Search results for Artie Traum

Learn to Play “Goodnight, Irene”—A Folk Standard Made Famous by Lead Belly and the Weavers

Covered by artists across genres—from Lawrence Welk to Keith Richards—the song is built on just a handful of chords that repeat through both verses and chorus.

Dare you join us at the crossroads? Welcome to the acoustic blues masterclass

Inspired by Big Bill Broonzy, Lightnin' Hopkins and the O.G. blues great Robert Johnson, this lesson just requires an acoustic guitar. Heartbreak optional

The Riff That Blew My Mind: Troy Mercy Attends the Fairport Convention

Blues Unusualist Troy Mercy (former guitarist with Booker T and The Fabulous Thunderbirds) has trouble choosing just one lick, but settles on "Tam Lin" by Fairport Convention. Troy...

“I was 8 and Andy was my first guitar teacher – to me he was Mr. Summers with a funny accent!”Doug Pettibone on taking l...

The first-call guitarist explains why he loved working with Lucinda Williams but had to leave, how he got the gig back, his chemistry with Marc Ford, and faking it on pedal steel u...

May 2026 Teaching Artist Lesson Recap

This month’s TA lessons cover a wide range of topics: Argentinean jazz licks, the boom chuck, harp harmonics, slide blues, and flatpicking bass runs.

“I asked my dad’s friend where guitarists like Mississippi John Hurt got the idea to play in this way, and he said, ‘I t...

The Blackberry Smoke frontman goes unplugged to give us a lesson in the fingerstyle techniques he applies in his day job

3 Songwriting Techniques in 60s Folk Music That Only Pros Will Recognize

Want to brush off your songwriting chops? Here are some tricks from old folk songs that pro songwriters will recognize almost immediately. The post 3 Songwriting Techniques in 60s...

Tommy Emmanuel: Finding Common Ground On Guitar

Tommy Emmanuel began his musical career at age 6, playing guitar in his family's band as they busked around the Australian bush more than six decades ago. An invitation from guitar...

Watch: Al Di Meola Tests Jerry Garcia’s “Tiger” Guitar, Dickey Betts’ Fillmore Played 1958 Les Paul and Trey Anastasio’s...

Photo Credit: Screenshot via Al Di Meola on Facebook Artful six-string innovator Al Di Meola has been testing out some famous axes. In a series of posts shared on social media, the...

“I had a little too much Jack Daniels and went to sleep. Early the next morning, I woke up to Eric and George playing uk...

Terry was Clapton's guitarist in the 1970s, and through Slowhand he was able to meet a particularly famous face

“I couldn’t believe it. When I was 15, I would skip school, take the bus into the city, and see the Grateful Dead at the...

Since going under the hammer for $11.56 million at the Jim Irsay auction, “Tiger” has also appeared on stage with Derek Trucks

“The comments I got were from people digging the way I was playing, or asking ‘What song is this?’ which I thought was f...

His cover of Hoochie Coochie Man went viral, but Burnham is blowing minds with his fretwork – and a sound referencing the lineage of Chuck Berry, Hendrix and SRV

It Only Takes One Note

The celebrated jazz masters all had a distinctive sound. Ernie Watts, Phil Woods, Holly Hofmann, Sweets Edison, and others offer their thoughts on how to develop your own audio tra...

You Don’t Last 50 Years Without Getting It Right

Sponsored by Shubb: Shubb Capos have earned a place in countless gig bags, vintage guitar cases, bars, clubs, recording studios and stadiums because they do one thing incredibly we...

“I thought, ‘That’s the guitar Mike Bloomfield played…’ I just had to buy it”: The mistake that led Robben Ford to buy...

As Ford returns with Two Shades of Blue, the Californian guitar legend drops by for a video lesson and to talk all things guitar, from his adventures with big-box jazz models to St...

On This Day in 2012, We Said Goodbye to the Guitarist Who Taught Eric Clapton, Brian May, the Beatles, and Millions More...

“I bent up from the 21st fret and broke the first string – I played the rest of the solo without it”: Hidden for four de...

Celtic rock bagpipe phrasing, THAT blazing arpeggio and a crazy bend that broke a string – learn how Brett Garsed played his solo in this exclusive feature

“You could scrape that guitar, smoke the residue and get strung out”: Walter Trout’s life in three guitars

The Strat-addicted bluesman describes the three guitars he couldn’t, can’t or won’t live without

Philip Sayce: The 5 techniques that define my sound

Turbocharge your fretting hand stretches, screaming bends and blues-rock intensity with the core techniques that shaped Philip Sayce’s signature sound

Great Acoustics: Earl Scruggs’ Iconic 1955 Martin D-18

Thanks to Scruggs’ frequent appearances on ‘Grand Ole Opry’ television shows, this distinctive guitar was widely documented throughout the late ’50s and ’60s.

“It’s not a guitar where you grab the strings and bend them, Albert King-style. I tried twice and broke two strings!” De...

The 14lbs beast needed some taming, and it taught Trucks a valuable history lesson

“Reminiscent of Joni Mitchell’s jazzier moments… but no strings were retuned to create it!” 5 chords that sound like the...

Because sometimes retuning your guitar is, well, a pain in the backside – and there are workarounds

Corey Harris, Alvin Youngblood Hart & Guy Davis – Fight On! True Blues Vol.2

A niece once pronounced to me that all the great blues musicians are dead. Alvin Youngblood Hart, Guy Davis and Corey Harris show that’s not true, as they are among the best blues...

“I practiced more for Billy's first lesson than I've ever practiced for one of my own”: How Billy Strings’ guitar mentor...

Robb Cappelletto says the bluesgrass star was far from a novice when approached him, but still wanted to expand his knowledge