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Lead On!
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By David Hamburger
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Fire up a rockabilly-style lead over a classic Merle Haggard song
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  Tune up
As the Willie Dixon song says, the blues had a baby and they named it rock ’n’ roll. But if the blues played papa, then country music was rock ’n’ roll’s favorite uncle, showing up to slip the kid great songs and hot guitar licks as early as 1955, when Elvis’ version of Bill Monroe’s “Blue Moon of Kentucky” hit the charts sporting Scotty Moore’s Chet Atkins–inspired picking.
In the ’60s and ’70s, country music infiltrated a wide swath of rock bands, from the Byrds, the Flying Burrito Brothers, and the Eagles to Southern rockers like Lynyrd Skynyrd and the “Ramblin’ Man”–era Allman Brothers Band. And the cross-pollination continues today: alt-country bands from Wilco to the Old 97’s draw inspiration from Nashville-raiding rockers like Neil Young and Gram Parsons, while singer-songwriters like Steve Earle and Lucinda Williams keep one foot firmly planted on each side of the great divide.
Why all the genealogy if it’s only rock ’n’ roll? Well, if you’re an aspiring lead guitarist, you’ll need different kinds of licks depending on whether a given song favors the country or blues side of the family.
The minor-pentatonic scale (shown in Example 1 below) is the first scale most people encounter for soloing, and it’s a trusty companion in all kinds of blues and rock situations from AC/DC to ZZ Top. But try winging it over a Hank Williams, Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard, or Steve Earle song using this scale, and you may notice it sounds a little funny.
Example 1
On the surface, a country song in the key of A has the same three chords as a blues or bluesy rock song in A: A, D, and E, or I, IV, and V. (See the Roman Numerals section on page 5 to understand how those Roman numerals work). But while the A and D are usually played as seventh chords in a blues (meaning they include the flatted seventh note of the scale), they’re typically played as straight major chords in country music. Play the A7, D7, A, and D chords below to hear the difference:
Major chords tend to make country songs sound brighter or less bluesy, and country guitar players have a whole set of tricks up their heavily embroidered sleeves to deal with that difference. In this lesson, we’ll check out some of those moves, learn some cool licks and use them to play some basic I–IV–V chord progressions.”
If we’re playing in A and want to access a bright major sound to go with the brighter, more major sound of a country I–IV–V chord progression, let’s start at the source: the A-major scale shown in Example 2.
Example 2
Leaving out all of the D and G# notes gives us something called the A-major pentatonic scale, shown in Example 3.
Example 3
Your hillbilly career starts with Example 4, a four-note A-major pentatonic phrase that lands on an A.
Example 4
Example 4, Played Slowly
This move will sound great over an A or D chord, but when you get to E, watch out! You’ll want to end the lick on a B note, the fourth fret of the third string, instead of A.
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