Why Bowie's Golden Years is a Rhythm Guitar Masterclass

In this lesson I break down the guitar parts from David Bowie's Golden Years, taken from the Station to Station album (1976). The song features two guitarists — Earl Slick and Carlos Alomar — panned hard left and right on the original recording. I look at both parts in detail. We cover the main funky riff, which is built around a two chord F# to E groove with some tricky 16th note rhythms and syncopations. I break this down carefully so you can really nail the timing. We also look at Alomar's triad-based rhythm parts, the chorus chord sequence — which includes some interesting harmony including the E7#9 Hendrix chord — and a few of the other hooks and riffs that appear throughout the song. There's also a short section on the gear I used to record the lesson. Tab and backing track can be found on Patreon (pay what you like):   / anyonecanplayguitar   My in-depth course library: https://courses.anyonecanplayguitar.c... My latest album: https://zodiactoys.bandcamp.com/releases SUBSCRIBE for more: https://bit.ly/3Efy0W3 Check out my website: https://www.anyonecanplayguitar.co.uk Social blah: Instagram (occasionally I post here):   / acpgtr   Hi 00:00 Performance 00:22 About the song 02:10 Main riff 04:31 Counting the rhythm 09:09 Chorus part 15:51 Alomar verse part 18:00 Alomar chorus part 20:39 Extra riffs 23:54 Gear used in this video 27:08 Bye 29:31 In this lesson I break down the guitar parts from David Bowie's Golden Years, taken from the Station to Station album (1976). The song features two guitarists — Earl Slick and Carlos Alomar — panned hard left and right on the original recording. I look at both parts in detail. We cover the main funky riff, which is built around a two chord F# to E groove with some tricky 16th note rhythms and syncopations. I break this down carefully so you can really nail the timing. We also look at Alomar's triad-based rhythm parts, the chorus chord sequence — which includes some interesting harmony including the E7#9 Hendrix chord — and a few of the other hooks and riffs that appear throughout the song. There's also a short section on the gear I used to record the lesson. Tab and backing track can be found on Patreon (pay what you like):   / anyonecanplayguitar   My in-depth course library: https://courses.anyonecanplayguitar.c... My latest album: https://zodiactoys.bandcamp.com/releases SUBSCRIBE for more: https://bit.ly/3Efy0W3 Check out my website: https://www.anyonecanplayguitar.co.uk Social blah: Instagram (occasionally I post here):   / acpgtr   Hi 00:00 Performance 00:22 About the song 02:10 Main riff 04:31 Counting the rhythm 09:09 Chorus part 15:51 Alomar verse part 18:00 Alomar chorus part 20:39 Extra riffs 23:54 Gear used in this video 27:08 Bye 29:3