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the Thrill is Gone

“The Thrill Is Gone” is a slow minor-key blues song written by West Coast blues musician Roy Hawkins and Rick Darnell in 1951. Hawkins’s recording of the song reached number six in the Billboard R&B chart in 1951. In 1970, “The Thrill Is Gone” became a major hit for B.B. King. His rendition helped make the song a blues standard.

B.B. King rendition

B.B. King recorded his version of “The Thrill Is Gone” in June 1969 for his album Completely Well, released the same year. King’s version is a slow 12-bar blues notated in the key of B minor in 44 time. The song’s polished production and use of strings marked a departure from both the original song and King’s previous material.

When BluesWay Records released “The Thrill Is Gone” as a single in December 1969, it became one of the most successful of King’s career and one of his signature songs. It reached number three in the Billboard Best Selling Soul Singles chart and number 15 in the broader Billboard Hot 100 chart.

The song also helped launch the career of producer Bill Szymczyk, as it was his first hit record success as a producer.

“I like beautiful melodies telling me terrible things.” – Tom Waits

2026-03-17T15:06:37-04:00
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Song Lessons For Guitar Students (alphabetically by title)

paul elwood guitar coach
Song Lessons. Here are some of the songs my students and I have looked at together.
Many have a video lesson, pdf chord and lyric charts and/or tabs and notation. Lessons for any level of experience or aptitude.

If you’re looking for a video lesson you don’t see here, just reach out- I’m always adding to my song lesson list! 

A

After you’ve Gone

Ain’t Misbehavin’

All My Exes

All My lovin’

All That Love For You!

Alice’s Restaurant

America the Beautiful

Am I Blue

And I Love Her

Angel

Angel Eyes

Auld Lang Syne

Autumn Leaves

B

Beautiful Love

Beautiful People

Best of My Love

Beyond the Sea

Blowin’ in the Wind

Blue Eyes Cryin’ in the rain

Blackbird

Bohemian Rhapsody

Box of Rain

Bright Side of the road

Bye Bye Blackbird

Bye Bye Love

C

California Dreamin’

Can’t Buy Me Love

Christmas Song

Can’t Help Fallin’ in Love

Come Rain Or Come Shine

Come Together

Come As You Are

Country Roads

Crazy

Cry Me A River

Cumberland Blues

D

Down To The River To Pray

Don’t get around much anymore

Don’t Know Why

Dock Of The Bay

Desperados Waiting For A Train

Dead Flowers

Donkey Riding

Drops of Jupiter

Dream Dream Dream

Dream Lover

Drive

Deal

Deep Elem Blues

Dire […]

2026-03-19T20:04:57-04:00
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Man Who Sold the World

“The Man Who Sold the World” is a song by the English singer-songwriter David Bowie. It was the title track of Bowie’s third studio album and was released in November 1970 in the US and in April 1971 in the UK by Mercury Records.

Produced by Tony Visconti, the track was recorded at Trident and Advision Studios in London in May 1970, towards the end of the album’s recording sessions. Bowie recorded his vocal on the final day of mixing for the album, reflecting his generally dismissive attitude during the sessions. Musically, it is based around a “circular” guitar riff from Mick Ronson. Its lyrics are cryptic and evocative, being inspired by numerous poems, including the 1899 “Antigonish” by William Hughes Mearns. Bowie’s vocals are heavily “phased” throughout and have been described as “haunting”.

“… don’t be afraid to screw up !… one of the key issues to learning is making mistakes … if you’re not making mistakes, you’re probably not having a very good time” – Robben Ford

2026-03-09T15:34:03-04:00
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Am I Blue

“Am I Blue?” is a 1929 song composed by Harry Akst (music) and Grant Clarke (lyrics), and published by M. Witmark & Sons. It was featured in four films that year, most notably with Ethel Waters in the movie On With the Show. It has become a standard covered by numerous artists. As a work from 1929 with its copyright renewed, it entered the public domain on January 1, 2025.

“I came from the last couple of years in a generation where we didn’t have a computer around so we didn’t waste as much time on the internet as we do now so I had large chunks of time which to devote to doing something.” – John Mayer

2026-03-11T16:59:22-04:00
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Sweet Georgia Brown

“Sweet Georgia Brown” is a jazz standard composed in 1925 by Ben Bernie and Maceo Pinkard, with lyrics by Kenneth Casey.

Reportedly, Bernie came up with the concept for the song’s lyrics – although he is not the credited lyricist – after meeting Dr. George Thaddeus Brown in New York City. Dr. Brown, a longtime member of the Georgia House of Representatives, told Bernie about his daughter, Georgia Brown, and how subsequent to her birth on August 11, 1911, the Georgia General Assembly had issued a declaration that she was to be named Georgia after the state. This anecdote would be directly referenced by the song’s lyric: “Georgia claimed her – Georgia named her”.

The song uses a harmonic progression very similar to that of Harry Warren’s 1922 hit Rose of the Rio Grande. Both songs use a descending circle of fifths pattern (VI7 – II7 – V7 – I) for their 16-bar “A” sections, and then have a second 16-bar “B” section that largely repeats the same pattern, though each song differs in the harmonic progressions of the final eight bars of their respective B sections. One of the lyric lines in “Sweet Georgia Brown (“Georgia claimed her, Georgia named her”) also echoes the rhyme scheme of a line in “Rose of the Rio Grande” (“You claim it, I’ll name it”).

The tune was first recorded on […]

2026-03-10T16:27:53-04:00
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Flip Flop and Fly

“Flip, Flop and Fly” has an arrangement similar to Big Joe Turner’s 1954 number 1 R&B chart hit “Shake, Rattle and Roll”. Music critic Cub Koda suggests that “leftover verses [from the ‘Shake, Rattle and Roll’ recording session] were then recycled into Turner’s follow-up hit, ‘Flip, Flop and Fly.'” Both are up-tempo twelve-bar blues with a strong backbeat. “Flip, Flop and Fly” reached number 2 on Billboard magazine’s R&B chart in 1955, less than one year after “Shake, Rattle and Roll”.[4]

Accompanying Turner on vocals are the song’s co-writer Jesse Stone on piano, Al Sears on tenor sax, Connie Kay on drums, and unidentified trumpet, alto sax, baritone sax, guitar, and bass players. Turner subsequently recorded several live versions of the song.

Other notable versions

In 1973, a rendition by the Canadian Downchild Blues Band reached number 35 on the RPM 100 singles chart. It was the first, and highest ranked, of four songs on the Canadian charts and is included on their second album Straight Up (1974), In 1978, a rendition by the American the Blues Brothers appeared on their album Briefcase Full of Blues. In 2000, a rendition by the American Ellis Hall was used on the soundtrack of the 2000 animated comedy film, Chicken Run.

“Music comes to me more readily than words.” […]

2026-03-09T15:36:08-04:00
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