Crossfire

Description

In this tutorial I'll teach you how to play the classic song "Crossfire", as made famous by the one and only Stevie Ray Vaughan. This song is over 4 minutes of rippin' guitar playing, and in this tutorial we'll break down his every note.

This song also features many other interesting elements than just the killer guitar playing. Rather than following the traditional 12 bar blues format, it's actually got more of a Memphis R&B vibe. It's based on an simpler alternative blues harmony and it's built around a catchy bass line and a hooky organ riff.

Stevie plays very little actual rhythm guitar on this track, but his lead playing is so rhythmic and precise that the fills and solos almost end up serving as both rhythm and lead parts.

First we'll go through the basic harmony and the song form and I'll show you how to play the bass and organ riff on guitar, and then we'll get into the vocabulary used for the fills in the verses, the fills in the choruses, the first solo, the outro solo, the bridge part, the song form, what gear, tone, and attitude to use and much much more. The song is in 4/4 and the quarter note equals 118 bpm, so let's get to work!