Anyone Can Play Guitar

Online and private guitar tuition

Blues

Sunflower River Blues

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by John Fahey

In this lesson we’re going to be learning a great fingerstyle piece by American folk guitarist John Fahey. Check out the original recording (1967 version, at least I think it is):

Here’s my video. You’ll need to tune to open C which is C G C G C E from low to high.

Music and tab

I’ve written it out below. There are four parts: Intro,  A, B and C and I’ve also included the little variation he sometimes throws into the B section. Listen to the recording to piece it all together. A printable PDF of the tab is available on my Patreon page.

More fingerstyle?

A few other fingerstyle lessons you might enjoy:

Anji by Davey Graham

Freight Train by Elisabeth Cotten

Back to the Old House by The Smiths

And if you’re feeling Christmassy then here’s the other Fahey lesson I did a while back: Joy to the World

 

Johnny B Goode by Chuck Berry

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Here’s my definitive, 3 part look at how to play the Chuck Berry classic Johnny B Goode.

Part 1

Part 2

Part3

So I’ve finally got round to looking at a bona fide guitar classic. It’s one of those songs that everybody seems to play slightly differently (that includes Chuck himself who in the live performances I’ve checked out never seems to play it the same way twice). So what I’ve done is gone back to the original recording, to try and get the definitive answer to how it should be played. As an exercise I think it’s fun to try and get as close as possible to how Chuck plays it here, but really it’s up to you how far you want to take it. Probably the most important thing is to play with a bit of style and attitude, and not to worry too much about every last detail of the original.

Notice how the original recording is made up of two different guitar performances. It sounds to me like there’s one continuous guitar part, probably laid down by Chuck live with the band, and then there’s another overdubbed layer of lead guitar which comes in and out at various points during the song. The intro is in fact made up of two different guitar tracks: the first four bars are the original live guitar take, then the overdubbed lead guitar takes over as the band kicks in, and the other guitar switches to playing rhythm. I’m combining both the lead guitar parts into one here.

In Part 2 I looking at all the rhythm guitar parts, together with a few of the lead guitar fills. As I mentioned in the first lesson, the original recording is made up of two separate guitar performances. There’s the continuous live guitar take which is made up of mainly rhythm chords, and then there are the lead guitar overdubs which you can hear in the second half of the intro, during the choruses and in the solo. If you’re playing with another guitarist you could split the two parts between the two you, but if you’re playing on your own why not try combing the two parts into one?

The basic rhythm guitar part is pretty straightforward: a blues in Bb played entirely using a bass note boogie type pattern. This just stays the same throughout the song. It’s just the introduction which is slightly different. For the choruses I’ve combined the lead and rhythm parts into one. Each of the three choruses has a slightly different lead guitar part.

For the 3rd and final lesson in my JBG series I looking at the guitar solo. As with the intro, the solo is made up of two different guitar tracks which I’ve combined into one. The first 4 bars of the solo are the main live guitar part, then the overdubbed lead guitar takes over until the end of the 12 bar chorus. And it’s the same pattern during the second half of the solo.

Putting it all together…

If you’ve come this far it would seem silly not to try and play the whole song from start to finish. It’s really just a matter of getting used to the structure and piecing together all the parts we’ve looked at so far. To help you with his I’ve put together a PDF with the music/tab for the entire song as you might play it as a single guitar performance.  Complete Song PDF.

You could practice this by playing along to the original recording, to a backing track or by playing with real human beings if you have any to hand.

 

Johnny-B-Goode-Complete-SongDownload

Sweet Home Chicago by Magic Sam

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You might not be familiar with the name Magic Sam but the chances are you’ve heard this song before. Robert Johnson recorded a beautiful acoustic version of the track in the 1930s and the song was further popularised when it was featured in the film The Blues Brothers (it’s actually dedicated to Magic Sam in the film and on the soundtrack album). One way or another it’s a tune every blues guitarist should be familiar with. The arrangement found in this lesson is essentially a direct transcription of the track found on Sam’s album West Side Soul. I’ve made a couple of tiny changes here and there to clarify things which are a bit ambiguous on the original. I’ve also combined the rhythm and lead guitar parts, which sound like they’re played by two different players on the original. You can either play it as written or get someone else to back you up on rhythm guitar while you concentrate on the lead.

Find the transcription below. Probably the hardest thing is getting all the rhythms correct. I suggest taking it phrase by phrase: listen closely to the original, and pay close attention to the rhythmic notation above the tab, counting your way slowly through the more tricky passages. (Can’t read rhythmic notation? I highly recommend you get into this as it’s a super-useful skill to have which will make you a much better musician and player.)

I’m not going to go into a full analysis of the piece right now, but one of the things I like is the way Sam is really bringing out the flavour of each of the chords in his lead licks. Rather than just playing one scale throughout, he’s often emphasising notes from the chord he happens to be on at the time. Something to think about next time you’re improvising on a blues.

I’ll leave the right hand picking up to you. From the footage I’ve seen I think Sam himself played with his right-hand fingers. I’m mainly using a pick: all downstrokes for a nice aggressive feel on the opening riffs, a combination of up and downstrokes for the more complex single note lines, and the occasional note played with the middle finger of my picking hand. Experiment and find what works best for you. If you’d like a high-quality PDF of my transcription, download it here.

 

Soul Man by Steve Cropper

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Not much more to say about this lesson. A masterclass in tasteful, groovy rhythm guitar. This is the kind of playing that will make people want to listen to you, make people want to play with you, get you gigs and earn you money. Not all that widdly soloing and shredding. I’ve transcribed the song below. Because I’m a bit of a nerd, I’ve written out all three choruses because they’re slightly different on the record. It’s your choice whether you want to nail the song exactly as it’s played on the record or if you want to just capture the overall vibe and improvise a bit with the way you approach it. The structure is simple – just listen to the original recording. PDF.