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Richard Barrett is on a mission to make you a better blues player – with full audio examples and backing tracks

Snowy White & Peter Green

Tutor Richard Barrett | Gear used Knaggs SSC & Vox AC15 Difficulty | 10 mins per example

Snowy White’s ’57 Les Paul Goldtop served him from its purchase in ’68 until its auction in 2015

TERENCE ‘SNOWY’ WHITE and his Les Paul Goldtop travelled widely in the music business, from London-based sessions to stints with Pink Floyd and Thin Lizzy, plus his own solo hit single, Bird Of Paradise, in the early 1980s. However, the focus of this feature is Snowy’s collaboration with Peter Green, who had become a close friend as well as a major influence. In the late 1970s, Snowy played lead on several tracks for Peter’s InThe Skies album, doing an incredible job of channeling his minimalist phrasing on tracks such as Slabo Day, which inspired my own backing track and example solo.

The essence here is on delivering each note with as much melodic intention as possible, as opposed to being purely pattern-based and ‘methodical’, which can be all too easy to slip into when playing from the minor pentatonic ‘boxes’. There are occasions where I add in a couple of non-pentatonic notes, but these are few and far between. Details such as bends and vibrato are where most of the effort goes in soloing like this; for example, the use of pre-bends with vibrato, which tend towards a controlled ‘down and back’ approach, rather than the wider wobble favoured by SRV.

Having a guitar wired for the classic out-of-phase sound is nice if you have the option, but it’s not essential. No specialist amplification or pedals are needed, either – just a hint of break-up and some reverb to taste. Though I’ve played the solo as a continuous take, it’s broken up into four phrases here in print. I’ve instinctively started low then gone high, but over the course of a longer solo, mixing and matching different registers (or even taking the opposite approach) could also work. I hope you enjoy these ideas and see you next time!

Example 1

PART OF THE LAID-BACK FEEL in this first example is created by not leaping in on beat 1, bar 1. Neither of the two phrases that make up this example are in any hurry at all, and when they do come in, they pull back somewhat from the tempo. As with anything, this can be overdone, but it is definitely something to bear in mind as you work through the examples. Note the pre-bend with ‘down and back’ vibrato at the end.

Example 4

THIS FINAL EXAMPLE USES the shape 1Aminor pentatonic, 12 frets/an octave up from where we began in Example 1. We’re also revisiting some very similar ideas (although they can sound very different in this register), such as using pre-bends and carefully controlled vibrato, plus pulling back from the beat. This ‘off-grid’ timing isn’t as easy or second nature as it might seem, though it eventually becomes part of your repertoire unconsciously – as long as you don’t overthink it!