Welcome to my I Can’t Quit You Baby Guitar Tutorial originally written by Willie Dixon, and performed famously by many acts throughout the years (Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones, Otis Rush, John Mayall and The Bluesbreakers, John Lee Hooker & more…) This is an easy acoustic 12 bar blues and a great chance to learn some easy seventh chords and start your journey jamming the blues.

I Can’t Quit You Baby Chords: G7 | C7 | D7

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• 0:00 – INTRO
• 1:30 – CHORDS + SWITCHING TIPS
• 3:06 – SWITCHING PRACTICE
• 4:49 – STRUMMING PATTERN
• 6:21 – PLAY-ALONG
• 8:13 – STRUMMING TIPS
• 9:05 – A LITTLE BIT OF BLUES THEORY

The lesson begins with the chord shapes: G7, C7, D7. They’re just as easy as the basic chords, so we can apply the same chord-switching practices. We work on the shapes using downstrokes only, so we can get them in the right order and work on the switches, making them nice and smooth.

Next we look at the strumming pattern which is one of the easiest strumming patterns ever: down-up down-up down-up down-up. The trick is to play it with a swing feel (the downstrokes are a little bit longer). We discuss counting it out, doing it in a more technical fashion, and getting our downstrokes and upstrokes to line up perfectly with the rhythm. I also encourage you to mute the strings and practice your swing feel with the original recording, as that’s going to be the best way to truly capture it.

We put the chords and strumming pattern together, and that’s the blues! You would go to a jam session and just play that over and over again while other people take a solo, and when it’s your turn, you get to take your solo (while somebody else plays the chords).

We also go over a tiny bit of blues theory, just so we can start to understand what that “one four five” thing really means. Aside from that, this one is short and simple!

I’m getting started on some lead guitar stuff so please stay tuned if you want to learn how to jam over songs just like this.

Take care!

-James

#cantquityoubaby #12barblues #guitartutorial