Chords for How to Play "Sweet Home Chicago" - Blues Guitar Lesson - Bar Room Blues

_ _ _ [F#m] _ _ _ _ _
[C] _ _ [A] _ _ [C] _ _ _ _
[E] _ [F#m] _ _ _ _ _ _ [B] _
[A] _ _ [D#] _ [C] _ [D] _ [Cm] _ [C] _ [A] _
[G] _ _ [F#] _ _ _ _ _ _
_ [C] _ [A] _ _ _ _ _ _
[G] _ _ _ [C#] _ _ [F#] _ _ _
_ [A] _ _ _ _ _ [E] _ _
[D#] Hi, [N] I'm Red and I'm here today to help you take a look at Sweet Home Chicago, _ _ written
by Robert Johnson.
_ And as legend would have it, Robert Johnson went down to the crossroads and sold his soul
to the devil so he could be a great blues man.
_ Well I'm here today to tell you you don't have to do that.
You just have to work hard, apply yourself, _ and submerge yourself into the blues.
Like Jimi Hendrix said, _ _ the blues [F#] is easy to play, but it's hard to feel.
And the point is that even though it's a very simple music to play, it's critical to get
the right feeling. _ _
_ _ _ Now what I'm going to do is I'm going to roll through the track, I'm going to demonstrate
two different rhythm options.
_ This way if you're at a jam session and somebody's playing that standard _ blues pattern, _ _ you'll
have another option to use.
I'll also do some lead and I'll show you a little bit about what I was doing lead wise,
explain to you what I'm doing.
So here we go.
_ Let's start with the rhythm and then we'll move on to the lead. _ _ _
_ _ _ [E] _ _ _ [D#] _ [Am] _
_ _ [G] _ [C] _ _ _ [D] _ [C#] _
[Bm] _ _ _ [Em] _ _ _ _ _
[B] _ [Em] _ [D] _ [Am] _ _ _ _ _
[Am] _ _ [Bm] _ [Am] _ _ [D] _ _ [B] _
[Am] _ _ [D] _ [C] _ _ _ _ _
[C] _ _ [F] _ [Bm] _ _ [A#m] _ [Am] _ _
_ _ [D] _ [C] _ _ [B] _ [E] _ _
_ _ [A] _ _ [Am] _ [A] _ _ _
[G] _ [A] _ _ _ [G] _ [A] _ _ _
[G] _ _ _ _ [D] _ [D] _ [G] _ [D] _
_ [G] _ [A] _ _ _ _ _ _
[F#m] _ [E] _ _ _ [D] _ _ _ _
[G] _ [A] _ _ [Am] _ [A] _ _ _
Alright, [G] _ now [C] _ what I was doing there, _ _ _ on the first _ _ time _ through I was playing 9th chords.
Let me _ go ahead and zoom in a little bit and get you just a little better _ view of what
I'm doing here. _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ Alright, _ _ now I was playing 9th chords.
_ I'm using an A9 and I'm just doing a little rhythmic thing here with my right [Em] side.
_ _ [C] _ [Em] _
_ _ [C] _ _ _ I was also doing sliding [D] 6ths.
[C#] _ _ _ _ _
_ I'm doing that on the 2nd and 4th string.
[C] _
_ _ [E] _ _ _ _ [D] Now for the 4 chord, [Am] I'm playing a 9th chord right here and I can do sliding 6ths here.
[D] _ _ _
_ [C#] _ _ Back to the 1 chord.
And then for the [G#] 5 chord, _ _ _ I've got an E9.
[Cm] But if you notice, what I did was I went _ _ F9 to E9, _ [A#] _ _ then _
_ _ _ [D#] _ _ Eb9 to D9 _ [Am] _ _ _ _ _
[D] _ [Em] _ _ and then I tagged [E] the 5. _
_ _ Okay, now the other _ rhythm option _ is _ the standard old _ blues rhythm.
[A] _ _
_ _ _ _ [G] _ [A] _ _ _
_ _ [G] _ [A] _ _ _ _ _
[G] _ [A] _ _ _ _ [G] _ _ [D] _
_ _ [G] _ [D] _ _ [G] _ [D] So [E] we had A, D and then we have an [A] E.
[E] _ _ _ And [A] you'll notice that when I go from the A _ up _ _ _ _ to the _ _ _ _ _ _ D_
_ _ [D] _ _ _
Notice I used [F] this finger as a guide finger.
_ _ And then same thing, when I went up to the E, _ _ _ if you don't have to move your fingers, don't move them.
Don't take them off [B] the fretboard.
Use them as guide fingers.
_ _ Okay, now let's do a little bit of lead. _ _ _ _
_ _ [D] I'm going to be [E] playing _ _ _
[D] in [A] _ _ _ minor pentatonic, A minor [E] pentatonic, [G#m] A major pentatonic.
[F#m] _ [E] _ _
[D] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ [E] _ [D] _ _ _ _ _ _
_ [C] _ _ [F#m] _ _ _ [A] _ _
[D] _ [C#] _ [G] _ [E] _ [D#] _ _ [Am] _ _
_ [Em] _ [A] _ _ _ _ _ [E] _
_ _ [C#] _ [N] _ Alright. _ _
_ _ So basically what I'm doing there is A minor _ pentatonic [C] 6th string root. _ _ _
[F#] _ _ _ _ I'm also _
[D] staying in A minor pentatonic.
[G] And _
[Em] _ [Am] _ [Bm] _ _ _ then I'm in A major pentatonic, back _ _
[C] _ _ _ to minor pentatonic.
You notice how the two, the major pentatonic and the minor pentatonic, [Bm] I'm connecting the two. _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ [Cm] _ _ [Bm] _ _
_ I [F] walk myself from one pentatonic to the other.
And these are things that you want to do, is try to find ways _ to connect _ the scales when you're playing in scales.
But, it's also important to _ think _ melodically more than you're thinking scales.
So I hope this helps you _ to _ polish up your version _ of Sweet Home Chicago.
_ And I'll be bringing you another lesson next week with another song. _