Another Lonely Day- Ben Harper

The riff itself isn’t difficult to play, but the moving chord arrangements are a little trickier. In this riff, you will need to know how to play a C chord, an Am chord, an Em chord, and finally a G chord. If you know how to play those, you can struggle through by just playing them in that order. What makes the riff interesting, though, is how he incorporates the chords into his strumming patterns. Notice that you will begin by placing a C chord, and then transitioning into the Am chord by walking the fret with your 2nd finger on the second fret on the “A” string. Notice that once you go into the Am chord, you will immediately let off of it and play the same strings open. You will do this a few times. As far as the timing, the only thing that may throw you off a little is the transitional phrasings from C to Am. Just think like it is a Bob Marley song, and allow your fingers to flow. After you have played the Am chord and transitioned into the Em chord, notice that you are not playing the typical G chord that you may have learned before. The note that you are playing is the root G note. That would be on the third fret on the “low E” string. Practice this song over and over, and you will hear how the chords are so simple, but add a great deal of depth to the overall sound.

Tightrope- Stevie Ray Vaughan

Main Riff

Here’s a great SRV riff. It’s a challenge to play it up to speed at first, so I’ve included an audio sample of it somewhat slower than the recorded version. You may need to start off even slower. There’s nothing wrong with that, just take your time. Like I said, it’s pretty hard. The main riff is played as an intro to the song and after each transition after the verse and chorus.

Sittin’ On The Dock Of The Bay- Otis Redding

“(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay” is a song co-written by soul singer Otis Redding and guitarist Steve Cropper. It was recorded by Redding twice in 1967, including once just days before his death in a plane crash.

Sitting-On-The-Dock-Of-The-Bay

Verses

Barre chords are used in the original recording.

With Barre Chords…

Using Open Chords

You could play a more basic version that only uses open chords. You can still provide some of the “walk”.

Take the chord/lyric sheet and instead of using barre chords, just use the open chord form of the chords listed:

G                      B7
Sittin' in the mornin' sun
        C                        A
I'll be sittin' when the evenin' comes
G                       B7
Watching the ships roll in
           C                    A
And then I watch 'em roll away again, yeah

Here we go, just using open chords:

But, what about that cool walk from the C chord down to the A chord as found in the original transcription?

We can even add an additional walk from the G chord up to the B chord:

Stairway To Heaven Part 4

This interlude is easier to play than the main riff that we’ve already learned. There are two variations. In the first, the basic chord progression is C, D, Fmaj7, Am, C, G, D:

In the variation, in the last 2 measures, the chord progression is slightly altered with the G being replaced by D and it ends on Fmaj7:

Funny Fingers…

Here’s a look at how you might want to fingerpick it: