Scribd Logo
Upload

Welcome to Scribd!

  • The Blues Guitar Handbook - A Complete Course in Techniques and Styles (PDFDrive)

    Uploaded by

    naing aung soe
    2 views259 pages

    Original Title

    The Blues Guitar Handbook - A Complete Course in Techniques and Styles ( PDFDrive )

    Copyright

    © © All Rights Reserved

    Available Formats

    PDF or read online from Scribd

    Did you find this document useful?

    Is this content inappropriate?

    Report this Document

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF or read online from Scribd
    Flag for inappropriate content
    2 views259 pages

    The Blues Guitar Handbook - A Complete Course in Techniques and Styles (PDFDrive)

    Uploaded by

    naing aung soe

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF or read online from Scribd
    Flag for inappropriate content
    of 259
    Pras ae Css epee HANDBOOK Adam St. James SATALS GNV SANOINHD3L NI 3SYNOD 3137dWOD ahaa oe SP aloe ae Fea enc MLE ta tn) Tent ate ea oc Cee eee toa > Cee eae Se. cn pe een eo 5 we Dee Rta ae ee et) 4] Maa et ae oc core k ri Blues THE G urtar HANDBOOK Adam St. James The Blues Guitar Handbook ‘Adam St. James Tomy beau wie, Diane, and my wonder chiden, Austin and Amber, who went without me ‘many times during the writing ofthis Book, thankyou for your Tove and patience. ‘ABACKBEAT 800K Fest cen 011 Publis by Backbeat Books mga Hal Leona Corporation 777 est Buomound Rood wan, 55213 vwwnbacbeatbooks com ‘Devise and produced ior Backbeat Backs by uso Pass Le 2A Unon Cou, 20:22 Union ood, London SW 8 Ergad vw toneresscom Sen oret6t7130119 | catalogue reco forthe bookleavatable tom te ich ibrar “ert and music copyright © 2011 by Adar St James, Volume copyright 2011 by Outne Press Lis. A ‘gh esoned. No pao ths book may be reproduced in ary fom wtha.t wien perision, exces by ‘a revawer quoting bel passages in arevew, Fx more rlomstion you must cant! the pusher. DESIGN: Pau Cooper Design EDITOR: Jat Morr Porte by Evrbest Printing Co. i, ina srresa14ts 54921 Contents TE A aa Feed See ee) 50 blues guitarists you should know and hear 35 Brae Pom Cos ey EM ard Section 1: Getting started 46 Sea ee ee See et ene) DT) ‘Section 4: Blues rhythm guitar 87 eee ea a) Pec eer aed Se eee ue ed Cea CRU ao Seca Eee eed een eee eee} Pee etme ey Reena eee) Comer Discography 247 ee a ed Introduction ‘The story of the guitar in blues Te history of blues guitar is almost synonymous with the moder history of the guitar itself, Beginning in the early 1900s, blues guitar players laid the foun {guitar playing that followed. Jaz guitarists, country guitarists, and of course rock guitarsts—all ‘owe a huge debt of gratitude to the original blues pioneers of the early 20th century, Ie was these players—colorful characters suchas Robert Johnson, Blind Lemon Jetfeson, and Son House—who Drought not only their musieal genre, but the instrument itself, to the foreftont of popular attention and admiration, In the earliest days ofthe recording industry, blues recordings often sold as many asa milion ‘copies, and blues performers became widely known to the general public, Ia addition to the heartfelt, sometimes aching, but often joyous vocals of the early performers, it was the diving rhythms and plaintive cry ofthe blues gultar that captured the hearts and minds of would-be ‘musicians everywhere. The raw emotions ancl exbilarating musicianship pouring from their radios and Vietrolas inspite guitarists by the scot, sparking an intease in guitar sales never seen before. woul be dec the hysteria of The Beatles and early rock, that guitar cemented Its place as, arguably, the world's most popular instrument—but that trend began withthe blues. Of ‘course it didn't hurt that guitars were largely inexpensive, highly portable, and could serve as the ‘only accompaniment a vocalist would ever need ‘And those carly amateur blues vocalists had plenty to sing about. Long, hard days spent sweating tout inthe cotton felds of Mississipp, Arkansas, andl the “Delta” region of the southern United States certainly inspired them to pursue some sort of emotional release, and had many seeking an easier and more enjoyable way to make a living, For many early blues guitarists and performers, thei journey began simply as a weekend diversion to help them escape thelr lowly place in fe, and to gain atleast some level of notoriety that set them apart from ther fellow farm workers, It was a bonus that they might have earned a buck or two extra spening-csh at a plantation house party or local juke joint, [At the time, extreme poverty was the norm among many of those African-Americans who embraced the emerging blues guitar lifestyle. They largely subsisted on low incomes that they ‘might have earned doing back-breaking work picking cotton or building levees behind a mule- riven plow. Their place in life might have offered them more freedom than thelr enslaved ancestors of only a few generations befor, but they were taken advantage of in nearly every way by the landoseners for whom they worked. They may have been paid for ther labo, but thelr plantation landlord and his “company store" kept them as close to broke asa person could be. Fortunately, the music set them fre, figuratively at fist, and later—after thelr acclaim grew and they began to earn more playing gultar than working for “the big boss man”—auite literally. ton for nearly every style of es later, aft Introduction ‘The blues goes big-time Blues guitar was, in is tnfaney,peimatily local phenomenon —andl largely confined tothe black ‘community, It wasn't until the gen 8 few open-minded or forward-thinking individuals that blues took off. One of the key figutes in this occurrence is W.C. Handy (1473-1958), the Alabama-born and the musicians who pioneered it, were “discovered” by usie—and blues guitat—teuly professional musician now regarded asthe “Father of the Blues. Handy, a cornet player, was already a successful songwriter and full-time traveling musician of some acclaim when—as the story goes-—he happened across an unfortunately anonymous figure in a tain station at Tutwiler, Misssipp The lanky guitarist he stumbled upon was an early practitioner of slide guitar playing, and Handy immediately took notice of the haunting quality of the musi, with its early intimations of the Delta bie, Soom he began to work blues themes Into his own compositions, penning the eatly hts “Memphis Blues’ (1908), St, Lois Blues (1914), d ‘Beale Steeet Blues’ (1916), Partly through the success of these hugely popular songs, the blues genre rapidly gained the attention of the general public moving from a backwater musical style to become one lof the dominant musical forms of the modern era While Handy's groundbreaking recordings were achieving aeclaim, the nascent recording industry was beginning 10 take shape, and other arts-minded ‘entrepreneurs jumped into the business of making, o faclitating the making, of the music. Early recording studios sprang up in various locales, some liteally pay torplay operations of, in a sense, “starter studios”— places to audition, where working musicians could try their hand at cutting frst ecord (One such venture was fun by Henry “H.C.” spelt (1895-1972), a x Jackson, Mississippi, Jackson was the largest city inthe Delta, and though Spelr was white, his store was located ‘in a black neighborhood. Consequently, he had his. finger on the musical preferences of the locals. During, store owner om Farish Street in the 20s heyday of the classic blues er, Sper had been selling a noticeable quantity of blues records in his general merchandise store, By 1926 he had formed relationships with several record labels, and soon decided to installa metal dise machine to record demos of local musicians, Speir then sent recordings of the better artists off to established record labels. He soon became known as an expert talent scout with a knack for finding hit songs and noteworthy artists Naturally, blues musicians flocked to his store from near and far to take thelr shot at stardom. Speir was responsible for launching the carcers of many—if not most—of the Delt’s most celebrated blues guitarists, singers, and musicians, including Robert Johnson, Charlie Patton, and Som House, among others Introduction ‘The varying forms of early blues ‘With much credit due to Speis the Delta blues, In its most classi format—typically performed by 8 Tone guitarist/vocalist—enjoved great popularity from the late 20s through the 40s. Some of the caliest Delta blues recordings to gain notoriety featured Ishman Bracey and Tommy Johnson, who were recorded in 1928 by Vitor, a major record label. As “Race” records picked up sales—and record labels took notice—more and more major labels began searching for talent, and more and more Delta blues stylists found their way into recording studios. (Well explore Delta blues gular playing in detail in Section Eight of this book) At around the same time these early Delta blues practitioners and thei style of guitar playing ‘were guining aclaim, players away from the fertile soils of Mississippi and Arkansas took up the instrament and made a name for themselves too, But some guitarist alzcady had their own blues ‘Hing going, Texas gave us Blind Lemon Jefferson and Blind Wille Johnson. The highly influential Big Bll Broonzy, originally from Arkansas, moved to Chicago by 1920 and New York City by the carly 30s. And the Pedmont region, along the southern Atlantic Coast ofthe United States—feom ‘Virgina, through the Carolinas down to Georgia—chi as wel. ned in with several noteworthy blues artists These players in particular put their own spin on the music pouring out ofthe Delta and the sounds they heard during the femaledominated, band-driven classic blues era, “Piedmont,” oF “East Coast blues” artists such as Reverend Gary Davis, Barbecue Bob, Blind Wille McTell, Blind Blake, Blind Boy Fuller, Eta Baker, and Brownle McGhee achieved success and notoriety with thee covsn hit songs. Introduction 7 Unlike Delta blues guitar, which relied largely on a driving. shuifle rhythm and often featured slide guitar, Piedmont blues guitar playing borrowed liberally. from ragtime, 19th-century parlor guitar playing, and a banjo technique known as falling. The aunty Piedmont ythens, Punctuated by a constantly alternating bass line not found in most Delta blues guitar playing, worked well in a dance setting The Piedmont style also enjoyed its heyday between 1920 and 1940, with songs such as lind Boy Fuller’ ‘Step I Up And Go’ selling neatly half a million records (Well be covering Piedmont blues guitar playing—along with other important acoustic blues techniques—in Section Fight ofthis book.) ‘Tho now blues of the post-war period Together, the Delta and Piedmont musical movements inspiwed addtional guitarists and performers. As time ‘marched on, this acoustic or “country” blues style, often referred to as pre-war blues, began to evolve. Much of the change came about, in part, as a result of the Great Migration. tn a trend that had begun as ealy a6 1910, but gained momentum with the onset of World War Il, a many as seven million Afican-Amerians left the farms of the southern United States and headed! forthe big cities ofthe north, Many in the black community relocated to Chicag and Detroit, where jobs in the factories cranking out the machines of war were plentiul—and of course, the money was better as well. The change in setting brought about a change in sound too. Player such as John Lee Hooker, known to make a whole song out of one chord, and McKinley Morganfield, aka Muddy Waters—who was mentored ealyin his eageer by the ‘reat Son House—aunched their careers and scored major hits duting or shortly after World War 1. This postwar blues may have initially harkened back to Its Delta roots, but it cared the urgency of city: fe in its veins, Waters, in particular, soon took to recording not as a solo arist/voclist inthe Delta tradition, but with a kick-ass band. The acoustic blues soon gave way to a newer form: the electric blues. Ths new sound fit ‘well with the changing lifestyle ofthe population, from laid-back county living to up-tempo city dwelling. When radios started blasting out these new sounds, electric blues recordings started flying out of ecord stores, Introduction As families and friends told those they had left behind about all the big city had to otter, mote and more let the farming communities of the south, and musicians made the move too. During this mass migration, Chicago, Detroit, and Memphis seemed to land the most influential blues musicians and guitarist. As the 50s progressed, two brothers in Chicago, Phil and Leonard Czyz (soon renaming themselves Chess), seemingly comered the market on blues greatness with their record label, Chess Records was soon cranking out guitar-driven hit songs by 4 litany of names we now regard as legendary Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, Chuck Berry, and many others. (Section Nine of this book delves is Chicago oF 50s electric style of blues guitar playing) At the same time, Beale Street in downtown Memphis, Tennessee, became a hotbed of blues deeply into activity. Even today, this main drags a stone's throws from the Mighty Mississippi—features other, often with thre or four diferent bands cranking out the shuffles from before noon to well into the ealy hours, But what came first, the chicken of the egg? The scene, fone bus bar after ‘oF the player? Inthe eatly 505, Memphis was home to Delta slide stylist Bukka White, who, like many of his contemporaries in Memphis, Chicago, and other cities, performed during the day on street comers, busking fora few coins from passers-by. Soon his young cousin, Riley, would move 10 ‘Memphis from the farming region to try his hand in te loal blues seene—and he would become ts most renowned player. in fact Riley B, King’s nickname at the time was Heae Street Blues Boy hhence the stage name "B.B.” His 1952 hit, Thrce O'Clock Blues,’ originally recorded by Lowell Fulson in 1946, launched a remarkable recording

    You might also like