Way back in 1969  (just out of High School), I was learning how to play Bar Chords on guitar. I learned a couple of 3 chord blues patterns at the time and thought I was really cool! I learned these patterns from a book that I can’t remember the title of now but one thing stuck in my brain.

YOU CAN MOVE THESE THINGS AROUND THE NECK AND PLAY IN A DIFFERENT KEY!

WOW, that was exciting so now by just playing the same pattern but moving it to another fret and viola! you have the same thing in another key, way cool I thought.

One day I was in the local Head Shop and saw an ad for a “guitarist wanted”. I tore off the tab containing their phone number and became nervous. The ad said they needed a rhythm guitar player familiar with blues etc.

That evening I called the guy and he said “we’re having auditions tomorrow night, come down and bring your equipment”.

I showed up to the audition and the whole band was set up. “Set up over there he says”. I noticed that they also had a sax player. I never played with a sax player before. The sax dude comes over to me and says “Were going to play a blues in Bb, got it”.

So I started thinking “Man I never played blues in Bb before”  but I remembered about moving the same pattern around on guitar using bar chords.

After setting up the sax guy counted out 1,2 – 1,2,3,4 and off we were in blues in Bb. All I did was play the same stuff I knew how to play but on the 6th fret instead of the 3rd fret and we got through the blues no problem.

I was freaking out but it sounded pretty good at the time. You gotta remember at the time if anyone knew 2 or 3 chords on guitar, you were considered a guitar genius.

The keyboard player calls out “How about blues in Ab”. He said that to try and throw me off because guitar players never played in those keys.

OK, I thought I just move the same stuff up 2more frets. 1,2 – 1,2,3,4 and off we go in blues in Ab. Later I found out that these are friendly keys for sax players.

We finished up and they thanked me for showing up. I thought to myself that I was not qualified for this yet. Some days later, the sax dude calls me up and says “we like your stuff man”, my heart was racing, I asked him why they chose me instead of some other guitar players at the time and he says, “Cuz you can play blues in Bb and Ab and all the other guitar players we auditioned only knew how to play in E, A, D and G”. He never told me until later that he only knew how to play in Bb and Ab.

I got hired and found out that in 3 weeks we are taking off on a tour of the East Coast from Massachusetts to Georgia. I got hired because I knew how to play the same stuff in different keys using MOVABLE CHORDS.

So there is power in knowledge. If I didn’t know how to move the same stuff around on the guitar I would have never had the chance to tour with this R&B band.

Off I went into the unknown playing in all the dives around the east coast including stages where they had chicken wire across the front of the stage to protect the band members from flying beer bottles.