Song Rig

Chitlins Con Carne

Kenny Burrell · Midnight Blue · 1963

Tone Overview

What Makes This Sound Unique

The most famous jazz guitar blues ever recorded — a shuffling minor blues that became a jazz standard. Burrell's Gibson ES-335 through a warm clean amp produces a meaty, mid-forward tone that sits perfectly in the soul-jazz groove. The P-90 or early humbucker pickup's warmth is ideal for the blues-influenced phrasing.

Signal Chain

1Gibson ES-335 or L-5 CES (Burrell used multiple instruments)
2Small Fender or Gibson amp (very clean)

Amp Settings

Gain / Volume2

Bass7

Mid8

Treble6

Warm, bass-forward, mid-heavy — Chitlins Con Carne's minor blues feel is served by the darkest, warmest jazz guitar tone setting. High bass and mids give the single notes a meat and weight appropriate to the funky minor blues.

Technique

How to Play It

Minor blues in jazz context — the song uses a minor blues progression (rather than major blues), which requires minor pentatonic and Dorian scale vocabulary instead of the major blues vocabulary. The phrases are slower and more deliberate than bebop lines.

Budget Alternative

Achievable With

ES-335 or hollow-body guitar → clean amp → warm EQ (high bass and mid, low treble) → practice minor blues: the minor blues scale (minor pentatonic + flat 5th) in minor keys creates the characteristic tension that Chitlins Con Carne exploits.

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