Chords for Ana Popovic on Finding Her Sound and Learning the Blues in Serbia | Reverb Interview

_ [Cm] _ _ _ [E] _ [Eb] _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ [Cm] _ [E] _ _ _ _ _
[Abm] _ [Fm] _ _ [Eb] _ _ _ [F] [Cm] electric guitar
So _ [B] _ [Eb] _ _ _ _ _
_ I [F] grew up in [C] Belgrade,
and I was home listening
[Em] to my father's jam sessions.
Dave [Cm] would have a little band,
play [N] some blues,
and they didn't have
a slide player,
so by the time I was,
I guess 12, 13,
I learned a few slide stuff
from Elmore James,
so I would sit in jam sessions
that's how I first really,
I was drawn to music,
and I wanted to play guitar.
I started with a keyboard
when I was 9,
and I quickly switched to guitar.
It was always my instrument.
Obviously at that time,
no girls were playing whatsoever,
especially in Serbia,
so I went to some rock lessons,
_ and I was obviously
the only _ girl there.
I wasn't particularly fast at learning.
I would see how boys
would just get it,
you know, just right away.
Whatever Dave would get
right away took me like
a lot of time,
weeks to practice.
But I loved practicing,
and what I remembered
about that time,
I always had a clear vision
of what I wanted to do with music
if I would ever get a chance,
which was probably at that time
looked like a no-go to me,
being in Serbia and playing
blues, but I mean,
I always had a clear vision
what my music would sound like.
I moved to Amsterdam
when I was 20.
I studied some jazz
at the Jazz Academy.
I studied some world music.
It was so long ago.
At the same time,
I was pursuing my career,
and I formed
the Anna Popovich Band,
and we started touring really heavily.
I think the most learning
I learned on stage,
_ _ just trying to express
whatever is inside
and trying to play
Anna Popovich, you know,
which I think is good
somewhere because there was
a long time ago when I was
trying to play like somebody else,
which I think is good
for [E] your own style,
because that's the last thing
I want is to copy anybody.
I want something authentic,
and for the authentic,
you need to really be _
_ locking with your own band,
with your own music,
with your own songs,
and see what comes out,
and that's basically
your own style.
I'm _ _
_ _ [G] _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
[N] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ [G] _ _ _ _ _
not into Serbian music,
so I [B] never listened
to any of the Balkan stuff.
Dweezil was just talking
to me like, you know,
you should _ get some
of that Balkan thing, whatever.
I was never into Balkan thing.
I wanted to run as far
as I could from that.
So for me, it's like, okay,
you are somebody
from Eastern Europe,
you're going to come
to the States,
and then you're going to _ come
up with your own licks.
Wow, okay, you know,
my background is basically
blues and soul,
_ so that feels very much at home.
I knew [Cm] a certain type of music
and how I would like to play.
It was somewhere, _
and then I was just hoping
one day I'll wake up
with my own licks, you know,
and that's exactly what happens.
You're working so hard,
and you're getting the solos,
in my case it was, you know,
sitting down, getting Stevie's stuff,
getting Ronnie Earl's stuff,
getting Hendrix, you know,
those are the learning years,
and those are very important years.
And then once that time is over,
you know, there just comes times
in your life when you're just
not interested in that.
You want your own sound.
That's when you need to close
that, whatever you learned,
and just try to pursue
what is you.
It's important to be what is you,
whatever it is.
It can be good or bad.
It's better than the copy,
I think, in my opinion.
[Bb] _ _
guitar plays [Cm] _ [Gm] _ _ _ [Gb] _ [Eb] _
softly
_ [Gm] _ _ _ _ [Eb] _
_ [Ab] _ [Bb] _ _ [Em] _ _ _ _
_ [Ab] _ [Bm] _ [Bb] _ [A] _ [N] _ _ _
_ [Gb] _ [G] _ Yeah, _ [Eb] _ [G] _
_ _ _ [Eb] _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ [Gm] _ _ _ [D] _ [Ab] _
_ [G] so this is my guitar.
I actually, I got it
when I was [B] 18,
and I [Bb] played it ever since.
So [E] _ it's always on my shows.
[B] It's my second guitar,
and I played like the, [Fm] you know,
the slower stuff with it. _ _
_ [Eb] _ _ _ _ _ _ [Fm] _
_ _ [Cm] _ _ _ [F] _ [Eb] _ _
_ [F] _ _ _ [Cm] _ [Eb] _ _ _
[Fm] _ _ [G] _ _ [F] _ _ [E] I love to switch between
the pick and the [G] fingers
on the right hand,
which I think gives
a wonderful sound.
_ [D] _ _ _
_ And again, [Am] I have no style whatsoever.
It's just pure feeling,
[D] _ _ _ and _ _ _ you can switch real [Db] fast,
which will give you
a totally different tone.
[D] guitar plays _ _ _
_ _ [G] _ _ _ [D] [B] softly _
_ _ _ _ _ _ [D] _ _
_ _ _ [E] [Bm] I [Eb] kind of like the pedals
that they don't make no more
is like what I like.
I got 2 Tube Screamers,
and I love the original stuff.
The right one is all original.
Actually, the Tube Screamer,
I got it right here on reverse.
_ [Bm] _ [Cm] _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ [Eb] _ _ [Ab] _ _
[Cm] guitar plays [G] softly
Now you can add the second one.
[Ab] _ _ guitar plays softly
[F] _ _ _
[Cm] _ _ _ [Eb] _ _ [C] _ _ [Eb] _
_ _ [Ebm] _ _ _ [F] _ _ [Eb] _
_ _ _ _ [G] _ _ [Eb] _
[F] This _ [Cm] _ [Eb] _ _ _ _ _
[Bb] _ _ _ _ [Cm] _ _ _ _
_ is the Vox Wah I love.
They stopped making them.
They're wonderful and really soft
and with a huge loop.
I think they stopped making it
because it breaks very easily,
but the nice thing about that,
it breaks only once,
and once you fix it,
it works forever.
Then I got a Dunlop
Super Badass distortion,
which is, I like that the best
of their distortion pedals.
A Fuzz Face is great to combine
with either Tube Screamer
or the Dunlop distortion.
guitar plays _ [Bb] _ _ [C] _
_ [E] _ _ [G] _ _ _ _ [Cm] _
_ _ _ softly
_ [Gm] _ _
[Cm] _ _ _ _ [Eb] _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ [A] _ [Gm] _ _ _ _ [Cm] _
_ _ _ _ _ _ [F] I got the [Eb] original chorus,
2 buttons.
I don't think they make them no more.
I mean, I'm pretty sure they don't.
[Gm] _ _
_ _ [Cm] _ _ [Gm] _ _ [D] _ _
[Eb] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ [Ab] _ [Cm] _ guitar plays softly
Dunlop _ delay, analog delay,
is, you know, really comes close
to those old pedals,
which I like that old _ sound
and the warm sound.
_ Reverb pedal, I love to use
_ _ Super and a Bassman together.
_ _ Reverb pedal is good,
especially for a Bassman
that doesn't have one.
So yeah, that's my setting.
It's usually pretty simple.
_ [Ab] _ _ _ [F] guitar plays softly
_ _ [Cm] _ _ [Eb] _ _ _ [C] _
_ [G] _ _ _ [F] _ _ _ _
_ _ [Eb] _ _ _ _ [Dm] _ [N] _