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Learning old school blues rhytms/licks and runs

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  • 28-03-2015 3:10pm
    #1
    bigtomm
    Closed Accounts Posts: 174 ✭✭


    Hi guys..

    Need advise on finding simple, radical, lessons and tips on blues acoustic. .

    My current level is quite okay..im happy with my progress so to speak.

    so instead of crawling through 15 min youtube vids, im here asking who has some particular favorites for describing the flavour of playing and making it graspable..as i do not read sheet music or tabs...

    R. johnson,gary davis,jimi.h,elmor james, john hooker and a train line long more

    its your passionate advice i am seeking...

    :) T


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    #2
    KeithTS
    Registered Users Posts: 743 ✭✭✭KeithTS


    Step one, learn to read tabs, reading music would be useful but not needed but the time spent learning tabs will be saved tenfold if you're planning on learning anything of note.


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    #3
    bigtomm
    Closed Accounts Posts: 174 ✭✭bigtomm


    Hi keith , i have 0 interest in reading sheet or tabs....
    I am not against them..i have a tremendous set of ears...
    i learn quite fast from doing and experience...
    what i am looking for is peoples passionate clips...it can be something like "death dont have no mercy" by Rev. gary when he plays it in a room full of people,some of them cryin and all...
    SOrry about the reinforcement of my rule against tabs/sheet,as i said zero interest...

    passionate clips/stories/reflections...its the age of youtube clips so sorry if its so cliché!
    T--

    ps;thank you for advise all the same


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    #4
    KeithTS
    Registered Users Posts: 743 ✭✭✭KeithTS


    I understand your point but you are seriously hampering your ability to learn.
    Writing things down will give you the ability to learn so much more. Listen to a song then search for a tab and you've a new lick or whatever under your belt.

    You may get lucky and your chosen song may have a tutorial online but if you're relying on getting your own private lessons without putting any ground work in then you'll hit a wall soon enough.

    Having a good ear is a massive bonus, it's rare these days because people are far too reliant on downloading tabs instead of listening and figuring things out so that's commendable but there is a middle ground there which you should be willing to explore.

    Sorry I haven't answered your question btw, it's not my genre so I don't think I could steer you towards anything you don't already know in that area!


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    #5
    Hockney
    Registered Users Posts: 176 ✭✭Hockney


    I'm learning a tune called Hey Hey at the moment, originally written in the 50s by Big Bill Broonzy and made famous by Eric Clapton's cover of it on his classic Unplugged album.

    This one definitely ticks your old skool acoustic blues box. I'd put this at a 4 out of 5 level in difficulty (so well difficult!), especially if you're not used to the blues acoustic style or fingerpicking it's a decent learning curve. But a hell of a fun learning curve!

    Broonzy Original Version

    I reckon this really nails lots of the techniques needed for acoustic blues, top of that list being the ability to keep your thumb chugging away to the beat on the bass notes while flicking in the treble fills over the top. Timing of the bass notes here is crucial, and will take a considerable amount of practice to nail down.

    The trick here (as with pretty much all styles I find) is to slow the whole thing down to pedestrian pace (as in painfully slow) until you're nailing every note, the bass is chugging away perfectly to the rhythm, your bends are to the right key, your pull-offs & hammer-ons are perfect, you're not fluffing notes or hitting unwanted notes. Then knock the pace up a small bit more, rinse and repeat. Don't look to increase speed until you're absolutely perfect. By the time you get up around Clapton's tempo it'll be sheer muscle memory doing the work.

    Another good trick is to record yourself to make sure your bass notes are hitting in correct time, anything will do here, I use the laptop's Sound Recorder.

    Clapton's Cover

    There are loads of things I like about this particular tune, it'll sound great on just about any old beat up guitar, doesn't need any accompaniment from other instruments (even though Clapton's version has a second guitarist it's not necessary), since the amount of attack both Broonzy and Clapton put on the bass notes gives it a major rhythm and bass kick.

    If you're singing along it's not challenging on the vocals, but putting it all together while playing and singing will be tricky. Again having it down to muscle memory doing the work will be a massive help here.

    I'm sourcing sheet music and tab from a back issue of Guitar Techniques magazine (July 2012) , which you can buy a digital version of for about €3 from www.zinio.com

    This Youtube lesson is really on the money also.


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    #6
    nelly17
    Registered Users Posts: 1,210 ✭✭✭nelly17


    I think if you look at the Robert Johnson stuff particularly for acoustic a huge amount of the blues runs licks and walkdowns downs used today originate from what he was doing back in the 30s - but be prepared you will need to look at youtube videos and a lot of it is in alternate tunings


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