Circle Of 4ths – Still Got The Blues, Europa Style Changes
The blues guitar world lost a great man in February, 2011 when Gary Moore passed away far too soon at 58.
One of Gary’s finest recordings is his tune called “Still Got The Blues.” It uses a chord progression commonly called a circle of 4ths.
In this video I’ll show you how to play those chords and how to do an arpeggio pattern similar to what Gary does in this tune.
This chord progression is not unique to that song. Europa is another good example, as are a few pop songs I’ve heard over the years… (even disco? just watch 
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One of my favorite tunes also Griff. I’ve been practicing this song for 2-3 years now, I play it alright, and have gotten better with it. That riff is played thru out the song. Now I need to get better at the leads. It never ends. I love it!
playing lead guitar i can’t move fro one chord to the next. i never end on the right not. i guess i’ll never learn to play
THIS IS ALMOST THE SMAE CHORDS AND APPREGIO, TO A SONG I WROTE IN 1968, CALLED MORNING.
WE DID ECORD IT, BUT IT NEVER MADE IT ON THE RADIO SO WE PUT IT ON THE FLIP SIDE OF A 45 WITH OUT HIT SONG.
GREAT GRIFF. THANKS.
That’s cool, Paul. Is it on YouTube?
Great lesson. Played it for years in gigs but never knew it was a circle of 4ths…LOL
Awesome wish I could make these 82 year old fingers do that! Great tech!
Hi Griff, Great lesson for us Gary,Gloria,Santana,Chicago,etc. fans.Also, it seems to me that in the key of Am the Bm7(b5) is the logical 4th from the Fmaj7 ! The harmony theory works this time.God bless this bunch of blues pickers,bloggers,saxophonists,and Griff & family. fearless freddy
p.s. the J.H. chord is an enharmic structure, but it sounds great !
Gary Moore was a Blues guitar monster and Griff you did a great tribute cover of his song !
Gary More is one of my all time great guitarist. One of my regrets is that I never got a chance to see him live. I believe that Joe Bonamassa does a version of “Still got the blues”.
Joe played Midnight Blues right after Gary died as a tribute to him.
I played bass on “I Will Survive” with a funk/disco band with a large horn section- great fun. It’s a lot faster and 16th note feel instead of 6/8. But it is the same basic progression, I think we were in Ab.
Great lesson love the way Garry Gilmore can play guitar also enjoying BGU 2.0 got last week .Always look forward too your free hints and lessons.
Cool lesson Griff. I guess I was never too familiar with a lot of Gary Moore’s stuff but this will be very interesting to learn. Thanks!
well it was slow starting out..but I’m glad I stayed with it…it’s very good…;-)
A great song and yet another sample of your skillful teaching. I thought I knew how to play the guitar (started with folk and pop songs in mid 70’s)…But after going through the BGU course and working on your other free lessons I have started to focus more on the instrument and soon realized how much more there is to learn about it. I even composed a few instrumental songs. And I owe that to you. Thank you professor, thank you Griff!
Griff you are the best. Thanks love this tune
Hi Griff,
Great refresher from back in Sept 2015.
Thks
Michael-Sydney-Australia August 2016.
Don’t understand why it is a cycle of fourths, because root to fourth is 2.5 tones i.e. C-F, G-C, D-G etc. But a fourth from F is Bb NOT B. That is a flattened fourth. B-E back to a genuine fourth. So how come?
I wonder why it’s not Bb too.
It’s a 4th in the key of C/Am not the key of F which would contain a Bb.
Hope this helps.
Does the key really matter though? On the circle of fifths going counter clockwise gives fourths. Next to F, counter clockwise is Bb. On the neck, isn’t the fourth always on the same fret one string higher?
This is not Roger Brown by the way. I should add that on the neck going from 3rd to 2nd you have to go one fret up to get the 4th.
Great lesson Griff. I’ve literally just been going thru this progression in your course 52 Rhythm Fills & Variations (example 3.11)….where you cover the Dmin7 in barre form. I was lucky enough to see Gary play on what I think was his last tour with B.B. King – both of them a great loss. Nice tribute.
Can’t get the video to play Griff
Try the mp4 or wmv
Can’t get the video to play Griff maybe it’s my fault.
Love your teaching you make it easy
Hi Griff,
The video does not play,
Can u repost it??
I love Gary Moore! Thanks so much for making that song easy to learn Griff!
nice lesson but was hoping to hear you play it through as you usually do so we can hear the finished product.
Same here. It’s great to hear your lessons played hearing and seeing the progressions.
SWEET TUNE AND GAT LESSON
Love the late, great Gary Moore and especially this song!
Excellent lesson Griff!
Hearing the song, the way you were playing it; reminded me of Chicago’s , “Color My World”, right off the bat.
Lessons like this could put me off guitar for life. How can these chords require so many words “B minor 7 flat 5” sums it up. Did people like Gary Moore really either worry or know what these chords were called, or did they just do it? I think the latter. Ditto Eric Clapton, Joe Bonamassa et al.
Gary Moore, my favorite thanks for the lesson
Thank you for keeping Gary’s music to the fore. He was indeed a great guitarist and a tasteful one too. He did a tribute concert to Jimi Hendrix and if the viewer(s) closed their eyes it was just as if Jimi was there.
I loved your presentation and even though the technical descriptions are there you make it easier to follow than most. Thank you Griff. Keep up the great work.
Hi Griff,
I always have a problem moving to B chords, I prefer to play open than barred, especially on acoustic, do you have any tips or is it just a case of practicing changes from all chords or is barred B,s easier! As I’m sure you can tell I’m a beginner! Also I like you showing the pentatonic and various blues scales, I mean to buy your beginner package but money is tight, any tips on B,s and any tips on best way to practice the scales and how important these scales and best way to practice are! Sorry, I’m asking a lot here!
Thanks,
Grant.
Love Gary Moore, when you think about it he was one of the blues guitarists BEST KEPT SECRETS!
I’d love to get the tabs for
“Trouble ain’t far behind”….. can’t find it anywhere !! Ideas????
Overcomplicated names for obscure chords – almost guaranteed to put learners off. Intervals of 4ths!…..oh come on, talk like that at an open mike night and they’ll hand you an anorak. Bminor7 flat 5….you cannot, just cannot be serious.
Pretty ironic that this is something that I just started working on also I read somewhere at work Clapton said that Gary Moore was one of the best blues guitarist he ever knew love the video and I’m sure it’s going to help me a lot thanks!!!
Thank You for all you do!
Thanks so much for this lesson. Great tune, great chords. I recently discovered Bm7flat5 is a chord I have used for years in Jobim’s “Meditation” Didn’t know what it was but it works.
RIP Gary . Thanks for sharing you ideas Griff
How do you know that?
You are super genial, fantastic and very cool teacher . Congratulations.
Love Gary Moore. My only regret is that I never got a chance to see him live. I would love it if you could do a lesson on the main riff to this sond.
Thanks Griff! Another great lesson!
It did my heart and guitar good to hear it is a favorite of yours!
I suggest to anyone who does not like the song call you doctor…you might have just stopped breathing! Or put on your Disco Duck album!
For anyone with a looper…loop these chords and you can solo your Aminor Pentatonic all over it!
Great Tribute! Griff!!!
“As time goes by…, I realize…
Just how much, you mean…
To me…”, Griff. I guess you could say that you Color My World.
I think the chord progression is all 4ths except FMaj7 to Bm7b5.
4th = C-D-E-F = 2.5 steps
F-G-A-B = 3 whole steps, not 2.5
Gary Moore is my all time favorite guitarist.. Griff you are the next best guitarists, And you are the best teacher/instruction.
Thanks for all you do.
Gary is the reason I play guitar.
I believe the “Longhairs” call these Secondary Dominants – or at least one Piano Teacher I had in the past. I think he had OD’d on theory at the State College.😆
Confused. the circle of 4ths. How is Bm7b5 four steps from F? F whole step is G, G whole step is A, A whole step is B. How do we get 4 steps?