Slide Guitar 2

There is something about a slide that makes everything feel like it happened a long time ago, even when it didn't. This pick covers a lot of ground - Delta gospel grime, desert highways, devotional drone, slow cinematic burn - and the slide guitar set holds together better than that list probably suggests. Also part of the instruments series, if that means anything to you. What is your favorite Slide Guitar song?

Slide Guitar 2

18 Mississippi Fred McDowell - You Got To Move

19 Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band - Like A Rock

20 Zac Brown Band - All Alright

21 Pink Floyd - High Hopes

22 Rory Gallagher - Want Ad Blues (AKA Wanted Blues)

23 George Thorogood And The Destroyers - Bad To The Bone

24 Bonnie Raitt - Give It Up Or Let Me Go

25 Derek Trucks Band - Sahib Teri Bandi-Maki Madni

26 Sonny Landreth - Congo Square

27 Ry Cooder - Paris, Texas

28 Richard Marx - Don't Mean Nothing

29 George Harrison - Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth)

30 Led Zeppelin - In My Time Of Dying

31 Chris Rea - Road To Hell

Drums

Continuing on the Instruments series, here's the Drums one. Drum solos, just great drum parts, these songs tend to be a little longer, so less songs. Some of the best drum songs are in my Drum playlist pick. You may disagree with a couple, but the rest are arguably the best of all time, not just my pick. If you do have an argument for another track to be here instead, I would be happy to listen to it and give it a chance. Maybe for volume 2,if I get enough suggestions. By the way, do you recognize the drum kit on the cover?

Drums

01 Phil Collins - In The Air Tonight

02 Steely Dan - Aja

03 Deep Purple - Highway Star

04 Led Zeppelin - Moby Dick

05 Who - My Generation

06 Golden Earring - Radar Love

07 Black Sabbath - Rat Salad

08 Emerson Lake & Palmer - Tank

09 Jimi Hendrix - If 6 Was 9

10 Iron Butterfly - In A Gadda Da Vida

11 Cream - Toad

12 Rush - YYZ

13 Surfaris - Wipeout

14 Beatles - The End

All About That Bass

Let me first say, that I like the bass. I play the bass (poorly). And songs that feature the bass are all over the place. What would any song in rock be without the bass? So here are a few of my picks for great bass parts in songs. My playlist. You will have different picks, that's ok, It's good in fact. I want to know what your pick would be. leave your suggestions in the comments below. One the tracks is the one I use to setup my DJ equipment to check the bass. Guess which one... And sorry the Meghan Trainor song All About That Bass is not on this list. I know it should be since I knicked the name for the title. But it isn't.

All About That Bass

01 Red Hot Chili Peppers - Give It Away

02 The Cure - The Love Cats

03 Who - My Generation

04 Led Zeppelin - Ramble On

05 Lou Reed - Walk On The Wild Side

06 James Brown - Get Up (I Feel Like Being A) Sex Machine, Pt. 1

07 Queen - Another One Bites The Dust

08 Beatles - Rain

09 Kool & The Gang - Hollywood Swinging

10 Chic - Good Times

11 Paris - Break The Grip Of Shame

12 Steely Dan - Josie

13 Pink Floyd - Money

14 Primus - Tommy the Cat

15 Stranglers - Peaches

16 Joy Division - Love Will Tear Us Apart

17 Yes - The Fish (Shindleria Praematurus)

18 Graham Central Station - Hair

Ghee Tars 2

Continuing on with the Ghee Tars series, this is volume 2. And it is also part of my Instruments series. I suppose they will all go along forever with new volumes eventually. Make sure you put your favorites in the comments below, so I consider them for future volumes. Again this is Guitar oriented songs. My favorite picks in this playlist. I think that maybe one or two in this series, could also be considered in the Beautiful Guitar series, but I kept them separate. If you haven't heard those, I suggest you look for them on this site, Search in the label section for Instruments. I really love this series, especially little bits like the Surf Punks comedy at the end. And things like Zappa (on both volumes), the Adrian Belew... Awwhh... They are all cool. 

Ghee Tars 2

16 Buckethead - Jump Man

17 Van Halen - Eruption

18 Adrian Belew - Big Electric Cat

19 King Crimson - Indiscipline

20 Phil Manzanera - Diamond Head

21 Joe Satriani - Surfing With The Alien

22 Jeff Beck - Star Cycle

23 Gamalon - Black Licorice

24 Frank Zappa - Return Of The Son Of Shut Up 'N Play Yer Guitar

25 The James Gang - Funk # 49

26 Steve Vai - Bad Horsie

27 Liquid Tension Experiment - Acid Rain

28 Pantera - Domination

29 Rush - Working Man

30 Yngwie Malmsteen - Far Beyond The Sun

31 Surf Punks - New Lead Guitar

Ghee Tars 1

Another pick in the Instruments series. I call this one Ghee Tars. But that's just a funny way to spell Guitars. Started with some guitar solos that I liked, Songs that featured some cool hard guitars. And then it just progressed from that. I actually made this before the Beautiful Guitar series. Look for volume two of the Ghee Tars playlist in the next day or so. And by the way I pronounce the Ghee Tars as if I was uneducated and in the South. I kinda am in the South now and have actually never heard anyone talk the way I imagined it in my head and in the movies, but I'm not changing the title now. Notice that the album has multiple guitars on the cover.

Ghee Tars 1

01 Butthole Surfers - Sweat Loaf

02 Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit

03 Big Black - The Model

04 Scorpions - Robot Man

05 Led Zeppelin - In My Time Of Dying

06 Neil Young - T-Bone

07 Deep Purple - Smoke On The Water

08 Black Sabbath - Paranoid

09 Jimi Hendrix - Purple Haze

10 John Cale - Gun

11 Frank Zappa - Whippin' Post

12 Ted Nugent - Great White Buffalo

13 Ministry - Thieves

14 Motorhead - Ace Of Spades

15 AC-DC - Back In Black

Horny Songs

Looking back, I probably should have named this Me So Horny, but I wasn't so clever until it was too late. Following in the Instrument Pick series and following yesterday's Saxy pick, here comes Horny songs from horny bands. Not all of them are bands known for horns, but some are. And every one of these songs does have a great horn part in it. Blood, Sweat & Tears (yes, I put in two of their songs), Chicago, Earth, Wind & Fire are definitely bands that feature horns all the time and bands like the Beatles do not. All of that and it still comes up that these are great songs that feature a variety of Horns. Like the previous picks, there are a million choices and you may have different ideas than me. So, I would like to hear yours in the comments below.

Horny Songs

01 Blood, Sweat & Tears - You've Made Me So Very Happy

02 Electric Flag - Groovin' Is Easy

03 The Ides Of March - Vehicle

04 Earth Wind & Fire - Shining Star

05 Tower Of Power - What Is Hip

06 Beatles - For No One

07 Scott Bradlee's Postmodern Jukebox featuring Sara Niemietz - Love Yourself

08 Ten Wheel Drive - Stay With Me

09 Average White Band - Pick Up The Pieces

10 KC and The Sunshine Band - That's The Way (I Like It)

11 The Buckinghams - Kind Of A Drag

12 Chicago - Make Me Smile

13 Lighthouse - One Fine Morning

14 Spice Girls - Stop

15 Blood, Sweat & Tears - I Love You More Than You'll Ever Know

16 Chase - Get It On

17 The Mavericks - Dance The Night Away

I'm Too Saxy (Pol's Pick of Sax Songs)

The saxiest songs, the best sax solos, whatever you want to call these songs, this playlist has my pick of songs featuring the saxophone. One of my all time favorites is Don Myrick on the Saxophone in Earth Wind & Fire's Reasons (live version from Gratitude). But all of these tracks (and hundreds more) have great sax parts. Stray Cats even have a spelling mistake on their track, but it's close enough. Let me know what songs you wished were on this compilation. Part of the Instruments series. More coming later.

I'm Too Saxy

01 David Bowie - Young Americans

02 Hall & Oates - Maneater

03 INXS - Never Tear Us Apart

04 Gerry Rafferty - Baker Street

05 Stray Cats - Wild Saxaphone

06 Billy Ocean - Caribbean Queen (No More Love On The Run)

07 Foreigner - Urgent

08 Sade - Smooth Operator

09 Pink Floyd - Us And Them

10 Men at Work - Who Can It Be Now

11 Earth Wind & Fire - Reasons (Live)

12 Rick James - Super Freak

13 Kate Bush - The Saxophone Song

14 Billy Joel - Just The Way You Are

15 Duran Duran - Rio

16 George Michael - Careless Whisper

17 Benny Hill Show - Yakety Sax

Key Songs (Songs with outstanding keyboard solos)

We've already had Beautiful Guitar solos, Mellotron songs, Cowbell songs, Talk Box songs. Search and you will find them (use label Instruments). Today it's primarily Keyboard songs. Don't get me wrong. there are guitars in here, but the keyboard solos stand out for me. Obviously, there are a million songs featuring keyboards, but this pick has my favorites of them. I hope you like them. There is a wide variety (not all prog) Rock, Pop and some Prog. Let me know some of your favorite Keyboard solos in the comments below.

Key Songs

01 Pink Floyd - Us And Them

02 Styx - Come Sail Away

03 Supertramp - Dreamer

04 Billy Preston - Nothing From Nothing

05 Edgar Winter - Frankenstein

06 Deep Purple - Hush

07 Derek & The Dominos - Layla

08 Steely Dan - Rikki Don't Lose That Number

09 Queen - Love Of My Life

10 Doors - Light My Fire

11 Elton John - Philadelphia Freedom

12 Yes - Roundabout

13 Asia - Heat Of The Moment

14 Emerson Lake & Palmer - Fanfare For The Common Man

More Cowbell Pick 2

Cowbell continues! Everyone's favorites. Part two of the Cowbell series and who knows how many of the Instruments series. I always write something up here to introduce these playlist picks, but all I am thinking of is how to fit the word Cowbell in here as much as possible, because I like Cowbell. Everyone likes more Cowbell. Even I can play the Cowbell, except that my rhythm is always off. Cowbells are fun to whack. Some of the songs in today's pick you may not even remember that they feature the Cowbell, until you start listening to them and then you say, yep, that's Cowbell all right. Same cover as before, but you can't beat that Cowbell cover. Well that's at least ten Cowbells for you.

More Cowbell 2

23 Led Zeppelin - Moby Dick

24 Pink Floyd - Young Lust

25 Run DMC - King of Rock

26 Rick Derringer - Rock And Roll Hoochie Koo

27 Wild Cherry - Play That Funky Music

28 Kiss - Firehouse

29 Talking Heads - Once In A Lifetime

30 Bon Jovi - Bad Medicine

31 Prince - U Got The Look

32 Beatles - Drive My Car

33 Stealers Wheel - Stuck In The Middle With You

34 The Rapture - House Of Jealous Lovers

35 Van Halen - Dance The Night Away

36 LCD Soundsystem - Daft Punk Is Playing at My House

37 Foghat - Fool For The City

38 Guns N' Roses - Nightrain

39 The Black Crowes - Wiser Time

40 Grateful Dead - Touch Of Grey

41 Queens Of The Stone Age - Little Sister

More Cowbell Pick 1

Nothing beats the SNL skit with Christopher Walken and More Cowbell. So in honor of that today we have songs featuring Cowbell. These are just my favorite picks, so leave a comment with your favorites below. The cover is obviously Walken in the Cowbell skit. I consider the Cowbell as an instrument, so it is also part of my Instruments series. I will have even more Cowbell in the next day or so, because you cannot have too much Cowbell. Notice that Blue Oyster Cult does have a track here.

More Cowbell

01 Christopher Walken - More Cowbell

02 Aerosmith - Last Child

03 James Gang - Funk #49

04 Def Leppard - Rock Of Ages

05 Jefferson Starship - Jane

06 Creedence Clearwater Revival - Born on the Bayou

07 Badfinger - No Matter What

08 Bachman-Turner Overdrive - You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet

09 Free - All Right Now

10 Rolling Stones - Honky Tonk Women

11 Lou Reed - Vicious

12 Grand Funk Railroad - We're An American Band

13 Nazareth - Hair Of The Dog

14 Beatles - You Can't Do That

15 Rainbow - Still I'm Sad

16 Jimi Hendrix - Stone Free

17 Head East - Never Been Any Reason

18 War - Low Rider

19 Mountain - Mississippi Queen

20 Blue Oyster Cult - (Don't Fear) The Reaper

21 Loverboy - Working For The Weekend

22 Kings Of Leon - Red Morning Light

Slide Guitar Pick

Still part of the Instruments series. This one follows the whole guitar talk box from the day before and the Beautiful Guitars pick from a month ago. Make sure you check out all of them. This is all slide guitar picks. Yes, I know that it is impossible to pick out only one disc worth in a playlist pick, but I did it anyway. I included an old blues tune, but mostly concentrated on my favorite rock songs that feature slide guitar. I'm sure you will tell me which amazing slide guitar songs I missed and I look forward to it. For now, just listen to what I picked for you.

Slide Guitar

01 Steve Miller Band - The Joker

02 Eagles - Victim Of Love

03 Led Zeppelin - Whole Lotta Love

04 Sonny Landreth - Uberesso

05 John Hiatt - Lipstick Sunset

06 The White Stripes - Catch Hell Blues

07 Elmore James - Dust My Broom

08 Badfinger - Day After Day

09 Jeff Beck - I Ain't Superstitious

10 Foghat - Slow Ride

11 Derek & The Dominos - Layla

12 George Harrison - My Sweet Lord

13 Allman Brothers Band - Statesboro Blues

14 Jackson Browne - Running On Empty

15 Johnny Winter - Highway 61 Revisited

16 Tedeschi Trucks Band - Midnight In Harlem

17 Rolling Stones - Love In Vain

Talk Box (Songs that use a talk box)

Here is the first in a series of playlists that I call Instruments category, although a Talk Box is not an instrument, but rather gear for your instrument. But I wasn't going to put that into a separate category. Never mind, it probably starts with the Beautiful Guitar series (check that out). But then this one, an effect made popular by Peter Frampton, who, of course, is on here. But followed by a variety of songs that all use the Talk Box. You will hear it. Plenty of songs have used the effect, but these were my favorites (one per artist). I have a few that didn't make it on this pick, but almost did. If I get enough other suggestions, maybe one day I will make another volume. So leave suggestions in the comments below.

Talk Box

01 Peter Frampton - Do You Feel Like We Do
02 Zapp - More Bounce To The Ounce (Pt. 1)
03 Sun - Wanna Make Love (Come Flick My Bic)
04 Rufus Featuring Chaka Khan - Tell Me Something Good
05 Aerosmith - Sweet Emotion
06 Jeff Beck - She's A Woman
07 Joe Walsh - Rocky Mountain Way
08 Motley Crue - Kickstart My Heart
09 Scorpions - The Zoo
10 Bon Jovi - Livin' On A Prayer
11 Pink Floyd - Keep Talking
12 Nazareth - Hair Of The Dog
13 Peter Frampton - Show Me The Way
14 Steely Dan - Haitian Divorce
15 Guns N' Roses - Anything Goes
16 Eagles - Those Shoes

Beautiful Guitar Solos 4

The last (for a while) of the Beautiful Guitar solos picks. A couple on this volume were planned from the beginning, but a couple were added as I was releasing these originally. That's what happens when you comment and leave your favorites in the comments. I had already made a Guitars comp (loud shredding guitars), a Girls and Guitars pick. And Picks that featured Sax, Bass, Drums etc. All coming at one point or another. But I still always come back to these four. Play them at night or the morning when I want something beautiful played. I hope you listen to them as you get ready for bed (sleep or otherwise). They've been god to me. BTW, did you notice that each one of these has a different guitar on the cover, even though they look similar?

Beautiful Guitar Solos 4

40 BB King - The Thrill Is Gone

41 Wes Montgomery - Days of Wine and Roses

42 Porcupine Tree - The Sound Of Muzak

43 Gary Moore - Don't Believe A Word

44 Carl Verheyen Band - On Our Way

45 Ottmar Liebert - Barcelona Nights

46 Stevie Ray Vaughan - Little Wing

47 Kenny Burrell - Make Someone Happy

48 Pat Metheny - Are You Going With Me

49 Pink Floyd - Comfortably Numb

50 Steve Vai - Sisters

51 Beatles - Something

52 Emerson Lake & Palmer - From the Beginning

53 Genesis - Firth Of Fifth

Beautiful Guitar Solos 2

This is part two of the Beautiful Guitar Solos playlist pick. The idea was to get the most beautiful solos, not the most rockin'. I started this thinking of three different solos. Two were in volume one: Eddie Hazel's "Maggot Brain" where George Clinton told him to imagine his mom dying right before playing. And the other in volume one was Frank Zappa "Watermelon In Easter Hay". The third is in this volume and set the tone for what I was looking for. That was Santana "Flor D'Luna (Moonflower)" So that gives you an idea of what I was trying to achieve. The people I asked were all given those parameters. And there is one track on this volume that I had forgotten about that was recommended to add to this pick. That was the track from Carl Verheyen Band. Beautiful! More Coming!

Beautiful Guitar Solos 2

13 Black Sabbath - Planet Caravan

14 Allman Brothers Band - Blue Sky

15 Steely Dan - Kid Charlemagne

16 Steve Vai - For the Love of God

17 Carl Verheyen Band - Gretchen's Theme

18 John Scofield & Pat Metheny - The Red One

19 Gary Moore - Parisienne Walkways

20 Led Zeppelin - Since I've Been Loving You

21 Santana - Flor D'Luna (Moonflower)

22 Toto - Jake To The Bone

23 Robin Trower - Day Of The Eagle

24 Jimi Hendrix - Little Wing

25 Tedeschi Trucks Band - Midnight In Harlem

26 Dire Straits - Brothers In Arms

27 George Benson - Breezin' (12'' Version)

Beautiful Guitar Solos 1

This was pretty easy. I picked what I thought were some songs that had the most beautiful guitar solos of all time. I then asked friends, musicians, DJ's what their favorite Beautiful Guitar Solos were (I got a few more that I had forgotten.) And came up with this pick. Several already finished in the series and more to be added. This first volume will have to do for now. I am putting it up now, because another cool site (ButterBoy) had a compilation playlist from Paszek that reminded me of this one. That one was Beautiful Instrumentals. Quite good. Go get that one too, and keep a lookout for the other volumes in this series coming.

Beautiful Guitar Solos 1

01 Santana - Europa (Earth's Cry Heaven's Smile)

02 Little River Band - It's A Long Way There

03 David Gilmour - Raise My Rent

04 Frank Zappa - Watermelon In Easter Hay

05 Robin Trower Band - Daydream

06 Funkadelic - Maggot Brain

07 Jeff Beck - Cause We've Ended As Lovers

08 Beatles - While My Guitar Gently Weeps

09 Stevie Ray Vaughan - Riviera Paradise

10 Roy Buchanan - The Messiah Will Come Again

11 Pat Metheny - Dream Of The Return

12 Joe Satriani - Always With Me, Always With You

Mellotron Pick 3

Here is the last one of the series. My Mellotron Pick. My favorite Mellotron songs. Make sure you check out the previous two if you haven't already. They all should go together, but each playlist has been just about CD length, because that's what I originally worked with. Now you just load up the songs and play them from your phone. Try my playlists in the order I made them, though. You will see there is a little bit of genius mixed in with the madness. They are meant to be listened to in this order. You'll see. Make sure you leave a comment with any Mellotron songs I missed (Maybe there will be a volume 4 down the line).

Mellotron Pick 3

23 Strawbs - The Life Auction

24 Barclay James Harvest - Poor Man's Moody Blues

25 Rolling Stones - 2000 Light Years From Home

26 Genesis - Eleventh Earl Of Mar

27 Moody Blues - The Voyage

28 Spring - The Prisoner (Eight By Ten)

29 Rick Wakeman - Catherine Howard

30 Genesis - Firth Of Fifth

31 Focus - Le Clochard

32 Greenslade - Feathered Friends

33 Gentle Giant - Wreck

34 Arthur Brown - The Hymn

35 Moody Blues - Beyond

Mellotron Pick 2

This is part two of the Mellotron pick. We go through a few decades of Mellotron songs during these volumes. It was very popular for certain bands to use a Mellotron, then it fell from favor and was reinstated. No rhyme or reason in why these bands and these songs, other than I like them (and they feature the Mellotron) The cover is similar, but click on it anyway. Notice the track numbers continue.

Mellotron Pick 2

11 Beggars Opera - Time Machine

12 Strawbs - New World

13 IQ - From The Outside In

14 Uriah Heep - Come Away Melinda

15 Traffic - Hole in My Shoe

16 Moody Blues - Watching And Waiting

17 XTC - Beating of Hearts

18 Steve Hackett - Shadow Of The Hierophant

19 Genesis - Dancing With The Moonlit Knight

20 Barclay James Harvest - Mockingbird

21 Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark - Joan Of Arc

22 Camel - Never Let Go

Mellotron Pick 1

This is the first in a series of songs that feature the Mellotron. These are my favorite Mellotron songs. For those who don't know, the Mellotron is a sampler like keyboard. How it works is interesting, but doesn't matter for this pick. I will post three volumes over the next few days. Just know that the Mellotron has a distinctive sound which you will pick up on if you don't recognize it already. Let me know what your favorite Mellotron songs are. See the Mellotron on the playlist cover.

Mellotron Pick 1

01 Bee Gees - Every Christian Lion Hearted Man Will Show You

02 Beatles - Strawberry Fields Forever

03 Moody Blues - Tuesday Afternoon (Forever Afternoon)

04 Yes - And You And I

05 Genesis - Watcher Of The Skies

06 Pavlov's Dog - Late November

07 Led Zeppelin - Kashmir

08 King Crimson - The Court Of The Crimson King

09 David Bowie - Space Oddity

10 Tangerine Dream - Phaedra