How To Play “Born Under A Bad Sign” On Guitar
This great Albert King tune, Born Under A Bad Sign, is probably one of the first we all learn as a blues guitarist. It’s also another one that gets called a lot at blues jams. Learn more about Albert King here.
The heart of the song is the signature guitar line that defines the song. But there’s even a bit more to it as the song arrangement progresses. Of course we’ve got the four and five chord in there as it moves through the progression.
The song has been played by many over the years. And of course everyone plays in a little differently. The first version I heard was the iconic version by Cream in the late 60’s. Eric Clapton took much of his playing from Albert King and the song is pretty close to the original except for the 60’s indulgence added.
Let’s first introduce you to the Albert King version. And then listen to a few more versions to give you some perspective.
Then we’ll let Red Lasner from TrueFire.com
, show you how it’s played. His version is in Bb minor and you’ll see he uses mostly minor pentatonic scales throughout the song. Here’s a page that explains that scale a bit more.
Enjoy!
