The ULTIMATE Johnny B. Goode Guitar Lesson (Chuck Berry)

👉JAM THE BLUES ANYWHERE ON THE NECK! Discover the 5 easiest and fastest ways to play the blues scale with this FREE PDF GUIDE→ www.jonmaclennan.com/bluesscales
Today I want to share with you how to play “Johnny B. Goode” on guitar.
This song is iconic and has a number of quintessential Chuck Berry guitar moves in it. We'll unpack rhythm & blues rhythm patterns, early blues rock licks, his signature double-stops, and even how to get a Chuck Berry-style guitar tone.
In this guitar lesson, I am going to highlight specific areas of his playing with the goal of players being able to take some of his guitar style and infuse it into their own music.
So with that said let’s get started!
Who wrote Johnny B. Goode?
"Johnny B. Goode" was written and first recorded by legendary guitarist and singer Chuck Berry. The song was released in 1958 first as a single and it reached #2 on the Billboard charts.
This song is considered one of the most recognizable songs in the history of popular music, and it was even ranked #33 in Rolling Stone Magazine’s “500 Greatest Songs of All Time.”
Johnny B. Goode Chords
There are only 3 chords you need to play Johnny B. Goode, Bb, Eb, and F. The song is in the key of Bb and uses the I, IV, and V chords of that key.
Bb = I chord
Eb = IV chord
F = V chord
These chords get their Roman numeral from the scale of the key of the song. So since the song is in the key of Bb the chords all relate to a Bb major scale.
A Bb major scale consists of these notes:
Bb, C, D, Eb, F, G, A
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
The same strings and frets can be played like this:
6th string: 6, 8
5th string: 5, 6, 8
4th string: 5, 7, 8
3rd string: 5, 7, 8
2nd string: 6, 8
1st string: 5, 6, 8
👉Read the full blog here: www.jonmaclennan.com/blog/joh...
👉JAM THE BLUES ANYWHERE ON THE NECK! Discover the 5 easiest and fastest ways to play the blues scale with this FREE PDF GUIDE→ www.jonmaclennan.com/bluesscales

[@jonmaclennan]

👉JAM THE BLUES ANYWHERE ON THE NECK! Discover the 5 easiest and fastest ways to play the blues scale with this FREE PDF GUIDE→ www.jonmaclennan.com/bluesscales

[@drutgat2]

Great lesson, Jon. It is really hard to capture the dynamism and spirit of Chuck Berry's playing, and you do a great job of that in this lesson. Thanks.

[@TheBhannah]

The best riff ever !

[@glenncoody]

This riff has made my day; got me going! Thanks, Jon!

[@jeffjohnson7381]

Love your channel and your lesson descriptions are the BEST…Love all the early Blues and Rock artist…would love to see some delta blues slide lessons for beginner to intermediate level for starting to learn blues in that format…Thanks Grant 🎸🎶

[@AngelMartinez-qs3cf]

Good show brother. Cool lesson, like always.

[@flapjackson6077]

Excellent lesson! You totally nailed it! I just sent this link to my son who can play guitar really well but is completely lacking in rhythm! I’m talking to you, J bro! 😂

[@wolfgangrittner6637]

Except the double stop part master Chuck pulled or bend the strings downward! Fact! In any case amazing video. Thank you..

[@kingofzamunda9039]

That’s Sarty Mchwartz

[@spencerludman3915]

Jon… how do you not have a Red House video?

[@nickadams701]

What a beautiful ES-335 Dot. Original or reissue?

[@jankoradivojevic3564]

timming for second part of intro solo?

[@pujanbantawa3784]

👌👌👌👌

[@p.r.6220]

I'm just starting, any tips on the sound? reverb? drive? delay? chorus?

[@daarshsharubesucc7906]

Wouldn’t recommend using this dude too much as a beginner as he doesn’t actually go in depth

[@5150eruption]

I thought Marty swartz lost weight!

[@rickviola]

Shure, rush though the part I was trying to get right. Stop saying numbers, we can see.

[@ThomasDeLello]

A difficult lick...

[@aleksandr306]

why is it like Marty Schwartz ?

[@TOASTERBOI_2004]

IKR

[@jefferzone61]

Molasses in January for the obvious, then blaze through the tricky bits with 'because i can' riffage and 'insight'..smh

[@garyrochussen3430]

I don't know why this guy irritates me so much.🙄