➧ CHOPS ➧

G U E S T G U R U

Brian Setzer’s
Bop-a-Billy Basics
BY JUDE GOLD

Hotwired Scales Changing Lanes

➧
IF YOU COULD POUR race. But while Setzer’s riffs sound
Brian Setzer’s explo- like pure spontaneous combus- “Once you learn scales and While Ex. 2 surfs an A7 vamp
sive mixture of rock, tion, they’re fueled by a strong un- chord progressions, you can make nicely, the next step is adjusting to
countr y, jazz, and derstanding of scales, theory, be- up your own versions,” offers Setzer. shifting harmonies. “Once you
rockabilly into the gas tank of a bop, and sight-reading. The tattooed guitarist loves teaching learn how to change with the
muscle car, you’d win any drag young players how to escape the di- chords, you can fill in the spaces,”
Ex. 1 atonic doldrums. “Watch this,” he says Setzer, demonstrating with Ex.
offers. “Instead of playing a regular 3, a swingin’ line that nails the

 
A major scale


A major scale like this one [plays Ex. chords’ outer extensions with a

    1

 
4 1 2 1], I’ll turn it into something like Charlie Parker-like flair. Give the


this.” [Plays Ex. 2, which adds chro-
matic notes and slides.]
phrase a swing feel, and slur the
sixteenth-notes.
“What I’ve just played for you
4 5
T
5 7
A
4 6 7
B
7

Ex. 2

 = 160
Swing feel A7
 
       2

 4       
1

     
or 3
  
1
     
2  
3
  1 3


4

 4
()

































----

9 12 11 10 9 8 9
T
5 6 7 5 7 5 8 5 7 5 (5) 10 10 10 (10)
A
4 5 6 5 6 11 11 9 11
B
7

Ex. 3


F 7  9
= 160
Swing feel Amaj7 Bm7 B9 E13 Amaj7

 4      
1
           3        
4 4 3 1 4
    
1 3

4

































      3 2 1
1 4

4 7 5 4 2 3 532
T
7 5 5 5 3 2 2
A
7 6 4 3 6 4 3 6 6 6 6
B
4 7 7 7 (7)
6 9 976 5 9

1 0 0 GUITAR PLAYER AUGUST 2002 guitarplayer.com “A lot of times, what’s a big, glaring mistake to you is nothing to the audience.” — Alex Lifeson, April ’86, GP
 “Rock and roll is the
physical thing that just
comes out of you,”
says Brian Setzer. “The
other stuff you have to
sit down and learn.”

is bebop,” says Setzer. “Bebop ties Ex. 4a

together a lot of loose ends for me. Freely E
But you don’t have to play that all  4       
  
night. At any time, you can go back
into rocking.” Proving his point,
4

























Setzer busts into a high-octane
mixture of Travis picking and blues.
0 0 4 2 0
0 4 3 2
Hot-Rod Harmony T
A
B
“You can play a simple melody
[plays Ex. 4a] and then add chords
to it,” says Setzer. He then plays Ex.
4b, a harmonized version of the Ex. 4b
notes in Ex. 4a. Try it as a I-VI-II-
 = 100-144 E 
Em7 5/G F m7 B13 E
V turnaround in E.
“The best part about all this  4         
    
4

4  
1

  

stuff,” says Setzer, “is that when 4 4 3 2


3 3 1
1
people hear you play it, they re-
  
1 3
ally get it.”  2  2
1

Look for Brian Setzer’s Christ- 0 0 0

mas album in stores this October. T
0 4 3 2 9 7 0
1 3 2 8 1
g A
B
2 2 7
0 3 2 7 0

PH OTO : J O H N P O P P L E W E L L guitarplayer.com AUGUST 2002 GUITAR PLAYER 1 0 1