Do You Want To Learn Authentic Blues Guitar - What's The Difference ?

Son House once stated that many guitar players " ... play some kinda shuffle in A and call it the blues - well isn't !" When asked by someone "What is the blues?", Big Bill Broonzy answered "If you need to ask you'll never know". How did the original masters create their fantastic sound? How can you learn 'real' acoustic blues guitar - 'the real deal' ? In this piece I investigate several classic blues guitarists techniques and how we can approach their finger picking techniques.

Ragtime and Blues Guitar - Back To The Roots - Blind Blake

I always found it a bit surprising that there exists only one photograph of Blind Blake, the King of Ragtime Blues. He produced over one hundred records for Paramount during his short lifetime and was reportedly really very popular. You would think that other snaps must be around somewhere? Even legendary Robert Johnson had 2 pictures taken and , at that time, he was less successful and celebrated than Blake.

Ry cooder said that he thinks Blake picked using a light feel, but other people told that he had a hole in his picking thumb, indicating that he plucked the strings heavily. On tracks he exclaims 'boot that thing' - which also indicated that he might have had a heavy touch. I've experimented playing Blake lots of ways, employing a lightand heavy approach on different gauge strings, adjusting the guitar bridge height to suit. It's very tricky to match the bouncy feel of some of his songs in G, like That'll Never Happen No More or Too Tight Blues.

You Can't Have Too Much Big Bill!

Listen to Big Bill Broonzy's guitar style, as an example - it's quite easy to work out where our fretting and picking fingers should be, but that very infectious swinging tempo is something else entirely! It's quite magical. This is a a quote from Broonzy referring to timing - " you can either ride on the front of the hoss, or on back of it and this is what I do when I play music". His picking thumb rhythm lags a little behind the beat and creates a 'swing' feel. Easy to say, but have a go at it! Incredibly, he's utilizing only one finger for the high strings to produce more syncopation.

How Do We Learn To Play Blues Guitar ?

The reply is inevitably 'from a guitarist who can play it like it was played'. There is a massive amount of blues guitar courses advertised on the web, with many styles and cost. Many are even free! (A word of caution - generally in life, nothing of value is given free.) All too often, the lessons on offer don't match up to their advertising. It's not uncommon that the playing doesn't even match the musical notation given! Many packages teach licks or tricks to give your playing that 'bluesy feeling', but is it the blues?

Find guitar player who can really play this stuff. Look locally, or on the internet. After you've found this guitarist, ask him for lessons. If he doesn't give tuition then listen to his music and follow him around, if there's nothing else for it. Like anything else in this life, if you want it badly enough, you'll have to go for it. A real blues man is not interested in taking a fortune for their tuition.

Try not to listen to lots of modern blues guitar players . The old styles can become diluted and changed too much, particularly the timing and syncopation. DO listen to as many classic blues guitar records as you can, specially if there is film of the man playing . Take my word, you get an awful lot by just watching Big Bill Broonzy perform Hey Hey repeatedly.

Practice, practice, practice - particularly the basic picking patterns. Control that picking thumb! Try one hour in the morning and then again at night is the very minimum. You don't suppose Robert Johnson sold his soul to the Devil do you? Of course not, but like Clapton, he took himself away for a couple of years until he could pick with the skill we can evidently hear on his old tracks.

As far as I'm concerned this is essential - when you are playing guitar , BE that song or that person who sang the original. The lives of these men were harsh and very unlike ours. Saying that, everyone gets the blues now and again and that's how we can associate ourselves with those men. The blues feeling is all of these - a woman, losing your job, bad kids, the weather, death and hundreds of other things. Bring it to life it with your fingers.

Learn the techniques first, don't take it too fast with the basics and last but not least, put everything you've got into the music.