Blues chords and Rhythm Tips

 Blues Backing Tracks

Tips on Playing Blues Guitar Chords and Rhythm.

My favorite chords are blues chords. While some of them may be a little more complicated, you can really get a groove going with them

O= Play string.

X= Don't play string.

Most common blues guitar chords l have the same name tag of seven. These are known as dominant seventh chords. They sound great when played together and give you a great deal of possibilities. You can also play a G7 chord by moving your finger from the third fret to the first fret on the high E string. It will expect you to change your fingering. Strumming patterns for blues are usually fast in pace. To do this, we need to keep things simple and rhythmic. Here is a great strumming pattern to learn:

Down Down Up Up Down

Change things up a bit and try alternating the up and down strums. Keep practicing them and you'll be well on your way. You'll find that I used a lot of rest in-between chords. These little pauses can be handled moving your fingers somewhat off the fretboard and discontinue strumming at the same time. You can stop strumming for that short moment and pick right back up again without breaking the pattern.

This will be challenging at first but you will soon grow into it. In musical language, it can be described as a "shuffle" feel.

<b>Soloing Strategies</b>

When playing blues, you may experience a problem where everything you play begins to sound similar. You may find that you continually revert back to what you know. In other words, you're playing in a box. Here are some helpful hints to help you avoid this problem.

First, get yourself some blues guitar backing tracks. You can purchase professional tracks from companies such as 50Blues. Begin by with playing short bursts of music that last for roughly 10 seconds. These short "Bursts" should sound similar to a blues guitar solo. Vary the tempo and the pause time in between these short rests.

Secondly, try key changes. Move into a new key and incorporate the techniques that you are already acquainted with. Use dynamics. Going from something soft to something hard really has a great effect and will develop your brain to think outside of the box. I also suggest that you learn how to play 16th notes and 32nd notes in quick succession so you will be as equally prepared to play the fast notes as you are the slow notes.

Focus in on your right hand and ensure that you give it a good blues workout exercise everyday by using alternative picking and rapid picking techniques. I urge you to focus in on that last tip. Stop looking at your left and right hand as two separate entities. Rather, look at them as one. You may notice that when you strum hard with your right hand, your left hand becomes tense even though it's just holding a simple chord.

A problem like that can lead to serious health problems in the future such as carpal tunnel syndrome. To avoid that, practice playing with your left hand at ease while your right hand strums. This will also step-up speed and assist you to contribute texture to your blues solos.

Blues You Can Use

The Subtle Influence of Blues In Modern Day Music Join me as I examine the joys of blues guitar and the major influence it has had on modern day music. Learn how to make your guitar sing out what you're feeling. Learn how to play with blues rhythm and try out some new chords and strumming patterns. Blues - Soul Food Blues guitar music is one of the most intriguing and fascinating music genre that is out there. It features a colourful history, interesting people and a way of expressing feelings unlike any other style of music. In essence, blues tells a story of one's life experiences and has diverse themes ranging from travel to modern day events. Blues isn't as decorated as other genres of music. It is raw and uncensored and as far as the guitar is concerned, one of the finest venues to let your creativity soar. You will not be criticised for your technique here, instead, you will be complimented for your ingenuity. Within the realm of blues guitar, there are many different sub-specialties. There is delta blues and many more A lot of blues guitarists fail to understand is that legendary players such as BB King, Albert King, Buddy Guy, Eric Clapton were all blues players. Many of their songs were inspired by blues and produced a completely original and new generation of pumped up guitarists. Unfortunately, a lot people fail to arrive at that association and blues is oftentimes underrated by aspiring guitarists. The reality is that blues is only what you make it. While I respect and understand those who decide not to play blues, I have little tolerance for ignorance. You have heard it said over and over again that blues has always been the cornerstone for many of your favourite styles that you love today. Blues lead guitar playing uses a multifaceted approach that is established upon smooth bends, hammer on's, pull off's and many other standard techniques. The way they are ultimately played and delivered is what sets blues apart. First off, blues rarely, if ever, follows a single one set rule. However, there are numerous approach patterns that have made blues famous. You can branch out from these patterns into your own unique style. Ultimately, you can make anything sound bluesy with some simple scales. There are various kinds of blues scales. Many are derived from the pentatonic scale. However, a true blues scale has what is called a blue note. A blues note means a drop in pitch located on the 3rd, 5th, or 7th tone of the scale. If this flatted note isn't included in the key signature, an accidental will be used to tell you to play that note as a flat. That scratches the tip of blues scales and there are many other variations. I encourage you to go to your local store to buy a scale book to hone your skills and see the other blues scales available. I will also encourage you to purchase professional blues guitar backing tracks to take your blues playing to the next level.

Buddy Guy - Born to Play Guitar

George "Buddy" Guy (born July 30, 1936) is an American blues guitarist and singer. He is an exponent of Chicago blues and has influenced eminent guitarists including Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, Keith Richards, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Jeff Beck and John Mayer. In the 1960s, Guy played with Muddy Waters as a house guitarist at Chess Records and began a musical partnership with the harmonica player Junior Wells. Guy was ranked 30th in Rolling Stone magazine's "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time". His song "Stone Crazy" was ranked 78th in the Rolling Stone list of the "100 Greatest Guitar Songs of All Time". Clapton once described him as "the best guitar player alive". In 1999 Guy wrote the book Damn Right I've Got the Blues, with Donald Wilcock. Guy's autobiography, When I Left Home: My Story, was published in 2012. Website

The Thrill Is Gone - BB King Live

Best Way To Learn Guitar

What Is the Best Way to Learn Guitar?

Over the last few decades blues music has increased in its popularity, learning to play guitar has become exciting for many people. While there are many teenagers out there who dream of becoming pop superstars or rock legends, there are also many people that want to learn how to play the guitar just for their own simple enjoyment. Unfortunately too many people don't find the best way to learn guitar and after a few unsuccessful attempts, they actually give up on what so excited them in the beginning. Different people have different learning needs. In addition, we also have different resources, different jobs, different errands to run and different schedules, different lifestyles. If you're not at the level of skill you hoped to achieve, it may simply be you haven't found your best way to learn guitar. There are several ways to learn how to play the guitar. Listed below are only a few of them. Theory Books There are thousands of theory books on the market that teach you how to play the guitar. Some of them are even very good and can provide you with all the information you need. Books are an inexpensive and comfortable strategy to learn how to play the guitar. Unfortunately, experience shows that for many of us they just don't work. However, if you are a very patient person, a theory book might be the best way to learn guitar. Video Lessons Video guitar lessons are available on DVDs, videodiscs and video tapes in just about any music store, as well as on virtual shops. Additionally, there are also some video lessons available online. A few of them are even free. Video lessons are more dynamic and have a better chance of keeping you focused. They have the benefit of allowing you to practice at home whenever you find the time to do it. However, the inconvenience is that you can't benefit from the personalized attention and useful feedback a teacher could provide. A great way to complement video lessons is the use of blues guitar backing tracks. These blues backing tracks are great for practice and improvisations Private Lessons If you are willing to dedicate a lot of time as well as some money to this, private lessons are by all odds the best way to learn guitar. A good teacher can design a customised instruction curriculum to suit your learning style and furnish you with personalized attention and positive feedback to get you motivated. In addition, he/she can also spot and correct your mistakes very fast. Learning by Ear Learning the guitar by ear can be very entertaining, particularly if you have some sort of melodic bone in your body, and that bone is humming with lots of vibration, you might discover that this is the best way to learn guitar for you. With the advanced slowing down technology, it is much easier now than it used to be for our parents' generation. You had better all of the time keep in mind that playing the guitar should be fun. If you find it difficult or stressing, your learning strategy might have a lot to do with it. Occasionally you need to try several learning ways before finding the one that works best for you. However, if you really want to play the guitar like a pro and have enough time and money, taking up private lessons is probably the better way to go.

Blues Legends

Blues Legends In Action

A Great Tip For Rock and Blues Guitar Improvisation

Have you ever wanted to go to a music store and get a book that had the best information on how to play guitar, explained in ways that were easy to understand and made sense, and not know which book to buy? Ever go out and get that book, only to discover that it had a bunch of information that you didn’t need and didn’t make a good deal of sense after all? Ever wonder whether the “get chops quick” guitar methods so prevalent on the Internet today are really ripoffs? Well, no need for further frustration, help is here.

I’ve been playing guitar for quite some time and understand these situations because I’ve been there. I used to wonder how the great rock and jazz guitarists learned what they learned in order to play the way they play. I was curious to know: What was their secret? What is the key that unlocked all that great playing and all that musicianship, and what is the easiest and most painless way for me to begin to approach that level? It is my goal in this article to begin to provide answers to these questions. That way, you won’t have to navigate the same musical maze that I did. These answers should, in effect, help make your musical experience that much more enjoyable. Incidentally, in spite of all the struggles, I still play music fervently and haven’t quit playing even when it became difficult, a testimony to the power of music.

As many of you have, I’ve gone into music stores and on the Web looking for the best and most helpful books and methods to buy for the musical arenas I wanted to pursue. This is important of course because these books and methods are expensive (especially these days) and a budding guitar player shouldn’t have to go out and buy every book on guitar that’s out there. I’ve also noticed that there are quite a few guitar books that start off by throwing tons of scales at the student without ever even explaining clearly why all these scales need to be learned in the first place, or worse, how the scales should be used or which chords to play the scales over and why the scales sound good over a particular chord or series of chord changes (as opposed to sounding terrible). In contrast, we’ll begin the subject of learning to improvise lead guitar for rock and blues (while including concepts applicable to all guitar styles) with a very simple approach

Step 1: Learning The Names of The Individual Notes On The Fretboard

This is vital because in the art of improvisation, one has to know where one is on the fretboard at all times, regardless of what type of music is being played or improvised. Without knowing all the notes on the fretboard, it becomes easy to get lost and fall behind on the tune (while the chord changes the other musicians in the band are playing just roll on by). The natural shortcut, or the easy way out, is to only learn some of the notes on the fretboard. This approach will have at least two undesirable results: (A) the limited ability of only being able to improvise in certain keys (like A and E), and/or, (B) the limited ability of only being able to improvise on certain areas of the guitar neck. Jamming with other musicians and having these types of situations arise tends to lead to a good deal of embarrassment.

For beginners, there are three types of notes in music: Natural, Sharp, and Flat. So for example, the note G on the 6th string 3rd fret is also called G Natural. A note that is sharp is always one fret or one half-step higher; a note that is flat is always one fret or one half-step lower. Thus, G Sharp would be on the 6th string 4th fret; G Flat would be on the 6th string 2nd fret. Since A is the next natural note up from G, this means that G Sharp and A Flat are exactly the same note. This can be confusing at the start until an understanding of keys and key structure comes into focus later on.

I realize that the prospect of having to learn every note on the guitar neck can cause feelings of dread and uneasiness; indeed, it may take some time to accomplish this task. Learning the notes on the guitar academically is one thing, but getting that knowledge to work instantaneously under your fingers while improvising is something else. Easy and instinctive methods of learning the notes on guitar do exist, however. One method to begin with is to learn the basic open string chords common in every chord book (like A Major, E Major, and D Major) and take these movable chord forms (often called “bar chords”) up the guitar neck, simultaneously being conscious of the roots in those chord forms. Another helpful tip is to realize that any note played on the guitar twelve frets higher is going to have exactly the same name. So for example, the note on the 1st string 1st fret and the note on the 1st string 13th fret are both going to have the same name (in this case, the note F). Thus, all the guitarist has to do is to learn the notes of the open strings and the first eleven frets and then practice playing simple chords and note patterns in both the lower area (open to 11th fret) and the upper area (12th fret and above) of the guitar neck.

This simple approach outlined here is conceptually simple, but not easy. Good things sometimes take time. It takes a few more words and a bit more effort to explain concepts clearly. My hope is that the information in this article will help make your musical experience less mysterious and more enjoyable, and that the next time you go into a music store or on the Web looking for guitar books and methods, you’ll know exactly what to look for.

5 Best Tips Of All Time

For Guitar Players : 5 Of The Best Tips of All Time

Here are the 5 greatest tips of all times made by famous people and how they can apply to guitar playing. I've heard and read these tips over the severals years and all of them have  earned their weight in gold :

1) “What You Think, You Become.” –Ghandi

I came across this quote in the book entitled “Fearless Creating”, which is written by Eric Maisel . It emphasized the possibleness that the things we try to make all begin in our ideas, and imagination. I cast this quote on my wall, my notepad, my hand, everywhere for a number of years to remind myself to keep my purpose present in my mind, and it always assisted me to not give a whole lot of attention to uninvited negative thoughts and my automatic ones, such as..SEX!

2) “There is Always a Way” -Vinnie Colaiuta

I've read this in an interview with Vinnie in a friend’s magazine some years back relating to drums. The entire gist of the article was that when he was faced with a abstract problem, or when he was trying to pick up something especially challenging, or new, he was of the mind that there was “always a way” to get it, be it an adjustment of posture, a new way of looking at the execution of it, a new way of playing the blues guitar instrument, something to change to accomplish what was previously believed to be “impossible”. I always try to use this when moving up the food chain, trying to get to the succeeding level. It has resulted in some great results, if not necessarily technical prowess, certainly something creative and unique.

3) “Poor Artists Borrow, Great Artists Steal” -Picasso or Stravinsky

I have overheard that it was either one of these extraordinary artists who said this. Also a corrolary…”To be a really good guitarist, you must copy the styles of other blues guitarists.”-Frank Gambale.

Well, first what can we steal? Chord progressions, tempo, groove, melodic phrase, (backwards melody!) Expressive style, mental attitude. What is the difference between that and “borrowing”? I think the great artist turns his thievery into something entirely his own, perhaps by unabashedly admitting the theft and developing it into a whole new foundation. Think –The Beatles, Prince, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Jimmie Page, Clapton, Ornette Coleman, Elvis. Whereas the “borrower” is feigning to us that his original work has never before been heard and they have a contrived quality. This can be a very fine line.

Prior to ever reading the interview with Frank Gambale, saying that imitating styles was a invaluable tool, I was intrusted to some obscure concept of “being original”. When I acquired the accuracy of that affirmation, I set about to work, and it has changed my life. I embraced the point of view that I was a student, and had a great deal to learn from those who preceded me, that music and its history was outside of myself, and was greater than I was. I am now a firm believer that both of these aspects expand one’s growth to an immense degree. They give the player completely fresh languages to speak, and once you speak new languages, you will be able to create your personal great stories. Stories with depth and richness.

4) “The Impossible Can Be Accomplished Through Meditation and Concentration” -The Cup and Saucer Guy

I recall being kind of trapped on a plateau with my blues guitar playing at one point. I had achieved a good deal, but I didn’t know how to really move ahead. I was watching a variety tv show on television one night. A man came on balancing one hundred cups and saucers. He did this for what appeared to be a very long time and then he allow them to all crash around him. As the audience applauded his effort, the host asked him how he had learned to do this. His answer was that through meditation, he was able to achieve the necessary concentration. I began my own meditation methods, first applying a easy technique of being still, which I had discovered in the pieces of writing of people like J. Krishnamurti, and Tara Singh. Nothing which requires years to master, but a simple way of continuing to quiet the mind, increasing concentration, focus, and listening, just being in a very calm and relaxed state, paying attention. I now carry this stillness and relaxation to all my guitar performances.

5) “The Three Month Rule” -Roger Mckinley

Roger Mckinley was a associate student at Berklee. Roger was also a very gifted rock and blues guitarist, who, when I first came across him, was imitating Pat Martino. Just 2 years later, had created his own explosive unique style. ( see tip#3!) He left the jaws of many around him agape (and he never seemed to be committing any effort into it!) I was surprised that he befriended lil’ ol’ me and was willing to jam with me. I understood and leanr so much from him on just a single jam session. One of the things he told me is that it takes a good 8 weeks to bring an element of originality into your playing. This has saved me a good deal of frustration, and tempered my natural impatience. I have come to a conclusion that no matter how much I practise something, it is usually the better part of 8 weeks  before I actually can master it.

I hope you can use these practical and inspiration quote to bring your music and guitar playing to greater heights.