If you have already got a few blues riffs together, it will be easy to convert them into a chickin’ pickin’ style – all it takes is a little theory and knowing where your key notes are located on the fretboard.
In this lesson we will be looking at the style of the legendary John Fogerty, best known for his time with Creedence Clearwater revival and for creating a whole host of classic rock n’ roll riffs.
Van Morrison has written some very popular songs over the years, and there are some interesting things we can learn from his playing. If you’d like to add a little Van Morrison flavor into your playing, this is the lesson for you.
In this lesson we’ll take a look at one of Jimi Hendrix’s songs, Wind Cries Mary. It’s a really interesting example of how you can use major and minor thirds in a chord progression. Why does a progression of major chords end up sounding minor? Watch the lesson, and find out!
We’re going to be learning how to play Pearl Jam’s Thin Air today. This is a really cool chord progression that might stump you at first, when you look at it from a theory perspective. It’s in E major (E, A and B)… and yet it has a C major in it!
We call this “flatting the sixth” because normally, the sixth in E major should be C#… however we’re playing C, so that means we’re flatting the sixth.
Despite “breaking” traditional theory, this is actually a really cool technique that you’ll hear from time to time. John Fogerty liked using this trick – you’ll hear it in Green River and Old Man Down the Road.
In Eric Clapton’s version of Cocaine flats the seventh, in a similar fashion to what we just talked about.
Both of these examples use major chords, yet because the distance between the chords is minor it produces a darker, more minor sound.
In the bridge, we’ve got a key change too. Lots going on in this song!
So you want to play like Bob Dylan? Here are a few things to get you started! There’s also a Level 1 spotlight on Bob Dylan too.
In this artist spotlight we’re going to look at Bruce Springsteen’s Prove It All Night, and learn a few things from the song. Check it out!
Reggae is a ton of fun to play, once you can settle into the groove. This lesson features a chord progression pulled from “I Shot The Sheriff” by Bob Marley – just the chorus part, which goes Eb, Dm, Gm. Eric Clapton has done a few versions of this song too, if you want to see how it can be applied differently.
The main thing to take away today is getting a feel for the rhythm – whether you’re on the bass or the guitar.