Learn to play “Poison Flowers” by Billy Howerdel

Learn how to play Poison Flowers with guitarist, songwriter, and A Perfect Circle founding member Billy Howerdel.

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Released in 2022 as the debut single from his solo album What Normal Was, Poison Flowers saw Billy Howerdel working in standard tuning for the first time after years of writing primarily in C-sharp.

In this exclusive clip from the full Riff Lords episode with Billy, he breaks down the main guitar part and explains why where you play a note on the neck matters. Even when the pitch is the same, choosing a different fret can make it easier to slide into the next phrase or add more character to the part.

He also explains a key songwriting idea behind Poison Flowers: sometimes fewer notes are better. Rather than filling every space, Billy focuses on how each note is played, where it sits, and how the guitar interacts with the synths and vocals.

Billy then demonstrates the higher melodic parts, including the lines that answer the vocal in the chorus, before explaining how delay placed before the amp creates the broken, unpredictable texture heard throughout the track.

If you’re a singer-songwriter or guitarist writing songs in a band, this is a masterclass in writing for the song, rather than just filling a track with constant riffs.

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▶ Watch the full episode of Riff Lords with Billy Howerdel HERE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64IzbxVpV2E

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