Maybellene Guitar Lesson

'Maybellene' is a rock ’n’ roll essential and one of Chuck Berry’s most influential tracks. With its driving rhythm, classic boogie patterns, and punchy lead licks, this song is a great way to dive into early rock guitar and get a feel for the roots of modern electric playing. In this lesson, we’ll break down the rhythm style, signature riffs, and techniques that made Berry a pioneer of the genre.

As a disclaimer - there won't be any tab available in this lesson write-up. Instead, please use Thomas' brilliant video lesson as your main resource. This blog post will help support the video with the theory, fretboard diagrams and more.

So, with that said, grab your guitar, and let's get learning!

Intro

Chuck Berry certainly knows how to write a memorable intro, and Maybellene is no exception! As with most of Berry's work, we're staying pretty firmly within the pentatonic scale - in this song's case, Bb major pentatonic. The intro falls perfectly within box 1 of the major pentatonic scale.

If you're like me, the minor pentatonic feels a bit more familiar and comfortable. So, we can use a theoretical concept called 'relative scales' to help frame this in the context of G minor instead. A relative scale is simply another scale that shares exactly the same notes. In the case of Bb major pentatonic, G minor pentatonic would be the relative scale, as they're both comprised of Bb, C, D, F and G. This is even easier to visualise, as the Bb major pentatonic box 1 is exactly the same as G minor pentatonic box 1, just starting on different notes!

Once you're comfortable with the scale shape, we can take a look at the various techniques that help craft the intro - hammer-ons, double-stops and dampening.

Hammer-ons: to start the lick, hammer-on from the 3rd fret to the 5th fret of the D-string. This quick legato passage helps create a looser, and bouncier vibe that goes hand-in-hand with the style!

Double-stops: a double-stop is a guitarists term for a dyad - a chord consisting of just two notes. The double-stop that we want for the intro is on the 5th fret of the G-string (C), and 6th fret of the B-string (F) - essentially creating an inverted F powerchord.

Dampening: dampening is the muting technique where you release the pressure off the strings with your fretting hand to mute them, creating a short, staccato sound as well as helping control unwanted noise. Be sure to dampen between each strum of the double-stop to get the right feel!

Chorus

The chorus shifts the play style from pentatonic licks to a chord focused rhythmic groove. Before we break down the rhythmic pattern, let's take a look at the three different chord shapes we're going to need.

There are a handful of ways you could catch the Bb and Eb chords - Thomas uses his pinky to barre across the D, G and B strings, but also suggests using your third finger instead if it's more comfortable. Personally, I like catching the Bb and Eb chords as barre chords - and to be a bit cheeky, this is how I've written it out in the chord shapes above. I believe this also helps with the groove that we're about to outline.

The groove is an eighth-note pattern broken into two main parts - the alternating bass note and the choppy chord. Let's take a closer look using the Bb major chord as an example.

Use your first finger to bounce between the 1st fret of the A-string (Bb) and the 1st fret of the E-string (F). The rhythm of the change is on each down beat - meaning that you want to play Bb on the 1 and 3, and the F on the 2 and 4 of the bar. What's happening theory-wise is that we're bouncing between the root and the fifth of the chord.

The 'chop' of the chord is played on every off beat - or 'and' - between the bouncing bass notes. Use the dampening technique after each chord stab to ensure that the sound is light, and staccato! The rhythm will sound quite sluggish, and frankly, a bit wrong, if you let the chord ring out longer than it needs to.

The pattern for the F major chord remains the same, we just need to invert the picking pattern for the bouncing bass notes. Instead of starting on the A-string and moving down to the E-string, the pattern starts on the 1st fret of the E-string (F) and moves up to the 3rd fret of the A-string (C). You don't even need to worry about moving any fingers, as you're staying in position while holding the F chord shape!

Verse

The verse might just be the easiest section of any song you've learned, as it's the exact same pattern of Bb we've just learned in the chorus, but on repeat - no changes needed! Just keeping playing the pattern until you hear Berry sing 'Maybellene', and you'll know that you're back in the chorus!

Outro

There's just one last part we need to tend to before tackling the solo - not hard to guess, but it's the outro! The starts exactly the same way as the intro, with the one change of adding a short bend to the first double-stop (5th and 6th frets of the G- and B-string respectively).

To wrap the phrase up, we just need to introduce a handful more dyads - this time, we're playing thirds instead of fourths, making them sound harmonically richer.

Make sure that you're just targeting the G- and B-string. The introduction of the high E-string would give an entirely different harmonic flavour - especially for the final dyad. Adding the 3rd fret of the high E-string would create a G minor triad, which would entirely alter the comfortable resolution back to Bb.

Solo

The solo is full of many very merry Berry licks, and we're going to tackle them one at a time - just as you should when learning any solo!

Phrase 1

This is exactly what you'd expect the start of a Chuck Berry solo to be - a repeated phrase with distinct and slightly awkward (in a great way) rhythmic displacement. Before we take a look at what frets we need to play, it's important to know that we're shifting from the Bb major pentatonic to the Bb minor pentatonic scale.

The first phrase is just a two-note pattern that spans across 7 bars. The two notes you'll need to play are the 8th fret on the G-string with a full-tone bend, and the 6th fret on the B-string.

The challenge of getting this phrase right lies in displacing the rhythm - in other words, changing the timing. As Thomas mentions, it's quite the challenge to replicate the timing perfectly. Instead, try playing the phrase in three different ways - on the beat, just after the beat, and just before the beat. Doing so will help you capture the spirit of Berry's phrasing!

Phrase 2

The second phrase is a quick one bar lick that helps bring the previous repeated phrase to a resolution. Starting with the same two notes of the first phrase, we need to continue by rolling our first finger onto the 6th fret of the E-string. This is then followed by a full-tone bend on the 9th fret of the B-string, walking down to the 6th fret, and finishing on the 8th fret of the G string. This is an incredibly typical blues phrase - so, be sure to put it in your catalogue of licks!

If this is the first time hearing about, or trying the rolling technique - use one finger, in this case your first finger, to play multiple notes (6th frets) on adjacent strings (B- and E-string) by slightly “rolling” or rocking the finger between them, without fully lifting off the fretboard.

The first two phrases make up a large chunk of the solo, so, here's what all the notes you're playing look like on the fretboard:

Phrase 3

Lick three is a fun little bluesy run that has us briefly switch back to Bb major pentatonic - but with the added flavour of the minor third as well! Take a look at the fretboard below to see all the notes needed - and to help visualise it, I've highlighted the minor third in blue!

Phrase 4

The fourth phrase starts with the second loop of the chord progression - knowing this will hopefully help you visualise the solo as a whole and help you pace your learning!

Once again, this lick starts with the forever iconic blues phrase of the bend on the 8th fret of the G-string to the roll across the 6th frets of the B- and E-string. Here's where things change though - you're going to want to catch an A major triad in the D position (see below) and quickly slide it up a fret to make it a Bb major triad.

You'll want to play the quick slide between the A and Bb triads five times before moving on to the other two chord shapes outlined above - Cm and Bb. To finish the phrase, we just need to play the Cm to Bb triads twice.

Phrase 5

Jumping back into the Bb minor pentatonic box 1, we've got a slightly more straightforward phrase than the last! It starts with a small bluesy bend on the double-stop on the 8th frets of the G- and B-string. And for you theory-savvy lot reading this, you'll know that we're actually introducing the dorian mode by playing the 8th fret on B-string… but we'll talk about that another time! To finish the phrase, strike the double-stop again, come down to the 6th fret on the G-string with a quarter-tone bend, and finish on the 8th fret of the D-string.

Phrase 6

To wrap everything up, we're using more of Chuck Berry's favourite technique - double-stops. The three different double-stops we need are: the 8th frets of the A- and D-strings, the 6th frets of the D- and G- strings, and the 8th frets of the D- and G-strings. I believe the most efficient way to catch each of these double-stops is by barring across the 6th fret, and using your third and fourth fingers to catch the 8th frets.

There you have it - everything you need to play along with this incredibly fun and upbeat Chuck Berry classic! Remember to learn each section and phrase one at a time to allow your confidence and muscle-memory to grow before piecing it all together. However, it's equally as important to 'glue' phrases/sections together to practice the transitions. For example, practice phrase 1 and 2 of the solo in isolation to begin with, then practice them together before moving onto phrase 3 and 4.