Blues guitar

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travelin travis

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Just out of curiosity...........for the young ens only! What do you think about blues guitar playing? I'm just curious to know what kids today think about blues.
 
TravisinFlorida said:
Just out of curiosity...........for the young ens only! What do you think about blues guitar playing? I'm just curious to know what kids today think about blues.
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I love the blues.....................I am a 40 yr old kid!! :D
 
I worked in a really nice guitar shop when I was younger and we only sold handmade guitars and amps, etc. We always had really rich guys come in and play the blues. Now, my understanding of the blues is that it is a lifestyle, not just a way of playing the guitar. I've heard some pretty decent blues, but I think what most people think of the blues is pretty crappy. I don't much care for most of it, (here it comes) especially Clapton. If there ever was an overrated guitar player I'd say it was him. Everyone is going to hate this too, but i think b.b. king is way overrated too. I'm over simplifying of course, but fuck me there has to be more than one lick you can play!!! I can listen to Johnson and Buddy. Buddy Guy had a great right hand. He had two good hands, but he did stuff with his right most guys don't. He is ok in my book. Theres my two cents.

Rory
 
I don't think I answered your question.

I don't like the blues as a general rule, but there are a couple of guys that interest me. I agree, they can be pretty boring. Once you've gotten past the first track on the CD, what more is there?
 
mx_mx said:
40 year old bogan..


Answer to question: Blues bores me
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I am not a big fan of the black or Mississippi Delta blues, but I love the up beat/rockin blues.........Gary Moore, Stevie Ray Vaughan etc.
 
I've been playing for over 10 years and it bored me before. Then you realize elements of the blues and teh great blues players is really what makes guitarists stand out. Anyone can play the blues with a little practice, but few can play it well.
 
Quagmire02 said:
I've been playing for over 10 years and it bored me before. Then you realize elements of the blues and teh great blues players is really what makes guitarists stand out. Anyone can play the blues with a little practice, but few can play it well.
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Easiest to play, hardest to master. It typically has more bent notes than most other styles (which sounds more like a human voice) so it seems to carry more emotion imo. The only way to master it and cut out your own identity in the blues world is to use different phrasing or tone than eveyone else. A lot of blues is pentatonics and pents with the added "blue note". If you can take a I-IV-V progression, use only a five note scale to improvise over that progression, and be instantly recognized for your sound...you're on to something. Oh and most blues guitarists play stock instruments and amps.

It's 100% american music as well. Blues started out as "field hollars" on plantations in the south, then evolved from there. Some purists would say is started in Africa, but blues as we know it (relying on stringed instruments...diddly bow for example) started in america.

Lastly,like it or not, blues gave birth to rock.That means ALL rock n roll. Without it, we'd all be playing Andres Segovia licks....(he once called the electric guitar an "abomination"). :)


J.P.
 
I love the blues stuff. Maybe not so much the real "true" southern blues (although I still enjoy it some), but stuff like Stevie Ray really appeals to me. You could say maybe just blues-rock is more what I like.
 
Sorry, Travis. I know you're looking for responses from folks a lot younger than I. But every time the subject of the blues comes up, I feel obliged to direct people to this excellent primer on the blues: http://home.earthlink.net/~lex.alexander/blues.htm

But seriously, folks, if you're interested in seeing and hearing some incredible blues performances that even non-blues-lovin' people will appreciate, rent a DVD called "Lightning in a Bottle." (Check out the trailer at http://www.sonyclassics.com/lightninginabottle/trailer-open.html)

Watch out, though. After that you'll want to shoot a man in Memphis, learn the bottle slide, and change your name to Fat River Dumpling.
 
Blues rock, southern blues rock, down dirty blues....they rock!!

One note at a time, manipulating it for all it is worth. :D
 
true-eurt said:
One note at a time, manipulating it for all it is worth. :D
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To me blues guitar playing is about all the little nuances that each player exhibits in his/her style. When I started listening to SRV, I probably spent a couple of hours a day just playing one or two notes while trying to mimic his vibrato, percussive attack, and overall feel. His playing in Little Wing still gets me high every time I listen to it.

I think it's amazing that so many blues players can play the same old progressions yet each player can be immediately identified by hearing only a few notes.
 
I'm not a young-un but I do teach guitar ( mostly 10 - 15 year olds) and I ferquently get asked "Will you show me some of those blues licks?" Maybe it"s because those minor pent scales look easier, maybe it's the sound, I don't know. To me, a well rounded guitarist can play a variety of styles and I try to convey that idea to my students.
 
Funny this question should be asked. I was in the mega book store a week or so ago and I was thinking that I hadn't progressed in my melody department and it was high time to do something about it. So I picked up a six dollar blues book it was rather thin but I looked through it and there was a lesson or five in there. Now I come from the dyed in the wool Sabbath school of heavy so this is not unheard of but at the same time possiby getting off track musically and getting better at our leads and songmanship is important. Since I have not heard many of the tunes and lines I'm learning I don't have a need for it to sound like anything but what I invent myself. The slower tempo/emphasis on the note/expression is exactly what my need of melody training calls for.

My opinion of modern blues is that it is modern. Robert Cray and Bonnie Raitt don't seem to have the real emotion of a single man with an acoustic guitar so shitty it can only be played with a slide singing gut wrenching songs about his past week. Bonnie Raitt never knew the blues like Robert Johnson. I have witnessed some truly talented musicians playing blues inspired music such as SRV. Strange Fruit by Billie Holiday. White boy, them's the blues.
 
Love em, have em, listen to em, hear em, collect em, discuss em, paint em, can't play em.
As a 49 year old southerner (south of Sydney) you'd expect all of that though.
I'm planning a new Delta blues song - Mekong- a little ditty about the dioxin manufacturing plant in Sydney that used to dump the excess stuff into Sydney Harbour (only now declared unfishable) just up from the Olympic site, the fishermen & their families who've recently been discovered to have up 100X the safe levels in their & their family's blood, how the cow's gone lame & the cotton is high 'cos it took my stash etc etc etc.
 
DogFood said:
My opinion of modern blues is that it is modern. Robert Cray and Bonnie Raitt don't seem to have the real emotion of a single man with an acoustic guitar so shitty it can only be played with a slide singing gut wrenching songs about his past week. Bonnie Raitt never knew the blues like Robert Johnson. I have witnessed some truly talented musicians playing blues inspired music such as SRV. Strange Fruit by Billie Holiday. White boy, them's the blues.
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Amen brother. I totally agree. There are a ton of modern blues players that just don't seem to have any emotion in their playing. I think that may contribute to alot of the negative opinions about blues. If I was introduced to the blues by listening to Robert Cray, I would have left it behind a long time ago. The first blues (influenced) tune that I can remember hearing is Little Wing, SRV version. There's so much going in that tune that I can hardly take it. Crank that up on a system with some strong mids and nothing tops it in my book.
 
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I'm in a blues band. And I completely agree, it's the emotion behind the notes, not the notes themselves. I love listening to a player that can make it weep.
 
Track Rat said:
I'm in a blues band. And I completely agree, it's the emotion behind the notes, not the notes themselves. I love listening to a player that can make it weep.
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That's often stated but I think it's not really understood by most young players. When I was young, I was well on my way to metal land and got side tracked by blues. I was playing in garage bands covering Metallica, Sepultura, Pantera, Megadeth, Slayer, etc.

The first guitar player that I ever met was a friend of my dad's. He told me that I should and would play blues. He was'nt much of a guitar player but he put everything he had into his playing. I think that's what I strive for.
 
Gorty said:
I am not a big fan of the black or Mississippi Delta blues, but I love the up beat/rockin blues.........Gary Moore, Stevie Ray Vaughan etc.
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Don't want the pure stuff? Like the watered down shit, huh? Where do you think they got it from?

To each his own. I happen to like both, for different reasons.
 
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