Favorite Setzer Songs to Play

About 90% of all the songs I know on guitar are Setzers, what's everyones favorite setzer classic to play? Mine is Rumble in Brighton, I don't know why but I have so much fun playing that song I have yet to pick up my guitar without a little rumble being played. Aside from that, fishnet stockings and ignition are most commonly played by me. How bout you guys?

my all time favourite setzer songs to play are "too hip gotta go ", "Rockabilly World", "Let´s live it up"...
and "rumble in brighton" ,of course, .
This song was the reason for me to grab a guitar 15 years ago...

Tommi

Made lets live it up is one of those setzer songs I can't figure out for whatever reason. That opening lick I just can't even come close to having a concept of. there are a few setzer songs like that. Like sammy davis city, I am desperate to learn the simple chords of it and I can't make head or tail of it. Never mind the cool little ditties he does in between lyrics I just want to know what key they're in.

Hands down -- Peroxide Blonde, Red Hot, & Fishnet Stockings

Sleepwalk and Look at that Cadilliac.

to hip to go, and the stray cats strut ... I have no fun for play or copy other musicans music. In my band i play just my onw music. But in my stereo i listenin' only Setzers music

(sorry for the bad english, i'm from hungary, i can't wirte)

My favorite Songs to play are Sleepwalk, Stray cat Strut (I love the solo), Rock this Town, and not to forget The Dirty Boogie (me and my Band we recorded that Song last summer)

HEY GANG!!

Gotta be, Stray cat Strut and Rock This Town, as they were the songs that made me want to play guitar many years ago.

I just think everything he plays pushes himself a bit more, and myself a bit more to learn something new. And also the way he switches and mixes it up makes me think a little out of the box with my own compositions.

Hey, ....A Night In The Box... Who else loves The Rev????

Cheers Pete.

8-track, Beautiful blues, I wont stant your way anymore etc...

PICKIN' PETE wrote:

HEY GANG!!

Gotta be, Stray cat Strut and Rock This Town, as they were the songs that made me want to play guitar many years ago.

I just think everything he plays pushes himself a bit more, and myself a bit more to learn something new. And also the way he switches and mixes it up makes me think a little out of the box with my own compositions.

Hey, ....A Night In The Box... Who else loves The Rev????

Cheers Pete.

The Reverend Horton Heat are great! Have all cds of them.I love Psychobilly, too!
My favs are "Big sky" and "baddest of the bad" from the "Liquor in the front"- CD.

Tommi

I always play Too Hip, if I pick up the guitar.
And after that the rest of their repertoire.

And this is me too...

I love to play the intro line of Stray Cats Strut and the hypnotic riff of Rumble in Brighton.

Gene & Eddie
Rock This Town
Stray Cat Strut

Only because I haven't learned any others yet. I'd love to learn nearly all of Brian's stuff, though I'm still pretty sure he has different notes on his guitar than I have on mine. I mean, seriously, hasn't anyone ever told him he's not supposed to be able to play like that?

Good point ratpack! That Setzer is a M'F'er of the guitar!!!!
I think my fave is Rumble in brighton and Ignition, and Stray Cat Strut, (one of my earliest song memories, along with Rock lobster hahahah)
BUt i always play too hip when warming up!
I would love to learn beautiful blues one of my all time favorite songs.
I'm half way through Setzers version of sleepwalk now, everytime I hear that song, i want to cry because it makes me sad to realize how much more work I have to do@!

Mike wrote:

I'm half way through Setzers version of sleepwalk now, everytime I hear that song, i want to cry because it makes me sad to realize how much more work I have to do@!

Certain people on here will confirm that Brian playing Sleepwalk always makes me cry... but for a completely different reason. Its so friggen beautiful when he does.

My favorite Setzer songs to play would have to be The Dirty Boogie, Stray Cat Strut, Rock this Town, and Sleepwalk! It took me forever to get The Ditry Boogie solo down, though.

Sleepwalk....that guitar or man must have 20 strings and fingers. It has such a full lush sound.

Ye Be Warned! (This Be a Long Post!)

A lot of Brian Setzer songs are fun to play on the guitar, but some of the tunes can be quite a challenge. Due to the complexities of B.S.O. music (16+ musicians) some of the arrangements can be pretty tough to figure out. When all of the horns are playing it’s sometimes difficult to pick out specific guitar passages (especially acoustic D’Angelico’s). Also making things tough is that with some exceptions most of the B.S.O. tunes haven’t been commercially transcribed (i.e. published guitar tablature and sheet music). This necessitates learning most of these songs by ear or by watching a concert video. Generally speaking most B.S.O. songs rely on general music theory, following specific forms, chord progressions, etc. The trick is that when these songs “break the rules” for example via a non-diatonic chord substitution (i.e. Fm7 in Sleepwalk which is in the Key of C major) the flow of the song still sounds right due to the quality of the songs and their arrangements, which is a testament to the abilities of Brian Setzer and the arrangers (Mark Jones, Michael Acosta, Frank Comstock, etc.) he employs. The point here is that simply knowing what key a B.S.O. song is in is only one piece of the overall puzzle to figuring out how to play each song.

In regards to the specific songs mentioned before:

Let’s Live It Up
This song is available as part of a sheet music book put out by Cherry Lane Music around 1998 or so titled “Guitar of Brian Setzer Orchestra, Best of the Big Band” that has 10 titles from the Dirty Boogie and Guitar Slinger albums in guitar notation and tablature with vocals. It’s usually available at an online sheet music store or on eBay. This song is in Bb, and the opening line is composed of pull-offs from 4 chords to open G and B strings over a moving bass note on the D string. The chords are Bb, Bbm, Am7b5, and Bb over bass root-notes Bb, Bb, A, and F, respectively. Each chord lasts one bar and this sequence is played 4 times before the band kicks in with diff. open position fills being played in place of the last Bb/F chord the 2nd and 4th times through the progression. To really nail this lick you need to use “hybrid picking” which means to pick the bass notes with your thumb (Brian’s way, palms the pick with index finger) or a pick, and use fingers for the chord stabs. This song pretty much runs the gamut of Brian’s guitar techniques, as it contains hybrid picking, chord substitutions, a chord melody comping/backing to a horn solo, and a great solo line.

Sammy Davis City
This is a wonderful song co-written by the late, great, Joe Strummer along with Brian Setzer that features two acoustic guitars. I’m not sure if Brian and Joe each played diff. parts or if Brian overdubbed leads/rhythms. I don’t know of any commercially available sheet music for this song or video performance of it. It’s also been awhile since I’ve played this, and this walkthrough is solely from memory as I didn’t write it out at the time, so I may have some of the exact notes/chords wrong, but overall I think it is close. The song starts out in the key of E minor, as the opening chord is an Em9 played in open position (1st finger on B, 2nd fret, 5th string, 3rd finger on F#, 4th fret, 4th string, rest open strings). That is followed by an F#-G half-step 6th string bass-note walk leading to a G9 (or G9#11) chord followed by a C7 (or C9 or C7b9) chord and then a B7 (or B7b9 or B13) chord. This progression (Em9-G9-C7-B7) gets repeated once more and then things change. The song modulates to the key of G major (same key but diff. feel) at the lyric “You Hope for a Rainbow” where the chord is Am7. A D7 chord follows leading to a G major chord and finally Em. This progression (Am7-D7-G-Em) repeats a few times until the lyric “Non-running cars” where F#m7 and B7 are substituted for the last Em chord. This leads to the lyric “I’m feeling all the people dreaming” where I believe a static F#m13 chord with descending notes is played (not really sure about this chord). This resolves to an open E major chord which is a non-diatonic (not in the key) substitution for Em in the (Em-G9-C7-B7) progression that is played again (2x through). At the lyric “Nothing Pretentious” the progression (Am7-D7-G-Em) is played but C9 (Em7b5) is substituted for the Em chord. Then a bass note walks down from A to a G7b5 chord, followed by Gm7b5 and then F#m9 and B13 chords. At this point everything (chord progressions) are repeated from the first “I’m feeling all the people dreaming” lyric up to Gm7b5. Then at the lyric “Sammy Davis City” F#m7, G#m7, and A (or B7) chords are played in that order. An E major chord is played as the 1st solo begins. That solo plays over E and G chords which repeat and then ends with F#m9 and B13 chords. At this juncture the entire form is repeated and then the “Feeling all the people dreaming” lyric chords are played and finally the song ends on Em9 (5th position). Most of the chords are played between the open pos. and the 7th fret. Some of the extended chords are played by the 2nd guitar and are upper level extensions (i.e. 9ths, 13ths, etc.) of base chords (m7, 7, etc.). The solos follow the chord changes, but rely heavily on the E natural minor scale, G major scale, and the E minor blues scale.

Feel free to post comments and/or corrections.

PICKIN' PETE wrote:

HEY GANG!!

Gotta be, Stray cat Strut and Rock This Town, as they were the songs that made me want to play guitar many years ago.

I just think everything he plays pushes himself a bit more, and myself a bit more to learn something new. And also the way he switches and mixes it up makes me think a little out of the box with my own compositions.

Hey, ....A Night In The Box... Who else loves The Rev????

Cheers Pete.

HORTON HEAT.One of my all time favorites.Have everyone of his cd's including the great Christmas cd.His music makes me drive way to fast(gotta go ).
Jpequa.

You're the man davy jones, I'm gonna try that out as soon I get off of work. Sammy Davis City, probably the best mellow setzer songs ever(there aren't many).

I love to play The solo from "I wont stand in your way" Its usally in Dmaj which makes it sooooooooooo much easier. Eb id not the most guitar freindly key. After that its Sleepwalk, Rumble, Gina, Gene and Eddie and of course Stray Cat strut.

Hotrodtodd wrote:

I love to play The solo from "I wont stand in your way" Its usally in Dmaj which makes it sooooooooooo much easier. Eb id not the most guitar freindly key. After that its Sleepwalk, Rumble, Gina, Gene and Eddie and of course Stray Cat strut.

I agree!
How do you like my version?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7sB3QSebI8

Patrick, That was really great man. way to go. just beautiful.

Just wanted to update my earlier post, as I decided to play this song again the other day and see how close my “transcription” was. Therefore I’d like to post the following corrections/additions:

The G9 chord actually sounds more like a G6.

The “I’m feeling all the people dreaming” F#m13 should be an Am9 (5th fret barre w/index finger) with descending B, A, G, F# notes on the D (1st 3 notes) and A (last note) strings.

The “Nothing Pretentious” progression should be played a whole step higher (Bm7-E13-A6/9-D9 (Am6 equivalently as it’s the same chord)-Ab7b5-C#7(G#m6).

Ending notes after the Em9 are either 7th and 5th fret natural harmonics or harp harmonics coinciding with the Em9 chord.

thanks I'll try those, it's hard stuff but at least im making progress now