Chords for Is it just a "German Gretsch"? Let's check out this Duesenberg Starplayer 3

_ _ [D] _ _ _ _ [A] _ _
[Am] _ _ _ [E] _ _ [Em] _ _ _
_ [B] _ _ [G] _ [D] _ _ [Am] _ _
_ [D] _ _ _ [G] _ _ _ [F] _
_ [G] _ _ _ _ _ [F#] _ _
[G] _ _ _ Hey, welcome back to Every Note Counts.
Today we're going to check out the Duesenberg Starplayer III.
Let's get into it.
[E] _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ [N] _ _
So if you're familiar with Duesenberg guitars at all, you're probably familiar with the Starplayer TV.
And the main difference between that guitar and this one is that this has a flat top.
It does not have the arch top like the Starplayer TV does.
Other than that, just like the Starplayer TV, it has the P90 in the neck and the humbucker
in the bridge.
The humbucker is called a Grand Vintage humbucker, and according to Duesenberg, it's classically wound.
So I'm assuming that means lower output.
The P90 in the neck is called a Domino P90, and I really like how it sounds.
Just a little bit hotter single coil.
And we'll get to check that out here in just a minute.
This is a semi-hollow guitar with a sustain block.
Duesenberg says that this is a D-shaped neck, but it just feels like a modern C to me.
So it might be D-shaped.
I think they know what they're talking about, but it doesn't feel like a drastic departure
from what I'm used to in the world of Fender.
It does feel a little bit wider, but not in an uncomfortable way.
It has 22 frets.
They are jumbo.
The top is a laminated spruce top.
The back is supposed to be flamed maple.
Mine doesn't have a very strong flamed presence, but I have seen some that have a much better flamed appearance.
Obviously you have the F-hole on the front.
These [E] tuners are called Z-tuners, and they're in an Art Deco style. _ _
And you can see that little sticker there.
That's a date for when I last changed the strings and what kind of strings I used, so
I can keep track of when to rotate the strings on this guitar.
It's just a little piece of painter's tape, but it helps me keep track of what strings
are fresh and what strings are not. Steel saddles.
Duesenberg trim system.
Three-way selector switch.
_ _ Let's get into the sounds.
Alright, so let's hear that Domino P-9 knee and the neck.
[D] _ _ _ _ [Bm] _ _
[A] _ _ _ [G] _ _ _ _ _
[D] Switching to the middle position.
_ _ _ [Bm] _ [D] _
_ _ _ [G] _ _ _ _ _
Humbucker in [D] the bridge.
_ _ _ [Bm] _ _
[D] _ _ _ [G] _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ Gonna use the Protein by Brown Amplification.
Throw a little bit of Grid on top.
Okay, so here's [Am] the neck pickup clean. _
[G#] Here it is with the blue side of the [Am] Protein.
_ _ _ Alright, I'm gonna switch between clean and dirty.
Here's clean.
_ Here's dirty. _
In a nutshell, they're just a little bit on top now.
I'm also gonna throw on the green side, so here's the green side added to the blue.
_ Blue. _
Green.
_ [A] That's both of them together, green and blue. _
[C] _ _ _ _ _ _ [Am] _ _
_ _ _ [A] Here's middle.
_ [C] _ _
_ [Em] _ _ [D] _ [Am] _ _ _ _
Here's bridge.
_ [Em] _ _ [C#m] _ _
_ _ [Am] _ _ _ _ _
[C] Hey, so I wanted to record something real quick just about the intro riff that I did
with the chords and the lead work.
There's gonna be a different sound now because I'm using a different microphone.
I'm literally just gonna pick this up with the lapel for both my voice and the amp, so
it's gonna sound a little different.
_ But what I did was I would establish a chord tone _ almost every measure.
The last measure I split, I used two chords instead of one.
[G] But I would hit a chord and then I would do lead work.
_ _ Stuff like that.
So the progression was G major, _ _ [Am] A minor, _ _ E [Em] minor, _ _ [Bm] then I went to B minor, _ _ _ [Am] A minor, and
[G] then G major to F [F] major, _ resolve [G] back to G.
_ So it was like this.
1, 2, 3, [Am] 4, 1, 2, 3, 4, [Em] 1, 2, 3, [Bm] 4, 1, 2, 3, 4, [Am] 1, 2, 3, [G] 4, 1, [F] 2, 3, [Gm] 4, 1.
[G] _ And on the major there.
Why did I go to minor? _
_ So I established the chord sound with the 1 of each measure, and then the rest of the
measure was dedicated to lead work.
1.
_ _ _ _ [Am] And then I'd go to another chord.
1.
_ [G] _ _ [Em] _ _ _
_ _ And I would treat each [F] chord location as its own lily pad, if you will, and then play the
pentatonic box slash major scale box _ section [G] that sits over it.
So these are the different lily pads, if you will, for each of the locations.
So here it is for G.
_ _ _ [Em] Here it is for A minor.
[Am] _ _
_ And then I played box 4 for this E minor. _
_ _ _ _ But I hit the [E] open E string for a little bit extra [Em] depth.
_ _ [Am] B minor, _ _ A minor, oh sorry, B [Bm] minor, _ [Am] A minor, _ [G] G major, _ [Em] F [F] major, _ resolved to the [G] G major. _ _ _
And so that's basically the progression, and then I just added segments from the pentatonic
scale and the major scale over each one of those starting and stopping points.
[C] So it gives a sense of intention as you create a chord tone that you then play over and then
transition to another thing, and it helps prevent the sound of mindless noodling because
it sounds like you have a destination to go to for the next chord.
Or it sounds like you're ending a phrase that needs to resolve, and you then resolve into another chord.
So that's a fun approach that I'll probably talk more about just because it's my favorite
thing to talk about.
If you don't want to hear about it anymore though, let me know in the comments.
Thanks for watching, let me know what you think of the Duesenberg in the comments below,