00:00 [music]
00:07 Hey everybody, Andy Timmons here.
00:19 Welcome back to Melodic Muse, and we're going to get a little retro today.
00:23 There's a tune called "Sugie" on my recent Electric Truth record, and it's very much
00:28 a thinly veiled homage to the great Sugie Otis, prodigy blues guitar player, Johnny
00:35 Otis' son.
00:36 I started recording for Epic Records in his late teens, I think it was.
00:42 But it relates to a classic tune by the Brothers Johnson that is a record that I was very fond
00:47 of growing up in the '70s called "Strawberry Letter 23."
00:51 And it just reminds me of how fortunate growing up in the '70s was, because radio just wasn't
00:58 segregated in any way.
01:00 You could hear Dolly Parton into Queen into ZZ Top into Earth, Wind & Fire.
01:05 There was just all these great songs kind of coexisting on the airwaves, and we were
01:10 just all soaking it up.
01:12 But one of my favorite tracks of the '70s, and I'm not sure when the Brothers Johnson
01:15 track came out, somewhere in the mid '70s, there's this particular guitar break in this
01:20 harmonized guitar part that's always leapt out.
01:23 It was just always one of my favorite moments in recorded guitar history.
01:27 Years later, I think it was the early 2000s, somebody handed me a CD of a guy named Shuggie
01:32 Otis, and it was a reissue of two records that he made in the '70s, one called "Freedom
01:37 Flight" from 1971 and one called "Inspiration Information" from 1974.
01:42 But on that record, on his first record from '71, was his version, because he's the original
01:47 author of "Strawberry Letter 23."
01:49 And I was gobsmacked when I heard this incredible track.
01:53 And it's basically, the Brothers Johnson pretty much lifted it note for note from his arrangement.
01:58 And he was one of the early guys like Rundgren and eventually Prince that was just playing
02:03 all the instruments on his records.
02:05 Very creative, the writing was great, amazing soul, but the tune.
02:09 So listen, if you can dig out both the Brothers Johnson version of "Strawberry Letter 23,"
02:14 and then, you're likely familiar with that, but then go hear Shuggie Otis' original version.
02:19 A bit earthier, a bit more acoustic on there, but the same bells and then that guitar break
02:23 comes in at the end, and it's just absolutely glorious.
02:27 So as that being one of my biggest and favorite guitar moments, I thought, "Well, I'd like
02:32 to recreate that in my own way, write a tune around it."
02:35 And that's what ended up becoming Shuggie on the new "Electric Truth" record.
02:38 So we're going to go over the kind of dual guitar lead part of that breakdown.
02:45 And again, it's similar to what Shuggie had played, and I believe it was the great Lee
02:49 Rittenour that played on the Brothers Johnson version.
02:51 Maybe Harvey Mason on drums, if I'm not mistaken.
02:53 But let's get into it.
02:55 It's a fun little triplet-y lick, and I hope you have a good time playing it.
02:59 [music]
03:26 Okay, so let's break down.
03:27 This is the higher harmony part of the tune Shuggie.
03:31 And I'm starting with two up picks.
03:38 [music]
03:45 And then it's alternate picking.
03:48 So that lasts.
03:49 So up, up, down, up, down.
03:51 And then you're ready for the up pick.
03:54 And the key really to this is the separation of the notes.
03:58 So the first two notes are really emphasized in staccato.
04:03 So really, it's almost like the purdy Pocaro shuffle.
04:09 [music]
04:13 Which, yeah, it's a figure that got used a lot in rhythm guitar playing, too.
04:18 I remember Luca there playing that on maybe "Breakdown, Dead Ahead" or some of these other things.
04:22 A very cool kind of feel to get together.
04:25 It's very shuffley and swingy.
04:27 Slow it down.
04:30 So that's the first part of it.
04:31 I'm just kind of thinking in the chord.
04:34 It's always good to know the harmony that you're playing.
04:36 So that first chord is G major 7.
04:40 Then it goes to B flat major 7.
04:44 Then it's an F major 7 over the A, so like a first inversion.
04:49 Then it goes down to A flat major 7.
04:52 So nice, really kind of subtle chord changes.
04:55 G major 7, B flat major 7.
04:58 F major 7 over A.
05:01 And then A flat major 7.
05:02 So we're following that initially in that G major 7.
05:07 The top note is the major 7.
05:09 It's a real sweet kind of sound.
05:12 And we're just in the pentatonic right below it.
05:13 Kind of thinking about B minor or D major pentatonic.
05:21 The harmony moves up a minor third, so we're just going to move that lick up a minor third.
05:24 Up to the A's the top note now, so we're kind of in F major pentatonic.
05:32 That F major is a really nice sound over that B flat major 7.
05:38 It's a major pentatonic from the fifth of a major 7.
05:41 Always sounds beautiful because it contains the 9 and the major 7.
05:44 Very nice.
05:46 So, then when the harmony changes to the F major 7,
05:51 it actually kind of permits that line to stay the same.
05:55 So, over the second and third chord it's that same.
06:04 Then when it goes down to A flat major 7,
06:08 I move that same shape down a whole step because now we've got E flat major 7.
06:13 Which is that harmony that sounds so nice over that major 7 chord.
06:18 Remember the major pentatonic from the fifth scale degree, or the fifth of that chord.
06:23 So, if we start on that G major 7.
06:34 Down a whole step.
06:39 I'm also getting a lot of additional separation between the notes with my right hand.
06:45 So, if you hear those first two notes, I'm really getting the right hand, kind of the palm mute thing.
06:55 Without it, not a bad sound.
07:01 Because it's a really tricky thing at this tempo to get really precisely in the groove with the band.
07:08 You have to be fairly relaxed.
07:11 It's really easy to sound on top.
07:13 So, trying to get that definition in the palm mute kind of helps with the pocket of the feel.
07:21 Start a little slower if you need to.
07:34 There you go.
07:38 [music]
08:02 Okay, so let's dig into, this is the lower part of the Shogie harmony.
08:06 And it's essentially going to stick to the same exact technique.
08:11 It's really the same phrasing.
08:13 And it's actually the same fingering.
08:15 We're just actually moving down a string, or up a string.
08:19 We started on the B string before.
08:20 Now we're starting on the G string with the note G.
08:26 Basically just the harmony underneath the top note, right?
08:30 So it's D. And right there in that B minor, D major pentatonic.
08:37 Up a minor third.
08:40 Stay there.
08:42 Convenient.
08:44 Down a whole step.
08:47 Repeat. Rinse.
08:49 It's hard to talk and play that.
08:50 Three, seven.
09:02 Getting that palm mute really helps with the groove.
09:14 I think you got it.
09:16 A lot of fun would be if you've got a multi-track capability to lay the first part down,
09:21 then harmonize with it, because it's just a wonderful feel.
09:23 Even if it's on top of my recording.
09:25 Or if you even have a phone voice record memo, just record your one part,
09:29 and then play along with it.
09:30 It's a blast to hear that really tight, swinging guitar harmony.
09:35 So as we started, the top harmony is on that major seven of the G major seven.
09:42 So we're just going basically to the next lowest chord tone, which is the fifth.
09:51 So the first harmony is actually like a major third, how that lines up in that triadic formation.
09:58 But the next three notes are kind of fourth, fifth harmony.
10:03 And it's the same up here.
10:04 We've got the major seven of the B flat, but we start on the F, which is the fifth.
10:11 And then the harmony changes, which turns out to be the root, the F.
10:18 And down to that E flat major pentatonic over that A flat, which is the...
10:23 [Guitar playing]
10:29 [Music]
10:35 you
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