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Jeff's Lesson Notes

"Hot Tin Cat"
Rockabilly style guitar part 2

 

This is part 2 of our online Rockabilly style guitar lesson series.  This lesson is a bit more complex than the Part 1 Chuck Berry lesson.  This time we're drifting into a mixture of Big Band Swing and early Rock and Roll.  We've got elements from Brian Setzer in here, and we also have some elements in the leads and in some of the rhythms from the "Bill Haley and the comets" version of the classic, "Rock around the clock".. 

As an aside on Rock around the clock.  Someone wrote in about the "Rock around the clock" solo when they requested this Rockabilly lesson and said that: and I quote, "Beecher's playing on the solo was amazing."

I would like to point out that credit is often given for the killer guitar leads on "Rock around the clock" to the better known Comets guitarist Franny Beecher.  However the Bill Haley version of the song (which is really the version that most people are familiar with) was recorded on April 12, 1954 in New York with guitarist Danny Cedrone at the helm..  Beecher joined the band after Cedrone's death, and to be honest Beecher couldn't even play the solo until the 1980's.  The Beecher version of the solo features fast "cheat arpeggios" at the end, instead of the lightning fast semi-chromatic scale down that Cedrone did on the studio version... 

Cedrone's guitar is actually on display at the Rock and Roll hall of fame, and many notable guitarists, such as Brian Setzer, Danny Gatton, and Hendrix consider the Rock around the clock solo as one of their biggest influences.  I'll tell you what, it sure influenced me.

I wanted to make sure that the person that wrote in knew who actually played and recorded the solo that he spoke so highly of.  Interestingly enough for one of the greatest guitar solos of all time Cedrone was paid only $21..  Bill Haley was using him as a session guitarist and had not hired a full time player..  ...  Haley of course made Millions off the track..

"And that my friends is the plight of the session guitarist.... "    LOL....... 


Speaking of recording and getting back to our lesson track, there's a lot to take note of with how I recorded the guitar for this track.  There's a reason that things sound the way they do, and really it's the dynamic between the instruments, and also how they're mixed.  2 guitars are fairly important for a track like this one, and that's more the Brian Setzer influence.  He came along 20 or 30 years or so after the 50's and sort of beefed it all up.  The orchestra element he added later on was just brilliant.

This music "Jumps, and Jives" quite nicely with Big Band Swing.  It's all one big Hot for Teacher beat, and slick double stop soloing and single note rhythm riffing.  But again like I always say a song is more than just what you hear as the finished product...  There are things to consider as a musician.. 

1.  Look at and try to understand what the two guitars are doing and how they're playing off of each other.
 

2.  Try to understand the different pickup settings and or sound settings that each guitar is using.  It's really stupid and very rare to have a 2 or more guitar situation and everyone has the same sound.  Not only does that not record well in a lot of cases in a studio, but in live performances it's really easy to lose the individual guitar in the mix..
 

3.  Spot the chord modulations in the song.  Where are they going??  For instance the key is "E minor", yet I start the song off on a "C".  Then I do what's technically an "E Major" riff.  What's up with that??  (don't worry I'll explain it to you on the video).  Also note where the solo goes.  In the case of our lesson song here the solo is over an "A" and it's a 1, 4, 5 chord pattern.  Those of you that watched my "Nashville Tunings and number system" lesson in unplugged will know that 1, 4, 5 in "A" means that it's an "A", "D", "E" chord pattern...

The items laid out above are just some things to keep in mind and make observations of in this lesson and really any lesson on my website...

Enjoy the lesson, and the JAm TRack should be a blast for you too..  Watch the timing though, it's simple 12 bar Blues, but the drums are doing some Jazz influenced fills and lead ins in some spots.  It's best to keep in mind that the early 50's was an era in Rock where you had amazing session Jazz players and Band leaders recording rock solos and riffs.  Rock and Roll was new, so there were not rock guitarists to speak of.  Only clever studio guitarists that "got" the groove and could cut loose on it..  There's some tricky stuff on some of those early tracks, and it's all fairly clean too which makes it easy to pick up but tough to cover up mistakes.  Our little JAm TRack that goes with this lesson will be a great rhythmic baseline for you to try out some new double stops and scale runs..



 

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