Steppin Out by John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers
Song basics
Steppin' Out was written 1959 by James Bracken (1909 - 1972), co-owner and co-founder of Vee-Jay
Records. He also worked with John Lee Hooker and together they wrote songs like
Dimples or Baby Lee.
Originally a moderately fast Blues in G (chords G7/C7/D7), played by EC on the Blues
album, it soon
moved towards an up tempo Blues rock with a lot improvisations, sometimes adding
pieces of Freddie Kings
"Hideaway". Tabbing the hole live version is too much - it's mostly
improvisation, so I picked out some
essential pieces. It's also a nice song to build up a little more speed without getting
technical - there are
still a lot of bendings, vibratos and slides to do. If you can't play it this way, try
your own slow Blues
version of it. Remember EC's Layla - even the slow acoustic version was great!
We start with the Intro, starting and ending with the root note (G):
G7
I---------------------------------------------------|I
I---------------------------------------------------|I
I----3---3b-5-3-5b(7)-5-3-5-3-----------------------|I
I-/5---5----------------------5-3-5-5---3---3-5-5---|I
I-------------------------------------5---5---------|I
I---------------------------------------------------|I
0:00
D7
I---------------------------------------------------|I
I---------------------------------------------------|I
I---------------------------------------------------|I
I----3---3b-5-3-5b(7)-5-3-5-3-----------------------|I
I-/5---5----------------------5-3-5-5---3---3-5-5---|I
I-------------------------------------5---5---------|I
0:04
G7
I---------------------------------------------------|I
I---------------------------------------------------|I
I----3---3b-5-3-5b(7)-5-3-5-3-----------------------|I
I-/5---5----------------------5-3-5-5---3---3-5-5---|I
I-------------------------------------5---5---------|I
I---------------------------------------------------|I
0:10
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Now let's have a look at some essential licks from the Blues Breakers version. Look at
lime-line to locate
them. You need some more fingering patterns from the G Blues scale now.
G
I------------------------------------8b(10)-6b--6b(8)rb6--3---3-5b(7)-3-5------------------|I
I--------------------------------/8~~-----------------------5--------------------3---3b----|I
I---3-/7~~--7--5-3-5-3-----3b--------------------------------------------(7)rb5---5----5--|I
I-5---------------------5-5----------------------------------------------------------------|I
I------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|I
I------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|I
0:15 0:19 0:27
G
I-----------------3---------------------------------------------------------------------|I
I-------3-------3--------------------------------6-6------------------------------------|I
I-5b(7)---5b(7)-----5b(7)rb5-p3---5-3---------/7-7-7---(7)rb5-3-5-5---5-3---------------|I
I-------------------------------5-----5-3-5-------------------------5-----5-3-5---...---|I
I---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|I
I---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|I
0:29 0:33
Another good lick, often repeated, is at 00:40:
I--------------------------------------------------|I
I----13b(15)rb13-11-13----11-13b(15)-11b----11----|I
I----------------------12----------------12--------|I
I--------------------------------------------------|I
I--------------------------------------------------|I
I--------------------------------------------------|I
_________________________________________________________________________
Rhythm guitar during organ solo at 01:02 (still Blues form!)
G7 C7 D7
I-------------------------------|I
I-------------------------------|I
I----------------5-3-----7-5----|I
I------5-3----------------------|I
I--------------3-------5--------|I
I----3--------------------------|I
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After the organ solo some nice bendings:
I--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|I
I------6h8~~---11b(12)--13b(15)-13-11-13-11~~--12b-12-13-12-13-12br----------11-14b-11b~~----|I
I-/7~~----------slow------------------------------------------------12~~--12-----------------|I
I--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|I
I--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|I
I--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|I
01:19 01:23 01:28
I-----13---------------------------------15------15------------------------------------------|I
I-13b----rb13-11-13----11b(13)----11-----18b(20)----18-15-18b(20)-18-15----------------------|I
I-------------------12---------12---------------------------------------17b(19)-17-15----17--|I
I-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------17-----|I
I--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|I
I--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|I
01:32 01:35
I------------------------------------------------------------------------|I
I----------------15-------------sound like-------------------------------|I
I-----15-17(b)19----17p15----17-a break here---(18)rb17-15-------15b-----|I
I--17---------------------17-------------------------------17-17---------|I
I------------------------------------------------------------------------|I
I------------------------------------------------------------------------|I
01:37
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Finally the end of the end:
I---7-7-7-7-7--4---0---0-----------------------------0-----|I
I---6-6-6-6-6--3---0---0-----------------------------0-----|I
I---7-7-7-7-7--4-----------7b(9)~~--7--4-------------------|I
I----------------------------------------------7-5---------------|I
I-----not sure about...----------------------------5~~-----------|I
I--------------------------0----------------------------0--------|I
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