Sick Riffs #124: Tim Bray is a professional performing guitarist and well-established guitar teacher, having taught over 40,000 individual lessons to both guitar and bass students alike. So, you're in good hands in today's episode.
Aside from teaching, Bray handles six-string duties for country/Americana singer Karen Jonas. His creative touch is seen throughout her latest album, The Southwest Sky and Other Dreams, which dropped back in August.
From the downtempo Maybe You'd Hear Me Then to the slide-flavored The Last Cowboy (At the Bowling Alley), Bray demonstrates his extraordinary musicality from start to finish.
He joins us today to show you how to play the solo of Pink Leather Boots, a rockabilly number that's perhaps the most upbeat of the entire record. We warn you: you better warm up those fingers – this one's an agile passage that'll have you traversing the entire fretboard in rapid time.
Bray plays a Fender Custom Shop '50s Nocaster electric guitar equipped with Joe Barden pickups, direct through a Fender Princeton Reverb Reissue amp.
“We had a huge Spring/Summer touring schedule cut short by the pandemic, including a couple of SXSW showcases and related touring throughout Texas, and a several-week tour booked through the UK,” Bray says.
“We managed to jump on the streaming concert bandwagon super quick, and between a handful of those and working on the release of our new album, managed to stay busy through most of Spring. We’ve been fortunate to be out playing again a few times each week since May at local outdoor venues.”
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Sick Riffs is a Guitar World video series designed to help guitarists affected by the coronavirus. Self-isolating players around the world have each filmed a lesson where they teach you one of their own guitar riffs, up close and personal. If you dig the lesson, we encourage you to buy music and merch from the artist or stream their music.
Sam was Staff Writer at GuitarWorld.com from 2019 to 2023, and also created content for Total Guitar, Guitarist and Guitar Player. He has well over 15 years of guitar playing under his belt, as well as a degree in Music Technology (Mixing and Mastering). He's a metalhead through and through, but has a thorough appreciation for all genres of music. In his spare time, Sam creates point-of-view guitar lesson videos on YouTube under the name Sightline Guitar.
