HOW TO DREAM ABOUT PLAYING ELECTRIC BLUES GUITAR
according to Delta Del

There are a million music teachers, and books and DVDs and websites out there authored by serious teachers. Investigate them thoroughly. Meanwhile here is a rambling introduction for beginner wannabe B.B.'s to the art, and/or business, of bending strings and ears ....

The fact that most blues songs follow the same simple structure/chord sequence gives you freedom to improvise with phrasing, timing, lyrics etc., using familiar patterns within a secure framework. The blues feels like home to a lot of musicians, including yours truly. And a funky kinda home it is too. Blues is (and always better be) funky as fuck. So the lead instrument should contribute to the GROOVE of the number through the TIMING and shape of phrases. If you're plannin on tellin them same old stories with them same old notes, it really does come down to the WAY you tell em. A sense of swing or funk is as important as the ability to make the instrument sing or squawk. Tone and technology (e.g. overdriven valve amps) and techniques of playing, especially string bending, might take care of the squawkin side of things. The seventh sense is not so easily dealt with, but prolonged exposure to old-skool African-American music cant do no harm.

Music is history. The solo instrument in blues is often used to underline the emotional force of the story being told. The guitar might echo, mimic or extend the sung phrase in a call-and-response pattern which came straight from the hold of those stinking ships. [If there's anybody out there who doesn't know what ships we're talkin bout, baby you better click here quick.] In an improvised solo, the guitar may get to go places most human voices cant go. But the soloist should probably try not to lose touch with the idea of an emotive 'vocal' performance. And none of us should ever lose sight of exactly where this amazing music came from.

1. LISTEN

Listen to the teachers. They were beginners too. Listen to the originals, those who shaped and defined electric blues guitar styles and sounds. Listen to John Lee Hooker, T-Bone Walker, B.B. King, Freddie King, Albert King, Albert Collins, Buddy Guy, Jimi Hendrix. Listen to them at their best, which is almost always in their early years. Listen to the bands, the grooves, not just the solo licks. Listen to the great rhythm guitarists (like Robert Jnr Lockwood) playing behind people like Little Walter. Listen to Little Walter too.

Everything you actually need to know about electric blues guitar had been recorded by September 18th 1970. But listen to as much blues as possible, check its many forms, absorb the history, check the contemporary scene, identify your favourite players and steal their licks. And why be seduced by the speed and flash of the many great rock-blues players out there when the original bluesmen can do it with one note. Keepin it real simple works. If it's timed right and sounds sweet (or insane), one note is all you need.

When you start playing with other musicians, listen closely and connect yourself to their playing. A good drummer can teach you more about blues than most guitarists. James Brown can teach you more about blues than Gary Moore. Blues is the mother of all groove, and a distant, embarrassed cousin of rock histrionics (sorry Ga).

Blues is not the slow, downbeat music often seen as typifying the genre. (So many slow blues, so little time!) Blues is, and always was, about dancing too, especially in its soul /r n b/ jump forms. And blues at any tempo is about groove and timing, about feel and energy and power ... and all this starts with the rhythm section, the bass and drums. They are more important than you, the guitarist. As a lead instrument, you may get the glory. But you are the icing, they are the cake. Too much icing, and not enough cake, makes a body feel sick. That's the blues.

2. GET A SOUND

With a great sound (and great timing, and a cool band!) you only need that one note. It's a fact. At a concert in London in 1972, schoolboy Derek saw the great Texas blues guitarist Freddie King. He came onstage after his band had played two jumpin funk/blues instrumentals displaying a kind of magically casual swing-groove ability the like of which this pimply youth had not previously heard. The band hit another dynamite boogie rhythm, Mr. King strolled onstage, picked up his ES345, slung it over one shoulder, grinned like he knew something we didn't, and hit what is still the best single note I ever heard. The rest of the concert, and the rest of my adult concert-going life, was a disappointment in comparison to the first sweet screamin insane note I heard a serious electric blues guitarman play. That's the blues.

All the great electric players share common qualities among their distinctively individual guitar sounds. These qualities of warmth, power, sustain, attack etc. mimic the human voice in full flight. That's what this music is about. Our hearts beat, we stomp and howl. Before we know it, we got the blues.

There are ways to get these classic blues guitar sounds, or to get close to them. If you get a cheap guitar, consider fitting a high-class pickup. But rule one is... get a valve powered amp.

There is no substitute. Dont believe the hype about digital modelling etc etc. Valves are unpredictable, they look like some crazy thing from a 1930's Frankenstein movie, they are ALIVE, and so are the sounds they make. Valve amps sound best when they are workin hard, set everything on 10, then back off a little of what you dont need. Like screeching treble, which may sound fine on max until you kick in the good old analogue fuzz pedal and then the whole sound collapses into ugly clipped feedback. Sweet, controlled feedback is another of the valve amp's greatest sounds, and controlling it is an art in itself. Refer to Jimi. Frequently.

For bedroom practice purposes only, you could try modern effects or those digital amp simulations. Your aim should be to approximate the sound of an overdriven valve amp at civilised volumes, because even a 10watt valve amp sounds insanely loud in a bedroom, especially if its a good quality model cranked up to get that fat singin' sound. And it matters that you can get your kicks in the bedroom. It's a lot easier to get a good, fat sound with your valve amp cranked up and a rhythm section jumpin in the rehearsal room, but even the bedroom practice sound of your guitar should be so cool that it makes you wanna play it all day and all nite just to hear it sing, even if you have to listen to its song on headphones. And even if you only know three chords and as many notes, with a cool sound (and a little timing), you can hit the blues spot early on.

But if you use digital trickboxes to get a good headphone/bedroom sound, leave them under the bed when the van comes to pick you and your old valve amp up for that rehearsal.

More sound rules ...

Keep it real simple.

If you use effects, get analogue. Before you buy the latest must-have digital multi-effects module, check which effects the great original bluesmen used. As a blues player, you need ONE great sound of your own, not a million instantly footswitchable retro replications.

Your sound is in your head and your hands, your equipment just amplifies and transmits it.

You will never be satisfied, the quest for the perfect sound has no end. That's the electric guitarman blues.

3. PRACTICE

The more time you spend practicing, the faster you will learn. Thats fact number one. Jam with your favourite albums, record yourself, sing even if you cant. It aint all about scales. Its never about scales! Fact number two ... playing with other musicians is the best way of improving your ability while having maximum fun. Blues is not about virtuosity or knowledge of theory, it's about live communication of energy and feeling, that's the cool part. And timing is everything. Refer to your drummer. Frequently. He is the man. Unfortunately.

Practice every day, and get a little structure into your learning. It doesnt matter about knowing the names of scales or the notes in them, but you must know the shapes, the box patterns you can use and move around the fretboard and link together and use in different keys. How does that string bend fit in to the box patterns? How could you move it to a different string to get a fatter sound, or make it easier to play, and still be playing in the same key? A little bit of organisation helps store stuff in your memory, gives you somewhere to bolt the new stuff onto.

And this stuff takes TIME. If you are too lazy or too busy to pick up your guitar every day, and regularly play it for extended periods, buy a new Playstation instead of a new guitar. Once you start this game there's ALWAYS another level. You can decide not to go there if you're having fun where you are, but you'll always know that there is another level, and maybe you could get there if you tried. And blues is more than just level one, the original mothership connection. The blues is on every level of music. Without the qualities that matter in blues playing, (timing, feel, richness of tone, passion etc etc), any kinda music is shite. The blues is the beginning and the middle and the end of the game.

according to

Delta Del