The MLP Blues Guitar Course

[hank49]

Originally Posted by sliding tom

For the IV chord we’ll use the open position C7 shape that most will be familiar with moved to the 5 th postion:



The same shape moved up two frets will make our V chord:






Get acquainted with these chord shapes and voicings in several different positions on your fingerboard so you can easily finger them comfortably for different keys.

How and when does the 2nd and 3rd chords change to where the B string is played on the same fret as the key not (in this case 5th and 7th frets)? Both are very bluesy sounding chords. I was taught to use the 5th fret years ago but lately am playing the B string two frets down from the key note. (SRV seems to use this chord more)

[sliding tom]

Originally Posted by Sony Oengui

Learned something new today... Thanks! Do you think you could eventually go into 9th or even "higher ranked" chords and when/how to use them?

Coming soon in this theater!

[sliding tom]

Originally Posted by hank49

How and when does the 2nd and 3rd chords change to where the B string is played on the same fret as the key not (in this case 5th and 7th frets)? Both are very bluesy sounding chords. I was taught to use the 5th fret years ago but lately am playing the B string two frets down from the key note. (SRV seems to use this chord more)

I'm not exactly sure if I understand you right but think that you are talking about 9th chords. Those will be covered here very soon.

[sliding tom]

Asking for a little patience from you all - I'm deeply involved with some personal matters right now, so I have little time to work on the next parts. Might be a little slow in the next couple weeks. O.K.? It's not over!

[River]

Take your time, Tom. Good things come to them that waits.

[sliding tom]

Thanks, river!

[sliding tom]

Hopefully everybody who has followed me so far is quite comfortable with the pentatonic scale in its basic position by now. There are several ways to explore the various possibilities of blues guitar lead playing. I will stick to the pentatonic for a while and add notes to it as we progress, because it’s a good way of building up from a simple and easily understandable basis and will introduce a more sophisticated way of looking at things later in the proceedings.
This time we will add two notes to the pentatonic scale: the 6 and the 9. They are positioned on the same fret (7 th in the key of A) on adjacent strings b and e. (red dots)
Here’s the graph:






This is T.Bone Walker territory. He rarely ventured outside of this “box” except for some cool chord arpeggios to spice up his solos. He also didn’t bend his strings as much as we are used to hear and play today. When bending, he mostly bent the 4 (7 th fret G string) a half step up into the b5, but he incorporated the 6 and 9 a lot, giving his lead playing a very cool “uptown” sound.
T.Bone is the “father” of electric blues guitar, comparable to Charlie Christian in the jazz world. The influence of both men can still be heard in the playing of modern-day guitarists in their respective musical fields.

Here’s a cool clip from 1966:

YouTube - T-Bone Walker w/ Jazz At The Philharmonic - Live in UK 1966

YouTube - T-Bone Walker w/ Jazz At The Philharmonic - Live in UK 1966

In our next installment I'll show you what chord voicings sound best with this style of playing, meanwhile the dominant 7th chords above work great, too.

[fatb0t]

Cool vid, I like his usage sliding a min7dim5 in between the 7th chords. I never listened to this cat very much, but perhaps I should.

[mikemack]

Great thread

[sliding tom]

Hi, since tab will be included here and there from now on, you need either powertab or tuxguitar software to be able to open the attached files. Both are freeware. I don't have any experience with tuxguitar but powertab is a great freeware to produce guitar tabs, play them back via MIDI, print them out in pro quality etc.

Here' sthe download links:

Power Tab .net - Download Center

.:: TuxGuitar ::. Open Source Tablature Editor :: TuxGuitar

[sliding tom]

For playing in T.Bone Walker (or generally uptown) style we will employ 9th chord voicings. A 9th chord is an extension (adding the 9th of the appropriate scale) of a dominant 7th chord. I’m not going into theory here - there is enough material around here that addresses the topic of chord construction, but if you have any specific questions, please feel free to post them in the Q & A thread. I’d rather give you the fingerings to play them. Let’s move to the key of G.
Here’s our tonic chord, G9:
(actually this would be called a G9/B - “G9 over B” = means a G chord with a B (3rd) in the bass)




The IV chord C9:




The V chord D9:




In the attachment you will find a tab in typical T.Bone Walker chord comping style. It’s not a note for note transcription of “Stormy Monday”, rather a generic accompaniment in this style with the fundamental elements you’ll find in T.Bone’s playing incorporated. Notice the opening chords: D 7 and D# 7 and the cool arpeggiated D aug.

[River]

Great stuff, Uncle T!

The augmented arpeggio is the best "leave 'em hanging" trick in the book, IHMO.

[sliding tom]

Originally Posted by River

The augmented arpeggio is the best "leave 'em hanging" trick in the book, IHMO.

Indeed! Keeps you on your toes, thinking: "now what's next?"

[sliding tom]

A neat variation on playing 9th chords

I have shown you the fingerings most often used for playing 9th chords in blues. Off course, these grips are interchangeable. If you like the sound of one of them better over the other, you can either stick with one of the forms and move it around the neck or choose the one derived from the C form as your tonic and the other one for the subdominant and dominant. I do this all the time -whatever sounds best for the respective tune.

Now here’s a neat little variation that is sparse backup and embellishment at the same time: playing only two notes out of each 9th chord, sliding them up two frets and going back again to their root postion . (Note: there’s no 9 in any of these fingerings but I refer to them as 9th because they are part of the 9th chords shown above). These licks work great in lead playing, too. You can also mix and match - play the slides as single notes and then go into full or partial chords with more than just the two notes. Experiment!

[River]

What fingering do you recommend for the last beat of that riff?

[sliding tom]

Middle for the lower and ring finger for the higher string on both voicings is the most comfortable in my book.

[River]

Originally Posted by sliding tom

Middle for the lower and ring finger for the higher string on both voicings is the most comfortable in my book.

That's the ticket!

Another reason I love taking lessons - oft times the most obvious fingering solutions escape me. I have to be shown.

[sliding tom]

Originally Posted by River

I have to be shown.

No problem - I wish I would've had somebody show me stuff when I needed it.

[sliding tom]

“Call It Stormy Monday”, as the tune that T.Bone Walker is most associated with, is originally called, put him on the map as a solo recording artist, when it was released in 1947 and reached # 5 on the R & B charts. The title was often shortened to “Stormy Monday “ which caused some confusion and cost T.Bone some cut into his royalties which often went to a different tune, “Stormy Monday Blues”, sung by Billy Eckstine and released a couple of years earlier (in 1942, I believe). Anyway, “Call It Stormy Monday” didn’t become a blues standard until Bobby “Blue” Bland recut it in 1962 with the great Wayne Bennett on guitar and pretty much cut the defining and most covered version of it. The arrangement was changed a bit around with a more sophisticated jazz-like chord progression and this version became the one that would be played whenever the song would be covered in later years - from weekend warrior bar bands to The Allman Brothers Band who recorded a great version for their Fillmore live album where Greg Allman even announced it as “an old Bobby Blue Bland tune…. actually it’s a T.Bone Walker song.” Even T.Bone Walker used these chord changes when playing his own tune in later years. Back to the Bobby Bland recording: the guitarist on this session was the great Wayne Bennett and you couldn’t imagine a better player to breathe a whole new life into this tune and almost making it his own. If you have a chance, you definitely need to give it a listen. Many years later blues harp maestro James Cotton recorded the song - again with Wayne Bennett on guitar. At that time “Stormy Monday” (as was its generally accepted title by then) was already a horse beaten to death, but Cotton and especially Mr. Bennett did such a great job it’s simply irresistible to listen to.
In the attachment to this post you will find a tab that follows the Bobby Bland arrangement. The opening is pretty much the same as the one before, only I have changed the D7 and D#7 chords to only three notes, because these are being emphasized in the playing of Mr. Bennett. Also the IV and V chords are being approached from only a half step above instead of a full step. You can play them either way, though and feel free to mix and match elements of both versions (and the single note variation above, which you can hear The Allmans do) to create your own variations.
For playing lead you can again use the pentatonic with added 6 and 9.

[sliding tom]

The other day I found some great clips from a Bobby "Blue" Bland show with Wayne Bennett that I actually attended when I was in Chicago in 1981. Enjoy one of the best R & B singers you could possibly think of (BTW - the other guitarist is Mr. Mel Brown - another great):

YouTube - Bobby Blue Bland - Live In Chicago 1981-(Part 1 of 3)

YouTube - Bobby Blue Bland - Live In Chicago 1981-(Part 1 of 3)

YouTube - Bobby Blue Bland - Live in Chicago 1981 (2 of 3)

YouTube - Bobby Blue Bland - Live in Chicago 1981 (2 of 3)

YouTube - Bobby Blue Bland - Live In Chicago (3 of 3)

YouTube - Bobby Blue Bland - Live In Chicago (3 of 3)

[River]

Tom - in the Stormy Monday Bland-style tab, is the first chord in the 9th measure a Dm6? That's giving me fits. What's your suggested fingering?

[sliding tom]

Hi, river and everybody else: been away for a couple days -that's why the late reply. No, it's not a Dm6, it's a G7. I had introduced the voicing here (first chord):

The MLP Blues Guitar Course

Are you using TuxGuitar to open up the files? Tuxguitar doesn't show all the information contained in my ptb files like chord names above the chart. I strongly suggest to download and install powertab software to be able to see everything that's in my tabs.

[WhippingPost]

Finally sat down and read this thread...

Great stuff! Looking forward to the next installment!

[axslinger]

Originally Posted by sliding tom

A few notes on solo playing

First of all… I don’t like the concept of “soloing” much. Are you playing “solo”? Solo means alone. But when you’re playing a solo while playing with a band you’re not playing alone - you’re playing with a couple of other musicians, either backing you up or better still: playing with you. I’d rather like to see it as an instrumental section in a song where one instrument ( the guitar in your case) just takes the lead voice. So consider your “musical backup” not just as something that goes on in the background but as a springboard for what you are going to play. A good band will not only keep the rhythm and the chord changes going behind you but will listen to what you are doing and where you might be heading and give you inspiration for your lead voice. The secret term is (whispers): interplay! This can be more of a one-way ticket as in the way B.B.King for example plays off of the horn arrangements that can’t be adjusted much to what he plays during a performance as much as a multiple exchange thing as in classic Chicago ensemble blues playing like the style Muddy Waters developed with his band.

When playing solos, remember that blues is about telling a story and to convey feelings. Don’t play too many notes, don’t show off, leave space (space is music, too - just in case you don’t know this already). If you can sing the lines you are playing then you’re on your way! By leaving space you’ll give your notes time to breathe and have more impact. Try to tell a story with what you are playing even if there’s no singing and no lyrics. Think about something, something positive or something that bothers you but reflect upon it. Make a statement and let it sink in. Give yourself and your audience the chance to enjoy the couple of (hopefully well placed) notes you’re playing. And forget everything about that old cliché about blues being all sad and some guy is mourning about his “baby left him this morning” etc. etc.
It’s about realising your situation and telling it to people who can feel the same as you and through that come out as a stronger person - no self pity here!.

To get your mouths watered, some classic stuff:



YouTube - T-Bone Walker- Don't Throw Your Love On Me So Strong


YouTube - B.B. King on Ralph Gleason's Jazz Casual 1968 Part 1


YouTube - B.B. King on Ralph Gleason's Jazz Casual 1968 Part 2

Enjoy!

This post reminded me of a drill my teacher used to throw at me. He would have me improvise or "solo" using only two strings and two frets. In the key of Am, it would be the D and G strings between the 5th and 7th fret. Bends and slides were allowed. He said, "if you can't do anything useful there, then you aren't ready to move on to the rest of the fretboard". BB King is a great example of that. Often he would solo or improvise in a similar fashion, using very few notes/strings/frets.

[sliding tom]

Originally Posted by axslinger

This post reminded me of a drill my teacher used to throw at me. He would have me improvise or "solo" using only two strings and two frets. In the key of Am, it would be the D and G strings between the 5th and 7th fret. Bends and slides were allowed. He said, "if you can't do anything useful there, then you aren't ready to move on to the rest of the fretboard". BB King is a great example of that. Often he would solo or improvise in a similar fashion, using very few notes/strings/frets.

That's a great exercise, axslinger - you had/have a good teacher IMO. Another exercise that I keep recommending and practice myself sometimes is using the minor pentatonic and, while not using any embellishments like slides, bends etc. try to come up with some melodic lead playing. Most of the guys who complain about "being stuck in pentatonics" haven't really explored the possibilities that just five notes are able to give you.

[sliding tom]

We're not done yet - I'll be back with you pretty soon - thanks for your patience!

[River]

Excellent.

[davidgold]

Im really enjoying this thread. Thank you for taking the time to put this together. I dont know if this requires a new thread but: Can anyone recommend some sort of backing track software or music for garageband (or something) which we could use to practice both the rhythms and leads over. It would be a huge help.
Thanks
DG

[sliding tom]

Try the backingtrackforum - there's a few good backing tracks for practicing available as mp3 files. Here's the link:

FREE Guitar Backing Tracks - Browse Downloads

Some reasonable stuff also on youtube - search for "backing tracks".

[sliding tom]

Hi there!
Judging from the few views that the tabs got we seem to be a pretty exclusive club here!