Chords for Classic Chicago Blues Style Rhythms - Riffs & Shuffles

classic Chicago blues style rhythms.
A one, two, three, four.
[G] _ [C] _ [G] _ _ _ [B] _ _ [C] _
[F] _ [C] _ _ _ [Em] _ [Dm] _ _ [G] _
[D] _ [C] _ _ [G] _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ Hello friends and welcome [B] back to Swift Lessons
for another rhythm guitar tutorial.
In today's session, we're gonna [E] be expanding our knowledge
of [B] Chicago blues as we learn two [A] useful patterns
[E] plucked from classic [A] songs from Howlin' Wolf
and Sunny Boy Williamson.
Now you can follow along using my tab
at patreon [E] [Abm].com slash [Eb] Swift Lessons.
And remember, if you enjoy [Am] my [E] tutorials,
then you can stay up to date [Eb] by clicking
[A] the subscribe button [B] and ringing that bell.
[Am] Let's get started.
Okay, close look at the fret board,
getting started with rhythm number one.
This one I'm calling a Chicago double stop rhythm
and it's inspired by a song called
I Know What Love Is All About by Sunny Boy Williamson.
Okay, so really cool tune, very cool riff.
So the way I'm playing it is gonna sound like [G] this
at a slow tempo.
_ [C] _ [N] _ _ _
[G] _ [C] _ [G] _ _ _ _ [C] _ [G] _
_ _ _ [C] _ [Bm] _ _ It can be taken key to key throughout the 12 bar [C] blues.
For example, you can play it in C, _
[F] _ [D] play it in D.
[G] _ [Gbm] _ [G] _ _
_ [C] _ [G] _ _ _ Okay, [D] so very, very simple riff,
something [Am] that's really good for blues tracks
that have a [A] lot of instrumentation
that allows the guitar to kind of take a backseat,
which is common in Chicago blues.
Okay, so we have the [G] bass note being played with the thumb,
third fret low E string.
_ And then we're gonna do a hammer on
with [Bb] some down strokes here.
It's going to be the third frets of the G string
and B string.
[G] _ As you hammer up a half step,
grab in the major third, the fourth fret of the G string.
_ Okay, so bass, hammer.
[Em] All right, that's gonna be followed by another G [G] note,
the fifth fret of the D string, _
followed by another [C] double stop,
five and five on the G string and the B string.
_ [G] Okay, so far you have. _
_ [C] _ _ All right, then we're gonna [Bb] finish it up
with another quick hammer on.
All right, the third frets of the G string and B string
[G] once again, hammering up to that fourth fret.
And you can stop that short
just to get a little bit more funkiness out of it.
_ _ [C] _ [Gm] _ [Ab] _ [G] _
_ [C] _ If you wanna [Ab] throw in a couple of chica chicas,
[G] an upstroke and a downstroke before returning
to that upstroke on the bass note would sound great.
_ [C] _ [G] _ _ _ _ [C] _
[G] _ [C] _ _ Okay, now for following along using that tab
from patreon.com slash Swift lessons,
we can see that we can take this key to key.
So we can try it just for an exercise.
Once on the G position,
then once on the eighth fret position for C,
and then once on the 10th fret position for D.
And then that will give you your one, four, five
in the key of G.
So [G] key of G,
[C] _ for the C chord,
[F] _ for [D] the D chord,
[G] _
and back to G.
_ [C] _ [G] It's a great exercise for this rhythm.
Okay, very well done everybody.
You've got that tricky Chicago double stop rhythm down.
Now we're jumping into the second rhythm
that I wanna show you today
that I'm calling the Roland Chicago shuffle.
And this is something that you can hear
in a song by Howlin' Wolf called Break of Day.
So really cool rhythm that's definitely at the core
of the Chicago blues style.
Over the G chord, it sounds like this. _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ Okay, tricky.
It's definitely something that's going to require a stretch.
Okay, so basically you have a power chord,
third fret low E string,
the fifth fret of the A string.
All right, you're going to strike that twice.
_ _ Then you're gonna reach your pinky
up to the seventh fret [C] of the A string.
_ Okay, strike those two strings again.
And then we're going to return back to three [G] and five. _ _
Then with your pinky, [Bb] you're going to play.
[B] _ [D] _ _
All right, that was the low [Bb] E string,
sixth fret, seventh [B] fret,
and then the fifth fret [D] of the A string,
which is held down by the ring finger already.
Now, [G] sometimes I like to slide my pinky. _
_ _ _ [Bb] _ [B] _ [D] Something like that.
Okay, [Gm] you can try it over the [C] C chord. _ _ _
_ _ _ [G] All right, you can go back to the G chord.
You're playing 12 bar blues.
_ Just _ _
_ _ [D] _ [G] _ [D] _ _ _ [C] _
_ _ _ _ [G] _ _ _
like that.
_ _ _ _ Okay, so now we have two rhythms
[N] that are very, very useful for playing Chicago blues.
Let's see if we can put them together
to create another rhythm that's a little bit more unique.
Okay, excellent work, everybody.
We have these two classic Chicago rhythms down,
the double stop rhythm,
and also the Roland Chicago shuffle.
So one thing that you can do that's very cool
is start to mix and match these rhythms together
to create something new.
And they can be combined in a variety of different [G] ways.
But one such way over the one chord
would sound something like this.
A one, two, three, [E] four.
[G] _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ [C] _ [G] _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ [G] _ _
_ _ _ Okay, so we started off
just with that Roland Chicago shuffle. _ _ _ _ _ _
[F] [Abm] All right, then on the second measure, we're gonna [G] play _ _ _
[C] _ [B] _ _ [G] implementing the double stop technique.
Okay, so we have that power chord,
three and five, the G5 power chord, right?
We're gonna play twice there,
_ then stretch the pinky twice,
_ back to the regular power chord. _
Then from there, we're [C] going to play
_ five and five on the G string and the B [Bb] string,
_ followed by that quick hammer on,
three and three on the G and B,
hammering up to the major third,
the fourth fret of the G [G] string.
Put that together and we have
one and _ three [C] and [G] four and one and two _ [C] and three [G] and one. _ _
_ [C] _ [G] _ Okay, going back and forth between that
and that Roland Chicago shuffle will sound excellent. _
_ _ _ _ _ [C] _ [Bm] _
Okay, so there it is over the one chord.
You could try it over [C] the four, _ _
[F] _ [C] _ over the [D] five chord,
_ [G] _
[D] _ all right, and then back [G] to the one.
_ _ [C] _ [G] _
All right, so many different possibilities
combining these rhythms together.
Hope you enjoyed [B] this lesson and that you will take it slow
and really work this into your rhythm guitar game
and see if you can apply it to some original music as well.
All right, friends, [N] thanks so much
for checking out this rhythm guitar tutorial.
I hope you enjoyed it.
Let me know what you think in the comment section down below.
[Bm] As always, big thanks to my supporters
at patreon.com slash [Gbm] flip lessons.
[B] Hope you're enjoying all those [A] extra resources.
[E] And thanks to you guys, I got many more lessons coming up.
So keep checking in, please subscribe, please [Gb] share.
This [Ab] is Rob at Swift Guitar Lessons in [A] Philadelphia
saying [E] happy picking.
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