In this video lesson, Shane Speal distills Howlin’ Wolf’s two-guitar attack in the song, “Back Door Man” into one easy riff for cigar box guitar. Speal is the author of Making Poor Man’s Guitars (Fox Chapel Publishing, 2018)
Shane Speal distills the double-guitar attack of Howlin’ Wolf’s 1960 classic, “Back Door Man” into a single 3-string cigar box guitar riff. You will need to tune your guitar to Open E (EBE), which is lower than standard Open G.
For reference, we present the original recording first…
“Back Door Man” was recorded in Chicago in June 1960 by Howlin’ Wolf (vocals), Otis Spann (piano), Hubert Sumlin and Freddy Robinson (guitars), Willie Dixon (double bass), and Fred Below (drums).
Sumlin and Robinson’s guitars continue to weave in and out with Spann’s piano…making a very busy groove.
Speal takes the Low E string guitar groove and mixed it with a High E string part to create a simplified riff that incorporates much of the mojo.
Video lesson for cigar box guitar. Shane Speal breaks down the iconic riff from Howlin’ Wolf’s “Smokestack Lightning” into an easy-to-play 3-string cigar box guitar riff. Speal is the author of Making Poor Man’s Guitars (Fox Chapel Publishing, 2018)
“Smokestack Lightning” is a one-chord drone blues song recorded by legendary singer, Howlin’ Wolf in 1956. In this video lesson, Shane Speal breaks down the guitar lines, originally played by Hubert Sumlin and turns them into an accessible 3-string cigar box guitar riff.
For reference, we present the original recording. Scroll down for the lesson.
Tune your cigar box guitar to Open G to start the first lesson:
