Chordplay - The Chords of ZZ Top

[Music] they'd ever seen during episode of corn Plains the quartz is easy town and of course we're only talking about the legendary Billy Gibbons and it looks like a lot of you on social media are checking out the ZZ Top documentary that came out last year and of course 2019 they celebrated their 50th anniversary which is really cool and it's easy top stuff no legendary popular you know phenomenal band very gritty and bluesy and just swampy and I mean there's all this you know great energy coming from their music and Billy's a legend I mean he's an absolute you know electric guitar legend he has early connections with Hendrix you know kind of met him backstage I think that a show in Texas and actually Jimmy gave him Stratocaster famously and there's a kind of a rumor that Billy Gibbons used his pink strat that was a gift from Hendrix in the studio on a lot of ZZ Top's music and even though he has you know a huge you know massive guitar collection there have been several people that have come in that he kind of secretly uses that guitar in the studio he doesn't really tour with it because it's used and abused and all scratched up but digging around on the internet and see if you can find you know stories about Billy Gibbons and the pink strat that was a gift from Jimi Hendrix that's a cool story I just shared that image you know with some album cover artwork and for those of you watching this that haven't heard for their first album it was easy tops first album you have to check that out you know I was exposed to it no years and years and years ago and then time kind of got away from me and then I guess it was about like three or four years ago I revisited that album and it just blew me away all over again I thought this is their debut you know they just came out swinging and they already had their sound their style that's a killer killer album full of energy great riffs great solos great songs and it's really impressive that you know there's certain groups like that where they came out with their debut and just knocked that completely you know out of the park it's amazing but for those of you watching this you know obviously I'm going to be talking about chords rhythm from Billy Gibbons in ZZ Top but if you want some lead you know ideas some material to work on I did have a lessening at our player magazine last year it was the warren haynes issue but there was a Billy Gibbons lesson that I wrote and basically that kind of broke down you know some of the licks and lead secrets and pentatonic you know highway on the fretboard and that would give you a little bit more insight into you know Billy's lead style which is you know definitely phenomenal and worth checking out but then also what his rhythm work is very exciting and you can pick up a lot of interesting things from working on his rhythms and riffs and songs so here we go the opening that was nasty dogs and funky kings which is from Fandango and this killer song you know great tune that's a great album too but it begins with this you know kind of a minor blues run and then he does a lower run and the end zone the note F which is like a flat six know if you're thinking of the key offa and then he starts doing the kind of beefy open position riff which Billy definitely has a history of doing no rips like that so it's something like this right there you can see we're basically walking down a minor blues the answers that with a lower phrase there's that F right there which just stands out and that's kind of unusual you know it doesn't naturally appear in the regular minor pentatonic or blue scale so that know just kind of pings your ear like whoa he walks into you know any power chord there you can see he's basically pulling off that CD to the opening something like that he's also grabbing that double stop right there on the fifth fret on the D and the G and technically over a that would imply a minor seven really clever the waiting kind of sneaks that in there indefinitely Billy has a history of riffs like that you know think of look range of course [Music] you know what he's just kind of twisting a little bit differently you know really cool song and I like that riff too it's gritty and bluesy and yeah cool really cool stuff right up next is cheap sunglasses from de cuello and it's a very famous song of course and a really cool guitar part got the chord slide in the beginning and then some hybrid picking bluesy you know kind of lower part something like this [Music] there you can see we're kind of sliding you know an a major triad to a B flat major triad in the beginning and for a long time I couldn't understand you know where that came from I thought I was Billy meaning using that but then I realized that the B flat major triad it's actually the top part of G minor seven songs and G [Music] but when you hear that part it's basically [Music] implying g-minor 7 which is really clever so Billy is one of those players you really have to watch you know what he plays and when it does because he doesn't play any filler it's all killer you know and he definitely just you know he doesn't waste any notes or any chords and he's very on top of what it's playing and even on songs that sounds simple and you're like wool seems like he's just playing the same you know three chords or whatever but he always sneaks like little fills and little clever ideas like that where you know on the surface you don't really notice what he did but then when you really get in there and look at it and analyze it it's like wow that's really cool so slide that little triad and then for the hyper picking here you're just grabbing you know G and F on the low E string with the open D and then it's also gonna move over where you've got C and B flat on the a with the open g string [Music] and then he starts playing you know what those higher epic parts just starts flirting with this little C octave [Music] next we have sure got cold after the rain fell which is from Rio Grande mud and that's a slow blues great song it's really slow and there's some great you know lead that Billy placed on the song and the song itself is beautiful but we're just gonna look at the chord part behind it which is this really slow kind of our pated chord progression like this [Music] you it's just a major we got a do Verrier and then a seven and then back to that D over a so it's you know almost four chords but it just kind of moves back and forth like that [Music] really good song too so check that out if you're not familiar with that one yeah up next we have bye thank you from dig way low and there's some slash boards that we're manipulating here and some other kind of hidden surprises something like those [Music] now you can see we're kind of doing like a see over a he kind of answers that with the D over a and then back to that C over again and then it's basically a G over a with the opens terminals in a power cord right there [Music] and then he starts doing this kind of a bird picked double stopband and actually I'm kind of finger picking they're actually looking in there with my middle and third finger you can also have her pick it too I think I just ended up doing it that way well it just sounds a little bit more like Billie for some reason and then he starts playing with that a octave [Music] and that's just basically the open A to F slide that the F sharp and grab the F sharp octave on the D string and then a G on the low E a G octave on the D string and then a flat and then a flat octave on the D string you know really cool up next we've got waiting for the bus from tray hombres and this is a very you know famous song for sure and he's kind of playing you know like drones with the open a string and fretted notes on the D and we recently talked about drones you know in the cult court play and I also talked about it you know like in the tool court play the drones of Adam Jones and here we are you know watching though Billy Gibbons kind of deconstruct these something like this [Music] [Music] it's basically flirting with a seven you know kind of a minor 7 - I guess if you count that double stop on that then the G and the B string there and then it basically moves over a set of strings and now we're flirting with D or D minor 7 and then you've got this clever little thing it's basically flirting with East 7 and then you're gonna kind of play with D 7 right there and then come down you know it's kind of open opposition now you know a minor pentatonic lick and then go right back into that funky you know intro part at the last example of course is Jesus just like Chicago also country hombres and I couldn't show waiting for the bus and not follow it you know with this song because those two songs have been paired on classic rock radio for a very long time and it's the slow you know prodding blues something like this [Music] [Music] you can see we're kind of started with that little bend on that b-flat yeah and it just goes into you know what G major chord we're just you know fretting the third fret there on the low E and we're also muting the a with the underside of your uh you know the thing or you choose to use I'm using my third finger right there and just muting that a string and then we're gonna play those open strings and then you're gonna add part of C major so it's kind of C over G [Music] but then you can also mimic that kind of heartbeat you know basically you hear [Music] and then move over to C major and you're gonna move from C major to an F over C you know something like that and you can continue that kind of heartbeat you know baseline [Music] and basically just gonna roll into an a power chord and then step up to you know a B and then go to a C power forward and right here we're gonna graph B flat the open G yeah below that low G no right there on the low E string and then he's doing a turnaround and he's basically you know maintaining this G on high E string and then descends F to E to E flat [Music] now if you're curious about turnarounds I'm actually a big fan of turnarounds I love blues you know blues turnarounds and I am gonna devote an entire episode and in your future to turnarounds you know whether it's in rock or and blues and you can find them in chess and there's a ton of places but that's a really cool song and I like kind of keeping my hands busy you know grabbing as many parts as possible to kind of fill it up you know it's missing the lead of course but as far as the rhythm you can kind of fatten that up and you know mimic the chords you can also kind of mimic that bass - that's fun you know to kind of sit there and challenge you know your hand like how much can I create you know all at the same time that's gonna wrap this episode of court play what the chords is easy top and definitely I'm a big you know build a Gibbons fancy Z top fan the music just feels good makes you feel good it's got a good energy there's always like a groove and some kind of funky you know little thing going on with the rhythm and everything and then when Billy started to go grabbing a solo and it's you know full of emotion and he's got always a great tone good feel you know I mean just a phenomenal you know guitarist and frontman you know a showman and a songwriter and everything and definitely a legend you know on the electric guitar you know fir on tour or whatever I mean he's definitely you know respected everybody loves dope you know Billy Gibbons everybody and there's a reason you know because he's he's a badass you know he really is he's just cool and you know he's got the style and this vibe and you know phenomenal person - so anyway leave some feedback and some comments please subscribe you like my lessons and I'll be back before you know it more content material thank you

Channel: Late Night Lessons

Views: 195,631

Keywords: Late Night Lessons, David Brewster, Chordplay, The Chords of ZZ Top, ZZ Top, Billy Gibbons, Guitar Lesson, Guitar Licks, Guitar Tricks, Guitar Riffs, Guitar Secrets, Billy Gibbons Lesson, ZZ Top Lesson, Classic Rock, Blues Guitar, Rock Guitar, Blues-Rock Guitar, Blues-Rock, Guitar Chords, Texas Blues, Texas, Guitarists From Texas, I Thank You, Nasty Dogs And Funky Kings, Cheap Sunglasses, Sure Got Cold After The Rain Fell, Waitin For The Bus, Jesus Just Left Chicago

Id: jbG2eyf5Jd0

Length: 19min 1sec (1141 seconds)

Published: Sat Mar 21 2020