Learning this.....deluxe blues

[El Duque]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCktCSAerhU
Soulful.
I like it. I want to learn it or something like it.
Any suggestions on how to go about it? I reckon I have to learn it by watching picking it out note for note.

I've learned solos doing that - listening to it over and over.
Chords not so much. Most of I can see/extrapolate except for the parts not on camera

I'm guessing this is a "simple" blues progression. what key - I have no idea.

I'm just getting into theory so not much good there.

thanks

[Ghostpicker]

Awesome video El Duque. I'm not a theory expert but it sounds like it's in E to me (E-A7-B7)?. At least when I jam along with some E minor pentatonic scales it sounds ok to me.

Thanks for sharing.

[JonPR]

Yes, it's in key of E, and it's a standard "jazz-blues" sequence - IOW, a couple of variations from the usual rock blues format.

These are the chords:
|E - - - |A7 - - - |E - - - |E9 - - - |
|A7 - - - | - - - - |E - - - |E - C#7 - |
|F#m7 - - - |B7 - - - |E - A7 - |E/B - B7 - |

The melody is based on chord tones, often sliding into them from blues-scale notes. And sometimes chromatic slides on the chords too (eg F9 to E9).
So you need to know all your shapes for the above chords (especially partial ones around the middle of the neck), and how the blues scale fits around them, and resolves into them.

[El Duque]

thanks.

so learn chord shapes up and down esp. in the middle - get a chord book?
Is there an app for that lol? Dumb q. but how do you go about doing that. I get the basics but the partials etc.
and blues scales. I'm guessing there is more than one.....I will check into that.
then it all comes magically together - in a few years time?

seems so simple yet so complex at the same time. It sounds logical but I don't understand how it all blends together when you play. I'm sure it makes more sense when you put the time in.

Seems like everyone has a little different approach on how to go about it too.


I usually play fingerstyle - just learning the tune note for ( mechanical ) note.
Its fine for what it is but I don't really understand how it is put together. I guess Im at the point (after too many years) of wanting to know now.

Ive gone down this road (frustration) before but lost interest in just scales and chords.
For some reason this tune / performance has got me going for now.

I might need some more direction.

thanks

[PickinPaddler]

Hello El Duque,

Great video, thanks.

Have you ever seen the site http://justinguitar.com/en/BL-000-Blues.php ? You might find answers to your questions there.

Cary

[TBman]

The first note is usually the key of the song. Find it and then find the scale patterns that fit and off you go.

Hmm, he starts off playing a b on the 9th fret of the d string, but it does sound like its in E. This why I'm not a musician, lol.

[JonPR]

Originally Posted by El Duque

thanks.

so learn chord shapes up and down esp. in the middle - get a chord book?
Is there an app for that lol? Dumb q. but how do you go about doing that. I get the basics but the partials etc.

You know the CAGED system? Five shapes for every major chord, which overlap up the neck (in that order, C-A-G-E-D).
Partials can just be any 3 or 4 strings out of any of those shapes - normally strings 4-3-2, 3-2-1, 4-3-2-1, or 5-4-3-2.

Originally Posted by El Duque

and blues scales. I'm guessing there is more than one.....

Ah-ha! Some people say there is, but IMO there is only one blues scale. It's just that some of the notes move around...
Put another way, there IS one fixed blues scale (minor pent plus b5), but it's always combined with chord tones.
So some people like to talk about a "major blues" scale (major pent plus b3), but that's really just blues scale lining itself up more with the major chord tones.
Here's a chart to show how I think of blues scale and its relation to the usual 3 chords in a blues.:

BLUES SCALE: R           b3      4   b5  5           b7      R
.
             E       F#  G   G#  A   Bb  B       C#  D   D#  E
TONIC CHORD: 1   .   .   .   3   .   .   5   .   .   m7  .   1
BLUES SCALE: 1   .     <<b3>>    4 >b5< >5   .   . b7>>>>>>>>1
.                        
   IV CHORD: 5   .   .  m7   .   1   .   .   .   3   .   .   5  
BLUES SCALE: 1   .   .  <b3  .   4 >b5< >5   .   <<b7.   .   1
.                        
    V CHORD: .   .   5   .   .  m7   .   1   .   .   .   3   .  
BLUES SCALE:(1)  .   <<<<b3  .   4 >b5< >5   .   . b7>>>>>  (1)

The arrows show how the notes can move, to resolve to chord tones, or bend expressively away from them.

The way Juber is playing is he's connecting a lot more with chord tones, and using blues scale merely as chromatic approaches (usually from a half-step below). You hear him hit an E# note when the chord goes to C#. (Yes, "E#" is what you might call "F", but the context demands we call it E#, major 3rd of the C# chord.)

Originally Posted by El Duque

then it all comes magically together - in a few years time?

Yes. But not magically! Just through practice, and a lot of listening and copying.
Don't think about the long term, just stick with it, keep playing. You will steadily improve, in both technique and understanding, inevitably.
IOW, "in a few years time" you'll just be further down the road. You've heard the saying "it's about the journey, not the destination" (There is no destination. Except death I guess...)

Originally Posted by El Duque

seems so simple yet so complex at the same time.

Exactly! That's what makes blues so fascinating. A really simple set of basic rules, capable of almost infinite development and exploration.
To say it's "just a 12-bar", or "just blues scale" doesn't tell you how someone like B B King can do it for a lifetime and never get bored.

Originally Posted by El Duque

Seems like everyone has a little different approach on how to go about it too.

Yes. There is a standard, time-honoured formula or template, and every player builds on it in his/her own way - inspired by those before them, of course. IOW, it's a language (notes and phrases) in which everyone can say just what they want to say.

Originally Posted by El Duque

Ive gone down this road (frustration) before but lost interest in just scales and chords.
For some reason this tune / performance has got me going for now.

It's a great example of feel, of how effective restrained simplicity can be. It's in the spaces as well as in the notes. Ie, the phrasing.

[El Duque]

I just spent 1/2 hr and typed 2 longer responses and for some reason they went into the ether. so here is the short version. got to go but will be back.

JonPR

Thanks (!!!) for the awesome post. I will study it.

Tb. yeah I noticed that too. I would not have cared before.

Cary, thanks for the link. I ckd it some and I will be back for more.

hasta luego.

[larryb]

Originally Posted by El Duque

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCktCSAerhU
Soulful.
I like it. I want to learn it or something like it.
Any suggestions on how to go about it? I reckon I have to learn it by watching picking it out note for note.

I've learned solos doing that - listening to it over and over.
Chords not so much. Most of I can see/extrapolate except for the parts not on camera

I'm guessing this is a "simple" blues progression. what key - I have no idea.

I'm just getting into theory so not much good there.

thanks

PM me. I have spent the past year, on and off, tabbing this out and just finished it. Happy to share.

[vbakh]

Does the lick at 2:15 (right after double-stops) have any special name? How to play it? https://youtu.be/wCktCSAerhU?t=2m13s

[El Duque]

Hey Vlad,

I just checked LJ's website. No tab but He will be in Seattle Apr. 8.

You could ask him!

I am pondering it.

[JonPR]

Originally Posted by vbakh

Does the lick at 2:15 (right after double-stops) have any special name? How to play it? https://youtu.be/wCktCSAerhU?t=2m13s

No special name, AFAIK, but it's fairly common generic phrasing.
It's harmonised in 3rds, using chord tones and chromatic approaches. (Is that enough jargon for ya? )

      2                                   3                                  4
      A7                                  E7               (A7)              E
-----|-----------------------------------|-----------------------------------|-------
-/8--|/8----7--5-----7--5----------------|------------------------5-----7---6|5------
-/9--|/9----7-5h6----7--5h6----------5-6-|7--------------7--6-----6--6-------|-------
-----|------------7------------------4-5-|6--------------6--5----------------|-------
-----|-----------------------------------|-----------------------------------|-------
-----|-----------------------------------|-----------------------------------|-------
      1  .  .  2  .  .  3  .  .  4  .  .  1  .  .  2  .  .  3  .  .  4  .  .  1

(bars 2 and 3 of the 12-bar sequence)

[vbakh]

Cool, thanks a lot!

[El Duque]

JonPR
curious as to what you use to produce this little bit of tab.
wondering if there is something out there that I could download/buy/use.

Code:

2 3 4
A7 E7 (A7) E
-----|-----------------------------------|-----------------------------------|-------
-/8--|/8----7--5-----7--5----------------|------------------------5-----7---6|5------
-/9--|/9----7-5h6----7--5h6----------5-6-|7--------------7--6-----6--6-------|-------
-----|------------7------------------4-5-|6--------------6--5----------------|-------
-----|-----------------------------------|-----------------------------------|-------
-----|-----------------------------------|-----------------------------------|-------
1 . . 2 . . 3 . . 4 . . 1 . . 2 . . 3 . . 4 . . 1

(bars 2 and 3 of the 12-bar sequence)

this is going to be a lo...ng term project. I have the first 30 seconds so far(the easy part). I'm writing it out but the measures / timing isn't accurate - cause I don't know what I'm doing....! I am hoping I can learn as I go. I used to read music (about 50yrs ago ha). Is this 4/4 time?
I browsed a few vids on the caged system. very cool. I will be getting into that and the blues scale. I'm hoping I can kinda learn some of that stuff while I try to peck away (ask for help) on the piece.. I only have a couple hrs a day to play - if that. There is so much out there. I still want to learn tunes from tab.
Maybe its a little cart before the horse but the tune is what is motivating me to learn some of it - how/why is it put together etc.

thanks

[El Duque]

any idea how light those strings might be to get those bends?

I have light bronze. they don't bend like that. My non existent experience technique prob. doesn't help.