Play blues guitar like The Rolling Stones' Mick Taylor
Unglue those Sticky Fingers with this tab and audio lesson
It's the 5th of July 1969 and arguably the biggest rock and roll band in the world are about to take to the stage. The venue is Hyde Park and upward of half a million Rolling Stones fans are enjoying the sunshine and waiting with eager anticipation to witness the debut performance from the new boy, Mick Taylor.
They're also waiting to pay their respects to the band's much loved ex-guitarist and founder member, Brian Jones, who had been found dead just two days earlier. No pressure there then.
At that point Mick was just out of his teens and fresh from his three-year apprenticeship with John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, a particularly fertile training ground for superb blues guitarists when you consider his predecessors were legends Eric Clapton and Peter Green.
Taylor's addition to The Rolling Stones seemed to breathe new life into the band, with his lyrical and melodic guitar style inspiring a change of direction to include more country-blues and folk elements within the group's sound. It's undeniable that Mick's contribution greatly expanded the Stones' sonic palette, and helped them to achieve and maintain what many consider to be the quintet's creative and commercial peak.
Whilst Mick continues to maintain his position as one the UK's supreme blues guitar talents, with numerous releases to his name as both a band leader and as a sideman, we've decided here to concentrate on the Rolling Stones period of his career. His contribution to one of the greatest bands of all time was massive, and deserves all the recognition and praise we can bestow upon it.
There are two complete solo studies for you here, the first using orthodox playing technique over a C7 straight eighth-note groove, whilst the second solo, over a standard 12-bar progression in E, showcases Mick's technique of executing slide in standard tuning. Whilst there are many guitarists that have adopted this method successfully - Joe Walsh, Jeff Beck, Brett Garsed etc - this area is widely considered to be Taylor's speciality.
Arguably his take on standard tuning slide guitar sounds the most 'authentic' (ie, open tuning and fingerstyle) which considering the unorthodox nature of its execution is no mean feat.
As always, treat these solo studies as the springboard to further exploration, and remember to have fun. It may only be rock and roll, but how we like it!
