How to play “Shuggie,” part 2
by Andy Timmons
MELODIC MUSE
LAST MONTH, WE dove into the track “Shuggie,” which is my ode to late Sixties/early Seventies guitar master Shuggie Otis that’s included on my latest album, Electric Truth. For those of you who may be unfamiliar with Otis, he’s a brilliant guitarist whose two seminal albums, Freedom Flight and Inspiration Information, were released in the early Seventies. Freedom Flight included “Strawberry Letter #23,” which was a hit for the Brothers Johnson in 1977.
In last month’s column, I detailed how to play the two-part harmonized lines that highlight the song. This harmonized section is played over the chord progression Gmaj7 - Bbmaj7 - Fmaj7/A - Abmaj7. When it comes time for the guitar solo, I play over these same changes, which will be the focus of this month’s column.
In looking at this four-chord progression, we find some unusual movement. Our tonic (or “home”) key is G major, as described by the initial Gmaj7 chord. We then move up one and one half steps to Bbmaj7, which, although it is outside the key of G major, sounds great in offering a slight twist to the harmonic environment. We then move back down chromatically via Fmaj7/A and Abmaj7, after which the progression repeats.
FIGURE 1 presents an improvised solo played over these changes. In bars 1-4, I stay on the B and G strings, devising relatively simple melodies that clearly outline each chord as it arrives. For example, we begin over Gmaj7, and on beat 1, I bend an A note up a whole step to B, which is the major 3rd of G. In bar 2, over Bbmaj7, I begin by sounding the unbent A note, which serves as the major 7th of Bbmaj7. In a very subtle way, I’m connecting the two chords with this A note.
I address the Fmaj7/A chord in a similar way,
