Country Rock Legends - New Riders of the Purple Sage style

Michael Johnson >> Country Rock Legends >>


Teacher: Welcome class to our lesson on Country Rock Legends. This lesson will cover New Riders of the Purple Sage. New Riders of the Purple Sage actuaslly started in '69 with John Dawson and Jerry Garcia. They actually started what was coined "Cosmic Cowboy" sound. Phil Lesh and Micky Hart also played in the band. Of course those players would start the Grateful Dead. Check out the lesson samples of what you will learn. Lesson Sample - Lowband - 598k Lesson Sample - Highband - 1.2 Meg Teacher: Let's get started. Our first part will be a modified country-rock progression in C. Here's the rhythm. Part 1 - Rhythm Guitar Teacher: This rhythm steps outside of a typical 1, 4, 5 major country progression. Very common with modern country as well. Notice on C you have an alternating bass note. This is common in country rhtyhms. Next you have pickup notes that lead into F, which has the same alternating bass notes and back to C. The change shifts to Am, then C, G and E. So basically you play around with chords that are all related to the key of C. walker: do you bar the F? Teacher: You don't have to in this case Walker. Here's a jam track, load this file and practice over it, and we will later play licks over the progression. Looping Jam Track 1 - Lowband Teacher: Let's go over some country rock licks. Here's the first lick. Part 1 - Lick 1 Part 1 - Lick 1 Teacher: This licks use all triple-stop licks. These licks mimic the sound of a steel guitar. Notice how the 4th finger bars the 1st & 2nd strings, while the 3rd strings bends on the 3rd string (G). Jerry Garcia actually started with New Riders so he could practice playing steel guitar. Country and Country Rock players try to cross the sund of guitar and steel guitar at times. Also notice you are moving positions that related to the chords. For this lick you are basically changing Major Pentatonic positions that relate to the chords in the progression. Let's try another lick. Part 1 - Lick 2 Part 1 - Lick 2 Teacher: These licks are played over the Am portion of the progression. Starting with Am, then over C, G, and E. Playing over these chord changes can sound very melodic. The trick is to visualize the chord progression in your head and get use to changing the licks over the progression. If you have a hard time remembering the chords, write them down on a piece of paper. There is an open D note before the E. Notice the hammer-on in the E chord. The video will help as well to visualize the patterns. Also I need to point out that when playing C you play an ascending C Major Pentatronic scale. Here's the next lick. Part 1 - Lick 3 Part 1 - Lick 3 Teacher: This section of licks follow the chord progression playing all Maj 3rds & Min 3rds. Using these intervals add a pretty cool melodic sound. Notice how you bend some of the notes on the 2nd string. This section is played over the C section of the progression. Part 1 - Lick 4 Part 1 - Lick 4 Teacher: This lick jumps back iinto the triple-stops again. This time you play some variations on the lick theme we played in the previous triple-stop licks. In this lick you can see how you can create the steel guitar sound. For some reason triple-stops sound more like a steel guitar in the upper register of the neck. Here's our next lick. Part 1 - Lick 5 Part 1 - Lick 5 Teacher: This section follows the Am portion of the progression. rocknjosh: Hey teach what kind of an effects are you using to bring out that go twang sound besides just a clean tone. Teacher: Rock, I'm using a Tele through a slapback delay on a clean setting. It's pretty basic. walker: The key to the clean sound is the finger picking i bet, it doesn't sound as good when playing with a pick Teacher: Walker, great point. Yes the finger picking brings out the attack of the notes. Here's our next lick. Part 1 - Lick 6 Part 1 - Lick 6 Teacher: This lick uses the same formation of the triple-stops, but notice you play descending notes. It sounds very cool to mix playing the triple-stops and single-notes. Make sure you try playing these licks over the looping jam track. Here's the next lick. Part 1 - Lick 7 Part 1 - Lick 7 Teacher: Here are some common country licks that use the chord pattern. You're basically adding notes using hammer-ons and techniqes like that. Playing these alternation of the chords is easier than trying to move Major Pentatonic positions while the chords change. I need to point out The Eagles used a lot of these technique, especially in the early years and were influenced by New Riders, Poco, etc. So this lesson show some good fundamentals for the up coming Eagles lesson. Here's the next lick. Part 1 - Lick 8 Part 1 - Lick 8 Teacher: Here are more chord/lick combinations that are played over the Am section of the progression. Teacher: Any questions on the lesson? walker: thanks for the great lesson. Teacher: Yes, it will take some time to get use to playing over the chord changes. Well lessons over, so I will see you next week bones: thank you Teacher: bye! Hunter: Thanks, Michael	<< load notation from left
	<< load audio from left	<< load audio from left