Hi how' re you doing Justin here,
this is now lesson 7 of the Blues Lead Guitar Course
and this time we're going to be checking out
a really cool trick called Gospel Slides.
The idea is kinda starting off with a 9th chord,
sliding it up 2 frets so it becomes the 6th chord
and then sliding it back down again.
It sounds complicated in theory but it actually just sounds great.
That's why people do it, not 'cause the theory is cool, right?
So lets get to a close up and check out how to play this thing.
OK, we're starting off here with a G9 chord
which I'm hoping you are familiar with
from a previous lesson when we looked at chord extensions.
Now hopefully you'll remember that the root note
is the note G, there's our chord, but that's our root note. (Plays)
Now for Gospel Slides we're actually gonna leave off the 1st finger as well.
So we are only interested in these three notes
which is the note F, A and D
3rd fret, 2nd fret, 3rd fret.
I'm just playing the root note there with my thumb just to say you can hear.
That's the sound of the 9th chord.
Now the really interesting thing,
if I talk about the function of the note --
sorry to get all theoretical on you, but it will make sense, I hope --
This is the flat 7 in the key of G,
This is the 9th, this is the reason we call it the 9th
and this note here is the 5th.
So we've got a flat 7 a 9 and a 5th.
Of course, the 9 chord is the one...
the 9 note is the one that makes it kind of a 9th chord,
otherwise it would be G7.
. . .
So the interesting thing with Gospel Slides is
if we slide that shape up two frets
. . .
and we've still got our G bass note,
this actually becomes the root note, the 3rd and the 6th.
So we end up having this
. . .
Now, I'm sure you've heard that sound before.
. . .
It's a really funky little sound.
. . .
Great in a slow blues as well.
So, it's literally, ..., it started off as a G9,
but we don't care about that.
We've just taken the top part of the shape
. . .
and we used that one over a G.
. . .
That's a litte trick I saw Larry Carlton do
. . .
So, once you slide it up,
put your finger on the root note on the thinnest string,
then play the chord,
then slide it back down again.
That's a lovely...
. . .
The rhythm most commonly used for Gospel Slides
is sliding up on beat 2,
and sliding back on the "and" after 2.
So, you have: 1, 2, and 3, 4
1, 2, and 3, 4.
1, 2, and 3.
That's the most common.
I mean, there's lots of different ways to use it, but
. . .
that would be the one I'd recommend
starting off with. Just:
1, 2, and 3, 4.
Now, let's look at another way of doing it, as well,
because that's with the 6 string root there,
you're based around a kind of a G9 chord,
but it also works right with (plays)
a C9, because the top part of this (plays)
remember, is the same as the top part of that other grip that we had.
. . .
This notes:
. . .
Same notes:
. . .
So, this time (plays)
we can just slide all three, little bar.
I'm using my third finger, some guys (plays)
use their first finger. I find that a bit awkward.
I like using my 3rd finger, sometimes 2nd finger gets involved for a bit of support.
. . .
Lots of different ways of muckin around with this thing,
I just kind of played through one in G there for you,
just using the A shape root
. . .
and using the top.
. . .
Another cool variation that I'd like to show you
starts off with this 6 string root kind of grip again,
but we move our first finger.
Instead of leaving it on the note B on the 2nd fret of the 5th string,
we move it over to the 1st fret of the thinnest string.
. . .
And if we... This is a 9th chord again:
. . .
If we slide it up, we got G6
. . .
G9
G6
G9. So,
you can either use this (plays)
whole block.
It tends to sound a little bit big for me,
so I tend to go for just the small.
. . .
Learn it as well, of course. At the moment, I'm just kinda
sliding up.
You can slide up, move it and play it back,
or you can slide up
. . .
and slide it back.
Or you can play the middle note as well, a little chromatic:
. . .
It's quite a nice one, so slide up:
. . .
Slide up, place back.
Or slide up, slide back.
Any of those things work.
. . .
There's one other one which I'll show you,
but I don't tend to use it a whole lot, and that's this:
. . .
I kinda like it sometimes, 'cause it's slightly thicker strings.
. . .
It's the same notes as this:
. . .
So, it's got a slightly rounder sound.
. . .
This is in G again, the root note is here, so it's
2nd finger is going two frets below the root note on the 2nd string
. . .
It's a little bit complicated.
. . .
But we do get that nice
. . .
movement in G.
. . .
Lots of funny games to play about with these things, I tell you.
The big deal with little tricks like the Gospel Slides
is to try and put them into practice as soon as possible.
So, what I recommend now with the backing track in G,
is to have a play around with each of the shapes in turn.
Just start off with the one with the 6 string root
and muck around with that on the G, when it moves to C, move the whole shape
up to the 8th fret, and muck around with it there
and then back to G.
Just start by using that one shape.
It's what I... you know... It's...
It's really important that you're trying out these things in a bit of the time, you know.
So, start off with that one,
get used to playing that,
really incorporate it into your playing,
maybe mix it up with some of the other chords
that you've been looking at so far,
your 9th's, 11th's, 13th's, the different ways of playing the 7ths,
the different rhythms, there's so many things to explore now,
so you've gotta start to kind of mix it up a little bit, and say
"I'm gonna use this, and maybe I'll use a little bit of that one"
and then, once you feel confident with that 6 string root thing,
then muck around with the 5th string root one,
where it's just the little barre on the thinnest strings, and
see what you can get out of that, you know.
Try and make the most of each differently,
rather than trying to just experiment with each one a little bit.
Take one of them and experiment with it a whole lot.
'Cause it'll work its way into your playing a lot sooner, and...
... and sound better, and you have a usable thing.
A common thing for all of us, including me,
when you're learning lots of different stuff
it kinda stays... new things stay in these little boxes:
"Stuff that I kinda do,
but they never naturally happen in my playing"
And the reason for that is they haven't been mixed in properly.
If you take a new idea and you incorporate it in
with the other things that you've learned,
it will start to kinda naturally occur.
You might have to force it for a bit
that's kind of normal, you have to think:
"Oh, yeah, there's THAT lick, I'm gonna try and put that in"
And that's fine, that's kinda the way to work in
a new lick into your bag, you know.
It's important that you through that process,
otherwise you just end up with this big box of things
that you can actually play. If I say to you:
"Hey play that", you'd go: "Yeah,and I have to do a Gospel Slide"
But, actually when you came to playing a blues, you'd never play one.
So, and that's became... If that's the problem,
which is a real common problem for guitar players in general, you know,
one I still cope, you know.
And the only solution, really, is to make sure that you work it in more.
So, I hope that helps.
Again, I'll play you out a little demo. We're in G this time
and what I want you to do is just experiment with the Gospel Slides
and incorporate those other things in there.
Lots of fun.
I'll play you out for,
but I'll see you for another lesson very soon.
Take care of yourselves, bye-bye.