Chordplay - ZZ Top (Blues Secrets From Texas)

[Music] hey david bruce here i'm sort of chord playing this is easy top blue secrets from texas and we're gonna be looking at billy gibbons again and i have to admit the most popular lesson on my channel is the originals easytop chordplay that i put together last year and it blew past the vane halen chord play which was the most popular for a while but earlier this year i noticed cc top just creeped right past van halen and i thought man there's a ton there's easy top fans out there watching so zz tops very essential you know they formed in houston texas in 1969 and went on to become one of the most you know popular and influential blues based rock bands of all time they've sold like 50 million copies of albums you know worldwide now i'm a huge zzz top fan i love blues i love barack and when you put those two elements together and mix it up i'm a sucker for it you know i just can't help it and there's just something about billy gibbons you know he just has this cool laid back you know very uh just you know really interesting person and i've never met billy i'd love to meet billy gibbons but for those of you watching that maybe aren't as familiar with their early stuff you know i love you know 70s it's easy top you can't beat it and there's nothing wrong with the 80s and 90s and i mean they're still active today actually i did read that uh zz top recorded a new album last year and they're going to be putting that out sometime soon and billy gibbons also recorded another solo album last year too so they're still very active and busy but for those of you that aren't aware um there's an album from 1994 a compilation one foot in the blues and it has all these blues based moments in zz tops catalog and it's kind of cool to find you know one album that has all those hits and all those blues laced you know songs so good and for those of you that aren't aware i did have a lesson for billy gibbons that was in guitar player magazine a couple years ago i guess that was the november 2019 issue cruise control and that's looking at you know some of billy's kind of habits and position shifting you know licks and phrases on the fretboard so if you're a big zzz top or billy gibbons fan you know look up that lesson and just dive in the music in this lesson comes from early zz top you know from the 70s and i'm not going to repeat anything that was in the original zz top chord play but there is one example that we're going to revisit and we're going to look at the chords again but then i wanted to talk a little bit about the lead too and how it kind of matches up with the chords in that example so uh here we go with the opening that was certified blues from zztop's first album for those of you watching that haven't heard zz top's first album you have to check that album out it's brilliant but certified blues is like this [Music] [Music] so we're basically flirting with this a power chord and we're definitely rocking the blues you know for this one but we're doing so you're kind of hitting this a power chord and then you're grabbing this meat uh the c and smearing that into that a note there on the g string so you're kind of skipping over that d right there and then a hammer on pull off from that open g you're kind of moving back down to that a and then you hear this kind of funky [Music] it's kind of like percussive like muted strum and then that hammer on from the open g under that a note there on the second fret [Music] and the second time he's really just kind of separating uh the strings of that a power chord where it's mimicking that first fill but he's doing [Music] and then you kind of gallop your way into this e power chord [Music] and then you hear this little blues lick and i also hit the tube screamer there just to kind of jump out you know for that little fill because the rhythm part you know is a little bit lower and then when he hits that lick it does kind of stand out in the mix [Music] next is blue jean blues from fandango this is a very popular you know blues bass easy top song something like this [Music] [Music] so [Music] you know very slow blues obviously and then billy's doing all those little [Music] licks you know all those like you know cool like really expressive bending legs i love that little open string that you kind of started with right there that's so cool you know grabbing that open b i'm kind of throwing that trill in there um and here i am looking at the licks and this is chord play i'm supposed to be looking at chords but i'm getting distracted with billy's licks anyway with the chords um you've got that really uh kind of strange intro like that and uh he's really just kind of climbing up chromatically that f sharp and then grabbing that c sharp there on the hyena and then you've got the single g to a single a to b minor just kind of let that ring very slow [Music] but it's really interesting to know it's a blue song using just pure minor chords like that really cool [Music] [Laughter] and eventually you're going to hear it move down that e and e minor right there [Music] you know classic song and um there's definitely tons of cool licks and there's just something about those really slow kind of dreamy blues like that i love those songs all right up next is the pretty obscure z top song this is avalon highway and billy's finger picking and he's also snapping the strings you know during this kind of funky and different riff like this [Music] hmm [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] you know really different so you're literally snapping uh the d string kind of pulling it away from the pickups right there [Music] and kind of creating this really clucky and kind of funky it's almost like chicken picking kind of and he's sliding into that partial a7 right there [Music] and you want to do it again and then you hear this really funky c right there and then it moves to d and right there you're going to hit that that single d on the top right there once the first time and then twice the second time [Music] and then go back to a you know really different song and uh not really as well known as some other you know zz top songs but just a totally left field you know riff with all those snaps up next is hot blue and righteous from the trey hombres album and he's really just kind of picking through the chords on this really slow blues something like [Music] this [Music] it keeps repeating right there so it starts with e major and you're actually hammering on to that g sharp right there on the g string and just kind of pick right through it slowly and then go to b minor and you're gonna do a similar thing right there with the sus2 to that d note to change it to d minor and then go down to a right there and pick through that and then right there he's basically hammering on that d note which is the sus4 you know for a and he's also grabbing that f sharp right there on the high e string which is technically the sixth so when a6 sus4 a13 sus4 something like that so right there the e [Music] b that minor thing [Music] and then right there start on a and that starts the verse so a major [Music] and then c sharp minor right there and then you're gonna go down to f sharp minor like this [Music] this is tricky so it's a little piece of f sharp minor right there and then your pinky actually is going to grab this g sharp right there the ninth you're kind of doing that kind of thing [Music] and then you're also hammering onto that b note right there with your pinky like that [Music] and that's tricky it's very demanding because you're holding that bar and then also playing with your pinky like that and then right there it's going to go back to e and it starts that whole pattern over again so the e [Music] next up is sure got cold after the rainfall which is from the rio grande mud album and we did have this in the original zz top chord play but i wanted to revisit it and talk a little bit about the lead that goes over the top of these chords so the chord part uh the chords are pretty easy you got a major and you've got d over a right there [Music] and then a7 right here [Music] and then go back to that d over a you're just literally just kind of walking through it or picking it out like that [Music] now if i loop that with the digital looper from tc electronic i can play the lead over the top of it like this so there's the looped part and it has this really biting you know tone and sound it almost reminds me of like albert collins or somebody in the beginning so he's literally you're targeting this f sharp to a right there and then you hear him grab the c and he bends that up to the sky and then grabs that a again so against the the backing it sounds so good and bluesy so right there um you know that first part like i said it's f sharp to a grabs that c bends it to the sky grab that a again and then you hear this really tasty [Music] and i love how he's setting up and basically targeting that c sharp against the a and then you hear him target that f sharp right there and then back to the c sharp again so he's really flirting with that uh that middle chord because it's a and then d over a and then a7 so we're kind of bookended you know between two a chords right there and i love what he does over that d over a [Music] you know it sounds so good against those chords [Music] last examples just got back from babies which is also from zz tops first album and when you hear the song it has this really kind of traditional sound but then when you try to play the guitar part you'll realize there's something really different going on here so the rhythm part is like this [Music] so if you're really paying attention you can probably see what it is we're actually moving from c5 to c7 so billy just bypassed the c6 that you normally see right there there's no six there you just skip right to the seven [Music] so as you can see that causes a big stretch on the fretboard especially when you go down to this really tricky f [Music] that's a big stretch so i have a hunch that maybe billy was tuned to drop d for the rhythm part which that would actually change the stretchy c to something that looks more like that and then when you go down to this f instead of doing it that way if you're in drop d that f would actually look more like that and then the g right there would look more like that too so i have a hunch because billy definitely you know would tune to drop d occasionally for certain songs i have a hunch that's what's going on with this one because that's a monster stretch [Music] do [Music] you know check that song out that's a great great blues rock you know song from zz top it's going to wrap this episode of court play with zz top blue secrets from texas and definitely i'm a huge billy gibbons fan you know and i've met and talked to so many people that loves easy top love billy dusty and frank i mean the whole band and there's just something really cool about the fact they've been together since 1969 it's the same three guys they haven't had any you know personnel changes no tragic deaths or anything like that it's the same three guys the little band from texas and they've just like dominated the world you know as soon as they came out and uh there's a lot of blues there's some funk elements you know i hear like r b and of course there's like fuzzy you know hendrix influence and all kinds of stuff so you never really know what they're gonna do i mean it's usually something blues based but uh the fact that they've kind of reinvented themselves and revived you know blues music and blues rock music and since the 6th and late 60s technically that's really impressive you know i completely you know i'm just completely you know in awe of billy gibbons i think he's really one of a kind and a really unique you know american musician so anyway leave some feedback and comments please subscribe my lessons and i'll be back before you know with more content material thank you

Channel: Late Night Lessons

Views: 58,556

Keywords: Late Night Lessons, David Brewster, Chordplay, ZZ Top Blues Secrets From Texas, ZZ Top, Billy Gibbons, Guitar Lesson, Guitar Riffs, Guitar Chords, Guitar Licks, Guitar Tricks, Guitar Secrets, Blues-Rock Guitar, Blues-Rock Chords, Rock Chords, Blues Chords, Guitar Chord Lesson, Guitar Songwriting, Certified Blues, Blue Jean Blues, Just Got Back From Baby's, Avalon Highway, Sure Got Cold After The Rain Fell, Hot Blue And Righteous, Billy Gibbons Lesson, Blues Riffs, Riffs

Id: URSyzwp95oI

Length: 19min 59sec (1199 seconds)

Published: Wed May 26 2021