This
lesson has been revised and published in THE
INFINITE GUITAR. Info
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Why
the Blues is so Important - When it comes
right down to it, all the popular music today
is here because of the blues. I don't want to
get into a long history lesson here or anything
but if you are interested, you can check out my
article: "The Spirit of the Guitar."
I just want to add here that most likely no matter
music you are into, especially if it is guitar-influenced
music, it got its start somewhere in the Mississippi
basin, maybe New Orleans or Mississippi. Muddy
Waters and before him Robert Johnson got the ball
rolling. If you are serious about the guitar you
will need to get into the blues at least a little
(if not a lot) and let it take a hold of you.
It will teach you how to phrase, and how to bend
and how to talk on your instrument. The Blues
is the foundation on which all other 20th century
music was built. Trying to play music without
learning how to play the blues would be like a
cook trying to be a cook without knowing how to
boil water (Muddy Water). The blues would branch
out into Jazz, R&B, Funk and Rock and take
over the world. You may think that it has nothing
to do with those genres anymore, but you would
be wrong. If you listen closely you can still
hear it.
The
Blues Form - Anyway, lets get into it. First
we will talk about form. The Blues is like a Japanese
Haiku poem in the sense that the form is pretty
much determined already. Almost all blues is based
on a twelve bar progression and on only three
chords. Even when the key changes, it will still
be based on the Tonic, Sub-Dominant and Dominant
chords of the key (the I, IV and
V chords). Unlike most diatonic progressions,
the chords are usually dominant chords. 7th, 9th
and 13th chords are all common. Take a look at
the example of an A blues progression below. I've
written it using 9th chords, which seem to work
nicely for a slow blues. The second chord is sometimes
left out. When you include it, it is called the
"quick change." The example below is
in the key of A, a favorite amongst guitarists:
This
song from my "Big Bad Sun" CD is a typical
twelve bar Blues in the key of A: "Tell
Me a Story."
The
Eight Bar Blues - Although the twelve bar blues
is the most common form, there is also an eight
bar blues that pops up from time to time. It looks
like this:
Turnarounds
- The last two bars are very important. The player
often plays what is called a "turnaround"
here. As the name suggests, it is a phrase that
takes the listener back to the top. You as a player
can leave your signature here so to speak. There
are different ways to play through the turnaround,
you can play right though it or play a standard
type turnaround or a combination of the two. It
may help to learn a few of the standards before
trying to come up with your own. You can play a
somewhat convincing Blues by playing a minor pentatonic
scale through the first ten bars before playing
a traditional style turnaround at the end.
Turnaround
1 - You can use a pick or your fingers for this
one. You'll have to jump a few strings but it is
not such an undertaking. The last two chords are
an F9 and E9 chord but could be a phrase too:
Turnaround
2 - This turnaround is based on the top two
strings. The A note on the first string stays the
same while the E note on the second string descends
chromatically:
Turnaround
3 - Similar to our previous example except the
chromatic line on the second string is reversed:
Turnaround
4 - A combination of examples 1 and 2. You will
most likely need to use you r fingers with this
one:
Turnaround
5 - The same as the last example but the A note
on the first string has been moved to the third
string:
Turnaround
6 - This example is really just a combination
of examples 1 and 3. This is a great one because
you have some interesting voice leading going on.
The note on the first string stays the same while
the note on the second string ascends chromatically.
The note on the fourth string descends chromatically.
Every voice is doing something different:
Try
and see if you can tell which turnaround I play
in this song: "Big
Bad Sun." The key is G, but the turnarounds
are basically standard ones.
The
Minor Blues - There are also a few other different
blues progressions that are quite common. This is
an example of a minor blues. Minor Blues usually
does not usually have a "turnaround" bringing
it back to the top. There are a few different variations
also but this is the most common one you will find:
The
Jazz Blues - And finally the Jazz Blues. Still
based on the same twelve bars and the same three
chords. The Jazz musician prefers to add some complexity
to the progression by adding more chords, mostly
secondary dominants. There are also a few variations
here too, but this one is a fairly common example:
Bending
the Rules - After all is said and done and you've
learned the rules of the Blues, you can bend them
a bit from time to time. In the following example
I added a few different chords (the Fadd9 in the
eighth bar) and changed the form to ten bars but
the feel and attitude comes straight from traditional
blues:
A
lot of musicians will try to tell you that the Blues
is easy to play. The truth is that there are not
a lot of players who do it convincingly. Let them
become a part of your practice routine and make
sure that you pick up some of the classics from
the likes of Muddy Waters, Albert King and Albert
Collins and listen like crazy.
Check
out this "Blues
Rules" thing that a friend sent me, it
is a real crack up!
Have
a question or a suggestion for a lesson, e-mail
chris.
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Information
on the newly published, 266 page "THE
INFINITE GUITAR" based on these lessons.
