Rockabilly Rhythm Made Easy | Guitar Lesson 

Nugget

Thanks - glad you found this helpful!

I completely agree. I came here to post that same thing :)

CAPS OFF

This guy like many others, especially classically trained musicians, cannot play Rock a Billy and a few other styles. The reason is, these guys are focused on notes, and counting. And the trouble is, RockaBilly can't be properly written in any time signature. Hes countinh a 2/4 time, but Rockabilly is not 2/4 time. So, while he may play the right NOTES, he's missing the feel that makes Rockabilly sound like rockabilly!! To learn Rockabilly correctly, tou need to LISTEN to the music being played. NOT by a "teacher" but by someone who plays it. Listen to some of the greats old the 50's, 60's etc.. Listen and listen more, until you can feel the music, and feel the groove its supposes to have. Because its ALL about the groove and feel. NOTES are secondary. Tou can play all the eight notes, and the best youll ever sound, is like this guy at the 21:40 mark when he "lets it rip"... While that may sound nice, thats NOT RockaBilly. Its a standard blues, country progression in 2/4 time. RockaBilly came out of the 40's Big Band music (guitar), it also comes from 1940's western swing music, which is a very close sound to RockaBilly, just a bit more refined, polished and complex.... BUT, if you remember anything at all from this, let it be this: RockaBilly music is all about the feel, swing and groove of the music. 3 things you MUST know so well, you dont have to wven think about them when playing. And while I think this teacher here, is a good guitarist in general, he has NONE of the three things mentioned. He plays notes. Rockabilly is about playing the music in a way that it has that swing, groove it MUST have, or its simply not rockabilly! Its just a country blues progression in 2/4 time. I hope all this makes aense to the person who's really trying to develop their rockabilly sound but is stuck. Following a lesson like this leads you in the wrong direction. Again, I don't say that to criticize this guy, I personally think he's a great guitarist. He just cant play rockabilly. And hell, as a guitarist myself, theres styles I just stay away from. And thats because I CAN'T play them properly. And as to this new school of thought, put forth by Gen Z'ers and Millennials who claim "There is no right & wrong way in music, its art, so however I CHOOSE to play it, IS correct".... How many times have I heard that, from a 15 year old saying he's going to play Hendrix Purple Haze, BUT "He's gonna play it HIS way, so the notes that are wrong, (oops, I mean different than Jimi's notes) are played "wrong" on purpose, because thats how he plays it".... 🙄.

so you must be a really good player then if you are glad this is the "simple version "