Messin' With The Kid Guitar Lesson (Buddy Guy & Junior Wells)

"Messin' with the Kid" is a blues song originally recorded by Junior Wells in 1960. It is an up-tempo twelve-bar blues that alternates between Afro-Cuban- and Little Richard-style rhythmic accompaniment. The song is considered a blues standard and has been recorded by a variety of artists, including The Blues Brothers.

In this blog post, we will take a closer look at how to play "Messin' with the Kid" on guitar. We will learn the basic chords and progression, as well as some of the more advanced techniques licks too.

So grab your guitar and let’s get started!

Messin' with the Kid Chords

The basic chords in "Messin' with the Kid" are C7, F7, and G7. 

All three of these chords can use the same chord grip, just shifted around the neck.

Here is how I would play each chord.

For C7 I would play this:

F7 can be played the same way just shifted higher up the neck like this:

And finally, G7 is again the same shape. However this time I shifted the entire chord grip to another string set and back down the neck like this:

Once you have the chords down try putting them into a 12-bar blues progression like this:

| C7 | C7 | C7 | C7 |

| F7 | F7 | C7 | C7 |

| G7 | F7 | F7 | C7 |

Licks and Scales

The main scale I would use for improvising and playing lead on “Messin’ With The Kid” would be the C minor blues scale.

This scale can be played in the third position like this:

Once you are familiar with those notes you can try combining them in unique ways to create blues melodies. Here is an example of that.

Conclusion:

"Messin' with the Kid" is a great blues song to learn for guitarists of all levels. It is a relatively simple song to learn, but it also contains some advanced techniques that can help you improve your playing. Keep practicing and for more great blues guitar lessons check out this blog on the 101 Best Blues Songs To Learn On Guitar next!