Why I Suck.. Series 6, Episode 2 - Chuck Berry!

 If you're a guitarist of a certain vintage, you're going to fall into one of two categories - those who are open about being inspired by Michael J Fox's rendition of "Johnny B. Goode" in 1985's "Back To The Future", or those who are damned liars.

But of course back in the real world, that song was originally written byh Chuck Berry (you know, Marvin Berry's cousin) - and I think we can make a pretty good claim for Chuck being the most influential electric guitarist of all time. We've all played that bend the G/bar the B & E string lick at some point, haven't we? And then follow it up with a few easily accessible notes from the 1st position minor pentatonic.. and from there develop into the kind of licks everyone from Hendrix to Slash to even last months' entrant, Neil Zaza, plays at some point.

I have already delved into Chuck's backstory in an earlier blog post, so this one is going to be All About Those Licks - let's get stuck in!

Now unlike the conventional format, I want to drill down into a couple of the techniques that Chuck would use to build his solos rather than focusing too much on the licks themselves - check out the One Minute Lick series on the YouTube channel for them - so let's start with what I call the "Chuck Berry Scale":

As you can see, this is based around a conventional minor pentatonic (R b3 4 5 b7) but also includes the 2nd, 6th, b5 and major 3rd notes. This is a very useful scale in itself, used by a lot of artists and often referred to as the "hybrid" blues scale, incorporating elements of the blues scale and Dorian and Mixolydian modes.

But the thing with Chuck is, I don't think he was ever thinking in terms of scales at all. What he was thinking of was a chord - in this example, an E shape A chord. It's reasonable enough to assume that if you're playing over something in A, an A chord is a good place to start looking for notes that will work. From there, it's a simple matter to figure out by ear and trial and error which notes work and which notes don't - you'll notice the lack of a b2 or b6 for example. These are simply not "rock & roll" notes!

Next, let's talk double stops. This is a technique where we play two notes at a time on adjacent strings, creating a fuller, gutsier sound than single notes can, and is a great way of filling up sonic "space" - remember, at this point in history, there is no such thing as distortion, and guitars would generally be strung with something north of '13s, so widdly stuff simply isn't going to be possible at the kind of tempo's much of Chuck's material is at. Double stops - nature's distortion pedal, if you will - are a great way of conveying energy and a fullness of sound.

The  examples tabbed below show a few of his signature runs and ideas, including the characteristic hammer-on from minor 3rd to major 3rd.

 

Another signature set of licks comes from a combination of Chuck's hand positioning - the index finger barred across the B & E strings to cover the root of the key on the E and the 5th on the B (so in A, that's the 5th fret)  - and also a very heavy T-Bone Walker influence, who was great at layering notes over each other. This is a "Chuck Berry Scale" or hybrid blues scale idea that crops up in songs like "Carol" and of course "Johnny B Goode"

Finally, let's take a look at the way Chuck used the "prettier" intervals of 3rds and 6ths - the first examples (3rds) taken from the intro to "Sweet Little 16" and the solo of "Brown Eyed Handsome Man", the second set (6ths) from the intro to "You Never Can Tell" and from the solo to "Long Distance Information".

Notice how Chuck takes a horizontal approach in "Sweet Little 16", moving diatonically down the Db major scale, but the "Brown Eyed Handsome Man" example stays within a D chord shape

In the above intro from "You Never Can Tell", Chuck simply takes the major 6th interval and slides it chromatically down to resolve onto the C chord.

Whereas in the above excerpt from "Long Distance Information", he is effectively playing the vocal melody based around the Gb major scale, but harmonised in 6ths.

As always, please to check out the accompanying video over on the YouTube channel to see these licks being demonstrated in context - join me next month for the tasty jazz-blues stylings of the one and only Robben Ford! 

I should also mention that as of April, this blog will be moving on to the Patreon and Ko Fi platform as it's just not economical to do this for free any more, sadly- the idea is that all the beginer stuff and song tutorials will be on YouTube, while those who choose to support the channel for the princely sum of £2 per month will get access to all the intermediate and advanced programs as well as access to the Discord server too... More on that to come!

The Best Guitarist You've Never Heard Of? Neil Zaza Pt.2

 You know what, I don't think there's anyone out there who can make a root note sound so damn satsfying as Neil Zaza can. With a discography packed with soaring melodies and jaw-dropping technical ability, it's always a treat transcribing his playing - as such, I decided to ameliorate the inevitable January blues by making January Neil Zaza Month. and much as with Steel Panther ace Satchel last year, would you believe I actually found myself wishing for more January...

Now regular readers of the blog - assuming there are any (hi Ian ;-) ) - may be aware that this is not the 'Za's first appearance, as I first covered him back in 2021. So I will direct curious readers there for the potted history, and let's dive straight in and look at the licks!

Our first example comes from the mega-hit "I'm Alright" and in technical terms is "the tricky bit" - the one part of the song where Neil takes off the restraints to put pedal to metal - we're in E major here, starting off with a rhythmically displaced major pentatonic lick before a blistering flurry of 3 note per string legato ideas, and finishing off with a trademark aching semitone bend from G# (maj 3rd) to A (4th). This is a terrific example of the "tension and release" mechanic which sits at the heart of so many great solos.

The next two example are taken from the live recording of "Melodica" - again in E- and in this first lick Neil properly has his shred hat on, sweeping through an E shape arpeggio of the E (I), C shaped B (V) Em shaped C#m (vi) and then C shaped A, ending with a rising 3rds idea along the E string - the wider interval of the 3rd as opposed to the tones and semitones of a scale are a great ear catching melodic idea.

You can't talk about Neil Zaza's playing without mentioning his signature open voice arpeggio technique - well, I can't, anyway! Here we see him outlining the chord sequence using a R 5 3 pattern on the E, 3 R 5 pattern on the B, and then R 5 3 patterns on the other chords, also bringing in the 4th as a passing colour tone. This is the kind of idea that sounds great either as a melodic hook or as a clean chord part, particular using fingerstyle or hybrid picking.

We'll finish off with an excerpt from "Crazy Love" in A major - here we see the "tension and release" at work - Neil sets things up beautifully with a bend from the B (2nd) to C# (major 3rd) before moving down the scale using a combination of slides, hammer-ons and pull-offs before descending an A major arpeggio and ending on the second, keeping the listener engaged for the next phrase.

If you're not familiar with Neil Zaza playing, do yourself a favour and go check him out, he seems to be the biggest secret in guitar playing - for my money absolutely up there with the Vais, Satrianis & Eric Johnsons of the world and his sense of melody is just glorious. 

Back next month for the granddaddy of Rock & Roll, Chuck Berry himself!

Why I Suck... Series 5, Episode 12 - Randy Rhoads!

And once again we delve into the "Gone Too Soon" file..

According to guitar teaching legend Troy Grady, if you were learning guitar during the 1980s, you were in one of two camps - either a fan of Eddie Van Halen or Randy Rhoads. 

Now, being as my first abortive attempt at learning the guitar was in 1989 aged 12, I can neither confirm nor deny this theory - but it does make a good line ;-)

Eddie has already been covered in this blog, and I also covered legendary Ozzy sideman and solo artist Zakk Wylde back at the end of 2023, so for the final month of 2024 (Christ that feels weird to write!) I decided to go right back to the start of Ozzy's career and tackle the very first player to occupy one of the most legendary guitar spots in the whole of rock and metal - Randy Rhoads.

Born December 6th 1956 in Santa Monica, California as the youngest of three children to music teacher parents, young Randy began playing the guitar aged just six. His father had left and remarried when Randy was just 17 months old, and faced with the need to support her family, his mother Dolores opened her own music school in North Hollywood, drawing on her experience as a professional pianist and bachelor's degree in music.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Randy was a shy and introverted child, practicing guitar religiously and quickly became highly proficient - lacking a stereo, the three children would create their own music in the house.

Moving into his teenage years, Randy became entranced by artists like Alice Cooper, the Scorpions and Leslie West from Mountain and began teaching himself the licks he heard, particularly on the bootleg recordings that were popular with the time. After a couple of early bands Randy and high school friend Kelly Garni formed Quiet Riot - at this point, Randy had graduated high school and was teaching at his mother's music school, and it was during this period that Ozzy Osbourne had quit Black Sabbath and had come to Los Angeles to form a new band. 

There is some.. confusion.. in Ozzy's accounts of the audition process, but what is undeniable fact is that Randy was hired and joined the band for Blizzard of Ozz in 1979. Tragically, his life would be cut short three years later aged just 25 in a hideous - and it would seem, completely avoidable - plane accident, and the guitar world lost an incredible talent.

I set myself the rough goal of transcribing the whole of the Blizzard Of Ozz album and, thanks in part to having already done Crazy Train a few years back, managed it! So this is where we'll be drawing this month's licks from. So buckle up and brace yourselves, there's a lot to get through!

OK, let's begin with "Crazy Train" - this lick is the fill Randy plays at the end of the first chorus, primarily based around F# minor pentatonic but incorporating elements of the blues scale and the natural minor.

On the face of it, this could be a Jimmy Page / Angus Young pentatonic widdle blitz (not that there's anything wrong wiith that), but when you look closer you notice Randy leaning heavily on the b6 (D) and making repeated use of the b5 (C) at the end of the lick. This is a great way of spicing up licks and runs you already know - try this in different keys, and try making it fit the Dorian (R 2 b3 4 5 6 b7) and Phrygian modes (R b2 b3 4 5 b6 b7) too (I'll show what I mean in the demo video). Most likely, Randy would have developed this by replicating pentatonic lines and "tweaking" them to contain notes from more exotic scales - this is a great technique to try out.

Moving away from scalar passages for a moment, this second example taken from "Mr Crowley" shows Randy using an arpeggio idea (similar to Hotel California or Hendrix's "Axis") to outline the Dm - Bb - F - C chord sequence:

He then follows this up with a couple of trills involving the b2 (Eb) and a tremolo picked passage based around an E diminished 7th (R b3 b5 bb7 - E G Bb Db)  arpeggio with the b2 and b7 added for extra dissonance, before finishing off with a band from the E to the F and back again as the chord moves to C, thus targeting the 3rd to resolve the line. 

Trills seem to have been an important part of Randy's signature neoclassical approach, and this next example taken from "Revelation (Mother Earth)" illustrates this:

This track revolves around an Em - B chord progression that we can view as based in E harmonic minor (R 2 b3 4 5 b6 7 - E F# G A B C D#) and trilling his way up that scale across two octaves before finishing with a Bach-style pedal tone idea, playing the A, G and F# notes against the high B on the 19th fret. 

Now, I've saved the best til last with the final example. Taken from "Steal Away The Night", this is based around an E diminished 7th arpeggio - R b3 b5 bb7, E G Bb Db.

Randy starts by sequencing his way across the arpeggio in groups of 3 with a triplet rhythm - again, taking traditional classic rock rhythmic phrasing, but with a twist in the note selection - before going into a "Magic 3 Notes" style hammer/pull idea which he then moves up the neck symmetrically in intervals of a minor third (3 frets). This fits together beautifully because the whole premise of a diminished 7th chord is that it's stacked minor 3rds (thus you could see the arpeggio as G, Bb or Db diminished 7th, but I chose E because METAL).

There's a thread I see with Randy's playing on this album of him trying to forge his own identity by taking some of the pentatonic/blues vocabulary of the 60s & 70s and being more adventurous with his note choices, trying to blend blues-rock rhythmic phrasing with classical note choices, and I think I'm going to have to coime back and transcribe the follow up "Diary Of A Madman" to see how this developed.. but seeing this somehow makes his untimely death all the more tragic as it's clear he was just finding his feet as a musician at this point, and what he could have gone on to accomplish can only be guessed at. 

Join me next month for a (relatively) unsung guitar genius who is thankfully still with us (and long may that continue!) as we investigate one of my personal Guitar Crushes - Neil Zaza!