Guitar Tricks Insider March / April Issue | Página 13

NUGGETS

Fig . 1 is similar to the progression The Ventures utilized in 1960 to “ walk ” to their biggest hit with one of its earliest appearances in rock ‘ n ’ roll . However , they opted to make the I chord A major instead of A

minor , while still basically reproducing the C major melody found on the 1958 Chet Atkins version in A minor . Such is the versatility and vitality of the chord sequence that it works both ways .

In 1961 , Del Shannon scored a “ runaway ” hit with a Bb minor progression like the one in Fig . 2 creating a rock classic , which actually changes back and forth between minor and major keys in the song . Be aware

that he recorded the song in Am and the recording engineer , as they are sometimes wont to do , bumped up the speed to where the pitch became approximately a half-step higher .