Never considered as sex symbols, ZZ Top were somewhat believable in this song about how rich, well-dressed men are irresistible to women. This being the 1980′s, a silk suit was considered stylish, even if ZZ Top seemed much more comfortable in overalls.

Sharp Dressed Man – ZZ Top Perform The Song Live

Sharp Dressed Man – Guitar Lesson With Backing Track

Sharp Dressed Man Backing Track

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According to the band members, “Sweet Home Alabama” was written as an answer to two songs, “Southern Man” and “Alabama” by Neil Young, which dealt with themes of racism and slavery in the American South. “We thought Neil was shooting all the ducks in order to kill one or two,” said Ronnie Van Zant at the time. Van Zant’s musical response, however, was also controversial, with references to Alabama Governor George Wallace (a noted supporter of segregation) and the Watergate scandal.

There is a semi-hidden vocal line in the second verse after the “Well, I heard Mr. Young sing about her” line. In the left channel, you can hear the phrase “Southern Man” being sung lightly (at approximately 0:55). This was producer Al Kooper doing a Neil Young impression and was just another incident of the band members messing around in the studio while being recorded. According to Leon Wilkeson, it was Al Kooper’s idea to continue and echo the lines from “Southern Man” after each of Van Zant’s lines. “Better…keep your head”…”Don’t forget what your / good book says”, etc. But Ronnie insisted that Kooper remove it not wanting to plagiarize or upset Young. Kooper left the one line barely audible in the left channel.

The lesson below is taught by Justin Sandercoe. Fortunately, I have also found a backing track for the song. Enjoy!

Sweet Home Alabama Backing Track

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In a February, 2006 Q magazine issue, Aerosmith discussed the song’s beginnings:

“We were still searching for a hit when Joe Perry came up with the stuttering riff during a soundtrack in Hawaii in March 1975. Tyler quickly wrote the lyrics and called the song Walk This Way.”

According to some sources, when Tyler arrived to the studio to record the song he accidently forgot the lyrics he had written in a cab. Instead of trying to recover them, he walked to the stairwell, let out a savage scream, and wrote new lyrics on the wall. What exactly the original lyrics were, we will never know.

A classic riff based song that anyone who enjoys classical rock music will recognize immediately. Not to mention, a lot of fun to play as well.

Below you will find a basic instruction video and a video that shows you the first solo break to the song. I have included a backing track as well. Enjoy!

Walk This Way – Main Riff And Verse

Walk This Way – First Solo

Author Note: The first Solo from “Walk this way” Played by Darren Armitage at speed then broke down into easy manageable chunks.

Walk This Way Backing Track

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The song was very popular during the Vietnam War, and it can be heard in many Vietnam War movies, as well as, video games.

“Fortunate Son” reached position 14 on the United States music charts and Rolling Stone magazine ranked the song number 99 on their list “500 Greatest Songs of all Time”.

Even a beginner shouldn’t have many problems with this song. A little time spent with the backing track to get down the rhythm and it will be another song under your belt.

Fortunate Son Backing Track

Fortunate Son Song Chords

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Although made popular recently by Eddie Van Halen, guitar tapping or right hand ‘legatos’ is a technique players have been executing for years. Country players know the benefit of laying down a nice subtle lead and just putting in those quick hammers with clear guitar tapping. And while it’s not the easiest thing, guitar finger tapping techniques are really nothing much more then fast hammer on and a pull offs. Whether you use your middle finger or your first, most times you can hold the pick as usual to execute your guitar tapping and get the speed and positioning essential to good guitar tapping techniques. But like anything else, guitar tapping takes practice and patience.

Since this is a highly specialized, yet popular way of playing we hear a lot of player’s guitar tapping these days…and just as many tapping badly. Especially when a guitar is cranked through distortion, a whole host of extra noises will come out if the player’s guitar finger tapping techniques aren’t the cleanest. An important trick to ‘clean-up’ when you are cranked through that Marshall Stack and you’re in “overdrive”, is to rest the back of your right hand on the lower strings for muting; what you want to avoid is these string making a lot of extra noise while you get that guitar tapping in one steady movement. Of course, if you’re a rock player you are most likely already dreaming of the all-too flashy ‘cross-handed tapping’ but this is so impractical it only ever works when playing live (and even then it is a hard to get those guitar tapping progressions cooking in this way!) Admittedly though, this particular type of guitar tapping, above all other types of guitar finger tapping techniques, creates a truly distinct tone.

There are hundreds of videos and books that show guitar tapping tips, but as it is with everything else, you can’t even begin to understand how guitar tapping works until you get up and do it yourself. Although modern listeners have been conditioned to want speed like Eddie V., it is more important to get the strong and clear sound of each note then to sacrifice technique for potential sloppiness. Guitar finger tapping techniques are only good if you can do them; nothing sounds worse then reaching for a flashy technique and not being able to pull it off. As with everything else you learn on guitar, if you mater a technique on acoustic then you can feel all that more confident trying it on electric.

Playing a difficult and flashy exercise, such as guitar tapping or lightening fast arpeggios, sometimes seem to be easier on an electric; you get-off on the sound you are creating, the noise, but don’t catch nuisances or mistakes. Try tapping on an acoustic guitar (or you want a big challenge-try guitar tapping on an acoustic bass!) Guitar finger tapping is hard on an acoustic; cross-handed guitar tapping is almost impossible (it takes a ton of strength and precision), but master guitar tapping on an acoustic and you’ll find you are that much more prepared for what you might do on your electric.

Brad Finley is senior editor of MyGuitarWorkshop – [http://www.myguitarworkshop.com] Guitar Tips and Music Theory. Website provides guitar lessons and instructions for all level guitar players. Click for more [http://www.MyGuitarWorkshop.com] Guitar Tips And Techniques

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When the song was originally recorded, the band did not think it would be a hit. It was not until it was released in the United States as a single, a full year after the album was released, that it became popular.

According to a report in the London Times newspaper, Ritchie Blackmore was not very comfortable when he presented the song to his fellow band members because it was such a simple tune for a guitarist with his skills to come up with.

At the end of this post I’ve also included a backing track that you can use to jam along with. A fairly easy song to learn. Enjoy!

Smoke on the Water Backing Track

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During an interview, Angus Young recalled the following about the recording session for the song:

“I remember the amp literally exploded during the recording session. My brother watched it with crazed eyes, and he told me ‘Come on! Keep on playing!’ while the stuff was steaming.”

Learn to play AC/DC Let There Be Rock on guitar

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The music is based on a John Lee Hooker song called “Boogie Chillen”. In 1992, Bernard Besman who claimed to own the copyright to “Boogie Chillen” sued ZZ Top for royalties but ultimately lost when the court ruled that the song was in the public domain.

The song is based around variations of a single chord.

La Grange Backing Track – No Rhythm Guitar

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During an interview with Jimmy Page, Rolling Stone magazine asked how much of the song’s guitar solo was composed before the song was recorded. His reply was as follows:

“It wasn’t structured at all [laughs]. I had a start. I knew where and how I was going to begin. And I just did it. There was an amplifier [in the studio] that I was trying out. It sounded good, so I thought, “OK, take a deep breath, and play.” I did three takes and chose one of them. They were all different. The solo sounds constructed – and it is, sort of, but purely of the moment. For me, a solo is something where you just fly, but within the context of the song.”

I managed to find a backing track for this one which you’ll find below. Not a terribly difficult song to play but, it will take some practice.

Stairway to Heaven Backing Track

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The video below will also comes with a backing track that you can play along with.

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