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How to play Johnny B. Goode?
- Thread starter MichelD
- Start date
Do you carry your bass in a gunny sack? Can you strum to the rhythm that the drivers make? Do you know what drivers are? Most importantly, does your audience enjoy your rendition of JBG?? If so, then you are playing it correctly! I know it is a classic, even a Holy Relic to some, but if you are a musician and not a recording device and you are playing it in a fashion that to your mind honors the original and its composer, then you have done well. Like any true classic it can easily shine like the Sun whether you make it your own or copy the master.
Played that one a bazillion times and I've never played it the same way once. All keys, different tempos. The absolute "correct" way to play that one, however, is precisely the way I play it each time.
- Oct 22, 2015
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My band opened for CB in about 1988 at the Duck Room at Blueberry Hill in St. Louis, where he performed monthly for years.
He could barely play JBG (or anything else in his repertoire for that matter), much less play it right. And he didn't give a poopie either way.
That would have been disappointing enough, but we as the opening band were forbidden to see, talk to, or approach Chuck Berry in any way. This is a tiny club, seats maybe a couple hundred if that many.
There is much more I could say about him as a person, but my momma taught me not to speak ill of the dead.
He could barely play JBG (or anything else in his repertoire for that matter), much less play it right. And he didn't give a poopie either way.
That would have been disappointing enough, but we as the opening band were forbidden to see, talk to, or approach Chuck Berry in any way. This is a tiny club, seats maybe a couple hundred if that many.
There is much more I could say about him as a person, but my momma taught me not to speak ill of the dead.
^ Goes towards my theory that he "clammed" JBG on the recording by doing the quick 4 in the intro?
Yup. Just like Mustang Sally. Everyone half-asses their way through it and then blames the ensuing mess on the song.Among the more slaughtered tunes in rock and roll history, speaking as one of the slaughterers!
That makes sense. Those Chess Studios musicians were jazz guys.
If you come from a rock background, it's a very good exercise to play 12 bar rock/blues in Bb, Eb and F.
Hi,
I'd played this song in A since day one. I did this only because all the guitar players I worked with played and sang it in that key. Therefore I always played it and sang it in that key. Just a couple of years ago we were working New Years Eve at Disney's California Adventure (Cars Land) and Stan Freese, who before his retirement was the Talent Casting & Booking Director at Disney, sat in with us on harp to play that song. He brought his Bb harp because that was the record key. I had no clue. Here's Stan with the KRB from Dec. 31, 2014.
Yes, I got to sing "Johnny B. Goode". I don't get to do that one very often. And I'd never done it in Bb.
Thank you for your indulgence,
BassCliff
I'd played this song in A since day one. I did this only because all the guitar players I worked with played and sang it in that key. Therefore I always played it and sang it in that key. Just a couple of years ago we were working New Years Eve at Disney's California Adventure (Cars Land) and Stan Freese, who before his retirement was the Talent Casting & Booking Director at Disney, sat in with us on harp to play that song. He brought his Bb harp because that was the record key. I had no clue. Here's Stan with the KRB from Dec. 31, 2014.
Yes, I got to sing "Johnny B. Goode". I don't get to do that one very often. And I'd never done it in Bb.
Thank you for your indulgence,
BassCliff
Sweet! Yeah rock guitarists tend to live in the keys of A, E & G. I'd rather hear a tune like that called in Bb or Eb.Hi,
I'd played this song in A since day one. I did this only because all the guitar players I worked with played and sang it in that key. Therefore I always played it and sang it in that key. Just a couple of years ago we were working New Years Eve at Disney's California Adventure (Cars Land) and Stan Freese, who before his retirement was the Talent Casting & Booking Director at Disney, sat in with us on harp to play that song. He brought his Bb harp because that was the record key. I had no clue. Here's Stan with the KRB from Dec. 31, 2014.
Yes, I got to sing "Johnny B. Goode". I don't get to do that one very often. And I'd never done it in Bb.
Thank you for your indulgence,
BassCliff
Bb and F are always popular when playing with horns. Eb as well, but not so good for a 4 banger bass.
Playing upright I pretty much had to learn to play in those keys down in first position. Eb is ok. You just need to find different ways to play those boogie woogie patterns.
Kinda funny, one of my bands tunes Eb but a horn player that sits in has a C trumpet so we do tunes with him after we tune back up - playing a gig Friday. Had two rehearsals today, went over JBG with both
.
I was trying to cop this guitar riff a while back so I listened to the original recordings. Seemed chuck himself never played it the same way twice.
While the original has a rags to riches upbeat theme Tosh's version is dark and brooding. It's a great twist on a classic. But then, I'm a huge PT fan.
Reminds me of an interview with Elvis' guitarist Scotty Moore:
Your solos with Elvis are legendary. Were they completely off the cuff or did you have some idea of what you were going to do?
“No, they were completely off the cuff, I never sat down and played the same thing twice. You might get a bass riff or something, as a hook for the song, but the solos were strictly ad lib. Even now I’ll go back and I can’t play note for note what I played then; I can get the general feel of it but I can never go back and hit it note for note. It just doesn’t feel right.”
I think there some apples and oranges here. There's a difference between knowing a song, but arranging it differently versus not really knowing it and hacking your way through. If I change keys to accommodate a singer, no problem. If I change tempo or maybe add another chorus to accommodate an dancing audience, no problem. If some guitarist has never learned the song, hacks his way through, and then gets pissy because you don't play it exactly like he does because "everyone he knows plays it that way", that's a problem.
