www.rstrum.com This week marks a few anniversaries in the career of rock pioneer Buddy Holly. On October 27, 1957, The Crickets hit #1 in the UK with “That’ll Be the Day.” About a year later, Holly made what would be his last recording (October 27), followed the next day by his last major TV appearance (on American Bandstand) before his tragic death the following February. Today we commemorate Holly with a video of “Peggy Sue.”
This early classic uses a “straight-8″ rhythm with lots of downstrokes to impart that driving beat. In our video lesson, teacher David Keenan (who calls the song “proto-punk”) guides you through the chord changes, song sections, and the unusual solo. He’ll even teach you the “mystery chord” used in the chorus.
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This week we honor John Lennon and Jackson Browne, both born on October 9 (1940 and 1948 respectively). Both are also known as excellent songwriters, although Lennon has obviously had more hits associated with his name. One of Lennon’s most famous riffs is that in “Day Tripper,” co-written with McCartney. You can watch it below, along with a Jackson Browne classic, “These Days.”
Although the original “Day Tripper” is fairly complicated, there’s a simpler way to play this classic rocker. In our song lesson, David Keenan starts out demonstrating some easy, cool-sounding chords and a strum pattern with a palm mute. He then gets around to that awesome lead riff, repeating it slowly until it really sticks.
The month of September was big for Nirvana, who enlisted drummer Dave Grohl (later of Foo Fighters) on September 25, 1990. About a year later, on September 10, 1991 (20 years ago!), Nirvana released their breakthrough hit, “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” followed (on the 24th) by the album Nevermind, which eventually replaced Michael Jackson on the Billboard charts and sold over 30 million copies.
Although “Smells Like Teen Spirit” uses a simple repeating progression, it incorporates a couple different strum patterns, power chords, palm muting, scratching, and something we call “strumpets.” All this is patiently demonstrated in our song lesson by Rob, a Seattle native who conveys that grunge spirit.
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On September 9, 1956, Elvis made his first appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show. Ed had deemed Elvis “unfit” for his show, but changed his tune after being out-ranked by a Steve Allen Show on which Elvis performed. The Sullivan debut, guest hosted by actor Charles Laughton, was seen by a record-breaking 60 million people – 82.6% of all viewers! Elvis played “Don’t Be Cruel” and “Love Me Tender.”
Actually written by Otis Blackwell, “Don’t Be Cruel” is a great song for beginners, since it uses only first-position chords and a simple backbeat rhythm. In our song lesson, David Keenan demos the chords, drills the strum pattern, and then throws in a couple tips to help you give the song its infectious groove.
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This week marks the anniversary of Woodstock, billed as “an Aquarian Exposition: 3 Days of Peace & Music.” Beginning on August 15, the 3-day festival was attended by over 400,000 people and featured many of the biggest acts of the day. Among them was The Grateful Dead, whose sub-par set was recorded but never released. A few months after Woodstock, The Dead introduced “Friend of the Devil,” which would prove to be their most-covered song.
“Friend of the Devil” is one of our easier songs, with a few relatively simple chords played in straight 4/4 time. In our song lesson, Chip demos the backbeat strum pattern used for the verses and chorus, plus a variation for the bridge. For advanced players, there’s a Bonus Chapter showcasing some cool left hand bass runs that really make this Dead tune come alive.
A friend of “Friend of the Devil” is a friend of mine!
http://rstrum.com August 12, 1929 was the birthday of Alvis Edgar Owens, who at age 3 dubbed himself “Buck” after the donkey on his family farm in Texas. After moving to Bakersfield, CA in 1951, Buck began racking up the first of his 21 country hits, many with his band, The Buckaroos. His first #1 came in 1963 with “Act Naturally,” which was recorded two years later by The Beatles. Just for fun, we’ve uploaded both versions!
Like many country songs, “Act Naturally” uses a basic “Boom Chuck-a” strum pattern. If you haven’t yet learned how to boom chuck-a and chew gum (or sing) at the same time, then our Technique Library is a good place to start. You’ll find a lesson on the basic Boom Chuck, another on the slightly more advanced Boom Chuck-a, and another on how to play ‘em both either straight or swung.
http://rstrum.com August 6 is the birthday of singer-songwriter Steven Paul “Elliott” Smith, who was born in 1969 in Omaha and spent his formative years in Portland. Before his tragic death in 2003, Smith had garnered an Oscar nomination and strong praise for his intricate pop albums, on which he usually played all the instruments. With his whispery voice and deeply personal lyrics, Smith was a welcome anomaly in the grunge scene of the late 90s and early 00s.
Like “Waltz #2,” many of Smith’s songs were written in 3/4 time, proving that waltz can be cool. Indeed, this rhythm shows up in more rock songs than you might think, which is why it’s so crucial to learn it. Well, we happen to have a pair of lessons on waltz strumming and picking patterns, taught by Steve Baughman (who actually looks a bit like Elliott – aka Steve – Smith…hmm…). We invite you to investigate!
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On June 27, 1965, The Beatles released their second film, Help!, followed by the soundtrack. With songs like “Ticket to Ride,” “Yesterday,” and the title track, the album was especially popular, topping both the US and UK charts. Continuing last week’s grunge theme, today we’ve posted a video of Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam singing another classic Help! tune, “You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away.”
As you can tell from the video, this song is a crowd-pleaser. It’s also a good one for beginners, with fairly simple chords and a waltzy, 6/8 rhythm that comes in handy for many songs. In our song lesson, I go over the strum pattern as well as the hammer-ons and walkdowns that really bring the song to life.
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This week’s birthdays include Brian May of Queen (July 19), Carlos Santana (July 20) and Yusef “Cat Stevens” Islam (July 21). Also on July 20 was Chris Cornell, frontman for Soundgarden, a groundbreaking grunge quartet who peaked in the early ’90s alongside other Seattle bands like Nirvana and Pearl Jam. Soundgarden is known for their alternative tunings, odd time signatures, and dark lyrics (“Black Hole Sun,” “Black Rain,” “Fell on Black Days”…).
As great as their songs are, Soundgarden and their contemporaries were also known for that distinctive alt-metal guitar sound, achieved primarily through distortion pedals and power chords. If you like the former, you definitely need to master the latter, ideally by watching the lessons in our Technique Library, all taught by Seattleite Rob Hampton.
http://rstrum.com On July 14, 1989, in South Carolina, 432 guitarists played in unison for 30 minutes, thereby setting a new world record. The song was “Louie Louie,” written in 1955 by Richard Berry and made famous in 1963 by The Kingsmen (and by the FBI’s investigation of the song’s supposedly profane—but ultimately unintelligible—lyrics).
As a classic party tune, “Louie Louie” is a great one to learn. It’s also super simple, as you can find out in our song lesson. The tune is taught by Peter Langston, who actually knew the lead singer of The Kingsmen. So Peter shares a story along with the song’s chords, strum pattern, and intro bit.
