Rockabilly Guitar

I don't know if you guys get this question all the time here but, if you're a rockabilly guitarist, how did you start? What did you start learning and what did you practice?

I'm far too critical to consider myself good enough to be a rockabilly guitarist, BUT......

I used to play punk. And some classic rock, stuff like Alice Cooper and Pink Floyd, though I could never pull off the Floyd stuff either. I knew most of the basic chords, and barre chords as well. Eventually, i started figuing out that if I left the bar part off of the chord and just played on the 1st 3 or four strings (the higher ones), I could slide those chord progressions around and do double-stops and the like.

There was a Bad Religion song that had a weird chord in it that I couldn't figure out....it was an E7 inverted D form without the index finger down on the .....uh, B string. At the E. So i started throwing that in to some of the stuff that i was playing.

At some point, I saw Setzer on TV. I'd always liked the Stray Cats and a lot of rockabilly stuff, but figured there was no way i would ever learn to play that kind of music. Noticed him using a lot of those chords that I was just talking about. So i started to play more in that style.

Eventually, I got a guitar guy to show me how to play Stray Cat Strut and some stuff by Reverend Horton Heat. it's been all uphill (or downhill) since then.

If you're looking for stuff to practice, i'd say start with 20 Flight Rock by Eddie Cochran. Once you get that beat down, and those little slides, you'll be ready for the next batch of stuff. I'd love to be able to play like Setzer or Cliff Gallup, but a man's gotta know his limitations...I'm miles better than I was before i started playing rockabilly, but it's taken over 20 years to get this far. YMMV.

I can play two Cliff Gallup guitar parts "Be Bop a Lula" and "Race With the Devil" I was wondering what the "basics" or rockabilly 101 would be. I play some Creedence Clearwater Revival, I'd assume that would help.

Rockabilly 101- there are 3 (well 4 sort of) guitarists to worry about.
1- Scotty Moore- Elvis sun sessoons
2.- Cliff Gallup- Gene vincent's bluecaps
3.- Grady Martin- Nashville Super session picker, played on tons of stuff most notably the early Johnny Burnette & the Rock and roll trio stuff
4. (honorable mention) Paul Burleson- the guy that often gets the credit for the R&R trio stuff, and a great guitarist in his own right.

- of course there are more, but those are the big 3, most of what came after, followed their styles.

Don't forget Carl Perkins! He did some cool stuff.

I found it better to listen to the influences of your favorites. When I got into Setzer I dug up some Cochran, Vincent and Elvis (for Scotty Moore) albums and listened to the "roots" of his style. I made more sense to me when attempting to put together pieces of the puzzle that is Setzer's style.

I grew up listening to Country and Western, Buck owens, Elvis, Everly Brothers etc, so i kind of don't know any better. I started playing the guitar and played all those songs not knowing it was rockabilly.
I think that's a good start to listen to all those artists from back then.

Music is talking that's a sentence I've heard quite often, but I think there's a lot of truth in it. The best way to learn it is listening and repeating.

Rockabilly was my first musical love, I've been playing guitar for some years when I first heard a Rockabilly-Guitar, but I immediately knew that this was it. So, I saved my money and bought my first electric guitar (and took care that it had the magic F-Holes) Then I played a lot of Elvis, Chuck Berry etc.
I'd say start with some easy tunes, talking also starts with just some words!
Chuck Berry is a good way to start I think, he's got a lot of typical figures in his Songs, and it really isn't that complicated. Yeah, and listen to as much music as you can, and also try to listen to music that influenced the genre, or special players.

Man, you just brought me to an idea for a new thread!

I too, played a lot of punk and thought that I could learn a few chords then could "pass" for being in a band. I thought to myself as a dumb teenager that I didn't need any theory and I don't need to learn any other styles to be good. I can do good with just power chords and small lead fills. Being a huge fan of A.F.I. (still am to this day), I discovered a band called Tiger Army that blended two styles that I've never heard before. Punk rock and rockabilly. I really like the twang of the guitar and the sound of the "whammy bar" as I called it then.

My method of learning at the time was pure tablature. Ok, WRONG way to go about playing alright? Anywho, being frustrated and fed up on the lack of tabs for Tiger Army or any other psychobilly artists, I started transcribing by ear. Ok, now we're getting somewhere. I started to develop a bit of a "style" and when Tiger Army got too easy, I thought to myself "wait a minute, I remember that band the Stray Cats"
Now, I remember I couldn't stand Brian Setzer back in the late 90's. I thought "Jump Jive n Wail" was an overplayed piece of retro crap. But I didn't know that Brian Setzer was the leader of the band who did those two songs I really dig "Stray Cat Strut" and "Rock this Town". "Oh crap! Brian Setzer did those songs?!! He's cool now in my book."

Ok, back to the guitar. The family got me a Gretsch one Christmas and the rest is history. Started learning lots of Setzer, Cochran, Vincent, Elvis, etc etc. "That's it. That's what I want to do. I love the sound, the complexity, and the technique." I couldn't put the Gretsch down after that. It was a blessing in disguise to realize that there are not a lot of rockabilly tabs out there. It taught me LOTS of theory and improved my improvisation a lot as well. Everyone wants to learn "Stairway to Heaven" and "Smoke on the Water". Me? I wanted to learn "Rock this Town" "Stray Cat Strut" and "Rumble in Brighton"