In this Chuck Berry guitar lesson, you'll learn 5 key techniques and guitar habits that you can add to your own playing.
Once again, we've teamed up with the legend that is Leigh Fuge over at MGR Music, for this Chuck Berry guitar lesson. Watch and read along to these 5 key chuck Berry guitar habits and techniques and add some seriously blues style riffs to your own playing.
If you’ve ever learnt anything from the back catalogue of rock, chances are it was influenced somewhere down the line by Chuck Berry. Chuck Berry was one of the guitar worlds first showmen, with his high energy stage shows and his sharp, punchy blues licks, he was a rock star of the time.
Over the years Chuck Berry's influence has been passed down to everyone from Keith Richards to Joe Perry and beyond. Without him, guitar, and music in genera, would not sound the way it does today.
Grab your 335 style guitar, crank up the volume and practise your duckwalk (also made famous by Angus Young), it’s time to check out some Chuck Berry style guitar habits and playing techniques.
Watch The Chuck Berry Guitar Lesson video
Chuck Berry Style Rhythm Technique
The first part of our guitar lesson is the Chuck Berry rhythm technique.
Chuck Berry was heavily influenced by blues playing. However, he wasn’t someone who was content on playing a typical shuffle.
Chuck’s rhythm style looks like a traditional 12 bar on the surface, because it is.
But, to really get into that Chuck Berry style, push up the tempo (The video examples are at 163bpm) and dig in hard to make that 12 bar really driving.
Chuck Berry Style Guitar Sliding Double Stops
A lot of Chuck Berry style licks, and especially the licks in this Chuck Berry guitar lesson are based around the idea of double stops. These sliding double stops will remind you of some of his big hits. It’s a great way to capture that Chuck vibe in your own playing.
Chuck's use of chords in guitar licks
An underrated part of Chuck's technique and a key part of our Chuck berry guitar lesson is his use of chords in guitar licks. Chordal parts can make a great addition to any rock and roll style lead break. This Chuck berry inspired lick uses an A7 chord played as a series of triplets to create a chordal lick. This also works great as a song intro lick, too, and will have you sounding like Chuck berry pretty quickly.
Bends & Double Stops in The Style Of Chuck berry
An integral part of any Chuck berry guitar lesson is the signature bend and double stop technique. Chuck was all about rhythmic bends with double stops. The first 2 bars of this lick are choppy and full of specifically placed beats. Listen carefully to nail that timing. The second bar goes into a straight eighth note run before resolving back down to the root note.
Chuck berry Style repeated licks, themes and chunks of a riff
You can also take the idea of double stops and build some repeating motifs. This Chuck berry guitar technique works great during guitar solos as a way to reintroduce a certain phrase or melody to the part.
In true Chuck Berry guitar style, imagine the band performing musician stabs on the first double stop of the first 2 bars.
We hope you enjoyed our Chuck berry guitar lesson and hopefully are able to add some signature Chuck-style guitar techniques and playing habits to your own style!
About The Author:
About The Author:
This lesson was brought to you by MusicTeacher, written by professional guitar tuto Leigh Fuge. Leigh works as part of a community of guitar teachers offering tailored guitar lessons to students of all learning abilities, including complete beginners. You will be able to find guitar tutors within the community able to offer in-person or online lessons, with hundreds of guitar teachers based across the UK and beyond.
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