Hello everyone, today we will have a look a the party cracker called “Happy Birthday”. Some day, someone will ask you to entertain the crowd at the party next door, this tune may be a welcome start to get you going at that party. I have included the words and chords for this occassion.   The / indicate strums. Enjoy, Eddie

                   C             G7
                    /    /    /    /
       Happy birthday to you
     

                  G7            C
                   /    /   /     /
      Happy birthday to you

    
                 C                 F
                  /     /     /     /     /
      Happy birthday dear Sandra
                       
        

                  C         G7  C               
                   /     /    /   /
       Happy birthday to you

 

 

 

 

 

Today I will introduce you to two OPEN MINORCHORDS most of you will already know.
Here are the two chords:

             Am     Em

      E  —0——-0——————

      B  —1——-0——————

      G  —2——-0——————

      D  —2——-2——————

      A  —0——-2——————-

      E  ————0——————-

Okay, now what you can do with these chordshapes is to create different chords with the same shape. You can do this by barring your first finger across all the strings.
Before we will try any new chords, play the given chordshapes with the following fingers:

         Am : finger 2 (middle finger) for fret 1 on Bstring, finger 3 (ring finger) for fret 2 on Gstring and finger 4 (pinky) for fret 2 on the Dstring.  When you use this fingering you will notice this fingering is different from what most people tend to use. Notice that your first finger ( index finger) is not used at all. Great!! We will use this finger for the barring. Keep using this fingering anytime when you need to play minor chords which use the Am-shape.

       For Em use this fingering: finger 2 (middle finger) for fret 2 on the Astring, finger 3 (ring finger) for fret 2 on the Dstring. Again observe this fingering is different from what you usually use. Finger 1 is free, free to do all the barring you will need to create different minorchords along the fretboard.

Just another observation before we will create different chords: The Rootnote for the Em chordshape is the open low Estring, the Rootnote for the Am chordshape is the open A string. When you will move your first finger across the fretboard to create barre chords the place where the rootnote is will not change, what will change is the pitch (= the name) of the chord.

 

What is Barring?

   Good question. It is the act of placing your FIRST finger across the fretboard to play all six strings. Try this, just use only your FIRST finger, place it anywhere on the fretboard: fret 5, fret 2, fret 7, fret 10 ect. Try to create a sequence of numbers which sound good to your ears instead of just playing any random numbers, also try to play with a particular rhythm, so you are actually making music.
This type of excersise will make your first finger stronger, it will be more used to playing barrechords when you get to actually playing real barrechordshapes.

      Let us now use the Am shape, and only the Am shape to play the following chordsequence. I have put the fretnumbers underneath the chords, they indicate where you put your first finger, and also tell you where the Rootnote is on the A-string.

       

          Bm       Dm     C#m     Em    :]      Play four strums for each chord, all using Am shape
          (2)        (5)      (4)        (7)

      Now play this chordsequence, again using only Am chordshape, while barring your first finger on the frets indicated underneath:

 

        Fm        Cm       E^bm      B^bm     :]
        (8)         (3)       (6)        (1)

   Okay, getting used to it? Right let us now use the Em shape, and only Em shape for the following sequences:

      Am      F#m        Gm      C       :]
      (5)       (2)          (3)       (8)                             Again, the fretnumbers indicate where 
                                                                             to place your first finger 
                                                                             and it also indicates where the 
                                                                             Rootnote of the chord is.

       A^bm    Fm        B^bm      Am      :]
       (4)      (1)         (6)        (5)

     

         Playing Ideas:

    @  Change the rhythm of the strumming, create a rhythm you like, copy the rhythm of a song you like ect.
This in order to make your strumming less mechanical.

    @  Play songs you already know which use open minor chordshapes with the Am and Em shape, play those songs now with the new barrechordshapes, it will make the chords sound different, as you play the shapes higher on the fretboard.

    @   Start experimenting with mixing different minor chordshapes, play songs where you will be using both the Em and Am shape as barrechords.

     

    Overal Observation: 

   Try to apply, whatever it is you have learned, for songs and ideas you already play. By doing this will learn so much. You yourself are your own best teacher, as noone really knows what you like best. Music is an individual artform, yes you can learn from others, but you need to experiment with whatever you have been shown and create things yourself. It does take time, sometimes it seems to take forever, but just carry on and do not give up!

Hope you enjoyed some of these ideas, and hope to see you again some time soon!
Eddie

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hello welcome to the first blog of 2011. Hope all of you had a great start into the New Year. Today we will start things off with this Fleetwood Mac song. It comes from the “Rumours” album. The song is probably one of their best known songs.
Fleetwood Mac started out as a bluesband in the 60s, the band went through a lot of changes and line-ups. The album where this songs comes from [around 1975] was the more successful period for the band.

Here is the song for all of you who do not know what I am talking about:

For this lesson I will just concentrate on the chords of the song. We will also be using a Capo, but later more about that.

 

   Here are the chords for the verse:

    F    F    F    C

   B^b   B^b  B^b    F        Play this whole part 2x

   Here are the chords for the chorus:

   Dm     B^b    C     C      Play this part 3x

   Structure:    Verse 1

                      Chorus

                     Verse 2

                      Chorus

                    Solo over Verse

                      Chorus + outro Solos

 When you listen to the song you will hear that the acoustic guitar does have a high sound, you can get near that sound by using a Capo on the 5th fret.

Play now the song by using the following OPEN chordshapes: 

    Verse:    C     C     C     G

                F      F     F     C      

  Chorus:   Am    F     G     G

That’s it for now, enjoy and see you around next time

Eddie

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hello everyone, today it is time to have a look at this all time favourite song. It contains a great riff, simple but effective, nice chordsequence to play around with and a great chorus containing powerchords to finish the song off with. What more would you like to enjoy yourself with on a Cold Winters Day??!

Okay for those not familiar with the song, here it is:

Here is the intro:

                  Gadd5                                                C

  E  ————3————————–      ————-0——————————————

  B  ————3————————–       ————1——————————————

  G  ————0————————–       ————0——————0———————–
                                   P O    P O 
  D  ————0——4–5–4–5–4–0–       ———– 2——–0—2—————————–

  A  ————2————————–         ——-3—3—-2————————————–

  E   ——3—-3————————–         ———————————————————

 

Just listen to the orginal song from the video to get the rhythm of the into. Now the way I put the intro is not how Bowie plays it, however it is a great way to get that full sound of the intro. I believe it is near impossible to get the sound of the recording on one acoustic guitar. I will include two other videos from Youtube from another guitartutor who will show you how to play the intro in a different way. I would suggest you to check it out after you can play the way I put the intro here.

Gosh do I need many words to put all this information accross here eh?

Alright, now it is time for the verse.
Here the chords for the verse:

   G     Bm     C      D

   G     Em     A      C   :]

  Play Bm as a Am-shape barre chord

Here are the chords for the chorus:

  A⁵      G⁵    F⁵    G⁵   

  D       E

   For those powerchords I play something like this:

      A⁵      G⁵     F⁵

 A –7——5—–3—–

 E –5——3—–1—–        Notice when playing F⁵ play after the chord an open E on your low E string, so you

                                        go 1st fret low E then open E then back to the 1st fret ect. Listen to that part

                                        over and over again if you are not sure!

    Structure of the Song:

        Intro: 4x

       Verse: 2x

     Chorus: 3x

        Intro: 2x

       Verse: Only Once!!

     Chorus: 3x

Final Intro: 4x 

 

As for strumming patterns chords ect. Please listen to the recording since it is my believe that this song is clear enough for most people to hear by ear what is going on strummingwise. It really does not matter if it does sound a little different from the recorded version you hear in the video, as long as you get the flow and feel of the song.

Okay, now two videos of this good old chap here [No, this it not me, my accent sounds much sweeter!!]
I have chosen this video since he is very clear in his explanation, and what he mentions about the strumming ect. is similar as my own beliefs and attitude:

P.S: Notice his different intro compared to my version. Try it to see which one you like better!!

P.S.  Notice the difference in some of his chords, and the chorus: No Powerchords but Barrechords.
Try both ways to see whichever way you like it. Playing electric ,you may prefer powerchords with a little
bit of distortion on your amp. Anyway  just see what works for you.

Okay folks that is it for today, hope you enjoy your new song and would like to meet you all again in the New Year.
Eddie

Hello everyone, today we have a look at the song I mentioned in my previous blog. It is “Norwegian Wood” sung by John Lennon. Like “War is Over” this song is also played with the 6/8 feel.

For anyone who is not familiar with the song, have a listen here:

 
       Here is the Chordsequence including the Melody in between the chords for the fist part of the song:

         E                            E                              E                                 E            E

      E ——————      ———————     ———————–     ————————

      B———2–0—–       ———————-   ———————–     ————————

      G—————-2–      —————2–1–    ———————–     ————————

      D ——————-      ———–4———-    ————-4——–    ————————-

      A ——————–      ———————-    ——–5———–4-    ————————-

      E ———————     ———————-     ———————-    ————————- 

Count:123  4   5   6           1 2  3     4  5   6        123     4    5        6        1 2 3    4 5  6 

Repeat fist part once again!!

        Em  Em        Em  Em         A   A          A    A

        
        Em  Em        Em  Em         A   A          B    : ]  Repeat sequence from top to this point.

                                                                                      Fingering for B Chord ( Yes it is a Barre Chord):

                                                                           E ————————

                                                                           B ———4————–

                                                                           G ———4————–

                                                                            D ——–4————–

                                                                            A ——–2—————

                                                                            E ————————-

Observe the 6/8 feel, in the fist part the Chord gets 3 beats, than each melody note receives one beat until the end of the bar, easy really as the bar is divided up into chord for 3 beats and 3 beats for the melody. The second part ( from Em) is just chords, again two chords per bar will do. Listen to the feel, once you get it start adding more strums.

 

Happy Playing and see you next time.
Eddie

Hello all of you, because we are near Christmas (and yes, as I am typing this, it is snowing!!)  we will have a look John Lennon’s “War is Over”.  For those of you who do know some of the music of the Beatles and Lennon as a Soloartist, this song is a typical John Lennon song. He plays the song with a little melody within his chords. Similar songs of this kind are “Norgwegian Wood” and “Woman. Similar as “Norwegian Wood” this song is in Six/Eight feel, which means 6 beats which all last an 8th in length.

First have a listen to the song here before I go into detail:

       Here is the basic chordsequence for the whole song, observe the two chords per bar rhythm in 6/8 :

     G    G        G   G       Am  Am    Am  Am     

     D    D        D   D      G    G       G    G

     C     C         C    C     Dm  Dm   Dm  Dm

     G    G             G    G         C    C            C   C

    

Chorus:

     F   F         F   F         G   G         G  G

   Dm  Dm      F   F         C  C          D  D

         Once you are comfortable with the sequence and feel, then start playing the chords like this:

        
       G Gsus2 Gsus4 G               Am   Amsus2 Amsus4  Am            D     Dsus2    Dsus4   D

    E ———————–            –0——-0——-0———-0——-     –2——-0——-3——-2——

    B –0—0——1—0—-           –1——-0——-3———-1——-     –3——-3——-3——-3——

    G –0—2——0—0—-           –2——-2——-2———-2——-     –2——-2——-2——-2——

    D –0—0——0—0—-           –2——-2——-2———-2——-     –0——-0——-0——-0——

    A –2—2——2—2—-           –0——-0——-0———-0——-       ———————————-

    E –3—3——3—3—-           ————————————           ———————————-

         C   Csus2 Csus4  C         Dm  Dmsus2  Dmsus4    Dm

     E –0—–0—-1——-0-     —–1——–0——-3——–1———

     B –1—–3—-1——-1-     —–3——–3——-3——–3———

     G –0—–0—-0——-0-      —-2——–2——-2——–2———

     D –2—–2—-2——-2-      —-0——–0——-0——–0———

     A –3—–3—–3——3-       —————————————–

     E ————————-       —————————————–

               Here is the Full Chordsequence with the New Chords, again two chords per bar!!:

               G  Gsus2     Gsus4  G     Am  Amsus2     Amsus4  Am

               D  Dsus2     Dsus4  D     G   Gsus2        Gsus4  G

               C   Csus2      Csus4   C     Dm  Dmsus2    Dmsus4  Dm

               
               G  Gsus2         Gsus4  G       C  Csus2         Csus4  C

    Chords for Chorus remain unchanged, play them as mentioned in the beginning of this Guitar Tutorial!

A good way to play those new chords is to play one strum per chord, once you are comfortable with them start putting in more strums as you did for the sequence mentioned in the beginning of this lesson.
John Lennon’s version is in the key of A, I have chosen for key of G as it gets you around the Bm barre chord and other “akward fingerings”.

Hope you enjoy playing those “new” chordshapes and see you next time around.
Eddie

 

 

 

 

Hello, today we will be looking at a Peter Green Song. It is called ” Apostle” and is from the late 70s, from the “In the Skies” album. Peter Green started out with John Mayall  and the BluesBreakers. He replaced Eric Clapton who had left the BluesBreakers to form Cream later on. Peter Green only stayed for one album with the BluesBreakers and then went on to create Fleedwood Mack.

It is worth to check out all the guitarists from this period ==1960s upto late 1970s== as a lot of those guitarplayers had a lot in common, they all had their roots in bluesmusic, but they all developed their own styles and sound. A few names who come to mind are Eric Clapton, Peter Green, Jeff Beck and Jimi Page. Next to them it may be worth looking at Keith Richards and Mick Taylor. From all of these guitarplayers Jeff Beck may be the most interesting and prolific player, but then again, that may be just my own personal taste………..

Compared to the list of players mentioned before Peter Green is certainly one of the guitarplayers who seemed to be able to create great melodic compostitions at the time. Think of Albatros and Black Magic Woman, as both songs do contain a memoriable melody. It is this side of his musicianship which comes back in his later period, from the late 1970s up to early 1980s. During this period he made some albums which do not really sound much like any of the Fleetwood Mack material he had been associated with before.

Before I will carry on with the rest of this lesson first have a listen to the song we will be looking at: Listen to the chords and the three different parts which makes up this song. It sounds reallly simple but melodic at the same time.

The first part of the song contains just two chords: Em and G, You can finger them like this:

      Em           G

       x            x
       x            x
       0            0                                        Notice that I do not play the top two strings, this for the melody
       2            0                                          to come out better! 
       2            2
       0            3

                     
        Now have a look at these two E minor scalepatterns as they are slightly different from what you would expect them to be:

     E —————————————————————————-(0)———————————

     B ———————————————————0—–2—–3—————————————– 

     G ——————————————–0—-2————————————————————-

     D —————————0—(2)—-4————————————————————————

     A ————–0–2—4——————————————————————————————

     E –(0)–2–3—————————————————————————————————– 

 

     E —————————————————————————————————————–

     B ————————————————————————2—-3—–(5)————————–

     G ———————————————————–2—–4———————————————-

     D ————————————–(2)—–4—-5————————————————————

     A ———————–2—-4—-5——————————————————————————

     E –(0)—2–3—5————————————————————————————————

 Here is the Melody of the first part including the chords. It is an 8 bar section played twice. Each line     contains two bars. The chords are played two strums per bar.

          Em                   G                                     Em               G
      
     E ——————————————         —0—————————
                                 ~
     B—————–0—3——2——-0—–         ——-3——2——0—0—-
                   H
     G ——-0–2——————————-          ——————————–

     D —2————————————–          ——————————–

     A ——————————————-          ———————————

     E ——————————————-           ——————————–

          Em                        G                                 Em       G

     E ——————————————            -0—————————————
                                      ~
     B ——————0—–3——-2—0—             –3–2————————————
                    H                                                                                Slide
     G ——-0—2—————————–             ——–4—2—-0–(2)—4—0———-

     D—2————————————–              —————————————2—

     A ——————————————              ——————————————-

     E ——————————————-             ——————————————-

           Em                     G                                        Em                     G

      E —————————————                ————————————————

      B —————————————                ————————————————

      G —————————————                ————————————————
             Pull                Slide                                       H  Pull
      D –2—0———-(2)–4—2–0——-                –0—2–0————————————-

      A ————-2———————-2–                —————2——————————–
                                                                                                         Pull
      E —————————————–               ———————-3——0——————

            
           Em                 G                                           Em                             G
     
       E ————————————–                ————————————————–

       B ————————————–                ————————————————–

       G ————————————–                ————————————————–   Repeat
              Pull          Slide                                                                                                      all 8 Bars
       D –2–0——(2)–4—-2————-                 ———-2———-2—————————  once again!

       A ———2——————-5—-2—               —5———————————————–

       E —————————————-              —————————————————-

                  Pull= Pull-Off, H= Hammer-On, ~= Vibrato

 

     Here are the Chordshapes for the Second Part:

            Am    G     E               # Am   D

       E —5—-3—-0—————0—–2—-

       B —5—-3—-0—————1—–3—-

       G —5—-4—-1—————2—–2—-           N.B: Observe different fingering for Am at #

       D —7—-5—-2—————2—–0—-

       A ——————————————

       E ——————————————

             Here is the pickingpattern for playing the chords:

               Am

        E —————————5—————————-

        B ————-5——————5———–5———-

        G ——-5———5——————-5—————-

        D —7————————————————

        A —————————————————–

        E —————————————————–

Count: One And Two And    Three And Four     And

                         N.B:  Picking Pattern is similar for all chords! Careful with the picking for the half bar chords, the rhythm stays the same but the strings will be different, each part of the Beat is played, make sure you play 8 strings per bar!! Observe the different fingering for the Am chord near the end of the full sequence, it is indicated by #.

The beauty of this sequence lies in the half Barre Chords, and how they move the music along, the different fingering for the Am chord is used to preserve the linearity of the sound. Get used to this kind of playing as it will improve your chordplaying a lot. Do not jumps up and down the fretboard like a Clown! Only do this when you want to sound like a Clown!! And yes, there will be times when you just want this.

 

Here is the full chordsequence, play it with the given pickingpattern, play it slowly at first making sure you get the fingering and the counting right!

             Am        Am  G       Am        Am

             Am        G              Am        Am

             G           E              #Am       D                   N.B:# = OPEN CHORD of Am

           #Am       #Am

 

                         Here is the Melody of the second part:

           Am                         Am          G              Am                         Am

      E ——————–   ———————–   ——————–      ————————-

      B ——————–   ———————–   ——————–      ————————-
             *Hold until next bar
      G –9—————-    –9–7—5—-4——   ———————     ————————-
                                                                                  Slide
      D ——————-    ——————-5—  –7—-(9)—7——     ————————-

      A –7—————-    –7–5—3—-2——-  ———————-     ————————-

      E ——————–    ——————-3—  –5—-(7)—5——    ————————–

Count: 1^{and 2 and 3 and 4       1}   and two 3⁴ and     1     and   2³⁴

           Am                        G                              Am                               Am
      
      E ——————-    ———————–    ———————-     ———————————–
 
      B ——————-    –8——————–   –10—12—11——     ———————————–

      G –9—————     ———————–   ———————–     ———————————-

      D ——————     –5——————–    –7—-9—-10——-     ———————————-

      A –7—————     ———————–    ————————   ———————————-

      E ——————-     ———————–    ————————   ———————————-

Count:  1^2 34                      1²³⁴                           1     2      3⁴

               G                        E                                  Am                            D                    
                                                                                      Slide
        E –10————–  –7——————      –(8)–7–5————-   —————————–
                                                                                          Slide                                 Slide
      B ——————-  ———————      —————–(7)–9–    –7—————(7)—9—

      G –7—————  –4——————      –(5)–4–2————-    —————————–

      D ——————   ———————-     —————–(8)–7–    –5—————(5)—7—

      A ——————   ———————–    ————————–    ——————————

      E ——————   ————————   ————————–    ——————————

Count:  1 ²³⁴                  1 ²³⁴                           1   2    3⁴          and        1²³⁴                       and

             Am                      Am

       E ——————    ———————–

       B –5—4—-2—–    ———————–

       G ——————    ———————–      Repeat Whole Melody Once Again!

       D –3—2—-0—–    ———————–

       A ——————     ———————–

       E ——————     ————————

Count:  1   2      3⁴              

N.B: Whole Melody Second Part Contains of Octaves, You Can Play Them With Your Fingers Using Pinch Technique,  Or Use Plectrum While Observing You Only Play Two Strings At a Time. Observe The Counting And Play Carefully Melody While You Count ( And Feel) The Melody!

                                   Here are the Chords for the Third Part:

 

           G       E      Am    G7

  E —–3——0—–0—–1—————————————–

  B —–0——0—–1—–0—————————————–

  G —–0——1—–2—–0—————————————–

  D —- 0——2—–2—–0——————————————

  A —–2——2—–0—–2——————————————

  E —–3——0———– 3——————————————
        

                        The Chords are Organised in Four Bars, They Read as Follows:

    G  E    Am Am    G  G7   Am  E

                    Play them by using two strums for each chord, hold the final E Chord.

          Here is the Melody for the Third Part in Open Postion:

                   G            E                     Am                                      G              G7                  Am              E

  E ————–0———     ——————————–  —————-0–1–5–3–    —————————

  B —–0–1-3—-3–1–0     ———0–1—3—1—0—–  ——0–1–3—————    ——-0–1-0————-

  G –2———————     —–2————————2- –2————————–    —–2———2–0——

  D ————————      –2—————————–  —————————–     –2—————–3–2

  A ————————-     ———————————  —————————–    ————————-

  E ————————-     ———————————  ——————————   ————————-

Count:         1  2and3 4                       1   2   and 3  4                     1   2 and3 4                   1 2and3and 4

             Observe where the chords are, notice that the first 3 notes of the melody are left without counting, you can treat them as an extra triplet, come in with the chord when you start counting. Dividing  the rhythm up in this way makes it easier to feel the song.

 

Some of you may say that the Melody of the third part  should be played higher up the fretboard. True!!, instead of me writing this one out for you,  I will give a hint how to play this: Play exactly the same as written but start on fret 14 on the G-string. You will now be playing in the 12th postion of the guitar, and yes, the melody is played up there in the song! I have chosen for the open postion as it may be easier for the folks who play an acoustic without a cutaway. If you can play the guitar the melody should not give you any trouble anyway! 

              Structure of the Song:

             First Part   2x
         Second Part   2x
            Third Part   1x
         Second Part   1x and finish

Ideas for Further Study:

This song is a good example of how to create a melody over a given chordsequence. Instead of me analysing the song I will give you an idea how you can analyse the song for yourself: Write down all the notenames of the melody, look at the chords, and see if you can find the relation between chord and melodynotes. Write also the notes of the chords down, now you really start to see which notes do reappear when you play the melody.

Why do I not analyse this song for you then? Sometimes it may be better just to play a little song you have been given without thinking about it too much, if you are hungry for more, go ahead and analyse the notes. You will learn a lot from it, it may take you a little time, but then again, think about how long it took you to learn to speak, write and walk.

 

Have a wonderful time and hope to see you next time for some Festive Songs.

Eddie 

Hello it has been a couple of weeks since my last blogentry and I am looking forward to introduce you to a lot of new exhiting lessons and ideas. Today is the first one of a session of Blues blogs. We will start today with John Lee Hooker’s Boom Boom. 

The version here is a adaption of the song in the video. The original song is in the key of Eb, but for this lesson I will use the key of F!! As you progress through the song, the chords change but the riff will stay the same.

Here is the main Riff which holds the song together:

E   ——————————————

B   ————–4————————–

Slide
G  — (3)—5———–5—3—————

D ————————————-6–3—

A  ——————————————

E  ——————————————

Count: rest     2     and     3    and       4  and

Start on fret 3 of the G string, put your finger there and slide it along to fret 5 on the G. Get comfortable with the riff first before you move on to the next session of this lesson. Make sure you do not play on beat One!!

Here are the Three Chords we will use:

F⁵        B^b5     C⁵

x         x        x
x         x        x
5         x        x
3         3        5
x         1        3
x         x        x

We will play those chords before the riff, this to create a fuller sound. The chords are played over two bars before the riff kicks in, play them on Beat 1  Beat 3 and Beat 1 of the next bar. This kind of rhythm you get is kind of a ZZ Top feel, or Boogie feel.
I have chosen for power chords because the fingering falls directly underneath your fingers once you finish playing the riff.

Here is the order of the sequence:

Riff  F⁵    Riff  F⁵   Riff   B^b5

Riff  F⁵   Riff  C⁵   Riff   F⁵

Practise the chords first on their own, play just the F⁵ chord make sure you play on  the One, the Three and the One of the next bar.  Groove along on just one chord until you feel the Two bar chord rhythm. Then go on to play the whole chord sequence before you put the riff in front of the chords.

Playing Ideas:

~Blues is a great style for adopting it to almost anything you like, you could easily turn this John Lee Hooker into Reggea, Ska, Rock, Dance, Hip Hop or anything you like for that matter!

~It may be more logical for you at this stage to try your hand at changing the riff from time to time, you could alternate the riff as it comes back Six times in the whole sequence. It may be possible for you to create a similar kind of riff, like a shadow- or question and answer riff. To create another riff it may be useful for you to know which scalepatterns the riff is based on.

The song is based on F minor Pentatonic, here are Three Scale Patterns for F minor Penta:

E————————————————–(1)—-4–

B—————————————-1—4————–

G——————————-1—3———————–

D———————1—(3)——————————-

A————–1—3—————————————-

E—(1)—4————————————————-

E————————————————–4—6—

B—————————————4—(6)————-

G—————————–3—5————————-

D——————(3)—6———————————-

A———–3—6——————————————-

E—4—6—————————————————-

E—————————————————-6—-8–

B——————————————(6)—9———–

G——————————–5—-8———————-

D———————6—-8———————————

A———–6—(8)——————————————-

E—6—8——————————————————

N.B: (  )  indicates the Root note of the Scale

Listen to the different versions of this song, most of them will be in the Key of E which is different from the Key I have used for this lesson, just listen, get ideas and start experimenting with using different riffs and feels based on the different versions you have heard. Playing music is about expressing yourself and one way to do this is to become free with whatever you play, go on and experiment once you can play the material I have used for this lesson.

Today we will have a look a bluessong by Magic Sam “All You Love” It is one of his signatureriffs he uses for several songs, each time he plays this idea slightly different.

Before we break this song down make sure to listen to the version of the song at the bottom of this lesson. 

 Listen to the bass and the feel [rhythm] of the song. See if you can work out the song by EAR by listening to the bass, play the bassline, then the chords, make sure you understand the structure of the song. Do not worry about the solo’s and the embelishments, because they cannot carry the song. Once you understand the structure of the song create you own variations of the riff, make sure you become free with the chords and the riff [postions and fingerings etc.]

      About Magic Sam:   Magic  Sam had his own sound, he played often with the vibratosound on his amp, this gave him a somewhat unique sound for the time being. He used a few signatureriffs which he used in different songs, this song uses one of his main riffs.

              Here is a breakdown of the chords for the song:

      Bm     Bm      Bm      Bm

      E7      E7      Bm       Bm

      F^#7      E7      Bm     F^#7

As you can see, it is a twelve bar blues, but does not sound like a “traditional” twelve bar song.

The main riff is played over the Bm chord.  Here is a bassline which works well with the main riff:

            E ———————————–   

            B ———————————–    

           G ———————————–    

           D —————————2—0–    

           A ———-0—-2—2–2———-

           E–0–2—————————–

The voicings for the other chords are:

                E7              F^#7

                x                 x

                x                 x

                7                 9

                6                 8

                7                 9

                x                 x

Play the chords with a swing feel, 4 beats to the bar.

     Here is the main riff with some added notes of me, I left out the solosection parts he puts in from time to time as we will discuss them later for now just play this:

            E  ——————————–

            B  ——————————–

            G  ——————7——9–7-

            D ————7–9—–9—9–7-

            A  ——-9———————–

            E ——————————–

I use a slide from 7 to 9 on the A string to start the riff, works well with the feel of the song.

This riff is played over the Bm chord, or you could just play the riff and go from there to the chords.

At some point Sam adds some accents into the riff, they read like:

           E   ——————————-

           B   ——————————-

           G  ——————11—9—7–

           D  ——————11—9—7–

           A  ——————————–

           E  ——————————–

For the first part of these accents you can still play the first notes of the main riff and then play the accented notes.

       For the Solos Sam uses mainly two positions of the Bm Pentatonic Scale:

       E   ————————————————–7—10—

      B——————————————-7—10————-

     G———————————-7—9————————

     D————————7—9———————————-

     A————-7—9———————————————

     E—7—10——————————————————

     E  ———————————————————10–12

     B————————————————10—12———

     G————————————9—-11——————–

     D————————9—-12——————————–

     A————-9—-12——————————————-

     E–10—12—————————————————–

Listen to how Sam moves between these two postions of the Bm Pentatonic Scale, listen to his phrasing and timing of the notes.

     Playing Ideas:

@ Play your own solos in between the main riff.

@ Vary between the two postions for your solos.

@ Experiment with putting your own “Turn Around” in the song.

@ Play the song using main riff and play chordtones [no chords this time!!] for the E7 and F^#7, play in such a way that the chordtones will fit in your solo. It will sound like a long solo but you will still hear the harmony coming through as you play the chordtones.

Once you feel you are comfortable with these ideas then play the song in different postions of the Bm Pentatonic Scale. Experiment also with using different keys as it will make you freer and you will start to hear which keys work really well for which song.

In Futureblogs I will go more into detail about scales, scalepostions, phrasing, solos and turnarounds.

See you next time,

Eddie

Today  We will have a look at a song by Mike Posner. It is the acoustic version of the song. It is good to learn it as it does not have a straightforward feel. Song is played with a relaxed “Jazzy” feel, great song to introduce you to that feel.

 If you are not familiar with the version of this song, please click on the video at the bottom of this lesson.     

I have only included here the first part, which is a adaption of the original.
I hope to include a video of my own at a later stage to illustrate the tab provided here underneath.                

 

 

Here is the basic layout of the song:  

          E^b       Dm        Gm                   B^b

     E——————   ——————-3-

     B——————  ————–3—-3–

     G——————  ————–3——

     D—————–  ———————-

     A—6——5—–  ———3————

     E—————–  –3–6—————-

Count 1²       3⁴             1  and 2     3      4

 

About the counting underneath the tab:  the ² and ⁴ mean those beats are ringing, so please make sure you hold those notes for 2 beats.

 

      Playing Ideas:

When you are a beginner just play the bassnotes underneath the first three chords, forget about the last chord.

Play the song by just using chords, Playing the E^b with a C-shape, play Dm with a barreshape, Gm as barreshape and the B^b as a A-shape chord on fret 3.

 Here are the fingerings [also known as voicings] of those chords:

     E^{b              Dm             Gm           Bb}

     x             5           3         7

     4             6           3         7

     3             7           3         3

     5             7           5         3

     6             5           5         x

     x             x           3         x

Play each chord for two strums, for the B^b play on beat 3 the notes as indicated on the D and G string, then for beat 4 play as indicated on the B and E string. Really you split this chord up in two parts, the rest of the chords are played as indicated. When you are not familiar with this way of notating chords: Read them as tab, lower notes are played on the low E, x means do not play.

 

I have transposed the same piece for beginners to more “familiar” chordshapes. They read like:

    F             Em         Am           C

    1              0            0            0

    1              0            1            1

    2              0            2            0

    3              2            2            2

    x              x            0            3

    x              x            x            x

Play these chords also with two strums per chord. Notice the different notation for the Em, really easy! If you can play full Em go for that one as this chord gives you a fuller sound!

 

Finally the Transposed version in riff fashion:

         F        Em            Am            C 

    E——————-  ——————-

    B——————- ——————–

    G——————- —————-0—-

    D–3——-2——- ———-0———2-

    A——————– –0–3—————-

    E——————– ——————–

Count 1²       3⁴            1 and 2      3    4

For the  more advanced players: Notice that the C chord mentioned above does not have a Root, why have I chosen to harmonize the riff with a C? It is the G and the E of the C chord that we play here: The 5th and the major 3rd.

 

Okay that will do for now, make sure you revisit the stuff you have learned so far, and keep at it.

See you next time,

Eddie