Here's a question for all of you guys that are into these kinds of details.

I've always read that Mick wrote Brown Sugar on his own. I believe while on location filming Ned Kelly.

I've often wondered, did he write the guitar riff as well? I find it hard to believe Mick wrote an open G riff and rythm part that sounded like that at the time it was done.

Now he probably could, what with Rain Fall Down, Back of My Hand and some of his other examples.

I'm guessing at that time he just had a simple strummed chord progression and all of the lryics and Keith worked out the riff. Am I wrong?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2010-01-28 11:05 by KeefintheNight82.

"(I've written riffs that people assume are Keith's.) Brown Sugar. That was the first one I did. I've done many since."
- Mick Jagger, 1994, quoted on [www.timeisonourside.com]

In a tv-interview Keith stated that Brown Sugar was "all Micks work" ans he only had to adjust the sound a bit. Was it in the 25x5 video?..

I found it the hardest thing to believe hearing it the first time.

----------------------------
"Music is the frozen tapioca in the ice chest of history."

"Shit!... No shit, awright!"

Wow, that is surprising! I guess that just proves that they are truly a team in writing.

Begs the question as to why Mick was messing with Open G tuning.

Any other riffs that we know is all Micks work?

Don't Stop....

...the serenity of the Aussie bush that's what really really made it .....



ROCKMAN

c'mon, open-G's not rocket science, and Mick was adequate enough on guitar to write the basic riffs of Brown Sugar. They are great riffs, but very easy to play. The true talent here is songwriting.

In the GS movie bonus material, you can see Mick playing what I think is an open-G tuned Telecaster...I think it must have been Ike's guitar (a Thinline Telecaster?). Mick is playing the guitar as he sits backstage with Ike and Tina. Seemed he played better than Ike if I rememeber.

Sway, Moonlight Mile and Stop Breaking down (all in open G) are there to prove that Mick was a more than competent guitar player at the time, no surprise he could come up with an almost complete Brown Sugar!

C

Brown Sugar does not really have a riff. It has a chord sequence that has turned in to a theme as the intro is so recognizable. In the end it is just C - F - Bflat, as are thousands of songs. I can imagine Jagger writing the lyrics while strumming basic C and F, and then keith and especially Charlie adding their magic to the studio version.

Mathijs

Quote
Rockman
...the serenity of the Aussie bush that's what really really made it .....

I normally do bass-lines when I'm deep in Aussie bush, although there's not as much bush around now as there was back in Mick's time out here.

Aussie, she's a wild one.

there's not as much bush around now as there was back in Mick's time out here.

Yes the Brazilian led clearing of the bush has been widely accepted down under....



ROCKMAN

Sad, Sad, Sad i s another open G song from Mick. In fact, Keith plays standard tuning on this. If I remember correctly, Mick plays a open-G tuned Tele on Some Girls in the Shine A Light movie. Rock And A Hard Place, which I guess he more or less wrote, also comes to mind.

[www.reverbnation.com]

Some quotes on Jagger's guitar playing:

Sad Sad Sad

"That's Mick (playing the first thing you hear)... Oh yeah, he can do a fairly good imitation of me (laughs). Mind you, we spent a long time working on the sound. I join in at the very end of the riff there. (Mick plays the open 5-string tuning.) Oh yeah. After a few years he realized I only had 5 strings (laughs) - no, he knows all my tricks. He's a good rhythm player now.He's the rhythm on Hold on to Your Hat, with Ronnie Wood on bass." Keith Richards, 1989

Some Girls

"I played guitar on the album, I enjoyed very much playing guitar - more than singing almost. I like to do both, but the thing is, I can't do both very well yet, that's the trouble... I wanted to do it because I want to do everything. I play drums, you know, I love to play the drums. Ask Charlie. We all play drums. Ronnie plays drums, everyone wants to do the other role, you know." Mick Jagger, 1978

Respectable

"This was one of the first times we allowed him to join in on guitar. He's a really good rhythm player, man; but then, he's had a good teacher." Keith Richards, 1993

Back Of My Hand

"I sleep downstairs and the studio is upstairs. One night, I thought I was hearing this old Muddy Waters track I didn't know, but it turned out to be Mick working on a slide part for Back of My Hand. He's always been a good, smooth acoustic player, but the electric seemed like an untamed beast for him until this year. I thought: My God! The boy's finally got it." Keith Richards, August 2005



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2010-01-28 13:35 by Dali.

>> Begs the question as to why Mick was messing with Open G tuning. <<

smile: wouldn't you, if you hung in the same crowd as Mick?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2010-01-28 13:37 by with sssoul.

Quote
Rockman
there's not as much bush around now as there was back in Mick's time out here.

Yes the Brazilian led clearing of the bush has been widely accepted down under....

Plenty of landing strips though.

I consider Brown Sugar intro and Eb-C-Ab-Bb-C parts riffs, it's all strummed chords, I know, but those parts act like riffs, you know? And of course the little lick after the G-chords in the chorus is pure genius.

Quote
WeLoveYou
In the GS movie bonus material, you can see Mick playing what I think is an open-G tuned Telecaster...I think it must have been Ike's guitar (a Thinline Telecaster?). Mick is playing the guitar as he sits backstage with Ike and Tina. Seemed he played better than Ike if I rememeber.

Definitely, it was the highlight of New DVD.
It was intriguing because the scene taught us that Mick had completed the song before December 2.

Quote
Dali
Some quotes on Jagger's guitar playing:

Sad Sad Sad

"That's Mick (playing the first thing you hear)... Oh yeah, he can do a fairly good imitation of me (laughs). Mind you, we spent a long time working on the sound. I join in at the very end of the riff there. (Mick plays the open 5-string tuning.) Oh yeah. After a few years he realized I only had 5 strings (laughs) - no, he knows all my tricks. He's a good rhythm player now.He's the rhythm on Hold on to Your Hat, with Ronnie Wood on bass." Keith Richards, 1989

Some Girls

"I played guitar on the album, I enjoyed very much playing guitar - more than singing almost. I like to do both, but the thing is, I can't do both very well yet, that's the trouble... I wanted to do it because I want to do everything. I play drums, you know, I love to play the drums. Ask Charlie. We all play drums. Ronnie plays drums, everyone wants to do the other role, you know." Mick Jagger, 1978

Respectable

"This was one of the first times we allowed him to join in on guitar. He's a really good rhythm player, man; but then, he's had a good teacher." Keith Richards, 1993

Back Of My Hand

"I sleep downstairs and the studio is upstairs. One night, I thought I was hearing this old Muddy Waters track I didn't know, but it turned out to be Mick working on a slide part for Back of My Hand. He's always been a good, smooth acoustic player, but the electric seemed like an untamed beast for him until this year. I thought: My God! The boy's finally got it." Keith Richards, August 2005

Some good quotes there, thanks. And I guess whether or not you wanna call Brown Sugar's intro a "riff" depends on how you define the word. To me, it IS a riff, especially the E# down to C, etc part in the beginning and between the verses.

Keith, as usual, has nothing really good to say about Mick's guitaring ability and what he says about Respectable is just pure unfiltered bullshit. Sticky Fingers and Exile certainly disprove that.

Brown Sugar, the intro, is more of a lick than a riff. But they're almost the same. For example, Crazy Mama, One Hit, Wicked As It Seems, Love Is Strong, Dangerous Beauty - those are more riffs or riffing than licks. Sad Sad Sad, Brown Sugar, Start Me Up, Undercover Of The Night, She Was Hot and quite a few others are more licks.

See my recent threat about Stop Breaking Down. Mick is the Stones' Secret Weapon on guitar. Even Keith sometimes does not want to admit it. He plays with authority and edge, even if his technical skills aren't great. I would say he;s the second most soulful guitarist in the Stones, one more reason for Ronnie fans to hate me.

Quote
Rockman
...the serenity of the Aussie bush that's what really really made it .....

I think it was a different kind of 'bush' that Mick had in mind. . ..

Well, I certainly have a lot more respect for Mick as a guitarist.

I'd wager that Keith added the licks and finessed the riff to brown sugar and I wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't as Mathis says.

Still, Tele is right. He is underrated espcially his abilities to write on guitar.

I'd bet Moonlight Mile is mostly Taylor's instrumental work though.

Keith thinks Mick finally nailed electric guitar during ABB? I guess he really did miss those sessions for Sway and Stop Breaking Down over 30 years earlier.

Quote
71Tele
Keith thinks Mick finally nailed electric guitar during ABB? I guess he really did miss those sessions for Sway and Stop Breaking Down over 30 years earlier.

Well, Keith most probably did miss those sessions due his extra-curricular activities... As he says he was "out of it"...

- Doxa