Space Age Rock 'n' Roll Guidebook

Styles, Tones & Techniques of Late-50’s and 60's Guitar Instrumentals

Marty FriedmanTommy EmmanuelSteve VaiEric GalesEric Johnson

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Space Age Rock 'n' Roll Guidebook

About this course

The late 50’s and early 60’s (aka 'The Space Age' ) triggered what many people consider a renaissance of pop and rock music. In turn, the sonic qualities of electric guitar also experienced a revolutionary shift from clean, relatively un-effected sounds to a fresh new range of sounds including vibrato, phasing, echo, distortion and fuzz. These effects greatly influenced guitarists right and left-hand techniques and overall creative approaches to both soloing and rhythm playing.

BJ Baartmans’ Space Age Rock 'n Roll Guidebook celebrates the innovative “Space Age” techniques and approaches pioneered by players like Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, George Harrison, Steve Cropper, Alvin Lee and other artists leading the charge in rockabilly, blues, and surf music.

You’ll play your way through the course with BJ guiding you through 11 performance studies. BJ will first perform the study over a backing track and then he’ll break it down for you detailing all of the critical techniques and sonic qualities in play.

BJ will explain and demonstrate all of the key concepts and approaches along the way. You’ll get standard notation and tabs for the key examples and performance studies. Plus, BJ includes all of the jam tracks for you to work with on your own. In addition, you’ll be able to loop or slow down any of the videos so that you can work with the lessons at your own pace.

Grab your guitar and launch yourself into a new Space Age with BJ Baartmans!

What you'll learn

  • Execute pedal steel-style bends on guitar
  • Perform country-jazz style endings with sophisticated chord voicings
  • Execute double stop sequences with dominant 7 voicings on top 3 strings
  • Play a complete rockabilly-style song inspired by James Burton's Suzy Q riff
  • Play the complete solo for Summernight Serenade 2
Release date: 08/27/2018 • 1h 30m runtime
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Sample lessons
F# Slow Train
F# Slow Train
Performance
F# Slow Train
F# Slow Train
Breakdown
Sally A
Sally A
Performance
Sally A
Sally A
Breakdown

What's included

24 lessons • 11 charts • 11 Jam Tracks

Space Age Rock 'n' Roll Guidebook
Hey everybody, I'm BJ Baartmans, and welcome to the Space Age Rock 'n' Roll Guidebook. The Space Age brought exciting new elements into the established sounds and licks of the fifties. The use of effects like vibrato, phasing, echo or fuzz brought new colors to the traditional guitar and amp setup. The use of these effects also changed the way the guitar heroes of the sixties played. Added sustain and overdrive demanded a different technical approach to picking a guitar. And then, the use of lighter string gauges changed the way players could bend notes and create tension and relief. Guitar playing made a big time jump in the sixties.

In this course, we'll look at some advanced variations on themes that were featured in the Slapback, Billy & Twang Guidebook. We'll do this by covering 8 original songs in several styles. Players like Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, George Harrison, Steve Cropper or Alvin Lee played stuff that was deeply rooted in rockabilly, blues and surf guitar. But they made it all sound very hip in the "space age of rock & roll". So, here's the guidebook, which comes with tabs and backing tracks for all of the songs. Hope you have fun with it and find a refreshing way to launch yourself into a new Space Age of good old rock and roll! 3...2...1.let's lift off!
Sound Shaping
One of the things that really expanded the possibilities guitar players had in the Space Age was the development of guitar effect pedals. This started in '57, with companies like Vox, Electro Harmonix, Roger Mayer and Fender creating devices that framed electronically manipulated sounds in a box. Things like phasing, distortion, vibrato and tremolo.

Even though the playing techniques that most players used were still pretty traditional, the way they sounded changed a lot. Here's a few examples where you can hear some old school guitar parts nicely dressed up with an effects pedal.
F# Slow Train
The main riff of this song is a typical 2 step "train" groove played to a half-time beat. It's based on the traditional Travis picking style, like Scotty Moore and James Burton would use on Elvis Presley records. However, the new beat gives it a whole different sound.

I'm also using a simple Ernie Ball phaser pedal here that sort of lives its own life as a tone tweaker. It makes the riff pop out stronger and gives the whole song a bit of a spacier sound. The other typical thing in this track is that it's in the key of F#. This give it a cool open string dominant 7 flavor.
F# Slow Train
The main riff of this song is a typical 2 step "train" groove played to a half-time beat. It's based on the traditional Travis picking style, like Scotty Moore and James Burton would use on Elvis Presley records. However, the new beat gives it a whole different sound.

I'm also using a simple Ernie Ball phaser pedal here that sort of lives its own life as a tone tweaker. It makes the riff pop out stronger and gives the whole song a bit of a spacier sound. The other typical thing in this track is that it's in the key of F#. This give it a cool open string dominant 7 flavor.
Goodnight Again 1
Here's a classic rock and roll song even though it's an original. It's in the key of Bb like a lot of jump and jive songs that originally had horn sections. Only problem with that is that you'd better be pretty precise in what you play.

I've divided the lesson into two sections. First, there's the rhythm guitar part, played with a vibrato pedal that resembles a Leslie speaker effect, as well as a fair amount of overdrive. It creates a bit of an organ sound. Then there's a classic P90 rock and roll solo inspired by Chuck Berry inspiring Keith Richards. The other thing - which is quite unusual here - is the use of a capo. This is common in folk music but not in a lot of sixties rock & roll.
Goodnight Again 1
Here's a classic rock and roll song even though it's an original. It's in the key of Bb like a lot of jump and jive songs that originally had horn sections. Only problem with that is that you'd better be pretty precise in what you play.

I've divided the lesson into two sections. First, there's the rhythm guitar part, played with a vibrato pedal that resembles a Leslie speaker effect, as well as a fair amount of overdrive. It creates a bit of an organ sound. Then there's a classic P90 rock and roll solo inspired by Chuck Berry inspiring Keith Richards. The other thing - which is quite unusual here - is the use of a capo. This is common in folk music but not in a lot of sixties rock & roll.
Goodnight Again 2
Here's a classic rock and roll song even though it's an original. It's in the key of Bb like a lot of jump and jive songs that originally had horn sections. Only problem with that is that you'd better be pretty precise in what you play.

I've divided the lesson into two sections. First, there's the rhythm guitar part, played with a vibrato pedal that resembles a Leslie speaker effect, as well as a fair amount of overdrive. It creates a bit of an organ sound. Then there's a classic P90 rock and roll solo inspired by Chuck Berry inspiring Keith Richards. The other thing - which is quite unusual here - is the use of a capo. This is common in folk music but not in a lot of sixties rock & roll.

+ 17 more lessons

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Reviews

10 results

JNPMusic

Verified buyer

01/15/23

Rockin' Course!

Fantastic course with a very easygoing instructor. I felt very comfortable with each lesson so much so that I purchased his other instruction videos. Very well-thought-out course.

JohnnyTorpedo

Verified buyer

01/04/23

my first but not my last

Awesome new rock n roll riffs! Teacher done a great job! The sound of the course is excellent. The examples are clear understandable. Not my last purchase.

Blackguitars

Verified buyer

05/25/21

EXCITE YOUR PLAYING

A good way to make your lead breaks more exciting and dynamic!

Revman2015

01/31/21

Jump on Board

Bj Baartmans’s Space age rock is a fresh perspective. Really Fresh. His groove and playing style are very much his own and not other players on this site. Fresh perspective at high level equals great course. I love his phrasing he uses and his explaining and breaking things down to a level so that you can get it shows he real is a master technician.. Jump on board

jerrysalazar1

Verified buyer

12/08/20

Great course full of awesome ideas!

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