The Thrill Is Gone by BB King Lesson

Song Lessons Grade 5 Songs
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Learn to play The Thrill Is Gone by BB King on JustinGuitar!


View the full lesson at The Thrill Is Gone by BB King | JustinGuitar

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YouTube link not working, but original track is here: The Thrill Is Gone - YouTube

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Hey I am working on this song and enjoying as it gives me opportunity to practice 7th chords and 12 bar blues on such a classic tune. As Justin points out in the lesson, it is a classic form 12 bar blues but I have a question about one chord change:

I I I I
Bm7
IV IV I I
Em7 Bm7
V (VI) IV I V
GMj7 Em7 Bm7 F#7

Song form goes like this, at Bar9, V (F#7) is replaced with GMaj7, what is the theory and background behind this? Is it a common thing or what kind of a function does vi hold in this position? I would have expected V chord since thats the typical form.

I would be really happy if someone can enlighten me :slight_smile:

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Personally, I play it with the capo at the second fret and transpose all those chords down a full step. Just makes it easier to play, using all open chord shapes.

Iā€™m not a big theory guy, but maybe it will help you to realize that The Thrill Is Gone isnā€™t a true ā€œblues.ā€ Itā€™s bluesy, but doesnā€™t follow the classic 12 bar blues form. With the capo at the second fret Iā€™m using an FMaj7 shape there, and it sounds perfect.

If you use a capo, just remember that the solo parts are still in Bm pentatonic.

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For me, ā€œThe Thrill is Goneā€ is an iconic blues standard. Itā€™s a minor blues, though, and the chord progression for minor blues has lots of variations. Iā€™m not an expert, but after googling for 5 minutes, I learned that the VI iv i V sequence in bars 9-12 is a fairly common variation.

Iā€™m not sure of the theory behind substituting the VI for the V in bar 9, Iā€™ll leave that for somebody more expert in theory (@Richard_close2u ?)

1 Like
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Yes yigiterinc. I was also puzzled by the chord progressions in this great song too as I realised it doesnā€™t follow the 1,4,1,5,1 system described in the ā€˜Blues songs for beginnersā€™ course. I find it easiest to use all barre chords with the Bm/Bm7 at the 2nd fret, then up to the 7th for the Em/Em7, 3rd for Gmaj7 and 2nd for F#7. This way you avoid any open strings and can properly damp all the chords to get that real sharp backbeat as in Justinā€™s vid. Rhythm mastered, but some way to go on the solo yet!!