How to play rockabilly guitar

- and get good, fast!

The beginner’s guide to the rockabilly style

By
Vince Gordon
of The Jime
www.the-jime.dk

Editor of
The Rockabilly Guitar Page
Published by Nervous Records™ ® and Music Publishing.
5 Sussex Crescent, Northolt, Middx. UB5 4DL, U.K.

Copyright © 2005. All rights reserved.

2.
 Table of contents:

Chapter 1:
What you need to know about this book
Chapter 2:
What you need to know about rockabilly
Chapter 3:
Guitar basics
Chapter 4:
Chords
Chapter 5:
Two scales
Chapter 6:
Riffs
Chapter 7:
Final words on how to do a solo

3.
 Chapter 1:
What you need to know about this book

I know many scales, chords and riffs and have tons of ideas, but to do a good guitar
solo I only need to use about 10 % of what I know, and then just go for it!

This book concentrates on those very important 10% and not the other 90% that
teachers normally get students involved (and bored) with.

I'm not going to push finger picking here as there's no “shortcut“ to get good at that.
Learn that later if you've got it in you. Not everyone has. Paul Burlison of the famous
The Rock'n'Roll Trio didn't although he tried (I read that in an interview - it’s not my
own assumption!) and he’s a rockabilly guitar great. He had other very important
qualities. Some of them are covered in this book.

I'm gonna teach you some riffs, chords and two scales (yes, only two!), but more
important I'm gonna show you where to put it all in a solo.

Basically that's called music theory, so yes, you're gonna have to learn a little music
theory so you can recognize some of patterns in music. The benefits will be
tremendous so don't get put off by the word “music theory” just because you're a
rock'n'roller!

Because this little book deals with “understanding” the music all the examples are in
the key of A. That way you can compare everything directly, mix it, use it as you like
and you'll have some sort of idea why it sounds great. That way you can use it with
all rockabilly and learn how to improvise.

If you read something in this book that you don’t understand, I encourage you to skip
it and jump around. It’s not necessary to read the book page by page.

For example you might find the theoretic stuff about the chords a bit complicated at
first but I put it in so that you have the information right in front of you if you get
interested in finding out why chords are named like they are.

Remember:
You won’t understand what’s in this book just from reading it. You have to try out the
examples to learn how far reaching this stuff really is.

4.
 Chapter 2:
What you need to know about rockabilly

There IS such a thing as a “blues” scale, that when you play it, people will say: “It
sounds like he’s playing the blues”. It’s called “the Blues scale” by the way!

The same goes for country. If you play the so-called major pentatonic scale and
maybe throw in a few bends people will say: “He’s playing country”.

Flamenco has a scale closely associated with it - the harmonic minor scale - and even
European pop music has it’s own typical scale - the mixolydian scale.

BUT...

There is NO rockabilly scale that will make people go: “Oh, he’s playing rockabilly!”

That’s makes rockabilly guitar playing quite demanding actually.

We don’t have a scale to fall back on.

That’s one of the reasons many guitarists trying to play rockabilly sound “too
bluesy”, “too country” or “too jazzy” - because they’re playing a blues, country or
jazz scale/chords too much of the time.

To have the right mix of jazzy chords, “the blues scale”, “the country scale”, some
melodic riffs, rawness and swing - That’s 90% of what rockabilly guitar playing is
about and exactly what we’re covering in this book!

Another basic thing to say about rockabilly is that the rhythm is almost always 4/4
swing (like jazz).

5.
 Chapter 3:
Guitar basics

Headstock
Tuners
Nut

Neck
(The playable area is also
called the fingerboard)

(Pick--ups are essentially small

microphones that capture the
sound of the strings.
Pick-ups That’s why this guitar is an “electric”
as opposed to an “acoustic” which
doesn’t have pick-ups)
Body

Pickguard
Bridge
Vibrato tailpiece
(For that rockabilly twang. In this case it’s a “Bigsby”
- the real McCoy)
Sound hole
(In this case a f-hole. It’s by no means necessary on an electric guitar
like this and can easily cause feedback problems, but it looks cool!)

For more information on music “hardware” such as guitars, amps and effects, I
suggest you visit The Rockabilly Guitar Page on the internet, where you can also find
the latest information on this book:
Http://www.the-jime.dk/Rockabilly_Guitar.htm

I’m the editor of that page and I try to keep it updated with all the latest information
on both old and new gear.

6.
This is how the strings should be tuned

This is the low E

EADGBE
(The thickest string
aka string number 6) This is the
high E
(The thinnest
Technically speaking, this piece of metal here string
is what is called a fret aka string
number 1)

...but in everyday language - and in this book -

we mean the space between one such piece
of metal and the next when we talk about a fret

Chords:

Let’s get this straight right from the beginning:

There are many different ways of playing the “same” chords on a guitar.

- For example, an A major chord is often used in at least 3 different variations in a

rockabilly solo (Providing you’re playing in A of course!).

That is called to ‘turn around the chord‘ and would be the same for piano for
instance.

...but a guitar is different from piano in an important way. On the piano you only have
the option of hitting one particular key if you wanna hear, say the middle “E”.

Because of sheer physics (On a guitar you have direct access to the strings where as
on a piano you play them indirectly by hitting a key whereby the note you play is
fixed) you can play that same E three different places (on three different strings) on
the fingerboard.

...so on guitar you also have the option of playing the exact same chord (notes in the
same order) different places on the fingerboard.

7.
How to read guitar tabs and chord diagrams:

It’s simple, really.

It’s too simple in a way because you can’t see anything about how fast to play the
notes - tempo - or what feel to play them with.

You can see that with standard notation, but reading notation would be something
you’d have to learn separately, as with this you learn as you go along.

It’s based on - What you see is what you do!

Here is a diagram Here’s what

of a D-chord: to play:
Play these strings open
Don’t play this string

1 means fret one. 1

It’s marked so that
you know where
you are on the
fingerboard.
It can be anything,
like 10, showing
you to place your A D A D F#
hands around the
10th fret.

Here is the same D-chord

written as a guitar tab:

E---2-------------------
B---3-------------------
G---2-------------------
D---0-------------------
A---0-------------------
E-----------------------

8.
Here is the same D-chord written as a guitar
tab again - Only this time you play the notes
one after another:

E--------------------------2--------------
B---------------------3-------------------
G----------------2------------------------
D-----------0-----------------------------
A------0----------------------------------
E-----------------------------------------

That’s enough for now on tabs and diagrams.

Scales:

When you play music you have to know which notes to play.
Not all notes on your fingerboard sound good when you play along to a song.

The set of notes that do sound good is called a scale.

(That’s usually between 5 and 7 notes out of the 12 different notes that exist).

The cool thing about a scale is that many chords are covered by the same scale so you
don’t have to worry about when the chords change - you can just keep playing your
scale! - That’s the way you’ll learn how to use the two scales covered in this book.

How to hold the guitar pick:

This is how I do it. Always. Even when I’m finger picking with my middle and ring
finger.

There are other ways to do it. You can work it out for yourself, as long as you’ve got
control of the pick and don’t drop it (too often!).
9.
Choosing a guitar pick:

A heavy pick is hard to play with but can be good for practice as it will develop your
fingers control of the pick faster.

It can also be tedious and take the fun out of playing.

I started with a very thin pick and moved on to heavier ones later.

I’m now playing a medium pick. Generally speaking, middle-of-the-road gear seem
to work best for rockabilly. Maybe because rockabilly is a mixture of many genres
and you have to come up with a compromise between “fat Gibson jazz chords”,
“twangy Telecaster single string playing” and a “little bit dirty blues sound”.

Strings

Basically there are no 'right' or 'wrong' strings for Rockabilly. It's a matter of taste. As
a rule you can say that heavy strings give you a 'fat', dark sound and light strings give
you a 'thin', bright sound. Pretty simple, eh?

If you're looking for the Scotty Moore sound you'll want some flat wound heavy jazz
strings. I settled for a middle-of-the-road (there it is again!) set of strings: Ernie Ball
0.10-0.46 (Regular Slinky).

I would have preferred to play a 0.11 set because they just feel better in my hands,
but there is so much bass in them (On MY guitars) that it meddles with the territory
of the double bass.

The 0.10's also allow me to get a 'twangy' sound when I need it. Something that's
hard to get with heavy strings.

Originally I tried out all the major brands to find 'my' strings. I would advise you to
do the same. It doesn't cost extra if you try out one brand/size at a time and noone but
yourself can tell what strings are the best for you.

- New strings should be stretched (bended) a little so the tuning is more stable.

- If you hate changing strings (like I do!), a stringwinder makes the job a bit easier:

10.
 Chapter 4:
Chords

We're going to build our teaching around improvising on the 12 bar blues format.

If you count from 1 to 4 twelve times you get 12 bars of 4/4 also known as the “12
bar blues” format.

It's the most common format in Rockabilly (and blues of course).

Countless songs are build around that format like “Blue Suede Shoes” (Carl Perkins),
“Hound Dog” (Elvis Presley), “Twenty Flight Rock” (Eddie Cochran), “Jeannie,
Jeannie, Jeannie” (Eddie Cochran), “Johnny B. Goode” (Chuck Berry)
Etc.

Seeing all examples in this book are in the key of A our 12 bar “blues” looks like
this:

4/4: [A] [A] [A] [A] [D] [D] [A] [A] [E7] [D] [A] [E7]

If you wanna play rhythm guitar to this here is one way (the best way for rockabilly)
of playing the chords:

A chord: D chord: E7 chord: E chord:

1 1 1 1

E A E A C# E A D A D F# E B E G# D E E B E G# B E

It's also very common for the last 4 bars (Instead of [E7] [D] [A] [E7] ) in a 12 bar
blues to look like this: [E7] [D] [A] [A] or [E7] [E7] [A] [A]

You may ask yourself: Why E “seven”? When all the others are just “plain” chords.
Can't I just use an E without the “seven” instead? Yes, you can. It's as simple as that.

If you want to know why, read the next page - You can also skip it now and read it
later...

11.
A few words on how to “read” a chord:

An E7 consists of 4 different notes. (If you look at the E7 chord on the last page you
can see that there are only 4 different notes. The rest are just doubled notes typically
one octave higher or lower).

So the E7 chord is made out of the 3 basic notes coming from the plain E chord (look
at the E chord and compare it to the E7) plus the so-called “seventh”.

It means that if you have an E-major chord variation like E6, E7, E9, E 11, E6-9, E7-
9, E13 etc. you can always play the plain E chord instead if you get lost.

If you're playing rhythm it sometimes (most of the time in rockabilly) actually

sounds better to keep the chords simple.

Now that we're on the subject:

E7 is a plain E chord plus the “seventh” - 4 different notes, like I already said.
E6 is a plain E chord plus the “sixth” - 4 different notes also.

The “real” name for E9 is E7-9. We just call it E9 because we're... well, lazy!
E9 (E7-9) is a plain E chord plus the “seventh” and the “ninth” - 5 different notes.
E6-9 is a plain E chord plus the “sixth” and the “ninth” - 5 different notes also.

The “real” name for E11 is E7-9-11. We call it E11....

So it's an E9 (E7-9) plus the “eleventh” - 6 different notes.

The “real” name for E13 is E7-9-11-13. So it's and E11 (E7-9-11) PLUS the
“thirteenth” - 7 different notes! Ooops! But I've only got six strings!

Yes, but to tell you the truth you don't have to play ALL the notes in an E13 to make
it sound like an E13. We actually hardly ever do! Not even piano a player who has 88
keys.

One of the notes you can always take out is the “fifth”. In the case of an E chord the
“fifth” is the note B.

Now we're at it, I might just as well admit that I seldom play the “fifth” when I play
an E9 chord either, which I use a lot - a good jazzy rockabilly chord - and an E9 is
just 5 different notes to start with. You can see on page 16 how I play an E9
(typically).

So even though chords are complicated business there's a certain logic to them. A lot
actually, but we won't cover any more of that here because you don't need to know
that to get started.
12.
Chords to “play” with:

Let's have some fun and look at some of the chords you can play with our 12
bars in the key of A.

This following is strictly for leadguitar. It doesn't work very well for rhythm.

Basically you have two ways of playing the chords.

You can either pick out single notes from the chord one at a time with your pick or
fingers or strum the whole chord at once in a rhythmic pattern.

Here are some chords for A to improvise with:

A chord: A6 chord: A7 chord:

5 5 5

A C# E A C# F# A C# G

Here is a cool thing you can do with the A6 chord (also works for the plain A chord
above) :

First you play the A6 chord and then you pull it down two frets and let it ring - Eddie
Cochran used this riff by the way - (the technical explanation is that you thereby
change the A6 chord to an A9 (A7-9)).

You do like this:

Pull (Slide quickly)

5
the A6 chord
2 frets down and
let it ring.

A C# F#

13.
The same for D and E...

One of the cool things about what I just showed you is that exactly the same goes
for D and E. The rest of what I’m gonna show you to do with chords is also the
same for A, D and E!

That means you only have to learn it for A and then just move it around for D
and E (AND ALL OTHER CHORDS ACTUALLY - see, we’re getting
somewhere fast!)

How do I do that?

It couldn’t be simpler. For D you just move everything up I showed you 5 frets to the
10th fret (like this for the plain D chord):

10

D F# A

For E you just move everything up 2 more frets to the 12th fret (like this for the plain
E chord):
12

E G# B

With the E you also have the extra option of playing the chords 12 frets lower (Goes
for ALL chords actually that you can play on the 12th fret and above).

With this particular “small version” of an plain E chord it looks like this:

E G# B

14.
A cool rockabilly chord - A9 (A7-9):

This is a chord you can use a lot. I mainly play 3 different variations of it.

Variation 1:

This is the simplest way of playing the A9:

10

A C# G B

Variation 2:

Here you add one more note - the so-called “fifth” (in the case of A9 the “fifth” is an
E). This chord is very “Scotty Moore”:
10

A C# G B E

Variation 3:

Here we “raise” the “ninth” and make it “sharp” so it turns into the so-called A7#9 (If
I were to remove the 7 in the name, like with the above mentioned A9 and just call it
A#9, one could mistake it for a “Bb9” chord). This chord is typical for Stevie Ray
Vaughan but also works very well for rockabilly:

10

A C# G C

15.
The same for D and E...

Yes, like I promised you. Everything you just learned about the A9 also goes for D9
and E9.

What do you do? You just move the chord on the fingerboard!

To play an D9 you move the chord down 8 frets. (That’s actually the same as moving
it UP 5 frets, because 5 + 8 = 12 frets = an “octave”. So if you moved it up 5 frets
from where just just played the A9 you’d ALSO get a D9 chord. It would just “ring”
higher because it IS higher - one octave.)

Why don’t we just move it up 5 frets like we did with the other chords then - just to
keep it simple?

Because it’s pretty hard to play at the 17 fret! and it doesn’t sound that good.
So here it is. The D9:

D F# C E

For E9 you just move everything up 2 frets from where the D9 is.
Like this:

E G# D F#

...and that concludes our lesson on “A9”!

16.
Cool stuff to do with A, A6 and A7:

Hey, didn’t we already learn something about A, A6 and A7?

Yes, but when you play guitar it’s amazing how different the “same” chords
sound depending on where on the fingerboard you play them.

Scotty Moore uses this in a very clever way. Sometimes when you might think he’s
playing a barre chord he’s actually doing this.

If you’re a beginner you’ll find it a lot easier to do than the barre stuff.

I use this and the barre cords about 50/50.

This trick is to place your index finger on strings 1-4 like this:

E A C# F#

That way you’re playing an A6.

The cool thing about it however, is that the plain A and A7 is “just around the corner”
so to speak.

If you keep your index finger in that position you can change the whole chord just by
adding one note via your middle finger or your pinkie.

Technically speaking here’s what we’re talking about:

This note is the “sixth” (and turns the whole

1 chord into an A6)
This note is the “seventh” (and turns the
whole chord into an A7)
This note is the “first” - an A actually - and
E A C# will make the whole chord a plain A chord.
This note is the “fifth” - an E actually, like the note already played
on the fourth string - and will not change the chord in any way
seeing that an E is already present. We use it to make little
melodies together with the “first”, “sixth” and “seventh” notes.

17.
Now you can shift between the A, A6 and A7 and their variations very easy.

You can strum out the chords one at a time, but it sounds pretty cool and VERY
rockabilly if you pick out single notes and make small riffs and melodies instead.

The same for D and E...

What do you do? Again, you just move the chord on the fingerboard!

For D6 you just move everything up I showed you 5 frets to the 7th fret:

A D F# B

For E6 you just move everything up 2 more frets to the 9th fret:

B E G# C#

18.
More cool stuff to do with an A chord:

This is actually just the first three strings of an A barre chord. It sounds cool though,
has a sweet ring to it and is very rockabilly.

Here’s an A barre chord for comparison:

5 5

C# E A A E A C# E A

Like with the previous A chord the A6, A7 and others are “just around the corner” so
to speak.

If you keep your fingers in that position you can change the whole chord just by
adding one note via your other fingers.

Try to fool around with these added notes one by one or even two at a time in any
combination:

C# E A

We won’t get into the technical explanation of the chords you get by adding these
notes in all possible combinations, as that would get a bit too complicated for now
and wouldn’t make much sense without some serious chord theory.

You just need to know, you can’t do anything wrong with any of these notes as long
as you’re playing in A major (of course).

19.
The same for D and E...

What do you do? Yes, you just move the basic chord on the fingerboard!

For D you just move what I showed you up 5 frets to the 10th fret:

10

F# A D

For E you just move everything up 2 more frets to the 12th fret:

12

G# B E

20.
Even more cool stuff to do with an A chord:

This is yet another cool, but sweet variation of the simplest possible A-chord. It
sounds very melodic and fits the “Buddy Holly” kinda material.

E A C#

Here’s an A7 variation that plays and rings almost the same:

E G C#

The same for D and E...

For D you just move to the 2nd fret: Go here for D7:

2 1

A D F# A C F#

For E you just move up 2 frets: Go here for E7:

3 3

B E G# B D G#
21.
 Chapter 5:
Two scales
In rockabilly there are two scales we use a lot coming from other genres:
“The Blues scale” and “The Country scale” (my own name for it).

They are basically the so-called minor pentatonic* scale and the major pentatonic
scale with each an extra “blue” note added making them 6-note scales.
*Pentatonic = a scale with 5 different notes (penta = 5).

The Blues scale:

When they use this scale in “the Blues” it mostly sounds kinda sad and sometimes
even whining. However, if you play it faster and swing it, this is the scale to use in
rockabilly to get a raw sound:

The notes in the A Blues scale are A C D Eb E G

- The note (s) marked in blue is the so-called “Blue note”.

Blues scale in A - ver. 1

E-------------------------------5-8--
B--------------------------5-8-------
G-------------------5-7-8------------
D--------------5-7-------------------
A------5-6-7-------------------------
E-5-8--------------------------------
This is a good place to bend around the ”Blue note”.
You can bend the 7 up to 8 (the Blue note) or 9*
or the 8 up to 9.
*The 9 is not shown as it equals the 5 on the second string
That is the string above if you look at the tab.
I seldomly bend it all the way from 7 to 9 though.

The “Blue note”:

This “diminished fifth” - in this case the Eb - is the before mentioned added note that
turns the 5-note minor pentatonic scale into the 6-note “Blues scale”.
This note is called the “Blue note” (there are other “Blue notes” but usually when
people talk about the “Blue note” they mean the diminished fifth).
22.
The Blue note is a very cool note with a raw effect.
You can use it in different ways but as a simple rule in rockabilly you can bend the
note (bending the string) if you play it on any of the first three strings and don’t bend
it on the last three strings.

Don’t hold it too long before passing on to the next note unless you’re bending it.

- Bending it is pretty much fun and many guitarists favorite pastime!! (as you’ll
recognize when you try it!)

Like with all scales you’ll find the notes in the Blues scale all over the fingerboard
and not only where I just showed you.

The place I just showed you is the easiest and best place to play the Blues scale in A,
but there are two more places I want to show you because they’re good for
improvising/soloing.

- Later you can find more positions on the fingerboard for the scale yourself.

It’s always good to know how to play a scale in connection with open strings (If there
are any for that scale!). Here you can see how to play the A Blues scale in connection
with the open strings:

Blues scale in A - ver. 2

E--------------------------0-3-5--
B--------------------1-3-4--------
G----------------0-2--------------
D----------0-1-2------------------
A------0-3------------------------
E-0-3-----------------------------

This is also a good place to bend around the “Blue note”.

Again you can bend the 3 up to 4 (the Blue note) or 5*
or the 4 up to 5.
*The 5 is not shown as it equals the 0 on the first string
That is the string above if you look at the tab.
I seldom bend it all the way from 3 to 5 though.

23.
The third and last position I want to show you for the scale is only for the first four
strings (a “small version” of the scale but very good for soloing):

Blues scale in A - ver. 3

E-----------------8-10-11--
B------------8-10----------
G------7-8-9---------------
D-7-10---------------------
A--------------------------
E--------------------------
This is a good place to bend...
...but this is better.

Like I mentioned before, you can keep on playing a scale even if the underlying
chords change as long as the chords are within the scale.

The chords that go with the blues scale in A are:

A, C, D, E and G (all major)

You can see that the three chords of our “12 bar blues”, A, D and E are part of it.
That’s why you can play the scale all over our “12 bar blues”.

Additional information:

As a matter of fact the A blues scale is a minor scale so you can also play it over the
following chords:

Am (A minor) and Dm (D minor)

The most natural place to play the blues scale in A would be with a song in either the
key of A or A minor with some or all of the chords mentioned before in it, but you
could play the scale every time just one of any of those chords (A, Am, C, D, Dm, E
and G) pops up in any song.

In reality it seldom sounds good if you play one scale over just one chord in a song
and then change to another scale for the next chord, but to play the same scale over
two chords that come after one another (and are within that scale of course!) is
enough and does the trick (you don’t have to try to play the same scale over as much
of a song as technical possible. It doesn’t make sense).

24.
The Country scale:

The cool thing about switching between the Blues and the Country scale when you’re
playing (something you’ll want do a lot as it has a dramatic and melodic effect) is that
they “play” identical on the fingerboard, only from different fret positions.

That’s something you’ll notice right away if you try and play the scales one after the
other. Try switching between the “Blues scale in A - ver. 1” and the “Country scale in
A ver. 1” by just moving your hand 3 frets down - it’s pretty easy!

The notes in the A Country scale are A B C C# E F#

- The note (s) marked in blue is also a “blue” note in this context.

Country scale in A - ver. 1

E-------------------------2-5--
B---------------------2-5------
G---------------2-4-5----------
D-----------2-4----------------
A-----2-3-4--------------------
E-2-5--------------------------
This is the place to bend!
Everything you just learned about bending around blue notes
in the Blues scale also applies to the Country scale!

This is the second and last position I want to show you for the country scale. The
position on the second string is a brilliant place to bend around the “blue” note:

Country scale in A - ver. 2

E---------------------------------9-12--
B------------------------10-12-13-------
G-------------------9-11----------------
D-----------9-10-11---------------------
A------9-12-----------------------------
E-9-12----------------------------------

This is a good place to bend...

...But this is better.
25.
The chords that go with the country scale in A are:

A, Bm (B minor), D, E and F#m (F sharp minor)

Again, you can see that the three chords of our “12 bar blues”, A, D and E are part of
it. That’s why you can play the scale all over our “12 bar blues”.

Additional information:

The most natural place to play the country scale in A would be with a song in the key
of A with one of the minor chords (Bm or F#m) in it. The verse and chorus of
“Country Roads” by John Denver is a good example (if you play it in the key of A of
course!) but again, you could play the scale every time just one of those chords (A,
Bm, D, E and F#m) pops up in any song.

26.
 Chapter 6:
Riffs
The first riff I want to show you is my favorite rockabilly riff. I also think it’s the
most typical rockabilly riff there is. You hear Cliff Gallup and Brian Setzer playing it
a lot.

Riff #1:

E----------5---------5---------5-
B------5h7-------5h7-------5h7---
G--5h6-------5h6-------5h6------- and so on...
D--------------------------------
A--------------------------------
E--------------------------------
h = hammer-on = pressing down (hammering) on a note without picking the
string.

Ex.
G--5h6---- While pressing down on the 5th fret (having played that note
with your pick), hammer on the 6th.

The second riff is also a very famous one. Eddie Cochran did it a lot. I don’t do it
that often myself because people tend to overdo it nowadays because it sounds flashy.
It’s a cool riff nonetheless. You can play it all the way through our 12 bar “blues”.

Riff #2:

E--8p7p5-------8p7p5-------8p7p5-
B--------8p7p5-------8p7p5-------
G-------------------------------- and so on...
D--------------------------------
A--------------------------------
E--------------------------------
P = means pull-off = the opposite of what you would do with a hammer-
on.

Ex.
E--8p7---- While holding down both the 8th and 7th frets, release the
hold on the 8th (after having played it with your pick).

27.
The third riff is the most famous riff of all times. The one that Chuck Berry if not
invented, then perfected. With this one you can make up variations for yourself like
everybody does. I don’t think I ever heard two people play it exactly the same.

Riff #3:

E------5-----5-----5-----5-----5-
B------5-----5-----5-----5-----5-
G--7b9---7b9---7b9---7b9---7b9--- and so on...
D--------------------------------
A--------------------------------
E--------------------------------
b = Bend the note

Ex.
G--7b9--- Bend the 7th fret higher until it sounds like the 9th fret.

With many bends, like the one in this riff, you don’t have to bend it exactly to the
note indicated. I prefer not to actually because I like the tension you get when the
bend is “a little out of tune”. For instance, many blues players are not crazy about the
way Eric Clapton bends, because his bends are so “clean” that they sound boring (in
that context).

The fourth riff is a variation on the previous one. They can both be played all the
way through our 12 bar “blues” by the way. That’s pretty cool. Like with the scales
you don’t have to worry too much about the chord changes but can get more into the
feel of your solo.

Riff #4:

E--------------------------------
B------5-----5-----5-----5-----5-
G--7b9---7b9---7b9---7b9---7b9--- and so on...
D--------------------------------
A--------------------------------
E--------------------------------

28.
The fifth riff is also a very versatile riff. You can mess around with it (change it) and
it’ll still sound good if not better AND you can play it all the way through our 12 bar
“blues”.

Riff #5:

E--4s5-5-5-4s5-5-5-4s5-5-5-4s5-5-
B--4s5-5-5-4s5-5-5-4s5-5-5-4s5-5-
G-------------------------------- and so on...
D--------------------------------
A--------------------------------
E--------------------------------
S = slide the note

Ex.
E--4s5--- Play the 4th fret and then immediately slide up to the 5th
fret.

The sixth riff is the most famous finger picking rockabilly riff there is. This is a
“watered down” version that’ll also do the trick if you’re playing with a pick.

I guess it’s mostly associated with Scotty Moore (That’s where I learned it) but
everybody plays it. That’s no reason to avoid it, mind you. It’s just so good.

Here it’s a little troublesome with the tabs (instead of standard notation where you
can also read tempo, feel and pauses) because the timing of the notes is pretty
important to make it sound right.

You have to see it like this: When you count “1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and 1...” the riff
doesn’t start on “1” but on “2” and the next note is on “3 and”. You have to spend
some time getting in the groove to play this one right. I remember it took me some
time to learn. The best thing you can do is listen to a Scotty Moore record to get it
right.

Riff #6:

E--5--------5---------
B-----7-------7-5-----
G-------5h6----------- and so on...
D--------------------- This is my own addition to the riff.
A--------------------- It’s on the count of “and 1”.
E-----------------4s5- Play the string hard. Sounds good!
29.
The seventh riff is also a very versatile riff. You can mess around with it (change it)
and it’ll still sound good if not better AND you can play it all the way through our 12
bar “blues”. (Heard this before? Well, I’m glad you’re paying attention!)

The famous intro to “Flying Saucer Rock’n’Roll” with Billy Lee Riley is a variation
of this riff.

Riff #7: Bend these two notes slowly after hitting them.
E------5-8-----
B--5h7---7-----
G-------------- and so on...
D--------------
A--------------
E--------------

Riff #8:

E--4s5-5--------------
B--4s5-5-7------------
G----------5h6-------- and so on...
D--------------7------
A---------------------
E---------------------

Play this when in D Play this when in E

(D-chord) (E-chord)
Riff #9:

E---------------------------------------------
B--4s5---4s5--------9s10----------11s12-------
G--5s6---5s6-------10s11----------12s13-------
D------7-----7-----------12-------------14----
A---------------------------------------------
E---------------------------------------------

30.
A few rockabilly basslines for guitar. Basically piano boogie woogie adapted for
guitar:

Riff #10:
Play this when in D Play this when in E
(D-chord) (E-chord)
E---------------------------------------------
B---------------------------------------------
G---------------------------------------------
D------------------456767--------678989-------
A----456767------55------------77-------------
E--55-----------------------------------------

This bassline is used in “Rock This Town” with Stray Cats:

Riff #11: Play this when in D

(D-chord)
E---------------------------------------------
B---------------------------------------------
G---------------------------------------------
D------------------------445566775544---------
A----445566775544------55------------77-------
E--55------------77---------------------------

Play this when in E

(E-chord)

E---------------------------------------------
B---------------------------------------------
G---------------------------------------------
D----667788997766-----------------------------
A--77------------99---------------------------
E---------------------------------------------

31.
This is your basic rockabilly boogie bassline. Perfect for the Carl Perkins kinda
groove. The variations you can make are endless:

Play this when in D Play this when in E

Riff #12: (D-chord) (E-chord)

E---------------------------------------------
B---------------------------------------------
G--------------------2242---------------------
D------2242------0034-------------------------
A--0034----------------------------2242-------
E------------------------------0034-----------

Riff #13:

E-------------------------------
B--5555s88885555s88885555s8888--
G--6666s99996666s99996666s9999-- and so on...
D-------------------------------
A-------------------------------
E-------------------------------

Play this when in D (D-chord):

E-------------------------------
B--10101010s1313131310101010s131
G--11111111s1414141411111111s141 and so on...
D-------------------------------
A-------------------------------
E-------------------------------

Play this when in E (E-chord):

E-------------------------------
B--12121212s1515151512121212s151
G--13131313s1616161613131313s161 and so on...
D-------------------------------
A-------------------------------
E-------------------------------

32.
 Chapter 7:
Final words on how to do a solo
Part of the trick of doing a good solo is not to change what you’re doing every time
the underlining chords change. Most beginners do that because they think they have
to, well...they don’t!

IF you’re playing something that’s already within the scale of the chord the band is
going to hit in a few moments there’s really no need to change what you’re doing,
now is there? It sounds really cool if you just stay on that same scale or riff. It sounds
like you’re “ahead” and in charge of what’s happening.

And...
Don’t be in a hurry to “do something new” but get into what you’re doing instead.

Have fun!

33.