Eb Rhythm Changes

Rhythm Changes
Eb rhythm changes! an excellent exercise to work out your improvisational chops.

The Rhythm changes is a common 32-bar jazz chord progression derived from George Gershwin’s “I Got Rhythm”. The progression is in AABA form, with each A section based on repetitions of the ubiquitous I–vi–ii–V sequence (or variants such as iii–vi–ii–V), and the B section using a circle of fifths sequence based on III⁷–VI⁷–II⁷–V⁷, a progression which is sometimes given passing chords.

This pattern, “one of the most common vehicles for improvisation,” forms the basis of countless (usually uptempo) jazz compositions and was popular with swing-era and bebop musicians. For example, it is the basis of Duke Ellington’s “Cotton Tail” as well as Charlie Christian’s “Seven Come Eleven,” Dizzy Gillespie’s “Salt Peanuts,” and Thelonious Monk’s “Rhythm-a-Ning”. The earliest known use of rhythm changes was by Sidney Bechet in his September 15, 1932 recording of “Shag” (two years after the first performance of “I Got Rhythm” on Broadway) with his “New Orleans Feetwarmers” group.

In pop culture, “Meet the Flintstones“, (c. 1960, Curtin/Hanna/Barbera) is based on the rhythm changes, thereby being a contrafact of “I Got Rhythm”.

Playing over rhythm changes is a great way to build your chops and listening skills! Rhythm Changes in Eb

Paul2026-03-10T07:18:14-04:00

Chord Construction Using Modes

Chord construction using modes. The first mode of any major scale is called the Ionian mode; “do re mi fa so la ti do”. We know the intervals for that! They go “whole step, whole step, half step, whole step, whole step, half step to the octave”.

Screenshot

You can play C Ionian wherever you like, ascending and descending; the chart below shows it in the first position.

Screenshot

From left to right, here are the notes in sequence, right from one through seven and one as the octave. Ascending and descending, those guys have a solid, dependable interval relationship! That means between 1 and 2 is always going to be a whole step, between 2 and 3 is always going to be a whole step, between 3 and 4 is always going to be a whole step, all the way up to the half-step interval between 7 and 1… but only for one particular mode of the scale, which is the Ionian mode.

Other modes are different in that the intervals between the notes are shifted. However, the note sequence doesn’t change, we just start at a different point. So let’s take […]

Paul2026-03-09T18:15:46-04:00

That’s Life!

“That’s Life” is a popular song written by Dean Kay and Kelly Gordon, and first recorded in 1963 by Marion Montgomery. The song has an uplifting message that, despite the ups and downs in life, one should not give up but keep positive, because soon one will be “back on top.”

The most famous version is by Frank Sinatra, released on his 1966 album That’s Life. Sinatra recorded the song after hearing an earlier recording of it by O.C. Smith; the song proved successful and reached the #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. Following the success of Sinatra’s version, it was subsequently recorded by a number of artists including Aretha Franklin, James Booker, Shirley Bassey, James Brown, Van Morrison, David Lee Roth, Michael Bolton, Lady Gaga, Michael Bublé, Russell Watson, Deana Martin, and Holt McCallany. Sinatra’s version appeared in the 1993 film A Bronx Tale, the 1995 film Casper, the 2019 film Joker and its 2024 sequel Joker: Folie à Deux, the 2004 video game Tony Hawk’s Underground 2, as well as the sixth season finale of Brooklyn Nine-Nine, while a cover by Bono was on the soundtrack of The Good Thief (2002). The song was sung by Manny Delgado (Rico Rodriguez) in the episode “Bad Hair Day” of the television show Modern Family. That’s Life lead sheet in C

Paul2026-03-11T11:37:48-04:00

Tabs

Download the Reading Tabs pdf here.

Playing guitar tabs. Tabs- short for “tablature” – are a great way to get your feet wet with playing guitar! They’re not hard to use and they can be a great way to help you remember where to put your fingers to get the sound you want. In the simplest form, like the example below they are simply a way to write down the order of the notes in a melodic line (or chords, as you can see when they are all stacked up in a vertical line that will represent a chord). They can be a wonderful quick shorthand for you if you are writing your own music, for instance.

They won’t tell you, at least not in this simple form, how long to hold the note for, although there are tabbing systems that will help you with that. I think they are most useful to help students remember a particular pattern on the neck. Have a look at the video and download the attached pdf to get started.

Download blank tab sheet for guitar

Download blank tab […]

Paul2026-03-18T09:47:11-04:00

There can only be one… But it is also eight.

I’ve been saying that any note can be the “one” note to guitar students for years but it occurred to me recently that if that’s true, then that one note has two functions at the same time! Number theory says that it is the tonic, because that’s what the one note is- the tonic in a sequence of notes that moves up (or down) to its octave. So at the same time, the one note is the tonic for the octave ascending as well as the octave for the descending sequence below it. The same numeric sequence, ascending or descending is available from that first note!

Here’s an example. Play one twice. Go up to flat 3 then down to 1 again. Now down to b7 and continue down to sharp 5 then down to 5…
With a little imagination you can hear the first part of the lick from “7 Nation Army”

You can see how useful it might be to understand the notes as numbers! Shifting that sequence of notes to start at a different one note simply means changing your sequence to another key.

Most guitarists, when we start, tend to think about notes and chords as patterns but I’m beginning to wonder if it might not be more useful to think about them as numerical relationships.. not “instead” but rather “as well as”.

Here’s another simple example: […]

Paul2026-03-09T15:46:56-04:00

Ring of Fire

Ring of Fire is a song written by the American singer-songwriters June Carter and Merle Kilgore. It was originally recorded as “(Love’s) Ring of Fire” by June’s sister, Anita Carter, on her 1962 album Folk Songs Old and New. It was popularized by Carter’s husband, the country singer Johnny Cash, after it appeared on his 1963 compilation album Ring of Fire: The Best of Johnny Cash.

Cash’s version became one of his biggest hits, staying at No. 1 on the country chart for seven weeks. It was certified gold by the RIAA on January 21, 2010, and has sold over 1.2 million downloads. It was named the fourth-greatest country song by Country Music Television, while Rolling Stone called it the greatest country song and the 87th-greatest song of all time. In 1999, Cash’s version was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.

Interested in learning this Johnny Cash song? First online lesson’s free!

Book your free guitar lesson join my patrion list!

you can see how the melody can be pulled out of the C and G chords in the first part of the song. Pretty straightforward, but when we get the the “I fell”, start on D and pluck D, then F# then shift to the 5th position for the “In […]

Paul2026-03-17T08:45:22-04:00

Creep

“Creep” is the debut single by the English rock band Radiohead, released on 21 September 1992 by EMI. It was included on Radiohead’s debut album, Pablo Honey (1993). It features “blasts” of guitar noise and lyrics describing an obsessive unrequited attraction.

Radiohead had not planned to release “Creep”, and recorded it at the suggestion of the producers, Sean Slade and Paul Q. Kolderie, while they were working on other songs. They took elements from the 1972 song “The Air That I Breathe” by Albert Hammond and Mike Hazlewood. Following legal action, Hammond and Hazlewood were credited as co-writers.

Kolderie convinced EMI to release “Creep” as a single. It was initially unsuccessful, but achieved radio play in Israel and became popular on American alternative rock radio. It was reissued in 1993 and became an international hit, likened to alt-rock “slacker anthems” such as “Smells Like Teen Spirit” by Nirvana and “Loser” by Beck. Reviews of “Creep” were mostly positive.

EMI pressured Radiohead to match the success, which created tension during the recording of their second album, The Bends (1995). Radiohead departed from the style of “Creep” and grew weary of it, feeling it set narrow expectations of their music, and did not perform it for several years. Though they achieved greater commercial and critical success with later albums, “Creep” remains Radiohead’s most successful single. Rolling Stone named it one of the greatest debut singles, and it was included in the 2021 and 2024 editions of Rolling Stone’s “500 Greatest Songs of […]

Paul2026-03-09T15:47:15-04:00

Playing over backing tracks

Playing over backing tracks. Here’s an example of an E major scale over a backing track. The only notes here are E scale notes, so it’s a limited pallet. Handy as an example of how powerful it can be though, to be sure about your scale notes in position. I’m demonstrating this in the first position but it could be literally anywhere- for instance, thinking of the scale from the mixolydian position, in E major, that would be B; moving to the 7th fret and starting there you could play E Mixo in the 6th position. In the first position, start it from the 2nd fret of A.

Mixolydian is the 5th diatonic mode and that chord is always a 7, not a M7.

In E major the 5th diatonic chord is B7. Here’s why: In the key of E (E is our root and so, our 1) the major scale notes are E, F#, G#, A, B, C#, D# and octave E.

That means a diatonic E major chord with a B in the root must have a flatted 7th! You may have these diatonic chords memorized, that’s one way to know ‘em, but you can also figure them out with a little elbow grease.

B is the 5th note in the […]

Paul2026-03-09T15:47:22-04:00

Every Rose Has Its Thorn

“Every Rose Has Its Thorn” is a power ballad by American glam metal band Poison. It was released in October 1988 as the third single from Poison’s second album Open Up and Say… Ahh!. The band’s signature song, it is also their only number-one hit in the US, reaching number one on the Billboard Hot 100 on December 24, 1988, for three weeks.

It also charted at number 11 on the Mainstream Rock chart. It was a number 13 hit in the UK. “Every Rose Has Its Thorn” was named number 34 on VH1’s “100 Greatest Songs of the 80s”, number 100 on their “100 Greatest Love Songs” and number seven on MTV and VH1 “Top 25 Power Ballads”. Billboard ranked the song number five on their list of “The 10 Best Poison Songs”.

In an interview with VH1’s Behind the Music, Bret Michaels said the inspiration for the song came from a night when he was in a laundromat in Dallas waiting for his clothes to dry, and called his girlfriend on a pay phone. Michaels said he heard a male voice in the background and was devastated; he said he went into the laundromat and wrote “Every Rose Has Its Thorn” as a result.

This video lesson above shows one way to […]

Paul2026-03-09T15:47:29-04:00

Four Frets, Two Octaves. Major scale form

Try this major scale form with the one note played with your second finger. That means whatever note that is, the position you play in will be the number of the fret before the one note. For instance, if you want to play an A major scale on two octaves, put your second finger on the A ( fifth fret of the 6 string) and start from there. You’ll notice that you can use your first finger to play the 7th too!

Practice this scale form up and down the neck, making sure you say the name of the scale, the intervals (half-step or whole step) between the notes or the degrees of the notes ( 1,2 3, etc.) Also look at the shape! It’s pretty distinctive.

Here’s a visual pattern, representing finger positions for a four-fret, two octave major scale on the guitar neck. The 1 string across the top, the 6 string across the bottom.

It’s just dots in a pattern, right? But mentally drawing a couple horizontal lines across it, one under the top two strings and one over the bottom two strings shows essentially the same shape on the bottom two strings as on the middle two strings, but reversed. The 2nd string from the top is different though but it has […]

Paul2026-03-22T13:31:32-04:00

About Paul

Chord Construction Using Modes

Download the Reading Tabs pdf here.