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Hi all!

New video is up — this one is a breakdown of the guitar parts from David Bowie's Golden Years, a song I've been meaning to cover for a while.

It's a really fun one to dig into. It features great guitar work from Carlos Alomar and Earl Sick, panned hard left and right on the original recording. I look at both parts in detail, including the main funky riff, some tricky 16th note rhythms and some nice triad-based stuff from Alomar.

Tab and 3 versions of the backing track are below can be found below.

Hope you enjoy it — as always, any questions just let me know in the comments.

-Adrian

Files

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): https://www.patreon.com/anyonecanplayguitar My in-depth course library: https://courses.anyonecanplayguitar.co.uk 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): https://www.instagram.com/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): https://www.patreon.com/anyonecanplayguitar My in-depth course library: https://courses.anyonecanplayguitar.co.uk 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): https://www.instagram.com/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

Comments

William Wilson

Damn Sophie. You make it sound so easy

Christopher Houlihan

Yes, another great choice! I look forward to delving into this one.

Henry Gascon

I’ve always loved this track. Cheers Adrian.

Jeff Lynch

Excellent choice! Bowie has many tunes I'd love to learn. Perhaps Cat People (Putting Out Fire).

Olivier David

totally unexpected & great. thank you!

anyonecanplayguitar

haha I try to create that illusion when I make these videos, but this one took a little bit of practice to get right!

anyonecanplayguitar

Yes, that would be great! I'll definitely add that to my list of possible future videos. Thanks Jeff.

Christopher Delaney

This is really cool. A great one to play in the guitar shop instead of Stairway!

Medium Al

OMG, Adrian this song has entranced me for years and I (attempt to) play it every time I pick up the guitar. To me it has everything I need and love: Slinky, funky, spikey propulsive guitars not to mention majestic chord/fretboard runs with space between chords and notes one can fall into with rhythm to burn. Love, love, love! Many thanks

Jeff Lynch

At the risk of overstaying my welcome, I'll throw out one more suggestion. My Back Pages. The Byrds version (or the live version at the Bob Dylan 30th celebration concert on 10/16/92). I would love to hear what you would come up with, especially writing some of your signature lead.

ozijoekersanov

Great choice again (Rather go Blind was another belter)

NB

ooohhh like it a lot. Thanks Adrian!

Ignatz Maus

Any chance of covering "Stay" from the same album? The guitars are ferociously funky on that one.

ashley brandon

Omg just listened to the isolated guitar tracks. Incredible. Thanks for the heads up

Haroun Haroun

Bowies' back catalogue is a never ending mine of riches of some of the classiest English/American guitar players of all-time (Earl Slick, Carlos Almovar, Reeves Gabrels, Robert Fripp, Nile Rogers, SRV, Adrian Belew, Charlie Sexton, Paige Hamilton, Ben Monder etc. etc..) ..who needs 'schredders'?