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Blues guitar book


jdriehuis

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Has anyone ever tried this book?

An Introduction To Blues Guitar Styles, Techniques And Improvisation ISBN: 9781902455914

 

I know it's written by a great teacher but does anyone know what's actually in the book? Does it use tab or only notes?

 

Any info is greatly appreciated.

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Just a tip, jdriehuis:

 

Books are great. I've got nothing against them. I use them to teach piano. Everyone learns in different ways.

 

BUT...

 

If you want to play blues how it was meant to be played, learn the E7, A7 and B7 chords and start playing.

Blues are not supposed to be methodical are make sense. It's all about the tone and soul. (just look at SRV.)

Get a couple good blues albums, learn to play some songs, improv along as you listen, and YOU WILL LEARN.

 

Good luck.

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I'm with SRV-Zeppelin. Jimi Hendrix once said: "Blues is easy to play, but hard to feel."

 

On a lighter note...

 

 

HOW TO SING THE BLUES

 

by Lame Mango Washington

(attributed to Memphis Earlene Gray with help from Uncle Plunky, revisions by Little Blind Patti D. and Dr. Stevie Franklin)

 

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

 

2. "I got a good woman" is a bad way to begin the Blues, 'less 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. Got teeth like Margaret Thatcher - and she weigh 500 pound."

 

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

 

5. Blues cars: Chevys and 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 an' state-sponsored 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 St. Paul or Tucson is just depression. Chicago, St. Louis, and Kansas City 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 cuz you skiing is not the blues. Breaking your leg cuz an alligator be chomping on it is.

 

9. You can't have no Blues in an 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. empty bed

d. bottom of a whiskey glass

 

Bad places:

 

a. Ashrams

b. gallery openings

c. Ivy League institutions

d. golf courses

 

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

 

12. Do you have the right to sing the Blues? Yes, if:

 

a. you're older than dirt

b. you're blind

c. you shot a man in Memphis

d. you can't be satisfied

 

No, 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 retirement plan or trust fund.

 

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

 

14. If you ask for water and Baby give you gasoline, it's the Blues.

 

Other acceptable Blues beverages are:

 

a. wine

b. whiskey or bourbon

c. muddy water

d. black coffee

 

The following are NOT Blues beverages:

 

a. mixed drinks

b. kosher wine

c. Snapple

d. sparkling water

 

15. If it 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 broken down cot. You can't have a Blues death if you die during a tennis match or getting liposuction.

 

16. Some Blues names for women:

 

a. Sadie

b. Big Mama

c. Bessie

d. Fat River Dumpling

 

17. Some Blues names for men:

 

a. Joe

b. Willie

c. Little Willie

d. Big Willie

 

18. Persons with names like Sierra, Sequoia, Auburn, and Rainbow can't sing the Blues no matter how many men they shoot in Memphis.

 

19. 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, Kiwi,etc.)

c. last name of President (Jefferson, Johnson, Fillmore, etc.)

 

For example, Blind Lime Jefferson, or Cripple Kiwi Fillmore, etc.

 

(Well, maybe not "Kiwi.")

 

20. I don't care how tragic your life: you own a computer, you cannot sing the blues. You best destroy it. Fire, a spilled bottle of Mad Dog, or get out a shotgun. I don't care.

 

Source: Analogman.com

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Just a tip' date=' jdriehuis:

 

Books are great. I've got nothing against them. I use them to teach piano. Everyone learns in different ways.

 

BUT...

 

If you want to play blues how it was meant to be played, learn the E7, A7 and B7 chords and start playing.

Blues are not supposed to be methodical are make sense. It's all about the tone and soul. (just look at SRV.)

Get a couple good blues albums, learn to play some songs, improv along as you listen, and YOU WILL LEARN.

 

Good luck.[/quote']

 

I know you're just trying to be helpful but those chords have been part of my chord vocabulary since well day 1 sort of speak. Have tons of blues albums but this book covers all styles from early chicago blues to the british blues peak and stuff like SRV. So it's mainly to learn some basics thought behind every style and then come up with stuff on my own. Having it all on paper explaining the general ideas is, and that's just my opinion, always helpful. Not that one way is better but I like the theory behind music.

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I'm with SRV-Zeppelin. Jimi Hendrix once said: "Blues is easy to play' date=' but hard to feel."

 

On a lighter note...

 

 

[b']HOW TO SING THE BLUES[/b]

 

by Lame Mango Washington

(attributed to Memphis Earlene Gray with help from Uncle Plunky, revisions by Little Blind Patti D. and Dr. Stevie Franklin)

 

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

 

2. "I got a good woman" is a bad way to begin the Blues, 'less 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. Got teeth like Margaret Thatcher - and she weigh 500 pound."

 

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

 

5. Blues cars: Chevys and 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 an' state-sponsored 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 St. Paul or Tucson is just depression. Chicago, St. Louis, and Kansas City 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 cuz you skiing is not the blues. Breaking your leg cuz an alligator be chomping on it is.

 

9. You can't have no Blues in an 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. empty bed

d. bottom of a whiskey glass

 

Bad places:

 

a. Ashrams

b. gallery openings

c. Ivy League institutions

d. golf courses

 

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

 

12. Do you have the right to sing the Blues? Yes, if:

 

a. you're older than dirt

b. you're blind

c. you shot a man in Memphis

d. you can't be satisfied

 

No, 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 retirement plan or trust fund.

 

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

 

14. If you ask for water and Baby give you gasoline, it's the Blues.

 

Other acceptable Blues beverages are:

 

a. wine

b. whiskey or bourbon

c. muddy water

d. black coffee

 

The following are NOT Blues beverages:

 

a. mixed drinks

b. kosher wine

c. Snapple

d. sparkling water

 

15. If it 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 broken down cot. You can't have a Blues death if you die during a tennis match or getting liposuction.

 

16. Some Blues names for women:

 

a. Sadie

b. Big Mama

c. Bessie

d. Fat River Dumpling

 

17. Some Blues names for men:

 

a. Joe

b. Willie

c. Little Willie

d. Big Willie

 

18. Persons with names like Sierra, Sequoia, Auburn, and Rainbow can't sing the Blues no matter how many men they shoot in Memphis.

 

19. 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, Kiwi,etc.)

c. last name of President (Jefferson, Johnson, Fillmore, etc.)

 

For example, Blind Lime Jefferson, or Cripple Kiwi Fillmore, etc.

 

(Well, maybe not "Kiwi.")

 

20. I don't care how tragic your life: you own a computer, you cannot sing the blues. You best destroy it. Fire, a spilled bottle of Mad Dog, or get out a shotgun. I don't care.

 

Source: Analogman.com

 

Genious. I'm saving this. . )

 

~note one eyed smiley in keeping with the theme~

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$20 go for it, anything that will make you better at guitar should be considered, and I mean anything...

 

Seriously, these days you should take advantage of any way you can learn.

 

I have a differe blues book, its the 101 riffs on all styles.

 

Just be ready for alternative tunings and tracks that will only sound good on a dobro...

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I don't know that book, but judging by the title you may also be interested in "The Sound and Feel of Blues Guitar", by John Tapella. It comes with a good CD. The book covers examples of many different styles of blues, and includes several examples that are much longer than simple licks. I like it a lot.

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Everyone has added great tips to blues. The only tidbit I offer, is expose yourself to where the music began, and learn it's history. I always learn where a certain musical style came from. One thing I did when I was stationed on Pensacola, FL, I took a trip through the "blues belt." I started in MS, and went as far as Austin, TX, stopping in small clubs or speaking with locals. I was learning about the different ways of "telling a little story," with different blues styles. There is more to it than just playing it.

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Everyone has added great tips to blues. The only tidbit I offer' date=' is expose yourself to where the music began, and learn it's history. I always learn where a certain musical style came from. One thing I did when I was stationed on Pensacola, FL, I took a trip through the "blues belt." I started in MS, and went as far as Austin, TX, stopping in small clubs or speaking with locals. I was learning about the different ways of "telling a little story," with different blues styles. There is more to it than just playing it.[/quote']

 

Not a lot of blues history in Holland but you're right that history is an important fact in learning a certain style. This book should cover it I hope.

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Not a lot of blues history in Holland but you're right that history is an important fact in learning a certain style. This book should cover it I hope.

 

Sorry for my ignorance, I was pointing out what I did. I am sure that book will cover a lot. Another book that I enjoyed was "Where the Blues Began" by the Lomax boys (I call 'em). They were the ones who recorded a lot of the blues performers (Son House, Robert Johnson, Leadbelly, et al) for the Smithsonian.

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