Introduction 1
About This Book 1
Conventions Used in This Book 2
What You’re Not to Read 3
Foolish Assumptions 3
How This Book is Organized 4
Part 1: You Got a Right to Play the Blues 4
Part 2: Setting Up to Play the Blues 4
Part 3: Beyond the Basics: Playing Like a Pro 4
Part 4: Sounding Like the Masters: Blues Styles through the Ages 4
Part 5: Gearing Up: Outfitting Your Arsenal 5
Part 6: The Part of Tens 5
Part 7: Appendixes 5
Icons Used in This Book 5
Where to Go from Here 6
Part 1: You Got a Right to Play the Blues 7
Chapter 1: Every Day I Have the Blues Hallelujah! 9
Capturing the Blues Train from Its Departure Then to Its Arrival Now 10
The pieces of blues that made the genre 10
The place of the blues’ conception 11
Rejoicing over 100 years of blues: The shifting shape of the genre 11
The qualities that made blues cats hit the big-time 12
It’s Not All Pain and Suffering — The Lighter Side of Blues 13
Surveying the Means to Make the Music: The Guitar in All Its Glory 14
The low-fi acoustic guitar 14
The semi-hollowbody electric guitar 15
Solidbody electric guitars 15
The Collision of Two Worlds: Acoustic versus Electric 16
Getting a Grip on How Guitars Work 17
You’ve gotta use your hands — both of them 17
Producing the tones: String vibration and pitch 18
Electric guitars only: Pickups and amplification 18
Performing and Looking Like a Blues Player 19
Expanding and filling your brain with know-how 19
Looking the part 20
Blues Trivia For Dummies 21
The questions 21
The answers 22
Chapter 2: Blues Meets Guitar: A Match Made in Musical Heaven 23
Beyond the Delta: Defining the Blues Guitar Sound 24
The method to the music: Chord progressions 25
The guitarist’s language of melody 25
The expression that invokes your senses 26
The groove that sets the pace 27
Dissecting an Acoustic and an Electric 27
Getting Down with the Blues: A Quick How-To 31
The foundation for all guitar playing: Acoustic guitars 31
Shifting acoustic to overdrive: Electric guitars 32
What You Need to Get Your Groove On 35
Chapter 3: Grab Hold, Tune Up, Play On! 39
Holding Your Axe (That Is, Your Guitar) 39
Grabbing your guitar’s neck 40
Pushing down on the strings 41
Getting sound to come out 42
Holding the Pick, Attacking the Problem 44
Getting Situated 45
Sitting down 46
or standing up 46
Tuning Up 47
Helping your guitar get in tune with itself 48
Holding your guitar to an electronic standard 49
Playing a Chord 50
Music Notation: Not Just for Geeks 51
Guidance for your aimless fingers: A chord diagram 52
Mapping out your short-term path: Rhythm notation 53
Guiding you all the way through a song: Tablature 54
Part 2: Setting Up to Play the Blues 55
Chapter 4: Getting a Grip on Left-Hand Chords 57
Starting Out Simple: Blues Chords Even Your Mom Could Play 58
Going to the Next Level: Barre Chords 59
Forming a barre chord 61
Naming barre chords 62
Playing E-based barre chords 63
Playing A-form barre chords 65
Combining forms 67
Taking Advantage of Versatile Power Chords 68
Chapter 5: Positioning the Right Hand for Rhythm and Lead 71
Strumming Along 71
Stroking down 72
And stroking up 72
Combining down and up 73
Striking to a beat 73
Eighth-note striking, twice per beat 74
Mixing Single Notes and Strumming 75
Separating bass and treble: The pick-strum 75
Playing common pick-strum patterns 76
Shuffling the Beats with Syncopated Strumming 78
A bit of notation: Dots that extend and ties that bind 79
Syncopation: Playing with dots and ties 80
Stopping the String Ringing (Just for a Sec) 81
Muting the sound between two chords (left hand) 81
Simulating syncopation with left-hand muting 81
Muting the sound of a note (right hand) 82
Copying the Classics: Plucking Fingerstyle Blues 83
The Right Hand’s Bliss: Different Rhythm Styles to Play 84
The shuffle groove 85
The driving straight-four 87
The slow 12/8, with groups of three 89
The two-beat feel 91
The slow and funky 16 feel 92
Chapter 6: Blues Progressions, Song Forms, and Moves 95
Blues by the Numbers 95
Recognizing the Big Dogs: Primary Key Families and Their Chords 96
The Structure of a Blues Song, Baby 97
Playing the 12-bar blues 98
Slow blues 101
The 8-bar blues 104
Straight-four (or rock blues) 104
Applying Structures to Keys 106
A move with many chords: The Jimmy Reed move 106
The sound of sadness: Minor blues 109
Accessorizing the 12-Bar Blues: Intros, Turnarounds, and Endings 112
Intros 112
Turnarounds 113
Endings 114
High Moves 115
Chapter 7: Musical Riffs: Bedrock of the Blues 119
Basic Single-Note Riffs 120
For the low-down bass notes: Quarter-note riffs 120
The big daddy of riffs: Eighth-note riffs 121
Adding a little funk: 16th-note riffs 122
Throwing rhythm for a loop: Syncopated eighth-note riffs 123
Double the Strings, Double the Fun: Two-Note Riffs (or Double-Stops) 123
Straight feel 124
Shuffle, or swing, eighths 125
High-Note Riffs, the Bridge to Lead Guitar 126
Keith Richards’s borrowed trademark: Quick-four riffs 127
Intro, turnaround, and ending riffs 127
Mastering the Rhythm Figure 133
Part 3: Beyond the Basics: Playing Like a Pro 135
Chapter 8: Playing Lead: Soaring Melodies and Searing Solos 137
Mastering Your Picking Technique 138
Becoming smooth with your simple downs and ups 138
Tackling tricky alternate-picking situations 140
The Universal Lead Language: The Pentatonic Scale 141
Why the pentatonic is the perfect scale 142
The two sides of the pentatonic scale 142
A common scale for practice: E minor pentatonic 144
Pentatonic Plus One: The Six-Note Blues Scale 147
Adding Some Extra Flava to the Blues Scale 148
Clashing bitterly 149
A dash of sweetness 149
Chapter 9: Playing Up the Neck 153
For Inquiring Minds: Why Up the Neck You Should Go 153
Positioning Your Digits for an Easy Key Change 154
The pros of closed positions 155
The details of closed, numbered positions 155
Easing Into Position: Moving the Pentatonic Up and Down 157
Changing Your Position 159
A natural first: Moving from fifth position to eighth 159
The eighth-position blues bonus 160
How low can you go? Moving from fifth position to third 160
The Technical Side of Moving 161
Like taking candy from a baby: The subtle shift 161
Seeking a bit of attention: The noticeable slide 162
When you don’t want to move, just reach or jump 163
Five Positions You Should Know: Meanderings of the Pentatonic Scale 163
Relating the positions to each other 164
Connecting the positions: Licks that take you up and down 166
Understanding the Logic behind the Corresponding Shift of Position and Key 166
Recognizing common keys and their comfortable positions 167
Mapping keys to positions 167
Chapter 10: Express Yourself: Making the Guitar Sing, Cry, and Wail 171
Appreciating the Art of Articulation 172
Going In for the Attack 172
A little bit louder now a little bit softer now: Dynamics 173
Hitting hard and backing off 174
Breaking Down the Music: Phrasing 176
Connecting notes the slippery way: Slides 176
It’s hammer time — get ready to strike a string! 179
Exposing a note by lifting a digit: Pull-offs 181
Giving Your Sound a Bit of Flair 182
Shake that string: Adding vibrato 182
The rubber-band blues: Bends that stretch a string 183
Playing a Song with Various Articulations 187
Part 4: Sounding Like the Masters: Blues Styles through the Ages 191
Chapter 11: Acoustic Roots: Delta Blues and Its Country Cousins 193
Delta Blues: Where It All Began 194
Understanding the Delta technique 194
Ladies and gentlemen, king of the Delta blues: Robert Johnson 194
Country Ragtime: The Piedmont Blues 201
Everything In-Between: Country and Folk Blues 203
A quick profile of country and folk blues 203
Giving these “in-between blues” a listen 204
Closing with a lick and some style: Ragtime tags 204
Country and Folk Blues Had a Baby; Its Name was Rockabilly 206
Quintessential Blues: Slide Guitar 208
The tools that let you slide 208
Sliding technique 208
Tuning your guitar for slide, a technique all its own 209
Chapter 12: The Birth and Growth of Classic Electric Blues 213
The Rise of the Electric Guitar in Blues 214
Giving Props to the Earliest Electric Pioneer 215
Sweet Home Chicago, Seat of the Electric Blues 218
Muddy Waters, leader of the pack 218
Elmore James, slide guitarist extraordinaire 219
Otis Rush: Soulful player with a flair for vibrato 220
Buddy Guy, the father of blues rock 221
Modern-Day Blues Styles: The Sounds of Texas 222
Four Blues Giants: Three Kings and a Collins 224
Albert King, the upside-down string bender 224
B.B King, the blues’ king of kings 225
Freddie King, a two-pick man 227
Albert Collins, master of the Telecaster 228
Children of the Post-War Blues Revival 229
Son Seals, Chicago’s favorite son 230
Robert Cray, smooth persuader 230
Bonnie Raitt, stellar lyrical slides artiste 231
Chapter 13: Blues Rock: The Infusion of Ol’ Rock ’n’ Roll 233
The Blues Had a Baby, and They Called It Rock ’n’ Roll 234
Chuck Berry, blues rock’s first superstar 234
Bo Diddley, king of the jungle beat 236
The Brits Invade the Blues 236
Clapton and Green, early blues icons 236
Jeff Beck, blues-rock’s mad scientist 237
Trippin’ the Blues 238
Eric Clapton, the original guitar god 238
Jimi Hendrix takes the blues psychedelic 240
Heavy “Blooze”: The Infusion of Hard Rock 241
Jimmy Page, frontrunner of the metal blues 241
Leslie West, big man with a big sound 241
Blackmore and beyond, where blues gets scary 242
Southern Comfort 243
The Allmans, especially brother Duane 243
Lynyrd Skynyrd 243
Hot Barbecue Blues, Texas Style 244
Johnny Winter, Texas blues-rock titan 245
Billy Gibbons and ZZ Top, giving rock some soul 246
Stevie Ray Vaughan, the greatest modern bluesman of them all 246
Blues on Steroids 249
Eddie Van Halen takes the blues to ’80s metal 249
Euro-Metal brings virtuosity and precision to the blues 249
21st-Century Soul 250
John Mayer, new kid on the blues block 250
Allmans Redux: Warren Haynes and Derek Trucks, keepers of the flame 250
Part 5: Gearing Up: Outfitting Your Arsenal 253
Chapter 14: Shop Till You Drop: Buying the Right Guitar for You 255
Before You Begin Shopping 256
Deciding On a Make and Model 257
Evaluating a Guitar 257
Construction 258
Materials 259
Workmanship 262
Appointments (aesthetic options) 263
Welcome to the Jungle: Shopping 263
Bringing a friend 264
Money matters: Deal or no deal 264
Protecting Your Guitar 266
Hard cases 266
Soft cases 267
Gig bags 267
Chapter 15: Choosing Your Amp and Effects 269
Getting Started with a Practice Amp 270
Shopping for a practice amp 270
Playing with a practice amp 272
Powering Up to a Larger Amp 273
Choosing among different amp formats 274
Feeling the power 276
Dissecting the Amplifier 277
Input jack 277
Preamp 278
Tone 278
Effects 279
Power amp 280
Speakers 280
The flexibility of having separate channels 280
What’s That Sound? Checking Out Your Amp Choices 281
Tube amps 281
Solid-state amps 283
Hybrid amps 283
Digital-modeling amps 284
Remembering the Good Old Days 284
Vintage amps 285
Reissue amps 285
Dialing in an Amp Sound 285
Chronicling Classic Amps for Blues 287
Fender Bassman 287
Fender Deluxe Reverb 287
Fender Twin Reverb 288
Marshall JTM 45 288
Marshall Plexi Super Lead 100 289
Vox AC30 289
Mesa/Boogie Mark IIc+ 290
Messing Around with Your Sound: Effects 291
Juicing Up Your Sound 292
When your sound is too hot to handle: Distortion 292
Toying with Tone Quality 293
EQ: The great tonal equalizer 294
Wah-wah, the effect that is as it sounds 294
Modulation Effects, from Swooshy to Swirly 294
Stacking sounds for a fuller effect: Chorus 294
Swooshing, like a jet plane: Flangers and phase shifters 295
Like a visit to the opera house: Vibrato and tremolo 295
Pretending (and Sounding Like) You’re Somewhere You’re Not 296
Delaying sound in a cave-like way 297
Adding reverb to make your sound slicker 297
Choosing an Effects Format 298
A string of effects: Pedals on parade 298
A box to house them all at your feet 299
A box to house them all at hand level 299
Chapter 16: Changing Strings 303
Change is Good, But When? 303
Choosing the Right Strings 304
Acoustic strings 305
Electric strings 305
Outfitting Your String-Changing Toolkit 307
Removing Old Strings 308
Stringing a Steel-String Acoustic 309
Stringing an Electric Guitar 313
Part 6: The Part of Tens 319
Chapter 17: Ten Blues Guitar Giants 321
Robert Johnson (1911–38) 321
Elmore James (1918–63) 322
T-Bone Walker (1910–75) 322
Muddy Waters (1915–83) 322
Albert King (1923–92) 323
B.B King (b 1925) 323
Albert Collins (1932–93) 323
Otis Rush (b 1934) 324
Eric Clapton (b 1945) 324
Stevie Ray Vaughan (1954–90) 324
Chapter 18: Ten Great Blues Guitars 325
Gibson L-1 Flattop 325
Gibson ES-175 Archtop 326
National Steel 326
Gibson J-200 326
Fender Telecaster 327
Gibson Les Paul 327
Fender Stratocaster 327
Gibson ES-335 328
Gibson ES-355 328
Gibson SG 328
Chapter 19: Ten (Plus One) Must-Have Blues Guitar Albums 329
Robert Johnson: The Complete Recordings 329
Blues Masters: The Very Best of Lightnin’ Hopkins 330
T-Bone Walker: Complete Capitol Black & White Recordings 330
T-Bone Walker: Complete Imperial Recordings 330
The Best of Muddy Waters 331
B.B King: Live at the Regal 331
The Very Best of Buddy Guy 331
Robert Cray: Bad Influence 331
Masters of the Delta Blues: Friends of Charlie Patton 332
Mean Old World: The Blues from 1940 to 1994 332
Chicago: The Blues Today 332
Part 7: Appendixes 333
Appendix A: How to Read Music 335
The Elements of Music Notation 336
Reading pitch 337
Reading duration 338
Expression, articulation, and miscellaneous terms and symbols 340
Appendix B: How to Use the Website 343
Relating the Text to the Website 343
Count-offs 344
Stereo separation 344
System Requirements 344
What You’ll Find on the Website 345
Audio tracks 345
Troubleshooting 350
Index 351
