Guitar Teacher » Blues Guitar

A Funky Blues Jam Track

Storm — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 20:37:00 +0000

I am feeling a little blue today, having just brought two of my boys back from visiting the dentist (ouch!) and a little funky, seeing as this is my first post to this blog in more than a few days/weeks/months!

Anyway, when feeling both blue & funky nothing matches the mood better than a funky blues! Here for your jamming pleasure is a groovy jam track, inspiration coming from watching Albert King and Stevie Ray Vaughan maul the Minor Pentatonic for 90 minutes on Mr. King’s “In Session” special on PBS.

This is a typical 12-bar blues progression in the key of A. Insert your favorite blues lyrics on top. I keep hearing “Rock Me Baby” over this, but that is B.B. King, not Albert. Maybe a funkified “Crosscut Saw” instead?? Oh well, have fun!

Funky Blues Jam Track – Key of A

Download Jam Track (Right click – Save As)

Here are some scale patterns to experiment with:

Scale diagrams software at www.NeckDiagrams.com

And here is the tab for the groove/bass line. I wrote each part of the riff just once, it is up to you to remember your blues form – Play A/A/A/A/D/D/A/A/E/D/A/A:

Stay tuned to GuitarTeacher.com.

Blues Instrumental Lesson/Jam Track – Clapton Style Uptempo

Storm — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 17:06:25 +0000

Many guitarists don’t consider themselves singers. My long term advice: learn to sing! But if you want to be the band leader when you step to the stage at your local jam night, instrumentals will be your songs of choice. Fortunately, for blues guitarists there are lots of choices.

The Bluesbreakers album with Eric Clapton and John Mayall is a must-listen-to record for all guitarists with blues/rock roots. The song “Hideaway” off that disc is a great instrumental that bands often cover. For jam nights, I prefer the song “Steppin’ Out” from the same album. There are fewer breaks than “Hideaway” and no groove changes to ‘train-wreck’ your jamming fun. Plus, the song’s uptempo shuffle groove is sure to get attention!

Here is a jam track for you to warm-up your chops!

Clapton Jam Track – Key of G

Rhythm Guitar Parts

The rhythm guitar comp is a very straight-forward, but fast, I-IV-V 12-bar progression with chords played on the “1″ and the “and of 2″. The G7 and G9 chords in the following example are essentially interchangeable and are there for variety.

Lead Guitar Part

Learn to play this simple (but fast!) 12 bar head at the beginning and end of the tune and you’ve got the song.

Check out the following resources for more Eric Clapton sheet music and blues guitar instruction:

Blues Guitar Soloing – Backing Track for the I-IV Change

Storm — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 14:51:34 +0000

In Blues Guitar Soloing there is one chord change that makes up much of what you will play. This is the I-IV change (said ‘one-four’ change). Isolating and practicing over this progression will take your blues soloing to another level. This progression is actually the foundation of many rock and funk songs so you guys might want to tune in, as well.

To practice this change, here is a short blues guitar backing track . It is a simple loop of two bars of D7 (the I chord) followed by two bars of G7 (the IV chord). As such, this blues jam track is considered to be in the key of D.

Blues Jam Track (1-4 Change) – Key of D

To start, it is easier to use one scale, the Blues Scale, to play over both chords. This scale is shown below.

A more advanced soloing concept is to target each chord of the progression with a different scale. Two common scales to do this would be the Major Pentatonic and the Mixolydian mode. Each of these scales more closely fits the corresponding major quality of the dominant 7th chords we are soloing against. This opens up new and unique notes for each chord that are unavailable when using the same blues scale for both chords.

The trickier part of this approach is that the scale must change as the chords change. The advantage of this more advanced approach is that it will contribute to the sound of ‘making the changes’.

Below are the two scales for each chord. The major chord within each chord is highlighted with grey dots.

Try this idea against the jam track.

In the next lesson, we will look at some example licks to easily exploit the idea of different patterns for each chord of the I-IV change.

Until then, jam away and have fun!

How to play Stevie Ray Vaughan’s “Texas Flood” – Intro

Storm — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 04:04:18 +0000

In 1983, Stevie Ray Vaughan’s debut album “Texas Flood” reintroduced blues guitar back into popular consciousness. The title track is a slow blues in G, much like the jam track from our earlier lesson. While covering the entire song would be best tackled in private lessons, the intro alone is a cornucopia of classic blues triads, 6th chords, 9th chords and a great single-note turnaround lick.

Here is a video of the four-bar intro:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Htxgbk9k8Zc

The tablature for this part:

To see Stevie in action watch the video embed below. The playlist beneath the video has links to the tab songbook, the DVD of this performance and other Stevie Ray Vaughan products and reference material. Get to know him!

Slow Blues Jam Track – Key of G

Storm — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 20:24:39 +0000

A “slow blues” really lets blues guitarists showcase their soloing skill. The following smoky slow blues backing track in 12/8 time is similar to “Texas Flood” by Stevie Ray Vaughan or T-Bone Walker’s “Stormy Monday”. Just a standard 12-Bar Blues progression in the key of G, but with the added interest of a quick change to the IV chord (C7) in the second bar and a busier I-IV-I-V turnaround.

Slow Blues Jam Track – Key of G

Download Jam Track (Right click – Save As)

We can spend a lifetime working out new licks to this progression. We will learn more Slow Blues licks and explore the B.B. King Box in upcoming lessons. Until then, here are some suggested scale patterns.

B.B. King Style Jam Track

Storm — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 00:55:55 +0000

This jam track is an upbeat shuffle, B.B. King style 12-Bar Blues in the key of G. If you want to jump in and just jam, go for it! Locate your favorite G blues scale pattern, click the play button below and wail away!

The following short video shows the backing guitar parts so you can play the jam track yourself. It might help you out the next time you are in a blues jam to have a bass line you can show somebody. The 2nd guitar part uses jazzy, horn-hit backing chords that are kind of cool. Check out the video and tab below.

12 Bar Bass Line

Backing Chords

The video shoots are are work in progress so I would appreciate any feedback on what you find helpful and what you want to see more of. Thanks!