Topic: Riff-In-A-Jiff
Wide Mouth Mason's first CD came out in 1997, when music was still in the grip of grunge. When I first heard some of their songs, I thought they were a breath of fresh air. They were stellar musicians, with a relaxed blues-jazz-pop-rock sound. And I also felt that before too long Shaun Verreault would be included among the likes of Alex Lifeson, Randy Bachman, Rik Emmett, Jeff Healy, etc., as a Canadian guitarist of note.That first CD was full of great guitar playing, memorable riffs and solos, and overall catchy songs, such as "My Old Self", "Midnight Rain", "This Mourning" (all three of which were singles), and "Tom Robinson". That same year WMM became the first Canadian rock band to ever be invited to play the prestigious Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland. At the closing news conference, the Festival's director said the world's "discovery" of WMM was a highlight of that year's festival.
Tabbed here is the Intro and Verse of one of my WMM favourites.
WIDE MOUTH MASON - "This Mourning" (S.Verreault/E.Pereira/S.Javed)
https://www.angelfire.com/planet/zerofret/annesblog/canriffs.txt
You can hear the full song on this page:
http://www.imeem.com/ihun/music/2YOrSLjJ/wide_mouth_mason_this_morning/
I hope everybody is enjoying the Labour Day holiday weekend. 
"Baby Ran" was the first 54-40 song I ever heard, and it continues to be among my favourites of theirs now. The song originally appeared on the band's 1986 self-titled album. I had that album on vinyl, but my vinyl collection has long since been retired. About a year ago I was putting together a variety playlist of songs by Canadian bands to burn onto a CD. So I went to an mp3 site in search of "Baby Ran". I had no problem finding it; it's on the band's greatest hits package Radio Love Songs: The Singles Collection (pictured). I was surprised, however, to discover that that CD had a re-recorded version of the song. I wanted the original. The site didn't have the album 54-40, though, so it seemed the original wasn't available.
Bob Seger's "Mainstreet" features a simple, but very melodic and memorable guitar Intro. The song is from Seger's first Top 10 album Night Moves (1976), and it reached #24 on the pop charts. The melody also transfers well to other instruments. In Seger's live show, this Intro is often played to great effect on saxophone (sometimes tenor sax, sometimes soprano sax). The song recounts his days in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
