Playing the guitar: Francis Rossi plays the shuffle 

I am 37 years old, I was first introduced to him when I was 5....He was a legend then and he still is now

Had a one on one conversation with Francis, what a nice guy. And yes, the man can play!

Im sure Francis can play Jazz,Funk, Metal riff's and perfect blue's solo's etc. But its the three chord concept that make's the Quo sound. I know loads of bands who only brought 3 chord shapes to the table and if thats your hand of card's? then clever them up with good arrangements. Make it sound tasteful etc then it'll not sound like a bunch of amature's constantly rotating a 12 bar blue's. The Quo are a very excellent and extreamly brilliant live band. Seen them man and boy and could'nt take my eyes off the stage. Glasgow Apollo when i was just a nipper was of the scale. It was truly the Headbangers Ball.

Been a Status Quo fan since 1975 when I saw them with Heart and Kansas at the Michigan Palace theater in Detroit! All of that music for $4.00! These guys spoke to me, four guys in jeans and tennis shoes, with a shit ton of Sound City amps, playing driven barre chord straight up rock and roll with zero bullshit. I knew right then what I truly wanted to do!

One of the most under rated guitarists ever. I got quite excited the other day when I managed to get a ticket for one of the upcoming Hammersmith shows. One chap said to me "oh they only know three chords" to prove your point.

I saw The Quo on their retirement tour at Hammersmith in 1982. They were brilliant! It was the last chance in a lifetime to see them, lol. I've never got the hang of any of their songs, far more complex than most people believe.

Yes SQ based their SUCCESS on shuffle chords so did Chuck Berry, Stones even the Beatles used shuffle chords in their music Get Back, Come Together, Roll Over Beethoven (CB cover) .. MANY bands use it .. but for a band to achieve such world renowned recognition, playing variations of 12 bar blues is astounding .. I think.

He has a sublime sense of rhythm.

Status Quo came along at just the exact right time for me personally. At high school the "cool" kids all pretended to only listen to albums, not singles, and to NEVER listen to the radio. In fact we had one guy who claimed he'd never heard the Bee Gees sing Massachusetts! There was just no way you COULDN'T hear it in the mid to late 1960s It was played on every radio station and you couldn't go shopping without hearing it in every second shop! Yet Rob (a cooler name than Bob) claimed to have never heard it in his life. I use that song purely as an example of the idiocy coming from the "cool group" back then. I gotta say, though, that thanks to the cool group I got to hear some mighty fine music. We had our own self-run "radio station" that we set up to raise money for whatever cause we came up with. We had such a great bunch of teenagers that went through high school the same years as me. I couldn't afford to buy albums, but everyone else seemed to buy every new album by every great band of that time. Everyone also seemed to have a favourite albums band as well. Now in the throw-out bin at a major department store I found Status Quo's first album, the one with Pictures of Matchstick Men. I bought it for $2 in 1969 and kept quiet about that. In 1971 I bought Ma Kelly's Greasy Spoon, the ONLY COPY in the whole city! Again, I kept quiet about that. When everyone started talking about their favourite band who only released albums and not singles, I then revealed MY albums only band . . you guessed it, Status Quo. That got me sufficient respect to be admitted into the cool group. I was starting to learn guitar in 1970/71, and I was that pesky teenager who was always hanging out with actual musicians and getting them to show me stuff. I learned all the open string chords and some barre chords all before I even got my own guitar! I had to wait till January 1972 when I started my apprenticeship, to buy my first guitar, an Aria acoustic. Later in 1972 I got my first electric guitar, a Hofner solid body Strat-type guitar. But my next axe was, of course, a Telecaster! My parents didn't wanna know about me becoming a guitarist because I had disappointed them by not wanting to be a classical pianist. I hated piano so much that I'd rather bite a finger off than do my practice! I also developed a life long hatred for classical music too. But I'd stay up all night with my guitar, practising songs that I already knew how to sing, but needed to work out the chords so I could play and sing at the same time. I was into Blues even back then, which was unusual to say the least. When the time came to try my hand at lead guitar playing I simply revisited Ma Kelly's and learned the licks Francis Rossi played. I told no one where I was getting them from, just showed up at each informal get-together a bit better and with more variety than the time before. I took my acoustic everywhere with me back then, including to the beach. I had a panel van and it lived in the back with me. Eventually I was able to learn licks by Johnny Winter, Rory Gallagher, Alvin Lee (there's a story there for another time) Eric Clapton, Paul Kossoff, and all the other greats. But as a fledgling beginner, I owed my initial start entirely to Status Quo! All the other guitarists I mentioned just now were too advanced for me to learn anything from them.

I've been a fan of Quo since I was little. I think Francis Rossi is a legend, but underrated in my opinion and deserves to be classed as one of the top guitarists

Wow, what a span of frets with those long fingers, brilliant. No wonder I could never master the Telcaster ! ( or any other guitar come to that). Seems a really nice down to earth chap too . I agree too that he is a much under-rated guitarist. Two (long ) fingers up to those scoffers who think Quo could only play three chords..

I learned to play guitar by listening to Francis. These days I play Judas Priest and Metallica but Francis taught me to play guitar.

FRANCIS is the man! He's been my hero since 1968.

cannot think of a band more underrated, worked their asses off, and stuck with what is good, like ac/dc , respect due.

This man is a god to me.He could talk about toilet paper and it would sound cool.I hope he and Rick never stop rocking.

Francis was genetically blessed with extra long fingers, which is priceless when playing a shuffle. If you take notice, his little finger is as long as the third on many of us. How many can comfortably play an F shuffle on the first fret like this man? I can barely reach the 5th with my pinkie.

Francis Rossi is the perfect mixture of a genious guitar player and Stan Laurel

Grande Francis !!!!!!

First guitar lesson I had..the shuffle. A whole career on the shuffle wow!!

that G - A - C gives me shivers every time i hear it.

Francis has got that Quo! par! de! excellence! that no one else will ever have

I do love a power chord n alternating 6th, classic blues, great for both pro's and beginners alike 😎

Haha! Love that jazz bollocks he plays at the end.

this is so fun to play im playing it now

When BB King plays a single note you immediately recognize it, same with Alvin Lee, When Francis plays a I,IV,V shuffle I know it's Francis. it's His sound. True, anyone can play a shuffle, but to master the timing and technique and feel, takes a lot of practice and effort!

Unas Bestia para la guitarra me encanta como hace sus combinaciones

King of the twelve bar blues

The one and only

So simple so cool i can listen to that for hours!! He's a cool guy huh.

the legend francis rossi

I learned the boogie from Francis and most definitely the whole quo

They did ever so well out of baby steps 12 bar blues riffs!

Just brilliant.

The cover band I played bass in closed every pub gig with a Quo ish Rockin' All Over World. Drunk middle age would women fly out of their chairs to dance. Got em moving. Status Quo played/ plays unpretentious blues based rock with immaculate rhythm. I wonder whether Millennials will passionately remember in 2070 any music being made now?

The length of his fingers! 😱😂

Incredibile come Francis faccia sembrare facile dei riff in effetti molto difficili ( con sole 5 dita ah,ah) Grandissimo!

Great maestro !!!!

sounds just like quo did in the 70s,rockin well done

Jazz AT THE END.. Brilliant...

At last I have finally found another electric guitar player that rests his guitar on his left leg like me I thought I was a freak for all these years

The best thing ever "invented" on guitar!

Wow, thats just, amazing.....

He has the advantage of an extraordinary long pinky finger!

Simple but great 👍👍

Legend

That three pickup configuration looks interesting, would be good to hear what sort of sounds it would produce.

A lesson from the master, and some nice Jazz chops at the end there from Mr Rossi

ONE MORE FROM THE ROAAAAAAD !!!!! QUO FOREVER

This dude came to my college

oh heck i love him hah

What I would give to have hands like those. Great player too.

where can i find him and tell him that he rocks

Playing those barred shuffle chords are certainly easier when you've got fingers like Rossi......they look to be about 1/4 longer in length than the average. Plus, having a quality guitar that allows the strings to be practically laying on the frets without significant buzzing.

Un grande de verdad👏👏👏🎸🎼🎩

Wie eine Maschine- herrlich!

Just effortless, makes you sick 😉

@Razor61289 yes for sure, love the man. Thanks for the upload

These guys need to come to Chicago...beer is one me!

The Telecaster is a great instrument, but when you get near the the bridge the flange bit gets well in the bloody way of the pick.,!

Спасибо.Поклон.

The first gig I ever want to was the final stage of The rocking all over the world record bearing attempt at Wembley. I have to say I was blown away. I remember they were given 2 of Telecasters away by picking seat numbers in a draw, I prayed I would get one but I never did. However Quo remain part of the reason I play guitar. Highly underestimated band, god knows why - but music itself is in debt to them. People say they only play 3 chords? - who gives a shit- they still smashed the lyrical content to compliment the guitars. People who say Quo are not worthy, I say they don't have a clue about what these guys did for music.

Gods never die 🖖🏻❤️

Vox AC 30. He always uses for rehearsal, studio, demo's. Parfit the same, although Parfit does use a small Marshal on occasions.

Gran gitarista y gran culto a la amistad 👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏

Thats all well and goode however its the eyebrows ... is that on the one or technically should there be an eyebrow move on each bit of the shuffle and something unique for the turnaround?? Im so confused my eyebrows just twitch.

Francis rules !!!!!

The late bit of "Umleitung" rings in my memory when he plays 0:28

hau is the finger positions on the fret bord to play shuffel

Francis, you are the Guitar Dude. :)

EL MEJOR

YOU ARE "TEACHERS OF ENGLAND" Up Status Quo! Since Mexico!

this is lovley what kind of the amp is he play on

He's got alien hands - look at the length of his little finger! Yes I'm jealous. ;)

lol--lovely guy..a legend just like razor wrote.

Fantastic. Made millions on 3 chords. You got to respect them

That sound is the theme tune of my childhood, my dad was a blues guitarist and a very good one. It looks mad how easily his fingers all spread out like that. My little hands wouldn't look anything like that if I tried this. I just strum, I can't play riffs and stuff, not yet anyway. I don't know if I ever will take advanced lessons to learn all this, maybe when I've got absolutely everything down in terms of open chords and barre chords. Picking just throws me but I'd love to be able to play something like Layla by Eric Clapton, that iconic riff will probably be what pushes me to play in a different style to normal.

Люблю тебя Френсис

"now I want paying" 🤣

Hi Fracis i'm Mexican ando I Love your Music what's Up From Orange County California

Молодец Френсис Росси!!!

Long fingers! he can reach that 6th fret! I struggle!

Wenn es diesen Shuffle nicht gäbe hätte Status Quo den wohl erfunden, wohl kaum eine andere Band hat daraus so viel gute Musik gezaubert.

There are so many music styles based on 3 chords. Blues, Rock 'n' Roll, Rockabilly, Country, Zydeco, Tex mex, Pubrock, even early Soul, Hardrock and Punk! It's not only the Quo, most of the greatest artists on earth wrote or played songs based on 3 chords. Some examples: AC-DC's Whole lotto Rosie, Led Zeppelin's Rock 'n' Roll, Queen's Tie your mother down, Beatles' Get back, Beach Boy's Surfin USA, Elvis' Little Sister, Johny Cash's Walk the line, Eagles' Already gone, Door's Roadhouse Blues, Tina Turner's River Deep Mountain High, Bryan Ferry's Let's stick together, David Bowie's Jean Jeanie, CCR's Traveling band, Rolling Stones' Respectable, Bruce Springsteen's Pink Cadillac, Lynyrd Skynyrd's Sweet home Alabama, ZZ Top's Gimme all your lovin', Foreigner's Dirty white boy, Iggy Pop's Real wild child, Ramones' Sheena is a punk rocker, Dire Straits' Walk of life, Stealers Wheel' Stuck in the middle with you, Clapton's Lay down Sally, JJ Cale's Call me the breeze, Stevie Ray Vaughans Love struck baby, The Blasters' Marie Marie and so many more. Like Francis demonstrates, the pinky is an essential part of shuffle playing, It gives so much more energy to the chords and when you play it faster it really rocks! Nick Lowe called it the monkey beat. There are not many guitar players who can play it right. It's real hard working guitar playing! Kudos to Rossi and Parfitt, the Vaughan Brothers, Dave Edmunds and of course the inventor mister Chuck Berry!

What really helps, is having long fingers, which Francis has, you can tell by the video. Most players have average size hands, which makes it harder to play certain shuffles and or where you really have to stretch your chording hand.

It was the first thing I learned to play when I was young... but I didn't progress much from there. 😄

Rick Parfitt, John Coghlan, Alan Lancester and Mike Rossi, best Rockband of the World.

Does his guitar have regular tuning?

Brilliant.

Yep I'm still trying to stretch to 5 frets my pinkie don't wanna get there

Now I want paying, lol

cheers to mr.rossi,awesome live with the quo.

BASIC ROCK,do me a favour,love to be able to play like that,gort my ticket to Hammersmith friday 15 march,anyone else going that day???

That is the longest pinky I've ever seen in my life.

Man can play

he's bloody Gorgues francis rossi is. he always was.

Стейтъс жулят здраво!

how long is francis' pinky? its colossal

frame is....GOD!!!!

❤️

I´ve heard so many guitarist´s slag Francis off but i reckon he has always been great value and i love most of his solos.