Hi, we are going to look at rockabilly today, and rockabilly has some very cool chords. My friend Brian Setzer told me you have to know them to be in the club and that is especially true for this chord here.

I call it the “Jingle Bell Rock” chord and I can’t be sure but it sounds like it could have originally been played by Hank Garland- but I don’t know for sure. You have your root on top, a Major 3rd, your 2nd, which gives it that great ‘50s voicing, and then a natural 7th. And it sounds great. And it makes it a great chord to slide up an down so you have to get used to the position because as you slide up and down you have to adjust that spread of your fingers as the freeboard gets narrow and wider.

T-Bone Walker would use this kind of chord a lot too in his blues.  Its not only the sound of the chord with rockabilly- it’s the attack, that’s how you bring in new and personal dimensions and phrasings that make your playing unique.

Oh and this is cool.

You can take that first chord and suspend you fourth in it - and that’s a lot of fun to play. So go ahead and try these positions with a boogie-woogie rhythm and experiment and have and I‘ll see you soon.

—Arlen Roth