo as the Back Street Crawler; this was finally the breaking point of the group.
Three years later, on March 19th of 1979 and at the age of 25, Paul Kossoff died of a drug-related heart condition on a flight from Los Angeles to New York. Roughly a month shy of the ‘reunion’ tour the former members had planned featuring the Backstreet Crawler headlining Bad Company; Kossoffs death marked the final chapter of the band.
A band of young members and fresh ideas, Free marked the post British blues boom period of the 70’s. Along with other bands and guitarists that emerged during and after the boom, Free experimented with and partly founded many of the various applications of a new genre that are still influencing musicians today.
Did you take that all in? Good! Then, on with the lesson
[Here is the backing track for you (to download backing track right click ’save target as’ )
How To Play Guitar Like Lynyrd Skynyrd
January 24, 2009 by T.J.Jones
Filed under Featured, Play Guitar Like
Hi All,
This lesson is how to play guitar like Lynyrd Skynyrd, Its the ‘Freebird’ Intro & Chords. Before we start the video lesson of how to play ‘Freebird’ here is a bit of history of the band for you.
Lynyrd Skynyrd – The Show Must Go On
Lynyrd Skynyrd is a band influenced by rock-blues inspired groups of British music, as well as by their own southern foundations. The American Southern Rock band originated in 1964 in Jacksonville, Florida when Ronnie Van Zant (vocals), Allen Collins and Gary Rossington (guitar) formed the group “The Noble Five.” Undergoing several name changes before settling on Lynyrd Skynyrd, the group identified as “My Backyard” when Larry Junstrom (bass) and Bob Burns (drums) joined in 1965, and later as “One Percent” when keyboardist Billy Powell united in 1970. The bands final and current name derives from a mocking homage to Robert E. Lee High School’s gym coach Leonard Skinner who enforced the school’s dress policy that didn’t allow boys to have long hair that would fall below the ear line.
The Discovery
In 1972 bassist Leon Wilkeson joined in replacement of Larry Junstrom and this same year, after playing at a club in Atlanta, Lynyrd Skynyrd was discovered by al Kooper of ‘Blood, Sweat and Tears” who signed them to MCA records. Under management of Allen Walden, the band produced their first album the following year, ‘(pronounced ‘lĕh-’nérd ’skin-’nérd)’ which included the hit song ‘Free Bird’. Eventually reaching #19 in the Billboard Hot 100, the hit is still acclaimed to be a rock & roll hymn to this day.
Rising Success
Lynyrd Skynyrd underwent rising success and gained a solid fan base throughout 1973 and 1974. Releasing their follow-up “Second helping” the group revealed their breakthrough hit ‘Sweet Home
Alabama” that placed #8 on the charts. The album itself reached #12, and ultimately went multi-platinum.
They released their third and fourth albums, ‘Nuthin’ Fancy’ and ‘Gimme Back my Bullets’ in 1974 and 1976, respectively. These, however, didn’t achieve as much recognition as the first two had accrued. Having lost guitarist Ed King midway through the tour of ‘Nuthin’ Fancy’, the band needed to recover the 3-guitar lineup that had been their hallmark during their earliest years.
Despite recruiting several high-profile guitarists, it wasn’t until Steve Gaines was auditioned that the band found their missing link. With him aboard, they released their 5th, double live-album ‘One More from the Road’ and toured the UK with the Rolling Stones. Selling half a million records upon release, 1977’s follow-up ‘Street Survivors” proved Gaines’ guitar and songwriting contributions to be the band’s ideal complement.
The Plane Crash
On October 20th 1977, three days after the release of ‘Street Survivors’ and four dates into the tour of said album, Lynyrd Skynyrd’s plane crashed close to their destination of Baton Rouge, Louisiana. At around 6:42 PM, 2 hours and 42 minutes into the flight, the Convair 240’s engine magneto failed and, after loosing communication with the Houston Center, the aircraft went down 5 miles NE of Gillsburg, Mississippi.
Upon crashing, Pyle, the only ambulatory band member along with two other members of the crew, called for the help of nearby farmer Johnny Mote. Soon after, paramedics and rescue workers arrived at the scene to help the injured and move the dead.
Out of the 24 passengers on board, the accident claimed the lives of pilot Walter McCreary, co-pilot William Gray, Ronnie VanZant, assistant road manager Dean Kilpatrick, Steve and Cassie Gaines. Allen Collins suffered two cracked vertebrae and severe injuries in his arms. Leon Wilkenson, another surviving band member, sustained a punctured lung and had most of his teeth knocked out. Gary Rossington broke both arms, both legs and his pelvic bone also suffering puncture wounds to his stomach and liver. Billy Powell virtually lost his nose due to severe facial lacerations upon impact and backup singer Leslie Hawkins broke her neck in 3 places, suffering a concussion. Artimus Pyle also endured several exposed fractured ribs.
The accident brought along some media and public attention, bumping ‘Street Survivors’’ placing up to #5 in the US charts. The group, however, found it a better decision to dissolve and disbanded following the tragedy.
More Tragety
Years after the plane crash, misfortune still seemed to haunt some of the remaining founding members of the group. Collins, who had joined Rossington, Wilkenson and Powell to become ‘The Rossington-Collins Band’ lost his wife and unborn son to internal hemorrhaging and complications during pregnancy. Later, in 1986 he crashed his car costing the life of his girlfriend and also resulting in his complete paralysis from the waist down. Pleading guilty to a charge on DUI manslaughter, he avoided jail time due to his condition. After reuniting with surviving members for a tribute tour, he contracted pneumonia and died on January 23rd 1990.
Supposedly a one time event due to legal band/band name ownership issues, the remaining members kept up with the Lynyrd Skynyrd Tribute Tour and even settled in continuing the band under the Lynyrd Skynyrd name.
Rickey and Hughie
The band recovered an infallible 3-guitar-lead when Rickey Medlocke and Hughie Thomasson joined in 
1996. Medlocke, better known as the lead guitarist and front man of ‘Blackfoot’, had grown up with the founding members of the band and once already been a member of Lynyrd Skynyrd in 1970. In 1971 he left in order to reform ‘Blackfoot’, joining Skynyrd once again 25 years later in replacement of Ed King. Hughie Thomasson, on the other hand, was a former member and main writer of ‘The Outlaws’. When they disbanded in ’96 he joined Lynyrd Skynyrd, where he remained as one of the 3 lead guitars, until 2005 that he left so as to reform his former group “The Outlaws”.
Leon Wilkenson
The group faced death once again when bassist Leon Wilkenson passed away at a Florida hotel due to lung and liver disease in 2001. More recently on the 9th of September 2007, Hughie Thomasson, former member of the band for over 9 years, died in his sleep of an apparent heart attack at the age of 55.
Despite being repeatedly surrounded by loss and misfortune, Lynyrd Skynyrd still manages to transcend, continuing the legacy of their names. Under the lead of original members Gary Rossington and Billy Powell and a little VanZant heritage, the band still records and tours today.
Before we go on I would just like to dedicate this video to my lost friend B.B.(Brian Bird) R.I.P.
On with the lesson
My version for Brian R.I.P.
Anybody want to have a go at the end lead break? Here are a set of video’s for you. Of course this is my version.
Free Bird Lead Break Part 1
Free Bird Lead Break Part 2
Free Bird Lead Break Part 3
Free Bird Lead Break Part 4
Free Bird Lead Break Part 5
Free Bird Lead Break Part 6
Free Bird Lead Break Part 7
Free Bird Lead Break Part 8
Have fun
Hope this helps
Tony J.
How To Play Guitar Like Deep Purple
January 24, 2009 by T.J.Jones
Filed under Featured, Play Guitar Like
Hi All,
This lesson is how to play guitar like Deep Purple, Its the ‘Black Knight’ riffs. Before we start the video lesson of how to play ‘Black Knight’ here is a bit of history of the band for you.
Deep Purple
Deep Purple is a classic hard rock band that overcame the side-effects of line-up changes and sustained
success with a consistently heavy, agile, progressive sound. Pioneers of heavy metal; with 18 studio albums and over 20 live ones, Deep Purple is considered one the hardest touring bands of all time.
The origin of Deep Purple dates back to 1967 when a mega-band was idealized by former Searchers drummer, Chris Curtis. By means of Curtis’ recruit and management of HEC enterprises, vocalist Rod Evans, guitarist Ritchie Blackmore, keyboardist Jon Lord, drummer Ian Paice and bassist Nick Simper came together to form ‘Roundabout’.
After obtaining their first gig in Denmark on April 20th they continued to tour the rest of the country. Soon after, they changed their name to Deep Purple, making mention of Blackmore’s grandmother’s high regard for the Bing Crosby song.
The Replacements
Deep Purple gained rapid success, placing #4 on the US Billboard for their cover of John South’s ‘Hush’ featured in ‘Deep Shades of Purple’, and supporting Cream during their ‘Goodbye’ tour. Their supple hard rock sound immediately impacted the U.K. and U.S. alike.
During early 1969 however, style differences amongst members caused Paice, Blackmore and Lord to furtively agree to the replacement of Simper and Evans. With assistance of Episode Six’ drummer Mick Underwood, secret sessions were programmed for the conscription of vocalist Ian Gillian and bassist Roger Glover. Still uninformed, Simper and Evans continued to play for Deep Purple while rehearsals and recordings were already underway for the new line-up, Mark II. The unpleasant news came to light eventually and Deep Purple Mark I performed their last show at the Cardiff Top Rank, to be followed only six days later by Mark’s II first performance in London.
Black Night
Subsequently, Mark’s I album ‘Deep Purple’ was released in the U.S. with broad acclaim.
The new line-up gained unfocused recognition by collaborating in Jon Lord’s orchestral epic solo project with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, as well as in ‘Gemini Suite’, another of Lord’s orchestral compositions. The group, however, was looking to project a different musical scope; a less classical, more hard-rock, heavier style of play. This being perhaps the reason to the title of their 1970 album ‘In Rock’, which placed #4 on the UK charts. Thereafter, the UK single ‘Black Night’ was released, rapidly climbing to the Top 10 rankings.
Their ’71 follow-up ‘Fireball’ was smoother and clearly more progressive than the predecessors yet as widely commended. The band traveled to a Casino Hotel in Montreux, Switzerland to record ‘Machine Head’; probably one of the most recognized rock albums in its history. The compilation features the hit “Smoke on the Water”, inspired by the incineration of the recording studio that the group was to use for ‘Machine Head’, which burned down during a Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention session.
Made in Japan
In 1972, Deep Purple underwent four US tours and one tour in Japan, which gave place to the release of the iconic live album ‘Made in Japan’. Even though predicted a Japan-only release, the live album was, and still remains, globally acclaimed.
In late ’72 member differences between Gillian and Blackmore provoked Gillian to quit the band. Blackmore was given free creative control to craft his vision fully and Gillian agreed to fill in for the tour’s remaining bookings. The follow-up ‘Who do we think we are’ was released in March 1973, not receiving much attention and marking the end of Deep Purple’s Mark II.
Vocalist David Cloverdale and bassist Glenn Hughes were successfully auditioned and enlisted, leaving bassist Roger Glover in the dark and persuading him to leave before being pushed out.
Under Mark III Deep Purple toured the US, gathering crowds of up to 200,000 people in the California Jam Festival. In 1974 they released two albums, ‘Burn’ and ‘Stormbringer’, both achieving thriving results.
Goodbye Deep Purple Hello Rainbow
In 1975 the line-up was modified again when Blackmore left the band dissatisfied with its course. He moved on to form Rainbow and talented guitarist and writer Tommy Bolin joined in his replacement. The release of ‘Come Taste the Band’ came thereafter, proving Bolin’s abilities and exposing a more jazz-funky, yet still hard rockish Deep Purple.
Drug addiction overcame both Hughes and Bolin, putting the band in danger and paving the way to their dissolution in July 1976. On December 4th of the same year, Tommy Bolin died overdosing on heroin at the age of 25.
After the dissolution, Blackmore’s Rainbow; Cloverdale’s Whitesnake; Glenn Hughes in Black Sabbath and Gillans Gillan all aided in the continuing success of the broken Deep Purple.
An unauthorized version of the band by Rod Evans emerged in 1980, but the remaining members took legal action and stripped Evans of $672,000 for damages.
The imminent reunion occurred on April 1984, faithful to the early 70’s lineup. Blackmore, Glover, Gillian, Lord and Paice released ‘Perfect Strangers’, an enormous and very profitable success. The reconstituted group toured and released ‘House of Blue Light’’ and ‘Nobody’s Perfect’ in ‘87 and ‘88 respectively.
The Battle Rages On
During 1989 confrontations persisted between Blackmore and Gillan resultant in the latter’s firing. Rainbow vocalist J. Lynn Turner stepped up in his replacement, releasing under this new arrangement ‘Slaves & Masters’ in 1990.
Turner didn’t prove strong to the band and label, and in 1993 Gillan was discreetly brought back. A paid contract was signed with Blackmore for his approval and the group released ‘The Battle Rages On’. Nevertheless, tension continued to grow and Blackmore desisted. Steve Morse filled in the slot.
Deep Purple continued to succeed despite the changing line-ups. ‘Purpendicular’ and ‘abandon’ were released before Lord moved on to do solo orchestral work, being later substituted by Don Airey. Succeeding albums of this arrangement include ‘Bananas’ and ‘Rupture of the Deep’.
Currently and under this last line-up, the band is heading to Europe for the Deep Purple 40 Year anniversary Tour.
Did you take that all in? Good! Then, on with the lesson
Hughie Thomasson-The Outlaws
January 23, 2009 by T.J.Jones
Filed under Featured, Play Guitar Like, Tony Jones
Hi All,
This is a tribute to the late HT (Hughie Thomasson) Myself and my friend Andrew Clem from the Boss Br site done a collaboration. Andrew’s lyrics are fantastic and a voice like one of the Van Zant’s brothers in my opinion. This is the result. If you would like a go at putting your own lead guitar in , you can download the backing track at the bottom of the page.
Hugh Edward Thomasson Jr.
Guitarist and songwriter Hugh E. Thomasson Jr.- better known as Hughie Thomasson, was born in Tampa, Florida on August 13th, 1952. Father of 2, loving husband for over 20 years, and founding member of The Outlaws; Thomasson died in his home on September 9th, 2007 of an apparent heart attack while asleep. He performed his last concert with The Outlaws on September 8th in a Nevada casino.
Hughie Thomasson dedicated most of his life and music talent to the Southern-rock band The Outlaws, a group that upon debut rocked the 70’s with a solid triple lead guitar attack, and albums like their self-titled ‘The Oulaws’, ‘Bring it Back Alive’ and ‘Ghost Riders in the Sky’. In 1996, during the longest hiatus in The Outlaws’ career, Thomasson was a member of the iconic southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd, which he left in 2005 to reform his founding band.
During his whole music career, Hugh E. Thomasson amazed the world with his rousing Strat and Telecaster country-blues rock riffs, his jovial spirit and charitable musicianship. He is known in Florida, as well as everywhere around the world for offering benefit concerts for various different causes. Having being influenced by great performers like The Eagles, The Byrds, Neil Young and many of the rock-blues – “British Invasion” -bands that impressed the US in 1964, Hughie Thomasson had plenty of inspiration to add to his talent; and he surely transmitted that well through his songwriting and music-making.
Before passing away, Hughie Thomasson had been working on the production of a new album called ‘Once an Outlaw,’ a release which’s date still continues to be determined by the continuing band members.
In spite of having disbanded and reformed several times, despite going through extended line-up changes and switch ups; notwithstanding a recovery after the tragic loss of original members Hughie Thomasson, Frank O’Keefe and Billy Jones, today The Outlaws continue to play, still remaining faithful to that country/blues/hard-rock, powerful guitar driven style that Thomasson passionately evoked in his founding.
The Outlaws – The Early Days
“I like to think of us as the hard-rock version of The Eagles”
Hughie Thomasson to the Tampa Tribune during an interview in 1988
Discography:
1. Outlaws (1975)
2. Lady In Waiting (1976)
3. Hurry Sundown (1977)
4. Playin’ to Win (1978)
5. Bring it Back Alive – Live (1978)
6. In the Eye of the Storm (1979)
7. Ghost Riders (1980)
8. Los Hombres Malos (1982)
9. Soldiers of Fortune (1986)
10. Hittin’ the Road Live! (1993)
11. Diablo Canyon (1994)
12. So Low (1999)
13. Once an Outlaw (TBD)
The Outlaws formed in Tampa, FL in 1967. Then called The Rogues, and later The Four Letter Words, the original members include H. Thomasson (guitar), Hobie O’Brien (guitar), Frank Guidry (guitar), David Dix (drums), Phil Humberg (bass) and Herb Pino (vocals). The name The Outlaws came along when Guidry joined the group and offered his former band’s name as their title.
Hobie O’Brien and Phil Humberg left the band a year later, giving place to Frank O’Keefe to take over the role of bassist.
Upon failing their first attempt to record an album at Epic Studios in New York city because of a difference of opinion with the recording producer, Guidry left the band dissatisfied with Paul D’s management.
A second, also failed, attempt was made in Miami’s Criteria Studios where the same issues with the producer came in the way of the albums release.
A fear of dissolution haunted the band upon the recurrent failure. They tried several line-up changes to improve and ultimately achieve their signature sound.
With O’Keefe switching over to play a third guitar, Ronny Elliot joined to take on bass, but with Elliot’s departure in ’69, O’Keefe resumed his role at the bass. Upon substituting David Dix temporarily, Monte Yoho eventually became a permanent member and new drummer of The Outlaws.
New changes arose once again in 1971 when Paul D. and the band brought their relationship to a close. Henry Paul (guitar, vocals) joined this same year, and friend Billy Jones (guitar) was also summoned.
The Outlaws – The Prime Years of The Florida Guitar Army
With a new, solid, three-guitar lead line-up, persistent Thomasson at hand of new manager Charlie Brusco, guided The Outlaws into popularity.
Brusco established a partnership with Alan Walder, manager of the group Lynyrd Skynyrd.
Soon after, in 1974 and upon Ronnie Van Zant’s recommendation, Clive Davis of Arista Records signed The Outlaws, after seeing them perform with Lynyrd Skynyrd at the Columbus Civic Center in Georgia.
With a triple lead guitar attack, they released their self-titled debut album in 1975 and sold incredibly well. Consequently, The Outlaws gained increased recognition over the years with hits like “There goes another love Song” and “Green Grass and High Tides” that reached #13 in Billboard’s Hot 100. Their live album ‘Bring it back Alive’ granted the band an even higher profile status in the Southern Rock music genre.
The Hiatus – Thomasson in Lynyrd Skynyrd
During early 1980 the band’s popularity dramatically decreased, as they began to drift from the original 
sound that once attracted their audiences. Their re-worked release of ‘Ghost Riders in the Sky’ sold gold and gave The Outlaws a reinstated spot at the top, sustaining their popularity during the, not as well-liked, release of their follow-up records.
By the beginning of the 1990’s Thomasson was the only original member from The Outlaws that remained, something that aided him in his decision to take an offered guitarist spot in VanZant’s Lynyrd Skynyrd.
Reform and Final Demise of The Outlaws’ Hughie Thomasson Era
Until 2005 and for over 9 years, Hughie Thomasson played for Lynyrd Skynyrd, leaving then to reform The Outlaws with David Dix, Henry Paul, Monte Yoho, Chris Anderson, Randy Threet (bass) and Dave Robbins (keyboards). The only two members who did not rejoin were late Billy Jones and Frank O’Keefe who had both passed-on in 1995 from suicide and overdose, respectively.
Upon reforming in 2005, The Outlaws began touring and performing almost anywhere that they could. The band played everywhere, from free shows in honor of the American troops in Ohio, to benefit concerts to sustain scholarship endowments for students at the Pasco-Hernando Community College in Florida. In 2007, the band was performing in the Charlie Daniels Volunteer Jam and touring extensively, playing with artists such as Dickey Betts and the Marshall Tucker band.
On September 9th of 2007, after having had dinner with his wife; Hughie Thomasson passed away from a heart attack while asleep in his sofa chair, at his home in Brookville, FL.
The band hurt profoundly from Thomasson’s death, but managed to move on and continue the legacy Hughie had worked so hard to establish. They group still hasn’t announced the release of the last album written and produced by Thomasson ‘Once and Outlaw’.
Lyrics & vocal by Andrew Clem
Guitars by Tony Jones
How To Play Guitar – Blues Style
December 6, 2008 by T.J.Jones
Filed under Featured, Play Guitar Like
Hi All,
This lesson is how to play guitar ‘Blues Style’. Before we start the video lesson of how to play ‘Blues Style’ here is a bit of history of how ‘The Blues’ evovled.
Blues: the Birth and Evolution of a new Era
Blues is a musical genre that began as an African American cathartic form of self-expression in response to generations of adversity in the south of the United States. In reference to the blue devils or ‘down’ spirits like melancholy and grief, the blues style incorporates in its vocals, themes that concentrate on life’s troubles and hindrances.
The origin of folk blues traces back to the African American working class of the Mississippi Delta in the beginning of the 20th century. Its birth was foretold by the slave and field work songs of the time. Songs about oppression and the need for freedom, these ‘hollers’ prefigured the explosion of a genre that would forever impact the music world.
The Delta Blues
After the Emancipation of the African-American people, blues’ expansion began inevitably as folk singers migrated, thus introducing the Delta blues to the rest of the country. Each region then adopted their own localized style, giving rise to various forms and distinctions of the genre. Country blues was the first, earthier, variation to appear as the movement traveled out of the work camps and into the rural zones. The genre continued to evolve as the musicians presented it in bigger cities, giving place to the more polished, refined style of urban blues.
Among leading performers, early recordings of Mammie Smith, Bessie Smith and Ma Rainey popularized classic blues, while Son House was one of the early performers of country blues as well as the developer of the bottleneck slide technique.
Despite the genre becoming popular and well established around the late 1920’s, the 1929 dep
ression left many performers out of work, slowing down and forcing its evolution to take place passively. Nonetheless, after World War II, musicians such as Muddy Waters from Chicago and B.B. King from Memphis surfaced to intensify guitar sounds and accentuate on percussion, thus creating a new form called electric blues. Big cities also inspired award winning John Lee Hooker, who revolutionized the Delta blues with a freer, lively, rhythmical form that combined his Mississippi style with the boogie-woogie piano style of New Orleans (‘Boogie Chillen’ 1948). It was in the late 1950’s and early 60’s that, by the hand of folk singer Jimmie Rogers, white listeners became more interested in the trend. Revivalists sought recordings of its performers to search them out, and induced the resurgence of the genre in post-war U.S. A.
The Great Depression
After the appearance of Riley B. King and the electric blues, the movement became a big hit in Britain. In this way, the trend made its way across the world to find new distinctions to the genre. The British ‘beat’ began subsequently and the blues and its derivatives influenced renowned bands such as The Yardbirds or Eric Clapton, also paving the way for the 1964 British Invasion. Blues rock, R&B, Jazz and Bluegrass are just a few of the genres that were impacted by the evolution of this musical style.
Harmonically, blues consists of a dominant 4/4 rhythm; flattened thirds, fifths and sevenths of the related major scale, and a 12-bar structure. The blues scale is roughly a minor pentatonic scale with an added ‘blue’ note. Before settling on the 12 bar progression, blues wasn’t defined in terms of chord structure as there were many blues in 6-bar and 8-bar, even in 16-bar form. The work of Ray Charles on ‘Sweet 16-bars’ or Herbie Hancock on ‘Watermelon Man’ are examples of the latter. By 1930, however, 12-bar form became the standard blues, as well as the use of flatted 3rds and 7ths, crushing and sliding.
Within its text, the genre comprises 3 line stanzas in which the first two lines repeat each other; the third one acting as an affirmation or conclusion of what had previously been sung.
In essence a vocal music form, blues incorporates the African call-and-response tradition where one musical phrase responds to another; primitively a form of democratic participation.
The development of blues has forecasted the beginning of a musical revolution that branched into vast selection of different sounds and new genres. While also becoming the roots and base of many acclaimed guitarists that have emerged since its birth- such as Jimmi Hendrix and Jimmy Page- the blues caused a shift in the music equilibrium that will forever mark the path of its history.
Did you take that all in? Good! Then, on with the lesson
[Here is the backing track for you (to download backing track right click ’save target as’ )
Keep prapticing and eventually you will come up with something like this or better!
How To Play Guitar Like Jimmy Page
October 27, 2008 by T.J.Jones
Filed under Featured, Play Guitar Like
Hi All,
This lesson is how to play guitar like Jimmy Page. Before we start the video lesson of how to play ‘A Whole Lotta Love’ here is a bit of history of the band for you.
Led Zeppelin- Divided They Stand
Led Zeppelin formed in September of 1968 in London, England. Still considered one of the greatest bands of all time, Led Zeppelin introduced the music world to a fusion of sounds that would later become a genre in itself. With strong blues and folk influences, a guitar-driven sound of heavy riffs and acoustic undertones, the versatile Led Zeppelin presented themselves as the precursors of heavy metal and the innovators of classic rock.
The beginnings of the music group dates back to early 1968, when Jimmy Page left the band ‘The Yardbirds’ and began recruit of a new ‘super band’ with prime credentials: Robert Plant (vocals, harmonica), John Paul Jones (bass, guitar), John Bonham (drums, percussion) and Jimmy Page (guitar). After consolidating its members and under the management of Peter Grant, the band performed their live debut in the University of Surrey on October 15th, 1968. It wasn’t long after their first public appearance that they released their first, self titled, album in 1969. An immediate success, the blues-influenced album compiled distorted, extravagant guitar sounds that later proclaimed the band as the forefathers of heavy metal.
While they toured promoting their first album and building their infamous reputation, the group began working on their second album, ‘Led Zeppelin II’. Filled with assertive sound variations of blues and even more belligerent guitar compositions, the compilation confirmed the bands heavy metal inclinations as well as the member’s inherent talent; subsequently sustaining their rapidly attained success.
Remaining faithful to their heavy style of play the band released ‘Led Zeppelin III’ in 1970. The album encompassed more Celtic influenced sounds, lighter, acoustic rhythms and the occasional aggressiveness, authentic to their first two works.
Immediate popularity brought upon the band increased media and critic attention. Despite the public’s devotion many critics came to deem Led Zeppelin as “overrated”, which encouraged the band to release their next album under no title or band name soughing to prove their music notorious. So they did. Commonly referred to as ‘The Runes”, the fourth album included many of Zeppelin’s legendary songs, including ‘Stairway to Heaven’, regarded still today to feature one of the greatest guitar solos of all time.
Although the group’s popularity had already soared after their first three albums, it wasn’t until the fourth one that they reached their peak, proving their music timeless and the critics wrong. Their descent, however, slowly followed and despite the release of five more albums post-apogee, although selling well, didn’t attract the attention that the first four engrossed. Within these albums the versatility of the band became a lot more apparent causing many followers to stray away from the band’s ever-changing style. In addition, some members’ struggle with substance abuse and family issues interfered with the band’s proper operation, aiding in their slow coming fall.
‘Physical Graffiti’, released in 1975 after ‘Houses of the Holy’ (1973), was the most popular of their post-peak releases as it caused all of Led Zeppelin’s previous albums to re-enter the top-200. Later came ‘The Song Remains the Same” (1976), ‘Presence” (1976) and finally “In Through the Out Door” (1979).
It was in September of 1980 that the bands true demise occurred, when Jason Bohnam’s alcoholism took his life. Choking on his own vomit he died of asphyxiation, causing Led Zeppelin to, finally, disband.
Led Zeppelin’s career lasted a meager 12 years but their impact in music history went further than they could possibly imagine. The true precursors of heavy metal, Led Zeppelin re-wrote the blueprint of rock and roll and prompted the sovereignty to fuse different musical genres into one. One of the biggest influences in pop culture and for many music enthusiasts to this day, a band that has truly stood the test of time.
Did you take that all in? Good! Then, on with the lesson
Here is the backing track for you
whole-lotta-love-backing-track
to download backing track (right click ’save target as’ )
