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Original message:101 days 3 hours 3 minutes ago
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Member: Savva_Rhythm
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ok so i'v been playing for nearly a year, and have been pretty much stuck into playing metal and rock. in the past few months i'v become a fan of the blues. especially Stevie Ray. i'v looked at his tabs, and even the slower songs are waaay too hard for me.
so my question is this: how do you work up to being a good guitarist in the blues section?
i know how to improve from the begining in the rock area: you know how we start with some easy Black Sabbath and ACDC songs, and then move onto some harder stuff? well i want to do the same with blues. so please give me some help with this. tell me where to start. tell me a few songs/artists i could play. eventually i want to play SRV songs, and i'v got plenty of motivation for that. but i need to know how i work up to it.
help would be insanely appreciated
thanks
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Reply:101 days 2 hours 22 minutes ago
Member: ibzRG
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Rock should have taught you the pentatonic pretty well by now.
For the blues you gotta nail the bends. Master them from 1/4th steps to 1.5 steps even to 2 steps up. Learning to bend with one finger will help you pull the double stops.
That said, there is a lot of blues in rock and even some in metal, depending on what you listen to.
For the rythm parts, you should get familiar with 7th chords and practice the various shapes of them.
(PLUG: http://www.guitar.com/kimonf/blog/lesson_practicing_7th_chords)

What kind of solos do you know how to play? I mean I'm into rock and metal too but the skills I picked up there have proved useful in blues too. You make it sound like your rock skills are irrelevant to blues, which can't be true. Either you play rock worse than you think or you're into a different subgenre of rock than me.
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Reply:100 days 15 hours 32 minutes ago
Member: Savva_Rhythm
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well since im still pretty unexperienced i dont know many solos. the only ones i know are:
nothing else matters - metallica
seven nation army - white stripes
smells like teen spirit - nirvana

and thats it :S
to be honest i didnt think rock and blues had any link. but since im self-taught, i havnt done many scales, and no theory at all.
i only recently started with scales... though im not quite sure where to start
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Reply:101 days 2 hours 13 minutes ago
Member: Stratman63
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The best thing I can tell you ,is practice alot of blues scales.There are many forms of blues,Delta ,Chicago,Texas,Missisippi.But they are all built on structure.Scales are the basics to all solos.there are many books that cover blues scales and solos.Some of them are in tab.Practice with them and soon you will be playing SRV music in no time.I also recomend taking a course in music theory.That will help you understand the structure of blues.
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Reply:100 days 12 hours 55 minutes ago
Member: JTC
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I assume you are talking about playing solo's over blues tunes. My advice is to stop trying to learn these solo's note for note. I believe (my opinion) that SRV and most players have a basic layout of the solos they perform but mostly rely on improvisation to make each performance come alive.

Learn how they are doing it verses trying to repeat exactly what they did.

It's like that saying about "Give a man a fish and he'll eat for a day and teach a man to fish and he'll eat forever".
Learn a solo and you know that solo. Learn how to improvise solos and you'll be able to play over many songs.
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Reply:100 days 12 hours 4 minutes ago
Member: Savva_Rhythm
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oooh i like that :D. i jus need to get to the stage of being able to improvise
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Reply:100 days 11 hours 34 minutes ago
Member: Xarkzila
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Listen to and learn some stuff from some blues based "rock" bands to help with the transition. Led Zeppelin. Pink Floyd. etc. Listen to some BB King for a pure blues feel. Remember that BB doesn't play a lot of notes, kind of like Gilmour, who also leaves a LOT of space in his playing.

And, of course, practice, practice, practice!
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Reply:100 days 11 hours 25 minutes ago
Member: johnny cox
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Improvisation is what blues is all about. I have never played a blues solo the same way twice.

What worked for me were backing tracks. There was no internet when I started so I recorded 12 bar blues rhythms on a cassette player.

www.GuitarVoice.com. has some good backing tracks.

When you play to backing tracks, you will find something new every day.
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Reply:100 days 9 hours 40 minutes ago
Member: duane
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practice practice and more practice.. Use the "blues scale" (flatted 3rd 5th and 7th).
try the "box" approach for the fingerboard. develop a good (if not GREAT) vibrato.
In the beginning.. throw away all the effects you use and just go guitar -> amp. Effects should
"color" your sound NOT be your sound.

Good luck on your journey.
Reply:100 days 6 hours 6 minutes ago
Member: ibzRG
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Even if you can't find dedicated backing tracks, what also works well is put the record in and have it play, pick up your guitar, tweak in a "blues sound" on your amp and just play along with the record. It works best if the actual guitar player on the record doesn't take up ALL the space, but just jam away over the progression, irrespectively of whether there's lyrics or lead over it.
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Reply:100 days 3 hours 5 minutes ago
Member: JTC
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ibzRG this is awesome advice. I have done this myself alot.
I wish I could send you guys my totally rediculous overdub of me rippin solo's over "Howlin Wolf".


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Reply:100 days 3 hours 41 minutes ago
Member: Savva_Rhythm
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these are all pretty good ideas here. so i can start trying to get the feel while having a backing track.
any recomendations of particular blues songs that a beginner can play?
because i know so many metal songs, i'd like to learn atleast a few blues songs
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Reply:100 days 3 hours 17 minutes ago
Member: johnny cox
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The Thrill is Gone.......BB King

Blue Jean Blues .........ZZ Top

Stormy Monday...........T bone Walker/ Allman Brothers

Sweet Home Chicago
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Reply:100 days 2 hours 33 minutes ago
Member: Fred Kraus
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Believe it or not AC/DC is a blues band. They have more in common with Muddy Waters than they ever will with Metallica. Angus Young is very loud and over-driven, but it's blues no two ways about it. He does a lot of those "bends."
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Reply:99 days 14 hours 47 minutes ago
Member: Savva_Rhythm
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