Boxsons

Chuck Berry is, without a doubt, the most influential and imitated rock guitarist. It’s arguable that Rock and roll was born with Chuck Berry. whether it’s the opening lick from the Beach Boy’s ” Surfin’ U.S.A.” or the guitar riff from Michael J. Fox’s “Back to The Future” movie, Chuck Berry’s guitar style is instantly recognizable.

His hit songs of the late 1950s and early 1960s not only defined rock guitar, they defined the form and content of early rock and roll music. Berry’s hit “Johnny B.Goode” is one of the most popular rock songs of all time.

Here are three tips to help you play authentic Chuck Berry style rock guitar.

Tip 1: Learn the twelve bar blues song form in all keys.

Many of Chuck Berry’s hits were in the twelve bar blues format, an example in the key of G would be:

G///|G///|G///|G///|C///|C///|G///|G///|D///|D///|G///|G///||

Johnny B.Goode is played using this format. the interesting thing about Chuck Berry is that he is known for simply walking out on stage and playing his songs in different keys each night … this definitely keeps his backing band on their toes.

To be able to play along with Chuck’s songs it’s important to be able to play the blues in all keys, for example you may have a version of Johnny B.Goode recorded in Bb, and your friend may have a version of the same song recorded on a different date when Chuck decided to play the song in the key of F.

Of course this keeps the songs interesting for Chuck who has been playing the same songs for many years, however it can be tricking if you don’t recognize the unique sound qualities of each individual key.

Here’s some more examples in a variety of popular keys:

F///|F///|F///|F///|Bb///|Bb///|F///|F///|C///|C///|F///|F///||

Bb///|Bb///|Bb///|Bb///|Eb///|Eb///|Bb///|BB///|F///|F///|Bb///|Bb///||

C///|C///|C///|C///|F///|F///|C///|C///|G///|G///|C///|C///||

Tip 2: Learn the blues scale in each key

Chuck Berry’s lead guitar style is based on the blues scale an example of the blues scale in the key of G would be: G, Bb, C, Db, D, F.

Chuck who use this basic blues scale and often make slight variation for musical effect depending on the song Chuck would either play blues scale with an added 2nd resulting in this hybrid “G” blues scale:

G, A, Bb, C, Db, D, F.

Berry would also play his same scale , with an added harmony note a forth below the melody note resulting in a scale played in double stops.

example of descending hybrid blues scale in key of G using double stops:

melody note = Bb, harmony note = F // melody note = A, harmony note = E // melody note = G, harmony note = D etc.

Tip 3: boogie-woogie bass patterns

Berry created his trademark rhythm guitar sounds by adding in the 6th and flattened 7th notes.

Instead of playing a whole bar of a eight note rhythm based on a single major chord, Chuck Berry would break up the sound be adding a major sixth chord on the third and seventh eight notes. This would lock into the snare drum beat and provide a solid rock beat.

example of boogie-woogie rhythm in the key of G shown as eigth notes (eight notes to a single bar), counted 1&2&3&4& = 1 bar, when counting in this manner the major sixth chord occurs on the 2 and 4.