Blues Guitar For Dummies

Contents

• Introduction 1
• About This Book 1
• Conventions Used in This Book 2
• What You're Not to Read 3
• Foolish Assumptions 3
• How This Book is Organized 4
• Part 1: You Got a Right to Play the Blues 4
• Part 2: Setting Up to Play the Blues 4
• Part 3: Beyond the Basics: Playing Like a Pro 4
• Part 4: Sounding Like the Masters: Blues Styles through the Ages 4
• Part 5: Gearing Up: Outfitting Your Arsenal 5
• Part 6: The Part of Tens 5
• Part 7: Appendixes 5
• Icons Used in This Book 5
• Where to Go from Here 6
• Part 1: You Got a Right to Play the Blues 7
• Chapter 1: Every Day I Have the Blues Hallelujah! 9
• Capturing the Blues Train from Its Departure Then to Its Arrival Now 10
• The pieces of blues that made the genre 10
• The place of the blues' conception 11
• Rejoicing over 100 years of blues: The shifting shape of the genre 11
• The qualities that made blues cats hit the big-time 12
• It's Not All Pain and Suffering - The Lighter Side of Blues 13
• Surveying the Means to Make the Music: The Guitar in All Its Glory 14
• The low-fi acoustic guitar 14
• The semi-hollowbody electric guitar 15
• Solidbody electric guitars 15
• The Collision of Two Worlds: Acoustic versus Electric 16
• Getting a Grip on How Guitars Work 17
• You've gotta use your hands - both of them 17
• Producing the tones: String vibration and pitch 18
• Electric guitars only: Pickups and amplification 18
• Performing and Looking Like a Blues Player 19
• Expanding and filling your brain with know-how 19
• Looking the part 20
• Blues Trivia For Dummies 21
• The questions 21
• The answers 22
• Chapter 2: Blues Meets Guitar: A Match Made in Musical Heaven 23
• Beyond the Delta: Defining the Blues Guitar Sound 24
• The method to the music: Chord progressions 25
• The guitarist's language of melody 25
• The expression that invokes your senses 26
• The groove that sets the pace 27
• Dissecting an Acoustic and an Electric 27
• Getting Down with the Blues: A Quick How-To 31
• The foundation for all guitar playing: Acoustic guitars 31
• Shifting acoustic to overdrive: Electric guitars 32
• What You Need to Get Your Groove On 35
• Chapter 3: Grab Hold, Tune Up, Play On! 39
• Holding Your Axe (That Is, Your Guitar) 39
• Grabbing your guitar's neck 40
• Pushing down on the strings 41
• Getting sound to come out 42
• Holding the Pick, Attacking the Problem 44
• Getting Situated 45
• Sitting down 46
• or standing up 46
• Tuning Up 47
• Helping your guitar get in tune with itself 48
• Holding your guitar to an electronic standard 49
• Playing a Chord 50
• Music Notation: Not Just for Geeks 51
• Guidance for your aimless fingers: A chord diagram 52
• Mapping out your short-term path: Rhythm notation 53
• Guiding you all the way through a song: Tablature 54
• Part 2: Setting Up to Play the Blues 55
• Chapter 4: Getting a Grip on Left-Hand Chords 57
• Starting Out Simple: Blues Chords Even Your Mom Could Play 58
• Going to the Next Level: Barre Chords 59
• Forming a barre chord 61
• Naming barre chords 62
• Playing E-based barre chords 63
• Playing A-form barre chords 65
• Combining forms 67
• Taking Advantage of Versatile Power Chords 68
• Chapter 5: Positioning the Right Hand for Rhythm and Lead 71
• Strumming Along 71
• Stroking down 72
• And stroking up 72
• Combining down and up 73
• Striking to a beat 73
• Eighth-note striking, twice per beat 74
• Mixing Single Notes and Strumming 75
• Separating bass and treble: The pick-strum 75
• Playing common pick-strum patterns 76
• Shuffling the Beats with Syncopated Strumming 78
• A bit of notation: Dots that extend and ties that bind 79
• Syncopation: Playing with dots and ties 80
• Stopping the String Ringing (Just for a Sec) 81
• Muting the sound between two chords (left hand) 81
• Simulating syncopation with left-hand muting 81
• Muting the sound of a note (right hand) 82
• Copying the Classics: Plucking Fingerstyle Blues 83
• The Right Hand's Bliss: Different Rhythm Styles to Play 84
• The shuffle groove 85
• The driving straight-four 87
• The slow 12/8, with groups of three 89
• The two-beat feel 91
• The slow and funky 16 feel 92
• Chapter 6: Blues Progressions, Song Forms, and Moves 95
• Blues by the Numbers 95
• Recognizing the Big Dogs: Primary Key Families and Their Chords 96
• The Structure of a Blues Song, Baby 97
• Playing the 12-bar blues 98
• Slow blues 101
• The 8-bar blues 104
• Straight-four (or rock blues) 104
• Applying Structures to Keys 106
• A move with many chords: The Jimmy Reed move 106
• The sound of sadness: Minor blues 109
• Accessorizing the 12-Bar Blues: Intros, Turnarounds, and Endings 112
• Intros 112
• Turnarounds 113
• Endings 114
• High Moves 115
• Chapter 7: Musical Riffs: Bedrock of the Blues 119
• Basic Single-Note Riffs 120
• For the low-down bass notes: Quarter-note riffs 120
• The big daddy of riffs: Eighth-note riffs 121
• Adding a little funk: 16th-note riffs 122
• Throwing rhythm for a loop: Syncopated eighth-note riffs 123
• Double the Strings, Double the Fun: Two-Note Riffs (or Double-Stops) 123
• Straight feel 124
• Shuffle, or swing, eighths 125
• High-Note Riffs, the Bridge to Lead Guitar 126
• Keith Richards's borrowed trademark: Quick-four riffs 127
• Intro, turnaround, and ending riffs 127
• Mastering the Rhythm Figure 133
• Part 3: Beyond the Basics: Playing Like a Pro 135
• Chapter 8: Playing Lead: Soaring Melodies and Searing Solos 137
• Mastering Your Picking Technique 138
• Becoming smooth with your simple downs and ups 138
• Tackling tricky alternate-picking situations 140
• The Universal Lead Language: The Pentatonic Scale 141
• Why the pentatonic is the perfect scale 142
• The two sides of the pentatonic scale 142
• A common scale for practice: E minor pentatonic 144
• Pentatonic Plus One: The Six-Note Blues Scale 147
• Adding Some Extra Flava to the Blues Scale 148
• Clashing bitterly 149
• A dash of sweetness 149
• Chapter 9: Playing Up the Neck 153
• For Inquiring Minds: Why Up the Neck You Should Go 153
• Positioning Your Digits for an Easy Key Change 154
• The pros of closed positions 155
• The details of closed, numbered positions 155
• Easing Into Position: Moving the Pentatonic Up and Down 157
• Changing Your Position 159
• A natural first: Moving from fifth position to eighth 159
• The eighth-position blues bonus 160
• How low can you go? Moving from fifth position to third 160
• The Technical Side of Moving 161
• Like taking candy from a baby: The subtle shift 161
• Seeking a bit of attention: The noticeable slide 162
• When you don't want to move, just reach or jump 163
• Five Positions You Should Know: Meanderings of the Pentatonic Scale 163
• Relating the positions to each other 164
• Connecting the positions: Licks that take you up and down 166
• Understanding the Logic behind the Corresponding Shift of Position and Key 166
• Recognizing common keys and their comfortable positions 167
• Mapping keys to positions 167
• Chapter 10: Express Yourself: Making the Guitar Sing, Cry, and Wail 171
• Appreciating the Art of Articulation 172
• Going In for the Attack 172
• A little bit louder now a little bit softer now: Dynamics 173
• Hitting hard and backing off 174
• Breaking Down the Music: Phrasing 176
• Connecting notes the slippery way: Slides 176
• It's hammer time - get ready to strike a string! 179
• Exposing a note by lifting a digit: Pull-offs 181
• Giving Your Sound a Bit of Flair 182
• Shake that string: Adding vibrato 182
• The rubber-band blues: Bends that stretch a string 183
• Playing a Song with Various Articulations 187
• Part 4: Sounding Like the Masters: Blues Styles through the Ages 191
• Chapter 11: Acoustic Roots: Delta Blues and Its Country Cousins 193
• Delta Blues: Where It All Began 194
• Understanding the Delta technique 194
• Ladies and gentlemen, king of the Delta blues: Robert Johnson 194
• Country Ragtime: The Piedmont Blues 201
• Everything In-Between: Country and Folk Blues 203
• A quick profile of country and folk blues 203
• Giving these "in-between blues" a listen 204
• Closing with a lick and some style: Ragtime tags 204
• Country and Folk Blues Had a Baby; Its Name was Rockabilly 206
• Quintessential Blues: Slide Guitar 208
• The tools that let you slide 208
• Sliding technique 208
• Tuning your guitar for slide, a technique all its own 209
• Chapter 12: The Birth and Growth of Classic Electric Blues 213
• The Rise of the Electric Guitar in Blues 214
• Giving Props to the Earliest Electric Pioneer 215
• Sweet Home Chicago, Seat of the Electric Blues 218
• Muddy Waters, leader of the pack 218
• Elmore James, slide guitarist extraordinaire 219
• Otis Rush: Soulful player with a flair for vibrato 220
• Buddy Guy, the father of blues rock 221
• Modern-Day Blues Styles: The Sounds of Texas 222
• Four Blues Giants: Three Kings and a Collins 224
• Albert King, the upside-down string bender 224
• B.B King, the blues' king of kings 225
• Freddie King, a two-pick man 227
• Albert Collins, master of the Telecaster 228
• Children of the Post-War Blues Revival 229
• Son Seals, Chicago's favorite son 230
• Robert Cray, smooth persuader 230
• Bonnie Raitt, stellar lyrical slides artiste 231
• Chapter 13: Blues Rock: The Infusion of Ol' Rock 'n' Roll 233
• The Blues Had a Baby, and They Called It Rock 'n' Roll 234
• Chuck Berry, blues rock's first superstar 234
• Bo Diddley, king of the jungle beat 236
• The Brits Invade the Blues 236
• Clapton and Green, early blues icons 236
• Jeff Beck, blues-rock's mad scientist 237
• Trippin' the Blues 238
• Eric Clapton, the original guitar god 238
• Jimi Hendrix takes the blues psychedelic 240
• Heavy "Blooze": The Infusion of Hard Rock 241
• Jimmy Page, frontrunner of the metal blues 241
• Leslie West, big man with a big sound 241
• Blackmore and beyond, where blues gets scary 242
• Southern Comfort 243
• The Allmans, especially brother Duane 243
• Lynyrd Skynyrd 243
• Hot Barbecue Blues, Texas Style 244
• Johnny Winter, Texas blues-rock titan 245
• Billy Gibbons and ZZ Top, giving rock some soul 246
• Stevie Ray Vaughan, the greatest modern bluesman of them all 246
• Blues on Steroids 249
• Eddie Van Halen takes the blues to '80s metal 249
• Euro-Metal brings virtuosity and precision to the blues 249
• 21st-Century Soul 250
• John Mayer, new kid on the blues block 250
• Allmans Redux: Warren Haynes and Derek Trucks, keepers of the flame 250
• Part 5: Gearing Up: Outfitting Your Arsenal 253
• Chapter 14: Shop Till You Drop: Buying the Right Guitar for You 255
• Before You Begin Shopping 256
• Deciding On a Make and Model 257
• Evaluating a Guitar 257
• Construction 258
• Materials 259
• Workmanship 262
• Appointments (aesthetic options) 263
• Welcome to the Jungle: Shopping 263
• Bringing a friend 264
• Money matters: Deal or no deal 264
• Protecting Your Guitar 266
• Hard cases 266
• Soft cases 267
• Gig bags 267
• Chapter 15: Choosing Your Amp and Effects 269
• Getting Started with a Practice Amp 270
• Shopping for a practice amp 270
• Playing with a practice amp 272
• Powering Up to a Larger Amp 273
• Choosing among different amp formats 274
• Feeling the power 276
• Dissecting the Amplifier 277
• Input jack 277
• Preamp 278
• Tone 278
• Effects 279
• Power amp 280
• Speakers 280
• The flexibility of having separate channels 280
• What's That Sound? Checking Out Your Amp Choices 281
• Tube amps 281
• Solid-state amps 283
• Hybrid amps 283
• Digital-modeling amps 284
• Remembering the Good Old Days 284
• Vintage amps 285
• Reissue amps 285
• Dialing in an Amp Sound 285
• Chronicling Classic Amps for Blues 287
• Fender Bassman 287
• Fender Deluxe Reverb 287
• Fender Twin Reverb 288
• Marshall JTM 45 288
• Marshall Plexi Super Lead 100 289
• Vox AC30 289
• Mesa/Boogie Mark IIc+ 290
• Messing Around with Your Sound: Effects 291
• Juicing Up Your Sound 292
• When your sound is too hot to handle: Distortion 292
• Toying with Tone Quality 293
• EQ: The great tonal equalizer 294
• Wah-wah, the effect that is as it sounds 294
• Modulation Effects, from Swooshy to Swirly 294
• Stacking sounds for a fuller effect: Chorus 294
• Swooshing, like a jet plane: Flangers and phase shifters 295
• Like a visit to the opera house: Vibrato and tremolo 295
• Pretending (and Sounding Like) You're Somewhere You're Not 296
• Delaying sound in a cave-like way 297
• Adding reverb to make your sound slicker 297
• Choosing an Effects Format 298
• A string of effects: Pedals on parade 298
• A box to house them all at your feet 299
• A box to house them all at hand level 299
• Chapter 16: Changing Strings 303
• Change is Good, But When? 303
• Choosing the Right Strings 304
• Acoustic strings 305
• Electric strings 305
• Outfitting Your String-Changing Toolkit 307
• Removing Old Strings 308
• Stringing a Steel-String Acoustic 309
• Stringing an Electric Guitar 313
• Part 6: The Part of Tens 319
• Chapter 17: Ten Blues Guitar Giants 321
• Robert Johnson (1911-38) 321
• Elmore James (1918-63) 322
• T-Bone Walker (1910-75) 322
• Muddy Waters (1915-83) 322
• Albert King (1923-92) 323
• B.B King (b 1925) 323
• Albert Collins (1932-93) 323
• Otis Rush (b 1934) 324
• Eric Clapton (b 1945) 324
• Stevie Ray Vaughan (1954-90) 324
• Chapter 18: Ten Great Blues Guitars 325
• Gibson L-1 Flattop 325
• Gibson ES-175 Archtop 326
• National Steel 326
• Gibson J-200 326
• Fender Telecaster 327
• Gibson Les Paul 327
• Fender Stratocaster 327
• Gibson ES-335 328
• Gibson ES-355 328
• Gibson SG 328
• Chapter 19: Ten (Plus One) Must-Have Blues Guitar Albums 329
• Robert Johnson: The Complete Recordings 329
• Blues Masters: The Very Best of Lightnin' Hopkins 330
• T-Bone Walker: Complete Capitol Black & White Recordings 330
• T-Bone Walker: Complete Imperial Recordings 330
• The Best of Muddy Waters 331
• B.B King: Live at the Regal 331
• The Very Best of Buddy Guy 331
• Robert Cray: Bad Influence 331
• Masters of the Delta Blues: Friends of Charlie Patton 332
• Mean Old World: The Blues from 1940 to 1994 332
• Chicago: The Blues Today 332
• Part 7: Appendixes 333
• Appendix A: How to Read Music 335
• The Elements of Music Notation 336
• Reading pitch 337
• Reading duration 338
• Expression, articulation, and miscellaneous terms and symbols 340
• Appendix B: How to Use the Website 343
• Relating the Text to the Website 343
• Count-offs 344
• Stereo separation 344
• System Requirements 344
• What You'll Find on the Website 345
• Audio tracks 345
• Troubleshooting 350
• Index 351