well hello friends and welcome to Ask
0:34
Zac hope you're doing well today today
0:36
we're going to talk about
0:39
kind of how to you know kind of an intro
0:41
to Western swing guitar or kind of how
0:44
to fake it at Western swing guitar if
0:46
you will uh and and that's said with all
0:50
respect I I love Western swing and so
0:53
the reason I'm doing this is actually
0:55
one of my uh you know patreon members
0:58
asked me he said hey I'm playing in a
1:01
country band and I we're gonna do a
1:03
western swing number and I really don't
1:04
know how to play over that and I thought
1:08
it was such a great question because you
1:10
do
1:11
when you're playing Western swing you
1:13
need to think in a different mindset and
1:16
from what you might do with you know
1:19
playing over you know a straight ahead
1:22
you know Bakersfield or a shuffle tune
1:24
or things like that and so today is just
1:27
kind of a
1:28
an intro and some hacks some cheats you
1:33
know to help you uh you know with your
1:36
playing and your tone and just Concepts
1:39
and so these will uh and these are very
1:42
transferable these also can be used in
1:44
like blues and junk blues and all sorts
1:46
of stuff so don't think this is just for
1:48
Western swing but this is something that
1:51
will really help you in that area
1:53
so of course while you're thinking about
1:55
it uh if you haven't done it already and
1:57
if you've been enjoying the show please
1:59
hit subscribe if you've already done
2:01
that then I appreciate you supporting
2:03
the show there's uh multiple ways but
2:05
the best is patreon and you can find
2:07
more at the link in the description
2:10
there's also merch at askzac.com at the
2:13
store or there's good old tip jar
2:16
information and if you want to do uh you
2:18
know a PayPal or venmo or what have you
2:21
and it is much appreciated I do need to
2:24
say uh thank you so much for the
2:26
wonderful responses I got on last week's
2:28
episode about uh you know the arthritis
2:32
diagnosis that I got
2:34
um I actually played last weekend played
2:37
two you know four hour sets and down in
2:40
Tulsa
2:41
had a had a great time played well I was
2:45
just sore you know at the at the end of
2:47
the second night and but I was I've been
2:49
okay since and just kind of uh dealing
2:52
with it and doing you know trying to do
2:55
a better job with taking care of my
2:57
hands and taking care of my health
3:00
all right so let's uh let's Dive In
3:04
so first off
3:06
your best friend when you're playing
3:08
Western swing
3:11
are sixth and Ninth chords
3:15
they really give you a tonality that
3:18
says
3:19
I know what I'm doing
3:21
so let's just you know we're going to
3:24
start in the key of G
3:25
and I'm going to play some inversions of
3:29
six and nine chords and sometimes doing
3:32
it chromatically I'm going to do it slow
3:35
and then you know you can slow it down
3:37
and watch watch it again later so you
3:40
can kind of understand it better and
3:42
then you need to move these you know you
3:43
need to transpose these into all the
3:45
different keys
3:46
so we're going to just do it in G first
3:50
um
3:51
so first off you have this one
3:57
then the next one
3:58
again this is
4:03
here's the next one
4:04
[Music]
4:09
and uh you know I'm just going to climb
4:12
up you know way above you know on the on
4:14
the 15th fret so you can go
4:26
and that's basically just different
4:29
inversions of that same chordal change
4:31
over and over again so starting up on
4:33
the 15th fret
4:35
foreign
4:39
[Music]
4:44
starts with your first finger you're on
4:46
the seventh fret and you've got your you
4:49
know your your your second finger on the
4:51
eighth fret and you've got your third
4:52
finger on the ninth fret you have this
4:55
one
4:58
and then back to this first one again
5:03
so slow that down learn that and then
5:07
move it into other keys and that will be
5:10
extremely helpful for you so this is the
5:13
one we're going to concentrate on right
5:15
now so starting on the uh so I've got
5:19
the first finger on the seventh fret
5:21
I've got the second finger on the eighth
5:23
fret of this on the B string and I've
5:26
got the third finger on the ninth fret
5:28
of the G string foreign
5:31
[Music]
5:48
okay so what I did there
5:51
was I took that simple you know G6 to G9
5:56
move right well I did it chromatically
5:59
I went down a half step and then back up
6:01
you know
6:02
[Music]
6:06
[Applause]
6:10
so that's me taking it up to C
6:19
that was that was up on the up on the
6:22
12th fret the first finger is on the
6:23
12th fret and then you move down to the
6:25
uh the first form again of G6
6:30
and then you can take it all the way
6:32
down to that that G9 and then I played a
6:35
a single note Line run because
6:38
doing this
6:40
um it's nice to have a motif and it's
6:43
nice to and it's nice to repeat the
6:45
motif over the one chord and the four
6:47
chord but when you get to the five chord
6:50
let's do something different
6:52
and uh
6:54
so I always think a good you know single
6:57
note line you know will sound good there
6:58
so here I'm
6:59
[Music]
7:22
thank you
7:24
oh let's see here's another one based on
7:29
this chord shape this this G6
7:32
[Music]
7:33
we can we can kind of ramp it up into
7:38
kind of a double stop lick like this
7:40
[Music]
7:51
foreign
7:52
so there I took uh you know part of this
7:57
I took just you know the the on the high
8:00
e and B strings I'm playing of course
8:02
the first fingers on the seventh fret
8:04
second fingers on the eighth fret on the
8:06
B string and then of course your uh
8:08
you're kind of playing this back and
8:10
forth thing on the G string where you're
8:12
playing on the uh the ninth fret and the
8:14
seventh fret too
8:15
[Music]
8:20
and then you flat the third which of
8:24
course go which means that first finger
8:26
is going to go from the seventh fret
8:27
down to the sixth fret then you have
8:30
[Music]
8:33
and what that gives you is it gives you
8:35
a g sorry a C7
8:38
tonality or actually
8:44
and uh
8:46
yeah and that's a that's a nice little
8:49
double stop move so again
8:50
[Music]
9:02
foreign
9:05
that works really well
9:07
again this is all just using an over the
9:10
five chord I used again this this you
9:14
know this times it's a D6 to a D9
9:17
[Music]
9:24
and that's your first fingers on the
9:26
10th fret your second finger is on the
9:30
uh the 11th fret of the G string and
9:32
your third finger is on the 12th fret of
9:34
the B string and then you're just moving
9:36
it down chromatically
9:38
[Music]
9:42
all right uh one more thing with this
9:45
shape and this is a a really good
9:48
descending lick
9:51
[Music]
9:59
so this was me just taking this shape
10:02
and I'm playing it
10:03
you know down then up down then up down
10:07
then just ending with kind of a curly q
10:10
kind of lick so
10:11
[Music]
10:20
thank you
10:21
[Music]
10:23
of course you have that six nine chord
10:25
that I I love and probably overuse at
10:29
times
10:30
[Music]
10:36
um here's a uh
10:39
here's a good chromatic lick that works
10:43
really well that you can go forward or
10:45
backwards on again we're staying in the
10:47
key of G
10:49
um
10:50
[Music]
10:54
so that's going forward and then you can
10:56
go backwards with it
10:59
[Music]
11:08
so that you can get a lot of mileage out
11:10
of uh also just always thinking about
11:12
the minor third to Major third move
11:16
[Music]
11:19
that always works well
11:22
ah half step below moves work really
11:27
well and that's kind of a jazz swing you
11:30
know kind of move regardless
11:33
um but let's just take a G chord so this
11:36
is just a g bar chord well if I approach
11:39
it from a half step below then I can get
11:42
a really interesting sound so I'm just
11:44
going to outline outline this shape so
11:46
I'm going to
11:50
[Music]
11:52
yeah again
11:54
[Music]
12:02
now I can I can kind of kind of come
12:06
back some I can kind of go forward and
12:08
backwards
12:08
[Music]
12:16
great move
12:17
uh here's one that I learned from John
12:20
Jorgensen uh actually I think he was
12:22
playing like some gypsy jazz and I
12:24
really liked this thing it's just a
12:26
little section that I that I stole from
12:28
something where he was playing
12:30
and it's perfect because it's uh I think
12:34
of it as is over uh you know again we're
12:36
in the key of G so we're thinking about
12:38
this over the IV chord over the C which
12:40
you know would be
12:42
or just
12:45
so that's just
12:50
so think over a C9
12:52
[Music]
12:54
okay so it's uh
12:58
[Music]
13:05
so it's so starting on the G string on
13:09
the fifth fret
13:10
and then going down to the third fret
13:12
then I'll go to the B string on the
13:14
fifth fret B string third fret E string
13:18
fifth fret
13:19
E string third fret
13:21
[Music]
13:24
and then back down
13:31
but on the G string I did a chromatic
13:33
move
13:36
and then hit that D string on the fifth
13:39
fret and then I did the major you know
13:41
the minor third to Major third move
13:44
[Music]
13:47
it's a third fret to Fourth fret on the
13:49
G string and then hit that uh
13:52
that low uh that low G on the uh on the
13:55
D string on the fifth fret
13:58
uh uh again in the kind of uh half step
14:03
below
14:05
um I think the flatted the flatted fifth
14:07
is always a fun thing to to start with
14:11
uh so so in the key of G you know it's
14:15
this uh you know D note and I'm just
14:17
going to use this one here on the on the
14:19
B string on the third fret and so I
14:22
start one fret below that
14:26
[Music]
14:30
so it just it just has a nice
14:33
um you know kind of ear catching uh you
14:37
know quality to it so
14:42
[Music]
14:45
and there I was you know kind of
14:47
bouncing back and forth on the D string
14:49
between the you know Fifth and Third
14:51
frets
14:58
[Music]
15:03
yeah and again always the you know major
15:06
third minor third uh kind of uh move
15:10
that uh always always works well
15:15
all right now let's talk about some kind
15:17
of do's and don'ts so
15:20
if you noticed in the way I was playing
15:24
uh actually let's let's back up and I
15:26
want to talk about One More Concept that
15:29
I I really love and that's octaves and I
15:32
don't mean that in the West Montgomery
15:34
you know Style
15:35
[Music]
15:37
I mean it in uh playing a kind of
15:41
soprano note and then playing an octave
15:43
below that it it really works well in
15:47
this kind of thing so anything again
15:50
always in the key of G for this you can
15:53
go up to you know the 15th fret and you
15:56
go
15:57
[Music]
16:03
so that's you know playing that 15th
16:05
fret with your pinky and then on the E
16:07
string and then playing the 12th fret on
16:09
the G string
16:11
that works well and then you can
16:14
slightly Bend
16:16
[Music]
16:18
on the uh on the 14th fret for the G
16:22
you know for going over the one chord
16:23
the G and then when you get to the C
16:25
chord you can play it again
16:30
but then play the you know the 15th fret
16:33
on the on the G string to give it that
16:38
uh C7 tonality
16:42
[Music]
16:44
uh also I really like to use this kind
16:47
of octave Motif for uh descending licks
16:51
like uh if I'm if I'm again always in
16:54
the key of G for this episode
16:56
when I'm going from the V chord which is
16:58
of course your D and I'm getting back to
17:01
the one chord uh because you know
17:04
there's so many moves that are one six
17:07
two five or maybe it's just a simple one
17:09
two five kind of move but you end up a
17:11
lot so many times going from the five
17:13
from the D chord back to the G
17:16
and so many times I like to do this move
17:19
which I'm starting on the on the 10th
17:21
fret with my pinky on the high E string
17:25
and then I'm playing the octave which is
17:28
on the seventh fret on the G string with
17:30
my first finger so you get this
17:34
together
17:35
let's see
17:37
[Music]
17:44
so again and we're moving chromatically
17:46
down
17:47
[Music]
17:57
ah yeah that really works well
18:01
[Music]
18:06
all right now let's get back to uh kind
18:09
of do's and don'ts and tone and and
18:12
things like that so one thing that I
18:14
would say that I wouldn't do is I
18:16
wouldn't do bending unless it was uh you
18:19
know like a half step or more it just
18:21
doesn't sound legit when you start doing
18:23
Pedal Steel type bins because
18:27
true Western swing
18:30
you know when it was really at its at
18:33
its height
18:34
you know there were no there you know
18:36
people weren't using pedals on a steel
18:39
guitar so you don't have that bending
18:42
string sound and of course people were
18:43
using heavy gauge strings you know with
18:46
a wound third and so you don't hear
18:49
string bending really unless it's you
18:51
hear slurs and you hear half step bends
18:54
and you but you don't hear whole step
18:57
bends or Blues bins so I would kind of
19:01
steer away from those
19:04
um double stops of course are are really
19:08
great that's that's dues stay with those
19:10
sixth nine 13 You Know chords and things
19:13
like that uh also tone wise
19:18
uh
19:19
again Western swing was at its height in
19:23
the 1930s and 40s which means that most
19:26
of those recordings don't have any type
19:29
of effects on them at all no Reverb no
19:31
Echo no anything like that and so many
19:35
times
19:36
I will try to go for a drier sound now
19:40
sometimes it might just not work and I
19:42
will you know turn the Reverb on or
19:44
might use a little slapback delay but
19:46
most the time I try to go for a drier
19:49
sound like right now I have my the
19:50
Reverb off on my little uh
19:52
headstrong a little King and uh
19:56
you know but the only effect I am using
19:59
is I'm using uh one of the J rocket
20:02
Archer pedals they're they're the icon
20:04
the gold Archer and uh and what I'm
20:08
using that for is just for a boost so
20:12
that I play a little lighter and also to
20:14
add just a touch of hair so I only have
20:16
the you know the gain at like nine
20:18
o'clock which means that you're not
20:20
getting you know you're getting some of
20:23
that mid-range YouTube screamer thing
20:25
but not you know a a too big of a dollop
20:28
of it and I just really want to add a
20:30
touch of hair I don't really want it to
20:33
sound distorted now at times I will use
20:35
an overdrive pedal set really low also
20:38
to kind of get this and the reason I do
20:40
this
20:41
is that most the time these recordings
20:43
you know the amps the guitar amps were
20:45
were really underpowered and so many
20:48
times they were running them at the top
20:50
end of their uh volume capability and so
20:54
many times you've got a touch of uh of
20:57
distortion you know or overdrive you
21:00
know in the in the sound that was used
21:03
by these players in the 1940s and the
21:05
1930s and so I like to replicate that
21:08
because I think it sounds fun and I
21:10
think it sounds more legit more legit
21:12
than a crystal clear clean tone I think
21:15
a Crystal Clear Tone just doesn't I
21:18
don't like it in western swing I mean
21:20
the other other guys do it and they do
21:21
it great but I'm more influenced by
21:24
Junior Bernard who had a pretty dirty
21:26
tone and so uh yeah so that's what I use
21:30
it my uh one other note I have to say
21:32
about this Archer pedal was uh
21:35
I'm not really a big pedal modder but
21:38
one of my patreon fellows named Chad
21:41
kindly sent me a set of New Old Stock
21:44
diodes the kind that were actually used
21:46
in the old clones and changed that out
21:48
and it actually did make a noticeable
21:51
difference especially in the high end it
21:53
made The Trebles the treble notes became
21:56
less cloudy so anyway so there's a uh
22:00
you know one of one of the rare mods
22:03
that I've I've done to a pedal and was
22:05
actually felt like it did something okay
22:06
back to to tone the other thing I do is
22:11
I tend to stay away from the bridge
22:14
pickup on my Telly and so because I'm
22:17
trying to get more of an arch top sound
22:19
which is what you know this you know
22:21
Western swing you know originally was
22:23
not cut with solid body guitars so much
22:25
of it was done before Leo started making
22:28
the Telly and the Strat now of course
22:30
later on Eldon shamblin got a strat and
22:33
of course you have Jimmy Bryant and
22:34
things like that but that was really
22:36
at the tail end of Western swing's
22:39
popularity
22:41
um you know
22:43
what western swing was was really you
22:46
know getting killed off by things like
22:48
television and uh you know Honky Tonk
22:52
music shuffles rock and roll uh all
22:55
those things kind of ended the reign of
22:58
Western swing and so so much of Western
23:00
swing was done with big hollow body
23:02
guitars with single coil pickups and uh
23:06
so the closest I'm going to get to that
23:08
with the Telly because I'm not going to
23:09
bring another guitar just to play
23:10
Western swing on is I'm going to go to
23:13
the neck pickup and uh and again I'm
23:15
going to use this you know Archer pedal
23:17
and
23:18
[Music]
23:31
oh
23:35
[Music]
23:42
so and sometimes I will get it you know
23:44
because that's not really hairy sounding
23:46
but there's just a touch of hair on the
23:48
note and sometimes I'll get it hairier
23:50
than that depending on how much I want
23:52
to go you know Junior Bernard the you
23:55
know
23:56
[Music]
24:12
thank you
24:14
all right
24:16
well guys I appreciate you uh watching
24:19
today and I hope hope you've enjoyed it
24:22
hope this is a good little taste of a
24:25
western swing and I have some really
24:29
good playlists that and I'll put the
24:31
link like to the junior Bernard one
24:33
because that's one of my you know
24:34
favorites and of course I have an
24:36
episode on Junior and such that you can
24:38
watch and uh yeah learn your Sixth and
24:42
nine chord uh inversions especially up
24:45
here on the high three strings and learn
24:48
them in all the different keys and
24:51
you'll go far
24:53
all right guys thank you so much we'll
24:55
see you next time bye-bye