Chords for Suzy Q Guitar tech

_ [E] _ _ [A] _ _ [E] _ _ [Em] _
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_ _ _ [A] _ _ [E] _ _ _
[A] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
[E] _ _ [Em] _ _ _ _ [E] _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ Hi, Arlen Roth here.
Welcome to Gibson.com.
If you can't tell by now, or if you haven't heard it by now, I'm teaching the Suzy Q lick today.
This is a famous _ lick, particularly when it comes to _ keeping a constant bass on the bottom
of your lead notes on top.
_ _ James Burton, my good friend, he's the first one who played this.
He created this lick when he was probably 15 years old.
He was playing with Dale Hawkins, who was the one that had the first hit with it.
_ Many other people have played it over the years.
_ _ When I first saw James do it, at that point I was only aware of the John Fogerty version,
where John Fogerty _ just plays the notes themselves.
He doesn't use a constant bass, he [D] just goes.
_ _ _ [Em] _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ [E] _ Even on the [D] G string, _ _ [G] he just plays a straight A there.
He doesn't _ do any trills or [Ab] any bends.
_ [Fm] But James has a sophisticated _ _ _ [E] constant _ bass, where the heel of the hand is lightly stopping
it, getting you that [Em] damped Merle Travis type sound.
[Bb] _ _ _ [G] _ _ [A] _ _
_ [E] _ _ _ _ [Bb] _ [G] _ _
On that G [A] string, _ _ _ _ _ simultaneous with the bass note, you're doing a two note pull off, _ _ _ _ _ _ _ and
then plugging [Gm] again. _
[A] _ _ _ [D] _ _ [Em] _ _
He [Am] plays it in almost a jump [Gm] style. _ _
[E] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ [D] _ _ _ [E] _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ [G] _
[Em] _ _ _ [E] _ _ _ _ _
_ [Bm] _ _ Also a hammer on [F] there, onto your second fret of the A string.
[Bm] _ _ [G] _ _
Then a little bend _ _ on the low minor third, just to hint at the major third.
_ [E] _ _
_ [G] _ [E] _ _ _ _ _ _
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_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ [Em] _ _ [E] _ _
_ _ _ _ That's one where I walk down chromatically.
_ [A] _ [Em] _ _ _ _ _
_ _ [E] _ _ _ _ [A] _ _
[Em] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ [E] _ _
[Em] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ The _ _ _ _
[G] _ _ _ [E] _ _ _ _ _
_ _ real challenge to play that and continue soloing while keeping that _ bass, and it's
not _ a shuffle, not even eighth notes, just straight quarter [A] note. _
So it's bass and, [D] _ _ [G] _
_ [E] _ _ _ _ _ _ [Em] _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ [E] _ _ [D] _ _ [E] _
_ and when they get in close proximity, when you're down here, _ [A] _ [G] _ _ [E] don't be
afraid to keep that bass going.
_ _ _ _ _ [A] _
[Em] _ [E] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ [Em] _ _ A lot of folks don't realize that you really should be able to keep on bringing your lead
_ fingers, your lead note and lead guitar playing fingers all the way down, even to the low
strings to get the proper approach.
Too many people start using their thumb for everything.
In this case, the thumb or the flat pick is just already committed to that bass note,
so there's nothing you can do [Bb] about it.
_ [G] _ _ [E] _ [A] _ [D] _
_ [E] _ _ [Em] You've got that little bend on top.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
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_ _ [E] Let those three notes ring out [Bm] together.
_ [E] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ [G] _ _ [E] _ _ [Am] _
_ _ [E] _ _ _ [Em] _ _ _
_ _ _ [E] _ Your first tendency is going to be to play a bass note with every lick you [Em] play, _ _ _ _ _ like
that, because your hand won't yet have developed that separation.
But think of yourself as like, you know, a piano player, left hand, right hand, only
now the thumb is the left hand on the piano, and the rest of your fingers are the right hand. _
So, we've got a third hand here, doing the, playing the licks on the neck.
So that's the beautiful thing about guitar [D] also, you've got to get that rhythmic coordination
going with the right [Em] hand. _ _ _ _ _
[D] _ [Em] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ [A] Say I'm playing triplets or, or _ sixteenths over _ [Em] the_ _ _ _ _ _ _
See the first tendency is, _ _ grab everything, try to keep them separate. _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ [E] _ _ _ [B] The pull-offs really help you, they really help you buy that time. _ _
[G] _ [E] _ _ [A] _ [D] _ [E] _ Then you can build up [Bb] speed.
_ [Em] _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ [A] _ [E] _ _
_ _ _ [Am] _ _ _ _
So, alright, there's the traditional and great James Burton style of playing Suzie Q with
a little John Fogarty thrown in there too, because we don't want to forget John, he's
one of the greats too.
So Arlen Roth saying, see you out there again soon.
Thank you. _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ [N] _ _