Promised Land (Part 1) Guitar Lesson
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- Опубліковано 7 бер 2013
- For more information from the source site of this video please visit: www.secretguitarteacher.com/
When I first used to perform this song I had a hell of a time remembering the lyrics in the right order. Then one day my bass player turned up with a map of the USA on which he had drawn the whole trip in felt pen -- made me feel a bit of an idiot at the time, but I never had a problem remembering the order of the verses after that!
Later, I found out that Chuck Berry, who wrote this song in 1964 whilst spending a bit of time in jail, had borrowed an atlas from the Prison library to make sure he got the itinery right!
The chord sequence: Chuck Berry took the chords straight from a popular American Folk tune - the Wabash Cannonball:
C C C F
G G G C
Now the only real alteration Chuck made to this tune was to to put the added sixth shuffle into it. Of course, he also played it a fair bit faster!
Use the open C chord
Now, whether that works for you will depend a lot on how flexible your fingers are. If, after a few goes you find that really seems impossible, don't worry, there is another approach that will sound just as good.
OK, so that's the rhythm part covered. Now let's look at the lead guitar, starting with the intro..
We are in the familiar 'E'shape of the C chord and as happens in a lot of Chuck Berry licks we start off by playing the flatted third immediately 'corrected' to the major third, then the fifth and into the double stop on the root and fifth with a bit of a slide for rhythmic effect.
If you can, do try to grasp as much of this theory description as possible. Because, although it is fun just to learn to play the licks, by understanding how they're built, how they relate to the underlying chords and scales, you can use this information to create your own variations of these ideas over other chords and in other positions.
Ok, now there are actually three solos that Chuck Berry Plays on the original recording of this song. They are all similar in that they are based on the same chord shapes, but they are an object lesson in how to use creativity to produce endless variations from the same basic ideas...
The first solo.
The first lick actually starts in the 'G' shape part of the CAGED system
using the root and fifth double stop and bouncing off the added sixth
..then links via a slide from the 2nd to the more familiar 'E' shape using the 3rd and fifth double stop. This is followed by a nice fill that simply goes back down to that 'G' shape and uses the same notes again, but in a different way. This is then repeated for the third bar to good rhythmic effect.. so the first three bars are.
Over the F in the fourth bar we move up to the 'A' shape pattern for the F chord..
Which, after the initial slide in, is played dead straight -- 8 to the bar.....then it's straight on to the G chord which basically does exactly the same thing two frets up from the F.. repeats for another bar, but then in the third bar we have a nice descending series of chords.. taking us neatly back to C at the 'G' shape.
This descending series is a commonly used trick especially in country-based music like Rock n Roll.. it is basically selecting a pair of notes from each of the chords in the diatonic series. That means the chords that belong to that key -- in this case the key of C major from chord 5 - G to chord 4 -- F major to chord 3 -- E Minor to chord 2 -- D Minor -- to the Key chord - C Major.
In this instance he happens to select the root and third from each chord.
Now on the original record this is played at breakneck speed. But te best way of learning it is to start slow and concentrate on getting the timing right. Then speed it up later.
Once you are up to speed with that you can try playing along to the backing tracks. We have made these at three different tempos so that you can build up your speed a stage at a time. On each backing track you'll hear me play through the solo a couple of times first. Then you're left just with the rhythm part so you can play the solo on your own against that.
Hope you enjoy working on that. Once you have the Intro and first solo worked out, join me in the next lesson when we'll go over the second and third solo.
That should take us all the way to sunny California!
This was a really fantastic lesson. I've loved Chuck for a long time, but have yet to find an instructor who could explain his music in a way that captured all the nuances of the solos. You are definitely a gifted teacher, and I look forward to checking out your other vids.
Most excellent Sir...you da man!!!
9:02, thought you were going to say 'working on a T bone steal alacarte' 😀
This is a God send of a channel . Only learning guitar but this makes so much sense
you are one of the best teachers that get my attention.
if only I could see the whole neck on the intro to orient myself as to what notes and chords youre referencing thanks Kevin
"Excellent Lesson " Thanks for your efforts!!
you play too good,i can't take my eyes off to the way your fingers are tailored for playing the guitar..
Very intresting about the map. Yes I've tried to get through it, but always mess it up.
And I think you are right about the Wabash Cannonball. It's always exciting to hear a new song by Chuck that I never heard before. An album I found, St Louis to Liverpool, has some very good songs. I like "Brenda Lee". "Promised Land" is on that album. A few years ago I went to see Chuck, Little Richard, BB King and Junior Brown, BB was smoking hot, very practiced. Chuck is up in 80's now and kind of slow. It was like a Fats Domino tribute concert. About a half a mile from the Mississippi Bridge, at the Arena next to the Super Dome in New Orleans. I still have a program they handed to me upon entry. It's in the case of my Cherry Sunburst Joe Pass Epiphone. If you want I can scan it and send to you. Cheers and Cary ON. Looks like an Ibanez you have there.
Elvis showed us how this is supposed to be done!,
Not Elvis b ut his muscians,,,
Wonderful! Thank you. The Po' Boy wonders: Is Part 2 available somewhere?
***** Thank you. Thankyouverymuch. I knew you wouldn't let the Po' Boy down.
where can i find part 2?
Thanks
You are awesome