Monkees “Papa Gene’s Blues” (Live at Universal Amphitheatre ’89)

This concert in Los Angeles on July 9, 1989 found the original quartet playing an extended set together for the Read more

The Monkees “Papa Gene’s Blues” (Live 1996)

The band performs one of Mike Nesmith’s songs from their first album, live at the Mid-Hudson Civic Center (Poughkeepsie, New Read more

How To Play Valleri by The Monkees (Guitar Lesson)

Picking Songs Videos helps you with the Monkees’ “Valleri”. Here are three things to keep in mind: 1. Learn the seven main scales (called modes). 2. Learn to do hammer-ons and pull-offs. 3. Learn it by going very slow, at first. “Valleri” is a song written by Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart for The Monkees, who had a #3 on Billboard Hot 100 and #1 on Cash Box with it in early 1968. The song also rose to #12 in the UK. Session musician Louie Shelton performed the flamenco-esque guitar solo. Responding to Screen Gems president and music supervisor Don Kirshner’s early-morning request for a “girl’s-name song” to be used in the Monkees’s television series, Boyce and Hart improvised “Valleri” on their way to Kirshner’s office, after pretending over the telephone that the song was already finished. Nonetheless, Kirshner was pleased with their work, and “Valleri” took its place on the Monkees recording schedule, with Boyce and Hart producing the original sessions in August 1966.