The root of rockabilly is a strong swinging rhythmic comping. With a swing beat, alternate between the 5th and 6th notes against the I, IV, and V chords. This example can be applied to any key. Here we are in the key of E major. Brian Setzer is the master of this type of swing rhythm. Listen to Rumble in Brighton, Rock this Town, and This Cat's on a Hot Tin Roof. Now, put on your leopard skin jacket, jell up your hair in a pompadoor, and, as always, have fun.

Many artists have been inspired by the rythmic lead style of Chuck Berry. The Beach Boys used this style in many of their songs. This example starts in Eb with a Chuck Berry style lead and follows with a basic blues bass pattern in Bb and Eb.

Most of us know the basic 12 bar blues. This example is in E (I,IV,V) or (E, A, B7) Now, to add a rockabilly flavor to this 12 bar blues, we need to add some vibe. The first example uses hammer on bass notes to lead into each chord. Scotty Moore made this style popular for Elvis Presley with the song Blue Christmas. Also, listen to the latest versions of Blue Christmas by Brian Setzer and Chris Isaak (just too cool!)

Jerry Lee Lewis doesn't play guitar. At least not that I know of. But I love to watch videos of him in the excitement of playing some of those rock'n tunes and see him rip down the keyboard. No particular notes. Just take his fingers and rip. We can do the same with guitar. In this example, we have a basic boogie bass run over E, A, and B. But notice in between that I rip down the fretboard from the 9th fret (to match the E) and the 7th fret (to match the A) . It doesn't have to be perfect. You can actually do it from practically any fret and it still sounds cool. In the...

The verse is mainly a boogie rhythm pattern with lots of embelishments, slides, and arpeggios. In the 5th and 6th bar, slide from a Dsus4/E chord to a Gsus4/A chord. In the 7th and 8th bars there is a signature Setzer lick made famous by the Stray Cat Strut but can also be heard in This Cat's on a Hot Tin Roof In the 9th and 10th bar, more boogie patterns. Then finish off by sliding in and out of an F9 chord. My suggestion is to learn the basic chord progressions in this song then play your own licks in the Rockabilly style. Have fun!

This walk down blues intro can be found in many of Brian Setzer's songs. Setzer uses this lick as the intro to such songs as This Cat's on a Hot Tin Roof and as the lead in to solos on Rock This Town and 49 Mercury Blues. This is a simple walk down using a basic blues pentatonic in C major then end with an abbreviated G7 chord right before the main verse. Have fun!

In this lesson, I will explore the very basics of playing slide guitar including types of guitar slides, how to hold the slide, and sliding techniques . The following diagram illustrates sliding up and down on notes of a bar C major chord and G major chord as explainded in the video. Vary sliding in and out of notes over the chords.

This rapid fire blues/swing played over the F7 chord is common to many of Brian Setzer's songs. Listen to the introduction to This Cat's on a Hot Tin Roof. This lick is a usefull tool for any guitar player's bag of tricks. Also, take a listen to the Lynrd Skynrd song - I know a Little Bit. Have fun!

This surf style from Dick Dale has a strong Spanish feel with pentatonic melody patterns. The progression is centered around A, G, and F but adds some 7 under tones and ends with A minor. The first tab and video will allow you to master the basic melody pattern and chords. In the second video, I simply add some picking sweeps to accentuate the melody. A great example of this style is "Let's Go Trippin" by Dick Dale. Come on, nobody went trippin in the 60's, or did they?

A common ingredient in surf music is a repeating melody with a heavy reverb. In this example, we transition from A minor to F major arpeggio melodies. Then, a turn-around on E major ending with a return to A minor and a slight dive and vibrato on the tremolo bar. This style was used often by the Ventures, Dick Dale, and the Surfaris

This is one of Brian Setzer's signature licks. It has a sort of hot rod rev sound. The notes are easy but the timing is a little tricky. It takes some practice to play Listen to the intro to This Cat's on a Hot Tin Roof and Smokin' N Burnin' Have fun!

Here is a simple surf song in the key of E utilizing both bass runs and rythm chords. Play with a very upbeat swing feel to give it that rockabilly feel.

Hot Rod Rockabilly is a more rock and roll version of the basic rockabilly style. Add some distortion with a rock beat to hot rod your Rockabilly.

This little riff rings of Elvis Presley. So many Elvis songs included some version of this riff that it is often used to introduce Elvis impersonators. Have fun learning this little jingle. It is almost considered a rockabilly requirement.

A good place to start in playing slide guitar in standard tuning is learning where the major chords are along the neck of the guitar. Practice sliding in and out of individual notes of the major chord patterns in all positions on the next. This will prepare you for constructing some simple blues slide progressions. The following tab provides examples of sliding the notes of the major chords. You should practice improvising this technique in order to develop your own personal style.

Let's play some blues slide. In the lesson about playing slide over major chords, I demonstrated sliding in and out of notes over major chords throughout the neck of the guitar. Now, lets put some of those chords together to play a simple 8 bar blues progression in G major. You don't need to play the exact notes illustrated in the tab. Playing slide is more improvisation than exact technique. Experiment with sliding in and out of the notes of the chords and develop your own style of sliding.

Rockabilly finger picking goes back to the days of Scotty Moore and Carl Perkins. Scotty Moore, who played for Elvis Presley, had a unique style of alternating picking between bass notes and chords. This lesson explores the finger picking style called Travis Picking.

The whammy bar is typically used for creating a vibrato effect. It can also be used to create dives on notes or chords that are not possible without it. This lesson illustrates use of the whammy bar to create whole step dives for a rockabilly intro.

Surf music just doesn't pick up a good vibration without vibrato. You have to be careful with vibrato though. You don't want to over do things. After all, you will be using quite a bit of reverb on your amplifier with an echo effects module. I prefer hollow body guitars with a Bigsby style tremolo. The touch is lighter and works great for a light vibrato effect. A solid body guitar with a Stratocaster style tremolo will work as well. When playing surf ballads, you should use vibrato lightly on most chords. When playing faster surf rock songs, however, it's a good i...

Playing the same rockabilly bass rythm patterns over and over can become very boring. In this lesson I illustrate how to mix up the patterns to add some spice. This also helps to lead into vocals or instrumentals.

Christmas music is always fun to play. It's even more fun if you come up with your own versions of old classics. In this lesson, I explore taking a simple Holiday song, Jingle Bells, and adding my own Rockabilly flare to it. I simply added a bass run into C major chords as the intro and outro. Then added sliding chords to build the melody with a swing beat and lots of echo. Try my version of Jingle Bells. I hope it inspires you to get adventurous and try coming up with some of your own. Happy Holidays !

Open G tuning is very popular for playing blues slide. This lessons shows how to tune the guitar to open G, the positions of major chords on the neck of the guitar, and how to play some basic slides over notes of each major chord.

Carl Perkins can be considered the father of Rockabilly and maybe even Rock and Roll itself. He has influenced generations of artists including Scotty Moore, John Fogerty, Eric Clapton, Paul McCartney, Albert Lee, and Brian Setzer. This Rockabilly finger picking riff is an example of a style that would launch the early Rock and Roll craze in the 50's. The riff is in the key of A on the 5th fret. I have labeled the notation with the fingers that I use to pick each note. Play around with this and use the fingers that feel most comfortable to you. This style is also...

Open E tuning is probably one of the most popular tunings for playing blues slide. Two of my favorite guitarist that use this tuning are Derek Trucks and Johnny Winters. In this lesson, I explore playing a very simple 8 bar blues progression in E using open E tuning.

The surf ballad was created for walks on the beach, holding hands, and, please excuse me, the back seat of my 68 Dodge Swinger. This song style is just cool. After a long run of great rock songs, it is relaxing to break into a slow dance with a surf ballad. This example is in the key of B with chord progressions of B, G#m7, C#m7, and F#. Pick the notes of each chord, as in the notation, muting with the palm of your hand. A medium echo effect will add to the surf ambience. Have fun !!!!

These 7 lessons take you through varying blues slide techniques, with different tunings.

This tutorial features Rockabilly licks and rhythm patterns in different difficulty level. Start with the beginners lessons and give a try to the more advanced ones once you are comfortable.

The whammy bar is typically used for creating a vibrato effect. It can also be used to create dives on notes or chords that are not possible without it. This lesson illustrates use of the whammy bar to create whole step dives for a rockabilly intro.

Hot Rod Rockabilly is a more rock and roll version of the basic rockabilly style. Add some distortion with a rock beat to hot rod your Rockabilly.

Playing the same rockabilly bass rythm patterns over and over can become very boring. In this lesson I illustrate how to mix up the patterns to add some spice. This also helps to lead into vocals or instrumentals.

Carl Perkins can be considered the father of Rockabilly and maybe even Rock and Roll itself. He has influenced generations of artists including Scotty Moore, John Fogerty, Eric Clapton, Paul McCartney, Albert Lee, and Brian Setzer. This Rockabilly finger picking riff is an example of a style that would launch the early Rock and Roll craze in the 50's. The riff is in the key of A on the 5th fret. I have labeled the notation with the fingers that I use to pick each note. Play around with this and use the fingers that feel most comfortable to you. This style is also...

Getting the Rockabilly Sound The rockabilly sound is fairly easy to achieve with gear that will not break your wallet. The following gear suggestions will get you well on your way to sounding like Brian Setzer or Scotty Moore. The practice is up to you. Suggested Gear ...

Here is a simple surf song in the key of E utilizing both bass runs and rythm chords. Play with a very upbeat swing feel to give it that rockabilly feel.

Surf music just doesn't pick up a good vibration without vibrato. You have to be careful with vibrato though. You don't want to over do things. After all, you will be using quite a bit of reverb on your amplifier with an echo effects module. I prefer hollow body guitars with a Bigsby style tremolo. The touch is lighter and works great for a light vibrato effect. A solid body guitar with a Stratocaster style tremolo will work as well. When playing surf ballads, you should use vibrato lightly on most chords. When playing faster surf rock songs, however, it's a good i...

Christmas music is always fun to play. It's even more fun if you come up with your own versions of old classics. In this lesson, I explore taking a simple Holiday song, Jingle Bells, and adding my own Rockabilly flare to it. I simply added a bass run into C major chords as the intro and outro. Then added sliding chords to build the melody with a swing beat and lots of echo. Try my version of Jingle Bells. I hope it inspires you to get adventurous and try coming up with some of your own. Happy Holidays !

This little riff rings of Elvis Presley. So many Elvis songs included some version of this riff that it is often used to introduce Elvis impersonators. Have fun learning this little jingle. It is almost considered a rockabilly requirement.

Many artists have been inspired by the rythmic lead style of Chuck Berry. The Beach Boys used this style in many of their songs. This example starts in Eb with a Chuck Berry style lead and follows with a basic blues bass pattern in Bb and Eb.

The surf ballad was created for walks on the beach, holding hands, and, please excuse me, the back seat of my 68 Dodge Swinger. This song style is just cool. After a long run of great rock songs, it is relaxing to break into a slow dance with a surf ballad. This example is in the key of B with chord progressions of B, G#m7, C#m7, and F#. Pick the notes of each chord, as in the notation, muting with the palm of your hand. A medium echo effect will add to the surf ambience. Have fun !!!!

Surf music came around when rock music was a melting pot of many different styles. This surf lick from Dick Dale is a prefect example of borrowing styles. A strong western influence can be heard here. This lick sounds very much like the song Ghost Riders in the Sky written in 1948 by Stan Jones. This example is in the key of E minor and follows a blues pentatonic scale pattern. This style can be heard on Dick Dale songs such as Tidal Wave and Dick's own version of Ghost Riders in the Sky.

This is a Brian Setzer style pattern. It is just a simple bass run that can be done in any key. Mute the strings with the palm of your hand. Start lightly and build stronger as you progress.

Rockabilly finger picking goes back to the days of Scotty Moore and Carl Perkins. Scotty Moore, who played for Elvis Presley, had a unique style of alternating picking between bass notes and chords. This lesson explores the finger picking style called Travis Picking.

Surf music evolved in the mid to late 60's. Many of the surf sounds borrowed from the earlier sounds of rock and roll in the 50's. Much like rockabilly, surf uses heavy echo effects and similar upbeat rythms. This example is the very basic surf rythm that would be used by Jan and Dean, the Ventures, the Beach boys, and many others including the Beatles. Early Beatles songs such as All My Lovin and I want to Hold Your Hand have a very surf rythm sound. This example is in the key of A minor but uses all barred major chords.

A common ingredient in surf music is a repeating melody with a heavy reverb. In this example, we transition from A minor to F major arpeggio melodies. Then, a turn-around on E major ending with a return to A minor and a slight dive and vibrato on the tremolo bar. This style was used often by the Ventures, Dick Dale, and the Surfaris

This surf style from Dick Dale has a strong Spanish feel with pentatonic melody patterns. The progression is centered around A, G, and F but adds some 7 under tones and ends with A minor. The first tab and video will allow you to master the basic melody pattern and chords. In the second video, I simply add some picking sweeps to accentuate the melody. A great example of this style is "Let's Go Trippin" by Dick Dale. Come on, nobody went trippin in the 60's, or did they?