Roots of Chuck Berry's Famous Riff

In "Hail, Hail Rock and Roll", the mid-80's tribute film to Chuck Berry produced by Keith Richard with help from other famous stars, Berry is remarkably modest when interviewed on the origins of his guitar style. It is an important question since, as he knew well, his style on guitar is critical to the development of rock as it occurred in the 60's and after. He said that "there is really nothing new under the sun" and cited Charlie Christian and some others as being influential to his style.

One of the most famous Berry riffs is the unaccompanied intro to Johnny B. Goode (circa-1955). Youtube presents a unique opportunity to do so some musical archeology, and I found these two tunes from the 40's:

In the first, by Goree Carter, the famous honking-style intro is almost complete, very similar to how Berry presented it 5-6 years later. In the second clip, from around the end of WW II (thus a few years earlier), we hear something very similar (to my ear), yet played on piano. Goree Carter was influenced by T Bone Walker, but no Walker song I've heard has quite the same intro: Walker did unaccompanied guitar intros, but playing different chords or notes, from what I've been able to glean.

Any comments on the evolution of the intro to Johnny B. Goode? Are there earlier progenitors? Anything (especially on guitar) between the two recordings mentioned (1945-1949)?

 

Sorry, I need to dig out the clips, will post them in a minute.

 

Here is Goree Carter's Rock Awhile from 1949:

 

Johnnie Johnson (Berry's Piano Player) is probably responsible for most of Berry's music. Berry played his piano riffs on his guitar,
this was the "Roll" he put into the Rock and Roll with. - No mystery once you see this...

 

The best scene in the film, IMO, is the argument/debate between Berry and Richards about how to play that riff. Second best scene is them arguing about how to dial in Chuck's amplifier.

 

1946

 

Chuck said he got it from a Louis Jordan sax riff. ^^^

 

Yes he cited Jordan very true. And you can hear some Jordan in his music without question. But this is the second clip I was looking for:



It is Albert Ammons, playing with Pete Johnson in 1944. I find the opening piano passage very similar to what Goree Carter and Chuck Berry played on guitar.

 

That's great, an obvious predecessor, and it is played on guitar clearly (not saxophone at least here).

In the Ammons clip I posted, from two years before, I hear something quite similar on piano though.

 

Cool thread. I think you are on to something with those youtube clips.

 

T-Bone Walker "Strollin With Bones" 1950:



Chock full of Chuck riffs---especially check out at 1:14. Arnie

 

The riff came from a guy called Marty McFly who was playing guitar with a pickup band (Marvin Berry and The Starlighters) at a high school dance in 1955.

 

That's great, and a great recording. Of course the riff from 1:12 to 1:20 was made famous by Chuck Berry and later Keith Richards. But the intro to Johnny B. Goode, although it's kind of echoed on horns in this song ( :35-:40 ), seems to me (so far) to be a blend of the Louis Jordan guitar intro that was posted above (Ain't That Just Like A Woman) and Goree Carter's chordal approach, with Ammons's 1944-era piano version perhaps an earlier part of the chain.

 

Cool stuff!

 

I agree, yes.
You also have to try to figure out what Chuck was doing at the time. He loved Louis Jordan and T-Bone Walker. He probably knew their tunes from jukeboxes and R&B radio. But did he buy records himself? Did he study those songs, or did he just pick the riffs up by "osmosis"? So how did Chuck do it? For example, say he heard a riff in a song from 1946 (Louis Jordan) or 1950 (T-Bone). Did he start incorporating those riffs into his playing prior to going to Chess in 1955? Or did he start doing it after? If he was doing it earlier, then it's likely he started "borrowing" the riffs once he heard them. But if it came later, maybe he was just picking up things from Johnnie Johnson (who may have picked them up from Louis Jordan or even Pete Ammons). It's tricky to figure out exactly. Arnie

 

Go, Go - Go T-Bone Go

 

For sure, and Johnson was of course an important part of the ensemble sound. Chuck Berry is still living and I wish someone would ask him exactly those questions..

Gary

 

"Meanwhile, I'm stiiill, thinkin'…."

 

I hear impressions, accompaniment and imitation of the piano riff stylings of Johnnie Johnson (and Lafayette Leake), with some inspiration from Marty McFly

 

OT, but absolutely smokin' piano there, both guys playing at high speed but still clean and both had killer left hands.

 

This has the intelligent, storytelling lyrical style associated with Berry, too.

 

Great thread!

 

Blind Blake plays several variations in "Too Tight Blues No. 2" (1929), the first at about 00:40...



Also, at intervals in "Got The Blues" (1926), Blind Lemon Jefferson plays something related, a clear one at 00:35.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=q7MVbtN4hM8

 

What are the scale intervals of the riff?

 

The riff is generally mixolydian in nature. It fits over a dominant 7th chord. And there is also the use of a flat third (as a color tone) in addition to the major third of the scale.