Berry was among the first musicians to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on its opening in 1986. He received Kennedy Center Honors in 2000 in a “class” with Mikhail Baryshnikov, Plácido Domingo, Angela Lansbury, and Clint Eastwood. In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked Chuck Berry #5  on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.  He was also ranked 6th on Rolling Stone’s 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame included three of Chuck Berry’s songs (Johnny B. Goode, Maybellene, Rock & Roll Music), of the 500 songs that shaped Rock and Roll.

Chuck Berry plays “Johnny B. Goode” (live b&w tv)

The band Green Day covers “Johnny B. Goode” (live)

Fox Hole daylight camp jam

Fox Hole evening tent jam

Fox Hole - an evening melody at dusk

Fox Hole sitting in front of the moon

The chord progression is an easy one if you would like to learn it, just say so.

Its always a great crowd pleaser.

“DOWN BY THE RIVER” by Neil Young

Be on my side,
I’ll be on your side,
baby
There is no reason
for you to hide
It’s so hard for me
staying here all alone
When you could be
taking me for a ride.

Yeah, she could drag me
over the rainbow,
send me away
Down by the river
I shot my baby
Down by the river,
Dead, oh, shot her dead.

You take my hand,
I’ll take your hand
Together we may get away
This much madness
is too much sorrow
It’s impossible
to make it today.

Yeah, she could drag me
over the rainbow,
send me away
Down by the river
I shot my baby
Down by the river,
Dead, oh, shot her dead.

Be on my side,
I’ll be on your side,
baby
There is no reason
for you to hide
It’s so hard for me
staying here all alone
When you could be
taking me for a ride.

Yeah, she could drag me
over the rainbow,
send me away
Down by the river
I shot my baby
Down by the river,
Dead, oh, shot her dead.

“Back in Black” by AC/DC

Back in black, I hit the sack,
I’ve been too long, I’m glad to be back
Yes I’m let loose from the noose,
That’s kept me hangin’ about
I been livin like a star ’cause it’s gettin’ me high,
Forget the hearse, ’cause I never die
I got nine lives, cat’s eyes
Abusing every one of them and running wild

[Chorus]
‘Cause I’m back! Yes, I’m back!
Well, I’m back! Yes, I’m back!
Well, I’m baaack, baaack…
Well, I’m back in black,
Yes, I’m back in black!

Back in a band, I got Cadillac,
Number one with a bullet, I’m a power pack
Yes I’m in a band with a gang,
They gotta catch me if they want me to hang
‘Cause I’m back on the track and I’m beatin’ the flack,
Nobody’s gonna get me on another rap
So look at me now, I’m just a makin’ my pay,
Don’t try to push your luck, just get outta my way

[Chorus]
‘Cause I’m back! Yes, I’m back!
Well, I’m back! Yeah, I’m back!
Well, I’m baaack, baaack…
Well, I’m back in black,
Yes, I’m back in black!
Let’s go!

[Solo]

[Chorus]
Well, I’m back! Yes, I’m back!
Well, I’m back! Yes, I’m back!
Well, I’m baaack, baaack…
Well, I’m back in black,
Yes, I’m back in black-ow!

Aww yeah! Let’s go!
Keep on goin’! Yeah yeah!
Yeah… aww yeah yeah!
Here we go!

[Chorus]
Well, I’m baaack… (I’m back!)
Baaack… (Well, I’m back!)
Baaack… (I’m back!)
Baaack… (I’m back!)
Baaack… (I’m back!)
Baaack…
Yes, back in black,
Yes, I’m back in black…

Outta sight!

[Instrumental Conclusion]

I just recently took the original “Mid Day JAM” and coupled it to a few pictures.

Black Sabbath with Ozzy Osbourne as the lead singer was one of the very first bands that can be considered HEAVY METAL.  They used distortion and effects that added fuzz and screaming guitar licks that are the backbone of Heavy Metal today.  The signiture sound of Ozzy singing and the “Iron Man” voice is instantly recognizeable world over.  This is another guitar riff that I teach within the first lesson.

Has he lost his mind?
Can he see or is he blind?
Can he walk at all,
Or if he moves will he fall?
Is he alive or dead?
Has he thoughts within his head?
Well just pass him there
Why should we even care?

He was turned to steel
In the great magnetic field
Where he traveled time
For the future of mankind

Nobody wants him
He just stares at the world
Planning his vengeance
That he will soon unfold

Now the time is here
For iron man to spread fear
Vengeance from the grave
Kills the people he once saved

Nobody wants him
They just turn their heads
Nobody helps him
Now he has his revenge

Heavy boots of lead
Fills his victims full of dread
Running as fast as they can
Iron man lives again!

This is the first song that most anyone will learn on guitar.  It is so classic that it defines what classic is all about - A great memorable riff and a beat that makes you wanna rock.  I teach this in the first guitar lesson for my “Day One” beginners.  Its not that hard at all and it still rocks hard after all these years.

We all came out to montreux
On the lake geneva shoreline
To make records with a mobile
We didnt have much time
Frank zappa and the mothers
Were at the best place around
But some stupid with a flare gun
Burned the place to the ground
Smoke on the water, fire in the sky

They burned down the gambling house
It died with an awful sound
Funky claude was running in and out
Pulling kids out the ground
When it all was over
We had to find another place
But swiss time was running out
It seemed that we would lose the race
Smoke on the water, fire in the sky

We ended up at the grand hotel
It was empty cold and bare
But with the rolling truck stones thing just outside
Making our music there
With a few red lights and a few old beds
We make a place to sweat
No matter what we get out of this
I know well never forget
Smoke on the water, fire in the sky

I usually teach this song within the first lesson or two with my students that are “Day One” beginners.  When the student can get the rhythm down without a hitch, I’ll help them with adding some of the hot licks that George uses.

On the day I was born, the nurses all gathered ’round
And they gazed in wide wonder, at the joy they had found
The head nurse spoke up, and she said leave this one alone
She could tell right away, that I was bad to the bone
Bad to the bone
Bad to the bone
B-B-B-B-Bad to the bone
B-B-B-B-Bad
B-B-B-B-Bad
Bad to the bone

I broke a thousand hearts, before I met you
I’ll break a thousand more baby, before I am through
I wanna be yours pretty baby, yours and yours alone
I’m here to tell ya honey, that I’m bad to the bone
Bad to the bone
B-B-B-Bad
B-B-B-Bad
B-B-B-Bad
Bad to the bone

I make a rich woman beg, I’ll make a good woman steal
I’ll make an old woman blush, and make a young woman squeal
I wanna be yours pretty baby, yours and yours alone
I’m here to tell ya honey, that I’m bad to the bone
B-B-B-B-Bad
B-B-B-B-Bad
B-B-B-B-Bad
Bad to the bone

If you’ve ever enjoyed Blues music, you need to understand its fundamental rules. …..

Most Blues begin with: “Woke up this morning…”
“I got a good woman” is a bad way to begin the Blues, unless you stick something nasty in the next line like, “I got a good woman, with the meanest face in town.”

The Blues is simple. After you get the first line right, repeat it.
Then find something that rhymes sort of: “Got a good woman with the meanest face in town. Yes, I got a good woman with the meanest face in town. Got teeth like Margaret Thatcher and she weigh 500 pound.” The Blues is not about choice. You stuck in a ditch, you stuck in a ditch… ain’t no way out.

Blues cars: Chevys, Fords, Cadillacs and broken-down trucks. Blues don’t travel in Volvos, BMWs, or Sport Utility Vehicles. Most Blues transportation is a Greyhound bus or a southbound train. Jet aircraft and state-sponsored motor pools ain’t even in the running. Walkin’ plays a major part in the Blues lifestyle. So does fixin’ to die. Teenagers can’t sing the Blues. They ain’t fixin’ to die yet. Adults sing the Blues. In Blues, “adulthood” means being old enough to get the electric chair if you shoot a man in Memphis.

Blues can take place in New York City but not in Hawaii or anywhere in Canada. Hard times in Minneapolis or Seattle is probably just clinical depression. Chicago, St. Louis and Kansas City are still the best places to have the Blues. You cannot have the Blues in any place that don’t get rain.A man with male pattern baldness ain’t the Blues.

A woman with male pattern baldness is.
Breaking your leg ’cause you were skiing is not the Blues.
Breaking your leg ’cause a alligator be chomping on it is.
You can’t have no Blues in a office or a shopping mall. The lighting is wrong. Go outside to the parking lot or sit by the dumpster.

Good places for the Blues:

a. highway
b. jailhouse
c. empty bed
d. bottom of a whiskey glass

Bad places for the Blues:

a. Nordstrom’s
b. gallery openings
c. Ivy League institutions
d. golf courses

No one will believe it’s the Blues if you wear a suit, ‘less you happen to be a old ethnic person, and you slept in it. 

Do you have the right to sing the Blues?
Yes, if:
a. you older than dirt
b. you blind
c. you shot a man in Memphis
d. you can’t be satisfied

No, if:
a. you have all your teeth
b. you were once blind but now can see
c. the man in Memphis lived
d. you have a 401K or trust fund

Blues is not a matter of color. It’s a matter of bad luck. Tiger Woods cannot sing the Blues. Sonny Liston could have. Ugly white people also got a leg up on the Blues.

 Please enjoy the videos from his latest date at Banjo Jim’s in New York City.

“Beneath The Blue” ….

“Mansquito” ….

“Love & Peace” ….

Have a listen.  Have a look.  Have Fun.

Keep practicing.

The Chinese New Year is the second new moon after the winter solstice.

2008 is the Year of The Rat.  (Current year is Year 4705 by the Chinese calendar.)

Legend has it that in ancient times, Buddha asked all the animals to meet him on Chinese New Year.  Twelve came, and Buddha named a year after each one.  He announced that the people born in each animal’s year would have some of that animal’s personality.  Those born in rat years tend to be leaders, pioneers, and conquerors.  They are charming, passionate, charismatic, practical and hardworking.  Gwyneth Paltrow, Ben Affleck, Samuel L. Jackson, William Shakespeare, and Mozart were all born in the year of the rat.

Anyone who was born in the Year of the Rat is now either 1 or 13, 25, 37, 49, 61, 73, 85 or 97 years old.

Find out your Chinese Horoscope by the date you were born in the Chinese Calendar !! 

Answer: Practice, Practice, Practice.

Everyone has heard it before, the only way to get any better at something is to practice it over and over.  Whether its mathematics, playing a sport or even doing a professional work related job, the only thing that makes the next time doing it any easier is to do it over and over again.

THIS IS ABSOLUTELY TRUE FOR PLAYING GUITAR.

The more times that I play a piece of music, the better I get at playing that song up to speed and as good as the pros.  After practicing for an hour I’m much better than at the start of practice.  I’ve loosened up and its become easier to play the songs and chord progressions after I’ve been playing for some time.

The fact is that practice is what sets apart Professionals from Beginners, Intermediates, and even Advanced Students.  The pros will practice for long hours of each day.  They take joy in knowing that the more they go over the specific tunes and finger exercises the better they will be at playing those tunes and songs and also how relaxed they will feel playing those tunes and songs in front of family and friends not to mention complete strangers.  When a guitar player can play songs while singing (with or without the lyrics) in front of others and feel relaxed about the performance, then they truely know the piece.

Uncle Sam wants you to practice every day !!

Please feel free to explore the site and look through any of the offerings.  While some areas are not yet complete, most of the informational areas are complete and are ready to be read.  I will be adding new posts with tips and tricks as well as full complete lessons on how to play the guitar in new and exciting ways, but right now I’m off to watch the complete coverage of the NFL’s Superbowl XLII. 

Please wish me and my students luck on our journey to become Guitar Heros.