(upbeat music)
-: Hi, I'm Kelli Frances Corrado,
and I am a singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist.
And today, we're going to learn a traditional blues riff.
The first time I heard this riff I was eight years old,
and it was the first time
that I can remember hearing guitar.
And my parents had taken me to the Chicago Blues Fest,
I grew up in Chicago.
And I saw Koko Taylor perform,
who was just an incredible, powerful, amazing singer,
and she had this incredible guitar player
named Beverly Watkins.
And that riff came on,
and I just remember watching the audience,
and just feeling this rhythm for the first time.
And I really wanted to learn how to do that.
There's been a lot of talk about the history
of that particular riff,
and nobody knows who exactly wrote it.
But that was the first time I heard it, so.
So today, we're gonna learn it.
So, you are gonna need a guitar,
acoustic, electric, doesn't matter.
A guitar pick.
Also, it's in standard tuning,
which is
E,
A,
D,
G,
B,
and E.
This is how the riff goes.
(guitar strumming)
Okay, so this particular riff is in two sections.
Now, the first section that we're gonna learn
is picking on the neck.
So, we're gonna go to our fifth fret.
Now the frets
are the space between the metal bars.
So let's start with the first one.
One,
two,
three,
four,
five.
Some guitars have a dot there, some don't.
Let's take that first finger,
and we're gonna wrap it around the guitar neck,
and we're gonna press down just on that string.
Now it's really important when you're holding the guitar
to have the guitar tucked under
this particular part of your body,
so you're able to kind of move around a little bit here,
a lot easier for this.
So let's go back to that fifth fret,
take that first finger, wrap it around.
So,
pluck.
(guitar strums)
It's gonna sound like this.
Now, I'm gonna say open, and when I say open,
I want you to take that finger off, and play it.
(guitar strums)
Closed, back on that fifth fret.
(guitar strums)
And let's kind of go back and forth on here for a second.
(guitar strumming)
Good.
Now, we're gonna move to the third fret,
which is two frets that way.
One,
two.
We're gonna do the same thing.
Open. (guitar strums)
Closed. (guitar strums)
We're also gonna stay on the low E string.
Open. (guitar strums)
Closed. (guitar strums)
Open. (guitar strums)
Closed. (guitar strums)
Let's try putting both of those together.
Open. (guitar strums)
Closed on the fifth fret. (guitar strums)
Open. (guitar strums)
Closed on the third fret.
(guitar strums)
And then open again.
(guitar strums)
Let's do it again.
Open. (guitar strums)
Fifth fret. (guitar strums)
Closed.
Open. (guitar strums)
Closed on the third fret. (guitar strums)
And then open again. (guitar strums)
So we're gonna do it a few times.
I'm gonna start off slow, take your time with it.
Go a little bit faster,
and then I'll go even more faster, up to speed.
(guitar strumming)
A little faster.
(guitar strumming)
Again.
(guitar strumming)
Okay, now for the second part.
We're gonna take that first finger,
and we're gonna wrap it around our first fret.
And we're gonna go to one, two, three, four,
which is also the G string on the first fret.
We're gonna take that middle finger,
and we're gonna go to the second fret,
and we're gonna go to the second string.
One,
two.
Then we're gonna take that third finger,
and we're gonna go to the D string,
which is right behind this finger here.
Now this is your E chord.
(guitar strums)
Now let's just strum on this for a second,
just to kind of get familiar,
'cause this finger configuration
can get a little uncomfortable.
Let's just kind of used to it.
(guitar strumming)
Okay, so now let's put all those two parts together.
Open. (guitar strums)
Five. (guitar strums)
Open. (guitar strums)
Three. (guitar strums)
Take the first finger, down four strings,
one, two, three, four on that first fret.
Middle finger on the second fret, on the second string.
Third finger on the string right behind it, the D string.
And let's just strum that three times.
(guitar strumming)
Okay, let's try it again.
Open. (guitar strums)
Closed. (guitar strums)
Open. (guitar strums)
Closed. (guitar strums)
(guitar strumming)
Again. (guitar strumming)
One more time for good luck.
(guitar strumming)
And just practice that for a little bit,
get more familiar with it, starting on the A string.
Open. (guitar strums)
Closed. (guitar strums)
Open. (guitar strums)
Closed. (guitar strums)
Open. (guitar strums)
Let's do it again.
(guitar strumming)
One more time.
(guitar strumming)
Okay, now we're gonna learn the A chord, which goes with it.
So let's take that first finger.
We're gonna go to the second fret,
and we're gonna count down one, two, three strings,
which is also the D string.
Then we're gonna put this finger
behind that string on the G string right there.
And then we're gonna kind of squish this third one
in there on the B string, all on the second fret.
Now this is the A chord.
So let's just sit here with it a minute, and strum it.
(guitar strumming)
Okay, now let's put both those sections together.
Starting on the A string, on the fifth fret, it's gonna go
open. (guitar strums)
Closed. (guitar strums)
Open. (guitar strums)
Three. (guitar strums)
Open. (guitar strums)
Now the A chord again is one, two, three strings down
on the D string, next finger right behind that,
the other one right there too, all on the second fret.
And we're gonna strum it three times.
(guitar strumming)
Let's do it again.
Open. (guitar strums)
Five. (guitar strums)
Open. (guitar strums)
Three. (guitar strums)
Open. (guitar strums)
A chord.
One, (guitar strumming)
two,
three.
Let's do it again.
Open. (guitar strums)
Five. (guitar strums)
Open. (guitar strums)
Three. (guitar strums)
A chord.
One, (guitar strumming)
two,
three.
Now, we're gonna put all of it together.
And we're gonna start with it slow, so just take your time.
And then I'll speed it up a little bit.
So let's start on that E string,
we're gonna go
open. (guitar strums)
Five. (guitar strums)
Open. (guitar strums)
Three. (guitar strums)
Open. (guitar strums)
Our E chord.
First finger one, two, three, four,
middle finger, second fret, on the A string.
Third finger on the D string on the second fret.
Strum three times.
One, (guitar strumming)
two,
three.
Okay, now we're gonna go to the A string,
and do the same picking pattern.
So open. (guitar strums)
Closed. (guitar strums)
Open. (guitar strums)
Closed. (guitar strums)
Open. (guitar strums)
And let's go to that A chord.
One, two, three, starting on the D string,
then the G and the B,
all right behind it, on the second fret.
One, (guitar strumming)
two,
three.
Okay, again.
(guitar strumming)
A string.
(guitar strumming)
Back to the E string.
(guitar strumming)
A string.
(guitar strumming)
So I'm gonna play it up to speed.
But I want you to keep in mind
there's a lot of things going on here.
There's picking, there's strumming.
We're doing two different chords, so just take your time,
and go slow, and then the more you feel like you have it,
then speed it up.
This is the speed that it should be at.
(guitar strumming)
Thanks again.
I'm Kelli Frances Corrado.
I also teach at a Youngstown Cultural Art Center in Seattle,
so check them out as well.
And if you're interested in learning more about blues music,
please check out Sister Rosetta Tharpe
and Johnny Lee Hooker, and many, many more artists.
Thanks again.
(upbeat music)