Dave's guide to getting cramp in your fretting hand. Always wondered how he played it live given there were 2 parts on the recording. Now I know. More like this Mr Simpson please
Hi Dave, this is Dave, 40 years a bassist, messed about on guitar - saw Free at the Oasis club in Portsmouth in 1969 (before they hit the big time in 1970) and was blown away. I've been trying to get those chords ever since. You Wonderful person, it's taken me 54 years to find the right chords and you've done it for me THANK YOU. I now have to battle with arthritis to get that sound and stretch the fingers .... aaaaaaargh - Thank You again.
I'm very happy for you that you got to witness that. I was only 10. As for the magical third chord (a G with a rub between the 4th and the 3rd), the only other place I've heard it is Allan Holdsworth (on his Road Games album).
SPOT ON! I found those heavenly 3rd and 4th chords by accident after 1000s of years of experimenting. I had them apart from the extra low A on the E string which I am going to steal. Brilliant. Very well demonstrated and you've made a million guitarists very happy.
This is easily my favorite guitar RU-vid channel. Dave makes my day and life better, and his music on bandcamp speaks to me. I would have thought he was a Gen-X'er!
This gives me a ridiculous amount of joy to finally see, and hear how he got that sound! As ever, your down to earth explanation filled with all the human frailties of tired fingers etc,make this a joy to watch! 😊
Be My Friend is such a touching song, it's impossible to listen to it without choking back the emotions. The same goes for Heavy Load.....beautiful songs, beautiful vibes ✌️
Bro - this was an awesome lesson !!!! You're soooooo right - the correct chords and its resolution are just beautiful - thanks so much for sharing this !!!
The reason most folks play it that way Dave is when you're a single guitarist & to make it sound right while only having 1 guitarist, then u have to compromise between the 2 high & low octaves. No one's wrong or right, there is only compromise between the 2. Once again you've done another wonderful video though. I've missed you & your mates a lot. I can't wait to see part 2 of that guitar video your working on. Any ideas when we can see that?
@@Dad-Gad The vast majority of people have never seen Free live, but have heard the record version on the radio, Spotify, vinyl, CD, TV. There's two versions, right is a matter of perspective.
@@Dad-GadSays who? If it's got a high A on the album, obviously playing it is a perfectly legitimate choice. Aside from that it's rock and roll which comes from improvised music, and it's lame and silly to call someone covering a R&R tune "wrong" if they play a chord voiced with the same notes, except it's "different than how they played it live. Saying you're playing a song wrong because you're playing the album version is beyond nitpicky and just plain silly, and like I said, It's rock and roll; there's room for variations.
Yes by jove! I believe you have successfully deconstructed the ingredients for one of the coolest guitar riffs ever! Thanks so much for sharing and taking the time to make sure that even the rather slow learners, like myself, could still get it! 🧐🎸
Yup, that's the way I've played the song for years, and so many people play it wrong. Hope they will see your video and start playing this great song properly as it sounds so much better. Great job cheers
Hi Dave, amazing to see you show this. I've been playing this song since the mid seventies and now realise I worked out those chords just by ear listening to the track when I was in my early teens...😮😮😮
LOL! That last part playing the lead was worth the price of admission! Nice vibrato, mate! Did P.K. proud! HA!, HA! One of my favorite songs playing in a cover rock band back in the day. Damn - I wish I had the right chordal pattern back then! Those chords were gorgeous! Thanks for posting this! 🤟👍
It's cool to know how the original artists play stuff. Doesn't mean anyone else has to play it that way. Play it the way you like to play it and what sounds good to you. Play it with different chord shapes if you want. Play it in a different key if you want. It's not "wrong" or "incorrect," it's just different. Sometimes the artists themselves play it differently live, or play it one way early on and play it different later in their career.
Your right but this video is made to focus on the way the person who originally played on it played it. If you don’t want to play it the way Paul did fine. I don’t care.
@@thedavesimpson I understand. Not a criticism of you or your video, which was great and helpful. Rather it was a criticism of the idea, which I see way too often, that unless you play something exactly how the original artist did, you are doing it wrong. Knowing how the original artist played a song (and how he or she may have varied it) and being able to play it that way is a good idea, though, and can only help us grow as musicians, as long as we don't get locked in.
@@jackgilchristWhy not learn it the right way first? Then, if you do decide to play it the wrong way, you’ll have more depth of understanding! Like the old saying goes, learn the rules before you break them.
Thanks Dave! Oh my, I love Koss. I went to the Isle of Wight Festival 1970, primarily to see my mentor, Pete Townshend. But then, Free came on stage Sunday morning and Koss stole my heart! My avatar here is my Gibson Custom Shop Paul Kossoff 1959 Les Paul Standard Green Lemon Burst Tom Murphy Aged. Of course, there’s not one day when I pickup this guitar that I don’t think of Koss and all the joy he’s given me over the years. My ambition was to play rhythm to his lead, but sadly before we knew it, he was gone. Continue to rest in love and peace dear Koss.
Thanks for the explanation of this timeless classic Rock gem. I’ve been wanting to learn this on guitar, so I had to see your video on how it was actually played, so I don’t learn the wrong way. 😂 I love the tone you’re getting out of your set up. That raw classic Les Paul tone. 👍
I always wanted to pay homage to this song, but was never able to sort out the chords to this level of accuracy. Thanks for sharin- can't wait to get it down...
Shut Up And Play did a really good break down on this as well and agrees with the principles but does put in the high A because it sounds more like the studio version and that is what that video is focussed on. Most of it is A major to D major and back again but the third chord is complicated. It is A F G D E across the strings but that means it is basically D E F G A which should really not work because it is five consecutive notes from the scale of A mixolydian. A jazz guitarist might call it D9add11/A but then most likely their head would explode.
Paul Kossoff's' guitar playing was lovely. When it comes to 'feeling' he's up there with Peter Green, Dave Gilmour, etc. He doesn't get the recognition he deserves. Thanks for the upload Dave.
Just had to subscribe, as I loved your delivery... and your playing. I have a 1968 Custom with a 'broken head stock' and it's my favourite and that makes me feel better about it now knowing Kossoff played one too. Sounds amazing.
I have small hands and looking Dave teaching these chords my fingers they start hurting but can't wait to arrive home tomorrow to check if i can do them .
Absolutely brilliant thank you. I have been playing that On the high A for so long. My hands are still numb from playing it on a Strat lol but they will recover.
It comes across. There's a big difference adding that A at the 5th fret. 👍 Free had such a melancholy sound with those chord voicings like that third chord. Nice string bends and vibrato at the end there too! You come very close to replicating Kosoff's speed and accuracy with your vibrato technique. Right on it! 😊
I never knew that Dave, very interesting and definitely much more demanding on the old fingies than the alternative. I will have to explore the pain! Cheers Alex
First time here-anyone sat with a les Paul in front of a shedload of marshall/orange kit gets my vote straight away!!!Great breakdown and there's alot of confused info about how to play this so thanks.Interesting when you break it down and play a slow arpeggio-reminds me of "Mouthful of Grass" off the "Free album-which is a banger of an album anyway.
It's no wonder I've never managed to work the chords out! Thanks, Dave. (Though my 72 year old fingers still can't stretch those lengths, even on my Les Paul!).
I have that video in my library, and every time it comes on I just look behind the band at their stacks. It looks like they just throw any amps they had at the time in their old Volkswagon van and hit the road playing gigs. Those were the best of times, all leading to the 80's...what a time to be a teenager.
A few years ago, I was going to cover this song, and it never sounded right. So, we shelved it. I'm in a different band now, and after seeing this video, I may pull it off the shelf and give it another try. Thanks for posting this video. All this time, what Paul was doing was right in front of us, and you were able to see that.
That’s part of the problem. There is a tendency for people to either over play it or use too much distortion. There is a video of a famous guitar player (Doug Aldrich) and frankly the way he plays it is god awful, both in sound and style. It’s a hard rock blues number, not heavy metal.
@philfyphil Years ago, I learned that like everything else with sound, distortion is like makeup and should be used to enhance and not cover. After all the years I've been playing, I've never tried an Orange amp. I used to use an Ampeg B15-XY Portaflex with a Hughes and Ketner Cream Machine for a nice rock sound. Nowadays, I use a Fender Mustang III with a Les Paul. For a modeling amp, it can get some amazing tones without sounding like a tin can full of pissed of bees.
Kossoffs playing is unreal like ........very underrated guitarist the stuff he played with Free for the age they all were was unreal their music deffo stood the test of time 🤘🤘
