ockabilly music is an exciting, purely American art form that emerged in the SOSand swept away teens with

its high-octane rhythms. Guitarists such as

Scatty Moore (with Elvis Presley) and Cliff Gallup (with Gene Vincent), along with Carl Perkins, created a style as popular today as it was 30 and even 40 years ago. The original rockabilly guitarists played semi-hollow

Gretsches and Guilds, but our lesson works on any ax that suits you. An important part of the rockabilly sound electronically generated

is slapback echo-an

single repeat that immediately follows the original note. Slapback was first produced in the recording studio using tape echo, but you can duplicate it with an inexpensive digital or analog delay unit. Adjusting for the tempo of the

BYSTEVE TBBVATO

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song, set your delay to produce a single repeat of about 100milliseconds. Make sure the second note is about the same volume as the first. For an example of this technique listen to Elvis Mystery Bain from the famous Sun sessions. To avoid getting confused, learn the music thoroughly before experimenting with slapback. Playing the notes staccato will bring out the echo clearly. It sounds great on both rhythm and lead guitar parts. Hot Roddin Boogie is a 12-bar blues shuffle in E Its presented in two sections. Rx, 1 is the rhythm and Ex 2 is a guitar solo filled with essential rockabilly ideas; Ex. 2 is designed to be played over EX 1. To hear how the solo sounds in context, record Ex. 1 or having a friend play it, then play Ex. 2 against it. This is important because although the licks arent difficult, their rhythmic placement is essential to achieving a classic rockabilly sound. Ex. 1 is a typical single-note rhythm-guitar riff-a boogie-woogie bass line with a pedal tone on the upper tonic note. Carl Perkins popularized this lick in such songs as Blue Suede Shoes, Matchbox, and Honey Dont. Mute the strings slightly with the heel of your picking hand and use strict alternate picking, beginning with a downstroke. Watch for the slight variation in measures 4,8, and 12,where the @comes around. Measures 9 and 10 are tricky because of the wider skips to the pedal tone on the third string. For the second ending Ive included a classic rockabilly tag that uses an E6/9 chord. Our Ex 2solobegins with a third-string Bbto Bhslide followed by adouble-stop ontheopenfirst andsecond strings. Thislick repeats five times andmoves across two measures. Wait ahalf-beatbefore beginning thephrase, asindicatedby the eighth-note restat the startof measure 1. Measures 3 and4 containtwo half-step slides up to an E triad. Rhythmicplacement is crucialin this simple lick thatsheardall overrockabilly recordings. Measures 5 and6, also in theopenposition,containanother simple phrase with akiller 50s sound. Measures 7-9,in twelfthposition, containmorehalf-step double-stop slides. Measures lo-12movebackdownto the openpositionfor a series of double-stops anda classic rockabillyguitarfinale. Use a clean, twangytonewith lotsof reverb.Practice eachsection slowly until youfeelcomfortable beforeworkingup to thesuggested tempo. n Whenyou cannail the wholetune at J = 144, pull onyour white bucks, slickbackyour hair,andgetreadyto knock emdead!

Ex. 1 (Rhythm)
Shuffle J=144 1

E7

A7

E7

B7

-$-,j

-,+

-34

q-

-4

-i+

.
26 HOW TO PLAY GUITAR / ROCK I

HOT RODDIN'BOOGIE

WmiS..&

%=X3

Il.

112.

E7

E7

E6/9

Ex. 2 (Solo)
Shuffle ;j=144

E7

A7

E7

B7

Musicians Institute educator Steve Tkovato has written 15 instruction books for Warner Bros. and has produced an instructional video, Country Rock Soloing, for REH Publications. Steve has performed with Albert Lee, Robben Ford, Albert Collins, and Scott Henderson, and hes also a lecturer in the studio jazz guitar department at the University of Southern California.

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