Rock and Roll Lead Guitar

1. ROCKandROLL 101
Chuck Berry and Johnny B. Goode
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A very important part of learning how to play the guitar to
the best of your God-given ability, is to know about the
musicians who played an important role in influencing Rock & Roll
guitar in the first place. As a part of this on-going newsletter,
I will draw upon many examples , with the intent of showing and
explaining different styles, rhythms, tones and other
characteristics of playing the guitar. I want you to be able to
not only learn how to mechanically play the guitar, but eventually
be able to feel what you play. That will come later, but in time
you will come to realize that "feeling" what you’re playing is WHY
you ARE playing the guitar. It can and will carry your soul to
different worlds.

This month’s Rock & Roll Guitar icon is non other than THE FATHER
OF ROCK & ROLL himself: Mr. Chuck Berry. Chuck was born on
October 18, 1926 in St. Louis, Missouri. He learned to play in grade
school and developed a style of playing which incorporated a
Rhythm & Blues and Country Western sound rolled into one. Playing
like a Freight train rollin’ down the tracks in a very percussive
way, he wrote his first tune called "Maybelene."

Perhaps one of the first serious leads a guitar player will try to
learn (after The Ventures:"Wipe out") is the introduction to Chuck
Berry’s "Johnny B. Goode." There are more Rock & Roll lead segments
in this song, than probably any other Rock & Roll song to date.
This intro is a case study in bending notes, sliding notes, hammering
notes and more. Learning it is a must!

Chuck’s solo’s are deceiving. They sound simple enough, but once you
start to learn to play them, exactly as he did... Uh Oh! You will find
out that no matter how good you are, it’s a difficult exercise to "cop"
Chuck’s execution. He had and still has a unique way of playing and has
influenced every Rock & Roll guitar player that has ever played a guitar.
No matter what type of music you like... Jazz, Blues, Punk, Rock...
I urge you to buy any one of Chuck Berry’s Greatest Hits Cd’s. It should
be the first book in your Rock & Roll Guitar Bible!


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2. LEARN-A-LICK

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Here’s the part where we will have some practical fun. In this section
of your free newsletter, I will show you an important Rock Lead (a LICK).
For the 1st one, we will draw from our ROCK & ROLL 101 monthly subject:
Mr. Chuck Berry. Let’s take a look at the guitar note tablature for that
great Rock & Roll tune: JOHNNY B. GOODE. If you are an intermediate level
guitar player or higher, this lead may sound easy to you, but I guarantee
you that if you try to play this introduction exactly like the record,
it will be a real "Workout!" Here goes!


1|---------|-----|-5S6---6-6-(3 TIMES)|-------------------|---------|-------------|-

2|---------|--6-|-5S6---6-6-(3-TIMES)|-9-8-6-----------|---------|-------------|-

3| 6H7– |--- -|-----------------------------|---------7--------|--7-7-7|-7-7-7-7-7|-

4|---------|-----|-----------------------------|------------8-8-8|–8-8-8|-8-8-8-8-8|-

5|---------|-----|-----------------------------|-------------------|---------|-------------|-

6|---------|-----|-----------------------------|-------------------|---------|-------------|-



1|----------------|------|--------|----------------------------|-----6--------|-8-6---------------|

2|---------6-8-6|------|--------|----------6(10 TIMES)|–6----9-8-6|-------9-8-6-------|

3|-6H7--7-7-7|-7S5|–3-----|--8S10(10 TIMES)–-|--------------|---------------8-7--|

4|----------------|------|----5-3|----------------------------|--------------|---------------------|

5|----------------|------|--------|----------------------------|--------------|---------------------|

6|----------------|------|--------|----------------------------|--------------|---------------------|



1|-----------------|--------|-----------6-|----------------|

2|-PLAY--------|-9-8-6|----------6-|-----6--6------|

3|-AN------------|--------|–8S10----|-8--6H7------|

4|-ARPEGGIO|--------|-------------|-----------8-8-|

5|--------"B"-----|-------|-------------|-----------------|

6|-CHORD------|-------|-------------|-----------------|


This opening salvo in Johnny B. Goode is not an easy one to accomplish. I can say
with certainty, that few guitarists will play this opening riff correctly. Work
on this and you will accomplish much.

If you would like assistance learning to play this Chuck Berry classic and other
classics from the Greats of Rock & Roll, then I encourage you to go to www.guitar-leads.com
This website sells an ingenious, interactive course that allows you to play-along with
this and other classic guitar leads at full speed, half speed, and provides you with tabs.
This course makes learning fun again. Best of all it comes with a 100% money guarantee.