Chords for 5 Johnny Winter Blues Riffs | Reverb Learn to Play

[Gbm] _ [G] _ [Bm] _ _ _ [Em] _ [Dm] _ _
_ _ [F] _ [G] _ _ [Fm] _ _ _
[Ebm] Hey everybody, this is Jeff with Reverb.
I'm here [Am] today [G] to talk about Johnny Winter and
some Johnny Winter licks.
I've got this 65 non-reverse Firebird that they had here at
Reverb.
I think Johnny played a 64 reverse Firebird, but somewhere in the ballpark, similar.
And of course, Johnny Winter is one of the Texas blues greats.
And the thing about Johnny,
I think, that separates him from some of the other Texas players or blues players of that
genre, is just the speed that he could play at and the fluency and how [B] clear his notes
[Eb] were. _ _
_ _ [Bb] _ _ _ _ _ [Eb] _
_ [F] Johnny, if I'm not mistaken, [Ab] used a thumb pick and maybe an index finger pick.
I'm using a flat pick today, [Eb] but [Bb] the licks that I'm going to show you would translate
to either one.
Johnny, I think, I don't know if he was a big pedal guy in the day.
I think
he used to just turn up tube amps [Bm] so they'd break up.
But I'm using a Pro Analog Devices
Manicore Overdrive.
The amp is pretty clean.
I've got a mild amount of drive coming out
of the pedal.
[E] _ _ [B] _
[A] So it should sound like an amp when it's turned up on the [Bm] verge of break-up. _ _ _
_ [Ebm] Well, this first lick I'm doing, I'm in [E] the key of B, and I'm basically just staying in
[Bm] _
[Bb] [Gbm] the blues or even the pentatonic box.
But this is one that Johnny used to do pretty
often and it's really quick.
If I break down what I'm doing, _ _ _ [N] I'm at the seventh fret, going
to the tenth on the B string, seventh fret on the E string, and [Bm] then backtracking with
a pull-off.
[Gb] _ _ _
[Bm] _ _ [Gb] _ _ And then this is what really makes it Johnny, is this really swift, kind of sharp
[Bm] _ _ _ _
[Bb] _ [N] sounding pull-off hammer-on combination from [Bm] ten to seven.
[Abm] And when [Bm] he puts that together, _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ and you can end it a variety of ways, but in this lick I was doing _ _ _ [E] _ [D] _ _ [N]
right there in the
box.
Nine on the G string, seven on the B string, seven on the G [D] string.
So again, slow.
_ _ _ _ [Bb] _
_ [G] _ [A] You can try and [D] get up to Johnny's speed. _ _
[Bm] _ _ _ _ _ _ All _ [E] right, well the next Johnny Winter lick that I'd like to show you again is right in
the blues box right there, still in the key of B.
And I'm kind of starting it out with
the [Bm] typical, _ one of those that many players use.
But the way Johnny would add this lick
to it gave it his own flavor. _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ And [N] basically what I'm doing here, I've got the index at the seventh fret on [Bm] the E string,
but I've got it covering the B string too, [Gb] _ [G] playing both those notes and then a [Bm] bend at
the tenth. _
[Gbm] _ [E] And then he kind of, [Gbm] at the tail end of it, seven ten back to [Bm] seven. _ _ _ _
But he would change it around a little bit every time, but the gist of it is, _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ [E] finish
it off with a bend or a lick of your [Bm] choice.
_ _ _ _ [Dm] _
_ _ _ _ _ [D] _ _ [E]
Still in the key of B, but up in a different region here as far as the blues scale goes.
In the scale, you've got your pentatonic right here.
[Bm] _ _ [Bb] _
_ _ [N] What he's doing, he's bending up at
the 17th.
And then generally, I'm guessing he'd probably use his pinky.
You could do
with your middle and ring as well.
It depends on your choice as far as comfort.
But I've
got my pinky on the 17th of the high E.
I'm bending up, and I'm doing four notes alternating
really fast on the [Dm] E string. _ _
_ _ [Bb] So real slow here. _ _ _
_ _ _ [D] _ _ _ And then I'm kind of tailing it off
[Em] with, _ [Bb] _ [E] so bringing the bend down, [Am] 17, [Bm] down, pull off to 15, [E] 16 on the G string, back to
17 on the B string, back to 16 on G, and back to 15 on [D] B.
_ _ _ _ [E] _
_ [Bb] _ _ _ _ [E] _ _
Another lick that would work great is a little thing that I've heard Johnny do a few times,
where he actually does a little bend.
Again, I'm just in the blues box, _ but he skips a
string here.
[B] _ _ [E] So you can see I'm doing the bend, [Bb] _ _ [Bm] _ _ _ _ [Bb] _
doing the bend here at the 9th fret,
_ [D] pulling [Bm] off to the 7th, 9th fret on the D string, and then I'm skipping way up to the
high E string on the 7th fret, then 7th fret of the G string, and then landing on the D string. _ _
_ _ _ _ [B] _ _ _ [Em] _
[D] _ _ [B] _ _ _ [D] _ _ _
_ _ Another thing that you might catch Johnny doing is kind of going in between the different
blues positions.
Again, I'm in the key of B, but I'm getting a little bit outside of
just the box here.
But see, keeping that same real fast picking thing that he does.
_ _ [E] _ [D] _ _ _ _ [Gb] _
[B] _ [Gbm] _ _ You can see what I'm doing here.
I'm sliding out of the box at _ [Bb] the 11th fret on the G string,
10th fret [G] on the B string, and then I'm going up to the 14th on the G string, 12th on the
B string.
_ _ _ [A] _ _ _ _
[B] _ [D] _ _ _ And there's a number of ways he did that.
Sometimes he'd play the notes together. _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ It might take a little practice, because Johnny was a very quick player, very articulate,
and you can hear every note that he plays.
And again, like I say in all the videos, take
a little bit of what Johnny did, try and incorporate it into your own playing.
Thanks for tuning
in.
Hope you check out some of the other videos on reverb.
Until next time.
_ [Bm] _ _