Any suggestions on Blues music

Zem

Hey, i've been playing guitar for a few years now and i've recently been getting into blues sort of music but i don't really have access to a lot of blues types of songs. Right now i've been listening to J. Lee Hooker, a tape of i think it's Weaver & Beasley but i can't read the handwriting that well and also a bit of Rory Gallagher but he did span out into different genres as well as blues. Anyways i'm just asking if anyone can recommend any blues stuff for me to listen to, learn to play and just sort of experience to expand my knowledge and ability with guitar. Thanks for the time.

Doctor J

Depends what style of blues you want to play. Definitely check out Stevie Ray Vaughan. There's a box set of Rory Gallagher live material called "Lets Go To Work" which is really well worth the money. Gary Moore has his moments too. Then there's Cream, featuring arguably Claptons better material, which covers most the white guitar heroes.

Then there's likes of Freddie King, Albert Collins, BB King, Clarence 'Gatemouth' Brown. Have a look at Canned Heat too. I'm sure I'll think of more, just recovering from a heavy weekend so my mind is cloudy.

Zem

Thanks Doctor J i'll give em a go yeah i'm really starting to like more and more of Rory Gallagher's stuff i only heard a few things of B.B King a few by himself and i think maybe 1 or 2 collaborating with U2 so i'll explore those 2 more. As for the others i've taken em down and i'll look out for them in town (excuse the rhyme). So thanks again.

Jim

Skip James.

gogul

Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Willie Dixon, Robert Johnson, Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin.

Although Zeppelin and Hendix may appear to be obvious choices, I had to mention them. Page and Hendrix are arguable the greatest blues guitarists of all time (and Gallagher).

Zem

Yeah Hendrix was amazing i'm still looking for this 20 min improv he did i've no idea what it's called or if it is even on any of his albums because i listened to it at my uncles when i was a kid, but it was amazing stuff, if i ever find out i'll post it up for people to listen to because honestly even as a kid i found it so cool. As for Led Zep yeah i like them but i always find for people i meet sometimes who just started playing guitar they tend to emphasise they're learning stairway to heaven more than any other one of their songs. Ok yeah it's a great song but lets be honest it's easy enough for them to stumble through the first parts and yeah they can play ok for beginners and hey i wouldn't even rate myself to be an advanced player or anything i've only been playing a few years but i know what i can learn and the stuff thats hard i keep practicing to get it right but some people seem to convince themselves that they can play the solo i don't know but i'd prefer to play some crappy song then to really butcher a good one, anyway enough of my giving out it's just I had day with a younger cousin trying to teach him guitar.

Thanks all again for your suggestions.

Doctor J

If you're gonna get Hendrix I would strongly urge you to pick up Band Of Gypsys (and Live At The Fillmore), just for 'Machine Gun' alone. Between those two cd's there are three of the four performances of the song, each is totally different. It's amazing guitar playing.

There is also an album by him simply entitled 'Blues', well worth investigating
http://www.cduniverse.com/productinfo.asp?pid=1103728&cart=205116453&style=music&Bab=E

gogul

Zem wrote:

As for Led Zep yeah i like them but i always find for people i meet sometimes who just started playing guitar they tend to emphasise they're learning stairway to heaven more than any other one of their songs..

Alright, fair enough. There is way too much emphasise on Stairway. I was advising more along the lines of Since I've Been Loving You, You Shook Me, Can't Quit You Baby, Heartbreaker, Rock N Roll, etc. They are all big songs, but well worth the effort.

gogul

Doctor J wrote:

There is also an album by him simply entitled 'Blues', well worth investigating
http://www.cduniverse.com/productinfo.asp?pid=1103728&cart=205116453&style=music&Bab=E

Yeah, defo. The acoustic version of Hear my train A Coming is amazing.

Doctor J

gogul wrote:

Alright, fair enough. There is way too much emphasise on Stairway. I was advising more along the lines of Since I've Been Loving You, You Shook Me, Can't Quit You Baby, Heartbreaker, Rock N Roll, etc. They are all big songs, but well worth the effort.

I'd recommend anyone with even the slightest interest in Zep to get the DVD. Best music dvd ever IMO. The BBC Sessions CD is also of top merit.

Zem

ok first off i want to say the list i'm getting off you guys is great and i will be buying them over the next who knows but money will be short as college starts next week, damn first leaving cert and now this. Secondly gogul i really like Led Zep and i like stairway it's just i got annoyed by my cousin and certain over confident people. I couldn't really put my finger on one particular song that i like a lot because i seem to go through phases of liking one song and then another if you know what i mean right now it's babe im gonna leave you just because i decided to try figure it out on guitar. Any of you guys play guitar and if you do, do either of you know how to play 'too much alcohol' by rory gallagher?

gogul

Too much alcohol? I don't know it off hand. I believe it's open-D tuning, but I wouldn't take my word for it. My advise is to try get Rory Gallagher at Rockpalast on DVD. He does 2 great (and different) versions. Might be able to get the general gist if you see what he's doing himself.

BTW, just checked out the Gallagher signature Fender Strat in MusicMaker for €8,600! Looks brilliant, but aint no chance they be letting me touch it

Zem

hmm dvd i think i'l try that, so far i've only half worked out the first part and while i'm doing that i'm also trying to learn 'a million miles away' you know that song gogul? Also i haven't been in musicmaker in a while but i think i might take the bus in a give it a look. Is it a straight up strat or is it customised in anyway? also you play guitar yeah, how often do you normally go through leads because im not sure what it is but it's like they want to stop working.

Doctor J

The Gallagher strat is an exact replica of Rory's battered strat. I believe there were only 40 ever made (though Fender are making new ones ).

gogul

Millions Miles Away is by far one of my fav Gallagher tunes. Myself and the lads also mess around on it.

I'm actually more of a bass player than guitar, but I know a bit. Man, I go through leads so fast its scary. My advise is to fork out €30 on a good lead. They have a life time guarantee and they come with a cable tie (which is the best solution to stop leads going bust).

I should be able to help you with the guitar tab for Million Miles Away. I'll mail it on to you.

As for the Rory's guiatr, Doctor J has the answer above.

Zem

Wow only 40 made eh? hmmm i suppose a snatch and run is out of the question, unless! ok guys, i need each of you to bring three frozen turkeys ,some dental floss, crab juice and a load of talcom powder and meet me across the road from musicmaker, i have a really good feeling about this .

Gogul should i post my email address or can you get it from boards already the tab would be so cool, right now i'm trying to perfect the artificial harmonic thing near the start at least i hope it's an artificial harmonic or all that time trying to find the right place to strike the string has been a waste. Yeah i s'pose i should fork out some money for new lead but money has other places right, those damn dentists! also i take it your in a band, was it hard starting up? i've found it impossible also whats your sound? (i realise it can be hard sometimes to pinpoint a type).

gogul

Best idea is to PM me and I'll mail it over to you.

Yeah, we've had nothing but trouble starting up, and even more once we got started. Luckily enough we all live locally, but rehearsal space was always a problem. Last place we had got broken into to and all our stuff got taken. 7 months later, we finally found new space and got a gig (which is now cancelled, due to the venue being shut down).

My advise is to just find people who share the same taste of music and are willing to commit to it. I always found a band relationship like going out with 3 women who have to get on with each other.

As for a sound, we've always drifted towards a blues rock sound. Every so often a jazz feel will creep in, but it usually revolves around blues.

Zem

Ok cool, thanks i'l send you my email. As for the band i hope it turns out ok in the end, but is it just me or is it normaly the drummer that starts all the problems (there are exceptions i realise).

stagolee

one more blues artist that ive got to mention cos hes my favourite is mississippi john hurt , may not be to your taste as most of the stuff mentioned up till now has been mor rock/electric kind of blues and this guy does acoustic fingerpicking but its absolutley beautiful music and well worth a listen.
hey if you think yer up to it you could even try learn a couple of his songs the tab for 'em is on the net , good luck to ye though cos theyre seriously difficult in my opinion

gogul

Zem wrote:

or is it normaly the drummer that starts all the problems

Weird, I'd always say it was the singer cause they tend to have big egos, but I suppose it changes from band to band.

That's sent on to you anyway.

gogul

stagolee wrote:

mississippi john hurt does acoustic fingerpicking but its absolutley beautiful music and well worth a listen.

I just picked up a couple of his tunes, gotta say, it's pretty cool. Lovely finger-plucking with a sweet blues/folk feel. Could you recommend any particular albums? I've heard good things about Avalon Blues.

Zem

stagolee if it's picking i will definately get it and try it thanks, i like picking the more difficult the better so it's always a chance to improve and i need it.

gogul i agree the singer normaly has an ego (i've only played with three for short time in each it's just hard to set up a band in during leaving cert hopefully college will be different) but i've found that they are easier going while the few drummers we tried were all stuck up (insert explitive exclamation mark). Anyways thanks gogul again for the tabs.

Niall - Dahlia

Zem wrote:

i'm still looking for this 20 min improv he did i've no idea what it's called or if it is even on any of his albums

Is that the Woodstock improv? Hendrix does this absolutely amazing improv during his Woodstock gig, it's mind blowing, maybe that's what you're talking about. It's on his Woodstock album, it's even called Woodstock Improv, and the best thing about it is that every last detail of what he plays is shown in the Woodstock documentary video!

I remember reading an interview with Rory Gallagher, and he was asked what albums he'd recommend to people who'd like to get into blues but didn't know where to start. He said to buy a compilation album, find the artists that you like, and start from there. That's what I did, went into HMV and found 4 CD Blues compilations for about €20. You find other blues guitarists with similar styles and sounds to the guitarists you like, and even see where they took their sound from.

And the best thing about blues music if you're a guitarist is that if you have it playing at just the right volume, you can jam along like you're in the room with a full blues band! Ride on...

parasite

the best introduction to Mississippi John Hurt is 'The best of ...', it's not a best of in the usual sense, it's a live concert giving a great overview of his output
he's not really blues as such, more of a sublime ragtime/country-blues picker
either way, you're not likely to hear a better, more natural guitarist anywhere

satchmo

I'd also recommend Buddy Guy, he's been one of my favourite blues guitarists for years now.

Shadowdancer

I'm a huge Mississippi John fan he was the Man.

I noticed some Gallagher fans had posted earlier in this thread so here is a link for them,

http://www.guitarists.net/tab/bands.php/gallagher,_rory.html

Let the Dance begin,
S.

Zem

hey guys thanks for the info and the tab link. yeah i have gotten a few blues compilation cd's relatively cheap but the problem is when i hear good guitar music i want to play to it but all of my guitars are un-playable at the moment also when i say all 2 of them are my brothers but he doesn't play at all i think it was a phase an i own a steel string acoustic epiphone and a fender squire tele(caster) i don't know if people will view them as not great guitars to use but hey screw em i like my guitars and it's all i got, damn i seem to wander when i start typing anyway back to topic, yeah the idea of the compilations is great but note: to all people who have suggested people they have not gone unnoticed i have written them down and i will get them because it does interest me it's just i have no real money at the moment seemingly monopoly money just doesn't cut it anymore.

secondly, i don't think it was what i was talking about but the woodstock improv is cool. i'd like to say more but i have a feeling that i may just wander on and on so i better end it before it's too late. thanks again