Chords for The B.B. King Box Position

_ _ _ _ _ [A] _ _ _
_ [Am] _ _ _ _ _ [F#m] _ _
_ _ [B] _ _ [E] _ _ [C] _ _
_ [B] _ _ _ _ [Am] _ _ [D] _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ [G] _
_ [Am] _ _ _ [A] _ _ _ [G#] _
_ _ [C] _ _ _ [E] Hi everybody, Arlen Roth here, and if you can tell by those licks and by the guitar
I'm holding, I'm definitely talking about a little BB King box position today here on
Gibson.com.
And BB, very complex guitar player in the old days, he's gotten it down really to a
science these days of his signature sound.
The first thing that's a signature about what he does is the style of vibrato he has, you
know, with the butterfly.
_ _ [A] _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ Just shaking off of the side of the finger there and pivoting ever so slightly so that
it translates to the tip of the finger.
Don't think of the tip of [Dm] that finger as doing anything, it just does it by default.
_ [E] _
So the movement is always down.
_ _ [F#] _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ Here's an example of a BB King solo with no chords played, but I want you to listen to
the chord changes that are built into it, okay?
Here we go.
[Am] _ _
_ [B] _ _ _ [A] _ _ [E] _ _
[F#] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ [D#] _ _
[E] _ _ _ [D] _ _ _ [E] _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ [D] _ _ _ _ [E] _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ [A] _ _
_ _ [B] Now why can you hear all those chord changes?
Number one, the major third _ versus the minor [Fm] third.
_ _ [D] Very importantly, the minor third is now the seventh of the four chord.
[C#]
That's your really blues sound.
Save up those blues licks for the four chord.
And then when we have reached the five, _
_ [Bm] _ there's a band for the high E.
We just go to an E note.
Very expressive, very melodic, and very for the [E] song.
_ _ _ _ Then for the four chord, the D, _ _ _ [D#m] we just do what sounds like a step and a half bend, but
I cheat and start on the _ 13th fret.
[D] _ _
_ [E] _ _ _ And it comes down with a really blue _ _ note with a flatted fifth.
[D#] _
_ [Em] _ _ _ _ [D] _ And [C] notice, when [A] _ I play the minor third, if I'm heading towards the one chord, I give
a little [A#] hint _ _ towards the major third.
_ [Dm] _ _ [E] _ _
_ _ _ [F#m] _ [D] This is coming from this long pentatonic major scale.
_ _ _ [E] _ _
_ [B] There's the box right [E] there.
_ [A] _ _
[E] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Right in there.
_ [A] _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ [F#m] _
_ _ _ _ [E] _ _ _ _
_ _ _ [G#] _ _ It's kind of an expression of really what you can do with minimalism on an instrument
and getting the most out of a small area and out of a few notes.
So it's 100% expression.
That's the beautiful thing about it.
It's a totally vocal technique that B.B. has really perfected there.
And [G] it's a joy to listen to and it's a joy to play.
And it was a pleasure as a kid to learn.
And then the first time I saw him on TV, what a revelation to actually _ see that hand like that.
Once you see that, you never forget it.
So just a beautiful, beautiful tone.
And thank God he's done it because he changed the whole world of electric guitar playing.
So I hope you enjoyed this little lesson on B.B. King's style in that box position.
And that's Arlen Roth for Gibson.com signing off.
And we've got hundreds of lessons online, so please tune in to some more.
Talk to you soon.
Bye-bye. _ _ _ _ _ _