Lauren Bateman provides a step-by-step guitar tutorial for Jim Croce's "Bad, Bad Leroy Brown." She outlines two approaches: a simple arrangement (long G vamp, basic splits D7/C) and a more Croce-like version with shuffle feel, quick D7 changes, and strumming accents. The lesson specifies the main chords (G, C, D7, B7, A7), explains a swung eighth-note (triplet/shuffle) strum, split-measure changes, and optional embellishments for the chorus, final verse, and outro.
Questions this video answers
G, C, D7, B7, A7
G for eight measures (simple version) with optional change to D7 on the last beat before verse.
A swung eighth-note (triplet) shuffle counted as "1 a 2 a 3 a 4 a" with long-short phrasing and emphasis on beats 2 and 4.
February 28, 2021
Chapters
Hey, guitar enthusiasts, welcome back. In this lesson video, we're going to be doing Jim Croce's Leroy Brown. So let's get into the lesson.
Now. In this tutorial, I'm going to show you a couple different ways to approach this song. We're going to take an easier route and then we're going to take another route that's a little bit more like the way Jim plays it. The chords for this song are pretty simple. We have a G chord and a C chord as our open chords. And this is a great song for practicing. Your seven chords have a D7, we have a B7 and I think that's it and an A7. So there's three seven chords in this song. Now if you need the lyrics and the chords and you want a chord chart to follow along, go to my website. I'll put a link in the description below. You can pull that up and follow along here. So for this intro, we're just going to keep it simple. It's just going to be G for eight measures straight, no changes. If you want to spice it up, I'll show you how to do that. But first let's talk about the strumming pattern we're going to use. We're to going. We're going to be using an eighth note strumming pattern. So it's going to be 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and. But we're not going to play it straight up like you normally would. So we're not going to just go.
1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and 1 and 2 and 3 and.
4, and very straight on the timing. We're going to do more of a shuffle feel. So there's a little bit of like a bluesy feel to this song and those seven chords add to that. So we're really gonna be doing almost like a triplet. One, a two, a three, a four, a one, a two, a three, a four. We're still gonna be doing down, up, down, up. But instead of 1 and 2 and.
3 and 4 and 1 and 2 and 3 and 4, and it's gonna be 1, a 2, a 3, a 4, a 1, a 2, a 3,.
So it's a long strum and then short. And so it's gonna be long, short.
Long, short, long, short, long, short, long.
Short, long, short, long, short, long. Okay, one, a two, a three, a four, a three, a four.
So it's a little bit more of a swung feel to it.
So that's how we're going to do the Intro in the most simplest of terms. Now, if you want to spice up just a little bit and make it sound a little more like the record. Now, there is a lot of piano in this song, so the piano is going to be taking care of a lot of those intricacies. So we're still going to keep it simple. But on that last G, what we're going to do is we're just going to play a G for one beat, and then we're going to switch right over to a D7.
And finish out the rest of the measure on D7. So if I play four measures, we'd get three measures of G. And then this quick measure should be one, a.
Two, a three, a four, a one, a two, a three thousand a four, a one, a 2, a 3, a 4, a 1, a 2, a 3, A 4.
And so hear that? It's just one. And then the D7, we change on the up.
So it's a two, a three, a 4, and 1, a 2, a 3 or a 4, and 1, a two, a 3, a 4, and a.
And that's how we're going to approach the intro. So do whichever one is easier for you. And let's get into our verses and our choruses real quick, guys. If you're enjoying this video so far, don't forget to subscribe to the channel and turn the notifications on if you haven't already. This way. YouTube will let you know when I release more lessons just like this one. So the great thing that Jim does is he's really nice in that he keeps the chord progression the same for the entire song, so it's really great. And once again, I'm going to give you two approaches to these verses and choruses. And so let's start out with the chord progression, which is going to be the same whether you're playing a verse or you're playing a chorus. So the chord progression is going to be two G chords, two A7 chords. Then we have a B7, a C chord, and this is where the split measures come in. So for the easy version, we're just going to do D7 in the C chord, splitting a measure, and then we're going to do a G chord for an entire measure. Okay, so that's the simplest way. So if I were going to do this the simple way, this is what it's going to sound like. And then I'll show you the. The slightly more intricate way that sounds a little bit more like the original song. So if we've got 1, 2, 1, 2, 3 where?
The south side of Chicago.
So what did I do on those split measures? I just went down, down, up, down, down, up. So we have a C chord, or, sorry, D7. So the D7 is going to be 1, 2, and. And the C chord is going to be 3, 4. And so we're just doing down, down, up on each of those.
And that's the same thing you would do on the chorus, because the chorus follows the same exact chord progression. So what do we want to do now if we're going to spice it up? Let's see. So the first part stays the same. Where we're going to change is the last two measures of these verses and choruses. And. And on this one, I will play through a chorus just so that you guys can hear it. But first, let's talk about the intricacies of the strumming. So we're going to add an extra G chord in here. And on the end we're going to add a D7. So let's talk about what's going to happen. So it starts the same. We're starting off with this D7.
Down, down, up.
And then the C, we're going to do two downs, three, four. So nothing has changed so far. So it's 1, 2 and 3, 3, 4. And then on this up, we're gonna switch to G. So the and of four is G. So it's 1, 2 and 3, 4.
That's what it sounds like. Just for that first measure, 1, 1.
2 and 3, 4, up.
Okay, down, down, up, down, down, up.
And I keep saying and because I'm thinking about eighth notes, but this is still that shuffle pattern. It's still the shuffle pattern.
Down, down, up, down, down, up.
That's the first measure. Now the second measure, we're going to be starting on the G. We are not going to play a down strum on the one. It's going to be the up on the. Ah. Okay.
Down, down, up, down, down, up, up.
Okay, so that's this second up is now into the next measure.
So it's down, down, up, down, down, up, up.
So we're just doing two ups on G and then on the down of the two.
Kind of like what we did in the intro, we're going right to D7.
Now that second G, I'm only on it for a split second. I may not even get the whole chord. I might be lifting up the chord and jumping to that D7. So don't worry about having the G chord down for the entire time. It's more about the second speed of getting to that D7 chord. So here we go a couple more times.
So now if I play this through a chorus, this is what it's going to sound like. And another thing, there's one more thing I want to mention. And you. I don't know if I did this on the verses, but you can make a little accent on your strumming here. So I know we were going 1.
A 2, a 3, a 4, a 1.
What you can do is on your 2 and 4, really strum the whole chord and make it loud and your other strums keep it soft. It's going to sound like this, right? It's going to. We're trying to imitate a snare drum. Ready?
One, two, one, two, three. And he's bad.
Down, down, down, down, up, up, down.
All right, there you go. And this song is actually going a little bit faster than what I'm playing here. But you can hear that accent. It really drives the song than just.
Going one, a two, a three, a four, a one, a two, a three,. A four, a one, a two.
I will do a full demo at the end of this video, but I just wanted to say, hey, if you're liking this video, so make sure to give me a thumbs up because it shows more of my videos to more students just like you. So the final verse, Jim changes it up a little bit. So what we're going to be doing on this final verse is we're just going to be holding strums, keeping it very, very simple. So we have, you know, well, the.
Two men took to fighting.
So we're going to be holding that g chord for two measures. 1, 2, 3, 4. 1, 2, 3, four. And when they pulled him from the floor, we're going to go to A7. 2, 3, 4.
1, 2, 3, 4.
And then B7 for Leroy.
Leroy looked like a C jigsaw puzzle.
And then with a couple of pieces gone, you can either do the down.
Or you can do the more intricate one, whichever one.
Down, down, up, down, up.
So it picks up the strumming on that very last line. But the first one is just da.
Da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da.
And then we go into a double chorus and then our outro, which changes a little bit. For this last chorus, you might not want to go to the D7. You might want to stay on the G. So this is meaner than a junkyard dog.
So we've got meaner than a junkyard dog.
So I'm going to stay on the g because we're going right back to B7.
And I'm better than old king Kong. Meaner than a junkyard dog.
And this song ends on an upstrom. We're ending on the G. We're not going back to the D7. So that outro is.
And you were better than old King to see.
Down, down, up, down, down, up, up, down, up.
And that's what the. The last g is, just up, down, up. And that's how the song ends on the out.
1, 2, 1, 2, 3. Ready?
Hope you guys enjoyed this lesson. Leave me a comment below with songs you might want me to do here on YouTube. In the meantime, a couple more videos are going to pop up over here. Go check those out. Hopefully there's something that interests you. See you guys in another lesson video.
