The Thrill is Gone, by BB King, is still one of the top blues songs of all time. It is quite possibly his most famous song, and was the first one to really merge blues, jazz and pop rock which really broadened out the appeal. It is one of those guitar songs that is really fun to play, and provides tons of room to solo over top of as well.
The Thrill is Gone is a modified 12 bar arrangement, and this chord progression has since been used by many other hit songs. The song is a great study in I IV V, both major and minor, which you can learn more about in the Riff Ninja Guitar School.
Chords Used In The Thrill Is Gone
The Thrill is Gone chords are Bm, Em, G, F#m, and then this little turnaround bit that uses an A major, A# major, and then back to Bm.
In the chord chart on the right we substituted the minor chords for minor 7ths. Play around with some different chord variations - this song is very forgiving and sounds cool played many different ways!
If you are going to play the turnaround, put it in place of the last bar in the chart. Otherwise, you could play Bm there too.
Soloing Over The Thrill Is Gone
If you're planning on soloing over the Thrill is Gone chord progression, you could safely use the following scales, in any position:
Be careful, if you're playing the turnaround, then you want to try to line up your solo with that turnaround so you don't drown it out. One great way of doing this is to play along with the progression, using single notes higher up the fretboard.
