Izzy Posted November 14, 2013 Share Posted November 14, 2013 I know I should like blues and that because blues is an antecedent to rock it is just WRONG not to like it if you like, say...punk or metal.....but I just can't like most of it. Yes, I like some Joplin songs and Led Zep is said to be blues, I think, I don't know, maybe they're posers. Heck, even SRV gets boring after two songs (I'm going straight to hell for that). Frankly...I prefer country (lord help my Texan ways). Not to say I don't know two blues songs and enjoy when I play 'em, but I'd rather spend hours on punk and rock and pop either listening or playing. Well, at least I sort of understand blues. Funk just makes me confused and anxiety takes me when I try to play it. Seriously, funk guitar is damn near impossible to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quapman Posted November 14, 2013 Share Posted November 14, 2013 I know I should like blues Izzy,, who told you you have to like blues? You don't have to like a damn thing you don't want to like. Don't let the purists get in your head like that. That's just silly girl. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milod Posted November 15, 2013 Share Posted November 15, 2013 Quap... I think "purists" is part of the problem. There is no "pure" in blues. That's part of what makes it blues. It's as in the 1926 song "birth of the blues." it notes, "From a whippoorwill Way up on a hill, They took a new note, Pushed it through a horn, Until it was worn Into a blue note>" See any guitar references? Nope. Izzy, Country? Randy Travis did "birth of the blues," with Willie as I understand. There's no question in my mind about so much crossover in the early years of recorded music that the genetics are part of doggone nearly everything anybody plays in any "popular" music style. "Pure?" About as pure as we are, except "we" so often think "we" are playing this or that "pure" music and it ain't. "Muleskinner Blues?" Whence came that one? What too of Leadbelly doing basically the same piece done by Bill Monroe on a girl whose husband died in a train wreck, head found in the drivers wheel? I think "we" nowadays get a bit "up" on definitions. Frankly I don't consider much of any of the post 1963 "rock bands" as playing anything resembling "blues" as I was introduced to both acoustic and electric blues in the '50s. Why? There's more "pop" in it, but... maybe that's all part of how "we" shouldn't think of "purity" but rather how all of us are influenced by so many experiences that none of us are simply playing the material great grandpa played - and even then, he was listening to published music too, and influenced by many styles. m Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charlie brown Posted November 15, 2013 Author Share Posted November 15, 2013 Well, that's a bit different (but related) discussion. I don't know, if you could consider ANY genre, "pure!" It's all had every other style, incorporated, or at least been influenced by. So, what IS "Pure?" And...Who Cares?!! CB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rct Posted November 15, 2013 Share Posted November 15, 2013 Heck, even SRV gets boring after two songs (I'm going straight to hell for that). Naahh. We used to do one of mine, Floodin Us With Texans. A song about blooz jamz and all the kimonos and hats and Supers and the pretentious, arrogant punks that played the same chainsaw "texas blues" licks in every song. Uncannily similar to the other Flooding song. Always went over big, some of us guitar players aren't the only people that would be just fine not hearing him ever again. I might still put it on a record one of these days. rct Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PartsPvt Posted November 15, 2013 Share Posted November 15, 2013 I know too, that I need to learn some more musical vocabulary, for sure! Not playing for 30+ years, forgetting what I used to know, and having to try to recapture all that, and then what transpired since...a lot of which seems way beyond my (still) meager capabilites, is always a challange. So... I have a LOT of work, to do, just to get back to "ordinary!" "Blues" related, or otherwise. I feel like that old saying: "He who can, does...he who can't buys more guitars!" CB Well Charlie I guess we are living something similar. I made my living working the guitar..severe Music biz burnout..put them away for 30 YEARS also. Now back about a year/ I find recording and posting to a music site pushes me forward. I may never be anything like I was..but some nights..it seems ok..and gives this old guy a smile.. Never been shy..so.. This is me now.. docc aka PartsPvt Just Audacity a free DAW..a cheap M Audio M Track..and some old fingers.. It sure the hell is fun.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pippy Posted November 15, 2013 Share Posted November 15, 2013 ...Heck, even SRV gets boring after two songs (I'm going straight to hell for that).... I Laughed. Long and Loud! Thanks for that, Izzy! Naahh. We used to do one of mine, Floodin Us With Texans. A song about blooz jamz and all the kimonos and hats and Supers and the pretentious, arrogant punks that played the same chainsaw "texas blues" licks in every song. Uncannily similar to the other Flooding song. Always went over big, some of us guitar players aren't the only people that would be just fine not hearing him ever again. I might still put it on a record one of these days... I'd like to hear that, rct! I can hear the first line already........lol! It's odd; perhaps because we 'over here' haven't been flooded inundated with SRV clones/wannabe's in the same way as I expect might be the case over your side of the pond we can still enjoy hearing the man play and it's still relatively fresh and his style is still almost 'unique' to him. P. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quapman Posted November 15, 2013 Share Posted November 15, 2013 It's odd; perhaps because we 'over here' haven't been flooded inundated with SRV clones/wannabe's in the same way as I expect might be the case over your side of the pond we can still enjoy hearing the man play and it's still relatively fresh and his style is still almost 'unique' to him. P. Kinda the same up here as well. I saw him live in 84 where a kid from our high school backed him up. That kid is now Colin James and that was the first night of his career. But that's another story. I was only 23 when I saw Stevie. And he pretty much blew me away. Then came all the clones. I didn't buy into any of them. None of the others ever really caught on up here. At least not with anyone I knew. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saturn Posted November 15, 2013 Share Posted November 15, 2013 Kinda the same up here as well. I saw him live in 84 where a kid from our high school backed him up. That kid is now Colin James and that was the first night of his career. But that's another story. Yeah, I saw Colin James in a little bar in Fells Point in about 1988 or 89'. He tore that place up! About the best "bar" show I've ever seen besides maybe Kix back in the day. But that's another story too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charlie brown Posted November 15, 2013 Author Share Posted November 15, 2013 Well, I'd love to play as well as SRV, Clapton, Hendrix, etc. They've forgotten more, than I'll ever know. For me, it may well just boil down to being "bored" with my own playing, right now, more than any particular style, or genre? I just need to acquire some "new tricks", for this old dog! CB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milod Posted November 15, 2013 Share Posted November 15, 2013 cb... try fingerpickin. Then try fingerpickin' in C starting at the 5th fret. <grin> m Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lu Ruello Posted November 15, 2013 Share Posted November 15, 2013 Been playing, and listening to "the Blues," for decades. They comfort, and inspire me, more often than not. Still, like a lot of roots, or "formula" music ("Rock" included), they can tend to get just a bit "stale," now and then. How do YOU keep it "fresh?" Do you write your own lyrics, and freshen them up, that way? Do you incorporate "big band" treatments, instrumentation, or, do you go the opposite, and pair things down, to bare minimum. Or, all of the above, in various combinations? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLTEJQJqGik What's your feelings, and/or secrets (if any), on/for "The Blues!" CB I got onto the blues later in my music life. I started writing country tunes at first. Now I think I've managed to combine pop, rock, blues and country into one song at times. The blues really opened my eyes to playing with soul. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charlie brown Posted November 15, 2013 Author Share Posted November 15, 2013 cb... try fingerpickin. Then try fingerpickin' in C starting at the 5th fret. <grin> m Yeah, I do a little "Fingerpicking" now...but, I'd really like to do more, AND learn "Nashville picking" as well. But, I'm not at all convinced I'm "coordinated" enough, to allow for that? So much to learn, still...so little time, left. CB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milod Posted November 15, 2013 Share Posted November 15, 2013 CB... I think for me the fingerpicking is actually easier than flatpicking anything much more complex than a bit of bluegrass or old time fiddle tunes. I "think" in chord structures rather than notes, if that makes any sense. Currently I'm doing a rebuild of what I do, too - more work up the neck, more bass runs along the lines but far less rich or well timed as Pass. As has been said, when I quit learning I hope to have my study switch to be of roots of grass more than grassroots... m Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RevDavidLee Posted November 15, 2013 Share Posted November 15, 2013 Here's some fun quotes regarding the blues. Enjoy! http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/blues.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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