China Grove | rhythm & solo
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An electric guitar lesson on how to play "China Grove" by the Doobie Brothers from their 1973 album "The Captain and Me."
This is one of Tom Johnston's best songs, but it's hard to say that because he had so many! This one has a great guitar solo which I'll be doing in a separate lesson, but it's really all about the rhythm. Back in the day, playing this was a "right of passage" for rock guitar players! There's always an element of funk with the Doobie Brothers stuff and this one is no exception. The trick to getting it to sound right is to strum it using all down strokes, it'll take a while to get the feel but once you do, it sounds great and is a gas to play. It's a real funky kind of a thing, like playing drums on the guitar strings. The intro guitar part has delay on it, but once the drums come in the delay is off until the next time the intro lick rolls around. There are two guitar parts throughout and I go over both in the videos. This is some serious rhythm guitar playing in this tune, and while a lot of guys focus almost entirely on scales and playing lead, rhythm playing is SO important. It's what you're going to be doing 95% of the time if you play in a band. Learning this tune can't help but improve your rhythm chops and make you a better player. I had a ton of fun putting these videos together so I hope you enjoy the. Cheers Andy |
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