The Acoustic Guitar Forum - Best way to learn blues?

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Quote:

Originally Posted by Kerbie (Post 6089902)

You're right, Tonyo... those links didn't work for me either. Here are Steve James' books and DVDs. The one that reeve21 is referencing is entitled, "Fingerstyle Blues Songbook," and is purplish in color.

Steve's material is excellent. He's a student of the blues and loves teaching it. I really like his books and tabs. I think they are easier to use than most. The book mentioned above comes with a CD with the tunes played both slowly and up to speed. His website also includes some free lessons and tabs.

Thanks, appreciate it!

Another site I've found helpful is that of Scott Ainslie. Scott is a wonderful guitarist and vocalist, another student of the genre and loves teaching it to anybody who will listen.

He does Mississippi John Hurt like no other. At his website under, "Music Instructor," is a section on John with eight free tabs. His website is loaded with great stuff for anyone interested in the blues. Here is Scott singing, "Death Don't Have No Mercy." The video doesn't change since it comes from the CD, but the version is excellent... great guitar and vocal.

Go down to the crossroads at midnight & make a deal with the devil. 😁

Quote:

Originally Posted by tonyo (Post 6089897)

Those links didn't work for me, would you mind posting in text the title and author of each book?

Thanks

Sorry about that. The Steve James book I like is Fingerstyle Blues Songbook, published by Acoustic Guitar Private Lessons. He has some others, too.

The Dave Rubin book is 12 Bar Fingerstyle Blues, published by Hal Leonard. Like the James book, it also comes with downloadable tracks (which I have not yet used).

This guy isn’t really s teacher... but kinda. Maybe an entertaining reference or supplement... he’s just awesome. Messiahsez on YouTube. Very colorful. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=19Pp9QEw17U

Quote:

Originally Posted by sloar (Post 6087371)

I’ve searched the net and get confused on what to learn. I normally just find songs to learn, but most acoustic blues tutorials are scales and riffs. So what’s the best way to get started and what should I concentrate on learning first. Thanks

This guy isn’t really s teacher... but kinda. Maybe an entertaining reference or supplement... he’s just awesome. Messiahsez on YouTube. Very colorful. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=19Pp9QEw17U

Quote:

Originally Posted by 815C (Post 6087813)

If you are writing blues lyrics, it's good to know these rules...

1. Most Blues begin, "Woke up this morning..."

2. "I got a good woman" is a bad way to begin the Blues, unless you stick something nasty in the next line like, "I got a good woman, with the meanest face in town."

3. The Blues is simple. After you get the first line right, repeat it. Then find something that rhymes... sort of: "Got a good woman with the meanest face in town. Yes, I got a good woman with the meanest face in town. Got teeth like Margaret Thatcher, and she weigh 500 pound."

4. The Blues is not about choice. You stuck in a ditch, you stuck in a ditch--ain't no way out.

5. Blues cars: Chevys, Fords, Cadillacs and broken-down trucks. Blues don't travel in Volvos, BMWs, or Sport Utility Vehicles. Most Blues transportation is a Greyhound bus or a southbound train. Jet aircraft and company motor pools ain't even in the running. Walkin' plays a major part in the blues lifestyle. So does fixin' to die.

6. Teenagers can't sing the Blues. They ain't fixin' to die yet. Adults sing the Blues. In Blues, "adulthood" means being old enough to get the electric chair if you shoot a man in Memphis.

7. Blues can take place in New York City but not in Hawaii or any place in Canada. Hard times in Minneapolis or Seattle is probably just clinical depression. Chicago, St. Louis, and Kansas City are still the best places to have the Blues. You cannot have the blues in any place that don't get rain.

8. A man with male pattern baldness ain't the blues. A woman with male pattern baldness is. Breaking your leg cause you were skiing is not the blues. Breaking your leg 'cause a alligator be chompin' on it is.

9. You can't have no Blues in a office or a shopping mall. The lighting is wrong. Go outside to the parking lot or sit by the dumpster.

10. Good places for the Blues:
a. Highway
b. Jailhouse
c. An empty bed
d. Bottom of a whiskey glass

11. Bad places for the Blues:
a. Nordstrom's
b. Gallery openings
c. Ivy league institutions
d. Golf courses

12. No one will believe it's the Blues if you wear a suit, 'less you happen to be a old ethnic person, and you slept in it.

13. You have the right to sing the Blues if:
a. You older than dirt
b. You blind
c. You shot a man in Memphis
d. You can't be satisfied

14. You don't have the right to sing the Blues if:
a. You have all your teeth
b. You were once blind but now can see
c. The man in Memphis lived
d. You have a pension fund

15. Blues is not a matter of color. It's a matter of bad luck. Tiger Woods cannot sing the blues. Sonny Liston could. Ugly white people also got a leg up on the blues.

16. If you ask for water and your darlin' give you gasoline, it's the Blues

17. Other acceptable Blues beverages are:
a. Cheap wine
b. Whiskey or bourbon
c. Muddy water
d. Nasty black coffee

18. The following are NOT Blues beverages:
a. Perrier
b. Chardonnay
c. Snapple
d. Slim Fast

19. If death occurs in a cheap motel or a shotgun shack, it's a Blues death. Stabbed in the back by a jealous lover is another Blues way to die. So is the electric chair, substance abuse and dying lonely on a broke-down cot. You can't have a Blues death if you die during a tennis match or while getting liposuction.

20. Some Blues names for women:
a. Sadie
b. Big Mama
c. Bessie
d. Fat River Dumpling

21. Some Blues names for men:
a. Joe
b. Willie
c. Little Willie
d. Big Willie

22. Persons with names like Michelle, Amber, Debbie, and Heather can't sing the Blues no matter how many men they shoot in Memphis.

23. Make your own Blues name Starter Kit: a. name of physical infirmity (Blind, Cripple, Lame, etc.) b. first name (see above) plus name of fruit (Lemon, Lime, Melon, Kiwi, etc.) c. last name of President (Jefferson, Johnson, Fillmore, etc.) For example: Blind Lime Jefferson, Jackleg Lemon Johnson or Cripple Kiwi Fillmore, etc. (Well, maybe not "Kiwi.")

24. I don't care how tragic your life: if you own even one computer, you cannot sing the blues.

I've seen this piece posted a number of places around the internet...it's obviously meant to be purely humorous and I get a chuckle out of it every time I read it....

I also get a laugh every time someone will seriously critique one comment or another...

Subtle humor is lost on some folks... :wink:

Carry on! :guitar:

The blues came about by uneducated people making sounds from bad instruments. They made sounds of the way they felt. So do that.

I don't know about academically, but there are some great video tutorials for songs and progressions and techniques all over YouTube. I also can't get enough of some of those "Homespun" instructional videos....they have flash sales and Ive bought tons for cheap...great lessons, discussions, stories and performance.

I will also re-iterate what others have said...you need to listen to a ton of blues...listen to old records, podcasts, radio shows, and go to shows (when thats an option again). Like all "folk" music, its about listening and listening and listening...and trying to repeat what you like.

Just my $0.02

While all that is true, my experience is that it does depend on your background how sufficient it can be. It can be tough going if you come from a classical background like I where you never learned to play based on chord progressions, think in chords etc. I'm beginning to realise that my own best bet is going to be to find one or more people to accept showing me the ropes and tolerate me finding things out while doing.

There's a sequence I saw somewhere, I think of either Bob Brozeman or Doug Macleod in the Resonate documentary, where a recipe is given that sounds great. Get familiar with playing just the bass part, over and over, feeling the groove ... at some point you'll feel a need to play a few more notes adding melody, and then you're making music. Well, playing the bass is fun, but I'm kind of at a loss when it comes to deciding what to play on top of it (at least beyond something I've happened to remember from a written-out score that I worked on).

or as Son Thomas said "you got to have the blues to play the blues"

and Brownie says

https://youtu.be/P6C61sxbjII

I think he meant you have to know what it means to have the blues. Look at any good blues man playing and see if they're having the blues or having a good time...

EDIT: similar message in this stereotype blues from arguably not an exclusive blues man:

("human stupidity: better to laugh about it than to cry")

Quote:

Originally Posted by sloar (Post 6087824)

Nice set of rules, love it. And thanks everyone for the advise. IÂ’m a beginner so playing by ear is not an option yet. So thanks for all the links,.

Just cause you're a novice shouldn't mean playing by ear is not a vital skill to develop just be modest in your goals, tune the guitar put on a recording of your favourite blues songs and play random notes up and down the bass strings listening to what harmonises with the recording and what doesn't, concentrate on trying to identify the tonic note which defines the key, then move on to finding the root note of the other chords, if you can train yourself to do that you would have made the best possible start.
Parallel with that sort of training you need to seek out teaching sources which illuminate the underlying structure of blues , so books which are just full of tabs to play are not going to get you understanding what's going on , I learned a lot from a book in the library called How To Play Jazz piano, I allready played basic blues progressions on guitar and listened to so much that I would create blues in my head walking around town but I couldn't translate that to an instrument, the piano book got me playing the three chords or bass lines from the chords with my left hand and improvising on blues scales with the right hand now that's pretty difficult to do on guitar but if your playing solo you have to imitate that as best you can. Probably the easiest way is monotonic bass style where you just play root note of the chord with a thumb pick on the beat and improvise using a blues scale with the fingers, playing blues in the key of A means you have more freedom to move the left hand around to fret the blues scale tones as the bass notes can all be played on open strings, the usual convention is to use the A blues scale over the 1 and 4 chord but the E blues scale over the E (5) chord.
There's a great lesson on Swing Soloing by David Hamburger in one of the Acoustic Magazine books which teaches by way of showing the structure of phrases used in that type of blues where a backing track or rythmn player usually supplies the chords , but Mr Hamburger should also have some lessons on you tube, but I do prefer books as you get a CD so you can take the individual example phrases from Hamburgers lesson slow down and try to work them out by ear and if that's too hard you can cheat and look at the tab to start you off.
Another good learning source for blues is the Active Melody site but I would start off with a book if I were you, problem with youtube is the sound quality is just too bad to slow down and hear what's going on.
Edit : The Active Melody site makes the Soundslice internet tool available for paying users, that's a great tool for learning and Brian's arrangements with tab and notation can be looped and slowed down, blues is Brian's speciality and I think he teaches it well especially the more jazzy oriented progressions.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Andyrondack (Post 6918412)

tune the guitar put on a recording of your favourite blues songs and play random notes up and down the bass strings listening to what harmonises with the recording and what doesn't, concentrate on trying to identify the tonic note which defines the key, then move on to finding the root note of the other chords, if you can train yourself to do that you would have made the best possible start.

I've seen accomplished players jam along with recordings so I think this is good advice.

There must be players (programs!) that allow you to slow down a piece without changing pitch (I expect Audacity can) and/or loop an appropriate passage.

You gotta feel so low down mean inside.

Quote:

Originally Posted by RJVB (Post 6918448)

Yes I have Music Speed Changer and Up Tempo free on Android devices, I use them a lot, both loop selected passages slow down and change key if you want, I often want to play along in a different key to the original recording so changing key is usefull too.