Elvis Presley - Mystery Train

Written by Jason Shadrick

DIAL TONE

What They Use: Guitarist Scotty Moore used a custom Echosonic amp that was built for him by Ray Butts. According to Moore, hearing Chet Atkins on the radio lead him to Ray. “I don’t remember the name of the record, but I heard one of Chet’s instrumentals on the radio. His guitar had the same slap, but it was a little bit different to what I was used to hearing Sam do with us. I said, ‘Damn. How is he doing that?’

So I checked around and someone told me that he got a new amp that someone had built for him. So I kept digging and finally I got the guy’s name who built it and called him. His name was Ray Butts. He lived in Cairo, Illinois. He had built this amp for a guitar player he worked with on weekends [Bill Gwaltney], just experimenting and trying it out. It sounded good so he brought, I guess, that one to Nashville and showed it to Chet and he liked it and bought one. I believe mine was the third one.”

On “Mystery Train,” Scotty used his newly acquired 1954 Gibson L5CESN. The guitar had a 17-inch hollow body and a solid carved spruce top. It also had two P-90 pickups and a maple neck. Moore used this guitar almost exclusively until 1957.

How to Get the Sound: The key to the rockabilly sound is the slapback echo. Adjust your delay pedal to give you a quick delay with only one repeat. Combine this with a hollowbody guitar with thick strings and plug into an amp that gives you a loud, clean sound. Another important thing to remember is to dampen the lower three strings on the guitar to help emulate a bass guitar.

CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL, FREE "MYSTERY TRAIN" TAB IN THE GUITAR EDGE SEPTEMBER '10 DIGITAL EDITION

Rock ’n’ roll is all about being rebellious, and Elvis Presley was arguably the genre’s first true rebel. In the ’50s, his appearances on television struck fear into the hearts of parents all over the country and drove teenage girls everywhere into state of frenzy.

Born in Mississippi, Presley moved to Memphis as a youth and met Sam Phillips in 1953. Sam Phillips was a record producer and songwriter based in Memphis, Tennessee. Phillips’ studio, Sun Records, was the epicenter of rock and R&B music at the time, with everyone from Roy Orbison and Ike Turner to Charlie Rich and Jerry Lee Lewis recording there. For most of them it was their first big break, and the music that was produced in Sun’s tiny studio introduced them to mainstream America.

“Mystery Train” was written by Phillips and Junior Parker. Presley’s version of the track was released in August of 1955 as a B-side to “I Forgot to Remember to Forget” and featured Scotty Moore on lead guitar and Bill Black on bass.

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INTRO
“Mystery Train” opens with a signature lick that is shown in Fig. 1. Moore used a hollowbody Gibson guitar and set his custom Echosonic amp for a slapback (one repeat) effect. For this riff, begin by fingering a standard open E chord for the first two beats. For the A/E chord hinge your middle and ring fingers over the 3rd and 2nd strings. Keep your thumb playing the open E string on beats 1 and 3 while palm muting the 6th, 5th, and 4th strings throughout.

VERSE
The Verse begins on the IV chord (A) and follows a slightly unusual 28-measure form. Gtr. 1 plays an alternating bass figure that is reminiscent of a Travis-picking pattern popularized by Merle Travis. Travis was an influence on Moore and it shows all over this tune. Gtr. 2 is an acoustic guitar and comes in during the last measure of the Intro and plays a pattern using the open chords shown at the beginning of the transcription.

For the A chords in the Verse, barre your first finger over the top four strings at the second fret. Use your middle finger for the G on the 1st string and your pinky for the E on the 2nd string. After the first six measures of the Verse, Gtr. 1 returns to the opening riff for four measures. This pattern repeats until you reach the B7 chord on the third page. The tab shown for Gtr. 1 is for a B7/F# chord played in the open position. Use your second finger to cover both the 6th and 5th strings at the second fret. In the A chord two measures later, Moore adds a B on the 3rd string. Play this note with your ring finger.

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GUITAR SOLO
Moore’s 12-measure guitar solo further demonstrates how Merle Travis influenced him. The solo begins after the third Verse with an alternating bass pattern that is closely related to what he played in the Verse. In measure four, the chord changes to E and Moore moves up to ninth position to play a four-measure lick. Place your pinky finger on the 12th fret of the 1st string to play the high E. Use your ring finger for the E played at the 12th fret of the 6th string. Your index finger barres strings 1 through 4 for these four measures.

The fingerings for the last four measures of the Guitar Solo are shown in Fig. 2. Start in seventh position with a B7 barre chord. All of the notes in the first two measures (except for the very last G#) will fall completely within this shape. On the “and” of beat 4 use your ring finger to slide into the A on the 1st string. Bend the G very slightly and then form an A7 chord in second position to play the notes in the rest of the phrase. After the solo, the main riff comes back for five measures before the next Verse.

CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL, FREE "MYSTERY TRAIN" TAB IN THE GUITAR EDGE SEPTEMBER 2010 DIGITAL EDITION

Want more? Check out these cool links at guitaredge.com
• Get Elvis guitar tab and jam tracks at guitarinstructor.com
• Get cool Elvis Presley gear at oldglory.com
• Get the Rockabilly Guitar Bible tab book at musicdispatch.com
• Download “Mystery Train” on iTunes
• Check out Elvis Presley online at elvis.com