Whether you are a beginner or a seasoned pro, chances are you play along to your favorite guitar players from time time. It is a great way to further our guitar skills and often opens us up to fresh new ideas that we may have otherwise have never thought of. In this section, I hope to show you the limitless creativity that some great guitar players have displayed and hopefully it will inspire you to greatness!

I spend so much time learning intricate pieces on the acoustic that I sometimes lose sight of how beautiful simplicity can be. I have always been mesmerized by the dreamy sounding acoustic guitar in Poles Apart. I tried emulating it once on my acoustic to no avail. But then I looked up the tab and saw that it is played in a DAGDAD tuning. What a revelation! This tuning certainly lends itself to playing open strings and Poles Apart is full of sweet sounding, ringing, open notes.

Above is the tab for the opening measures. There is not much more to the song throughout except for the bizarre interlude in the middle. I took this excerpt from the powertab file found here. However, I modified it a little based on other versions I saw.

I play the piece entirely with alternate picking and I play with somewhat of a swing feel. Also, I don't play everything note for note. What is most important is focusing on the accented notes and just giving it a feel that is compatible with the song. You may notice that some of the classical pieces we have gone over involve similar picking patterns! So for some of you, this piece will be a breeze to play pick style!

In my recording, I threw in the bass notes that bridge the intro with the verse section - don't be confused by what you see in the tab and what I played.

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Later,

Brian