The song and album end with Collins’ five-minute outro guitar solo, played over a repeating three-chord progression at a brisk tempo. 9 is inspired by Rossington’s instrumental expression of intense longing and regret. When the band follows suit, we find Collins playing clean, arpeggiated chords on his Gibson Firebird, while Rossington plays the song’s signature slide guitar melody using a glass slide and his Gibson SG.Įx. Powell’s plaintive organ is first to enter.

The song, Pronounced’s final track, begins as a ballad, in which Van Zant tells the story of a man who feels compelled to leave a loving relationship to search for himself in far-off places. Before examining it, however, let’s take a closer look at the song’s gentler intro. In the 1970s and beyond, being able to play Collins’ epic outro solo became a rite of passage for generations of aspiring rock guitarists. Clocking in at well over nine minutes on Pronounced, “ Free Bird” firmly established Skynyrd’s place in southern rock royalty from the get-go. When Ronnie Van Zandt asks, “What song is it you wanna hear?” on Skynyrd’s 1976 live album, One More From the Road, the crowd responds with a resounding cry of “‘Free Bird’!” To their delight, the band obliges by offering up a searing 14-minute rendition of the song. Next time you’re faced with a dominant 7th chord, try taking a similar tack by leaving out its root, even if you’re the sole guitarist. 8 is reminiscent of the duo’s playing here. Why leave it out here? Well, Rossington’s got it covered! Plus, by omitting it, Collins prevents the two parts from covering similar ground.Įx. These two notes, the interval of a tritone (three whole steps), clearly define the sound of a dominant 7th chord, even in the absence of its root.

Notice how he omits the root of G7 and simply plays the 3rd (B) and b7th (F). Basing the line primarily on the G minor pentatonic scale (G, Bb, C, D, F), the guitarist again borrows the major 3rd (B) from its parallel major pentatonic counterpart (G, A, B, D, E).Ĭollins, in turn, takes the top half of the chords, alternating between two dyads implying G7 and C5/G. In the intro, Rossington subtly implies G7 with a rock-solid low single-note riff. How does one take a simple G7 chord and make it rock with bluesy funkiness? Rossington and Collins answer this question in “ Poison Whiskey” by deconstructing the chord into two separate parts.

B flat minor pentatonic scale