All too easily the word ‘legend’ is passed around, in all walks of life but especially in regards to music. However, on December 3 rd  2025, certified music industry legend Steve Cropper sadly passed away at the age of 84. Please see below for the interview our leader Michael Kaplan did with Steve back in 2017 (the picture above is from that same day). He was a true gentleman too! Steve Cropper Interview Career Highlights I suggest watching the interview above, and checking o

I find that sometimes the most impressive players are not necessarily the flashiest, the fastest or write the heaviest riffs. As I get older and mature as a musician, I constantly find that I am enamoured with those players that just sit in the pocket as tight as possible, become one with the rhythm section and remove the work ‘shred’ from their dictionary. As you can see by the title of this blog post, today I want to talk about some great funky players, those that have a st

Have you ever imagined what our life would be like if you were a noble adventurer, fighting dragons and ancient beasts in mystical realms in forgotten times? Well, some people have anyway. One small problem with this is that it is not really possible given that dragons and other assorted beats are rather hard to obtain. The closest we can get is to immerse ourselves in the world of power metal, where the themes often revolve around fantasy and, in many cases, the whole band i

One thing that surprises me all the time with rock guitar players is how many random bits of riffs they know. In fact, I would hazard a guess that the average player would only be able to get through the whole song that those riffs come from 1 in 10 times. This is where rock guitar players differ from a jazz guitarist, because the latter tend to memorize changes and melodies much more frequently.  Some players, like Paul Gilbert, are a veritable encyclopedia of guitar riffs,