hey everyone, ive been working on the song "carol" by chuck berry for a while now. ive got the intro fills and solo but i cant seem to figure out these chords. i tried Eb Bb F from a tab site but that didnt sound right. the other problem is ive been watching the video from hail hail rock and roll which im pretty sure is the one of the few documented video of chuck playing it with a rehearsed band in the right key...and i cant seem to figure out what chords they are playing.
does anyone have an experience with this song or can offer some insight? or is there anything i can use to find these chords or the key they are in, i know he plays in odd keys?
heres a couple links
Fantastic song. I don't know how to play it but I have a Chuck Songbook (just the lead parts) that shows it in C. When I play the intro it sounds right versus the link you provided of Chuck's original.
So the chords in C would be: C F (7 or 9?) and G.
:)
Don
I played along with the first vid you linked to and it was indeed a straight 12-bar in C - so C, F and G7 will do the job nicely.
Also - if you watch the close up shot of Chuck soloing at 0:40 you'll see he's at the 8th fret - AFAIK he never used anything except standard tuning so it can't be anything else but C
A :-)
"Be good at what you can do" - Fingerbanger"
I have always felt that it is better to do what is beautiful than what is 'right'" - Eliot Fisk
Wedding music and guitar lessons in Essex. Listen at: http://www.rollmopmusic.co.uk
so have they transposed the chords up the neck cause chuck looks like hes hanging out around the 8th fret the whole time?
Ok, where are we starting from? Nothing's transposed, that's just where it is.
The note you get at the 8th fret of the 1st or 6th string is C. If you play an E-shape barre chord barring the 8th fret, that chord is C - it's not transposed, that's just what it is. If you're going to play a scale of C anything, you'll more likely play it at the 8th fret because that's where it all falls nicely under the fingers.
Then, if you change from the E-shape chord to the A-shape, still barring the 8th fret, you get the chord of F, and if you slide that two frets higher it becomes G. The nice thing about guitar is that you can build any chord at any number of different positions - CAGED is great for working out how.
Do you need to know "all" this theory stuff? No; you can noodle around in open position for ever if you want to, but sooner or later you'll realise you need to break out of the box, and knowing a chunk of this theory stuff will help you answer questions like working out a song from the recordings - as I just did.
Don't place too much value on internet tabs - some are ok, some are rubbish, all of them are individuals' interpretation or how they play it and it's ok for them if it's not spot on; but most will need some tweaking and I've sat there with my students at Saturday morning music school working from an internet tab and we've spent half the lesson correcting obvious howlers. If you're going to use tabs, why not buy an official version?
A :-)
"Be good at what you can do" - Fingerbanger"
I have always felt that it is better to do what is beautiful than what is 'right'" - Eliot Fisk
Wedding music and guitar lessons in Essex. Listen at: http://www.rollmopmusic.co.uk
If the tab you found shows it played in 1st position, then yeah, whoever wrote the tab transposed it -- probably for simplification, or ease of playing by beginners.
Or because they don't know how to play chords up the neck very well. :roll:
I wrapped a newspaper ’round my head
So I looked like I was deep
