Eddie Cochran - Summertime Blues - Guitar Lesson

About Summertime Blues

Few recordings from 1958 hit with the raw, clipped energy that "Summertime Blues" delivers, and that energy starts right at the guitar. Eddie Cochran built the track around a driving, chunky rhythm part in E major that leans hard on open-position chord stabs and a steady, almost percussive right-hand attack. The satisfaction of the song on guitar comes from nailing that stop-time feel: the rhythm drops out, a low vocal line answers, and the guitar snaps back in. Getting those pauses locked and tight is the real challenge, not the chord shapes themselves. At 120 BPM in E Standard tuning, the tempo is brisk enough that sloppy muting becomes very obvious, so keeping your left hand damping the strings between stabs is essential. Use the Practice Toolbar to loop the stop-time sections slowed down until the muting is clean, then bring it back up to full speed. The Rock feel here is all about confidence and attack, so once the technique is solid, push your picking hand harder.

• The song is built on open-position E major chord stabs in standard tuning, making fretting simple but demanding tight right-hand muting between hits.
• The signature stop-time breaks, where the guitar drops out for a vocal phrase and snaps back in, require precise rhythmic control to land convincingly.
• At 120 BPM the tempo is energetic, so practice the chord-stab and mute pattern slowly first before pushing up to full speed.