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Johnny B. Good


daveinspain

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Learning the intro to Johnny B. Good... It's a b¡tch... I can finally play the whole intro fluidly at 130 bpm. Will I ever get to 168 bpm and be able to play it clean without messing it up?? Time will tell but never even thought I'd get it this far either. just sayin'....

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'Towards thee I roll, thou all-destroying but unconquering (riff); to the last I grapple with thee; from hell's heart I stab at thee; for hate's sake, I spit my last breath at thee...'

 

Yeah, I reckon you'll nail that sucker Dave. [thumbup]

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Practice, practice, practice...

 

Sadly there are no shortcuts.... If you wanna do it right, that's what it takes...

 

And im sure you will get there too [thumbup]

 

(I need to practice way more, got a bit lazy with my playing recently)

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I've never attempted to learn it "the right way". I just try to get the basic style and improvise. I've probably never played it the same way twice.

 

Keep working on it Dave and I'm sure you will eventually nail it.

 

I've posted this version before. We were jamming at a Memorial Day cookout back in 2009, and my old buddy Ed fired up his recorder halfway through. I don't think he realized it was even recording yet. Good times B)

 

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Funny!

 

We recently did a couple nights with a fill in guitar player. When Bass Player is tired singing he says JohnnyBGoode and away we go. I sing it and go around a few times with the break and the chorus and he gets a rest.

 

Fill In Guitar guy is like whaaaat? He does the song like Chuck Berry. We do it like I did it since back then, in G, none of the riffage Berry used. We got it from somewhere, somebody did it live I guess, and that's how I've always done it. We spent a good half a beer trying to figure out who covered it in the 70's that I got it from, but came up empty.

 

rct

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I've never attempted to learn it "the right way". I just try to get the basic style and improvise. I've probably never played it the same way twice.

 

Keep working on it Dave and I'm sure you will eventually nail it.

 

I've posted this version before. We were jamming at a Memorial Day cookout back in 2009, and my old buddy Ed fired up his recorder halfway through. I don't think he realized it was even recording yet. Good times B)

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1P5l8R2wpmc

 

I really enjoyed that video, thanks for posting it. Keep playing it your way, it works great.

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Anyone else interested... Check out this guys lesson, excellent!

 

 

Yeah! I would say he gets it right. That's pretty much what I try to do - though not nearly as precise (and not in Bb). Those descending Dorian notes make it pop. So does that bluesy little hammer on the the G string.

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Hey,daveinspain! I think you are wise to learn Berry's version... not only will faking it be easier but, you'll recognize those who have given it a thorough listen. Chuck's playing was truly groundbreaking on this and other songs. He once said that everything he played, he learned from T-Bone Walker. With that in mind, go listen to T-Bone. He wrote Stormy Monday but, everybody plays either the Allman Brothers version of it or Bobby "Blue" Bland's(the versions with the ascending minor chords). One of my mentors once told me,"Always learn the original version of a song; that way, you've got somewhere to jump from.". Wise advice from a wise man, that was. Good Luck with your quest... it takes a while but, you'll be a better player for it! Whatever you play or however you play it, take kidblast's advice and play it like you mean it!

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1473325215[/url]' post='1797924']

Learning the intro to Johnny B. Good... It's a b¡tch... I can finally play the whole intro fluidly at 130 bpm. Will I ever get to 168 bpm and be able to play it clean without messing it up?? Time will tell but never even thought I'd get it this far either. just sayin'....

Wow, tough song to learn. Wish I could play solos. On a scale of 1-5 one being easy songs and five being difficult I'm at 3. In three years now. I've ventured into 4 and learned some songs but get up to the solos and stop. Stairway to Heaven is one. I have a DVD that teaches it from Led Zeppelin that came in the music book and didn't think I'd ever learn what I know now. Sad is it's taken me 3 years. Sometime I'll take a stab at the solo but doubt I can do it. I've done some 4 star rated songs all the way through.

 

1473373083[/url]' post='1798055']

Don't worry, Dave. It's been butchered by sooooo many guys over the years no one will notice if it's not spot on. [biggrin]

Boy my wife knows. She knows piano and if I hit a wrong note she's in my room telling me all about it or tempo, she harps on me about that to. And she's never played guitar! Lol

 

1473373421[/url]' post='1798057']

Yeah! I would say he gets it right. That's pretty much what I try to do - though not nearly as precise (and not in Bb). Those descending Dorian notes make it pop. So does that bluesy little hammer on the the G string.

Hammer ons and hammer offs kill my pinky. I can do it for a song, maybe two if I'm lucky then that darn arthritis acts up and hurts like heck. The finger is crooked and has a large bump at the joint. Guess I'll never be as good as you guys here.

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And -

 

Original is sped up - Berry played it in A, slightly slower of course but Chess records sped it up as they thought (rightly) it would sell more.

 

Downstrokes; no alternate picking going on here.

 

Berry took lots from T-Bone (like everyone else) but also cited Lionel Hampton's jump bands as an influence, in his Guitar Player cover story way back when (late 1980s?).

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