Roots Rock Primer
BY JEFF MCERLAIN
Jeff McErlain is a New York City-based guitar
player, producer, songwriter, and educator. He
performs regularly in NYC and abroad with
his trio and blues band. Jeff has a number of
instructional DVDs available at TrueFire.com,
and he is a featured instructor for the National
Guitar Workshop. Jeff’s latest album, I’m Tired,
is available on i Tunes or at jeffmcerlain.com.
CHOPS: Advanced Beginner
THEORY: Intermediate
LESSON OVERVIEW:
• Learn how to play faux
open-G licks by retuning
only one string.
• Play a Texas shuffle à la
Stevie Ray Vaughan.
• Master the elements of
a “train beat.”
Iam a big roots-rock guy. To me, roots rock is a mix of blues, rock, country, honky
tonk, and a ton of attitude. There are lots
of open chords and strings ringing all over
the place, plus a few spilled beers. In this
month’s lesson, we’re going to look at a few
Americana-influenced blues licks that you
will be able to get under your fingers quickly
and use on the next Tuesday night blues jam.
Two of my favorite players in this genre
are David Grissom and Eddy Shaver. For
Grissom, I’d suggest Joe Ely’s Live at Liberty
Lunch and any of his solo records. He is a
master of this style. Unfortunately, Eddy
Shaver (Billy Joe Shaver’s son) passed away
in 2000, but not without leaving us some
great recordings. I highly suggest Billy’s
Unshaven: Live at Smith’s Olde Bar. Man,
that guy could play and what a tone.
The lick in Fig. 1 uses a neat tuning trick
I picked up from ZZ Top’s “Jesus Just Left
Chicago.” We’re in the key of G, which is a
great key for open strings because the 2nd,
3rd, and 4th strings are a G chord. Note:
To get a full low G that has some ring to it,
I’ve lowered the 5th string down to G. This
makes this lick a breeze to play and empha-
sizes all those open strings. Dropped-G tun-
ing offers some of the benefits of full open
G tuning, yet soloing is much easier because
your top four strings stay in standard tuning.
Fig. 1
Tuning: E-G-D-G-B-E
Fig. 1
Click here to hear
sound clips of
these examples.
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