Chords for Fred Sokolow teaches "Little Sister"

[Em] _ _ _ [E] _ [B] _ [Em] _ [Bm] _ [A] _
[E] _ _ That's your E blues [Gb] scale.
[Em] Let me play it again slowly.
_ [E] _ [Bm] _ _ [G] _ [Em] _ [D] _
[B] _ [A] _ [G] _ [E] _ _ That's the famous pentatonic, which just means five notes blues scale.
But there's other notes that you'll want to play too in the key of E.
Let's expand it to [Em] this.
_ [Gb] _ [D] _ [Em] _ [Bb] _ [Em] _ _ [Bm] _
_ [G] _ [E] _ One more [Gm] time.
[E] _ _
[Bb] _ [Em] _ _ _ _ [N] Now why are we talking about a scale all of a sudden?
_ These are notes that will be real handy for you to stick in between the vocals on Matchbox, for instance.
We're not done with Matchbox by a long shot.
You can stick those in there as filler notes for little fills that you play, like [E] this.
Let me be your sidetrack, baby, till your main [Em] line comes.
_ _ _ _ [E]
I [A] want to be your sidetrack, baby, till your main [E] line comes. _ _ _ _ _
So they're just kind of filler notes that you're improvising.
But there's a lot more to a scale than that.
The real reason for learning a scale is that you can use it to help you play melodies.
It'll help you improvise and it'll also help you actually play tunes.
_ For instance, you can play_
[G] I'm sitting here [Em] wondering would a [A]
Matchbox [G] hold my clothes.
[Em] I'm sitting here wondering would [A] a Matchbox hold my clothes.
I ain't got no [G] matches, sure [E] I got a long way to go.
Now I'm doing a few little slides and [B] things.
Sometimes instead of playing the second string, I slide up to that note on the third string.
[B] [A] Sitting here [E] wondering would [A] a Matchbox hold my clothes.
And on [G] this note, close.
[Ab] _ [Bb] [G] I might do [Ab] this, close.
[Cm] This is the minor third in [G] the E chord.
That's what makes it a minor [E] instead of a major chord.
And in the blues, you fool [N] around with the minor third a lot.
You go back and forth between the two.
You get this Lightnin' [Ab] Hopkins lick that way. _
_ [E] _ [A] _ [Em] _ _ _ Another thing you can do with a blues scale, you can bend notes.
For instance, this note here. _
_ [E] You can bend that [Gm] first string up.
[E]
You can bend this one up, the [Eb] second string.
_ [B] _ _
_ _ And you can bend the [Em] third string at [A] the second fret.
_ [E] Now you can get stuff like_
I'm sitting here wondering would a [G] Matchbox hold my [Ab] clothes.
[E] _ [A] I'm sitting [Em] here wondering [A] would a Matchbox [Ab] hold my clothes.
[A] I ain't got no matches, [G] sure I got a [E] long way to go.
So that's really [G] what the scale is for.
It's to go [B] ahead and [Gb] play the tune.
_ _ [E] _
_ _ _ _ Also, there's this lick that we used [D] as a turnaround lick. _ _
Frequently, you'll just take the middle two strings,
the third and second string, and slide them up as part of your scale.
Sitting [E] here [D] wondering would [A] a Matchbox hold my clothes.
Like that.
[E] And [A] you could bend _ [Em] or slide.
_ [E] _ [N] Those are all good effects that you can get with the blues [Am] scale.
So let's see, we've done this hammer-on to the third string.
We've made some interesting uses of the turnaround lick.
And _ _ done just [E] the scale with the choking, bending strings idea.
I think what we need to do is put it all together in a tune.
_ So, _ _ there's a song called Little Sister that was an Elvis hit.
Hank Garland was the guitar player on that.
And of course, it was resurrected more recently by Dwight Yoakam.
Let's take a look at Little Sister. _ _ _ _
_ _ Little sister, don't you. _ _
[A] _ [E] Little sister, [Em] don't you.
[Bb] _ [E] _
Little sister, [A] don't you kiss me once or twice.
Say it's very nice [E] when you run. _ _ _ _
[Em] _ [B] _ Little sister, [C] don't you do what [B] your [Em] big sister does.
_ [A] _ [E] _ Just that one little segment of that tune there has a whole bunch of this stuff in it that [C] we've been talking about.
_ [Em] This lick, _ _
[A] _ [E] let's look at that lick.
[Abm] You've got these blues [Gm] notes right out of the blues [Bm] scale.
[Em] Then here is an interesting lick.
You've got [B] that band that I told you happens in the E blues scale.
It goes up, [G] comes down, and then pulls off.
So, you really get three or four notes there for [A] the price of one.
One, two, [G] three, four.
Yeah, like that.
So, you've [Bm] _ [Bb] got_
[Em] _ [E] And then you hit the fourth string.
Now, this could be done with flat pick or finger picks.
It doesn't really matter.
But the [B] left hand is where there's some [G] interesting stuff going on.
_ [A] _
[E] So, that's a lick that gets repeated.
And then I'm just sort of brushing down on this E7.
[Ab] _ [E] _ [G] _ [A] _ [E] Then it goes to the [A] A7, to this A7. _ _ _ _
Now you've got [Eb] this familiar lick that we used as [Ab] a turnaround. _
_ _ _ _ [Em] _ [Bb] You just [Gb] slide up [Ab] to it.
_ [Bm] And then look how it comes down.
_ [A] You slide down on [Bm] the third string. _ _
[G] Play it [E] open, fourth [D] string.
Fourth string [Bm] open.
_ [Em] Now [D] _ [B] _ you're on the B7.
And you just strum on the B7.
And [N] another real standard blues move that I didn't mention yet is you lift the [C] B7 up a fret.
And then come [B] back down again.
_ [N] Happens in Suzy Q.
It happens in a bunch of tunes as well as [C] old blues tunes.
_ [B] _
[E] And then back to [Em] here, to E, and the lick comes [Bm] in again.
[E] So, let me do it again slowly.
Little sister, don't [Em] you.
_ [E] _ [A] _
[E] _ Little [Em] sister, don't you.
_ _ [B] _
[E] _ Little sister, [A] don't you kiss me once or twice.
Say it's very nice and then [E] you run. _
_ _ _ [Em] _ _ [B] _ Little sister, [C] don't you do [B] what your big [Em] sister done.
[E] _
[D] _ [E] _ _ Let's hang on there for just a minute.
We'll talk about some _ other E blues licks, some Lightnin' Hopkins