Mick Taylor's 2012 Return: Reviving Lost 'Midnight Rambler' Guitar Parts

When the Rolling Stones launched the ‘50 & Counting’ tour in 2012, they brought back former guitarist Mick Taylor for six shows—the first time he’d played with the band since 1981. His return on ‘Midnight Rambler’ was the highlight, because he reached back into the deep improvisational bag he’d stashed away in the early ’70s. During the slow, bluesy middle section (the part where Jagger slaps the guitar with a belt), Taylor unleashed a series of descending chromatic runs and a syncopated, wah-pedal-driven pattern that hadn’t been heard live since 1973.

The most specific part he resurrected was a double-stop bend followed by a rapid-fire phrase that falls from the 15th fret down to the 5th—a lick