The White Stripes - Seven Nation Army & Death Letter

This is a live performance from the Grammy Awards, don't know what year, haven't looked into that. They play their probably most recognizable song from their career "Seven Nation Army". The song was released as a single in 2003 and was the opening track for the band's album titled "Elephant". The song reached the tops of modern rock charts and also won a Grammy Award for best Rock Song in 2004.
The song is known for it's lower register toned bassy guitar riff. It is in fact a riff that sounds like a bass, but it's played on guitar. Jack uses his semi-acoustic 1950's style guitar and runs it through a Digitech Whammy Pedal that drops it one octave giving the sound it's bassy guitar riff.
The song is played in Open A tuning, and he uses slide on it which I think just sounds amazing.
Towards the middle of the performance there's a break and they start playing their version of the classic blues song "Death Letter". I really like this version and I love how agressive Jack's slide playing is, I really love it and you can hear the roots dating back to Son House. I earlier posted Son House's version of Death Letter CLICK HERE for that performance. It's a great performance from a great band.

Enjoy ; )

The White Stripes - Ball and Biscuit

This is a performance by legendary alternative/blues/garage rock band The White Stripes. They could probably be attached to even more genres. They perform the song "Ball and Biscuit" from the album "Elephant" released in 2003. The band consists of Jack White on guitar and Meg White on drums. That's it, two members, and two instruments. The weird thing is that it's kind of a genius thing, because it really works. The song "Ball and Biscuit" is clearly a song deeply inspired by the very early acoustic blues the likes of Robert Johnson and Son House, but in an electric version. Jack has, by many, been said to have revitalised the guitar, and I kinda understand what they mean. He draws influence from multiple genres, and innovatively mixes them all into his own, mostly electric sound. In many ways doing the same thing as Clapton was doing when he recorded Crossroads.
This song is delightfully simple, simple rhythm and simple chord structure, with a slightly more difficult solo. It's reminiscent to the old Delta Blues because it's so simple, there's no bass, and Meg White's simple drumming is kinda like a foot tap of a self accompanied acoustic blues man. Jack also has to play the bass part, the rhythm part and the solos. This makes for a very interesting and innovative trade of playing, it makes him unique. This is a great song, and it pays tribute whilst still being new and innovative, well done Jack!

Enjoy ; )