Quick Video: D’Angelo – Chicken Grease (Spanky Alford)

November 12, 2015 — Leave a comment

Years ago, I was in the studio and was asked to do some Spanky stuff on the guitar. I didn’t know what they meant, so, after scolding me for not being up on Spanky Alford, they played an example of his playing for me off of D’Angelo’s record Voodoo. Once I heard what Spanky played, he immediately became one of my favorite guitar players.

This is me trying to get the feel right for the song “Chicken Grease.” It seems like a simple enough part, but, I still don’t have it exactly like Spanky played it. The difficult part is getting the laid back feel without it sounding rehearsed. It’s the little nuances, that separated his feel from others. Spanky was amazing!