I love the blues

[superdave]

A friend at work gave me a blues book by a guy named Peter Gelling and it is too cool!!! It's a begginners courese, which is all I need at the moment anyway, but I love it!!! It is based on the scales I have been practicing but didn't know what to do with. I'm starting to "see" where and what to play. It's nothing mind blowing (except for me)but I feel like I'm actually starting to make some decent progress. My stubby ring finger has toughened up and I can do pulloffs and bend with it a lot better than a few weeks ago. This guy has put together a good book for newbies like me. I have given up getting extra sleep before going to work on 3rd shift just to practice from this book. I think I'm addicted.

[Gruupi]

Its great that your discovering the blues Dave. It is the basis for most forms of American music at least and learning to play them will certainly make you a better musician. Blues is almost a universal language, you should be able to sit down with lots of musicians and just jam on the blues. It doesn't matter where you are from or can read music or even can speak the same language. You should be able to instantly play the blues with anyone.

 

I go through fazes of styles of music I listen to and play. But the things I learned from blues playing can be translated to anything. I used to just play the notes of a song the best I could. When I got into blues I started to think about what those notes sounded like and what they meant emotionally. Now, even if I am playing Bach, I am trying (not always succesfully) to play with emotion and good tone.

[Ol Boy Rivers]

I gots to agree with gruppi. I Dont care who you are, What you play. When you can play riffs buy guys like Stevie ray vaughan or muddywaters with perfection, You can darn near play any other sort of genre. Look at me, Im a Devot blues player, Once a metal head. I can play classic rock, Classical, hard rock, Grudge, So on and so on. Blues WAS the Base root of all of those music genres. ( And early EARLY jazz was the root of blues )

[Eric Iverson]

Yes, the blues is the motherlode!

[mdrs]

blues=breathing

 

Don

[Hardtail]

The blues is a great musical style to learn. Make sure you listen to lots of it and steal some licks. There's lots of greats to listen to so I won't make a list.

 

The only thing I'll say is... listen to stuff beyond SRV. He was great, no doubt, but there's lot of other greats too.

[Zephyr]

Im pretty sure i have that book and even if their not the same, hes an awesome author.

 

PS: Don't return the book!

[Ol Boy Rivers]

What hard tail said. I just mentioned Stevie ray Vaughan because i was listening to him at the moment and he was the only one whom came to mind. Even with playing the blues, Study other guitarists and other music styles, EXAMPLE: Im a huge fan of Saul hudson's ( Slash ) Riffs. Im an even bigger fan of his tone and the way he pulls he vibratos. Im ALSO a huge fan of Aerosmiths licks, Study everything man.

[LavaMan]

You will learn the most by finding a local blues jam and throwing your hat in the mix...