Chords for BUDDY EMMONS steel intro, "Night Life" by Ray Price, 1963 (for )GUITAR

[E] _ [Gm] _ _ _ _ _ Okay, here we are, we're going to be talking today about _ _ _ playing on guitar, the thing that
Buddy Emmons played on steel guitar for an intro to the Ray Price version of Nightlife
back in the 50s. _
_ _ This is a nice little intro, it's pretty hip sounding.
_ _ It gives you some challenges playing it on guitar as opposed to pedal steel, and that's
[Gb] going to give us an opportunity to talk about some of the tricks of playing chord melody.
Okay, so the basic idea, here's what it sounds like if you play it correctly.
_ [Em] _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ [F] _ _ _ _ [G] _
_ [Bb] _ _ _ _ _ [Bbm] _ _
_ _ _ _ [Em] _ [D] _ _ _
Okay, _ _ _ sounds very smooth, but I had to work on figuring out fingerings that would be easy
to do and that would not _ cause my hand to tense up and so I would make mistakes.
Okay, the basic _ _ formula of it, there are a lot of different ways to play chord melody,
but what Emmons is doing here is he's playing little melodic ideas [G] _ [A] and _ [E] on the last note
of the idea, _ [Bm] you get a chord.
_ [G] _ [F] _ _ _
_ _ _ _ [G] _ _ _ _
[Dm] _ _ _ _ _ [G] _ _ [Bbm] _
_ _ _ _ [A] _ [G] _ _ [D] _
_ _ _ [G] Okay, _ so what you need to do is figure out a fingering that will enable you to get from
melody to a chord [A] and make it sound smooth because [G] it has to sound smooth for it to work.
_ _ [Em] _ _ _ _ _
_ _ Okay, _ that's the fingering I would use.
_ [E] _ _ It's not necessarily the way I would play it if I were just playing melody, but I want
to have, I want to be coming off of [Gb] this finger to get to the chord.
_ _ [Em] _ _ [E] _ _ _
The reason is because this finger isn't needed in this chord, at least not the way I'm thinking it.
You can either play the chord this way or this way, but either way, this finger can
take a break after the melody [Gb] part.
[Em] _ [E] _
_ _ _ _ Okay, _ and this chord incidentally [D] is a 6-9 chord.
It's based on this A _ _ kind of shape of a D chord.
_ [E] _ [B] _ _ [Em] _
_ _ [Gb] _ That's the way I would normally play it.
Again, in this situation, I want to avoid having this finger being part of the chord
because it's playing the melody part.
Okay, [Em] _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ [Am] _
_ _ _ _ [F] this shape _ _ _ _ _ [D] is a nice one.
It's based on this D7 kind of shape _ _ except [Eb] _ [E] _ [F] the [Em] _ _
[F] root is here.
It's an F note. _ _ _
_ [G] So this fingering, the way I did it there was, _ [F] _ _ [Bm] I keep doing that when I'm not thinking,
but that's not, I don't think that's the best way to do it.
You can go, [G] _ _ [F] _ _
but watch what happens when I go from the melody to the chord.
That finger has [Gb] to move.
_ [G] _ [F] _ _
It's got a tricky little jump there.
It's doable. _
[Bm] It's not terrible.
It's my default way of doing it.
Like I say, when I don't think, that's what I do because it seems like the obvious thing
to do, but you can also do this. _
[Em] _ [F] _ _ _ _ If you do this, that's weird to play a melody like that.
You wouldn't normally [D] bring down your pinky next to your index, _ but _ [G] _ _ [F] _ _ [Bm] _
_ [G] _ _ _ relax your hand immediately
on getting that pinky [Bm] down there.
[G] _ _ [F] _ _
Then you just move it over [Ab] and put the rest of the [Gb] chord down.
[Em] _ [F] _ _ _ _
Okay, it makes it a lot easier.
Now, [Ab] the next melody idea is slightly different.
Instead [G] of, _ _
_ [Dm] _ _ okay, [G] because the chord's changing, the melody note has to change to reflect it,
but you can see the logic of this, [A] but it's awkward to play.
There are guys [Bb] that like to do this kind of _ [G] stretch melody. _
There are times when it's useful, but if I can avoid it, I will.
I would rather play this. _ _
_ _ [Bb] _ It's [G] very easy fingering there.
[F] The only thing that's weird is if _ _
_ _ _ _ _ [G] _ _ [N] _
_ _ _ you're thinking that the melody is here, _ and then suddenly
it's a shift and you're starting with your pinky, that can confuse people.
That's one of the hardest things about playing in different positions and moving around the
neck, that people just kind of get lost because _ _ _ mentally they're using probably the index
as an anchor finger, and then suddenly the whole thing just kind of shifts.
It's just easy to get confused.
So you've got to practice the transition.
_ _ _ The confusion of moving from this position to this one is enough to trigger tension in
your left hand.
So again, even though this isn't that difficult, it throws you off mentally, so that means
your hand tenses up.
So watch for that and be [Gb] careful.
_ [Gm] _
_ [Cm] _ _ _ _ [F] _ _ [G] _
_ [Bb] _ _ _ [Ab] Okay, this is kind of Johnny Smith [Bb] voicing, _ _ _ _ _ _ _ which for, what is this, B flat major 7 chord.
_ _ _ _ [Db] _
_ _ _ [G] _ [Bb] _ _ _ _
Very nice.
_ _ _ _ [Bbm] Now [G] _ _ _ [F] _ _ [G] _ _ [Db] _
_ _ _ [G] this _ _ _ _ is not the full chord, I'm going to give you the full chord in a minute, but
if you, this is most of it.
This is based on [Db] this shape.
_ _ [A] _ _ _ _
_ _ [Db] _ _ _ _ [D] This augmented [Gb] dominant 7 [Db] chord here. _ _
_ [G] 7 plus 5 chord.
And that sounds cool if you _ [Db] _ _ _ _ [G] go_
_ [Ab] _ _ _ _ [G] _ [Bb] _ _
_ [G] _ _ _ _ _ _
Sounds perfectly fine, but it's hip if you can get this flat 5 note [Ab] down there.
_ _ That's what Emmons did.
_ _ Much more lush and interesting.
Okay, so what you need to do is work on getting this and then adding the thumb to that note.
_ _ [Bbm] _ _ On that A string, okay.
Now you can actually, _ _ you can put the note down here too, but I don't think Emmons did.
But if you want to, if it's easier, _ _ _ [Gbm] still sounds pretty cool.
Okay, so again, the whole thing is like this.
[Em] _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ [F] _ _ _ _ [G] _
_ [Bb] _ _ _ _ [G] _ _ [Bbm] _
_ _ _ _ _ [G] _ _ [D] _
_ Now this is actually [Bbm] pretty easy. _
_ [G] _ Going from this to _ _
[A] _ [G] _ _ _ _ [D] _ _ _
_ this little mini bar. _
_ _ _ _ Okay, playing this D major 7 chord based on that shape. _ _
_ Okay, _ alright, one last time, the intro.
[Em] _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ [F] _ _ _ _ [Em] _ _
[Bb] _ _ _ _ _ [Bbm] _ _ _
_ _ _ [Em] _ _ [D] _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ Alright, nice 50 [Db] sounding chords there.
_ _ _ [N]