Very OT: Texas Blues Tips

Alpha579 · May 18, 2004, 02:22:16 AM

Hey all,
ive been playing guitar for 3 years now, practicing non stop, played tons infront of 1000 of my fellow schoolmates, won my high schools talent quest (in which i won it with a wild solo behind my head to Jimi's Hey Joe), and im in the first year of high school, and im pleased with how ive progressed, but im starting to get bored of firing around the pentatonc scale fast as heck. I want to learn to play some nice SRV style blues, but i dont know where to begin. Can anyone help me? Give me a starting point, or point me to a good website?
Thanx for any help,
Alex

gez · May 18, 2004, 04:09:45 AM

Personally, I'd go back and listen to some of the earlier blues guitarists, especially the ones SRV was influenced by. Plenty of transcription books exist and they all have TAB.

I'd recommend T-Bone Walker to get some snappier blues licks. Many scoff when they hear his playing as, compared to many modern players, it's 'technically lacking'. However, he's one of those guitarists whose licks sound great when under the fingers and you gain a lot more respect for the bloke when you've got a few under your belt. Easy to learn too! He's also the father of the 'modern' guitar style (huge influence on the next generation of guitarists).

http://www.io.com/~tbone1/blues/bios/tbone.html

Albert King was a huge influence on SRV. Hubert Sumlin too if I recall.

http://www.cascadeblues.org/History/AlbertKing.htm

http://www.hubertsumlinblues.com/biografy.html

Alpha579 · May 18, 2004, 04:48:39 AM

Cool, thanx for that. Does anyone have any ways of making me stop repeating myself. I seem to always play the same way, and it gets boring...

honza · May 18, 2004, 05:27:22 AM

Go to http://www.powertabs.net/. There are some really good tabs of SRV (and not only of him).

Honza

P.S. Don't forget to download the editing/playing software
http://www.power-tab.net/downloads.php

gez · May 18, 2004, 05:57:32 AM

QuoteTraditional (Celtic) - %^&* Up Your Beaver Cap

Reminds me of that other poignant Celtic ballad 'Lick My Love Pump'

george · May 18, 2004, 08:16:51 AM

Quote from: Alpha579Cool, thanx for that. Does anyone have any ways of making me stop repeating myself. I seem to always play the same way, and it gets boring...

maybe it's time to learn to sing ... all your guitar heros sang, right?

repetition never hurt anyone - check out Neil Young's Cinnamon Girl solo. I don't recall that repetition stopped Elmore James from getting famous ...

anyway who's getting bored? you or your audience? Probably 90% of the time people don't want anything original anyway

Know any Metallica?

RDV · May 18, 2004, 08:18:13 AM

The SRV stuff is mostly just variations on the same pentatonics that you're probably already doing. But with a different feel, and tuned down a half-step with big ass strings(try a 12 or 13 little E to a 52 or 56 big E).

Albert King is a good place to start.

RDV

RDV · May 18, 2004, 08:25:36 AM

A little OT for this thread but; A good person to try to emulate for a little something different is Pink Floyd's David Gilmour. I've found that his stuff can work on many different styles of music and is probably my greatest influence. This web page(my band's) below will play a tune where I play a combination of SRV & Davd Gilmour licks through both solos. Check it out(be patient, you'll have to sit through some of my singer's self-absorbed lyrics first :wink: ).

http://www.theintention.com/the_band

Regards

RDV

RDV · May 18, 2004, 08:28:00 AM

Quote from: gezReminds me of that other poignant Celtic ballad 'Lick My Love Pump'

In D/minor, the saddest of all keys.

RDV

petemoore · May 18, 2004, 09:36:59 AM

Write songs with only 2 or 3 notes in them. The lyrics should cause slight inflections in the music.
John Lee Hooker is a master of this.
By slightly altering the timing, or even reversing the order, you find all kinds of the 'inbetween's of those 2-3 notes.
Play very slowly...add timing inflections. Think about stuff like wrongful deaths, hangovers, lost love, the woman that teaches you stuff you didn't want to know...like that. One of the main tricks is to maintain a simple riff, while morphing it slightly to 'fit' the lyrics.
Miles Davis: "Play like you don't know how to play".
Play like you've just walked 5 miles with nothing but a bag leg and a hangover, and you see no end in sight...

Lonestarjohnny · May 18, 2004, 11:45:58 AM

Honza, That's a very cool site, thank's for showing it to us, if I would had stuff like this when I was a Teen I'd now be livin in Graceland, LOL !,
JD

cd · May 18, 2004, 12:50:57 PM

You need to listen to some Albert King!!! He was SRV's prime influence, first time you'll listen to his stuff and go HUH?!? who's this slow playing fat guy? but just TRY to duplicate some of his licks. Damn near impossible.

gez · May 18, 2004, 01:05:20 PM

I took my mum to see Albert King once (how rock and roll is that?!). Widdle meister Walter Trout was his backup and I wasn't the only one in the audience whose eyes glazed over after a few numbers. When Albert came on he said more in the first few seconds of his playing that old Walt had during his entire set.

Even my mum thought he sounded wonderful (she thinks anything 'modern' is just noise). What he 'lacked' in technique he made up for in feel. The most popular guitarists all have one thing in common, they're all good communicators and King was definitely among them.

Rain Dog · May 18, 2004, 01:33:41 PM

You need and I mean NEED to own or at least view the SRV Live at El Macambo. I believe this is the defining masterpiece of a Texas Blues performance.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/6305019681/qid=1084901168/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/102-5794415-9844126?v=glance&s=dvd

I'd also like to suggest two from Johnny Winter. Progressive Blues Experiment from @ 1968 and Guitar Slinger from early 80's. The Blues Experiment is Resnophonic Slide in the hands of a master. The Guitar Slinger is "shredder's blues". You think Eddy and that Malmstein guy were fast, check out Johnny's 80's material.

StephenGiles · May 18, 2004, 01:55:56 PM

Try to get hold of an old Cream bootleg called Renovating the Blues. On it you will find in appalling quality Eric Clapton at his peak. One man, one Gibson Les Paul and one Marshall amp. Listen and learn!

bwanasonic · May 18, 2004, 02:00:53 PM

The best exercise you can do to avoid repetition is to use your ears, and listen to a wide variety of music.

Lightning Hopkins
Albert King
Albert Collins
T-Bone Walker
Gatemouth Brown
Guitar Slim (!!)
Johnny Guitar Watson

is the short list of where to start for *Texas* Blues. Guitar Slim's solo on "Things I Used To Do" is a great lesson on telling a story with a solo. "Lonely, Lonely Nights" by Johnny Guitar Watson shows what you can do with just one note. Watson's solos on his later *disco* era tunes like "Real Mother For Ya" are great too. Don't limit yourself to a narrow style of music though. You will find that many good musicians listening habits involve a wide range of music. As far as learning the blues from tab... hmmm :roll: . The blues is *in between the notes* and does not translate well to tab. Listen, listen, listen...

Kerry M

Rain Dog · May 18, 2004, 02:00:54 PM

Quote from: StephenGilesTry to get hold of an old Cream bootleg called Renovating the Blues. On it you will find in appalling quality Eric Clapton at his peak. One man, one Gibson Les Paul and one Marshall amp. Listen and learn!

That's probably a good one but I usually don't put Clapton in the Texas Blues camp.

Bill_F · May 18, 2004, 02:24:42 PM

Quote from: Alpha579Cool, thanx for that. Does anyone have any ways of making me stop repeating myself. I seem to always play the same way, and it gets boring...

I think this is something everybody has to work hard at.

Try playing to different kinds of music than you normally do. Work through the frustration as it forces your lead rythms and voicings to be different.

Also, try playing with different tones that bring about a different feel. Want a real challenge? Try playing clean! :shock: Turn the distortion off and force yourself to play licks that sound good without all the noise hiding things.

We grow by finding things that challenge us. I like a new lick that I can't play, because I realize that tackling that is the path to getting better. If I only stick with those things I can do I'll never advance.

Just my two cents,
Bill

Steve C · May 18, 2004, 02:48:06 PM

Best thing to do is learn the some basic blues progressions, and learn how to play by ear. Blues is a lot of licks and phrasing. Like anything you'll get better with time. Listen to what you want to learn.

Eb7+9 · May 18, 2004, 02:58:57 PM

Quote from: Rain DogYou need and I mean NEED to own or at least view the SRV Live at El Macambo. ... I'd also like to suggest two from Johnny Winter. Progressive Blues Experiment from @ 1968.

I heartily second that !! ... was just listening to PBE yesterday - one of my faves ... SRV at the El-cambo doesn't have one bum note in the whole show - simply killer

I got a bootleg video of Johnny playing Toronto in the early 80's with John Paris doing great bass and harp stuff and an awesome wild-double-kick drummer who's name I can't remember ... wow !! ... that stuff sure sets a high standard for a three piece ... at one point Johnny's using what looks like a Vibration Technology "Phasor Twin" transistor amp and it sounds awesome ... (** anyone got the schematic for it ??! **)

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Very OT: Texas Blues Tips