ms
Verified buyer
11/23/25
Great As Usual
Wonderful licks, excellent tips and strategies, all packaged in a relaxed and informative manner. Thanks!
30 Songwriter Sideman Licks You MUST Know
Rhythmic, Chordal and Single-Note Lines for Accompaniment
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About this course
Supporting a songwriter as the sideman in a duo or band situation is an artful skill that can be very challenging. Usually, there’s a rhythm guitarist -- perhaps the singer -- playing fairly simple chords and rhythms. Your job as the sideman is to color and embellish the performance of the song without distracting the audience’s attention.
Adam Levy’s collection of 30 Songwriter Sideman Licks is an essential, versatile vocabulary of rhythm parts, fills, and single-note lines for anyone performing or recording in a sideman capacity.
Adam, a highly acclaimed singer-songwriter and solo recording artist in his own right, has also performed and recorded as a sideman with dozens of the most popular singers and songwriters in contemporary music including Norah Jones, Amos Lee, Ani Di Franco, Lisa Loeb, Tracy Chapman, and Meshell Ndegeocello.
”Over the course of my career, I’ve been fortunate to play in a variety of musical styles and settings with many popular singers and songwriters. This collection features 30 rhythmic, chordal, and single-note approaches that you can apply in countless settings as a sideman.”
Adam will demonstrate each of the 30 licks over a rhythm track and then break them down emphasizing the techniques and creative approaches in play.
He will explain and demonstrate all of the key concepts and approaches along the way. You’ll get standard notation and tabs for each of the licks. Plus, Adam includes all of the rhythm tracks for you to work with on your own. In addition, you’ll be able to loop or slow down any of the videos so that you can work with the lessons at your own pace.
Grab your guitar and let’s dig in with Adam Levy!
Adam Levy’s collection of 30 Songwriter Sideman Licks is an essential, versatile vocabulary of rhythm parts, fills, and single-note lines for anyone performing or recording in a sideman capacity.
Adam, a highly acclaimed singer-songwriter and solo recording artist in his own right, has also performed and recorded as a sideman with dozens of the most popular singers and songwriters in contemporary music including Norah Jones, Amos Lee, Ani Di Franco, Lisa Loeb, Tracy Chapman, and Meshell Ndegeocello.
”Over the course of my career, I’ve been fortunate to play in a variety of musical styles and settings with many popular singers and songwriters. This collection features 30 rhythmic, chordal, and single-note approaches that you can apply in countless settings as a sideman.”
Adam will demonstrate each of the 30 licks over a rhythm track and then break them down emphasizing the techniques and creative approaches in play.
He will explain and demonstrate all of the key concepts and approaches along the way. You’ll get standard notation and tabs for each of the licks. Plus, Adam includes all of the rhythm tracks for you to work with on your own. In addition, you’ll be able to loop or slow down any of the videos so that you can work with the lessons at your own pace.
Grab your guitar and let’s dig in with Adam Levy!
What you'll learn
- Apply movable chord shapes across different positions
- Use rootless chord voicings effectively
- How to transpose open-string licks to other keys using barring techniques
- How to incorporate pedal steel and honky tonk piano concepts on guitar
- The technique of alternating between two neighbor triads for simpler, more musical parts
Release date: 09/24/2018 • 2h 27m runtime
Sample lessons
Cascade
Lick 1
Busy Body
Lick 3
Wide Angle
Lick 8
All of the Above
Lick 10
What's included
33 lessons • 30 charts • 10 Jam Tracks
30 Songwriter Sideman Licks
Hi, I'm Adam Levy. Welcome to 30 Songwriter Sideman Licks You Must Know!
Supporting a songwriter as the sideman in a duo or band situation is an artful skill that can be very challenging. Usually there's a rhythm guitarist — perhaps the singer — playing fairly simple chords and rhythms. Your job as the sideman is to color and embellish the the performance of the song without distracting the audience's attention.
Over the course of my career, I've been fortunate to play in a variety of musical styles and settings with many of the most popular singers and songwriters — including Norah Jones, Ani Di Franco, Lisa Loeb, and Meshell Ndegeocello.
This collection includes 30 versatile rhythmic, chordal, and single-note approaches that you can apply in countless settings as a sideman.
Everything is tabbed and notated. and you'll have all the backing tracks to work with on your own. You can loop and slow down the videos to work with these lessons at your own pace.
Grab your guitar and let's get started!
Supporting a songwriter as the sideman in a duo or band situation is an artful skill that can be very challenging. Usually there's a rhythm guitarist — perhaps the singer — playing fairly simple chords and rhythms. Your job as the sideman is to color and embellish the the performance of the song without distracting the audience's attention.
Over the course of my career, I've been fortunate to play in a variety of musical styles and settings with many of the most popular singers and songwriters — including Norah Jones, Ani Di Franco, Lisa Loeb, and Meshell Ndegeocello.
This collection includes 30 versatile rhythmic, chordal, and single-note approaches that you can apply in countless settings as a sideman.
Everything is tabbed and notated. and you'll have all the backing tracks to work with on your own. You can loop and slow down the videos to work with these lessons at your own pace.
Grab your guitar and let's get started!
Cascade
Capoing halfway up the fretboard is a great way to get up and out of the way of another guitarist (the singer/songwriter, for example) who's strumming chords in open position. That's the primary tactic here. Remember, Capo VII means the chord shapes seem to be in the key of G but you're actually in the key of D, a fifth higher. Also, this lick is spacious — leaving plenty of room for other elements in an arrangement (voice, bass, drums, and so on).
Bottom Feeder
Aside from using a capo to chime above another guitarist's part, another useful move is to burble below. A baritone guitar will get you there, of course. If you don't have one handy, drop D tuning may do the trick. Think "low and slow," as lower-pitched melodies naturally speak more languidly than higher ones.
Busy Body
Sometimes the job of a side-person is to add energy to the overall groove. If someone is already holding down the basic chords with a steady pulse, a rhythmic second part like this one can keep things moving. Utilizing 2 and 3-part voicings — in the middle or upper-middle register — can keep the harmony from becoming cluttered.
Middle of the Road
You'll use the capo again for this one. At Capo V, you're using shapes from the key of A minor but you're actually playing in D minor, a fourth higher. The voicings here are more pianistic — especially on the minor chords in measures 1 and 3. Do your best to let everything ring as long as possible within each measure.
Bottom Feeder Rides Again
You'll be using drop D tuning again here to render faux-baritone melody lines. This one sounds extra cool with a bit of tremolo (from your amp or an effect pedal). Another vibey move would be to use palm muting for a more percussive attack.
Motion Sickness
In this lick, you'll use chordal hammer-ons and pull-offs to enliven triads. It's an approach not unlike that of songwriter/guitarist James Taylor — though he usually plays in major keys and this is minor. Staying off of the downbeat (beat 1) in measures 1 and 3 helps keep this part out of the way of other elements, even though it's fairly active.
+ 26 more lessons
Reviews
6 results
JohnSmithers
Verified buyer
11/15/22
I wanted to order a course about the songwriting style and this course really delivered.The teacher is great and I took a lot from everything offered.I would recommend this course to all aspiring songwriters.
LinguaFranka
Verified buyer
11/14/19
Awesome!
Another win for Adam, I love his teaching style and as others have said this course is as much of a guide on creating useful parts as it is a 'lick' course. Top notch.
Jeffochka
10/29/18
Side to Side Sideman
I concur with the other reviews already posted here. I love the teacher’s easygoing style. You get a lot of content and absolutely no fluff; the teacher stays on subject and keeps the lessons bite-size so you are able to learn as much as possible in a short amount of time and you are able to keep adding layers of knowledge with each new lesson. Great teacher and great material! Adam Levy does a thorough job explaining and demonstrating the sideman's role. This is a well needed subject to cover that rarely gets covered.
boatmanjohnson
10/09/18
Simple but great
Love that I am finally finding lessons specifically on this particular role - being a sideman. Adam is perfect for it. He's an incredible player but most importantly he is an excellent teacher. What I love is that he focuses a lot on WHY he plays something a certain way, not necessarily HOW to play something. That way you can apply it to your own music. What I don't love is that every "lick" is very simple to play (for me personally), and I don't know if this is because he is dumbing down his licks to make this course accessible to all levels or if he would really write and play something this simple (considering is capabilities).
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