Hocus Pocus by Focus Guitar Lesson with TAB
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- Опубліковано 4 жов 2024
- Here's the TAB: tinyurl.com/2s...
You want a searing rock guitar riff and solo? A rondo musical form? A flute? Jazzy chords? Even YODELING???
There's only one place to get it. It's the same today as is was in the 1970s. The Dutch Band Focus!!
Hocus Pocus is the most well known of their songs. They are incredible musicians, and this is an incredible song. Enjoy learning the opening riff.
Great format of the lesson. Starts out by playing the song (instead of endless talking and pleas to subscribe, and then jumping straight in to the lesson without playing it first), so I can determine instantly if the video is worthwhile. And this one is very worthwhile.
Thank you so much!! I'll try to stick to the format.
This song is almost a novelty song because of the outrageous solos and musicianship. Very well re-created here by you!
+brpbrpbrpbrp Thanks!!
This is a classic rock song. Thanks Mark.
Sure thing. Thanks for watching!
I had forgotten this song, reminds me of being a teen back in the day. And Mark you seem to be a Good person, nice to see there is some still out there.
Thanks Tony. I try my best!
Favorite song when I was 11...AWESOME
Great song!!
Beautifully done. Thank you.
Thanks.
The power of the Maj 7 chord!!
LOL!
Superb choice for a tutorial and you really did it justice.
I still revere those tremendous Focus albums from the early seventies. They were a unique outfit and hugely popular for a while on this side of the Pond. At one point, they had TWO singles in the UK Top Ten ("Hocus Pocus" and "Sylvia").
They were ALL top-notch musicians, not just Jan Akkerman.
Thijs van Leer (on Hammond, flute and vocals) also composed lots of memorable, highly melodious pieces of music. He's still performing to this day, I believe, with the latest iteration of Focus.
Thank you, for learning me Hocus Pocus !
+Terje Næss You're welcome. Yodeling lessons are coming next! :)
Great lesson. And on a guitar I always wanted as a school boy early ‚80!! thanks
Thanks Christian!
Mark have not heard this song since the 80's! Truly amazing riff and you play it spot on. Thanks for the great lesson.
+Keef Thanks!!
yeh me too, as soon as I heard those Maj7 plus the tone and feel, my ears popped off. Made my day.
What a great song. I have friends who cover this in a local band here.
Yeah, great song. Focus were a great group. Lots of good songs, but this is the only one widely known in the US
Jan Ackerman is a blistering shred God !! ⚡🌟⚡🌟⚡
Thanks Mark for another great lesson! Focus were such a great band and this is a great track!
+h2er80 They were pretty great ... much more than this particular song, although I don't remember any other "hits" that played in the US.
Great. Every Chord is right. I play it the same way.
Awesome, thanks!
Great video, great song. Those solos were also mind blowing
Thanks. And yes, mind blowing!
Another brilliant lesson! On an all but forgotten, yet classic tune. I remember this blasting from many college dorm rooms back in the day, including mine. I have no hope of ever playing the lead at speed so having this part is just fine! I am however finally beginning to get the solo to Aqualung down thanks to another great lesson of yours. Thanks!
Thanks Jed!
Mark, this is freaking amazing and you play it so freaking well! (Yoda-leeda x6 Bum Bum)
Thanks for the TAB and video. Nice job. Do you have teh solo? or ever plan to place the solo here? thanks again
Thanks man! This song rocks and the guitar progressions are wicked cool! :)
Yes, one of the coolest tunes!
I got the Bass part from those chords ,
Lot of ppl covering this song like you ,
some with the solos
Made my job easy , don't have to figure it out now .
GREAT SONG. YOUR Guitar sounds GREAT
Thanks Darryl!
great tutorial, thanks
Glad you liked it
Very nicely done! I've long ago accepted the fact that I'll never be able to play those solos....
+swatprof Yes, they're pretty outrageous - especially for 1971!!!
Thank you very much for the lesson!
My pleasure. Thanks for watching!
Thanks. That's terrific!
You're welcome. Thanks for watching!
Great riff lesson Mark. I rember this song as a kid and came across video of focus playing it last night on you tube. I play in a cover band and i am gonna try to incorporate this riff some how into one of our cover songs. Guitar player in focus is quit the shredder. Amazing stuff. Thanks Mark.
Focus were an amazing group - almost totally unknown in the US. That's a shame, because they have other great songs. But this definitely is a good one and a fun one!
@@MarkZabel great job with lesson. I like your ibanez, that is a cool guitar wondering what year that is.
@@jerryfraker377 It's a newer model - reissued Artist. They were super heavy in the 70s, but this is fairly lightweight. I think it's maybe a 2012.
Fun tune......got to jam with the band the other night.......we all dug it and had a great time. These guys were one hit wonders weren't they......I'm going to spring it on the guys next time I go over there. Been playing Hang Onto Yourself and Ziggy.....old school fun stuff
That's awesome! This is a fun jam for sure. Actually, Focus was around for quite a while. Perhaps Hocus Pocus was the only tune that got airplay in America, but they got decent play in Holland I think. Great prog-rock band. Jan Akkerman was/is an amazing guitarist. As far as I know he plays jazz exclusively now. But their stuff was great if you like things like Yes or early Genesis.
Of course, anything from Bowie during that time is great too! The best time for rock IMHO. After The Beatles helped make it more complex ... before Frampton Comes Alive gave record execs "the formula" and ruined it. (love the album, but it brought about changes in the industry that weren't good.)
Wore out a couple white albums and several comes alive albums. and ALL of the skynyrd albums.....Raised in Florida.....lot's of southern rock in my blood
Focus, was a "Album" band not a "Hit" band, listen to the album "Focus 3" it is SUPER !!!!!!
@@MarkZabel Still around and gigging . Saw them last November (2018). Only Thijs van Leer and Pierre van der Linden of the original members but still f***cking amazing!! :-)
@@grahambambrook313 Wow, that's great to know! I think Jan plays mostly straight ahead jazz now.
Thanks for this,always loved this mad tune.
+mark forde Thanks Mark!
+Mark Zabel oh hi mark
wow cool I haven't heard this song in a long while. Diffently a cool song. Well done for figuring this song out. Also the jazz as you show really adds to the learning
+Tom Poling Thanks. I thought the jazziness was just too cool not to show.
+Mark Zabel just looked up hocus pocus on line and yes the album came out in 71!!!!
Great lesson! Thanks.
Glad you liked it. Thanks for watching!
I love that Ibanez artist!!! It sounds amazing. I had an 80's 'artist 50' many years ago. Never had another one like it. Recently I got an ar620, nice sound but I miss that 'extra'... Regards from Barcelona
I love my Ibanez artist too. Though, also, mine is the reissue ... maybe 320 (can't remember, but it has the alnico pickups). IMHO, it's not as good as the 80s AR models, but it's quite a bit lighter. Those 1980s models were HEAVY! Thanks for watching!!
that gtr looks like an 80s Ibanez double cutaway cherry sunburst whatever COOL guitar man & txs for sharing the chords
Yes, it's a reissue of an Ibanez Artist. Those 1980s guitars were amazing, but very, very heavy. The reissue is lighter, which I appreciate now that I'm a bit older. Plus, it has the "3 way switching" for each pickup, which means either pickup (or both) can act as a normal humbucker, a single coil, or a humbucker in parallel. Very versatile!
Great f'in job!
Thanks!!
Some dutch legacy! Nice one mark,
Jan akkerman, at one point called worlds best!
+ieldepiel Yeah, he was ... and I think still is ... pretty awesome.
Yeh, JA, Thijs van Leer plus P vd Linden (not forgetting bass) were simply the best, head and shoulders above everyone else. I hope they got some music award from their Dutch Royalty in recognition of their skills and what they brought to serious musician/music lovers.
Hi Mark.
I’m not sure how this snuck by me. This is a cool 😎 tune.
Thanks for this.
I’m enjoying your Mark Z Guitar school 👍
Cool, thanks! Great you're enjoying the guitar school! Thanks again for signing up!!
Nice Artist, i have a 2619. Great video
Cool, thanks
Nice job of breaking it down.
Thanks Paul!
I like this lesson and it made me laugh too... Lawrence Welk would make you clean up that messy chord if you were in his band , haha.
Brian Holland Ha ha! And uh one, and uh two ... 😀
There's 1000!
Funny you say that about the jazzy chords. The melodic death metal band Arch Enemy has a song called "Fields of Desolation" that I swear when I play it clean, it sounds like a sick jazz tune.
And thank you for the lesson. This is one of my favorite songs, and always had trouble learning it until now.
Glad I could help. I'll give a listen to Fields of Desolation ... though that genre is not usually my thing.
Mark Zabel Oh yeah it's not a lot of people's thing haha. If you do though, just don't listen to a live version, they skip the jazzy part now ;)
Great Vid,
Cheers
Thanks!
Neat lesson. I just wish it had explained the literal fingerings of those jazz chords; tab is just kinda confusing for me.
Thanks for the feedback. I get both sorts. (I mean the "why take time explaining the fingering. Just give me the tab!" Seriously though, I do appreciate you letting me know.
Having said that, TAB is a good thing to know and the basics can be learned fairly quickly. Here's a good link that explains reading guitar TAB. (around 3:00 in the video) ua-cam.com/video/4-JTCASlh-w/v-deo.html
One last comment - TAB *doesn't* tell you which of your fingers to use. So explaining that can be helpful. What I'm saying is basically that your comment has gotten me thinking! So thanks!
Thanks very much for the reply. And sorry: I didn't mean to be a pain. I greatly appreciate the time you put into these lessons---particularly those by some of the lesser known brilliant players.
You're welcome ... and it's not a pain. It's good feedback. No need to apologize. Glad you enjoy the videos!
Best lessons on the 'tube.
Thanks for reminding me about this song. I never would have thought to learn it if you hadn't done this video. Can you tell us what type of amp you used, and the settings?
+RNArizona Sure. I'm using a Blackstar ID Core 10 on the "Crunch" voicing with the Bass/Treble/Mid all at 5/10. and the gain at maybe 6.5. That's similar to something like a Marshall Plexi with the same settings. You may need slightly different settings to suit your guitar's bridge pickup. The one I'm using (Ibanez AR 320) has a very bright bridge pickup and I usually roll off the tone just a touch). What I'm going for here is a decent amount of breakup when I play fairly hard, but not much when I play softly or turn the guitar down to 8 or 7.
baby driver
Ro han Haven't seen it, but now that I know this song is on it I want to see the movie even more!
Ro han , baby driver is a song by kiss, off rock and roll over album. Great song
Izzy C , maybe to the youngsters out there, but if you are 45 and up... we know it from a better time
@@-Is-uh-bel- it is not only known from that movie...you incult :P
Grabbed my friends guitar right before they started 2nd set, and after I had practiced this riff from this lesson. "This doesn't look so hard......" Drummer and bassist were ready. We played for about 30 seconds and let the drummer 'get wicked.' I quietly sat down. Crowd was losing their shit. It was at a brew pub. I didn't pay again for the rest of the night.
Great story ... I think. Letting the drummer 'get wicked' is something you've got to be careful with! :)
My playing was a little warm up for him before a one minute solo. Lots of laughing and ball breaking. (isn't that why we go out for this kind of stuff??)
Yeah, it is. I hate when people get all serious on "blues jam" night. Kinda ruins the mood. Should be fun.
Jan Akkerman was the Johan Cruyff of guitar!
Yessir!
👍
👍
And now for the solos...in about 70 years time
I know, right? Jan was/is an amazing player!
hey, could you put like the numbers for all those chords in the comments or description?
The numbers? Do you mean the Nashville Number System (the I chord, IV chord, etc.) or TAB or something else?
BTW, the TAB is free and it's here: tinyurl.com/ybpzjuwm
1973.
Yep!
What model of ibanez is?
It's an Ibanez AR320. (Reissued Ibanez Artist series) Nice guitar.
Even with tab I can't get this. I just cannot make out--- even with tab---how you are playing those chords on the first run through
Hi. Sorry, but I'm not sure of your question/request. Do you mean you can't read the tab? Do you mean you want me to tell you which strings and which fingers I put on each string for each chord? Or are you looking for something else?
I think it's the c major 7 and the b minor major 7 that I cannot figure out----- are you barring across for those?
Thanks, I've been a JA fan since the 1970s, I got most of this else where like 20+ years back but could not get the two Maj7 working, now I see you do it, I'm getting there, thanks. It's one of those things in life, I can now die. Great tone you have there too, perfect. I like your comment, Mr A "knew what he was doing" - indeed. This is what confused me back in the 1970, when in the UK "Clapton is god" - no, not at all, just listen to what JA and the band were playing, waaaay better, way more clever.
If you're into Focus and how skilled they were, you need to see this DVD, it's one of their best ever: www.amazon.co.uk/Focus-Masters-Vault-DVD-NTSC/dp/B00008DDK6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1539605497&sr=8-1&keywords=masters+from+the+vault+dvd+focus - that's to the UK Amazon/Google/YT being all one anyway.
Thanks for the kind comments and for the link too! I'm actually a pretty big Clapton fan also, but that's for a different discussion and in no way minimizes the amazing work JA did ... or does today. Clapton was drawing from a different source; one no less valid IMHO. Listen to Freddie King and it's fairly clear. Sure, the whole "Clapton is god" thing is ridiculous though! I wonder what Eric Clapton really felt like when he first saw Jimi Hendrix? It must have been jarring that night Jimi got up to jam with Cream and blew everyone away - guitar-wise and performance-wise. ua-cam.com/video/KPJgtQwtVVA/v-deo.html
I will check out that video! I've always been into prog-rock ... early Yes and Genesis and Gentle Giant and the like ... so Focus has some similarity there. Too bad they never really caught on in North America. Truly great stuff!
yeh I think that's where I was going, in a Brit sort of way. At the time (1970s) Eric was all over the meda, it was the done thing to worship his very note. Jimi came along and we thought... wow-wee! I read Eric was crushed at seeing Jimi, someone stole his "crown". As you say it's all bar-chat. I think at that time Eric played with his ego, Jimi from the heart and Jan is just a genius!
Jan came to our town in 2000 for a gig, we met, I was in awe. He was very nice, he must have seen the expression of.. awe on my face. I just couldn't believe Jan was stood 2 foot away talking to..me! ..and I touched the hand (hand shake) that made all those tunes. He autographed my 1972 copy 7" vinyl of Sylvia, flip side, House Of The King by... JA. Even now writing this, that moment meeting Jan brings a tear to my eye, amazing experience.
Super-cool story! You have to love someone who is in the middle of it all and still keeps his feet on the ground so to speak. I was always struck that way by the bluegrass greats I met. All of them, no matter how "big" (relative term of course ... bluegrass itself is pretty small potatoes) were humble - sometimes to the point of ridiculousness. (In one case, answering the door in a t-shirt and then after quickly getting dressed just jamming with me for a couple of hours while we drank coffee and smoked cigarettes in between songs. It didn't matter that I totally sucked compared to him.) I think in the era when, as you say, thousands of fans worshiped every note, it would be hard to not let it get to your head. Glad to hear Jan wasn't one of those guys that let it get there.
He's definitely on the top of the lists of unknown greats, right along with Danny Gatton, Lenny Breau, Rik Emmett, and a handful of others.
Yeh meeting the real people is always inspirational. I forgot to mention, in your demo, I was very interested in what you were saying at 4:50 - giving a view of where Jan may have sourced his phrase. I notice Nile Rodgers does the same, uses jazzy chords for pop where we'd not expect them. As an aside, another style I find fascinating are the country pickers, best I can offer is the intro to The Dukes Of Hazzard, Waylon Jennings, it's a slick lively style.
He is also pretty stunning on the Lute!!
Great video, it took me a couple of hours before i could play this fluently. It sounds so much better than just using power chords. Cheers
Thanks Chris! Yes, the chords that Jan used are really interesting and add good color to the riff.
Great! Now do a vocal lesson!
Thanks ... and no, sorry. Can't speed yodel like that.
What was ytour amp
Hi. I'm not totally sure. I have gone through a few in the past few years. I'm guessing that I used a Blackstar IDCore10 with the voicing set on "Crunch" (sort of a classic rock, moderate gain sound).
F-ing a
LOL!