Richie Sambora guitar tabs and technique

As co-songwriter and sole guitarist in Bon Jovi, one of the best-selling and longest-lasting rock bands, Richie Sambora appreciates the discipline, craft and restraint involved in reaching a mass audience. ‘With a lot of the stuff I played on the Bon Jovi hits, it wasn’t about developing solos, but to play stuff that was melodic and memorable,’ he says. ‘I try to look at most of my solos as a musical piece within the song, not showing off.’
Sambora’s solo albums – two so far – allow him to express himself and explore musical territory beyond Bon Jovi. His first solo outing was Stranger In Town. ‘I brought this album back to my roots, to when I first started playing guitar and listening to people like Clapton and Jimi Hendrix,’ he explained. And what of his second and latest solo effort, Undiscovered Soul? ‘To me, the title is very apt,’ he told Guitar & Bass. ‘I felt I was undiscovered, even to myself, until now. While you’re writing or recording, you feel undiscovered until you finish it. Now it’s done, I know who I am.
‘The fact is, I’m a songwriter and communicator and I’ve been one in Bon Jovi for many years. That’s the essence of this record for me – to show that Richie Sambora is an artist in his own right and not just a guitar player. Both in the writing and the playing, this is a little more of an intimate record than any Bon Jovi album. When you’re in a band as big as Bon Jovi, you really have to give the people what they want – you can’t just spin off in a foreign direction that the fans don’t understand. If I wake up feeling “Pink Floyd”, I don’t think I could put that on a Bon Jovi record. But on my record, I can fly through whichever moods I like. That’s why this record has a bit of everything: a bit of rock’n’roll, rhythm and blues, romantic ballads, a touch of social commentary... and although the guitar playing may be different to what people associate with me, that’s the whole point.’ Read on for our investigation into Sambora’s songwriting and his guitar techniques.