Classic Rock- Lookin' Out My Back Door CCR
I will have to do this song on several nights. There is the rhythm guitar, lead guitar, and slide guitar. Tonight you get the rhythm guitar. This song is played with all barre chords. “Barred Eâ€, “Barred Emâ€, and “Barred Aâ€. And there is a simple picking pattern throughout the song. You play straight quarter notes and you play alternating bass/strum. For instance;
e---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
b-------3-------3--------3---------3---------3---------3---------3----------3-
g-------3-------3--------3---------3---------3---------3---------3----------3-
d-------3-------3--------3---------3---------5---------5---------5----------5-
a--1-----------------1-----------------------------5--------------------5-------
e-----------1------------------1---------3--------------------3-----------------
OK, that is a simple B flat and G minor chord change. The B flat is
a type “Barred A†chord. You play the Root on the 5th string then strum
or pluck the chord, then play the 5th on the 6th string, then strum or pluck the chord again. Anytime you encounter a “Barred A†chord use this pattern. When you encounter a “Barred E or Em†type chord, play the Root on the 6th string, strum or pluck the chord, then play the 5th on the 5th string, then strum or pluck the chord again. All the strums or plucks are on the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th strings. You play this pattern throughout the song. Also, as I said before, this is straight quarter notes. So that is 4 full measures above. There is a little shuffle to this song.
If you've got this, the song is very easy.
Now, the chords used in this song.
--Bb---Gm---Eb----F----G----C—--Am—-Bb*—--A---Ab-
e--X----X------X----X----X-----X-----X------X------X----X--
b--3----3------8----1----3-----5-----5------6------5----4--
g--3----3------8----2----4-----5-----5------7------6----5--
d--3----5------8----3----5-----5-----7------8------7----6--
a--1----5------6----3----5-----3-----7------8------7----6--
e--1----3------6----1----3-----3-----5------6------5----4—
Hold the 1st string when you barre, but you never actually play it.
OK, remember the picking pattern above.
Intro- Palm mute all strings and slap the strings. Play 4 measures. Then play; (All Bb chords at 1st fret)
/Bb/Bb/Gm/Gm/Eb/Bb/F/Bb
Verse 1
(Bb)Just got home from Illinois, (Gm)lock the front door, oh boy,
(Eb)Got to sit (Bb)down, take a (F)rest on the porch
I-(Bb)magination sets in, (Gm)pretty soon I'm singin'
(Eb)Doo, doo, (Bb)doo, lookin' (F)out my back (Bb)door 2. There's a...
Verse 2
(Bb)giant doin' cartwheels, a (Gm)statue wearin' high heels,
(Eb)Look at all the (Bb)happy creatures (F)dancin' on the lawn,
(Bb)Dinosaur victrola, (Gm) list'ning to Buck Owens,
(Eb)Doo, doo, (Bb)doo, lookin' (F)out my back (Bb)door
Chorus
(F)Tambourines and elephants, are (Eb)playing in the (Bb)band,
Won't you take a ride, (Gm)on the flyin' (F)spoon? Doo, doo, doo, A
(Bb)wondrous apparition, pro-(Gm)vided by magicians,
(Eb)Doo, doo, (Bb)doo, lookin' (F)out my back (Bb)door
Guitar solo
/Bb/Bb/Gm/Gm/Eb/Bb/F/F/Bb/Bb/Gm/Gm/Eb/Bb/F/Bb/
Do palm muted strum for 4 measures, then THE KEY OF THE SONG CHANGES UP A WHOLE STEP.
/Bb*,A,Ab/G/G/F/C/C/Am/G/G/
Play that Bb*,A,Ab as single strums. The * is just to show the 6th fret position Bb.
It's the only time in the song it's used.
Verse 3
(C)Forward troubles Illinois, (Am)lock the front door, oh boy,
(F)Look at all the (C)happy creatures (G)dancing on the lawn, (Slow the pace here)
(C)Bother me tomorrow, to-(Am)day I'll buy no sorrows,
(F)Doo, doo, (C)doo, lookin' (G)out my back (C)door
Do palm mute strum for 2 measures then,
/F/C/G/C,G,C/
Whew!
Take your time on this song. The hardest part is learning the progression. This is
a long song. Listen carefully and you'll know the changes by heart.
Tomorrow, or the next day I'll show the solos and the slide guitar.
If you know something better than Rock and Roll, I'd like to hear it - Jerry Lee Lewis
Great job once again, Wes. This song has been my barre chord 'project' for what seems like forever. And the bridge/solo parts have been beyond my speed. Yet I love trying. Looking forward to the rest of it.
Blame it on the lies that killed us, blame it on the truth that ran us down.
I know this so well - nice to have you back Wes where the hell have you been! This was one of those "funny songs" that I always had to transpose or use a capo for - not any more!! Think I can do this - I can usually play along with the CD - even the weird little slide solo!!!
Just to let you know - "Alright Now" came on the radio yesterday - played your tab along with it - sounds perfect! Only thing is, you didn't tab the solo - at the end of the solo Koss hits an E chord and holds it just before Rodgers comes back in with "Alright, yeah - Alright now,.........etc.
I've also done "Brown Sugar" but we had to transpose that - I always started it with Asus4 - once we got it in the right key and you've got one person playing full chords on acoustic and another playing the part chords you tabbed - yes, that rocks!!!!!!!!
Still struggling a bit with "Reelin' in the years tho........nearly there but not quite .....nobody can do the lead!!!!!!
Keep 'em coming...........
Vic
"Sometimes the beauty of music can help us all find strength to deal with all the curves life can throw us." (D. Hodge.)
Well since you asked. We had a great gig Saturday night. We had a lot of fun and had a pretty good crowd (only got a little money). My brother in law came down and played with us, he's very good.
At the end of the night this very drunken young man grabbed a mic and decided he would accompany me on a song. That's a sound I never want to hear again :D Then he tripped and fell into our gear knocking over 2 mics, spilling his beer and two of mine. My pedals and cables were sitting in beer. Some people in the crowd picked him up but be fell backwards spilling more beer. Later, the club asked him to leave and he tried to start a fight in the parking lot.
Now that's what I call a good night of Rock N Roll!
More Steely Dan coming.
If you know something better than Rock and Roll, I'd like to hear it - Jerry Lee Lewis
I think many would find this song much easier to play if they were to tune down a whole step: D G C F A D
Then play C Am F C G and then do a cool walk up when the song steps up to D Bm G D A.
As soon as I get MS Word loaded onto my new laptop, I'll have a great two page tab version available for anyone who wants it.
A CCR FAN
Jonny T.
P.S. > I have the CCR Guitar Anthology Book plus this song was transcribed in Guitar World Acoustic issue # 62 with Jimmy Page on the cover. My letter to the editor about the transcription appears in issue 64 with Dashboard Confessional Chris Carrabba on the cover.
E doesn't = MC2, E = Fb
Music "Theory"? "It's not just a theory, it's the way it is!"
Jonny T.
I've played it in G:
G-Em-C-G-D
G-Em-C-G-D-G
D-C-G-Em-D
G-Em-C-G-D-G
Bridge:
G-F#-F-E-D-A-F#-E
Last verse:
A-F#m-D-A-E
A-F#m-D-A-E-A (slowly)
Coda - muted strings, then D-A-E-A
This is the general chord progression, I've left out a verse or two.
Blame it on the lies that killed us, blame it on the truth that ran us down.
You can play any song in any key, especially if you need to to find a good singing key. But I would still use barre chords to get the rhythm guitar sound on this song. It is kind of a bouncy shuffle, you don't want open strings ringing out. But that's me.
The rhythm guitar on this song sounds especially good fingerpicked. Use your thumb for the bass, and your index, middle, and ring fingers to play the 4th, 3rd, and 2nd strings. You can get the staccato attack John Fogerty used on this song.
If you know something better than Rock and Roll, I'd like to hear it - Jerry Lee Lewis
