Junior Parker's Love My Baby

Junior Parker's of course did the original version of Elvis Presley's  "Mystery Train."  If you listen to Junior Parker's version of 'Mystery Train" it is much slower in tempo than the Presley version. "Love my Baby" was the b side to Parker's "Mystery Train" and listening to the track it sounds like Presley, Scotty Moore and company may have taken the arrangement of "Love my Baby" and used it for "Mystery Train."  What Scotty Moore did not do as is widely claimed (look up Mystery
Train on Wikipedia) was borrow the riff from "Love my Baby" and use it on "Mystery Train."  Here is the transcription to "Love my Baby" and yes it is great rockabilly style track it does not have the same lick as "Mystery Train."

Happy birthday Bob Stinson

This is probably the only non rockabilly post I will put on here.  A few days late but happy birthday  to the greatest ever.  RIP.

Wanda Jackson's I wanna waltz

Here is the solo from Wanda Jackson's "I Wanna Waltz." This is a countryish style solo that I believe was likely played by Joe Maphis.  This song is interesting in the it alternates 4/4 time with 3/4 time.  It also showcases how strong a country singer Wanda Jackson was and in fact I prefer her country style singing to her more deliberate raw type of vocals.  This solo is relatively simple and easy but still quite effective.

Cliff Gallup Cruisin guitar solo 2

Here is the second guitar solo from Gene Vincent's Cruisin' with Cliff Gallup on guitar.   The most interesting part of the solo is the dissonant open string double stops in bars 5-6.  It seems like Cliff Gallups bag of tricks was pretty endless.

Vince Taylor's Brand New Cadillac

Sorry about not posting the other two Cruisin' solos.  I will get those up at some point but haven't had time to tab them out.  In the interim I thought I would post a tab of Vince Taylor's Brand New Cadillac.  This is a rare rockabilly track in a minor key.  As most of you probably know the Clash did a terrific version of this on the London Calling album and this has also been covered by the Brian Setzer Orchestra.  Thanks to Mark Barling who has written a great rockabilly tab book for some input and help into the solo.   Check out his book it has some great Johnny Burnett and Cliff Gallup tabs.

http://rockabillyguitarsolos.yolasite.com/

Cliff Gallup's Cruisin' Solo 1

Here's Cliff Gallup's outstanding first solo from Gene Vincent's "Cruisin."   This solo features his famous triplet pull off's and cool syncopated double stops over the IV (C chord).  I'm having a hard time distinguishing whether the chord in bar 10 stays on D or drops to C but this solo sounds okay when played either way.  If I get time I'll to put up the other two solo's over that course of the next week.

Scotty Moore's solo on Presley's Shake, Rattle and Roll

Here is a very cool solo from Scotty Moore on Elvis Presley's version of "Shake, Rattle and Roll."  This solo starts with some double stop pull offs.  There is also some Travis picking and a neat B6/9 arpeggiated run of over the B chord.

Danny Gatton's Drivin' Wheel Solo

Below is the first  solo by Danny Gatton on Robert Gordon's Live version of Drivin' Wheel.  The comes from an album call the Humbler which I believe unfortunately is out of print.  Here is a you tube link for the song.  I 'm pretty sure this is the same version and is available on an import album called Robert Gordon with Danny Gatton Live from Berkeley Square

This solo is not too difficult to play.  It features double stops alternating with open strings.  Anyway it's a pretty nice solo to have in your repertoire.  This solo is in E and follows a fairly standard 12 bar rockabilly format.

I'm Left, Your Right She's Gone verse picking

Here's a bonus holiday rockabilly guitar lesson. After this I probably will only post once a week. Here is the verse Travis style picking of Scotty Moore from "I'm Left, You're Right She's Gone." I think when most people think of rockabilly guitar,  most likely it is Scotty Moore's patented Travis Style picking that they think of.  Of course Scotty could do much more than Travis pick and some of his predominantly single note solos are pure genius (see Hound Dog's solo's, Hard Headed Woman, Shake Rattle and Roll etc).

Here is what I transcribed on the first verse to the best of my ability and to the limitations of the recording. Quoting Keith Richards "I'm Left She Right She's Gone-That one stills foxes me."

One thing to note is  that Scotty Moore does not typically alternate the same bass note for each chord like this:

He generally is more improvisational and rarely plays anything the same way, verse to verse, let alone measure to measure.

I've seen transcriptions like the above and I've also seen transcriptions where the bass note have been entirely omitted. I do think the bass notes are difficult to hear and likely frequently are overlapping with the slap bass but I believe he is playing them.

I am by no means a virtuoso on guitar but one thing I would recommend when playing rockabilly is to learn to play using a flat pick held between your thumb and first finger to play the bass notes and using you middle and ring finger to pick the higher string. Scotty, I believe predominantly used a thumb pick and songs like this will be easier to play if you use one as you will be able to use yourfirst finger to pick, but I believe a flat pick allows more versatility especially if you want to play single note solos in between the verses. Some people, Brian Setzer for example, tuck the pick up into their palm when they switch to finger picking.  This is too complicated for me and I think I  get better a "cluck" with the palm muting when I use a pick on the bass notes.

The first transcription is the first verse to the song to the best of my ability. After that I have included a "simplified" version. This version uses fairly strict and consistent alternating bass notes.  If you are new to this type of picking I would recommend learning this one first. Also if you were playing this live you might want to play a version like this as sort of you core template as it will be much easier to remember.  There are 4 measures of acoustic guitar before Scotty Moore comes in...

Easier version below:

As a bonus I included the first few measures of the second verse. This may sound familiar as John Fogerty borrowed this for Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Bad Moon Rising."

Johnny Burnette's Lonesome Train On a Lonsome Track Solo

Listening to a lot of 50's rockabilly, Johnny Burnette vocally stands head and shoulders above most of the fray.   In my opinion perhaps only Elvis, Gene Vincent, Buddy Holly and perhaps Eddie Cochran sang with the force and excitement he did. Listen to "Lonesome Tears in My Eyes" and you will see John Lennon learned alot from Johnny Burnette.  Of course Johnny Burnette, like Elvis and Gene, was fortunate to have phenomenal guitarist backing him up.    Although there is controversy surrounding it,  I think it is nearly universally accepted now that guitarist  was studio wiz Grady Martin and not Paul Burlison playing on the overwhelming majority of those classic Rockabilly Trio tracks.  Here is Grady Martin's solo on the Johnny Burnette track "Lonesome Train on a Lonesome Track."   After Scotty Moore and Cliff Gallup, Grady Martin may be the 3rd most influential rockabilly guitarist of that era despite  never really having received credit or recognition for playing on those tracks.

A couple of notes about the solo.  Note that the chord progression not a typical 12 bar blues.  Also the majority of the solo is in the G blues scale.  I had some difficulty figuring out exactly what was being played in bar 10 but I think what I transcribed is fairly accurate.

Grady Martin

Johnny Burette

Crazy Legs guitar solo

Since I just started I thought I would put up another tab and after Scotty Moore who next but the legendary Cliff Gallup. I think Cliff Gallup remains one of rock's greatest enigma's.  A technically proficient guitarist who played at breakneck speed who just as fast disappeared never to record rock music again.  Thank god we had him even for the short time he played with the great Gene Vincent.  This is the first solo from Crazy Legs.  The second solo is actually pretty similar to the first.  The first three notes are slightly muffled and the last few are sort of obscured by Gene's vocals.  So I did my best for those.  The thing I would note is that on the sliding double stops on bars 4 and 5, I play the slide with downstroke and the A note on the 7th fret with an upstroke.  I denoted this for the first slide.  You can play it how you like but I think its easier that way even if it deviates from strict alternate picking.

A couple things I'd like to add about the solo.  The lick over the D chord is a great classic lick that can be played over the IV in any key.  It's a great lick when you are jamming and can't think of something else  or need to come up with something fast. The great thing about it too is you can play it over the I chord as Cliff does in the second solo. This lick is included as one of the licks in the great rockabilly instruction video 50 rockabilly licks you must know by Jason Loughlin.

50 rockabilly licks you must know

Another interesting thing about this solo, at least the first few measures,  is how Chuck Berrry-esque it is at least compared to Cliff Gallups other solos.

I'm Left, Your Right, She's Gone solo

Scotty Moore and Cliff Gallup are in my opinion the 2 quintessential Rockabilly guitarists and probably about  75% of the classic rockabilly licks comes from them.  Here is my interpretation of the solo from "I'm Right, You're Left, She's Gone."  I'm pretty sure Scotty Moore plays the opening triads higher up on the neck, mainly on the B, G, and D strings  but I like to play them mainly on the E, B and G strings.  Either way they are the same notes and you can transpose them up the neck if you wish.

This solo combines classic Scotty Moore triads, Banjo roll picking, and Scotty's patented Travis style picking and some twang at the very end.   The descending lick at the end is great to throw over the V (B) when you are playing in E, which in Rockabilly is quite often.

Hopefully I'll post the majority of the rest of this song over the next several months.

New Rockabilly Guitar Lick Blog

One thing I've been struck by is the dearth of published Rockabilly licks.  Yes, there are some good instructional videos by Jason Loughlin, Paul Pigat, Jim Wieder, and Damian Bacci. But where do you go from there?   I don't purport to be an expert at Rockabilly guitar but have worked  my way through various rockabilly licks and guitar solos.  I will try to post at least one lick or solo per week.  I hope people will enjoy this site and learn something from it.  Please feel free to comment at any point especially if you feel a lick ins't quite correct or authentic.  Disclaimer: this blog is purely for educational purposes and dedicated keeping the art of Rockabilly guitar alive well into the 21st century.