00:00Hey everybody, Andy Timmons here. Welcome back to Melodic Muse and we're going to get a little
00:22retro today. There's a tune called Shuggy on my recent Electric Truth record and it's very much
00:28a thinly veiled homage to the great Shuggy Otis, prodigy blues guitar player. Johnny Otis's son
00:36started recording for Epic Records in his late teens I think it was. But it relates to a classic
00:44tune by the Brothers Johnson that is a record that I was very fond of growing up in the 70s
00:49called Strawberry Letter 23. And it just reminds me of how fortunate growing up in the 70s was
00:56because radio just wasn't segregated in any way. You know, you could hear Dolly Parton into Queen
01:02into ZZ Top and Earth, Wind and Fire. There was just any, all these great songs kind of coexisting
01:08on the airwaves and you know, we were just all soaking it up. But one of my favorite tracks of
01:14the 70s, I'm not sure when the Brothers Johnson track came out, somewhere in the mid, mid 70s.
01:18There's this particular guitar break in this harmonized guitar part that's always leapt out.
01:23It was just always one of my favorite moments in recorded guitar history, right? Years later,
01:28I think it was the early 2000s, somebody handed me a CD of a guy named Shuggy Otis. And it was a
01:34reissue of two records that he made in the 70s. One called Freedom Flight from 1971 and one called
01:39Inspiration Information from 1974. But on that record, on his first record from 71 was his version
01:47because he's the original author of Strawberry Letter 23. And I was gobsmacked when I heard this
01:52incredible track. And it's basically the Brothers Johnson pretty much lifted it note for note from
01:57his arrangement. And he was, he was one of the early guys like Rundgren and eventually Prince that
02:02was just playing, he was playing all the instruments on his records. Very creative. The writing was
02:06great. Amazing soul. But the tune, so listen, if you can dig out both the Brothers Johnson version of
02:12Strawberry Letter 23. And then if you're likely familiar with that, but then go hear Shuggy Otis's
02:18original version. A bit earthier, a bit more acoustic on there, but the same bells and then
02:23that guitar break comes in at the end. And it's just absolutely glorious. So as that being one of
02:29my biggest, you know, and favorite guitar moments, I thought, well, I'd like to recreate that in my own
02:34way, write a tune around it. And that's what ended up becoming Shuggy on the new Electric Truth record.
02:38So we're going to go over those, the kind of dual guitar lead part of that breakdown. And again,
02:45it's, it's similar to what Shuggy had played. And I believe it was the great Lee Rittenauer that
02:49played on the Brothers Johnson version. Maybe Harvey Mason on drums, if I'm not mistaken. But let's get
02:54into it. It's a fun little triplet lick. And I hope you have a good time playing it.
03:15Okay. So let's break down this. This is the higher harmony part of the tune Shuggy. And
03:31I'm starting with two up picks.
03:44And then it's alternate picking.
03:47So that last, so up, up, down, up, down, and then you're ready for the up pick. So
03:53the key really to this is, is the separation of the notes. So there's the, the first two notes are
03:59really emphasized in staccato. So really, it's almost like the, the Purdy Poccaro shuffle,
04:08which, uh, yeah, it's a figure that got used a lot in rhythm guitar playing too. I remember Luca,
04:18they're playing that on maybe breakdown dead ahead or some of these other things, but a very cool,
04:23um, kind of feel to get together. It's very shuffly and swinging. Slow it down. So that's the,
04:30that's the first part of it. I'm just kind of thinking in, uh, the court, let's, it's always good
04:34to know the harmony that you're playing, right? So that first chord is G major seven. Then it goes
04:40to B flat major seven. Then it's an F major seven over the A. So like a first inversion.
04:48Then it goes down to A flat major seven. So nice, really kind of subtle chord changes.
04:54G major seven, D flat major seven, F major seven over A and then A flat major seven.
05:02So we're following that initially in that G major seven. The top note is the major seven. It's a real
05:09sweet kind of sound. And we're just in the pentatonic right below it. Kind of like thinking
05:14about like B minor or D major pentatonic.
05:20Now the harmony moves up a minor third. So we're just going to move that lick up a minor
05:24third up to the, the A is the top note now. So we're kind of in F major pentatonic.
05:29So that F major is a really nice sound over that B flat major seven. It's a major pentatonic
05:40from the fifth of a major seven. Always sounds beautiful because it contains the nine and
05:44the major seven. Very nice. So then when the harmony changes to the F major seven, it actually
05:52kind of permits that, that line to stay the same. So over the third, over the second and
05:59third chord, it's that same. Then when it goes down to A flat major seven, I move that same
06:09shape down a whole step because now we've got E flat major seven, which is that harmony.
06:15It sounds so nice over that major seven chord. Remember the major pentatonic from the fifth scale
06:21degree or the fifth of that chord. So it's, so if we start on that G major seven,
06:39and I'm getting also getting a lot of additional, um, you know, separation between the notes with my
06:44right hand. So it's, if you hear those first two notes, I'm really getting the right hand
06:50kind of the palm mute thing. Not a bad sound because it's a really, it's a really tricky
07:03thing at this tempo to get really precisely in the groove with the band, right? It's, it's
07:08not, it's, it's, you have to be fairly relaxed and that you can, it's real easy to sound on
07:12top. So trying to get that definition in the palm and he kind of helps with the pocket of,
07:17of the feel. Start a little slower if you need to. There you go.
07:35Okay. So let's dig into, this is the lower part of the show.
08:02Okay. So let's dig into, this is the lower part of the Shuggy harmony. And it's a, essentially,
08:07it's going to stick to the same exact technique. It's really the same phrasing.
08:12And it's actually the same fingering. We're just actually moving down a string or up a string.
08:18We started on the B string before. Now we're starting on the G string with the note G.
08:22So basically just the harmony underneath the top note, right? So it's D and
08:32right there in that B minor D major pentatonic. Up a minor third. Stay there. Convenient.
08:43Down a whole step. Repeat. Rinse. It's hard to talk and play that one. Three, seven.
08:52Again, that palm mute really helps with the groove.
09:04Right. I think you got it. A lot of fun would be if you've, if you've got a multi-track capability to lay the first part down then harmonize with it.
09:10Cause it's just a wonderful feel. Even if it's on top of my recording, or if you even have a phone voice record memo, just record your one part and then play along with it.
09:30It's a blast to hear that really tight swinging guitar harmony.
09:34So as we started the, the top harmonies on the mate, that major seven of the G major seven, right?
09:42So we're just going basically to the next lowest chord tone, which is the fifth.
09:50So the first harmony is actually like a major third, how that lines up in the, in that triadic formation.
09:57But the next three notes are kind of, kind of fourth, fifth harmony.
10:03And it's the same up here. We've got the major seven of the B flat, but we start on the F, which is the fifth.
10:11And then the harmony changes, which tends to be, turns out to be the root, the F.
10:18And down to that, the E flat major pentatonic over that A flat, which is the...
10:24The end.
10:25The end.
10:29The end.
10:32The end.
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