From Beginner to Pro: 'Green Onions' Guitar Lesson Breakdown

Whether you're looking for a new blues tune to jam along with at home or a classic song to get you ready for a blues jam, this "Green Onions" guitar lesson is your one-stop-shop for learning the chords, grooves, and solos today.

"Green Onions" was first released on Stax Records in October 1962 as the title track on the debut album Green Onions by Booker T. & the M.G.'s. The original members of the band were Booker T. Jones (organ, piano), Steve Cropper (guitar), Lewie Steinberg (bass), and Al Jackson Jr. (drums).

This song is a classic display of the "Memphis Soul" sound, and it has become a staple in many blues guitarists' repertoire and is also very commonly called at jam sessions.

In this "Green Onions" guitar lesson, I'll share with you some key points to being able to play in this bluesy style.

How I Failed At A Blues Jam!

Before we dive into the lesson though, I want to share with you a bit about my first experience jamming “Green Onions” at a blues jam some 20ish years ago. At that time, I was a young up-and-coming blues musician, and I used to go to a lot of jams.

There were all kinds of music venues in Los Angeles at the time. The way these jams would often work is you have to get there early and sign up on a list to sit in. This is if you don't know any members of the band or the leader (I found that out later 😉) Usually, the house band kicks the night off by playing a couple of sets with some breaks in between to talk to fans and groupies. Then later in the night, they will call musicians up off the list and let them sit in.

The venue I was at was a place called Cozy's Bar and Grill. It closed down a long time ago, but here's what it looked like.

Being a kid and not knowing anyone in the band, I had to sit there all night and wait until they called me up. This usually wouldn't happen until around 1:00 or 1:30 A.M. Well, finally that time came, and I got called up to play!

So I grabbed my guitar, fingers cold, and went straight up to the bandstand. Sitting in is always a tricky thing because usually, most band members onstage have already been up there jamming all night, so they were nice and warmed up, while I was coming in cold! So I plugged into a random amp and looked over at another guitarist in the band, and he just said to me, "You know Green Onions?" and then he just started playing. Next thing you know, the rest of the band jumped in and took off playing, nobody cared if I knew the song or not.

Now, at this point, I'd heard "Green Onions"; in fact, I used to watch a movie called The Sandlot as a kid, and that song was in it. But I'd never played it on guitar, so I was scrambling a bit. My heart was pounding, and I was able to pick up pretty quickly that it was in the key of F. So I started jamming along. I thought I was doing ok, and in the middle of the song, some guy comes up from the back of the room, gets onstage, and yells in my ear, "You're playing the wrong chords!"

Then he said, "I'll come back when you learn how to play," and stormed off stage. I finished out the tune. I was exhausted from having to sit on the side of the stage all night and my fingers still being cold. Then the band leader on the mic goes, "Yeah, let's get someone else up here," and they kinda shooed me offstage.

So after that, I went and learned Green Onions to make sure that didn't happen again. Now, after over two decades of playing this song, I am sharing it here with about 1 million YouTube views and readers per month.

What are the chords to Green Onions?

“Green Onions” is all based around a 12-bar blues progression in the key of Fm. At its core you’ll need to learn 3 chords Fm, Bbm and Cm. 

For Fm you can play this:

For Bbm you can play this:

And finally, for Cm you can play this:

How do you play Green Onions by Booker T & the MG'S?

So you’ve got the chords down and now you are ready to put them into the progression. To start you can plug them into a 12-bar blues progression and that would go like this:

• Fm (4 bars)
• Bbm (2 bars)
• Fm (2 bars)
• Cm (1 bar)
• Bbm (1 bar)
• Fm (2 bars)

Another great way to play through this progression is using a palm-muted bass line similar to the way Steve Cropper does like this:

How to play Green Onions organ part on guitar?

If you are playing with an organ player, it’s a great idea to just stick to more of a bass line approach, and try to not get in the way. However, if you are the main chordal instrument in the band you might want to try playing a groove similar to the organ part on guitar.

Here is an example of how you might do that:

For more on playing the organ part watch this video below:

Learn To Play Top Steve Cropper Riffs For Green Onions

Once you get the progressions and grooves down, you might be wondering how to play some of those tasty Steve Cropper guitar licks. The majority of this solo is based on the Fm blues scale, which could be played in the 1st position like this:

So if you're wondering what key "Green Onions" by Booker T & The MG's is in, the answer is Fm. You can match the Fm blues scale up to this and use those notes as a starting point for playing blues solos. From there, you might next try combining them in the form of a blues lick like this:

For a complete tutorial on how to play the "Green Onions" guitar solo note-for-note reference the video at the top of this page.

What guitar was used on "Green Onions"?

Cropper used many guitars and amps over the years, but he is very well known for the pairing of a 1962 Fender Esquire (which is basically a one-pickup Telecaster) and a 1959 Fender Harvard guitar amp on the majority of The MG’s instrumentals.

Conclusion:

This song should be a staple in any blues guitarist's repertoire and is a great example of Memphis soul style rhythm and blues guitar playing. Whether you are a beginner or a pro, "Green Onions" is a great study to improve your playing. If you like playing "Green Onions" check out "Great Balls Of Fire" next for another guitar classic that follows the 12-bar blues.